pilgrim people

The good Doctor RSC responds on the Heidelblog.

John Frame, the J.D. Trimble Chair of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and a former professor at Westminster Seminary California, has recently published a rather scathing review of his succesor Dr. Michael Horton's Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church. You can read it here in full length. In short, Frame says that, while he agrees with the book "about many things" and commends Horton for his "passion for the purity of the church and for the gospel," he must render a negative verdict upon it due to Horton's "defective theology" with which he measures the state of the American church. According to Frame, the state of American Christianity is not as bad as Horton makes it out to be. Moreover, Horton is not a good representative of Protestant or Reformed theology since his perspective is "narrow, factional, and sectarian" (no, I'm not making this stuff up).

White Horse Media has offered a response, which you can read here.

In Chapter 2 of The Gospel-Driven Life, Horton describes the problem to which the gospel is the solution, namely, sin. Titling the chapter, “The Real Crisis,” he explains that the crisis of our sin is far more disastrous than anything reported on CNN. The health care crisis, crisis in the Middle East, financial and educational crises, natural disasters – all of those things are terrible. Yet, none of them compare to the crisis of being under the wrath of a holy God who justly demands from his creatures a righteousness as good as his own.

The crisis of sin is so great that it “could be solved by nothing less than God’s becoming flesh, fulfilling the law and bearing the sentence for its violations in our place, which is the focus of all of Scripture. We may have problems in our marriage, child rearing, stress at work, low self-esteem, and worries about our health or the financial market. However, the ultimate crisis  facing us is summarized in Romans 1:18: ‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.’” (39) We need to see this big picture, both in law, revealing the greatness of our sin, and in gospel, which tells us the good news that solves the problem. Only then do we get our living straight.

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A couple of days ago, as I was doing some reading on the background of the Synod of Dort in preparation for our Sunday evening sermon series on the Doctrines of Grace, I realized that we are less than two weeks away from the 400^th anniversary of the day Jacob Arminius became a Calvinist. That is to say, October 19, 1609 was the day Arminius died and departed this world (and thus ceased to be an Arminian, get it?).

Who exactly was Jacob Arminius and why is he important? Arminius was born in Holland in 1560 and educated at the Reformed University of Leiden and under Theodore Beza (Calvin’s successor) at Geneva. He was ordained as a minister in the Reformed churches in 1587 and served as a pastor until 1603 when he was to the theological faculty of Leiden. During the 1590s, his preaching through the book of Romans caused many to question his fidelity to Reformed doctrine.

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For those who have been reading my series the Mosaic covenant in Reformed Orthodoxy and/or taking interest in the covenant theology of this obscure Puritan named Samuel Petto, you may be interested to know that a journal article on Petto's view of the Mosaic covenant will be published in the 2009 volume of Mid-America Journal of Theology, put out by Mid-America Reformed Seminary. The article is basically a truncated version of two chapters from my MAHT thesis at WSC.

I am also pleased to see that my former WSC classmate and fellow '04 alum, Aaron Denlinger, also has an article in the same volume. Aaron is a PhD student at Aberdeen, Scotland, I believe.

Subscriptions are only $12. The contents run as follows:

"Calvin's Doctrine of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness: Another Example of 'Calvin against the Calvinists'? - Cornelis P. Venema

"Calvin and the Dual Aspect of Covenant Membership: Galatians 3:15-22 - The Meaning of 'the Seed is Christ' - and Other Key Texts" - J. Mark Beach

"A Third-Way Reformed Approach to Christ and Culture: Approaching Kuyperian Neo-Calvinism and the Two Kingdoms Perspective" - Ryan McIlhenny

"Orthodoxy and Piety in the Nadere Reformatie: The Theology of Simon Oomius" - Gregory D. Schuringa

"Robert Rollock's Catechism on God's Covenants" - trans. and introduced by Aaron C. Denlinger

"Christ and the Condition: Samuel Petto (c.1624-1711) on the Mosaic Covenant" - Michael G. Brown

"On Being a Church Planter" - Daniel Hyde