Reformed Forum

This week we're at The Gospel Coalition 2017 Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. We're meeting a ton of new people and telling them about our mission to assist the Church in her call to discipleship. With a host of new listeners, I wanted to release a special welcome episode into our podcast feed and provide a short introduction to what we do here at Reformed Forum. We've been podcasting since January 2008. Our flagship program, Christ the Center has released a new episode every Friday since that first episode was released over nine years ago. We've just published our first book No Uncertain Sound, which plants a flag for our distinctive confessional Reformed theology. We are unabashed in promoting historic Protestantism in the tradition of the Westminster Standards and the three forms of unity: the Canons of Dort, the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism. We believe this important, since we live in an age of broad and often pragmatic evangelicalism. We're promoting something substantial and enduring. But even beyond our confessional tradition, we specifically advance theology in the tradition of Geerhardus Vos and Cornelius Van Til. We've detailed all of this in our book No Uncertain Sound. We hope you pick up a copy and fall in love with this rich theology arising from a redemptive-historical hermeneutic. At the end of the episode, we include a portion of Christ the Center episode 378 with Dr. Carl Trueman. In this episode, we speak about Dr. Trueman's book Luther on the Christian Life, in which he paints a portrait of Martin Luther through his historical context, theological system, and approach to the Christian life. Luther is often treated in a black-and-white fashion or exclusively through his succinct theological quips and mottoes. Trueman helps us to see the practical and pastoral context in which Luther lived and ministered and thereby grants to us a better understanding of both the man and his theology.

Rev. Chiarot is the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Rock Tavern, New York. He joins us today to speak about "T. F. Torrance and Apostolic Succession," an article he wrote for Participatio. He has also written, The Unassumed Is the Unhealed: The Humanity of Christ in the Christology of T. F. Torrance (Pickwick, 2013). Links Westminster Presbyterian Church, Rock Tavern, NY Christ the Center episode 403, "The Unassumed Is the Unhealed"

K. Scott Oliphint speaks about the incomprehensible mysteries of our God. As creatures, we will never and can never comprehend fully God's mysteries. Indeed, this must even be an epistemological and methodological starting point. Standing upon this biblically-based notion of mystery, Dr. Oliphint drives us to doxology—to worship our glorious God.

We welcome Dr. Brandon Crowe to speak about his book, The Last Adam: A Theology of the Obedient Life of Jesus in the Gospels, in which he sets forth the soteriological significance of the life of Jesus in the Gospels. He offers an exegetical case for understanding the Adam-Christ parallel in the Gospels themselves, and thereby allows us to see the great glory of person and work of Christ as he is revealed in all of Scripture. Other episodes with Brandon Crowe Deuteronomy and Christology in the Gospel of Matthew The Virgin Birth of Christ The Message of the General Epistles The New Testament Foundations of Trinitarian Theology

Vos Group continues our study looking at the majesty and holiness of God and its relationship to the place of worship. Read along in Biblical Theology on pp. 150–154.

Today we speak about John Murray's "The Attestation of Scripture," a chapter in The Infallible Word. Murray writes, The objective witness is that Scripture is authoritative by reason of the character it possesses as the infallible Word of God and this divine quality belongs to Scripture because it is the product of God's creative breath through the mode of plenary inspiration by the Holy Spirit.

In his book Created & Creating, William Edgar offers a rich biblical theology in light of our contemporary culture that contends that Christians must engaged in culture. Dr. Edgar is Professor of Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary. He joins us to speak about this wonderful book. Its thesis is simple: the cultural mandate, declared at the dawn of human history, and reiterated through the different episodes of redemptive history, culminating in Jesus' Great Commission, is the central calling for humanity.

The tabernacle is a premier symbol and type in the Old Testament. It demonstrates God's dwelling with his people. Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey turn to Vos's discussion and consider the redemptive-historical significance of the tabernacle. Read along on pp. 148–150.

Peter Gurry speaks about a new method of textual criticism used in the latest critical editions of the New Testament.

Today we speak with Austin Reed about Karl Barth's theology of election. Austin is a student at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and walks us through a critical review of Karl Barth's Infralapsarian Theology: Origins and Development, 1920-1953 by Shao Kai Tseng. Tseng challenges the scholarly status quo, arguing that despite Barth's stated favor of supralapsarianism, his mature lapsarian theology is complex and dialectical. It demonstrates elements of both supra- and infralapsarianism, though it favors the latter. In Tseng's assessment, Barth's theology is basically infralapsarian because he sees the object of election as fallen humankind and understands the incarnation as God's act of taking on human nature in its condition of fallenness. Be sure to read Austin Reed's review of Reading Barth with Charity: A Hermeneutic Proposal by George Hunsinger.

On this episode, we are joined by Ryan McGraw, who speaks about the foundational role and practical significance of Trinitarian theology to John Owen. Dr. McGraw is Professor of Systematic Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Caroline. His article, "Trinitarian Doxology: Reassessing John Owen's Contribution to Reformed Orthodox Trinitarian Theology" was published in The Westminster Theological Journal, Vol. 77, No. 2. Dr. McGraw joined us on a previous episode of Christ the Center to speak about the meaning of the phrase "good and necessary consequence" in the Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6.

On this episode, we are joined by Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, who speaks about the Theological Interpretation of Scripture (TIS). Gray is a PhD Candidate at New College, University of Edinburgh. His article, "On the Theological Interpretation of Scripture: The Indirect Identity Thesis, Reformed Orthodoxy, and Trinitarian Considerations" was published in The Westminster Theological Journal, Vol. 77, No. 2. TIS is an approach to reading biblical texts that seeks to do justice to the theological nature of the texts and embrace the influence of theology on interpretation. Sutanto focuses on Francis Watson and his relationship to Karl Barth's doctrine of revelation. He concludes that, ". . . the uniqueness of TIS depends upon the assumption of the validity of Kant's turn in philosophical history along with its attendant ideological implications."

As another year gets into swing, many people have begun new Bible reading plans. Reading through Scripture each day is a powerful and transformative discipline. We discuss the practice of Bible reading personally, in the home, and in the church.

We continue our study of Geerhardus Vos's Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments to consider typology and how types relate to symbols. This is some of the richest material in Vos. Read along on pp. 143-148.

As we head into our tenth year of Christ the Center, we look back at some of our favorite guests and moments from 2016.

In the second part of this special two-part episode, we discuss the observation of Christmas. This subject is perennially debated in the Reformed community. Listen as we discuss the historical, theological, and practical issues.

In this special two-part episode, we discuss the observation of Christmas. This subject is perennially debated in the Reformed community. Listen as we discuss the historical, theological, and practical issues.