Finney, the Burned-Over District, and a Day in Northeast Ohio

I was in Oberlin, Ohio recently. Every once in a blue moon, we take a trip over to Cleveland, and I've been meaning to do the little side-trip over to Oberlin for years. I'm not fan of Charles Finney but (like him or not) his influence on American Church history has been nothing less than profound.

John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886)

If you're ever near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, it's worth taking a few minutes to drive through the charming little village of Mercersburg. The area is best known for its associations with James Buchanan who was born nearby, but for the German Reformed, it was a center of both secular and spiritual education in the 19th century.

A Misrepresentation of Western Art

https://cne.news/article/4938-how-arts-draw-europe-back-to-paganism

This article struck me as rather strange. In many respects I can resonate with Placentino's concerns about pagan revival in connection with 18th and 19th century Romanticism, but at the same time I found his arguments wanting and often guilty of begging the question.

A PCA Take on Paedocommunion

https://gospelreformation.net/dear-pastor-may-my-child-take-the-lords-supper/

Spinnenweber is to be commended as he covers all the bases and his treatment of the subject is fair. Unfortunately his conclusions are completely wrong.

Appropriating the Waldenses (II)

Too often Protestants have fallen prey to 'successionist' thinking or rather tying the idea of succession to some kind of institutional or genealogical pedigree. The apostolic succession (if we want to call it that) is located not in a group, tribe, geographic location, or institutional/ecclesiastical continuity but in the doctrine of the apostles. Those who recognize and obey the Christ-granted oracular authority of the apostles or New Testament writers are the heirs of the apostles.

Appropriating the Waldenses (I)

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/waldensianism-before-waldo-the-myth-of-apostolic-protoprotestantism-in-antebellum-american-anticatholicism/0A7BA2B1A7B2B890E8A2A2622E710EC3

For obvious reasons this article on Waldensian Historiography captured my attention and I was thinking of Philip Schaff long before his name emerged in the article.

Romanticism took on many hues during the 19th century and while American Protestants poured most of their energy into crafting the narrative about the Mayflower Pilgrims or Pilgrim Fathers, they were not alone. Hostility to Roman Catholicism generated other historical debates over Church History and Protestants from the US and the UK, to France and beyond wanted a piece of the Waldensians.

The Architect of Modern Evangelicalism (I)

I recently finished reading James Bratt's 2013 work - Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat. I cannot recommend it enough. It was an excellent work, well done, and at times even something of a page turner. While some American readers might struggle at times with the dynamics of 19th century European politics, enough is explained that I think most will be able to persevere through it.

Historical Cycles: The Post-Napoleonic Context of Adolphe Monod, Reveil, and Some Contemporary Analogies (IV)

The story of Monod is in some ways inspiring – in other respects he is something of a disappointment. The men of Reveil are closer to our times and thus they lack the mystique that some further back in history are able to generate. That said, Monod's story is worth considering and reflecting on. But his context has to be understood and it always strikes me how there are both parallels and huge differences with the American and British context. Indeed in many ways it's a key moment where the three cultural and ecclesiastical sections sharply diverge – America and the Continent being the most extreme in terms of difference with Britain moving along its own track that today has brought it to the same place as the Continent. For Americans this should serve as a stark warning – perhaps a harbinger of what is to come.

Historical Cycles: The Post-Napoleonic Context of Adolphe Monod, Reveil, and Some Contemporary Analogies (III)

As has so often been the case in Church history, persecution failed to defeat the faithful. They were instead defeated by peace and flourishing, and through compromise, the ability to attain status and respect in society. The American Beast did not persecute the Church, instead it seduced it. The crisis for American Christianity came at the turn of the twentieth century when the Classical Liberalism of its founding (with its secular assumptions) finally overtook and began to openly subvert the (by then) weakened and deformed Christian consensus – thus creating the crisis that would generate new cycles and chapters of reaction and compromise in American Church history throughout the twentieth century right up to the present.

Historical Cycles: The Post-Napoleonic Context of Adolphe Monod, Reveil, and Some Contemporary Analogies (II)

The American context at this time was completely different. The new Republic had been able to successfully fuse Enlightenment ideas with Christian ideology.

