Reformation Day Dedication - Soli Deo Gloria

written by Jonah Tang
translated by Daniel H. Chew

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宗教改革日献辞

CREDO500部落格会议已接近尾声，第一部份的讨论围绕在《圣经》与改革宗传统之正当性课题，第二部份的焦点则集中加尔文神学在后宗教改革时期的诠释性问题。吾人在这里要向以下朋友致意：首先，感激赵惠聪弟兄的帮助，在联合主持会议、编辑和翻译的部分付出不少心思和努力。跟着，感激三位特邀指导陈佐人牧师、王志勇牧师、李健安牧师所给予的支持，日后会在审稿及出版的工作上继续寻求他们的意见。最后，感激所有的参与者，包括贡献文章、回应文及参与讨论的网友们，都在不同程度上促进了第一届部落格会议的完成。本会议旨在学习和推广改革宗神学，并以一个半学术性水平的研究目标，面向汉英语背景的神学师生及教牧人员，期望归正神学能融入并转化华人教会神学建设之愿景。引用唐崇荣牧师的话“教会一个很重要的方向，甚至可以说唯一的盼望，就是各宗派真正研究、了解、深入回归归正(改革宗)信仰，来认识圣经，那教会的前途就很稳定。归正神学的运动，乃是把基督徒信仰的根基，好像钢筋水泥一样建立起来，这样就不容易动摇。”笔者深信，华人教会在信仰扎根神本启示的成熟目标上，不能轻视改革宗神学的资源、精神和方法，应该借助他们成为大气候，以在这末后的世代捍卫那一次交付圣徒的真道。

今天是宗教改革日(第492周年)，我们感谢神兴起马丁路得、加尔文和其他改教家，带领教会回归《圣经》的信仰。在这里，吾人邀请诸位网友们提供个人对宗教改革的感想,你可以在本文的下方留言，包括你对某人某事某神学观念的思考或阅读心得。你也可以将个人网页中相关的默想或短文电邮给我们credo500@gmail.com，好将你的网页联系上版。笔者深信，改教家的活信仰在21世纪的今天仍然说话，呼吁着今日的华人教会真正走归正路线的立约群体团结起来，创造性的继承发扬改革宗全面的属灵遗产。我们看见神已经在各地的工作，就当主动积极地致力于这运动在华人教会的推动、奠基和发展。求神打开我们属灵的眼睛，在纯正的信仰上下功夫，做最好的准备以迎头赶上，把更多宝贵的人力和时间投资在教导圣徒在回归《圣经》的工作上，走出过去的旧矿井！但愿归正福音运动在亚洲和第三世界的扩展，好像当年16世纪欧洲的宗教改革运动、17世纪英国的清教徒运动，以及18世纪北美的属灵大醒觉运动一般，兴起一大批能教导、能辅导的青年，有扎实的信仰和福音的热忱，本于圣经、立足传统、发自本心，成为建立基督教文明的主力军。笔者深信这是神给这时代的一个祝福，也是海内外华人教会复兴的曙光。是祷！

2009年10月31日，让我们一同纪念这改变世界的重要日子！

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Reformation Day Dedication

The CREDO500 blog conference is nearing its end. The first part of the conference orbits around the theme of Scripture and the validity of the Reformed tradition, while the second part centers on the theme of Calvin’s theology and its applicability in the post-reformation era. We would like to take this time to thank our friends. First, we would like to thank brother Daniel CHEW for his help in helping to co-organize this conference, and in his hard work and thoughts in editorial and translation work for the conference. Next, we would like to express our sincerest thanks to our three specially invited advisers for the conference Rev. Dr. Stephen CHAN, Rev. Dr. Zhi Yong WANG and Rev. Dr. Keng An LEE for their help and support for this conference, especially as we would be seeking their opinions on the final phase of editing and publication later. Lastly, we would like to thank all who have participated in the conference, including all who have submitted their articles, those who have reviewed them and all who have participated in the discussion online. All of you have in your own way make this fist blog conference a success. This conference in its learning and promotion of Reformed theology aims for the semi-technical level of scholarship, and targets professors and seminarians and pastoral staff from both Chinese and English background in the hope that Reformed theology would be able to enter and transform the Chinese churches and our task of understanding theology. To quote Rev. Stephen Tong: “A very important direction for the Church, in fact it can be said its only hope, is for various denominations to truly study, understand and go in depth into the Reformed faith; to understand Scripture. The future of such a church would be stable. Reformed theology places the Christian faith at its foundation, build upon it as like a building being built with reinforced concrete, such that it would not be easily shaken.” The writer believes that if the faith of the Chinese churches has as its goal being founded on the revelation from and by God, it must not treat lightly and dismiss Reformed theology with its resources, its spirit and its methodology, but rather should utilize them as a paradigm in order to defend the apostolic truths in these last days.

