In his Washington Post column today, Michael Gerson reviews Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God. The review is actually more of a “Good Friday” reflection than it is a formal review. Nevertheless, I thought it would be worth passing along. Here’s an excerpt:
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Thabiti Anyabwile on Black Liberation Theology
In light of my previous post, I need to pass along another article that I think is very helpful. This one is an interview that Collin Hansen conducted with Thabiti Anyabwile, author of The Decline of African American Theology. The interview discusses the sermonic genre of African American churches as well as the Liberation Theology that has eclipsed the gospel in churches like Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s. Here’s an excerpt:
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Study Says Abortion Can Lead to “Mental Illness”
A study out of Great Britain says that women who have abortions risk having emotional problems. Here’s an excerpt: “Women may be at risk of mental health breakdowns if they have abortions, a medical royal college has warned. The Royal College of Psychiatrists says women should not be allowed to have an abortion until they are counselled on the possible risk to their mental health.
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Tim Keller at Berkeley and Stanford
Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, and he is one of the bright lights of evangelicalism today. We all could stand to learn a great deal from Keller about how to engage this generation with the gospel. Recently, Keller spoke at Stanford University and at Berkeley. The video of his two presentations is available online, and I recommend them to you. Not only are the presentations very well done, but the question and answer times are instructive as well. Keller fields questions from Christian students as well as from atheists and agnostics.
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Michael Horton on “The Pastor’s Vision”
If you are not a subscriber to Touchstone magazine, you should be. The March issue has an outstanding article by Michael Horton on what pastoral ministry ought to look like. Horton writes: ‘It used to be that the pastor had an office and worked in his study, but today the pastor has a job and works in his office. Whereas Peter organized the diaconal office so that the apostles could devote themselves to the Word and to prayer, ideal ministers seem increasingly to be managers, therapists, entertainers, and entrepreneurial businesspeople.
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Southern Baptists Go Green
Jonathan Merritt, an M.Div. student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has spearheaded an effort to raise the awareness of Southern Baptists concerning global climate change. The name of the effort is the “Southern Baptist Environment & Climate Initiative” (SBECI). The website for the effort has a declaration outlining SBECI’s beliefs about climate change and how Southern Baptists should respond to it. Several prominent Southern Baptist leaders have signed on to endorse the declaration, including two former SBC Presidents.
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Fetus Fatigue
The evangelical left has been chastising other evangelicals for their “narrow-minded” focus on abortion. Folks like Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne and others are encouraging evangelicals to “broaden” their horizons when it comes to Christian involvement in the public square and in politics. I have argued on this blog that Wallis and friends are actually demoting abortion on the list of evangelical social priorities. I think this is a grave error. Douglas Groothuis wrote a piece last week that is a prophetic call to evangelicals to stop listening to the siren song from the Wallis’ and the Campolo’s. I’m only going to post an excerpt here, but you should…
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Families Together at Sunday Worship
Pastor John Piper and his wife Noel have some very helpful suggestions for families to worship together on Sunday mornings. By the time their kids were four years old, the Pipers had their children participating in “big church” with the rest of the family. They do not believe that “children’s church” is helpful at all for children in the long-run, and I agree. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
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Albert Mohler on California Homeschool Decision
Here’s the description of today’s edition of “The Albert Mohler Program“: “Like a bolt from the blue, a California appeals court has ruled that the state’s parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their own children. In a flash, a child welfare case that no one had noticed has become a flash point of controversy in the nation. Will homeschooling be ruled illegal in California? On today’s program, Dr. Mohler welcomes Michael Farris for a discussion about the significance of the decision and the threat it poses to parents’ rights.” You can listen to the audio below or visit the website for “The Albert Mohler Program.” [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/MP3/totl/2008/AMP_03_10_2008.mp3]
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Schwarzenegger Vows To Protect Homeschooling in California
In response to the outrageous appellate court decision issued earlier this week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to protect homeschooling in California. I’m including this story in the links list of my previous post. But since his remarks are an extremely important development, I reproduce them here: “Every California child deserves a quality education, and parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children. . . Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education. . . This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts, and if the courts don’t protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will.” “Governor…