June 27, 2021 by John Fonville
Richard Sibbes discussing the Christ-centered focus of all the Scriptures....
February 28, 2020 by John Fonville
Richard Sibbes: The Glory of God is Greatest in the Gospel...
February 25, 2020 by John Fonville
Michael Horton on what the third use of the law can and cannot do....
February 25, 2020 by John Fonville
Gerald Bray: "'What would Jesus do?’ seems like an innocent question to ask, but it is impossible to answer literally and does not reflect the teaching of the New Testament. ...
February 24, 2020 by John Fonville
The late 16th century Anglican pastor/theologian, William Perkins, on seven differences between the law and gospel....
February 21, 2020 by John Fonville
No Creed But The Bible?- Carl Trueman on the unbiblical creedal statement, "The bible is our only creed and our only confession."...
February 20, 2020 by John Fonville
Philip Schaff: The 39 Articles are found in every collection of Reformed confessions....
November 19, 2015 by John Fonville
A review of David Platt's book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream....
November 10, 2015 by John Fonville
George Hunsinger shows how Jonathan Edwards crosses the fine line laid down by the Reformation concerning justification sola fide. Edwards taught that works are not simply external evidence that faith exists. Rather, works are necessary to the efficacy of faith. Works, as the external expression of faith, play a role in justification....
May 15, 2023 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: worship, Prayer, Thomas Cranmer, Book of Common Prayer, Protestant Reformation, Reformation liturgies, praying, prewritten prayer, spontaneous prayer, Liturgy
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? ...
Keep ReadingMarch 31, 2023 by John Fonville | Category: Anglicanism | Tags: sacraments, Liturgy, Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Formularies, Protestant Reformation, Richard Hooker, Oxford movement, GAFCON Australasia 2022, Mark Earngey, Moore Theological College, Anglican identity, Via Media, Three-legged Stool, Canterbury Tales, Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, Book of Homilies, Ordinal, John Keble, Edward Pusey, John Henry Newman, Tracts for the Times, Lambeth Conference, Reformation Anglicanism
Dr. Mark Earngey, head of Church History and Christian Doctrine at Moore Theological College, recently spoke at GAFCON Australasia 2022 answering the question, "What is an authentic approach to Anglican identity?"...
Keep ReadingAugust 25, 2022 by John Fonville | Category: German Pietism | Tags: evangelicalism, john calvin, martin luther, Anglican church, Protestant Reformation, German pietism, Douglas Shantz, pietist studies, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Reformation paradigm, Renewal paradigm, Evangelical paradigm, English Methodism, justification, sola fide, sacraments, Conversion, Liturgy, Self-examination, church, new birth, head knowledge, heart knowledge
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 o...
Keep ReadingAugust 20, 2022 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: gospel, worship, martin luther, Liturgy, German Mass 1526, Protestant Reformation, liturgical reformation, Word and Sacrament
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....
Keep ReadingOctober 25, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: Holy Communion, confession of sin, confession of sins, general confession, Reformation Anglicanism, 1552 Book of Common Prayer, 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Morning & Evening Prayer, divine service, auricular confession, priestly absolution, Liturgy
From 1552 onward, the striking thing about the daily services [in the Book of Common Prayer) was the prominent place given to the general confession of sins in corporate worship....
Keep ReadingOctober 5, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: Liturgist, Liturgy, Reformation Anglicanism, Protestant Reformation, Thomas Cranmer, public reading of Scripture, Protestant Reformers, English Reformation, Reformation Sunday
A distinctive feature of Thomas Cranmer's reforms of the worship of the English church was the prominent place he gave to the extensive reading of Scripture. ...
Keep ReadingSeptember 16, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: worship, Book of Common Prayer, Thomas Cranmer, Liturgy, Anglican piety, Reformation Sunday, Protestant Reformation, opus Dei (God's Work), Gratitude, grace
September 16, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: Thomas Cranmer, Reformation, Liturgy, lex orandi lex credendi, Reformation Anglican Worship, Reformation Anglican, lex credendi lex orandi
Thomas Cranmer was a theological liturgist, which means the Reformer possessed a set of theological convictions that he hoped to express through his liturgy. These theological convictions were a clear step away from the worship of the medieval Catholic Church and the theological convictions that it represented....
Keep ReadingOctober 31, 2019 by John Fonville | Tags: Liturgy, Reformation, corporate worship, Book of Common Prayer, Liturgical, extemporaneous prayer, precomposed prayers
There is no such thing as a “non-liturgical church.” The choice is not between liturgy or no liturgy, but between having an agreed-upon, well-thought-out liturgy or leaving things to the spur of the moment and the discretion of the leader. As one wag has rightly observed, if you think “organized religion” is bad, try disorganized religion....
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