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…
-
-
Holiday Specials
For those of you who like holiday nostalgia, TV Guide has a handy-dandy calendar showing when all the classic television specials will be airing. Here are the ones that I like.
-
Jim Hamilton Is a Sorry Hog
I love Jim Hamilton. I really do. But today he is a sorry hog. Here’s why. Today I watched the LSU Tigers put the finishing touches on their abysmal season as they lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks by one point (31-30). It was painful to watch. The Tigers practically gave the game away. Their defense has stunk up the field all season, and tonight was no exception. With major penalties at critical moments during the game, the Tigers managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. After the game was over, I picked up my cell phone, and I see that I have missed a string of calls from…
-
Steven Curtis Chapman Thanks President Bush
Steven Curtis Chapman is thankful for President Bush’s service to the country and has written a song saying as much. You can listen to the track at www.StevenCurtisChapman.com. Here’s the message that Chapman posted next to the song: Good Bye. Mr. President. Whether you voted for him & love him, or you’ve disagreed with all his policies and dislike him… Could we all agree on this? We owe President Bush a sincere thank you. As the historic Inauguration of President Elect Barack Obama approaches, StevenCurtisChapman.com pauses to thank our outgoing President for his service to our great country. This Thanksgiving weekend, we hope you’ll enjoy a new song by Steven…
-
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.
-
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)
-
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…
-
Carl Trueman: An Ironic Catalyst to Roman Catholicism
I have been reading Francis Beckwith’s fascinating book about his return to the Roman Catholic Church from Protestant Evangelicalism. On page 83, there is an ironic little anecdote in which Beckwith says that Carl Trueman was a “catalyst” for his conversion to Roman Catholicism. I won’t explain the whole thing here, but in short Trueman had written an essay in which he claimed that Roman Catholicism was the “default” position for the church in the West. Trueman wrote that, “Rome has a better claim to historical continuity and institutional unity than any Protestant denomination, let alone the strange hybrid that is evangelicalism; in light of these facts, therefore, we need…
-
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
-
‘The Righteousness of God’ in Paul
If the ground starts rumbling beneath your feet on Thursday at about 4:30pm ET, just know that it’s me reading my paper at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Providence, Rhode Island (a paper unrelated to the aforementioned amendment). For those who might be interested, here’s the abstract summary of my presentation.
