Michael Horton has received some flak recently for endorsing Scott Hahn’s latest book.  You can read his response here.  Disagree if you must regarding the efficacy of these kinds of endorsements, but Horton certainly gave a helpful (and truthful) endorsement while still hedging against any notions that he is a latent Catholic.

It’s time for another list of top Christ the Center episodes. Here are the top five from last November and last month.
November 2008

A Brief History of Trinitarian Thought with Carl Trueman
Getting the Blues with Steve Nichols
The Reformed Doctrine of Justification with John Fesko
Apologetics and Islam with James White
Cornelius Van Til: A Life with John Muether

October 2009

William Perkins and the Development of Puritan Preaching with Joseph Pipa, Jr.
Restoration Prophecy in Ezra-Nehemiah with Matthew Patton
Paul’s Two-Age Construction and Apologetics with Bill Dennison
Church Membership with Guy Waters
Luther and Media with Carl Trueman

In the near future, all of us at Reformed Forum would like to host a question and answer episode of Christ the Center.  I’ve set up a Google Voice account so we can now accept your calls.  If you have a question related to reformed theology, please call 440-97-FORUM (440-973-6786) to leave us a voicemail.  If you wouldn’t mind, we ask that you leave your name and tell us where you’re from.  We always enjoy the questions listeners post in the chat room during the live broadcasts.  How many books …

Van Til is often [completely] misunderstood regarding his teaching on brute facts.  For those unfamiliar with Van Til, a brute fact is one that is completely uninterpreted.  It is a piece of “data” that exists “out there” and “on its own” without being interpreted by any mind whatsoever.  Van Til gets the idea and the term from British absolute idealism and he clearly rejects the possibility of such a thing.  But many readers misunderstand the reason for rejecting brute facts.
The postmodernist wants to reject the existence of brute facts by …

It’s time again to look at Reformed Forum’s most downloaded episodes last month and last year.  Nick and I are constantly amazed that our archives get a little too dusty.  Hopefully, you’ll find something interesting here that you haven’t already heard.  Or maybe you’d like to listen again.  I’m amazed each and every week how much I actually learn by listening to an interview  I was involved in!
October 2008

The Reformed Doctrine of Justification with John Fesko
Herman Bavinck with Ron Gleason
Christ’s Kingdom: Gospel Priorities and Politics with Russell Moore
The Preaching …

Dr. Jeffrey K. Jue, Associate Professor of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary introduces Turretin in this short video.

Or so it seems.  It appears that Darryl G. Hart has recently jumped out of the video for a-ha’s 1985 hit song Take on Me.  He has brought several other recognized theologian-historians from the animated sketch world with him.  They all will be appearing at Christ Reformed Church in Washington DC for Calvin in the Capital Thursdays this fall from October 8 through November 12.

a-ha – New Music – More Music Videos

Join Christ the Center Wednesday, September 23 at 9PM Eastern live as they discuss Ezra-Nehemiah and restoration prophecy with Matthew Patton.  Matthew is a PhD student in OT at Wheaton Graduate School.  Several people have requested we devote more time to topics in biblical studies and we couldn’t agree more.  Here’s your chance to interact live.  More details about the live discussion are available here.
Don’t forget to call us with your questions or comments: 440-97FORUM.

At least from the Christian position, tracing the boundaries of philosophy and theology has proven to be quite difficult.  This is due in part to the fact that classic theological loci have so much to say about philosophy’s subject matter.  Cornelius Van Til once remarked that if one’s philosophy was Calvinistic, then it isn’t philosophy anymore – it is theology.  Herein lies the difficulty.  If the philosopher consciously presupposes the Triune God of the Bible in his system and presents Him as the foundation for epistemology, metaphysics and ethics, what …

In his Calvin in the Public Square: Liberal Democracies, Rights, and Civil Liberties, David W. Hall lists several points regarding Calvin and Luther’s views on poverty and welfare.  Hall condenses Calvin’s general principles for welfare reform in Geneva on p. 113:

It was only for the truly disadvantaged.
Moral prerequisites accompanied assistance.
Private or religious charity, not state largesse, was the vehicle for aid.
Ordained officers managed and brought accountability.
Theological underpinnings were normal.
Productive work ethic was sought.
Assistance was temporary.
History is valuable in confirming practices.

Later in the book, Hall writes that “Calvin, Luther, Bucer, and …

Feeding on Christ is finally online again.  The entire Reformed Forum Network experienced a major outage over the weekend.  I’ve posted an explanation and apology.  Now that we’re back online, why don’t you listen to our latest episodes of Christ the Center?

The Theology of Samuel Rutherford with Guy Richard
Truth and Error in the Church with Martin Downes

In a recent interview with Mark Dever, Darryl Hart suggested that Westminster (CA) students tend to be more historically focused while Westminster (PA) students tend to gravitate toward biblical theology.  Hart has asked students from each school which three authors they would prefer to have if stranded on an island.  The typical Westminster (CA) would prefer Calvin, Berkhof and Kline whereas Westminster (PA) students would select Vos, Ridderbos and Gaffin.
Do you think this assessment is accurate?  Which three (non-inspired) authors would you select?  Please comment and include your ecclesiastical affiliation …

I’m certain this video will ruffle a few feathers.  Regardless of your view of justification’s position in the ordo salutis, this is a very clear and concise presentation by Lane G. Tipton.

