June 12, 2024 by John Fonville
Carl Trueman clarifies a common misconception that is popular among Evangelicals concerning the Protestant Reformation doctrine of sola scriptura....
July 26, 2023 by John Fonville
J.C. Ryle answers the common arguments in favor of “Baptismal Regeneration,” which are based on the Baptismal Service of the Prayer-book. ...
July 14, 2023 by John Fonville
J.V. Fesko on the sacraments as visible words- a visible proclamation of the gospel....
July 13, 2023 by John Fonville
J.V. Fesko on the Word of God as the chief means of grace. ...
July 7, 2023 by John Fonville
Martin Davie explains from the homily, ‘Of Prayer’ in the Second Book of Homilies, how the English Reformers taught that the only true purgatory is the death of Christ and no other purgation is either necessary or possible....
May 15, 2023 by John Fonville
Why Use Written Prayers?- Why does your church use prewritten prayers in your service? Isn't this a dry, rote, unthinking, way for the church to pray and worship? Don't pre-written prayers stifle the Spirit and hinder freedom and promote mechanical, vain repetition? Aren't spontaneous prayers more genuine and heartfelt than prewritten prayers? ...
May 5, 2023 by John Fonville
This writing of Martin Luther is from the introduction to his “Postils” (a group of model sermons which he wrote while at the Wartburg Castle). This brief foreword is full of comfort and good news. In it, Luther sets forth insightful instruction on how to read the Gospels (and the entirety of Scripture- the OT and NT)....
August 25, 2022 by John Fonville
My argument is this: By the year 1700, Protestant Christianity had begun developing significantly new practices and understandings of the Christian faith that focused upon Christian renewal, conversion, new birth and the coming millennial kingdom. These new practices and understandings were a dramatic departure not only from Roman Catholic Christianity, but also from the original Reformation convictions of Martin Luther and John Calvin some one hundred and fifty years earlier. Evangelical Christianity, of the free church variety especially, is the contemporary expression of this third form of Christianity. Probably most Evangelicals are unaware that their Christian experience and piety are far removed from Reformation Protestant beginnings. Evangelicals would do well to recover their lost heritage....
August 20, 2022 by John Fonville
Martin Luther's primary concern when constructing the German mass and order of the liturgy in 1526 was that the gospel be proclaimed for the people in their context....
July 28, 2022 by John Fonville
Martin Luther on the worthy reception of the Lord's Supper....
February 11, 2026 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: means of grace, Absolution, Eucharist, corporate worship, Book of Common Prayer, confession of sin, Reformation Anglicanism, 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Anglican liturgy, Anglican Worship, liturgical worship, Johann Kurtz, Noble Rituals, First Things, historic Christianity, church year, Christian formation, embodied liturgy, resurrection hope, gospel-centered worship, Discipleship
Drawing on Johann Kurtz’s “Noble Rituals” in First Things, this article argues that the weekly rhythms of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer are not empty routines but formative, embodied rituals that shape Christian identity over a lifetime—grounding believers in repentance, assurance, and the sure hope of the resurrection....
Keep ReadingNovember 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: Eucharist, Book of Common Prayer, 1662 BCP, Post-Communion Prayer, grace and gratitude, Reformation theology, Lord’s Supper, Prayer of Oblation, Anglican liturgy, Trinitarian prayer, Reformation Anglicanism, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
This reflection explores the Prayer After Communion in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (often called the Prayer of Oblation). Gospel-shaped and Trinitarian, the prayer moves from thanksgiving to Christ’s merits, to self-offering, grace, humility, and doxology. It beautifully embodies the gospel of grace and gratitude: grace first, gratitude second....
Keep Reading