• Book Reviews,  Theology/Bible

    The Historical Jesus Equals the Jesus of the Bible (part 2)

    Yesterday I wrote that I had begun reading two books that address the so-called “Quest for the Historical Jesus.” The first book I discussed was John Piper’s What Jesus Demands from the World. The second book is Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony. This book is written on a totally different level than Piper’s book. It is written by a world class scholar, and it is written for scholars. The main argument of Bauckham’s book is an important one as it confronts one of the key assumptions of Jesus Questers.

  • Book Reviews,  Theology/Bible

    The Historical Jesus Equals the Jesus of the Bible (part 1)

    Over the last four-hundred years or so, critical scholars of the New Testament have been on a quest to apply the methods of historical research to the canonical Gospels in order to discern what the historical Jesus was really like. The assumption underlying much of this work over the years is the idea that the Gospels do not give us an accurate portrait of Jesus, so we have to go behind the scripture to find out who Jesus really was.

  • Theology/Bible

    McKissic and Southwestern Trustees Make Amends

    Sam Hodges of the Dallas Morning News reports that Dwight McKissic and the trustees of Southwestern Seminary have made amends. This is welcome news since the scuttlebutt had been that the trustees were going to ask the Southern Baptist Convention to remove him from the board. I hope this peace sticks. Here’s the statement that Southwestern just released from the trustees: The officers of the trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have met with trustee Rev. Dwight McKissic and have jointly agreed to put past issues behind us. We look forward to working together for many years to impact SWBTS and the world for Christ. T. Van McClain, Ph.D.Chairman, Board…

  • Culture,  Theology/Bible

    Gays at Southern Seminary?

    There were indeed some gays at Southern seminary yesterday, but none who were matriculating. They were all protesters from the homosexual activist groups Soulforce and the Fairness Campaign (pictures below). Soulforce is known for holding demonstrations at colleges and universities that have policies against homosexuality. They brought their movable feast to Southern yesterday because of Dr. Albert Mohler’s recent, controversial essay, “Is Your Baby Gay?” The Associated Press has the report:

  • Culture,  Theology/Bible

    The Atheist Debate

    Thanks to Justin Taylor for alerting us to the video of a debate between Alister McGrath (theist) and Peter Atkins (atheist). Alister McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University, and Peter Atkins is Professor of Chemistry at Oxford University. Debate: “Darwin and humanity: Should we rid the mind of God? (2007)”

  • Culture,  Theology/Bible

    More Misunderstanding of Mohler

    The media’s misunderstanding of Dr. Albert Mohler’s so-called “gay baby” article continues. Harold Meyerson has this to say in today’s Washington Post: Mohler’s deity, in short, is the God of Double Standards: a God who enforces the norms and fears of a world before science, a God profoundly ignorant of or resistant to the arc of American history, which is the struggle to expand the scope of the word “men” in our founding declaration that “all men are created equal.” This is a God who in earlier times was invoked to defend segregation and, before that, slavery. This is a sad article and ought to elicit our prayers, not scorn.

  • Book Reviews,  Theology/Bible

    Review of Richard Hays’ Faith of Christ

    Richard B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ: The Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:1-4:11, The Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002). lii and 308 pages. $29. In 2002, Eerdmans printed a second edition of what has turned out to be a major contribution on the theology of the apostle Paul. What follows is not a full-blown review of Richard Hays’ watershed book, but I do want to offer a few reflections on it.