Reformed Forum

This is the first lesson in Dr. James J. Cassidy’s Reformed Academy course, Romans: God’s Worldwide Outreach. This lesson covers the following topics:00:00 Theme: God’s Worldwide Outreach03:20 Introduction: What is the Gospel?07:51 The Gospel of God and the Son of God (Romans 1:1–7)18:28 The Mission of the Gospel and the Power of God (Romans 1:8–17)23:31 The Wrath of God Revealed Against Humanity (Romans 1:18–23)26:04 The Wrath of God Revealed in Giving Sinners Over (Romans 1:24–32)Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/romans-gods-worldwide-outreachYour donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/#romans #gospel #reformedtheology #biblestudy

In this episode, we welcome Cornelis Venema to discuss Roots Renewed: Perspectives on the United Reformed Churches in North America (After Thirty Years), a collection he edited on the history and identity of the United Reformed Churches in North America. We trace the Dutch and Christian Reformed histories that shaped the URCNA, consider its relationship with the Canadian Reformed Churches, and discuss Scripture, the confessions, and church order in Reformed ecclesial identity.We also reflect on the reform efforts preceding the URCNA’s formation, the relationship between Mid-America Reformed Seminary and the federation, and the book’s treatment of missions, evangelism, and church planting.Reformed Fellowship is offering Reformed Forum listeners 30 percent off. Use the code ROOTS30 at checkout. The discount applies to single copies, which are $35, and to cases of sixteen, which are already reduced to $400 and ship free. A case puts the book in the hands of a consistory, session, or study group.Chapters00:00 Opening and welcome03:22 How the book took shape08:03 Dutch roots and CRC history20:03 The URCNA and the Canadian Reformed Churches35:10 Scripture, confessions, and Reformed identity46:18 Reasons for forming the URCNA51:17 Church history and catholicity across generations56:04 A practical proposal for church unity57:41 Reform efforts before federation1:03:13 Mid-America Reformed Seminary and the URCNA1:12:08 What the book hopes to preserve1:15:00 Missions, evangelism, and church planting1:17:38 Growth and decline in the URC and CRC1:21:48 The book in wider Reformed conversations1:23:01 Reformed Fellowship’s history1:25:54 Closing thoughts and book information

This is the sixth lesson in Dr. Camden M. Bucey and Dr. Marcus Mininger’s Reformed Academy course, Resurrection and Redemption: A Reader’s Guide. It was originally recorded for one of Reformed Forum’s International Cohort Reading Groups. This lesson covers pages 114–143 of Richard B. Gaffin Jr.’s Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology, addressing the following topics:00:00 Introduction and Overview08:28 Resurrection as the Redemption of Christ12:49 The Mutual Implication of Death and Resurrection16:18 The Positive Import of Resurrection21:24 Adoption33:36 Justification42:18 Sanctification49:36 Glorification56:18 The Eschatology of the Ordo Salutis58:22 Distinct Benefits as Facets of One Event64:31 The Whole Christ and Pastoral Significance68:59 Course ConclusionRegister for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/resurrection-redemption-readers-guideYour donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/#biblicaltheology #redemption #reformedtheology #biblestudyMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000

Jim Cassidy joins Camden Bucey to discuss the Gospel of Mark and a newly recorded Reformed Academy course, The Gospel of Mark: A Study in the Kingdom. They consider how Mark identifies Jesus as the divine King and teaches the nature of his kingdom through a fast-moving account of Christ’s ministry.The conversation explores faith and union with Christ, Mark’s high Christology, exorcisms as signs of Christ’s conquest over Satan, Jesus’s cleansing of the unclean, the covenantal transition signaled in Mark 7, and the two-stage healing of the blind man as a mirror of the disciples’ partial understanding. They also discuss why the kingdom advances through the cross and resurrection rather than worldly power—and how that hope steadies an anxious church.ResourcesReformed AcademyChrist the Center 1000 SummitReformed Forum newsletterChapters00:00 Introduction01:57 Reformed Academy courses with Jim Cassidy04:03 Christ the Center episode 1000 summit10:00 The Gospel of Mark as a study in the kingdom15:14 Mark’s rapid narrative and distinctive emphasis18:31 Faith, healing, and union with Christ21:13 Mark’s high Christology26:30 Exorcism and the conquest of Satan’s kingdom32:58 Jesus, purity, and the covenantal transition37:40 Scripture and tradition in Mark 742:35 The two-stage healing of the blind man47:45 Victory through the cross and suffering50:52 Rendering to Caesar and to God55:45 Resurrection hope for an anxious church59:57 Peter’s confession and the structure of Mark62:14 Conclusion

