Christ the Center

Lane Tipton speaks about his chapter, “The Person of Christ: The Deeper Protestant Conception and the Church’s Heavenly-Mindedness” in Theology for Ministry: How Doctrine Affects Pastoral Life and Practice (P&R Publishing), a festschrift for Sinclair Ferguson. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Update on Reformed Academy 13:56 Writing in a Festschrift for Sinclair Ferguson 20:49...

Drs. Alan Strange and Cornelis Venema speak about the practice of catechetical preaching from a practical as well as historical perspective. While the practice is more common within the Dutch Reformed tradition, Dr. Strange also provides a case for Presbyterians to engage in preaching using the Westminster Standards as aids. Regardless of where you may land on the particular role of secondary stan...

In 1904, the same year Herman Bavinck published  Christian Worldview , Bavinck published a book titled  Christelijke wetenschap  ( Christian Science ) in which he commented on a movement to “build science . . . on the foundation of the Christian faith.” Cory Brock joins us to speak about this book and Bavinck’s views on the subject. Dr. Cory C. Brock is assistant m...

Dr. Vern Poythress speaks about the study of history and historiography from a Christian perspective. In his book, Redeeming Our Thinking about History: A God-Centered Approach (Crossway), Dr. Poythress emphasizes God’s own command to remember his works and share them with the next generation. He explores providentialism, divine purpose, and the four basic phases of biblical history: creation, fal...

We turn to pp. 299–301 of Geerhardus Vos’s book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments . Vos discusses three ways in which the structure of New Testament Revelation can be determined from within Scripture itself. 1. From indications in the Old Testament 2. From the teachings of Jesus 3. From the teachings of Paul and the other apostles Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:07:43 The Structure of N...

Where is Christ’s body now ? In short, that is the question behind our conversation today with K. J. Drake, the author of The Flesh of the Word: The extra Calvinisticum from Zwingli to Early Orthodoxy (Oxford University Press, 2021). In this book, Drake seeks to broaden the study of the extra Calvinisticum by investigating how the doctrine arose within sixteenth-century Reformed theology as...

Carlton Wynne, Lane Tipton, and Camden Bucey turn to pp. 48–54 of Cornelius Van Til’s The Defense of the Faith to discuss the Christian theory of knowledge. In this section, Van Til speaks of the relationship between a theory of reality and the theory of knowledge and how for orthodox Christians, the absolute God of Scripture is identical with his knowledge while finite creatures are fundamentally...

Dr. Benjamin Gladd shares his methods and favorite tools for facilitating research and eventual publication of his writing. Dr. Gladd is Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He is the author of Handbook on the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2021) and From Adam and Israel to the Church: A Biblical Theology of the People of God (Downers Grove: IVP Acade...

Dr. Carlton Wynne speaks about his chapter, “Scripture: Foundational for Life and Ministry,” which is published in Theology for Ministry: How Doctrine Affects Pastoral Life and Practice . This book is a festschrift for Sinclair Ferguson, edited by William R. Edwards, John C. A. Ferguson, and Chad Van Dixhoorn, and published by P&R Publishing. Dr. Wynne discusses the significance of...

Mark Winder previews his upcoming course on Zephaniah wherein he will discuss the prophecy in its context, and in doing so examine how the prophet utilizes protological themes to construct an eschatological picture pointing to the great Day of the Lord. We will begin with an introduction to covenant themes and establish the veracity of the theological assumptions and hermeneutical method employed...

We discuss Geerhardus Vos’s sermon, “Heavenly Mindedness” from his collection Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached at Princeton Seminary . In this sermon, Vos directs the Christian to consider the heavenly realities, where Christ is, as the proper focus and posture for the Christian throughout this present earthly pilgrimage. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 03:45 Historical Context of the Sermon 08:44 Ke...

Brad Isbell ( @ChortlesWeakly ) briefly steps away from the General Assembly floor, Twitter, and Presbycast to jump on another podcast mic to speak with Camden Bucey about the PCA General Assembly and the storied histories of naming the OPC and the PCA. Mr. Isbell is a ruling elder at Covenant PCA in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Along with @Wresbyterian , he hosts Presbycast . He recently wrote, “...

