Articles by Paul Helm

Michael Horton is a talented theologian and communicator, able to write for those with delicate digestive systems, as well as for the more robustly constituted.  This one-volume, one thousand-odd paged systematic theology is somewhere in the middle of the field.... continue

Festschrift, like schadenfreude and blitz, is reckoned to be an untranslatable German word. The OED has a go, however: a festschrift is 'a collection of writings presented to a scholar to mark an occasion in his life'. This leaves a certain amount of elasticity. Nowadays the person honoured may himself present a paper in his own festschrift. And - wait for it - the one honoured besides appearing in it himself may have planned the volume, as John Frame recently did his. continue

Among the morning's tide of emails, the usual flotsam and jetsam. But one item caught my eye, the one headed 'Of Interest?' It should really have gone straight into junk. But I opened it. (I did not notice the name of the sender, in case you're curious).That was all. Which I did. continue

The Theology of John CalvinBy Charles Partee376 p.Westminster John Knox (October 2008)If all's well that ends well, then all is well with this new study of Calvin's theology.  Which is to say, I find myself in agreement  with much of... continue

Paul Helm's review of Calvin's "Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles 1-7" continue

A.N. Whitehead famously remarked that 'The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato'. This volume of 'New Essays' (some, in fact, are not new) is avowedly footnotes to... continue

This substantial book will be of considerable interest to those who have a concern for Christian social ethics and for the economic policies that may underlie it. It is also revealing for the way in which some Roman Catholics currently... continue

John Frame's new book is very fine. In 25 chapters he takes the reader through a crash-course in systematics. The chapters contain many wise judgments, much sound teaching, and good emphases. When caution is needed, Frame is cautious; when boldness... continue

Scott Oliphint is Professor of Apologetics at Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia, and so a direct academic descendent of Cornelius Van Til. At the outset of the book he pays tribute to CVT, and says that although he is rarely mentioned in... continue

Election, grace, predestination, bondage of the will - these will be taken by many who read this review to be concepts whose meaning is drawn exclusively from Reformed theology, from its Augustinian heritage, and (of course) from the Bible... continue