The Church Calendar: Yay or Nay?

Mortification of Spin

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

Religion & Spirituality

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Todd and Carl engage in an interesting discussion about the church calendar and its role in the Reformed Protestant tradition. They explore the historical context of the church calendar, its significance, and the nuances of its acceptance among different denominations. I think observation of the church calendar should be a matter of, should we say, congregational conscience. My own view on it has softened over the years in that I used to be very much the Puritan, you know… I've changed my opinion… – Carl Trueman They examine the pedagogical benefits of observing the calendar while addressing concerns about legalism, with a particular focus on Advent and Lent. Tune in for a rich conversation that challenges and inspires listeners to consider the implications of the church calendar in their worship practices. Thanks to the generosity of our friends at Crossway Books, we have awarded three copies of Kevin DeYoung’s beautiful board book for children, The Biggest Story: Advent. Congratulations to JD W. from Bridgewater, VA, Georgie M. from Sunnyvale, CA, and Maretta H. from Grottoes, VA.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Mortification of Spin, a casual conversation about things that count with Carl Truman and Todd Pruitt, a podcast of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.
0:29.2	Let's join this week's conversation.
0:31.6	Thank you. You are listening to Mortification of Spin, and my name is Todd Pruitt. With you, as always, I am the
0:56.8	pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and I'm joined as always by my friend
1:03.1	Carl Truman, who is a professor at Grove City College this year, though, on loan from Grove City,
1:12.9	over to the Fighting Irish University of Notre Dame. And as far as I know, Carl is still a Protestant, though, correct, Carl?
1:19.9	I am, yes, despite the rumors. Yeah. And, you know, to make matters even more interesting, Carl, you have, from what I understand,
1:29.8	just written a piece on the church calendar for World Magazine.
1:34.4	I'm sure that will be up very soon.
1:37.0	And I thought we'd kick around the whole notion of the church calendar, what we mean when we talk about the church calendar, what it is,
1:45.2	and the fact that at least certainly in the Puritan tradition of reform Protestantism,
1:56.2	the church calendar has not been a thing.
1:57.9	I mean, the church calendar is Sunday, right? But the reformed
2:03.8	tradition in general is broader than just that. But it's hotly contested in kind of our little
2:12.5	world of reformed Protestantism. You have some that like the church calendar for various reasons,
2:20.3	others who very much think once you embrace the church calendar, you're not Presbyterian
2:26.0	anymore. Presbyterianism absolutely has no place for the church calendar, although I think
2:30.8	the history is a little bit more complicated than that. Tell me, kind of tell me, give us a little bit of a preview, although by the time this
2:39.0	airs, the article will be out, but at this point, give me a little bit of a preview of where
2:45.0	you are on the, first of all, what is the church calendar, and then kind of where you've come
2:50.0	on that issue.
2:51.2	The church calendar originates in the ancient church, and it was really a structure, a liturgical
	...

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