Reformed Forum Video (large)

Trinitarian Personality in the Theologies of Barth and Rahner

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 25 May 2012 05:00:26 +0000

In this in-house episode, Camden Bucey leads a discussion on Trinitarian personality in the theologies of Karl Barth and Karl Rahner. Though the theologians approach the subject from different traditions, both theologies converge at several key points. The panel discusses the issues surrounding the traditional immanent/economic distinction and God’s relationship to creation before moving to Cornelius Van Til’s method for navigating common Trinitarian errors.

In addition to the main discussion, the panel begins the episode with a discussion of several new books including the forthcoming Kingdom through Covenant by Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum.

Law and Gospel

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Wed, 23 May 2012 05:00:52 +0000

Errors abound when readers of Scripture confuse law and gospel. Dr. Lane G. Tipton describes the uses of the law and the wonderful news that Jesus Christ has accomplished salvation … Read more→

Celebrity, Authority, and Authenticity in the Church

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:00:47 +0000

Dr. Carl Trueman joins us once again for an exciting conversation of issues in the contemporary church. Today, we discuss Dr. Trueman’s latest book Fools Rush in Where Monkeys Fear to Tread (P&R Publishing), a collection of essays originally appearing at Reformation21.org. Dr. Trueman leads us in a critical look at at the contemporary church with his characteristic wit and historical sensitivity.

The Covenant of Grace

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:00:43 +0000

Dr. Lane G. Tipton describes the Covenant of Grace and its two administrations. This is an important lesson that pictures for us the wonderful salvation that comes through the mediation … Read more→

The Covenantal Context of Redemption

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:00:37 +0000

In speaking of the gospel, it is important to understand the covenantal context in which it occurs. Though Adam sinned in the garden and brought guilt and corruption upon all his posterity, Jesus Christ institutes a new covenant in his blood for all those who believe in him. Dr. Lane G. Tipton speaks about covenant and salvation.

How is Redemption Applied?

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:00:23 +0000

The redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ is applied by the Holy Spirit as he effectually calls the elect and unites them to Christ by faith. Dr. Lane G. Tipton unpacks … Read more→

The Benefits of Salvation

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 05:00:21 +0000

The gospel is first and foremost the good news about the resurrected Christ. Through union with the resurrected Christ believers receive justification, adoption, sanctification, and all other benefits which either flow from or accompany them. In this video, Dr. Lane G. Tipton describes these benefits and how they relate to one another.

Redemption Accomplished and Applied

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:33:17 +0000

Dr. Lane G. Tipton, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, speaks about the distinction between the once for all accomplishment of redemption and its application to those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

Christ in the Old Testament

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 05:00:13 +0000

On this episode we welcome Nancy Guthrie back to the program to speak about Christ in the Old Testament. Nancy has written the latest in her series on the subject titled The Wisdom of God: Seeing Jesus in the Psalms and Wisdom Books, which is the center of our discussion. Nancy is a member of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, speaks at conferences worldwide, and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Covenant Theological Seminary. Nancy and her husband David have ministered to countless couples who have lost a child, and they continue to provide resources through retreats and Nancy’s autobiographical books on the subject such as Holding Onto Hope: A Pathway Through Suffering to the Heart of God.

What is the Gospel?

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:11:00 +0000

Dr. Lane G. Tipton, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, speaks about the heart of the Christian message. Christians must be careful not to mistake the gospel for the benefits of the gospel. While the benefits of the gospel, such as justification, adoption, and sanctification, are essential, we can misunderstand the gospel if we do not focus on the benefactor. The heart of the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ, who died and was raised for sinners.

The Creator / Creature Distinction

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:00:44 +0000

This is the first lesson in a series examining the theological foundations of Reformed and covenantal apologetics. In this video, Camden Bucey looks at the important difference between God and … Read more→

The State and Religious Liberty

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:00:15 +0000

Today we welcome Dr. David Skeel and James Sweet to speak about recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that impact the church. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC was a recent case that raised several important questions. Oyez.org asks, “Does the ministerial exception, which prohibits most employment-related lawsuits against religious organizations by employees performing religious functions, apply to a teacher at a religious elementary school who teaches the full secular curriculum, but also teaches daily religion classes, is a commissioned minister, and regularly leads students in prayer and worship?” Our guests discuss the decision and explain its significance for Christians.

David Skeel is the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania and an elder at Tenth Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Philadelphia. He has written an op-ed on the case for the Wall Street Journal. James Sweet is counsel and Director of Special Projects for Westminster Theological Seminary and former chairman of Drinker, Biddle, and Reath.

Redemptive-Historical Hermeneutics

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:00:41 +0000

Lane G. Tipton provides the biblical warrant for a transtestamental gospel that understands the organic unity of the Old and New Testaments. Tipton contributed a chapter to the recent Confident of Better Things: Essays Commemorating Seventy-Five Years of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Dr. Tipton is also the co-editor of Revelation and Reason: New Essays in Reformed Apologetics and Resurrection and Eschatology: Theology in Service of the Church: Essays in Honor of Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.

