Articles

In the current Westminster Theological Journal (Vol 61 No 2, Fall 1999) Bob Letham, formerly of England but now a pastor with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Delaware, reviews Alister McGrath’s “J.I.Packer: A Biography” (Baker in the USA; Hodder and Stoughton in Great Britain). He makes many good points. He begins, “After Basil Hall’s ruthless […]

‘Essentially Evangelical’ is the name adopted by a group of evangelical ministers to a proposed organisation of individuals (and perhaps of churches) sharing certain convictions. The envisaged movement would not constitute a denomination with any form of centralised leadership, but would be a voluntary means of promoting co-operation. Other such groups already exist in British […]

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night Psalm 90:4 1. Recognise that there is more than one perspective on life. Perhaps the most basic thing here is that there is more than one way of seeing things. It is […]

The following report is published in the current edition of the American “Presbyterian & Reformed News” [Vol. 5 No.4. December 1999]. In October, controversial Anglican minister John R. W. Stott preached in chapel at Covenant Theological Seminary, the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) located in St Louis, and filled the pulpit […]

Almost ten years ago J.I. Packer’s collection of articles and essays on the Puritans appeared, entitled in Great Britain, “Among God’s Giants” (Kingsway Publications, 447 pages). Many of the papers had been given at the Puritan Conference, and there were a number of other articles, not readily available to us before the appearance of this […]

Mark Pickett of Brighton was a student in Aberystwyth twenty years ago and for many years he, his wife and three children have been living, studying and working in Nepal. He has just written a simple commentary on Genesis in one of the Indian languages, actually their first commentary on Genesis. I recently heard a […]

The Times (Monday January 24, 2000) printed an extract from Monica Furlong’s critical biography of George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury (“C of E. The State It’s In,” by Monica Furlong, to be published by Hodder and Stoughton on February 17, £18.99). At 17 years of age Londoner Carey professed conversion in an Anglican church. […]

There is no topic of greater significance than conversion. The great mass of human beings can be divided into two groups, the converted and the unconverted. Alas, we must say that most are unconverted. The question, “Are you converted?” is often asked in sermons. There is no more important and earnest question than, “Am I […]

Swanwick Conference Centre January 11-14. The opening session was chaired by David Kingdon. The first paper was given by Geoff Thomas. On January 6th was the 150th Anniversary of the conversion of Charles Haddon Spurgeon in 1850 in Artillery Street Primitive Methodist Church, Colchester and the theme of the paper was an examination of true […]

We are asking the question today “How do we assess hymns, and how do we assess hymn-books?” I hope to do three things. Firstly I want to make a general observation about singing in the New Testament. Then I want us to look at Paul’s instructions in Ephesians and Colossians. Then I want us think […]

INTRODUCTION AND APOLOGIA “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Never was that proverb more accurate than in this self-initiated enterprise. I have about four words of Dutch. I know about Holland via North America, not because of visits to or discussions with men who live in the Netherlands today. I once exchanged houses […]

There were some weaknesses in Abraham Kuyper. 1. Kuyper’s approach to the Bible was not uniformly helpful because his preaching was not that of the careful exegete. At times his sermons were more like lectures than expository addresses. He would, for example, seize on single words in a text like ‘rooted’ or ‘grounded’ and use […]

THE LIBERATION The shock waves of this action went through the country. They were at war, a nation conquered by the Nazis, and what was their General Assembly doing but virtually excommunicating one of their most famous men. Eight days later, on August 11, a meeting was convened in a church at The Hague to […]

There is also unease we have with Dr Klaas Schilder. These would be in these areas: 1. The polemics which finally resulted in the trial, the suspension from office, the schism and the new denomination. I am limited by not reading Dutch, but one unanswered question which comes across is that surely there was enough […]