Historical Cycles: The Post-Napoleonic Context of Adolphe Monod, Reveil, and Some Contemporary Analogies (I)

I recently finished Constance Walker's small biography on Adolphe Monod (1802-1856) which I would recommend to anyone interested in nineteenth century conservative Protestantism on the European continent – of which there is not a great deal. This is why figures like Monod stand out.

An Appeal to the Watchtower Society and Former Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses (II)

It's one thing to break free of philosophy or tradition, or the extant influences of the Magisterial Protestant Reformation, but for Americans in particular there's often a barrier or problem the hinders a return to the New Testament and it's one that Restorationist groups like the Witnesses, Churches of Christ, and others need to understand.

An Appeal to the Watchtower Society and Former Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses (I)

I feel something of a burden for the members of this group. They are to be commended, for on many points they put the larger Evangelical and Protestant world to shame. In terms of ethics and a sense of pilgrim identity, the Witnesses are in many ways much closer to the New Testament than those who consider them a cult.

Inbox: Wilberforce

What should we think about William Wilberforce?  

I think Wilberforce was sincere in his intentions and who can doubt that his campaign resulted in some good? And yet it's not that simple, certainly not as simple as his advocates would present it. His larger campaign was with an eye to reform manners in society, and while the entirety of the Victorian social project along with its gross hypocrisies and failures cannot be laid at his feet, in many respects he helped to instigate it.

Some Notes and Comments on: The History of the Protestant Church in Hungary

The History of the Protestant Church in Hungary from the beginning of the Reformation to 1850 is a commendable historical work. It value is both inherent as a historical text and in what can be extrapolated from it – which in some cases may result in observations and applications beyond the intention of the anonymous author. The work first appeared about 1854 and was translated into English by one Dr. Craig.

The Trumpite Schism and the Storming of the US Capitol (Part 2)

Trumpites and Conservatives are desperate to pin the insurrection (in reality a failed coup) on groups like BLM and Antifa but despite their aggressive propaganda campaign, the argument continues to fall flat. What motives would Antifa have to stop the electoral vote? Would they want four more years of Donald Trump?

The Legacy of the Second Constantinian Shift and the Threat of Secularism

Recovering the First Reformation - Toward a Proto-Protestant Narrative of Church History (XIII)

Not all among the Czech Brethren and Waldensians greeted the Magisterial Reformation with joy. Some were alarmed and not a little put off by some of the ideas which they believed were being forced upon them by the Reformers. There was (at least in the case of the Cottian valleys) a degree of resentment with regard to the patronising attitude which they encountered from Guillaume Farel and what would become the Calvinist wing of the Reformation.

Calvinist Narratives, 19th Century Princeton and Christmas (Part 2)

What would Paul say of those who would borrow from Hellenistic practice and try to bring it into the Church? Actually I think that very thing was happening in Colossae and in the letters to the Seven Churches and let's just say that neither Paul nor Christ (via John) have any time for it.

Calvinist Narratives, 19th Century Princeton and Christmas (Part 1)

https://calvinistinternational.com/2019/01/24/charles-hodge-and-a-19th-cent-presbyterian-christmas/

 It's a little disturbing to me but for some the idea seems to be that if Charles Hodge said Christmas was okay, then it's okay. I suppose some might feel they have some ammunition for their pro-Christmas/revisionist argument if they can pull out a 'big gun' like Hodge.

Romania and the Prospect of Moldovan Reunification: NATO's Ostsiedlung Programme

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/romanias-parliament-open-to-moldova-reunification-idea/

https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/more-than-10000-rally-to-unify-romania-and-moldova/

https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/romania-squandering-eu-funding-moldova-deserves-more-says-eu-regional-boss/

Americans struggle with geography and history. Largely ignorant of their own, they soon all but drown when delving into regions such as Central and Eastern Europe. Our education system and media do not help and to some degree I think this ignorance is deliberate. And yet if you want to understand what's happening geopolitically and what it means for the world at large and for the Christians living in these places, it's good to investigate these matters.

Perhaps you've watched some media pieces on Transnistria or the NATO missile bases being placed in Romania. Why are these things happening and why are some people upset about it? For the American audience everything is viewed through a post 9/11 and pro-America lens and yet for the people outside the United States this is not the case.