This is the fifth lesson in Dr. Camden M. Bucey and Dr. Marcus Mininger’s Reformed Academy course, Resurrection and Redemption: A Reader’s Guide. It was originally recorded for one of Reformed Forum’s International Cohort Reading Groups. This lesson covers pages 74–114 of Richard B. Gaffin Jr.’s Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology, addressing the following topics:00:00 Introduction and Overview06:44 First Corinthians 15:42–49: Natural and Spiritual Bodies09:01 The Corinthian Objection and Greek Dualism15:54 Continuity and Transformation of the Body19:56 Adam’s Original Body and Eschatological Life28:52 The Two Adams and Two Modes of Existence34:06 The Last Adam as Life-Giving Spirit39:53 The Functional Unity of Christ and the Spirit44:32 Romans 1: Son of God in Power55:01 Resurrection as Royal Enthronement58:19 The Gospel’s Two Historical Foci65:05 Conclusion and PreviewRegister for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/resurrection-redemption-readers-guideYour donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/#biblicaltheology #redemption #reformedtheology #biblestudyMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000

Bradley G. Green joins Camden Bucey to discuss What Is Critical Theory?: A Concise Christian Analysis. They trace the Frankfurt School’s Marxist roots and explain why thinkers such as Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, and Herbert Marcuse turned from a narrowly economic account of oppression toward culture, institutions, authority, family, and religion.The conversation evaluates critical theory as a counterfeit religious vision with its own accounts of creation, sin, redemption, and eschatology. Drawing on Cornelius Van Til, Green shows how unbelieving thought oscillates between rationalism and irrationalism; drawing on Henry Van Til, he explains why culture is “religion externalized.”ResourcesWhat Is Critical Theory?: A Concise Christian AnalysisBradley G. Green at Southern SeminaryChrist OverallChapters00:00 Introduction04:30 Introducing What Is Critical Theory?08:14 Marxism after the failed German revolution10:43 The major Frankfurt School thinkers12:35 Culture, oppression, and the long march through the institutions15:54 Critical theory as a counterfeit religion19:06 What the critical theorists see—and miss21:56 Creation, givenness, and the autonomous individual24:05 Sin relocated from the heart to the system25:18 Marcuse’s vision of sexual liberation29:42 Utopian hope and Adorno’s “Grand Hotel Abyss”33:11 Walter Benjamin and a “messianic rupture”36:45 Repressive tolerance and the authoritarian personality42:35 Van Til on rationalism and irrationalism46:31 Culture as religion externalized49:22 Pastoral and educational applications53:55 Using the book for personal and group study56:20 Conclusion

This is the fourth lesson in Dr. Camden M. Bucey and Dr. Marcus Mininger’s Reformed Academy course, Resurrection and Redemption: A Reader’s Guide. It was originally recorded for one of Reformed Forum’s International Cohort Reading Groups. This lesson covers pages 62–74 of Richard B. Gaffin Jr.’s Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology, addressing the following topics:00:00 Introduction and Overview04:52 The Father’s Activity and the Son’s Passivity13:33 Paul and John on Christ’s Resurrection Agency20:47 The Agency of the Holy Spirit31:22 Spiritual and Physical Resurrection39:40 Spirit, Power, Glory, and Life47:13 The Personhood of the Holy Spirit55:14 Summary and Theological SignificanceRegister for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/resurrection-redemption-readers-guideYour donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/#biblicaltheology #redemption #reformedtheology #biblestudyMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000

