Reformed Forum

The covenant of grace has its source in eternity, in the covenant of redemption: the eternal agreement of Father, Son, and Spirit to save a people. In "Before the Foundation of the World," Camden Bucey traces the historical covenant of grace back to that eternal counsel. Following Herman Bavinck, he shows that the covenant revealed in time rests on an unchanging foundation in the counsel of the triune God. Before creation and before the fall, God purposed one redemption with one Savior at its center, and the unity and certainty of the covenant of grace rest on that purpose. This opening address gathers up the first two conferences in the trilogy and lays the foundation for the addresses that follow.

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Dr. Camden M. Bucey is executive director of Reformed Forum and host of Christ the Center. He is the author of Karl Rahner in P&R’s Great Thinkers series and Defending Our Hope: An Introduction to Christian Apologetics.

Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, “The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose,” at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.

Watch the full conference

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Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000

This is the first lesson in Dr. Camden M. Bucey and Dr. Marcus Mininger’s Reformed Academy course, Resurrection and Redemption: A Reader’s Guide. It was originally recorded for one of Reformed Forum’s International Cohort Reading Groups. This lesson covers pages 5–30 of Richard B. Gaffin Jr.’s Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology, addressing the following topics:

• 00:00 Introduction and Personal History with the Book
• 06:07 The Book’s Title and Purpose
• 10:02 Redemption Accomplished and Applied
• 16:41 A Biblical-Theological Approach
• 22:54 Paul’s Soteriology and Methodological Questions
• 30:22 Paul as Theologian and Interpreter
• 35:40 Biblical Authors as Theologians
• 39:16 Theology, Scripture, and Philosophical Categories
• 42:51 Apostolic and Post-Apostolic History
• 49:45 The Occasional Nature of Paul’s Letters
• 55:00 Contextual Theology, Unity, and Diversity

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/resurrection-redemption-readers-guide

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#biblicaltheology #redemption #reformedtheology #biblestudy

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000

We welcome Eli Ayala, host of Revealed Apologetics, to discuss Christian apologetics in the digital public square. Drawing an analogy to the Areopagus of Acts 17, Camden Bucey and Ayala consider YouTube’s remarkable reach, its dangers, the spiritual dimension of apologetics, the union of biblical content and method, current movements in online apologetics, and the pastoral task of guiding young people who encounter theology online.

Ayala recounts his path from a Spanish Pentecostal upbringing to Reformed theology and presuppositional apologetics, including the decisive influence of the Greg Bahnsen–Gordon Stein debate. He also explains the origins of Revealed Apologetics and reflects on the opportunities and distortions created by algorithmic media.

Links

• Episode page
• Revealed Apologetics
• Revealed Apologetics on YouTube
• Defending Our Hope

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:03 YouTube as the Modern Areopagus
• 3:43 Eli Ayala’s Background and Work
• 8:39 Spiritual Warfare and Apologetics
• 12:47 An Apologetic Awakening
• 17:06 The Bahnsen–Stein Debate and Presuppositionalism
• 20:42 The Origins of Revealed Apologetics
• 25:35 YouTube’s Promise and Peril
• 36:31 Biblical Content, Method, and Character
• 43:13 The Online Apologetics Landscape
• 47:33 Eastern Orthodoxy and Presuppositionalism
• 49:32 Islam and Christian Apologetics Online
• 50:52 Roman Catholic Apologetics Online
• 54:11 Guiding Young People through Online Theology
• 1:01:13 Conclusion

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

On today’s episode of Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob continue to walk through the Book of Daniel. We discuss Daniel's corporate prayer of confession in chapter 9.

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000

This is the fifth lesson in Dr. Lane G. Tipton’s Reformed Academy course, Christology I: The Person of Christ. This lesson covers the following topics:

• 00:00 Introduction to Modern Christological Errors
• 00:57 Liberal Historicism and Schleiermacher
• 11:24 Karl Barth’s Higher-Order Historicism
• 27:05 Traditional Kenotic Christology
• 38:35 Bruce McCormack’s Actualized Kenotic Christology
• 51:47 Charles Hartshorne and Process Christology
• 1:00:59 A Taxonomy of Modern Departures
• 1:03:20 The Christological Crisis and the Gospel
• 1:05:42 The Confessional Christ of Scripture
• 1:07:10 Recovering Reformed Christology

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in systematic theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/christology-1-the-person-of-christ

Your donations help us provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#christology #systematictheology #reformedtheology

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000

We welcome Andrea Ferrari to discuss his book The Fall and Redemption of Conscience: A Reformed Biblical Theology. Ferrari, pastor of the Chiesa Riformata di Perugia in Italy, explains why conscience has received comparatively little attention in modern Protestant theology and considers the influence of psychology, Karl Barth, John Webster, and John Calvin on contemporary accounts of conscience.

The conversation develops a biblical and theological account of conscience from creation to new creation. Ferrari addresses whether Adam possessed a conscience before the fall, the Old Testament vocabulary of heart, kidneys, and clean hands, Calvin’s sensus divini judicii, the Trinitarian basis of human self-awareness, and the effects of justification and sanctification upon a guilty conscience. The episode concludes with practical implications for preaching, counseling, and the Christian life, along with an update on Ferrari’s ministry in Perugia.

