How Reformed Scholasticism differed from Medieval Scholasticism

For the Orthodox Reformed writers working in the generations after the Reformation, “scholasticism” was a method of doing things, not an appropriation of earlier doctrines. These writers and theologians worked with the “broad brush” provided by the Reformers, as they sought to “establish … systematically the normative, catholic character of institutionalized Protestantism.” The term scholasticism …

The Continuity of “the Church” Through the Reformation

What is “the church”? Roman Catholic dogma about “the Church” leads to a misunderstanding of what Christ’s “church” actually consists of. For Roman Catholicism, Dogma #1 frequently seems to be “The Roman Catholic Church is God’s Great Gift to Mankind” – see this first sentence in the “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church”, Lumen Gentium: Christ …

Reformed “Orthodoxy”: Toward Definition

Richard Muller describes a two-phased process: first, the early reformers sought to correct “a host of abuses and nonscriptural doctrinal accretions” that they tried to correct. And second, the later writers, and indeed the process of “confessionalization” (the writing of and attempts to organize their lives by confessions), sought to “provide definitions of all doctrines …

More Definitions of Terms

As I continue to work through Richard Muller’s “Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics”, I’ll likely be stumbling across a lot of names and concepts that simply aren’t familiar to 21st century believers. So it’s good that Muller helpfully explains a lot of these terms. A comment is also necessary here concerning the terms used throughout the study. …

Prolegomena and Principia

Richard Muller’s four-volume work, “Post Reformation Reformed Dogmatics”, looks at three areas of study from the 1550 to 1750 time period: the prolegomena and the two principia, the doctrine of Scripture and the doctrine of God. Volume 1 deals with the prolegomena; Volume 2 looks at the doctrine of Scripture; Volumes 3 and 4 handle …

The Relevance of Protestant Orthodoxy to Us Today

When it comes to theology, you’ll frequently hear the phrase, “standing on the shoulders of giants”. One point that Muller makes is that these men were cognizant that the Reformers weren’t “starting new churches”, as Roman Catholic writers frequently charge. They were more interested in maintaining continuity with the past – with all of church …

Moving forward while retaining ties to the past

I’m working through Richard Muller’s “Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics”. That’s a daunting title, to be sure, but given how these several generations of theologians (from say, 1550 to 1750) worked to codify the theologies of the Reformation, they were probably some of the best Christian thinkers in the history of the church. It will pay dividends …

“Codifiers and perpetuators” of the Reformation

I’ve recently acquired an electronic copy (yes, I paid for it – one of the benefits of working as much as I do these days is that I can afford to buy all the books that I’ve wanted) of Richard Muller’s “Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics”. Since this was expensive, and many people don’t have access to …

John Bugay on Catholicism: Some Older Blog Posts

My name, John Bugay, has some notoriety in the world of Catholic apologetics, and as a result, the word “anti-Catholic” has appeared in connection with my name in some search engines. This blog post is in response to several items that appear in conjunction with searches for my name. I am “anti-Catholic” in the sense …

Dr. David Snoke at Play

Dr. David Snoke is a Reformation500 contributor and an elder at City Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA). This is how we roll. [This photo was taken by his son Daniel at the City Reformed Men’s Retreat this weekend and posted on Facebook. I did not attend.]