God without Parts: The Doctrine of Divine Simplicity

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:00:15 +0000

Recent trends in evangelical theology have called into question the traditional understanding of God’s being. For centuries, theologians have maintained that God is immutable and simple, that is, not composed of parts. Yet many recent philosophers of religion have found the doctrine to be untenable. Dr. James Dolezal argues for the importance of retaining divine simplicity while he discusses his dissertation in this fascinating look at the classic doctrine.

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church from 1945 to 1990

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 05:00:14 +0000

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church was formed in 1936 out of the modernist-fundamentalist controversy at a time when figures such as J. Gresham Machen were struggling with liberal influences at Princeton Seminary and the mainline Presbyterian Church. Much has been written on those early years, but a significant gap in the history persisted until recently. For the OPC’s 75th anniversary, the Committee for the Historian has commissioned two books. The first is a collection of essays edited by John R. Muether and Danny E. Olinger titled Confident of Better Things. The second is Between the Times: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Transition 1945-1990 written by Darryl. G. Hart. Hart’s book wonderfully chronicles the OPC during the transition beyond the first generation as the young Reformed denomination sought to find its identity in a changing evangelical world. Today Dr. Hart visits Christ the Center to speak about this important period in American Presbyterianism.

Jonathan Edwards’s Apologetic

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:00:55 +0000

The Christ the Center panel had the privilege of interviewing Rev. Dr. Robert Davis Smart, senior minister of Christ Church (PCA) in Bloomington, IL, and author of the recently released Jonathan Edwards’s Apologetic for the Great Awakening. This is an excellent study of Edwards’s moderate defense of the First Great Awakening over against the criticisms of the “Old Brick” and future quasi-Unitarian Charles Chauncy. Smart points out that the big question was: Was the awakening a work of the Holy Spirit? Dr. Smart also discusses the relevance of Edwards and revival for today.

Edwards on the Infinite Merit of Christ

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:00:07 +0000

Dr. Craig Biehl shares his work on Jonathan Edwards’ views pertaining to Christ’s merit. Biehl’s dissertation has been published as a book titled The Infinite Merit of Christ: The Glory of Christ’s Obedience in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards. Biehl and Jeff Waddington speak of the current state of Edwards scholarship and the need for a thorough analysis of Edwards own writings as opposed to studies treating primarily the secondary literature. What a thorough-going study yields is Edwards’s covenant theology and rich understanding of Christ’s work for his people.

As an added bonus toward the end of the episode, Dr. Biehl discusses a short booklet titled What’s in the Box?: The Unreasonable Faith of Atheism and Agnosticism.

The Ethics of Bankruptcy

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:00:29 +0000

Dr. David Skeel, professor of corporate law at UPenn, discusses Christians in legal studies in addition to the ethics of bankruptcy.

David Skeel is the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at University of Pennsylvania Law School and the author of The New Financial Deal: Understanding the Dodd-Frank Act and Its (Unintended) Consequences (Wiley, 2010), Icarus in the Boardroom (Oxford, 2005), and Debt’s Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America (Princeton, 2001), as well as numerous articles and other publications.

He has been interviewed on The News Hour, Nightline, Chris Matthews’ Hardball (MSNBC), National Public Radio, and Marketplace, among others, and has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and other newspapers and magazines. Skeel has twice received the Harvey Levin award for outstanding teaching, as selected by a vote of the graduating class, and has also received the University’s Lindback Award for distinguished teaching.

In addition to bankruptcy and corporate law, Skeel also writes on sovereign debt, Christianity and law, and poetry and the law, and is an elder at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:00:04 +0000

Brian Najapfour, pastor from the Philippines and a PhD student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, discusses his book Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer. The book, which Najapfour co-edited with Joel R. Beeke, is a wealth of material on the subject of Christian prayer. The writings of many Reformed and Puritan thinkers on the subject shine through to provide a rich understanding of this means of grace.

These Last Days

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:00:12 +0000

Richard D. Phillips and Gabriel Fluhrer visit to discuss their latest book These Last Days: A Christian View of History. Last year, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals hosted a series of conferences exploring a Christian view of history. Many of the conference addresses have been compiled into this great book.

Universalism and Deification

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:00:56 +0000

Jeff Waddington and Camden Bucey analyze popular formulations of universalism and look to related themes in theologies of deification, divinization, and theosis.

Christ in Leviticus

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 05:00:04 +0000

Douglas Clawson is Associate General Secretary for the Committee on Foreign Missions for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In this episode, Clawson speaks about the controlling theme of Leviticus as he connects the themes of holiness and cleanliness to our doctrine of sin and the manifold work of Jesus Christ.

