MARSCAST

Welcome to 2024 and the newly renamed MARSCAST podcast from Mid-America Reformed Seminary. You may be wondering about the new name: The Seminary podcast enters 2024 with a fresh name indicative of our reformatting of the show. We used to do a generic roundtable configuration of older episodes but have slowly transformed into episodes singularly highlighting one of our learned faculty members as they elaborate on doctrine, biblical theology, and cultural dynamics particular to their field of study. As we proceed through the year of our Lord 2024, our hope is that we provide refreshing content produced by our faculty and friends and that this will be of great service to you, your family, and your church. In this inaugural episode of 2024, Dr. Beach enters part 2 of a series he started on John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. In this episode, he briefly summarizes Calvin’s main purpose and approach in the opening chapters of the Institutes: to show that all people have a knowledge of God through creation and conscience and, therefore, are without excuse, but this knowledge is corrupted and insufficient for salvation.

In this final episode of the year of our Lord, 2023, Dr. Beach begins a multi-episode journey of taking us through the seminal work of John Calvin and his Institutes of the Christian Religion. He starts with part 1 to whet your appetite for when he picks it up again in February after we take a break in January. In this inaugural episode, he provides context to the Institutes, emphasizing the theological stakes and issues that Calvin will address in the 16th century.

In this final episode on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, Rev. Nick Lamme takes us through the implications for the Church today regarding identifying false teachers and provides encouragement, warning, and exhortation for Christians wrestling with this difficult passage. He concludes by reflecting on how understanding this sin should shape pastoral ministry.

In this episode, Rev. Nick Lamme examines the meaning of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in Matthew chapter 12. Specifically, he looks at verses 22-32, considering the larger context surrounding this passage. Rev. Lamme then analyzes Jesus's statement about this egregious sin, exploring who Jesus was addressing and why He made this warning at that moment.

In this episode, Jared speaks with Reverend Nick Lamme, a 2007 Mid-America alumnus and OPC pastor, about the complex biblical concept of "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." Rev. Lamme brings a depth of expertise to this discussion, having explored the topic extensively in a 2012 Mid-America Journal of Theology article. Guiding listeners through centuries of competing perspectives, Rev. Lamme provides an accessible yet thoughtful overview of this challenging spiritual idea - what it has been understood to mean by scholars and clergy over time, and how we might start to make sense of it today.

In this episode, Dr. Venema wraps up our series on Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 80 by reflecting on the ongoing legacy and relevancy of Q&A 80 for today and answers the question of whether its critiques are still valid when considering contemporary Roman Catholicism.

In this episode, Dr. Cornelis Venema provides an in-depth examination of Question and Answer 80 of the Heidelberg Catechism, focusing on its critique of the Catholic Mass. Dr. Venema highlights two major critiques made by the Catechism against the Mass. First, charging the Mass constitutes an unbiblical, repetitive sacrifice, undermining the completeness of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice on the cross. Second, critiquing the Mass as an idolatrous worship of the physical bread and wine of the Eucharist, charging that elevating and adoring the elements leads to idolatry. In addition to discussing these two major critiques, Dr. Venema examines the relationship between Question and Answer 80 and the Council of Trent, the 16th-century Catholic council that affirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation and the sacrificial nature of the Mass.

In this episode, we kick off a three-part series on Question and Answer 80 in the Heidelberg Catechism. Led by President of Mid-America, Dr. Cornelis Venema, this series begins with an overview of the history of the Catechism and the origins specifically of Q&A 80, which deals with what it calls the “popish mass.”

In this episode, Dr. Strange concludes this segment on church history by looking at the rise of Islam, its spread, and its impact on the development of Europe during the period of the Middle Ages.

In this episode, we explore one of the most transformative periods in European history - the fall of Rome in the 5th century AD and the subsequent rise of new barbarian kingdoms. Dr. Alan Strange, Professor of Church History, provides an overview of the factors that led to Rome’s decline after centuries of dominance, the complex history of the barbarian tribes, their eventual conversion from paganism to Christianity, and how this helped integrate them into the fabric of medieval European civilization.