Reformed Anglicans

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. ISBE: Genesis. Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 18-21. For Psalm 16.10, Prof. Calvin comments on the Messianic application. ISBE on Genesis: Prof. R. K. Harrison comments on the dissectionists-with-a-tude wherein the unity and continuity of particular Mosaic narratives entirely shattered the dissectionists’ hypothetical postulates that were indemonstrable and unvalidated, but embarrassing. For Genesis 1: Prof. Keil argues that the entire post-Mosaic history and literature is presupposed by, is illustrative of, and laced with the Torah…as root to tree...

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. ISBE: Genesis. Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, . For Psalm 16, Prof. Calvin comments on the security of the believer again, something that Cardinal Bellarmine said was the worst feature of Protestant theology, perserverence and preservation of the saints. Unigenitus, 1713, will declaim against such also. Rome infantilizes its inmates while Biblical theology empowers God's children. ISBE on Genesis: Prof. R. K. Harrison discusses duplicative narratives as common to the ancient mid-eastern world, wishing the GW-enthusiasts had done their homework ...

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. ISBE: Genesis. Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 14-17.  For Psalm 16, Prof. Calvin put the Sorbonnists (Parisian Papists) on ice in the refrigerator—to wit, the claim of the Sorbonnists that the faithful are ever in doubt as to their final perseverance, are made to tremble in uncertainty, a miserable condition, having no assurance. The Sorbonne had a "target" written on Calvin's back.  ISBE on Genesis: Prof. R. K. Harrison puts another torpedo amidship right below the waterline. Greek, Ugaritic, Babylonian, and Egyptian studies might have f...

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. ISBE: Genesis. Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 5-9. For Psalm 16, Prof. Calvin comments on firmness and fixity of David’s focus on God’s providence. The lesson pertains to the reader with similar fixity, thus breaking the masks and illusions of this world and breaking their allure and deceits of lying theism and suppressor-theism. ISBE on Genesis: Prof. R. K. Harrison further maims the man-parts and manhood of the desperate JEDP speculators and peculators. J + E, yet JE existed which the scholarly speculators tried to explain away their difficulty b...

June-July 1547. Wily Winchester continues stirring the pot answering old letters from Somerset. The frequent use of “I” and his constant exculpatory notes leads one to think: “Methinks thou dost protest too much, Steve.” Meanwhile, he’s holed up in the Winchester Palace whence he writes. Also, Dr. Cranmer has issued homilies for the Bishops to read. That’s the new issue for Wily. Wily’s persistent theme—let’s keep things the way they were in Henry’s time (“our late sovereign Majesty—“God rest his soul!”). Thus, the war is on long before the armies will gather on the field of battle during Mary’s time.

May 1547—more literary skirmishings go on in the back-and-forth of letters between Somerset and Wily Winchester. Wily notes how he was bold with Henry VIII and, behind his mask, Wily is advising Somerset of his exculpatory boldness towards him. This is less of a squabble and more of skirmishings of small weight or significance other than the tedium-factor.

ABJURATIONS. 1532. EPISCOPAL REGISTER OF LONDON. More names are listed from the episcopal register bring the story to Stokesley in 1532 and before any reliefs that might arise with Ann Boleyn’s ascendancy. Same issues: forbidden books (Wycliffe, Tyndale, Frith, Luther), clerical marriage, stone-and-block worship of statutes, sufficiency of Christ's merits, denial of Bread-Worship and Cannibalism for the rubber-neckers and gawkers, Frith, pilgrimages, and auricular confession. Clearly, the Reformation was underway and at the local level, street-level, long before Cranmer gains visibility. Of note, Myles Coverdale was a "marked" man in/around the London Prelate's Palace.

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. ISBE: Genesis. Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 1-4. For Psalm 16, Prof. Calvin notes that God invites the reprobates and the elect to His good graces. But, he comments on the manglers who bray about the free will in the choosing or rejecting God’s grace—that “basely mangle” that grace, revealing their “ignorance and impiety.” The words in quotes are ones that recur frequently with Messieur Jean. ISBE on Genesis: Prof. R. K. Harrison puts ordnance on Graff-Wellhausen. He cites Prof. Robert Dick Wilson of old Princeton, to wit, his analysis of the Kor...

1531-1533. The table of abjured persons is continued from the episcopal registry—names given, 32ff. Bizarre: contra images, pilgrimages, Thomas Becket, the supper-issue, imported books, Luther, Oecolampadius, Melancthon, auricular confession, justification and more. Lollardy or some variants of it were alive. This is deck-plate or street-level action here, not the Prelates in their lordly episcopal palaces. Or, hiding without the names. Never mind the White Horse Inn at Cambridge which gets wide reportage. The Reformation as told here was at the street-level with clear insights given by rank-and-file Churchmen. God's Spirit was working in His people contra: the Romish Prelates and Princes.

