Welcome!

I’m S. J. Hatch and I started this site years ago originally as a place to post my own plan for a lectionary of Scripture readings. It still has that, but it also is where I publish my theological reflections more generally. The focus of my writings center on God’s covenants with His people.

Historically understood, a covenant is a legal arrangement between a great king and a vassal king to regulate their relations, marked by blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. The concept has been central to Reformed theology for hundreds of years. I first encountered it after I graduated from my undergraduate studies and moved to Northern Virginia for work, when I took a seminary course to sort out my faith, having been disillusioned with the mainline church of my youth and with the evangelicalism of my college years. For me, God’s covenants explained the totality of Scripture and the depth of His relationship with His people. Exploring this is the focus of my writings and this website.

I grew up in Maine, where my family has been for generations, but was actually born in Virginia and moved here in 1990 after undergraduate studies. I have a B.A. in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire, an M.A. in Religion from Reformed Theological Seminary – Washington D.C., and a Th.M. in Systematic and Historical Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA. I am the author of Van Til and the Foundation of Christian Ethics (2024), and am a Ruling Elder at Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Burke, VA, and live in Fairfax with my wife and two cats.