Today is the 492nd Anniversary of Reformation Day, in which we thank God for raising up men like Martin Luther, John Calvin and the other reformers in leading the Church back to the faith of Scripture. In this light, we would like to welcome all our friends to post their thoughts and reflections on the Reformation. These can be done under this post, and can include your appreciative thoughts on any person, event or thoughts from any theological system and reading materials. You may also write your reflections on your website/blog or an email and send them to credo500@gmail.com , so that we can publish or link them from our blog. The writer firmly believes that the living faith of the Reformers still lives today in our 21st century, and calls upon today’s Chinese churches to truly return along the path of Reformation unite in a Covenant community, and creatively continue to proclaim the truths of the Reformed legacy for all of life. We can see that God is already working in many parts of the world, so let us take the initiative to actively work towards the promotion, building a foundation for and developing the Reformed faith in the Chinese churches. May God open our eyes so that we may work for the promotion of pure religion, to make preparations for and invest more time and effort in the teaching of God’s people in going back to the Scriptures, and in so doing avoid the errors of the past. It is hoped that the Reformed Evangelical movement will flourish in Asia and the third world countries just like the 16th century Reformation in Europe, the 17th century Puritan movement in England, and the 18th century Great Awakening. Just like these movements, may the Reformed Evangelical movement raise up a generation of young people who are apt to teach and counsel, who have a steadfast faith and evangelical zeal, who are founded on Scripture, firm on tradition and convicted about the truth, and who will carry forth the torch of the faith as soldiers of Christ. The writer firmly believes that such is indeed a blessing that God gives to this generation, which is also the light of revival for Chinese congregations around the world. Amen.

On this Oct 31st 2009 therefore, let us together remember this important day which changed the world.

David Cheng on the topic of Law and Grace

What is the relation of the concept of Law to the concept of Grace? Are they antithetical to each other, or they parts of a whole? In this paper of his, David Cheng has written an interesting paper which puts forward a way of understanding the relation between Law and Grace. An excerpt:

The word “Law” may mean different things; a scholarly dictionary would easily give us 9 to 23 different meanings. The focus of this paper would be on the conception of the word “law” as it is found in the Christian vocabulary among common believers. The main part of law consists of the Moral Law given to us through Moses on the stone tablets, the Decalogue. It is by no means however that only the Decalogue is considered as Law. ...

[more]

The review for David's paper would be uploaded later.

David's paper is now open for discussion.

Jason Loh on Calvin's view of the Cultural Mandate

The Cultural Mandate is the mandate to transform Creation and Culture, something which is supposedly to be found in Gen. 1:26. In this interesting paper, Jason Loh attempts to demarcate and interact with Calvin's view on the Cultural Mandate. An excerpt:

It is important to first establish Calvin’s distinction between Church and State and then only move on to discuss the implications this has for the “cultural mandate.” A distorted view of the Church and State will also lead to a distorted understanding of the cultural mandate.

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Benjamin Ho has reviewed this article by Jason as follows:

In his paper, Jason uses the role of civil government as a case in point to illustrate how the cultural mandate – in Calvin’s thought – is being articulated. This is an interesting paradigm – one that is not often explored – and Jason does a commendable job in teasing out some of the finer aspects of this relationship. Indeed, with the Western secular belief that God and politics are matters of separate and non-related realms, it is sometimes difficult to see – much less argue – how the role of civil government is related to God’s on-going sovereign rule over all of life.

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Jason's paper and Benjamin's review are now opened for discussion.

An Apology

We the organizers would like to apologize to our readers for the delay in the schedule for the conference. Yesterday Monday was supposed to be the presentation of David Cheng's paper on Law and Grace. Unfortunately, there were some hiccups here and there, and the paper is not yet ready for publication. We would keep you updated with regards to further developments.

Update: We the organizers have decided to post Jason's paper on Wednesday, then David Cheng's paper would be posted when ready, hopefully by thursday or friday.

