In The Importance of Van Til for Today, Camden M. Bucey offers a thoughtful reassessment of Cornelius Van Til’s enduring contributions to Reformed theology and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Van Til (1895–1987), a Dutch-American Reformed philosopher and theologian, was a significant figure in twentieth-century Christian apologetics. This concise monograph examines Van Til’s lasting influence and the pertinence of his work in contemporary theological discourse.

Bucey explores Van Til’s unwavering commitment to confessional orthodoxy, his efforts to maintain a distinctly Reformed witness, and his nuanced doctrine of God. By analyzing Van Til’s responses to the theological and philosophical challenges of his era, Bucey demonstrates how the confessionally Reformed church can derive critical insights to address contemporary theological challenges.

Through historical analysis and theological reflection, The Importance of Van Til for Today invites readers to reengage with fundamental Reformed principles. This work serves as a valuable resource for theologians, pastors, and advanced students seeking to apply the rich theological heritage of Reformed Christianity in our present context.

Many understand salvation as an exclusively personal experience, often overlooking its foundation in real, historical events. In Unfolding Redemption, Camden M. Bucey and Lane G. Tipton shift the focus. They urge readers to grasp both the theological and personal implications of salvation’s accomplishment in redemptive history.

Drawing inspiration from seminal works such as John Murray’s Redemption Accomplished and Applied, this brief yet thorough treatment offers a fresh perspective. It explores the objective accomplishment of salvation by Jesus Christ in history and couples it with an exploration of how this accomplishment is subjectively applied by the Holy Spirit in the life of each believer.

The book serves as more than just a theological guide; it is a bridge between doctrine and experience. Unfolding Redemption not only challenges readers to move beyond a simplistic, experience-driven understanding of salvation but also illuminates how the believer’s personal experience, shaped by the work of the Holy Spirit, fits into God’s grand narrative of redemption for his people throughout history.

In To the Ends of the Earth, Camden M. Bucey explores the biblical mandate to make disciples of all nations, tracing its roots from the Old Testament promises to Abraham, through the prophetic visions of Isaiah, and into the New Testament fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

Delivered originally as an address at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Bucey’s work explores the essence of Christ’s command, emphasizing the church’s mission to proclaim the gospel to the farthest reaches of the globe. This pamphlet offers a redemptive-historically sensitive and thoughtful examination of the ongoing call to missions, drawing on the faith and efforts of early Scottish missionaries like William C. Burns, whose dedication to spreading the gospel reached as far as Manchuria.

To the Ends of the Earth is an invitation to rediscover the enduring relevance of the Great Commission. Bucey challenges readers to align their missional efforts with God’s redemptive plan, fostering a renewed enthusiasm for discipleship and global evangelism. This engaging and insightful exploration is an illuminating guide for anyone passionate about fulfilling Christ’s call to make disciples of all nations.

This product is a digital download and includes an ebook in both PDF and ePub formats. A Kindle version is also available.

Drawing from Genesis 1:1 and subsequent biblical revelation, Lane Tipton argues that before creating the visible world, the immutable triune God created a heavenly temple dwelling, filled that heavenly dwelling with the unchanging glory of his Spirit, and sanctified that heavenly dwelling as the realm of everlasting Sabbath rest.

Adam, as the created image of God and federal head of his posterity, could have advanced through perfect covenantal obedience beyond probation on the mountain of God in earthly Eden into the heavenly dwelling of God in Sabbath rest. This God-centered and heaven-focused theological backdrop enriches our understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ, as the second and last Adam in the covenant of grace, who in his humiliation and exaltation has opened the gates of heavenly paradise for his church.

“If ever there was need for re-affirming and teaching the true doctrine of the Trinity, it is now.” —Cornelius Van Til

Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) offered a confessionally Reformed doctrine of the Creator-creature relation that stands out as distinct in contrast to both traditional Roman Catholic and contemporary Barthian alternatives. His Trinitarian theology of the Creator-creature relation supplied a pioneering enrichment of Reformed theology in the traditions of Old Princeton and Old Amsterdam.

In this volume, Lane G. Tipton interprets Van Til in his own historical and polemical context and demonstrates how the immutably dynamic life of the self-contained Trinity bears upon God’s relation to Adam in the work of creation, the act of special providence in covenant, and the person of the eternal Son in the event of incarnation.

Tipton argues that Van Til’s Trinitarian theology deepens confessionally Reformed Trinitarianism and federalism in contrast to medieval Thomistic and modern Barthian theological alternatives. In a period marked by theological decline, he strives to clarify and extend confessional Reformed Trinitarian and federal theology in the service of the church’s union and communion with the immutable person of the crucified and ascended Christ of Scripture.

ePUB and PDF versions of Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian.

