Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Westminster Seminary California: "Unity and Division"

In the 1960s and '70s there was considerable debate concerning the doctrine of the church in the United Kingdom. It was an agonizing and perplexing time, and recent events have reminded me of it.

For almost a century now a kind of Ecumenism has been in the air. Earnest attempts have been made towards bringing denominations together in full communion with each other, notwithstanding the interruptions and alienation caused by two world wars. Although this has not met with success (yet) it has served to highlight how deeply the dividedness of the visible church runs. It has also (but inadvertently) so publicized the presence of grievous error in the church that many who adhered to the truth about Christ and his work as laid down in apostolic scripture were obliged to examine their ecclesiastical allegiance. Upholding the principle of semper reformanda they either distanced themselves from involvement in the World Council of Churches, forming new associations, or they strove to recall their denominations to paths that had been forsaken. Sad to say, the degree of difficulty involved in doing this has been greatly increased because churches that call themselves "evangelical" minimize the importance of doctrinal truth and now groups are "emerging" from that diffuse and incoherent movement that are willing to embrace anything religious.

For more, see:
Westminster Seminary California

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