Westminster Theological Seminary has posted a video of Lane Tipton speaking about Calvin and the doctrine of union with Christ. He places an important emphasis on the person of Christ. As being united to this person the benefits are mediated to the believer. In Him we have our justification, sanctification and adoption.  “You first possess Christ and then in Christ you are justified.”

Johan Huibers, a Dutch contractor by trade, built a full scale replica of Noah’s ark. Watch a video tour.

Other Links

Just Genesis

James Dolezal discussed Calvin for the Craig Center at Westminster Theological Seminary.

K. Scott Oliphint discusses John Calvin’s influence upon apologetics.

June 2009 was another busy month at Reformed Forum. Here are the month’s top episodes for Christ the Center and the Reformed Media Review:

Scripture and Doctrine in the Church
Apologetics and Pastoral Ministry with David Robertson
A Comparison of Rahnerian to Reformed Apologetics
Calvin as a Servant of the Word of God with Glen Clary
Books on Doctrine of God
The Relationship of Philosophy to Theology
A Life in the Preaching Ministry with Eric Alexander
Why Johnny Can’t Preach with T. David Gordon
Geerhardus Vos with Danny Olinger
New Testament Textual Criticism in the 21st Century with Dan …

Here are the top posts on Feeding on Christ for the month of June.

Top 15 Books on the Cross
Grabill on the Natural Law
Calvin on Romans 2:13
Dr. Benjamin Shaw on the Song of Songs
Two Long-Awaited Books Finally Available
The Calvin Conspiracy
Ligon Duncan on Calvin and Piety
James White on William Lane Craig and Christopher Hitchens
The Puritans, Simplicity, and Culture Shift in American History?

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church is holding their first deacons’ summit next year in Wheaton, IL June 3-5, 2010.  The OPC has a high view of church office – deacons included.  The OPC has even ordained deacons to send into the mission field so that the ministers are able to devote more time to prayer and ministry of the word (cf Acts 6:4).  Ronald E. Pearce writes:
The summit will be a time for deacons to learn better how to effectively minister, to give them an avenue to express their needs, to …

The latest issue of Modern Reformation has unleashed the reformed conspiracy theorists.  As visitors to the Reformed Forum are well aware, the differences in the reformed world concerning the precise relationship of the benefits in the ordo salutis have been well-documented. Within the orthodox camp (NPP and FV proponents excluded) various explanations of the relationship between justification and sanctification are often boiled down to two primary groups.  Michael Horton is one of the most visible and widely published of the first group in the discussion.  Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. is …

Dr. James White recently played clips of a debate between William Lane Craig and Christopher Hitchens on The Dividing Line.  This was a great program that touches on several points in apologetics.  Dr. White’s lucidity and ability to isolate the issues is always appreciated.

Nick Batzig recently sat down with David Robertson pastor of St. Peters Free Church in Dundee, Scotland at Twin Lakes Fellowship where he lectured on Emergent Calvinism.  This interview has just been released through Christ the Center.  David spoke with Nick about his book The Dawkins Letters: Challenging Atheist Myths. David has been actively debating Dawkins supporters throughout the UK and shares his experience. This is an interesting discussion about how apologetics hits the road.
But wait, there’s more!  This interview is a double-feature.  Later on Nick asked David …

As the week winds down, I figured I’d share a few preaching resources that have been of use to me lately.  R. L. Dabney’s book Evangelical Eloquence: A Course of Lectures on Preaching is an excellent book detailing the importance of preaching well.  I recently wrote a post at Historia Salutis explaining how Dabney considered preaching to be an art and that given the nature of the message, we have a duty not only to preach, but to preach well.
John Calvin’s sermons on Genesis 1-11 have now been published by …

Dave Garner and Carl Trueman interviewed Greg Beale about his new position at Westminster Theological Seminary among other things.  The video can be watched here.

We’ve created a public group on FriendFeed to allow for real-time discussion of the happenings at Reformed Forum.  This is a nice, lightweight way to run a discussion group.  We tried more traditional forums, but they didn’t seem to pan out.  FriendFeed is a great service that lets you connect your Twitter account, blogs and other RSS feeds into one place.  It’s a lot like Twitter, but has several additional features.  Join our public Reformed Forum group and post a question or discussion topic.
http://friendfeed.com/reformedforum

Christ the Center will be live Thursday 5/28 at 9AM Eastern. Join us at Reformed Forum and login to ustream.tv or FriendFeed to chat.

I’ve been surveying Heidegger in order to get a better handle on the contemporary Roman Catholic scene and came across this interesting section by Michael Inwood in his Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction.  As one who shaves his head out of genetic defiance, this struck me with a “special” significance.
I may become bald, through no choice of my own and with no possibility of regrowing my hair.  Most human beings have a certain bodily, biological structure which differs markedly from that of other creatures and they have only limited possibilities …

Several factors come into view when discussing the medieval debates over the eucharist.  Throughout this time, two general views developed: the metabolic and the symbolic.  The metabolic view thought that the bread and the wine actually became the body and blood of Christ.  In the eucharist, a perpetual sacrifice occurs for the remission of sins.  The symbolic view does not see a transformation of the elements, but rather views the eucharist as a memorial to the finished work of Christ and the elements as symbolic of Christ’s body and blood.
These …

Christ the Center will be online today at 2PM US Eastern. Visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/reformed-forum-live to listen in and join the chatroom. We’re still finalizing a guest and topic. If you would prefer to connect using a standard chat application, ustream lets you connect to chat.ustream.tv. Our room is #reformedforum.