Links

• Episode page
• The Fall and Redemption of Conscience
• Chiesa Riformata di Perugia

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 03:12 Andrea Ferrari’s Ministry in Perugia
• 12:43 A New Study Center near the University
• 19:11 The Fall and Redemption of Conscience
• 24:33 Why Conscience Disappeared from Modern Theology
• 28:41 Karl Barth and General Revelation
• 32:12 Did Adam Have a Conscience before the Fall?
• 49:27 Conscience in the Old Testament
• 58:53 Defining Conscience as Perceptual Awareness
• 64:23 Calvin’s Sensus Divini Judicii
• 65:27 The Trinitarian Context of Conscience
• 74:23 The Fallen Conscience and the Imagination
• 80:10 Training the Senses in Hebrews 5:14
• 81:47 The Justified Conscience
• 86:43 Sanctification and the Healing of Conscience
• 93:23 Pastoral Counseling and Preaching to the Conscience
• 100:02 Ministry Reflections and Conclusion

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

This is the fourth lesson in Dr. Lane G. Tipton’s Reformed Academy course, Christology I: The Person of Christ. This lesson covers the following topics:

• 00:00 Introduction to Orthodox Christology
• 02:19 Westminster Confession of Faith 8.2
• 06:27 The Son’s Assumption of a True Human Nature
• 13:55 The Hypostatic Union
• 17:30 Ancient Christological Errors
• 18:17 Arianism
• 25:13 Docetism
• 28:29 Nestorianism
• 35:41 Apollinarianism
• 40:12 Eutychianism
• 45:22 Ebionitism and Adoptionism
• 48:04 Chalcedon and Its Refinements
• 50:42 The Enhypostatic Humanity of Christ
• 52:53 Christ’s Two Wills and Two Operations

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in systematic theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/christology-1-the-person-of-christ

Your donations help us provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#christology #systematictheology #reformedtheology

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000

Recorded before a live audience at Cahaba Park Church during Discovering Christ in All of Scripture, a Reformed Forum seminar hosted in conjunction with Birmingham Theological Seminary, Camden Bucey moderates a panel with Dan Ragusa, Derrick Brite, and Lane G. Tipton on the importance of biblical theology for the life of the church. The panel defines biblical theology in the tradition of Geerhardus Vos, explains its organic and progressive character, and shows how the whole history of special revelation reaches its center and goal in Jesus Christ.

The conversation turns to preaching, discipleship, the unity of the covenant of grace, Christ-centered interpretation, practical resources for reading the Old Testament, and the need for churches to recover the accomplishment of redemption as the great context for every biblical passage. In the audience Q&A, the panel also addresses ministry in small and struggling churches, church revitalization, and the pilgrim ethic needed for faithful pastoral service.

Links

• Episode page
• Birmingham Theological Seminary
• Reformed Academy

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and panel
• 03:55 Why biblical theology matters
• 09:28 Defining biblical theology
• 15:39 Derrick Brite’s formation and pastoral ministry
• 22:20 Dan Ragusa and the Dutch Reformed tradition
• 26:09 Biblical theology in a diverse congregation
• 30:09 Avoiding moralism and subjectivism
• 31:27 Hermeneutical foundations
• 35:56 The trans-testamental gospel
• 40:24 Christianity, liberalism, and supernatural history
• 43:54 God’s redemptive words and deeds
• 48:37 Christ, the one mediator
• 51:11 One gospel for Abraham and the church
• 52:56 Audience questions
• 53:23 Lane Tipton’s conversion and call to ministry
• 58:40 Teaching people to see Christ in the Old Testament
• 63:25 The exodus at the Transfiguration
• 67:16 Reading passages within the history of salvation
• 73:56 Christocentrism and Christotelism
• 77:11 Biblical theology and small-church ministry
• 82:58 The pastoral shortage and a pilgrim ethic
• 88:10 Conclusion

On today’s episode of Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob continue to walk through the Book of Daniel. We discuss Daniel's vision and interpretation of it in chapter 8.

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000

This is the third lesson in Dr. Lane G. Tipton’s Reformed Academy course, Christology I: The Person of Christ. This lesson covers the following topics:

• 00:00 Adam, the Covenant of Works, and the Logos Incarnandus
• 04:25 Creation, Sin, and the Historical Necessity of the Incarnation
• 10:29 Creation’s Sufficiency and Its Fitness for Incarnation
• 13:20 The First Order of Subsistence: The Eternal Son
• 15:13 The Second Order of Subsistence: The Assumed Human Nature
• 17:22 Asymmetry and the Immutability of the Son
• 26:46 No Mutation or Deification in the Incarnation
• 29:40 The Human Nature Receives Personality from the Logos
• 44:22 The Human Nature as the Son’s Created Organ
• 53:28 The Communicatio Idiomatum
• 57:26 The Extra Calvinisticum
• 1:00:06 The Impeccability of the Mediator
• 1:02:11 The Spirit’s Gifts to Christ’s Human Nature
• 1:05:11 Summary: One Immutable Person in Two Natures

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in systematic theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/christology-1-the-person-of-christ

Your donations help us provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#christology #systematictheology #reformedtheology

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000