Presbyterianism is a Reformed (Calvinist) Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders. Though there are other Reformed churches that are structurally similar, the word Presbyterian is applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War.
Presbyterianpolity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply. Groups of local churches are governed by a higher assembly of elders known as the presbytery or classis; presbyteries can be grouped into a synod, and presbyteries and synods nationwide often join together in a general assembly. Responsibility for conduct of church services is reserved to an ordained minister or pastor known as a teaching elder, or a minister of the word and sacrament.
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Reformed in theology and presbyterian in government.
Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) is a theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition with campuses in multiple locations in the United States. Founded by conservatives in the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in the United States, in 1966, it serves primarily students from more conservative branches of the Presbyterian and Reformed traditions.
Robert Charles Sproul was an American Reformed theologian and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries and could be heard daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast in the United States and internationally. Under Sproul's direction, Ligonier Ministries produced the Ligonier Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which would eventually grow into the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Along with Norman Geisler, Sproul was one of the chief architects of the statement. Sproul has been described as "the greatest and most influential proponent of the recovery of Reformed theology in the last century."
Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson is a Scottish theologian known in Reformed Christian circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He has been Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary since 2017, commuting from Scotland, where he was an assistant minister at St. Peter's Free Church of Scotland, Dundee. He is currently a preaching associate at Trinity Church, Aberdeen.
Covenant Theological Seminary, informally called Covenant Seminary, is the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Located in Creve Coeur, Missouri, it trains people to work as leaders in church positions and elsewhere, especially as pastors, missionaries, and counselors. It does not require all students to be members of the PCA, but it is bound to promote the teachings of its denomination. Faculty must subscribe to the system of biblical doctrine outlined in the Westminster Standards.
Robert Craig Sproul, better known as R. C. Sproul Jr., is an American Calvinist writer, theologian, and pastor, and the son of R. C. Sproul.
Jennings Ligon Duncan III is an American Presbyterian scholar and pastor. He is Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary.
Philip Graham Ryken is an American theologian, Presbyterian minister, and academic administrator. He is the eighth and current president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.
Bruce K. Waltke is an American Reformed evangelical professor of Old Testament and Hebrew. He has held professorships in the Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, and Knox Theological Seminary in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Bryan Chapell is an American pastor and theologian who currently serves as the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in America. He was previously the senior pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois. Prior to that he was president and chancellor of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri for twenty years. Chapell is also an author, lecturer, and conference speaker specializing in homiletics. He served as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in America in 2014.
W. Robert Godfrey is a minister in the United Reformed Churches in North America and formerly served as the third president of Westminster Seminary California. As of 2017 he is president emeritus and professor emeritus of church history. He currently is chairman of Ligonier Ministries, located in Sanford, Florida, a position he took over from the late Dr. R. C. Sproul.
Roger R. Nicole was a native Swiss Reformed Baptist theologian and proponent of Christian egalitarianism and biblical inerrancy. He was an associate editor for the New Geneva Study Bible, assisted in the translation of the New International Version, and was a founding member of both the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy and the Evangelical Theological Society, serving as president of the latter in 1956.
Michael Anthony Milton is an American Presbyterian minister, theologian, educator, pastor, broadcaster, author, musician and retired U.S. Army Chaplain (Colonel). Initially a pastoral intern under D. James Kennedy, Milton became President and Senior Fellow of the D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership. Milton succeeded Kennedy as the Teaching Pastor on the nationally televised sermon broadcast Truths That Transform (2013–2015). He has dual credentials in the Presbyterian Church in America and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, and is also credentialed through the Presbyterian and Reformed Commission on Chaplains. Milton was elected to the James Ragsdale Chair of Missions and Evangelism at Erskine Theological Seminary in June 2015. He was named Provost of the Seminary in 2019. In 2022 Milton was named Distinguished Professor of Missions and Evangelism.
ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is an evangelical Presbyterian denomination in the United States. As a Presbyterian church, ECO adheres to Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. It was established in 2012 by former congregations and members of the Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA). Denominational disputes over theology—particularly ordination of practicing homosexuals as pastors and gay marriage—and bureaucracy led to the founding of ECO. In 2018, ECO has over 383 congregations, 103,425 covenant partners and over 500 pastors. ECO churches are egalitarian in beliefs and ordain women as pastors and elders.
Presbyterianism has had a presence in the United States since colonial times and has exerted an important influence over broader American religion and culture.
Gordon James Keddie was a British-American pastor and theologian of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America educated at George Heriot's School, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He served long pastorates in State College, Pennsylvania and Indianapolis, Indiana. He is best known for his extensive writings including many commentaries on books of the Bible that have been translated in multiple languages. His contributions to the Welwyn commentary series published by Evangelical Press, included eight volumes, providing commentaries on the biblical books of Numbers, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, Amos, Jonah, Acts and the Epistle of James. He was also the author of a two volume work on the Gospel of John that is part of the Evangelical Press Study Commentary Series. Other works include treatments of the parables of Jesus, heaven, the book of Ecclesiastes, covenant theology, editing a collection of essays by 19th-century Reformed Presbyterian theologian James Renwick Willson, and various other contributions on topics in Reformed theology. Keddie died of prostate cancer on May 19, 2023, at the age of 78.
Douglas Floyd Kelly is a Presbyterian pastor, theologian and noted author, who was the Richard Jordan Professor of Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary for 33 years from 1982 to 2016, during which time he published numerous books and articles, of which he is best known for If God Already Knows, Why Pray? (1992), his translations of Calvin's Sermons on II Samuel (1989) and his three volume magnum opus of systematic theology: Volume One: The God Who Is: The Holy Trinity ; Volume Two: The Beauty of Christ: A Trinitarian Vision ; and Volume Three: The Holy Spirit and the Church.
