Some readers of this blog have requested the audio of the recent radio show I hosted. The show was about the emerging church, and I did an interview with Scot McKnight, professor of religious studies at Northpark University in Chicago Illinois. I also interviewed Jim Hamilton, professor of biblical studies of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Right click on the following link, and select “save as†if you want to download the MP3 of the interviews. Denny’s interviews with Scot McKnight and Jim Hamilton on Jerry Johnson Live The most important thing about this show is that it is probably the only time that the Indigo Girls have ever or…
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Who’s afraid of Derek Webb? (part 2)
(Click here for Part 1) When I got home from the Derek Webb concert on Tuesday night, I shot off a blog that was in protest of what I thought was an overtly left-wing political message on Webb’s new album “Mockingbird.” But I later deleted what I wrote because I came to the conclusion that Derek’s message actually deserved a little more serious consideration than I had given it. So that is why this has turned into a three part series. My initial response, however, was provoked in part by how the concert-goers received Derek’s lefty-friendly message. Consider, for example, the response from the crowd when Derek sang these lines:…
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The Gospel of Judas: A Transparent Fiction
What should we make of the discovery of this new Gospel of Judas that has been unearthed in the sands of Egypt? The media and unfortunately some biblical scholars of note would have us think that this document represents voices from the early centuries of Christianity that need to be given a hearing as we assess who the Jesus of history was. Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels are among those scholars of the opinion that earliest Christianity was not a monolithic movement. There were many different Christian groups in the first century, but we just don’t know much about the “other” groups because their voices were suppressed by the orthodox…
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Interview with Scot McKnight
Yesterday I hosted the Jerry Johnson Live radio program in Dallas, Texas. My guest for the first half of the show was Dr. Scot McKnight, professor of religious studies at Northpark University in Chicago, Illinois. While Dr. McKnight did a great job, I’m afraid I may not have. Unfortunately, many of our listeners had trouble understanding what the emerging church is even after our discussion of it. I chalk this up to my less-than-perfect interviewing skills. Thankfully, I can refer my readers and anyone who listened to yesterday’s show to Dr. McKnight’s very clear essay, “The Future or Fad? A Look at the Emerging Church Movement.†Also, Dr. McKnight writes…
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Libby Leak: Much Ado about Nothing
As I was leaving my house to go to work today, I saw the reporters on CNN breathlessly reporting the breaking news about Scooter Libby. I didn’t have time to do anything but listen to a couple of minutes of the report and to read the banners at the bottom of the screen. The gist of the report was this. Scooter Libby, who is under indictment and who is thought to have leaked the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame, testified that President Bush authorized Libby to leak classified material to the press. This authorization came through Vice President Cheney. The report was clearly slanted to link Bush and…
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Doug Wilson on Free Will and the Sovereignty of God
Doug Wilson has a great little piece on free will and the sovereignty of God. This short essay on his blog is titled “Freedom? What Freedom?†(HT: Justin Taylor)
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Who’s afraid of Derek Webb? (part 1)
I just returned home from a Derek Webb concert. Derek’s venue was the Gypsy Tea Room near downtown Dallas in the area known by locals as Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum used to be the hip part of town, the place where all the young urban twenty-somethings would descend every weekend for dining, music, and club hopping. This once very popular center has declined over the past several years as most of the nightlife has moved to the new and trendy “uptown” area. If you have ever been to a Christian concert, you might have been surprised by this one. When I saw and heard the Marilyn Manson style death-metal band…
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The Hammer Will Retire
No, I’m not talking about Judas Maccabeus. I’m referring to the “hammer†Tom Delay who has just announced that he will not be seeking reelection to represent his suburban Houston district in the U. S. Congress. This is huge political news. How the mighty have fallen. “Tom DeLay Says He Will Give Up His Seat†– TIME Magazine Exclusive “Rep. DeLay Won’t Seek Reelection” – Washington Post
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CTR on the Emerging Church
The current issue of the Criswell Theological Review is making the rounds in the blogosphere (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here . . . just to name a few). As I indicated in my previous post, some of the articles are already available to download for free. One of the interesting things about this issue is that at least two of the contributors, Mark Driscoll and John Hammett, have decided to use Ed Stetzer’s tripartite scheme for describing emerging churches: Relevants, Reconstructionists, and Revisionists. Here’s how Driscoll breaks it down in his CTR article: Relevants are theologically conservative evangelicals who are not as interested in reshaping theology…
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McLaren and Driscoll’s Articles Online
For those who are interested, the McLaren and Driscoll articles that I wrote about previously are now posted on website for the Criswell Theological Review (www.CriswellJournal.com). You can download them there.