Category: church history
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Church history
There was a man: Ulrich Zwingli
“Many men are like unto sausages: Whatever you stuff them with, that they will bear in them.” – Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will…
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Church historyMarcion: a heretic we need to know
When one asks the most influential thinkers in the modern evangelical church are, one might find names such as Jim Packer, John Stott, and Don…
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Adult biographies10 great Christian biographies
A reason to read Christian biographies is to see and be encouraged by what God has done in other people’s lives. They’re a way to…
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AssortedSanta Claus at Nicea
As we continue to celebrate Advent, we need to deal with a competing story. But it would probably be more accurate to say that we…
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Church historyCan two denominations become one? What are the state of CanRC and URC unity talks?
This is an overview of an episode of Lucas Holtvlüwer and Tyler Vanderwoude’s Real Talk, a biweekly podcast under the Reformed Perspective umbrella. It features…
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Church historyWhy and how the Nicene Creed came to be
The word “orthodoxy” comes from the Greek orthos which means right, true, or straight, and doxa which is praise, or opinion. Therefore, orthodoxy is having…
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Church historyHow and why the Apostles’ Creed came to be
The Apostles’ Creed, as we possess it today, was not the first formally adopted or crafted creed. That honor belongs to the Nicene Creed. However,…
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Church historyWhen they thought the Apostles had written their creed…
It is interesting to note that there has long been a belief that the Apostles’ Creed was written by the apostles of Christ on or…
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Adult biographiesRadiant: Fifty remarkable women in Church history
by Richard M. Hannula 330 pages / 2015 Rating: GOOD/Great/Give I found this book very interesting and met a lot of fascinating women. Professor Eta Linnemann…
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Church historyThe necessity of creeds and confessions
Many years ago, ten Christian men got together and decided to start a church. For several weeks they met together every evening to discuss what…
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Church historyThe Defenestration of Prague
You can download or listen to the podcast version (5 minutes) here. ***** Today we’re going to look at a small event that had big consequences….
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Amazing stories from times past30 days of April
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die… ****…
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Church historyJenny Geddes: the Reformer who let fly…
Our story is about what should have been a small thing. It wasn’t such an unusual thing. You hear about it from time to time….
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Church historyWhen the Word of God is not preached
Half-truths, little tidbits of information used for one’s own interpretation and advantage, can be harmful, even damnable. Zeal without knowledge can be destructive, extremely destructive….
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Church historyOriginal Sin: Luther’s other life-changing doctrine
Every Reformation Day we remember how God used Luther to teach the Church that we are justified by faith alone, not by what we do. But often…
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Church historyA 2,000 year history of Christian pro-life activity
The pro-life movement began in the early 1970s as a result of the legalization of abortion in Britain (1967), Canada (1969), the USA (1973) and…
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AssortedHenry VIII’s reformation, Big Bird, and the end coming to us all
Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh or “Come, sweet death, come, blessed rest” is a melody Johann Sebastian Bach composed in the 1700s. Through this wonderfully…
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Church historyRahab the whore…mother of Christ
In the house where one pays for love there arrived two young customers who had a different kind of business on their minds. They were engaged in…
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Church historyRome’s Catacombs art was created to encourage fellow Christians
Imagine a vast, underground series of zigzagging passageways covering an area several miles in length, 590 acres in size. Ponder the amount of work that…
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Church historyThe Queen on our coins testifies to Canada’s Christian roots
If you look at the back of any Canadian coin you will see an image of Queen Elizabeth II. Someone might consider that to be…
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Church historyMacarius: great works vs. grace
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because…
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Church historyReport of a meeting which was never held
What I am going to tell you is pure fantasy, but it might be useful to pause a moment because it can teach us something….
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Church historyKuyper’s legacy: for better and for worse
Abraham Kuyper left behind a lasting legacy. There is, most notably, his indispensable role in the Doleantie of 1886, in which he led an exodus…
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Church historyAbraham Kuyper: larger than life
After John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper is probably the figure who looms largest in our Reformed church history. In some ways, in his lifetime he was…
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Church historyOn the shoulders of giants: how church history helps
Czeslaw Milosz, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature, remarked in his acceptance speech in Stockholm that our age is characterized by a “refusal…
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Church historyWhat sort of man was John Calvin? We can get a feel for him from his letters
It started with a conversation discussing various matters, when the subject of John Calvin came up. I was absolutely flabbergasted when my interlocutor said that…
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Adult non-fictionWhat God has done in Korea
Christianity is originally an Asian religion. It can seem strange to think of Christianity that way now because currently, Christianity has less presence in Asia…