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....
May 5, 2023 by John Fonville | Category: Gospel-centered Hermeneutic | Tags: gospel, law and gospel, faith, good works, moralism, martin luther, Jesus as example, gospel-centered hermeneutic, Jesus as Gift, grace and gratitude, Reformation theology
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)....
Keep ReadingMarch 31, 2023 by John Fonville | Category: Holy Week | Tags: 1662 BCP, 1662 BCP IE, Holy Week, 1662 BCP Lectionary, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Even, Easter Day, Reformation Anglicanism
Henry Jansma has written a helpful, succinct explanation of the 1662 BCP Holy Week Lectionary. Jansma writes, "If you've never followed holy week in the 1662 BCP, you are in for an incredible experience--so many different angles from which to see our Savior's death for us." The whole week is focused on the cross culminating in the resurrection....
Keep ReadingMarch 31, 2023 by John Fonville | Category: Morning and Evening Prayer | Tags: Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Family Worship, An English Prayer Book, Daily Office, Reformation Anglicanism
An abbreviated version of Family Morning and Evening Prayer adapted from An English Prayer Book (The Church Society, 1994) and The 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International Edition (IVP Academic 2021)....
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 ReadingMarch 31, 2023 by John Fonville | Category: 1662 BCP | Tags: sacraments, Sacrifice, Holy Communion, altar, table, Mass, sacerdotalism, 1662 BCP, Reformation Anglicanism, Anglican Foundations
Instead of using the word "altar," the 1662 BCP uses the word, "Table." The word, "sacrifice" is used carefully....
Keep ReadingMarch 31, 2023 by John Fonville | Category: Creeds and Confessions | Tags: christian life, Anglican Formularies, Reformed confession, J.I. Packer, Thirty-Nine Articles (1571), Reformation confessions, Anglican confession of faith, Reformation Anglicanism
J.I. Packer on the Thirty-Nine Articles for the living of your life as a Christian....
Keep ReadingMarch 31, 2023 by John Fonville | Category: A Commination | Tags: Book of Common Prayer, Commination, Lent, Ash Wednesday, judgment, Wrath, repentance, law, confession of sin, Mercy, forgiveness, Reformation Anglicanism
A Commination or denouncing of God’s anger and judgements against sinners with certain prayers to be used on the first day of Lent and at other times as the ordinary shall appoint....
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 ReadingJuly 28, 2022 by John Fonville | Category: Lord's Supper | Tags: martin luther, sacraments, means of grace, Lord's Supper, Eucharist, Holy Communion, Visible Gospel, worthy reception, German Mass, Sacrament of the Altar