About Matthew

Matthew van Maastricht

Pastor. Teacher. Church Historian. Theologian.

Contact Matthew

Matthew van Maastricht is a minister in the Reformed Church in America serving two churches in upstate New York. In addition, he is a Fellow of the Reformed Church Center and adjunct instructor in Reformed Church Studies at New Brunswick Theological Seminary where he regularly writes and speaks on Reformed church history, the Reformed confessions, and church polity.

He is also a co-founder of the Society for Protestant Church Polity, as well as a founding co-editor of the Society’s scholarly journal, Church Polity: International Studies in Protestant Church Polity. Matthew is the author of Foundations of Reformed Church Polity: The Rhyme and Reason of the Order (Reformed Church Press, 2022).

Matthew has a Master of Divinity from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan; a Master of Social Work from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan; and is a PhD candidate at the Theologische Universiteit in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Research Interests

  • Reformed church polity
  • Ecumenical church polity
  • Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American church history
  • History of Protestant church polity
  • Transatlantic church polity influences
  • Ecclesiastical assemblies/councils
  • Religion and law/legal history

Publications

Book

Foundations of Reformed Church Polity: The Rhyme and Reason of the Order (Grand Rapids, Mich: Reformed Church Press, 2022)

Books as Editor

Remembrance, Communion, and Hope: Essays in Honor of Allan J. Janssen (Grand Rapids, Mich: Reformed Church Press, 2019).

Karl Barth: Theologian in the Tempest of Time. By Karel Blei, translated by Allan J. Janssen (Eugene, Ore: Cascade Books, 2021)

Contributions to Books

“Ecclesiastical Membership of Reformed Church Ministers” in Collecting Chronicles, Maintaining Tradition, and Preserving Acts of Disciples: Essays in Honor of Russell L. Gasero, ed. James Hart Brumm (Grand Rapids: Mich: Reformed Church Press, 2020).

“The Polity Foundations of the Reformed Church in America” in Comparative Reformed Church Polity: Similarities and Differences, eds. Leon van den Broeke and René Pahud de Mortanges (Kampen: Summum Academic, Forthcoming)

Book Reviews

A Hermeneutic of Wisdom by J. de Waal Dryden, Sharing the Practice 43:3 (2020), 18.

Church Polity, Mission & Unity edited by Barry Ensign-George and Hélène Evers, Sharing the Practice 43:3 (2020), 14.

The Bible in a Disenchanted Age by R.W.L. Moberly, Sharing the Practice 42:2 (2019), 17.

The Implicit Theology of the Lord’s Prayer by Jan Mus, translated by Allan Janssen, Sharing the Practice  44:1 (2021), 21.

Bavinck: A Critical Biography by James Eglinton, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 76:2 (2022), 183-184.

Selected Presentations

  • “Demanding a King? An Inquiry into the Permanence of the General Synod.” Inaugural Colloquy as a Fellow of the Reformed Church Center, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, January 2020
  • “‘The Great Lakes Catechism’: A Form Criticism.” Paper presented at “Looking at the Great Lakes Catechism.” Reformed Church Center, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, January 2019
  • “The Synod of Dordt.” Meeter Center for Calvin Studies, Calvin College and Seminary, September 2018 (panelist)
  • “Commissioned Pastors in the RCA: A Historical and Contextual Survey.” Paper presented at “Office in the Church: What it Means, Why it Matters.” Reformed Church Center, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, February 2016.