“He was probably the best exegete Princeton ever had,” Benjamin B. Warfield once told Louis Berkhof about their mutual friend Geerhardus Vos. Abraham Kuyper was so impressed with Vos’s academic ability that Kuyper offered him a faculty position at the Free University of Amsterdam when Vos was only twenty-four years old. Before Vos was thirty, both William H. Green and Herman Bavinck urged him to come teach at their respective institutions. J. Gresham Machen said that if he knew as much as Vos, he would be writing all the time. John Murray believed that Vos was the most incisive exegete in the English-speaking world in the twentieth century. Cornelius Van Til considered Vos the most erudite man he had ever known. Richard B. Gaffin Jr. proclaimed Vos “the father of Reformed biblical theology.” Notwithstanding such acclaim among these and other leading Reformed theologians, and his teaching at Princeton Seminary from 1893 to 1932, Vos was increasingly marginalized during his own lifetime. In Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian, Danny Olinger tells the story of Vos’s life and analyzes the theological contributions of Vos’s writings. Olinger further details Vos’s significant influence upon the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Westminster Theological Seminary, despite not joining either one.

Praise for Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian

“This thoroughly researched biography with its insightful theological focus sets a gold standard for those interested in the life and work of Vos.”

—Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Emeritus, Westminster Theological Seminary

“Rooted in meticulous historical research and demonstrating a penetrating theological understanding, Olinger provides an invaluable resource for those devoted to pursuing in the 21st century that ‘deeper Protestant conception’ set forth by Vos with unprecedented clarity .”

—Lane G. Tipton Charles Krahe Chair, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary

About the Author

Danny E. Olinger is the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He serves as editor of the monthly periodical New Horizons in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and is the author of A Geerhardus Vos Anthology. He has also co-edited History for a Pilgrim People: The Historical Writings of Charles G. Dennison and Confident of Better Things: Essays Commemorating Seventy-Five Years of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Foreword by Camden M. Bucey

Camden Bucey is the president of Reformed Forum and the pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Grayslake, Illinois.

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No Uncertain Sound: Reformed Doctrine and Life is the first book published by Reformed Forum. We exist to assist the church in her call to discipleship. We serve the church by communicating the riches of our theological tradition and advancing it according to our confessional boundaries through in-depth research and scholarly discourse. In this collection of essays, the authors set forth the salient features of their shared Reformed identity. Drawing upon a thorough redemptive-historical hermeneutic and the historic Reformed confessions, these contributors issue a clear call—no uncertain sound—to those with ears to hear.

Summary

Lane G. Tipton establishes our redemptive-historical approach to the Scriptures with an essay on Jesus in the Old Testament. He demonstrates that the Scriptures of the Old Testament presuppose a progressive, organic, revelation of the Messiah in promise form that gives way to eschatological fulfillment in the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus Christ. Christ is not an afterthought. The church must receive the Christ who is truly revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments by the supernatural agency of the Spirit. He speaks powerfully in Scripture as a revelational record of the history of special revelation.

Camden M. Bucey builds upon Tipton’s work by demonstrating our belief in the relationship between biblical and systematic theology. While both disciplines are based on exegetical theology, systematic theology organizes the teaching of Scripture topically while biblical theology studies Scripture as it progressively unfolds. We believe a true Reformed theologian must not only be systematic but also biblical-theological.

Jeffrey C. Waddington addresses the doctrine of salvation with his chapter on union with Christ and the ordo salutis. Nothing is more significant about a Christian than the fact that he is united to Christ. The good news is that the triune God has brought us into a blessed relationship, a covenantal communion bond with him through his Son. We have every Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph 1:3). In accord with that glorious truth, Glen J. Clary reminds us that Reformed theology is not merely intellectual. It has bearing upon our practice. We were created to glorify and enjoy God forever, and therefore Reformed theology must be directed toward worship. By following his Word, we experience his grace and grow ever closer to him.

Our identity is hidden away with Christ in God. Yet Jesus calls us to be salt and light in the world. As such, we are separatist though not isolationist. James J. Cassidy explains this existence. We are citizens of heaven and not of this world. We are pilgrims traveling through the wilderness unto the Promised Land, our eternal rest in the New Heavens and New Earth. Cassidy develops an ecclesiology and ethic of heavenly-mindedness. We are in a war, but “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). As such, we fight not with the weapons of this world, but with the weapons of Christ’s heavenly kingdom.

Jeffrey C. Waddington directs us in this fight with a concluding chapter about Reformed apologetics. We defend the faith on the basis of the self-attesting Word of God. We seek to share the uncompromised message of Christ crucified and raised for sinners.