Ten Fook Seong on Calvin's Institute and The Pracitice of Pietism

Calvin's Institue of Christian Religion continued to be read and studied since they first appeared, and they have spread in new translations in modern times. It's less commonly remembered that Calvin was also both a preacher and pastor; his commentaries, sermons, prayers and letters offer important insights into piety that transformed the communities which came to be called Calvinist.

The present paper written by Pastor Ten Fook Seong seeks to trace the spiritual legacy of Calvin's piety focusing his teaching in the Institute about the human relationship with God. The purpose was to lead and challenge all who heard him, or read his writings, to realize that their true happiness consists in devotion to God for God's glory; that their salvation is assured by Christ's grace; and their lives will be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and should be given over to the service of God and their neighbour. Here are a short excerpt:

「今年恰逢加尔文诞生500周年纪念，作为一位十六世纪伟大的改革家，又是牧者，加尔文无疑在历史长河中留下深远的影响，被称为属灵伟人实是当之无愧，而他的巨著<基督教要义>更被认为是基督教经典中的经典。不过，许多人对加尔文<基督教要义>的认识，仅流于它是一本基督教教义的阐述，而非对灵性有所助益的著作。」

The review is written by brother Yong Pai Chan here in chinese, and translated by Daniel Chew here in english.

[The paper and review are now open to discussion.]

Timothy Peng on The Reformed View of Music

In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren states that "Worship has nothing to do with the style or volume or speed of a song. God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all — fast and slow, loud and soft, old and new. You probably don’t like it all, but God does! If it is offered to God in spirit and truth, it is an act of worship" (p. 65). In modern Christianity, on the one hand, the new breed of Evangelicals that Warren epitomizes think that all kinds of music is good and can be used to worship God. On the other, many traditionalists behave as if only Western music composed in the Baroque to Romantic (some limit themselves to Baroque only even) era are suitable for worship. In this worship war, is there a distinctly biblical and Reformed view of music for us to consider? Are there distinctive features in music that are good and adequate for worship, while other features are inappropriate for the same purpose?

In his paper, Timothy Peng tackles the issue head-on. An excerpt:

Abraham Kuyper calls music the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Church of Jesus Christ has been blessed tremendously as she uses music to bring her devotion and prayers to God throughout the ages. However, Christians have engaged in great controversies over the use of music in the church, with extreme diversity of opinions ranging from Zwingli’s total rejection of music to Rick Warren’s complete embrace of every style of music. The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance on how we can use music for our benefit, and impart wisdom on the way to discern the dangers hidden in its usage as we live in this fallen world. To do this, I will briefly trace the development of music theories to the ancient Greeks, then compared the ancient wisdom with the insights from the Reformers (especially John Calvin), and finally explore the natures of music in order that we can enjoy it.

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Junhao Yoong has reviewed Timothy Peng's article and his response can be seen here. An excerpt:

Timothy Peng传道在其论文里提出了许多关于圣乐之重要的论据，即现今信徒皆所忽略的。此论文中，Timothy Peng讲述了音乐在诗歌里所扮演之角色，音乐于人类历史与文化中的发展及音乐的风格、音符、节奏、诗歌的架构及词汇等都与整首诗歌所要表达的信息是息息相关的。此外，他也引用了许多圣乐作品作为例子，讲述了圣乐作品如何带出音乐于崇拜里该有的庄严与神圣两种重要的性质。在此，笔者仅能对此文略作回应，盼能借此彼此勉励，以期能够更好的在教会音乐事工中彼此配搭，敬拜事奉我们的上帝。

[More]

Timothy Peng's paper and Junhao Yoong's review are now open for discussion.

Add: The review has now been translated to English here, as follows:

In his paper, Pastor Timothy Peng argues for the importance of many principles with regards to worship and music which has been sadly neglected by many believers today. Peng describes the role music plays in worship, the development of music through humanity’s history and culture, and argues that the character, melody, rhythm and structure of songs of worship are intricately linked to the message that the song aspires to give. In developing his argument, various pieces of church music are used as examples of how the dignity and sanctity of worship is expressed. This reviewer would like to add his appreciation on this excellent article, and wishes that good church music ministries would partner with each other in worship and service unto our God.

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Cathy Tan on The Quest for Calvin's Essence of Worship: Passion and Love of God －A Journey Away from Ritualistic Worship

One of the best ways to get at the heart of Calvin's concept of worship , preferably his idea of liturgy is to study his interpretation of the first tablet of the law. The Institutes contains a chapter devoted on the law. Surely a completely study of Calvin's theoloy of worship will also deal with his chapters on the sacraments, his chapter on prayer, the Genevan Psalter，and other documents.