Kevin DeYoung joins Camden Bucey to discuss Church History for Everyone, Volume 1: The Story of Christianity from the Fall of Jerusalem to the Dawn of the Reformation. They consider why Christianity is inseparable from history and how the story of the church testifies to Christ’s promise to build and preserve his people by his Word and Spirit.The conversation explores how Christians can remember faithful men and women without lapsing into hagiography—or reducing the past to a catalogue of failures. Camden and Kevin also discuss monasticism, the preservation of learning and liturgy, Protestant retrieval of medieval theologians such as Bernard of Clairvaux, and the figures who will appear in the forthcoming second volume.Chapters00:00 Introduction00:50 Christ the Center 1000 summit update12:55 Introducing Church History for Everyone15:51 Conversation with Kevin DeYoung17:30 From Sunday school lectures to a two-volume history20:58 Why Christianity is inseparable from history23:48 Church history as family history26:38 Beyond hagiography and “warts only” history30:57 Choosing characters and telling the church’s story35:30 What Protestants can learn from monasticism39:53 Recovering the medieval church43:59 Previewing volume 246:53 ConclusionResourcesChurch History for Everyone, Volume 1Clearly Reformed

This is the third lesson in Dr. Camden M. Bucey and Dr. Marcus Mininger’s Reformed Academy course, Resurrection and Redemption: A Reader’s Guide. It was originally recorded for one of Reformed Forum’s International Cohort Reading Groups. This lesson covers pages 41–62 of Richard B. Gaffin Jr.’s Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology, addressing the following topics:00:00 Introduction and Key Pauline Texts04:08 The Believer’s Past Resurrection11:46 Ephesians 2: Raised with Christ18:50 Federal and Experiential Dimensions of Union24:52 The Believer’s Transition from Death to Life29:52 Distinct yet Connected Resurrection Events33:33 Colossians 2–3: Made Alive and Raised with Christ40:18 Romans 6 and Experiential Union44:52 The Likeness of Christ’s Death and Resurrection51:25 Galatians 2: Crucified with Christ55:44 Present Inward and Future Bodily Resurrection57:54 The Union Involved: A Dual Perspective1:01:26 Union with the Heavenly Christ through the Spirit1:03:32 Summary: Accomplishment, Application, and Already–Not Yet1:05:33 The Redemption of Body and Soul1:07:54 Conclusion and PreviewRegister for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/resurrection-redemption-readers-guideYour donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/#biblicaltheology #redemption #reformedtheology #biblestudyMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000

Jared Poulton joins Camden Bucey to discuss Van Til’s Counseling Movement: A Critical Analysis of Jay Adams and Biblical Counseling. They trace how Cornelius Van Til’s presuppositional apologetics supplied key theological instincts for Jay Adams and the modern biblical counseling movement, including the God-relatedness of every human problem, dependence upon divine revelation, and confidence in Scripture’s sufficiency for pastoral ministry.The conversation also examines tensions within contemporary biblical counseling. Camden and Jared consider the antithesis, common grace, the relation of the book of nature to the book of Scripture, and the danger of either rejecting all extra-biblical knowledge or baptizing secular methods without sufficient theological scrutiny. Throughout, they argue that faithful counseling should serve the church’s disciple-making mission and bring every claim about human life under the authoritative framework of God’s Word.ResourcesVan Til’s Counseling MovementInstitute for Reformed Biblical CounselingChapters00:00 Introduction03:12 Jared Poulton’s path into biblical counseling09:12 What is biblical counseling?17:44 The sufficiency of Scripture and pastoral counsel23:09 CCEF, David Powlison, and Van Til27:29 A Van Tilian foundation and an identity crisis32:48 Competing trajectories in biblical counseling41:02 Robert K. Rudolph and Jay Adams44:02 Three streams that shaped Adams50:57 God is man’s environment55:58 Presuppositions and borrowed terminology61:37 The antithesis and secular psychology67:06 Scripture’s framework for counseling72:59 Common grace and the two-book approach75:56 Counseling in service of the church’s mission77:42 Conclusion