The Relationship of Philosophy to Theology

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 05:00:49 +0000

For Reformed theologians it can be rather difficult to articulate the relationship between philosophy and theology. Is philosophy simply theology asking different questions? Is it a distinct discipline that can be differentiated from theological inquiry? Bob LaRocca drives a discussion pertaining to these difficult questions.

The Practice of Law and the Christian

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:00:28 +0000

The Christian’s relationship to the civil law is a perennial point of discussion. Nearly a year ago Christ the Center explored this issue in the Christ & Culture series. Today we take some of those theological themes and see how they apply in practice. James Sweet, former Chairman of Drinker Biddle & Reath, speaks about his career practicing law and how the reality of being a Christian comes to bear.

The Role of the Seminary in Today’s World

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:00:32 +0000

Christ the Center is honored to welcome seminary presidents Albert Mohler and Peter Lillback to discuss the role of the seminary in today’s world.

Dr. Albert Mohler serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Listeners may know Dr. Mohler from The Albert Mohler Program, a daily nationwide radio program. Dr. Mohler is the author of He is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World, Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheists, and Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth. He has appeared as a guest on a host of television and radio programs and we are very pleased to welcome him today.

Dr. Peter Lillback is President of Westminster Theological Seminary and he also serves as president of the Providence Forum, a non-profit organization whose mission is to re-instill and promote a Judeo-Chrsitian worldview within our culture. Dr. Lillback is the author of George Washington’s Sacred Fire and The Binding of God: Calvin’s Role in the Development of Covenant Theology.

Whose Christianity? Which Interpretation?

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:00:53 +0000

Nathan Shannon reviews Merold Westphal’s book Whose Christianity? Which Interpretation? Philosophical Hermeneutics for the Church.

The Clark/Van Til Controversy

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:00:51 +0000

K. Scott Oliphint explores the issue of divine and human knowledge as it relates to the Clark/Van Til controversy. Dr. Oliphint is Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary and is the author of several books on apologetics including Reasons for Faith and The Battle Belongs to the Lord.

Are All Van Tilians Equal?

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:00:55 +0000

In this brief episode, Camden Bucey discusses the Van Tilian interpretive tradition. Cornelius Van Til was an influential figure in the development of a distinctively Reformed apologetic. Camden Bucey discusses the issue of divergences in the Van Tilian interpretive tradition. In drawing out the insights of Greg Bahnsen, John Frame, Scott Oliphint, and Lane Tipton, Bucey provides a brief look into the current landscape of Van Tilian apologetics.

Books on Van Tilian apologetics

Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith, 4th ed., edited and annotated by K. Scott Oliphint
Cornelius Van Til with extended annotations by Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetic
K. Scott Oliphint, Reasons for Faith
Greg L. Bahnsen, Always Ready
John Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God
K. Scott Oliphint and Lane G. Tipton, editors, Revelation and Reason

Founders of Westminster Theological Seminary

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:43:18 +0000

Westminster Theological Seminary was founded in 1929 as a result of denominational conflict within the Presbyterian Church in the USA. J. Gresham Machen brought together several men in an attempt to carry on the rich Reformed tradition of Old Princeton. In this episode of Historia Ecclesia, Jonathan Brack provides of a sketch of three of those men: Paul Woolley, Ned B. Stonehouse, and Cornelius Van Til.

The Gospel Coalition

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:00:08 +0000

John Starke of The Gospel Coalition (TGC) visits the program to talk about their website, the TGC Reviews, the TGC conference, and how they see themselves in relation to the church at large.

Natural Theology

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:00:11 +0000

The idea of natural theology has been much debated. One’s understanding regarding the project of natural theology will inevitably impact substantially one’s apologetic methodology and epistemology.

K. Scott Oliphint and James Dolezal visit the Reformed Forum studio to discuss natural theology. Michael Sudduth’s book The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology (Burlington: Ashgate, 2009) will act as the foil of the discussion. The book is in the Ashgate “Philosophy of Religion” series edited by Paul Helm and Linda Zagzebski.

In The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology Sudduth identifies three main categories in the world of Reformed objections to natural theology: objections from the immediacy of our knowledge of God, the noetic effects of sin, and the logic of theistic arguments. While recognizing various forms of natural theology, Sudduth argues that none of the main Reformed objections are successful against the project of natural theology itself.

The foundation for Sudduth’s book was laid in his 1996 D.Phil. dissertation at the University of Oxford. In that work, Sudduth attempted “to synthesize the Reformed epistemology of Alvin Plantinga and features of the evidentialist tradition with its emphasis on natural theology – rational arguments for the existence and nature of God.” (Sudduth, Preface) The book is even titled after Plantinga’s 1980 paper of the same title.

New Media and the Technological Frontier

mail@reformedforum.org (Reformed Forum) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:00:08 +0000

The Church stands at the beginning of a new technological frontier. Along with great opportunities come new challenges. Today the panel discusses mobile applications, intellectual property, and exciting news regarding … Read more→