1528-1533. A Table of certain Persons abjured within the Diocese of to London, under Bishop Stokesley with the Articles alleged against them, 26ff. Here’s the general sense of them, showing either Lollardy and/or Lutheran influence was long at work in the 1520s. Imprimis, for having and dispersing abroad sundry books of Martin Luther’s others; as also for translating into the English tongue, certain chapters of the work of Luther, ‘De Bonis Operibus:’as also, certain chapters of a certain book called ‘Piae Predicationes,’ wherein divers works of Luther be comprehended. Item, For affirming and believing that faith only, without good works, will bring a man to heaven. Item, That men be not bound to observe the constitutions made by the Church. Item, That we should pray to God only, and to no saints. Item, That christian men ought to worship God only, and no saints. Item, That pilgrimages be not profitable for man's soul, and should not be used. Item, That we should not ...

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. ISBE: Genesis. Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 196. For Psalm 16, Prof. Calvin discusses the full contentment of the believer whose mind is stayed on God. ISBE on Genesis: Prof. Harrison notes the subjectivistic criteria of older sources was never applied to the Enuma Elish document. Had that been done, they would have found as many sources as there were deities. He ditches the Names-argument, Elohim and Jehovah for their respective sources. Never mind that one name appears allegedly in another source and vice versa. Yet, this doesn’t fall easily to...

Selim, the Eleventh Emperor or the Turks, is poisoned by his son, Solyman, the Twelfth Emperor or the Turks. It’s a story of brutality and internecine wars, including Syria and Egypt, bringing the story down to 1521. Meanwhile, Belgrade falls to Solyman and the Pope is concerned about the “Luther Problem” in Germany. Soon enough after relating the Turkish history, Foxe will shortly backtrack to 1500 and the story in England. England itself has come off a bloody Civil War itself with the Tudors coming to the throne.

Bajazet II, the Tenth Emperor of the Turks, son of Mahomet II, continues the Turkish rampages around the eastern Mediterranean: the Greek islands, Rhodes notably, Lesbos and other commercial centers, Peloponnesus, eastern Italy for a while, and even some towns in Asia Minor. Meanwhile, some other Median Persians begin to encroach on Asia Minor from the east which ties up Bajazet and takes his blood-thirty and proud eyes off southern Europe. Bloodbath is not an overstatement. And religion is not afar off in these tumults. At one point, Pope Alexander VI has to flee Rome. This brings one down to about 1500 AD. As an aside, Greeks flee to the West bringing valuable manuscripts which some attribute to the Renaissance of interest in Graeco-Roman literature, but that’s for another chapter and day.  

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. ISBE: Genesis. Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 195. For Psalm 16, Prof. Calvin on God as our all-Sufficient inheritance and the only portion of our inheritance. ISBE on Genesis: Prof. Harrison concludes his general summary of JEDP dissectionists: the microcosm of evolutionary, positivistic, rationalistic, and doctrinaire intellectual movements of 19th century Europe, aggravated by inadequate methodologies. For Genesis 1: Prof. Keil notes that God trained Israel by word, promises and actions the Messiah and Serpent-Bruiser to come. He gave them prophets ...

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. ISBE: Genesis. Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 194. For Psalm 16, Prof. Calvin in an aside throws some theological stones at the heads of Nicodemites, an historical allusion to troubled French Huguenots forced to attend Papist services, but hide their faith for fear of their lives. These “Nicodemites” was not an easy subject for Frenchmen more widely. This includes Calvin himself, but, here, he tosses some stones where, at other places, he’s more sympathetic to the plights. ISBE on Genesis: as usual, Dr. Harrison gives his handy summary of the skept...

Mahomet II, the Ninth Emperor of the Turks. This Mahomet utterly despoliates, destroys and subjugates Constantinople in 1453, including the mocking despoliation of Hagia Sophia for its iconodulatry. A nearby city, Pera, is spared, but later despoiled. Mahomet II moves up the Danube in an effort to take Belgrade, but is repulsed.

In the modern period, one reads of Wesley’s infusion of prevenient grace that Pelagianizes and enables all to merit their own salvation, Immanuel Kant, Freddie Schleiermacher, Sorry Kierkegarrd, non-Paul Tillach, and Jerk Moltmann essentially eliminated the topic or revised it according to their good pleasures. Fred reconfigured sin to be absence of God-consciousness. Kierkegaard felt sin was self-despair. Tillach double-talked with existentialism while Jerk believed sin was hopelessness. Wally Rauschenbush turned to sociology disdaining the fall, Jesus and biblical writers and wanting a social consciousness—fixing sin “as selfishness” Charles Hodge and Bavinck, the better trained men, retained the historic, exegetical and confessional posture. Millie Erickson, the Baptist from Minnesota, fell off the bandwagon and mortally hit his head on the pavement. We will not bother Millie. Cornelius Platinga gave way to profuse metaphors to explain sin as an affront to God. Wesley, sounding po...

LECTIONS. John Calvin: Psalms. ISBE: “Genesis.” Keil: Genesis. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. ISBE: Matthew. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Romans: Prof. Hodge. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Prof. Hodge: Systematic Theology. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 193. For Psalm 16, Prof. Calvin is not doing well in this section. While the Institutes are crystal clear and lucid, there’s some turgidity in the Psalms. But, like Augustine, one sees the love of Scriptures without question. ISBE on Genesis: Dr. Harrison discusses the JEDP speculators, practitioners of source-expansionism, textual emendators to avoid embarrassments, invokers of anonymous redactors, revisionist historians restructuring history, enchanters of myth, legend and folklore, and self-indulgent spe...