Dr. James R. Payton Jr. is professor of patristics and historical theology at McMaster Divinity College and professor emeritus of history at Redeemer University College. He is the author of several works, most recently The Unknown Europe: How Eastern Europe Got that Way (2021), and Patristic Theology, Vol. 1 (2024).
Last Updated: September 10, 2025
In the Christian tradition in which I grew up, worship services began and ended with a prayer. The faith-nurturing I received there also included my pastor’s encouragement to read through the Bible every year. I did that several times before experiencing a different worship style that began with a divine blessing and ended with a benediction.
This year we commemorate the five hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, commonly associated with Martin Luther nailing ninety-five theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. The movement unwittingly launched so long ago has ended up having enormous influence over the past five centuries. Politically, socially, economically, culturally, and in many other ways, the Reformation has helped to mold the world we live in today.
It had been nine months since I had arrived at Ancaster Christian Reformed Church, and I was still walking that fine line between “that’s how we’ve always done it” and “that sounds like a great idea.” This was to be the first time I would travel the Lenten journey with my new congregation, and I was looking forward to celebrating with them that capstone of our faith: Easter morning.
We distinguish between these holy books
and the apocryphal ones. . . .
The church may certainly read these books
and learn from them
as far as they agree with the canonical books.
—Belgic Confession, Article 6
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