Deus Misereatur

  Back in 2012 – gasp! So long ago! Carl Trueman wrote “The Creedal Imperative” which has now been updated and repackaged in this 216-page hardback, “Crisis of Confidence: Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity.” In classic Trueman-Esque fashion, it can be a bit wordy, but these are not words to fill up pages and columns for higher sales value. It takes ink and space to bring out clear and clarifying thoughts and rationale. For a book thoughtfully arguing that “creeds and confessions are consistent with biblical teaching,” that their existence and use are “strongly implied” in Scripture, and that the church’s long history “demonstrates that they have frequently been of great help in the maintenance and propagation of the Christian faith” (pg. 143), it takes some time, space and verbiage. Trueman hits the target repeatedly, making this a respectable manuscript for those who care about creeds, confessions, the Church, their congregations, ...

(This is what I sent out in my letter to the congregation today)   Last Sunday morning, during my report on the 49 th General Assembly (in our Adult Class), we had some great discussions. Toward the end someone mentioned a specific issue that got me thinking. The following are a few of those thoughts.   The Presbyterian Church in America is fairly unique from other denominations of Christ’s church. Unique, at least, at it’s constitutional  level. What I mean is, we are one of the few denominations who have the Ten Commandments, with explanations and definitions, as specifically part of our constitution. Most other denominations only have articles of religion and  statements of belief as their charter, without listing and expounding the Decalogue. Our Larger and Shorter Catechisms are part of our denomination’s “law of the land”. Below is a sample of what our constitution  says on one of the Commandments, specifically the 7 th , “ You shall not commit adultery...

Hold Fast the Faith: A Devotional Commentary on the Westminster Confession of 1647 Matthew Everhard PLC Publications PO Box 2210                                                     Lenoir, NC 28645 www.layman.org Copyright: 2012 ISBN: 978-1934453100; $11.99 Reviewed for Deus Misereatur by: Rev. Dr. Michael Philliber Theological Introspections – 4 ½ of 5 stars How do you bring theology and the spiritual disciplines together? Often, in personal discussions, theology and doctrine are disparaged by teachers and the taught so that the devotional can be developed. Usually this is heard in the notion that head knowledge must be trumped by heart knowledge. Yet Matthew Everhard has recently made a masterful atte...

I just finished reading through the 2 volume work originally crafted in 1867 by Charles W. Shields D.D., titled "The Book of Common Prayer As Amended by the Westminster Divines." [The document can be found at Google Books. Follow this link: http://books.google.com/books?id=G33ZAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false ] The first volume looks to me to be simply the 1662 Book of Common Prayer with changes, or emendations  some minor, and some clearly noticeable  The changes came from some of the very theologians who worked on the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the "Directory for Publick Worship" a few years before. In the second volume is where the the editor/author explains the history, background, and purpose of the work.The explanatory notes are a longish section, something of an apologia as to why Presbyterians get the Hives when it comes to prescribed forms of liturgy. Nevertheless, there were some i...

“[...] arguments about Scripture achieve nothing but a stomach-ache or a headache” (Tertullian 42; paragraph 16), so quips Tertullian in his Prescriptions Against Heretics . And in the next paragraph he states, “True, you will lose nothing in the dispute but your voice; and you will get nothing from their blasphemy but bile” (42; Paragraph 17). Then, in exasperation, he states “It follows that we must not appeal to Scripture and we must not contend on ground where victory is impossible or uncertain enough” (42-3; Paragraph 19). For anyone who has ever entered into dogmatic debates with those who are on the fringe of Christianity (for example The Way International , Jehovah’s Witnesses et al) will understand Tertullian’s frustrations. Is it possible that what Tertullian was pointing at with these statements, and what he seems to have meant by them, might be helpful in the 21 st Century post-Christian circumstance? To begin, it appears that Tertullian was fighting hard against an obst...