Belgic Confession Commentaries?

[Philip A]

The blurb on van Bruggen's exposition of the Belgic Confession from Reformation Heritage says that it is the most neglected confession in English commentaries. Are there any others? Does anybody have any input on the value of van Bruggen?

http://www.heritagebooks.org/item.asp?bookId=2580

 

[dannyhyde]

Philip,

van Bruggen is a little better than the other commentaries in English, in that he actually examines the Latin/Dutch text from time to time. Yet, like every other commentary out there in English (I've searched high and low and think I have all of them - even individual pastors' ones), he uses the topics of the Belgic as springboards in to systematic theology. The other downside is that he is trapped in his own theological peculiarities, being a minister in the Liberated churches in the Netherlands. Everything is read through the martyrs lense of Schilder and the Schilderites.

Some other commentaries are P.Y. De Jong, The Church's Witness to the World (out of print), but is basically a systematic theology without much textual work, and Henry Beets, The Reformed Confession Explained, with is too small to be of any great use.

For what it is worth, I am in the process of writing a commentary geared towards pastors and educated laypeople. I wrote a series of articles on each article of the confession for The Outlook, which are being "buffed up" for the work I have in mind.

 

[Philip A]

Thanks!

I actually read about your project on your blog last week, but I totally blanked on it yesterday. I'll save my money then

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

There are a few others, of varying kinds. I haven't read them myself so I'm not recommending anything in particular, but this is an area where I also would like to study more.

Kim Riddlebarger's Commentary on the Belgic Confession

Chuck Baynard's Commentary on the Belgic Confession

Clarence Stam, Everything In Christ (Description: Catechetical instruction in the Belgic Confession. Includes outlines on church history, polity and liturgy. 174 pages. Canadian Reformed.)

From Dr. Scott Clark's website:

Belgic Confession

H. Beets. The Reformed Confession Explained. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1929.

De Bres, G. The Rise, Spring, and Foundation of the Anabaptists or Re-Baptized of our Time, trans. Joshua Scottow (Cambridge, 1668).

-- The Staff of the Christian Faith, trans. John Brooke (London, 1577).

Peter Y. DeJong. The Church's Witness to the World. Pella, IA: Pella Publishing, 1960.

Nicolaas H. Gootjes, "Calvin on Epicurus and the Epicureans: Background to a Remark in Article 13 of the Belgic Confession," Calvin Theological Journal 40 (2005): 33-48.

"” "The Earliest Report on the Author of the Belgic Confession," Netherlands Archief vor de Kerkgeschiedenis 82 (2002): 86-94.

"” "Problems with Proof Texts: The Proof Texts of Article 11 of the Belgic Confession and Their Implications for the Confession," Calvin Theological Journal 36 (2001): 372"“378.

S. A. Strauss, "John Calvin and the Belgic Confession." die Skriflig 27 (1993): 501"“517.

Vallensis, Lepusculus. The Belgic Confession and Its Biblical Basis. Translated by Rene Vermeulen. Neerlandia, AB and Caledonia, MI: Inheritance Publications, 1993.

Van Bruggen, Jacob. The Church Says Amen: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession. Translated by Johanna VanderPlas. Neerlandia, AB and Pella, IA: Inheritance Publications, 2003.

 

[JM]

Does Herman Hoeksema have a commentary on the confession?

 

[AV1611]

Does Herman Hoeksema have a commentary on the confession?

Nope, well I have not seen one by him.

 

[dannyhyde]

Jason, yes, Rev. Herman Hoeksema has a 48-page, spiral bound notebook called "Outlines on the Belgic Confession." You can purchase it directly through the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Each article in the Confession receives a 1 to 2 page outline.

As I mentioned in the earlier post in this thread, I have a commentary coming out on the Belgic. It is due out from Reformed Fellowship in July of 2007, just in time for the Synod of the URCNA.