The Spring 2020 issue of the Protestant Reformed Theological Journal is now available in digital forms (pdf and epub), with the print version soon to follow.
The editor, Prof. R. Cammenga, provides a summary of this issue in his "notes" at the beginning, from which we quote in this post.
To download and read this new issue, visit the Journal page. And while there, perhaps the past issues will also be of interest to you.
To be added to our mailing list for the print version, or the digital editions (pdf and ePub), send us a note at seminarysecretary@prca.org.
And now, Prof. Cammenga's "editor's notes":
You hold in your hands the April 2020 issue of the Protestant Reformed Theological Journal. This issue completes the fifty-third year of uninterrupted publication of the Journal of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary. We thank the Lord for His abundant grace and our readers for their support.
You will find in this issue an article by Dr. C. N. “Nick” Willborn entitled “Nineteenth-Century Southern Presbyterians and Their Theological Contributions.” Dr. Willborn is the senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and adjunct professor of historical theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. (Can anyone recall the important role that Oak Ridge had in bringing WWII to an end?) This is the first of two articles that began as presentations that Dr. Willborn gave at the seminary last fall on the theology of the Southern Presbyterians. His lectures focused
on the stalwarts of Southern Presbyterianism: Thornwell, Girardeau, Dabney, Palmer, Peck, and others. The lectures were well received by our students and faculty. And we thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship of Dr. Willborn and his wife, Carol. We are grateful for his willingness to have his lectures published in our Journal.
The most recent addition to the faculty of PRTS is Prof. Brian Huizinga. This is his first contribution since accepting the appointment and being installed as Professor of Reformed Dogmatics and Old Testament Studies. Prof. Huizinga is presently working on his advanced degree. All will profit from his article entitled “John Calvin and the Reward of Grace.”
The undersigned contributes “A Plea on Behalf of the Biblical Languages.” The article addresses the trend that diminishes the importance of learning and retaining the biblical languages for the work of the ministry. It intends to underscore the importance that Reformed churches have placed on the biblical languages since their recovery at the time of the Reformation. And it makes a plea that mastery of Hebrew and Greek continue to be required of seminary students preparing for the ministry of the gospel. This issue includes two review articles. Review articles are extended critical book reviews. The first is Prof. Douglas J. Kuiper’s review article of A Christian and a Democrat: A Religious Biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt. All will profit from this careful analysis of one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States of America, known especially for leading the nation through most of WWII.
The second review article is by the Rev. Martyn McGeown, who for several years has labored in Ireland and who recently accepted the call from Providence Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, MI. Pastor McGeown favors us with an insightful review of The Crux of the Free Offer: A Biblical, Confessional, and Theological Explanation and Defense of the Well-Meant Offer of the Gospel, by Sam Waldron.
The review first appeared recently in the British Reformed Journal, of which the Rev. McGeown is editor. Seldom do we print two reviews of the same book. The last issue of PRTJ included a review article of this same book by Prof. David Engelsma. But considering the importance of the book and the interaction of its author with the position of the Protestant Reformed Churches on the well-meant offer of the gospel, it was thought worthwhile to print a second review of the book. Our readers will profit from this second review article.