• Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    D. A. Carson Conference on Gender

    D. A. Carson will be speaking at a half-day conference on gender just before the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference this February. Here’s the announcement from CBMW: CBMW and the Fidelis Foundation are pleased to announce a half-day conference on gender with Dr. D.A. Carson. Different by Design 2009: A Crucial Call to Faithfulness on Gender Issues will be held at the Minneapolis Hilton in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 2nd, 2009, just prior to the start of the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference. The schedule will begin at 1:00pm and conclude by 4:30pm.

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    LA Times on Women in Ministry

    The editors of the The Los Angeles Times weighed in on the topic of women in ministry on Sunday (HT: Albert Mohler). The editorial talked mainly about the state of affairs in the Roman Catholic Church, but there was some commentary about Protestant churches as well. The editors conclude that continuing limitations on women are due to tradition in the Roman Catholic Church and the Bible in Protestant churches (texts like 1 Timothy 2:12). They write, “In either case, the arguments that keep women from full participation are attributed to a higher authority. So why do they sound so much like the complaints about assertive women that long have issued…

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    A Roman Catholic Sizes Up Evangelicals

    David Mills is the former editor of Touchstone magazine and is one of the most compelling writers I know. He is a Roman Catholic, but I see him about once at year the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). He attends not as a member, but as a sympathetic observer. If there’s one thing I like about David, it’s that he knows that there are differences between Evangelicals and Catholics and that he thinks we should all be honest about them. In an age in which glossing over such distinctions is the order of the day, I find that kind of clarity refreshing indeed.

  • Christianity

    Zane Hodges, RIP (1933-2008)

    I just learned that Zane Hodges has passed away. He was well-known for advocating that one need not persevere in the faith in order to be saved. He also favored the Majority Text over eclectic texts of the New Testament. Dr. Daniel Wallace was one of his students and has posted some fascinating reflections on Hodges’s life. His remarks about Hodges’s relationship to S. L. Johnson are particularly interesting. “Zane Hodges (1933–2008)” – by Daniel Wallace (Parchement and Pen)

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    Amend ETS: What happened in Providence?

    I have been away from the blog for the last week due to a busy schedule at the annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Readers of this blog know that my friend Ray Van Neste and I had co-sponsored an effort to amend the doctrinal basis of the ETS and that the vote on the measure was to take place last week. Now that the meeting and the vote are over, I can tell you what happened and post a few reflections. In short, we feel that our effort was successful, even though the Society decided not to adopt our…

  • Christianity

    Correction: Amend ETS on Wednesday Not Thursday!

    In my previous post in which I set forth the schedule for the Amendment debate, I posted the wrong date! The discussion and floor debate are scheduled for Wednesday evening, not Thursday evening. The corrected schedule is below. Please spread the word. Thanks. 11/19 – Wednesday 5:20-6:00pm – Van Neste, Burk, and Executive Committee discuss the proposal followed by a Q & A with audience. Rhode Island Convention Center Ballroom E 8:30-9:30pm – Business Meeting: Discussion of the Amendment proposal. Rhode Island Convention Center Ballroom 11/21 – Friday 8:30-9:00am – Business Meeting: Vote on the Amendment proposal. Rhode Island Convention Center Ballroom A

  • Book Reviews,  Christianity

    Beckwith’s Book and the ETS Amendment

    Francis Beckwith’s new book Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic has just been released. The new book traces his journey back to Roman Catholicism, and the last chapter deals directly with his membership in the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). Beckwith was the President of the ETS when he decided to return to the Roman Catholic Church. Beckwith said then and he contends now that he can still sign the ETS’s doctrinal statement in good conscience. He writes, “On May 5, 2007, I resigned as president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and two days later I resigned my membership, one I held for over twenty years. . .…

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    Help Us Amend the ETS

    I am co-sponsoring with Ray Van Neste a proposal to amend the doctrinal basis of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). Next week the Society will meet in Providence, Rhode Island where our proposal will finally come to a vote. I am writing this blog post to get the word out to our friends who are planning on supporting the amendment. If you support our amendment and have a blog, I’m asking you to link this post to help us spread the word. The process to amend ETS’s constitution is a slow one. The founders were wise to make it that way. Ray and I began this effort in the Spring…

  • Christianity,  Culture

    Carl Trueman on Growing Up (or not)

    Carl Trueman is a great writer. His latest article at the Reformation 21 website is a must-read (HT: Justin Taylor). Here’s the conclusion: “You are, of course, what you worship, as Psalm 115 reminds us, and thus, as long as we idolize our children and the culture of youth, we can expect to – well, be just like them: pouting, irresponsible, hormonal, unpleasant and, frankly, as creepy as those sixteenth century portraits of little children with adult faces. Trapped in Neverland with no hope of escape.”

  • Christianity,  Politics

    A Resolution on Protecting Human Life

    This week Southern Baptists in Kentucky passed a resolution on protecting human life (HT: Philip Bethancourt). Russell Moore was instrumental in bringing this resolution to pass, and there is much to commend in it. I particularly like the fact that it does not go along with the “abortion-is-one-issue-among-many” approach that we saw some “evangelicals” take in the recent election. It encourages treating the abortion issue as a priority. I have printed the full resolution below, but here are some of the highlights: