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....
July 27, 2022 by John Fonville
Infant baptism sets Christian discipleship from birth within a covenant context, which means means to understand discipleship as something connected to the ordinary means of God’s grace and the routine work of the church....
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....
November 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Theology | Tags: gospel, Eucharist, Holy Communion, faith alone, grace alone, Thomas Cranmer, Book of Common Prayer, comfortable words, Anglican, Reformation Day, Reformation Anglicanism, English Reformation, Oxford Martyrs, Ashley Null, Reformation theology, Lord’s Supper, Church History, Martyrdom, All Saints Day, Archbishop of Canterbury, Real Presence, Spiritual Presence, Edward VI, Stephen Gardiner, Communion of Saints, Paramout Church, Theology of the Sacrament, Cranmer Doctrine, Anglican Worship, Sacrament of Faith, Cranmer’s Defence, Cranmer's Martyrdom, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
On this Reformation Day—the Eve of All Saints’ Day—we remember Thomas Cranmer, the English Reformer and Archbishop of Canterbury who gave the Church the Book of Common Prayer and a gospel-centered vision of the Lord’s Supper. Cranmer taught that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist—not in the bread and wine themselves, but spiritually to the faith of believer...
Keep ReadingNovember 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Theology | Tags: Thomas Cranmer, Anglican Formularies, Reformation Anglicanism, 1662 Book of Common Prayer, All Saints Day, Communion of Saints, Articles of Religion, Beatitudes, Revelation 7, Apostles Creed, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
All Saints’ Day is not a celebration of human achievement but of divine grace—the communion of sinners redeemed and united in Christ. Drawing on the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, this reflection explores how the Reformers retained and reformed the feast, freeing it from superstition and re-centering it on the grace of God in the risen Lord who alone is our Mediator and t...
Keep ReadingJuly 18, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Theology | Tags: sola scriptura, gospel-centered, Liturgy, Reformation, Protestant worship, Thomas Cranmer, Reformers, reformed theology, superstition, Anglican, Reformation Anglicanism, Church of England, English Reformation, Cranmer, Church Ceremonies, Church History, Worship Reform, Liturgical Practices, Ceremony, Church Edification, Christian Festivals, Gospel Clarity, Christ-Centered Worship, Justification by Faith, Gospel Proclamation, Biblical Worship, Gospel Reformation, Worship and the Gospel, Ceremonies and the Gospel, Historic Anglicanism
A concise summary of Thomas Cranmer’s reasoning for removing ceremonies that obscured the gospel or burdened consciences, while retaining those that fostered faith, order, and clarity in worship....
Keep ReadingMay 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 ReadingOctober 27, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Protestant Reformation | Tags: justification, john calvin, martin luther, sola fide, sola gratia, sola scriptura, soli deo gloria, Thomas Cranmer, collect, Protestant Reformation, Reformation Sunday, solo Christo, Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley
A collect for Reformation Sunday....
Keep ReadingOctober 26, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Justification | Tags: justification, sola fide, solus christus, sola gratia, Thomas Cranmer, Protestant Reformation, catholic, catholicity
In his homily, A Sermon of the Salvation of Mankind, Thomas Cranmer quotes from many scholars and sources to convince us of the catholicity or universality of justification sola fide....
Keep ReadingOctober 12, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Justification | Tags: faith alone, sola fide, justification, 5 Solas, English Reformers, Thomas Cranmer, Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Homilies, catholic faith
According to the Thirty-nine Articles, the Homily of Salvation or Homily of Justification outlines “a most wholesome doctrine”, that “we are justified by Faith only”. Lee Gatiss...
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: Protestant Reformation, Rome, 1517, John Hooper, Heinrich Bullinger, Papists, Counter Reformation, radical Reformation, Anabaptists, Thirty Nine Articles, Protestant confessions, Thomas Cranmer, English Reformers
The Protestant Reformation was waged on two fronts: the errors of Rome and the errors of the radical Reformation (i.e., so-called Anabaptists)....
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