Dr. Cornelius Van Til of Westminster Theological Seminary reached the noble age of eighty on May 3. And on July 24 his devoted wife of fifty years, Bella Klooster Van Til, joined him at eighty! The editor asked me to write a short article to commemorate this landmark in the lives of my influential uncle […]
“Karl Barth is incontestably the greatest figure in modem theology since Schleiermacher, occupying an honored position among the great elite of the church—Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin.”1) Thus writes T. F. Torrance of Scotland, an ardent admirer of Karl Barth. An eminent French writer, C. Casalis, bypasses Schleiermaeher and asserts that “not since Luther […]
In the light of the current ecumenical popularity of the Heidelberg Catechism, it is instructive to observe that when it was first published Roman Catholics as well as Lutherans vigorously attacked it. That opposition continued for a long time. Roman Catholic opposition to anything Protestant was understandable in the age of the Reformation as well as […]
The four-hundredth anniversary of the most widely used Reformed catechism has been celebrated recently. The Heidelberg Catechism was commissioned by Frederick III, elector of the Palatinate, and published by him on January 19, 1563. Its chief authors were Zacharias Ursinus, a twenty-eight year old professor of theology at the University of Heidelberg, and Caspar Olevianus, a […]
“This is the golden age of theology. It cannot rise higher; because we have come so far as to sit in judgment on all doctors of the church, and test them by the judgment of the apostles and prophets.” In these words from his Table Talk, Luther indicates that the Reformation was also the reformation of […]
The Christmas message is beautifully simple, yet wonderfully profound. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The simplicity of this good news can be grasped by a child. And yet its profound meaning and significance stagger the […]
Dear Friends: Some of you have asked me the reasons for my decision to spend this sabbatical year at Basel, Switzerland. As a city Basel has many features which make it an ideal place to spend a year of study. In urging someone to accept an appointment to the University of Basel, the 16th century […]
Basel, Switzerland Dear Friends: I have been asked to write an occasional letter for TORCH AND TRUMPET concerning my sabbatical year experiences in Basel. Let me begin by telling you of an interesting Calvin Jubilee which I attended on September 19 to 21 at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Germany. Today Frankfurt is a very modern city, the down-town section almost […]
THE LEADER OF THEOLOGIANS It was Luther’s great assistant in the Reformation, Philip MeIanchthon, himself an able teacher and theologian, who called Calvin The Theologian. Another of Calvin’s contemporaries, the learned Joseph Scaliger (1520–1600), echoed Melanchthon’s sentiment when he said: “Calvin stands alone among the theologians.” Speaking of Calvin’s Institutes, a sixteenth century Hungarian reformer said […]
The Synod of the Christian Reformed Church, which met in Kalamazoo from June 18 to July 8, 1924, will always be remembered for its famous three points—the decisions on common grace. However, the Synod of 1924 was not a common synod. It was the Synod which rejected an overture from Classis Hackensack to print the Acts […]