Volume 31 · Issue 4 · Fall 2025
Articles
·
Authors
· Joseph D. Small
Joseph D. Small
Author

Joseph D. Small

Joseph D. Small directed the PCUSA's Office of Theology, Worship, and Education from 1989 to 2011. He is now adjunct faculty at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and the author of To Be Reformed: Living the Tradition.

Essays Published
6
First Contribution
2018
Most Recent
Jan 2026
Showing 6 essays by Joseph D. Small
20261 essay
The Nicene Creed Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow
The Nicene Creed Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow

The Council of Nicaea was 1,700 years ago, but Small argues its disputes still live in pews and pulpits unrecognized. He examines what the Creed affirms and what it refuses…

20242 essays
Reformed Accents
Reformed Accents

What makes a Reformed church Reformed? Small begins with Peter DeVries's wry novelistic portrait of a Calvinist boyhood and works toward a serious answer: shared Protestant emphases, yes, but with…

Why Tradition?
Why Tradition?

American culture treats the past as a burden to leave behind. Small argues the Reformed tradition does the opposite: it carries Calvin and the confessions forward not because they're old,…

20221 essay
Why and How Theology Matters
Why and How Theology Matters

If the church's calling is to be stewards of the mysteries of God, theology is the work that keeps us trustworthy with what's been entrusted. Small unfolds Paul's image and…

20191 essay
“All The Ministers Shall Meet Together”
“All The Ministers Shall Meet Together”

When Luther posted his theses, Calvin was eight. Small traces the road from a French schoolboy's eventual 'sudden conversion' through Geneva's vote to live by gospel and Word, to the…

20181 essay
Orthodoxy at Stake
Orthodoxy at Stake

The PCUSA's Book of Order has long carried six 'Great Ends of the Church' that mark out what every Presbyterian congregation is for. Small reads them slowly, asks whether contemporary…

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