In this course, we will explore the history, character, and distinguishing commitments of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). Students will study the formation and development of the OPC through the lens of its theological identity as a confessional, Reformed, and pilgrim church.
Course Materials
- Course syllabus
- OPC Anthology (readings for the course)
Supplemental Materials
- Camden M. Bucey, “What’s the Difference between the OPC and PCA?”
- John Frame, “Machen’s Warrior Children”
- D. G. Hart and John Muether, “Turning Points” series for New Horizons.
- Charles Hodge, “What Is the ‘System of Doctrine?’”
- J. Gresham Machen, “The Purpose of the Covenant Union,” The Presbyterian Guardian, Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 54 (November 18, 1935).
- Edwin H. Rian, “Theological Conflicts of the 1920s and 1930s in the Presbyterian Church and on the Princeton Seminary Campus”
- Edwin H. Rian, “Why I Am Re-Entering the Ministry of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.”
- Murray Forst Thompson, The Auburn Betrayal
Ministerial Training Institute of the OPC
The 1998 and 1999 General Assemblies approved the Committee on Christian Education’s plan to establish a Ministerial Training Institute of the OPC (MTIOPC). Dr. James S. Gidley laid out some of MTIOPC’s distinctives in the March 1999 New Horizons article “What Is the MTIOPC?”
MTIOPC is designed primarily to provide men who are preparing for gospel ministry (men under care, licentiates) and current OP ministers with instruction supplemental to that which they might receive in seminary. Others, including OP ruling elders, ministers from other denominations, and men in other denominations training for the ministry, also benefit from this instruction.