In the third volume of this new translation of Petrus Van Mastricht’s Theoretical-Practical Theology , Mastricht begins with a discussion of the decrees of God and how they establish His eternal purpose for everything. He then shows how the decrees are carried out in creation and in God’s continual providence. The volume concludes with Mastricht’s treatment of the apostacy of Adam from his origina...

In this episode, we speak about the ecclesiastical and theological contributions of Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Gaffin having been elected the chairman of the OPC’s Committee on Foreign Missions. Crossway has also published his latest book, In the Fullness of Time , a revision of his lecture notes from his course, Acts and Paul. Dr. Gaffin’s history...

Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey turn to pages 289–296 of Geerhardus Vos’ book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments . In this section, Vos introduces several significant interpretive practices which are critical for a proper understanding of the eschatology of the prophets. These are the principles of (1) finality and consummation, (2) prophetic idiom, and (3) the coming of the Messiah as the &#...

Adam York joins Camden Bucey to speak about the two age construction found throughout Scripture and especially in the Pauline epistles. Scripture frequently speaks of “this age” and “the age to come.” These categories have a significant effect upon how Christians should understand their place in the world. Jesus, the second Adam, has entered into “the age to come.&#82...

On May 21, 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick preached a sermon titled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” that helped spark the modernist-fundamentalist controversy. Fosdick was a Baptist minister serving as an associate at First Presbyterian Church in New York and a faculty member at Union Theological Seminary. He was well-known and had published several popular religious books. Ned B. Stoneho...

We welcome Dr. Brandon Crowe to the program to discuss the obedience of Christ and the salvation of his people. In his latest book, Why Did Jesus Live a Perfect Life?: The Necessity of Christ’s Obedience for Our Salvation , Dr. Crowe sets out to answer the basic but all-important question: Is perfect obedience necessary for salvation? Listen as we explore the covenant of works, the atonement...

Jim Cassidy and Camden Bucey discuss ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church) and the significant ways it informs our daily lives. Dr. Cassidy is studying R. B. Kuiper’s The Glorious Body of Christ with his congregation, and we take the opportunity to speak about the nature and limits of church authority, the distinction between the church as organism and the church as organization, and the...

Carlton Wynne, Lane Tipton, and Camden Bucey open Cornelius Van Til’s book, The Defense of the Faith to pages 43–47. Van Til addresses the unity and diversity within creation before covering the fall into sin and the curse. Throughout this chapter, Van Til reminds his readers of the categorical difference between God and creation while maintaining creation’s dependence upon God for its very existe...

Dr. Dominic Aquila joins Camden Bucey to speak about the history of Presbyterian publications. While they focus primarily on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Dr. Aquila connects this storied history to the recent past and the dramatic shifts in communication that have come about with the introduction of the Internet and technologies such as social media. Dominic Aquila is the President of N...

Lane Tipton, Ryan Noha, Rob McKenzie, and Camden Bucey pull up to a table for the first podcast recording at the new Reformed Forum headquarters in Libertyville, Illinois. We discuss the new facility, the new course we recording in our Fellowship in Reformed Apologetics, and the current interest in natural theology. For those watching the video, one of the cameras ceased recording after a few minu...

Lane Tipton speaks about his new course on Van Til’s doctrine of revelation, which is the third course in our Fellowship in Reformed Apologetics . In this course, Dr. Tipton covers: The implications of the self-contained and immutable Trinity for a doctrine of revelation in the work of creation and in the special act of providence in covenantal condescension The distinctive character of natu...

At the invitation of B. B. Warfield (and the suggestion of Geerhardus Vos), Abraham Kuyper delivered the Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1898. In these lectures, he presented his vision for an international Calvinism. And while many people may be familiar with Kuyper’s famous work, few may know the complicated history of these lectures being written, translated into Engli...

We turn to the mailbag today to answer questions from listeners. We discuss the “organic” unity of the Scriptures, Van Til’s understanding of the phenomenal world, why the covenant of works and the covenant of grace point to something better than Eden, and vital and formal aspects of covenant membership. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:04:57 Update on Reformed Academy 00:15:38 The “Organic...