After months of delays, the Fall 2020 issue (vol.54, #1) of the Protestant Reformed Theological Journal is now available! The digital copy has been posted on the seminary's website and the print copy is a few weeks away yet. But we can at least introduce the issue and encourage you to dig into it, as it is filled with solid Reformed and Presbyterian articles and book reviews.
In this initial post on this issue we let the editor of the PRTJ, Prof. R. Cammenga, speak. He introduces this journal with these summary comments on its contents:
"This issue contains an excellent lineup of articles. The first article is from the pen of the Rev. Martyn McGeown, pastor presently in N. Ireland, who is awaiting a visa for himself and his wife so that he can take up the ministry in the Providence Protestant Reformed Church in the west suburbs of Grand Rapids, MI. His article is a critical assessment of the theology of Moïse Amyraut (1596-1664). Amyraut was an instructor in the Academy of Saumer, France. He is best known for his teaching of hypothetical universalism and the controversy that his teaching precipitated in Reformed churches worldwide. Pastor McGeown favors us with an excellent critic of the false teaching of Amyraut. Of special interest to our readers is the fact that pastor McGeown does a fair amount of translation from the French of heretofore untranslated material from Amyraut.
"Mr. Peter Vander Schaaf favors our readership with another translation of a work not yet translated into English. The language in this case is Dutch. The selection that he has translated is taken from Dr. Harm Bouwman’s Gereformeerd Kerkrecht. The specific section concerns the nature and observance of Sunday. Although Bouwman lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, what he taught concerning Sunday is of timeless value. And it also serves to remind us of what the historic teaching of the Dutch Reformed was regarding the day of rest. Mr. Vander Schaaf’s article includes a helpful biographical introduction that informs our readers of the life and influence of H. Bouwman. It is our hope that brother Vander Schaaf will do some further translation from the work of this Dutch Reformed worthy for the future benefit of our readers.
"As in our last issue, our readers are again favored with an article by Dr. C. N. Willborn. This is the second of the two speeches that Dr. Willborn gave to the faculty and students of PRTS. The two speeches featured the theology of the leading lights in the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States. This speech focuses on the pastoral distinctives of the Southern Presbyterians. Not only did the great theologians of Southern Presbyterianism set forth a sound ecclesiology, but they were also themselves men of pastoral experience. Their practical pastoral care of God’s people of different races and economic conditions is the kind of principled care from pastors needed in the church today.
"The final feature article is a contribution by the newest (and youngest) faculty member of PRTS, Prof. Brian Huizinga. The title of his article is “John Owen and the Salt of the Covenant of Grace.” Prof. Huizinga highlights Owen’s teaching of the unconditional covenant of grace. He calls attention to Owen’s positive teaching concerning God’s covenant, as well as the polemics in which he engaged against the Arminian perversion of the covenant of grace. Owen repudiated the Arminian view of a conditional covenant by limiting membership in the covenant of grace to the elect alone.
"Besides our regular articles, as always, this issue of PRTJ contains several thoughtful reviews of recently published books. The books reviewed deal with such subjects as common grace and the covenant of grace, Bible history and church history, the well-meant offer of the gospel and the biblical call of the gospel, a gracious love of God for the elect alone and the compromising view of a love of God that includes all men. You will want to read these insightful reviews. You will profit from them. A special word of the thanks to those who have contributed the book reviews.
"Now read and enjoy!
Soli Deo Gloria!"
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