This study, however deals with Calvin's theology of worship as found in his liturgy in Strasbourg. Cathy Tan, a part-time music ministry advisor for Jubilee Presbyterian Church Singapore, a choral conductor, a music educator, and a speaker and writer on music and worship，provides pratical wisdom concerning the purpose of Calvin's liturgy, calls us back to biblical worship with theological content as the priotity in today's church. She opens it this way:

「1538年，年青的加尔文接受布赛尔(Martin Bucer) 的邀请，到斯特拉斯堡(Strasbourg) 牧养日益增多的法国难民。本文要探究的，就是这间拥有数百名会众，被加尔文呢称为「小法国教会」(Ecclesiola Gallicana) 的崇拜礼仪。从加尔文在流程的修订与元素的取舍上，认识其考量的依据，希望藉此为今日教会提供一个崇拜更新的标引。」

Pastor Gao from Shanghai, a reflective pracitioner of regulative principle of worship, his review in chinese here, and english translation done by brother Daniel Chew here.

[This paper and review are now open for discussion.]

Wang Zhi Yong On Calvin and the Psalms: Singing the Songs of Jehovah

Psalm singing is experiencing a revival in our time. Why sing psalms? or the real questions should be "why not sing psalms?" Even though Luther did not limit his singing to the psalms, he did have a great appreciation of the psalms. John Calvin, on the other hand, championed exclusive psalms singing in the Reformed churches. In this paper, our conference advisor, Rev. Dr. Wang Zhi Yong gives us a very clear cut treatment of the exclusive psalmodist view, here are the opening lines:

「我自己从一九九七年开始在中国大陆牧会，也曾在多处旅行，如今在美国研修，参加多处华语教会，见到大陆以及海外华语教会中一个颇为普遍的现象就是：弟兄姐妹的敬拜虽有热心，但往往不是按着圣经中所启示的真知识。各种人所撰写的歌曲大摇大摆地进入公共敬拜，有的甚至声称是“在圣灵感动下”撰写的，大有让人非接受不可之势！有的人觉得甲某某写的哥属灵，有的人认为乙某某写的歌属灵，教会中总是不断有人为在敬拜中唱谁写的歌曲而争执不休，但却甚少有人主张唱颂上帝在圣经中亲自默示的<诗篇>！我对这种现象感到非常痛心，自己又感到困顿乏力，就向上帝多多祷告，希望华文诗篇能够早早面世，有更多的基督徒能够认识到用上帝所默示的诗篇敬拜的重要性。 」

Cathy Tan's chinese review paper here, the review has been translated into english by Daniel Chew as follows:

In his article “Singing the songs of Jehovah,” it is apparent that Zhiyong Wang relies on the Puritans’view of the Regulative Principle of Worship when discussing the issue of worship. Expressed in the 17th century Reformed confessions (the 1646 Westminster Confession of FaithChapter 21, paragraph 1 & the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 22, paragraph 1) [More]

[The paper is now open for discussion.]

David Cheng's review of Stephen Chan's paper

David Cheng's review of Stephen Chan's paper A Tale of Two Cities has finally been edited and is ready for publication. It can be found here. An excerpt:

Rev. Prof. Dr. Chan is one of the greatest teachers of theology in our time. His article provides us a better understanding of Calvin and his works especially in regard to Calvin’s contribution to the Reformation of the 16th century. This reviewer has found no mistake or any point for scholarly challenge. Certainly, Dr. Chan is very careful in his wording and therefore he is safe even on a couple issues which are already controversial in the scholarly literature.

Alex Tseng on the Lapsarian Dilemna, and Karl Barth's doctrine of election

The 17th century Reformed Scholastic movement saw the beginning of what became known as the Lapsarian controversy, with the two main contenders being Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism (Amyraldianism and Arminianism being minor contenders in this fight). The controversy centers on the logical order of God's decrees, especially as it centers on whether the decree of Creation is logically antecedent (Infralapsarian) or consequent (Supralapsarian) to the decree of election and reprobation. This in-house debate has continued to this very time, although widespread apostasy, liberalism, and dead formalism and traditionalism have placed the subject in the background most of the time. Nevertheless, the debate still rages once in a while, and the debate continues on in our paper and review for today.

