Dead Presbyterians Society

Francis J. Grimké believed the preacher’s task was simple: faithfully proclaim the Word of God in dependence upon the Spirit of God. In this episode of the Dead Presbyterians Society, we explore Grimké’s remarkable life and enduring reflections on preaching, pastoral faithfulness, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work through the ministry of the Word.

Learn more at ⁠confessional.org

Greenville Seminary invites you to the 2026 Missions Midweeker. Brooks Buser, Chad Vegas, Ian Hamilton, Michael Morales, Jonathan Master and others will join a small cohort of church leaders for intensive seminars designed to assist the church in fulfilling the Great Commission. August 11 -13 - register here.

In this episode, we explore The Mission of Parenting by Thomas Smyth, a powerful call for Christian parents to see the home as the first mission field. Smyth challenges families to raise children not merely in knowledge, but in a living zeal for Christ’s kingdom and the spread of the gospel.

Learn more at confessional.org

Pastor, Greenville Seminary invites you to the 2026 Summer Seminar: Apologetics and Evangelism for the Pastor. Carlton Wynne and Camden Bucey will join us on campus for a series of lectures on the role of apologetics and evangelism in pastoral ministry. August 4-5 - register here.

This episode explores On the Emotional Life of Our Lord by B. B. Warfield, showing that Christ’s compassion, love, anger, joy, and sorrow were true and sinless expressions of His full humanity. As confessed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, He is fully God and fully man, “yet without sin,” and His affections were perfectly ordered in accordance with His holy nature. In this way, the emotional life of Christ belongs to His perfect obedience and reveals the moral beauty of the Savior in the work of our redemption.

Learn more at confessional.org

Friends in the PCA: please join us for our annual luncheon in Louisville this year! Seats are filling up quickly - register here.

Geerhardus Vos is often called the father of Reformed biblical theology. In this special crossover episode with Reformed Forum, Dr. Camden Bucey joins Dr. Jonathan Master on the Dead Presbyterians Society to discuss the life, work, and lasting influence of Geerhardus Vos. The conversation explores Vos’s contribution to Reformed biblical theology and reflects briefly on his place with the American Presbyterians.

The Dead Presbyterians Society Podcast will return with Season 3 in April. Until then, be sure to visit this new resource from Greenville Seminary: confessional.org

In this episode we revisit James Henley Thornwell’s powerful warning against Antinomianism — the ancient error that turns grace into license. Thornwell reminds us that the gospel is “always crucified between two thieves”: legalism and lawlessness.

The Doctrine of Predestination explores Samuel Blair’s 1742 defense of God’s sovereign grace — a work praised by Archibald Alexander as the hand of a master. Writing during the era of the Log College and the Great Awakening, Blair answered objections to election not with speculation, but with Scripture — grounding the doctrine in Romans 9, Ephesians 1, and the justice and mercy of God.

In this episode, we examine Blair’s life, his pastoral purpose, and his argument that absolute election humbles the sinner, excludes boasting, and gives all the glory to Christ alone.

A Letter to Rome examines Charles Hodge’s 1869 response to Pope Pius IX and the First Vatican Council, a rare moment when American Presbyterianism spoke directly to Rome. With clarity and charity, Hodge explains why the core issues of the Reformation—Scripture alone, the sufficiency of Christ, and the nature of church authority—made unity impossible. This episode revisits that letter and asks what modern Protestants can learn from Hodge’s firm convictions and pastoral tone in an age of renewed ecumenical pressure.

Behind every faithful sermon is a hidden place. In this episode, we explore Thomas Murphy’s insistence that a pastor’s most essential work happens in the prayer closet, where private devotion shapes public ministry. Drawing on Murphy—and echoing Baxter, Miller, and Warfield—we’re reminded that the strength and character of the pulpit are formed in secret communion with God.

What hope does the covenant of grace offer when a baptized child dies? In this episode Jonathan Master explores T.D. Witherspoon’s Children of the Covenant (1873), written in the wake of profound loss and grounded in God’s promises rather than sentiment. Through the lives of three covenant children, Witherspoon points grieving parents and churches to Christ, the ordinary means of grace, and the sure consolation of belonging to Him.

In an age that treats the Lord’s Day as expendable, Samuel Miller calls the church to remember what God has promised through the Sabbath. Drawing from his introductory essay to Agnew’s Manual on the Christian Sabbath, this episode explores why the Fourth Commandment still matters—and why recovering the Lord’s Day may be essential to the church’s spiritual health.