Reformed Anglicans

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Medieval Christianity and Swiss Reformation. Dr. Philip Schaff: Creeds. Westminster Shorter Catechism, 61-70. Prof. Calvin takes us to the Court Room where the Divine Judge teeth-smashes the faces of nations. It's a sobering and strengthening Psalm, a prayer and Psalm that will not be heard but in Psalm-singing Reformed congregations. The CoE and the American cub scouts have excised this Psalm while in their soft marshmellow-castles and while playing in their theological playpens. An awful insult against the Majesty and glory of the Just Judge. One of the factors in why the historic and exegetical doctrine of the atonement has been replaced by Pelagian do-gooding and virtue-signalling. Prof. Keil has Joshua in the c...

Cathedrals are called the “Bible in stone” with many arising in Northern and Western Europe between 1150 and 1550; there were Norman and then there was Gothic; the best examples of Gothic were built within a 100-mile radius of Paris. If not a Cathedral, then a parish—center for baptism, confirmation, teaching, marriage and burial in the churchly cemetery. With all the conflicts, confusions, contradictions and failures within the Church from 590-1305, it yet produced Bede, Alcuin, Anselm and others, mitigated the issues of slavery, elevated marriage, provided hospitality, advanced and preserved learning, and provided a unifying and rallying point of social, political, cultural and theological coherence.

SPEAKING OF THE 1%-ers WHILE OVERLOOKING THE 99%-ers, we proceed. Anselm (1033-1109), born in northern Italy, serving as Abbot of Bec and later as Canterbury’s Chief Leader, wrote the Monologium, Proslogium, and Cur Deus Homo. Cairn calls his view of the atonement a “theory,” being both commercial and judicial, replacing the theory of a payment to the Devil. Cairn’s word “theory” begs more questions and he offers no answers. Abelard (1079-1142), a canon at the Notre Dame and UofP lecturer, lover of Heloise who experienced a retaliatory, testicular exfiltration (gonadectomy), loser to Bernard of Clairveaux, moderate realist, emphasizer of individual (versus organizations), proponent of intelligo ut credam, sponsor of the moral theory of the atonement, retired. He wrote Sic et Non with 158 propositions showing the conflicts and contradictions of earlier writers. So much for Lerin’s canon, often cited by some.  Gratian’s Decretum became an important legal textbook.  Peter Lombard...

Medieval Learning and Worship. The scholastics were varied in this period. Cairns points to Aristotle, Maimonides, and Alexander of Hales. Aristotle’s logic was influential, especially with the Dominican Aquinas. There was realists, moderate realists and nominalists. Anselm was a realist. Abelard, opposed by Anselm and Bernard, was a moderate realist. Roscellinus and Occam were nominalists. Cairns asserts that nominalists focused on individuals and were forerunners of empiricists, positivists and pragmatists. Nominalism versus realism dominated between 1050 and 1150 with the realism of Anselm and Bernard prevailing. Moderate realism carried the day between 1150 and 1300 with Aquinas prevailing. After 1350, nominalism took the lead. Anselm (1033-1109), born in northern Italy, serving as Abbot of Bec and later as Canterbury’s Chief Leader, wrote the Monologium, Proslogium, and Cur Deus Homo. Cairn calls his view of the atonement a “theory,” being both commercial and judicial, replacing...

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Medieval Christianity and Swiss Reformation. Dr. Philip Schaff: Creeds. Westminster Shorter Catechism, 31-40. Prof. Calvin comments on David's rehearsal of past testimonies (hence, the importance of history in redemptive and larger historical discourse) but also the thanksgiving for the discomfitures and defeats of God's enemies. A pattern for prayer is before David's descendants (us). Prof. Keil continues the exposition of Joshua's forensic investigation into the secondary cause/causes of the discomfiture at Ai. Soon enough, Achan will be identified as the criminal trespassing against the LORD of the covenant. Prof. Henry does the wrap-up on the intro to Isaiah, suggesting that Isaiah was of royal blo...

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Medieval Christianity and Swiss Reformation. Dr. Philip Schaff: Creeds. Westminster Shorter Catechism, 31-40. Prof. Calvin begins his work on Psalm 9, discussing the superscription, concluding that it's a tune or musical indicator. Prof. Keil is hovering over Joshua's lamentation and prayer regarding the loss at Ai, a small city, compared to Jericho. How could that happen? Joshua fears that the Name of the LORD will be mocked. Prof. Henry has ended his lengthy tour about "academic centers" or "the school of the prophets." Exquisite survey by this old, English Presbyterian who suffered at the hands of the Anglican Imperialists with their "high pride." Prof. Jamiesson covers Ignati...

Additional Note A, ON THE CANON, 106-111. The varied sacramentaries are noted and discussed--Ambrose’s (4th century), Leo’s (5th), Gelasius’s (5th) and Gregory’s (late 6th century). The Celts had their own services for at least 300 years before Augustine the Lesser and his Roman cohorts arrived in Kent. Originally, the Eucharistic was a “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” (the Eucharist, giving thanks), a memorial of the redemption by Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. They "pled the merits of Christ." That is, remarkably distant from the medievalist concept. Slowly and surely, the idea of “sacrifice” obtains a “pay-back” sense. I’m offering this, Lord, not just in memorial of Thy Son's redemption, but in the hopes of a pay-back (my words). In time, it slips towards a “propitiatory” sacrifice. That gets a steroidal lift from Aquinas. The bird that was hatched at Lateran Council 4 in 1215 will display its full, preening, and parading plumage in Trent, like a strut...