With the development of Neo-Orthodoxy by Karl Barth and his disciples such as T.F. Torrance and Bruce McCormack, as a "conservative" response to the Liberalism of their age , another element has entered into the Lapsarian debate. While keeping the terminology of the Reformed Evangelical faith tradition and claiming continuity to that tradition, Neo-Orthodoxy eviscerates the contents of the Reformed tradition. Without digressing, since Neo-Orthodoxy claims continuity with the Reformed tradition, it creates its own lapsariam scheme and thus join in the lapsarian debate — an alien as it is.

In this paper, Alex Tseng has written an interesting paper on this particular topic. Entited The Lapsarian Dilemna and Karl Barth's Christocentric Doctrine of Election, it interacts with both of the two main lapsarian scheme, as well as Karl Barth's unique lapsarian scheme. An excerpt:

Christianity affirms that God is sovereign and perfect. Understanding the sovereignty of God’s will and perfections of God’s being becomes a challenge when the presence of evil is taken seriously: How can there be evil in this world if God is good and almighty? In this paper, I will discuss Calvinism’s answer to the problem of evil and demonstrate an intrinsic difficulty in the Calvinist-Augustinian formulation of predestination played out in the lapsarian controversy of the 17th Century. I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Karl Barth’s Christological formulation of the doctrine of election and how it hints to a way out of the lapsarian dilemma. Finally, I will appeal to John Owen’s Christological treatment of the doctrine of predestination to suggest a Reformed orthodoxy solution.

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Joel Tay has written a well thought out response to Alex's paper here. An excerpt:

In his paper, Alex Tseng affirms the sovereignty of God and presents the problem of evil as a launching pad for rejecting supralapsarianism. Having done so, he puts forward his own formulation based upon infralapsarian thought combined with elements of Barth’s doctrine of election, which supposedly covers the holes in traditional infralapsarian theology.

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This paper and its review are now open for discussion.

David Chen: Francis Turretin and Calvin's doctrine of election

Calvin versus the Calvinists — a common charge thrown against historic Dordtian Calvinism is that Dordtian Calvinists especially the Reformed scholastics in the 17th century have distorted the real teachings of the French Reformer John Calvin. This charge has continued to this very day, starting with Jacobius Arminius in the Netherlands, John Cameron and his student the French Huguenot theologian of the school of Samur Moise Amyraut (or Amyraldius), and into the modern times by "calvinists" such as R.T. Kendell, successor of Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel, London.

In this paper, Pastor David Chen has written an article on this very subject, dealing with the Reformed scholastic theologian Francis Turretin. Has Turretin been faithful to John Calvin's theology and especially his doctrine of election? Chen wrote:

The Bible is the eternal Word that doesn’t change, but human beings do change from generations to generations. New cultures, new ways of thinking, new methodology of scholarship, new ideas have always prompted a new generation of seekers to re-raise questions on the teachings of the Bible. Sometimes old doctrines need to be reformulated in new ways for new generations to appreciate what is being taught. At the same time new challenges will also force the revisiting and sometimes reframing of old doctrines to more properly clarify, rebuke, or simply elaborate what was left unsaid by earlier generations. The same applies to Calvin’s teachings. This paper will focus on Calvin’s Doctrine of Election, and how Francis Turretin two generations later had used and improved on Calvin’s doctrine. In what aspects had he followed Calvin’s teachings faithfully? Does he at the same time also further elaborates or reframes what was said by Calvin to address his own culture and the challenges of his era? In comparing and contrasting Calvin and Turretin, will there be any deviations between Turretin and Calvin that can be used to support the Calvin versus the Calvinists theory? Or will one appreciate the reasons for the changes as being faithfully Calvinistic in the core and following the trajectory that Calvin had set?

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Pastor Alex Tseng has reviewed this article as follows:

A very fine paper on Turretin’s doctrine of predestination has been written, owing to efforts of my friend David Chen. I am especially thankful for his defense of 17th-century scholasticism and his critique of the “Calvin-against-the-Calvinists” thesis, which, in fact, did not end with the Amyraut Controversy, but has persisted well into recent theological scholarship, as shown in the works of E. J. Dowey, J. B. Rogers, R. T. Kendall, etc. Since Calvin and Puritan studies are still in their infancy stages among Chinese Christians, works such as Chen’s are especially important in challenging innovative re-interpretations of Calvin and Reformed theology that explicitly or implicitly oppose Reformed orthodoxy, as found in the works of popular Chinese writers like Hong-Hsin Lin.

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This paper and its review are now open for discussion.

Ang Lai Hoe: Addressing the biblical validity of a claim against unconditional election

The biblical doctrine of election has many foes, and much misunderstanding. In this paper, Lai Hoe Ang attempts to clear up the fog over the matter, in dealing with one objection against the doctrine of election: the salvation or damnation of infants. An excerpt:

Many objections have been raised against the biblical teaching of divine election. This paper aims to address one of them, namely that “God is not fair to send non-elect infants/babies upon death to burn in hell”.

This particular objection is predicated upon a denial of Original Sin, or at least a non-consideration of that doctrine. Those who make such an objection thus reveal their error, denying the direct teachings of the Bible on the sinful nature of the baby and even the unborn (Ps 51:5) such that infants are sinners born in sin. This objection therefore does not primarily deals with the state of non-elect infants but rather on the biblical teaching of original sin. If one truly understands the doctrine of divine election and the salvation of man biblically, this objection would not be raised, for the eternal judgment of the non-elect is for the glory of God.

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Pastor Lemuel Hii reviews Ang's paper as follows:

预定论是教会历史中一直争论不休的课题，有人就知难而退，认为毕竟这是牵涉到上帝的奥秘。预定论的确会因为错误和不完整的了解，以致产生一些的危机和误解。但，就如奥古斯丁所说：“对预定论绝口不提的人，他们要用什么掩饰自己的骄傲，因为他们这样就间接指控神是愚昧的、无深虑的，就如神没有预测到他们自以为有智慧所看见的这危险？"

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The review has been translated into English as follows:

The doctrine of predestination is a contentious topic throughout the history of the Church. Some discern the difficulty in addressing it and therefore refrain from doing so, figuring that we should not transgress the hidden mysteries of God. Indeed, misunderstanding or incomplete understanding of the doctrine of predestination does indeed cause spiritual danger and doctrinal error.

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The paper is now open for discussion.

Daniel Chew on the New Evangelical Calvinism

With the publishing of Colin Hansen's book Young Restless Reformed by Crossway Books in 2008, and the formation of The Gospel Coalition around the same time, New Calvinism has emerged as a supposed revival of interest in Reformed theology. With Time magazine even giving the New Calvinism the spotlight, it seems as the next revival in Christianity has arrived - Reformed Christianity as that. However, is everything going fine in this supposed revival?

In this paper modified and submitted for the blog conference, Daniel Chew addresses certain concerns regarding this New Calvinist movement, which he sees as a descendant of the New Evangelicalism from 50+ years back. An excerpt:

A phenomenon is growing and spreading within the churches in the USA. Spurred on by the degradation of culture, the downgrade of [New] Evangelicalism, the passion and appeal of charismatic personalities such as Pastor John Piper, C.J. Mahaney and the Sovereign Grace Movement among others, and above all to the providence of God, a renewed interest in Calvinism and the reformed worldview is spreading within the Evangelical movement. Journalist Colin Hansen has researched this phenomenon and published his results in his book Young, Restless, Reformed, truly an illuminating book which shows us the growing resurgence in Calvinism in myriad sectors of the Visible Church.

As Reformed (and reforming) Christians, the current resurgence in Calvinism surely is cause for gladness. Believing with Spurgeon that "Calvinism is the Gospel and nothing else”, the turning away from the destructive errors found in modern-day bankrupt Evangelicalism with its embrace of semi-Pelagianism and Pelagianism is indeed cause for joy. Nevertheless, in observing the movement, many areas of concerns, some serious, have came up and it in this spirit that these concerns are brought up for our consideration.

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Edward Sim has reviewed the article as follows:

I read Daniel Chew's article, titled "New Evangelical Calvinism: An analysis of the Calvinist Resurgence", with mixed feelings. There is so much that one can agree with. In this article, Chew highlighted 5 major issues that he found within the recent so-called "Calvinist Resurgence". These 5 issues are summarized in 4 questions and the call to be unashamed ambassadors of Christ. The 4 questions are: Will we learn from history? Will we embrace the material principle of the Gospel without embracing the formal principle of Sola Scriptura? Will we aim for rational and lifestyle consistency? Will we reject the New Evangelical infatuation with positivity? There is a sense that there is much that we can and must embrace together. It should be said from the outset that these warnings are great reminders and should be heeded. However, am I to understand these questions as veiled (if not then apparent) attacks on the recent Calvinistic Resurgence? And if so, the validity of these charges being brought forth takes on paramount importance. The aim of this review is to examine Chew's case and leave the readers to decide whether it has been convincingly and conclusively presented.

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Daniel Chew has responded to Edward Sim's review here, as follows:

I am grateful for Edward Sim’s review of my article on the New Evangelical Calvinism. Though I would most definitely not be in agreement with him on some of the issues he raised, I appreciate his frankness and his desire for the truth. In a culture which desires peace at all costs, those who are willing to disagree and do it in a Christian manner as based upon the authority of Scripture are indeed rare, and it is in this sense that I appreciate Sim’s review (cf Prov. 28:23).

It must first be reiterated that this paper was initially written in response to the attack of Tim Challies on “watchbloggers” on his blog. This paper was not therefore intended to be a full-scale analysis of the current Calvinist Resurgence, and thus of the positives and negatives found in it. Also, being a movement, it is definitely the case that the movement is not monolithic and thus not everything stated would apply to everyone. The article therefore was meant to be a clarion call towards the New Calvinists of the concerns with regards to possible deficiencies in the movement itself, which of course may or may not apply to them as individuals. It must be said that I am sympathetic to the movement, being able to identify with them on certain issues like the need for having a dynamic and passionate faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, after all having experienced the transformation that comes with embracing the Doctrines of Grace later in the Christian life.

[more]

[This paper is now open for discussion]

Jack Sin: The Spiritual Influence and Legacy of John Calvin to The Modern World

With this year being the 500th year of Calvin, Rev. Dr. Jack Sin has given a lecture at the Miri Reformed Church in commemoration of this event. What is the spiritual influence and legacy John Calvin gave to the world? In this succinct lecture, which was then transcribed and edited for this conference here, Dr. Jack Sin shows us Calvin's life, influence and his legacy, and calls us to likewise give our lives for God's glory.

There are a few men that made a lasting and notable impact in the world today in a religious or ecclesiastical sense. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. John Calvin the renowned 16th century French reformer was one of the greatest thinkers and prime spiritual movers of the 16th century besides Luther, Zwingli, Tyndale and Knox, and his writings and teachings continue to be widely taught and propagated throughout the reformed community worldwide.

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Soon Beng Lim reviewed Dr. Jack Sin's article as follows:

John Calvin is one of the great heroes of the Reformation, whose achievements can only be described as superhuman (i.e. energized by the Holy Spirit). It would be a difficult task to try to capture everything about him in one short article. Nevertheless, Dr Jack Sin has attempted to do so, and it is a commendable effort indeed, giving us a broad historical overview of the man and his contributions to the Reformation.

[more]

[This paper is opened for discussion.]

Translation of Tsun En's review done

The Chinese-English translation work has been ongoing for the various reviews and articles submitted for the CREDO500 conference. On the 14th Sept, David Chong posted his paper on the New Perspective, of which Pastor Tsun-En Lu reviewed. At that time however, the review was only in Chinese and so limited to those more fluent in that language.

It is my pleasure to say that the translation work for Pastor Lu's review has been completed and can be accessed here. An excerpt:

With the growing number of translations of the works of the British Anglican Bishop of Durham and leading New Testament scholar Nicholas Thomas “Tom” Wright (N.T. Wright) into Chinese (for example, the recently published translation of What Saint Paul Really Said), the Anglo-American theological theory of the New Perspective on Paul has in recent times slowly but surely attracted the attention of the Chinese churches.

Stephen Chan on Calvin's Tales of Two Cities

The year 2009 marks the 500th annivesary of Calvin's birth, various events of international and interdemominational held to commemorate his life and works. In this paper, Rev.Dr. Stephen Chan gives us an insightful guide which deeply engage with Calvin's mind through his methodology in the Institute of Christian Religion, and a brief survey of it's development in the Post-reformation with a keen eye towards Mainland China, the "most strategic mission field" in the 21st century.

Dr.Chan, our conference advisor, President of Reformed Institute for Christianity and 21st Century, Associate Professor of Seattle University, his paper can be read here. Excerpt:

加尔文大概是在1534年抵达巴塞尔，据说同行的还有二至三人。巴塞尔位于法、德、瑞士的交界，距法国边界的斯特拉斯堡约有115公里，而从巴黎至斯特拉斯堡则有400公里的路程。他们一行骑着马，日夜赶路，逃避法王鹰犬的追捕。寒冬的一月让这个带有浓厚日耳曼民风的巴塞尔古城，显得更加肃穆。他们迅速地安顿下来，加尔文用托名租了一个小房子，就在古城住下一年之久。[More]

This article has been reviewed by Rev. Dr. David Cheng, newly added here. Excerpt:

Rev. Prof. Dr. Chan is one of the greatest teachers of theology in our time. His article provides us a better understanding of Calvin and his works especially in regard to Calvin’s contribution to the Reformation of the 16th century. This reviewer has found no mistake or any point for scholarly challenge. Certainly, Dr. Chan is very careful in his wording and therefore he is safe even on a couple issues which are already controversial in the scholarly literature.

[The paper is now opened for discussion.]

Progress of CREDO500 blog conference

[This is a translation of the previous post by Jonah]

We are considering running the CREDO500 blog conference again next year. As such, we would like to open up this post for suggestions from our readers and participants, especially welcoming your thoughts and constructive feedback on the conference so far. We wish to make this and possible future conferences even better, as well as gather valuable comments and feedback from all of you. This is done so that future conferences [if done] could be improved, and that the proclamation of orthodox theology could be done for the growth of the Chinese churches towards maturity.

The first part of our blog conference "The Legacy of Reformed Theology" has concluded, although readers can continue to [and are encouraged to -DHC] post their comments. In this slightly over three weeks of discussion, besides growing in knowledge, we have also grown in our friendship in the Lord. Although we have many divergent viewpoints on the issues presented, yet we have generally engaged the issues not the people, with the goal of ad fontes or returning to the Scriptures, the source of our faith.

The translation [and editorial - DHC] work of the articles and reviews into English is undertaken by Daniel Chew, while the translation [and editorial - DHC] work into Chinese is undertaken by Pastor Jonah Tang and Amos Chaw. This is done so as to facilitate understanding in either or both languages. The second part of our conference "The Reformation and John Calvin", has an addition of three additional papers in them. As such, we have adjusted the period of this part to 2nd to 28th Oct, with the schedule being as follows:

Part II: The Reformation and John Calvin (3rd - 28th Oct 2009)

I. The historical legacy of John Calvin

Oct 3rd Stephen Chan, Calvin's Tale of Two Cities (Response: David Cheng)

Oct 5th Jack Sin，The Spiritual Influence and Legacy of John Calvin to The Modern World (Response: SoonBeng Lim)

Oct 7th Daniel Chew, New Evangelical Calvinism: An analysis of the Calvinist Resurgence (Response: Edward Sim)

II. Joh Calvin's theology of God's Sovereignty

Oct 9th LaiHoe Ang, Biblical Consistency of Calvin’s Work on Election (Response: Lemuel Hii)

Oct 12th David Chen，Has Turretin been faithful to John Calvin’s Doctrine of Election? (Response: Alex Tseng)

Oct 14th Alex Tseng, Karl Barth's Doctrine of Election (Response: Joel Tay)

III. John Calvin's theology of worship

Oct 16th Zhi Yong Wang, Calvin and the Psalms: Singing the songs of Jehovah (Response: Cathy Tan)

Oct 19th Cathy Tan，The quest for Calvin's essence of worship: Passion and love of God — A journey away from ritualistic worship (Response: Paul Gao)

Oct 21st Timothy Peng, Reformed View of Music (Response: Junhao Yang)

III. The practical theology of John Calvin

Oct 23rd Fook Seong Ten, Calvin's Institutes and the Practices of Piety (Response: PaiChan Yong)

Oct 26th David Cheng，Calvin's Law and Grace (Response: Jason Loh)

Oct 28th Jason Loh, Calvin’s View on the Cultural Mandate (Response: Benjamin Ho)

Our new contributors are: Rev.Dr.David Cheng (Calvin's Law and Grace), Pastor Timothy Peng (Reformed View of Music) and Jason Loh (Calvin’s View on the Cultural Mandate). Reviewers include Junhao Yang, Benjamin Ho and Jason Loh. A short biography of the people involved can be found here (to be updated later)

Our advisor for this conference Rev.Dr.Stephen Chan will give a final conclusion and exhortation at the end of this conference. Finally, for our celebration of Reformation Day on the 30th-31st of Oct, we would like to invite all our contributors and readers to write a short note or message in celebration.

May this conference contribute, no matter how small, to the goal of helping the Chinese churches know more about John Calvin and Reformed theology, and thus achieve unity in the truth. Amen.