This week on Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob discuss Louis Berkhof’s little book, Summary of Christian Doctrine. We begin a new section entitled, “The Doctrine of the Application of the Work of Redemption.” However, before getting to the work of the Spirit in applying salvation to believers, Berkhof discusses the common operation of the Holy Spirit.

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

Glen Clary and Camden Bucey speak about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and cessationism. We discuss how the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is a unique event of redemptive-history just as unrepeatable as the death and resurrection of Christ. As individuals are effectually called and united to Christ by faith, they are incorporated into the Spirit-baptized body of Christ.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary

Alan Strange speaks about the doctrine of the spirituality of the church in the ecclesiology of Charles Hodge and how it was formed in the years leading up to and during the American Civil War. Dr. Strange’s dissertation on the topic has been published in P&R Publishing’s Reformed Academic Dissertations series as The Doctrine of the Spirituality of the Church in the Ecclesiology of Charles Hodge. Dr. Strange previously addressed the topic in episode 443 of Christ the Center, but in this episode, we focus more on the Presbyterian General Assemblies and how they wrestled with the theological and political issues surrounding the war.

Participants: Alan Strange, Camden Bucey

Jim Cassidy provides notices of several significant recent books.

• Christopher Holmes, The Holy Spirit
• Thomas Schreiner, Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification
• David VanDrunen, God’s Glory Alone
• Oliver Crisp and Fred Sanders, eds., Locating Atonement: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics
• Andrew Purves, Exploring Christology and Atonement: Conversations with John McLeod Campbell, H. R. Mackintosh, and T. F. Torrance
• Yaroslav Viazovski, Image and Hope: John Calvin and Karl Barth on Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting

Links

• David VanDrunen on Christ the Center, episode 425

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jim Cassidy

Michael Allen and Scott Swain discuss whether Christians and churches can be both catholic and Reformed. In their book Reformed Catholicity: The Promise of Retrieval for Theology and Biblical Interpretation (Baker Academic), Allen and Swain suggest Reformed Christians can commit not only to the ultimate authority of Scripture but also to receiving Scripture within the context of the apostolic church. This manifesto presents a case that to be Reformed means to go deeper into true catholicity rather than away from it. At the same time, it means holding fast to sola Scriptura. Michael Allen is Associate Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology and Dean of Students and Scott Swain is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Academic Dean at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jared Oliphint, Michael Allen, Scott Swain

Building upon Geerhardus Vos’s foundational essay “The Eschatological Aspect of the Pauline Conception of the Spirit” Dr. Lane Tipton develops the role of the Spirit with regard to redemptive history, the law and soteriology. Vos remarks that the core of Paul’s eschatology lies in the sphere of the Spirit. The Spirit, given to the resurrected Christ, inaugurates the eschatological age of the world to come. This world to come is realized climactically in the resurrection of Christ as the firstfruits of the one great resurrection of harvest in the Spirit.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton