Christianity Today has a fascinating short interview with Lynn Cohick, professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. Among other things, Cohick reflects upon what it is like to be a female biblical scholar. Here’s an excerpt: Although women still face challenges as a minority in evangelical scholarship, are there any benefits of being a female in your field? I would say it’s almost a double-edged sword. I get invited to speak or to write a chapter in an edited volume, and oftentimes there is a presumption, or it’s even directly stated: “We need a woman.” We need a woman on this panel, or we need a woman speaker because the…
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What is the meaning of sex?
For those of you who pay attention to the sidebar, you know that I have a new book set to be released on October 31. As it turns out, the publisher got her done early, and the book is available now for anybody who wants one. Amazon.com has it at a discounted price, but the best price I’ve seen so far is offered by the Westminster Theological Seminary bookstore—only $9. People have been asking me why I wrote this book. There are a number of reasons I could cite, but the main reason is this—the glory of God. We inhabit a culture that falls short of the glory of God…
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Mark Driscoll crashes the “Strange Fire” conference
As many of you know, John MacArthur is hosting the “Strange Fire” conference at his church in California this week. The conference is focused on reasserting a cessationist position and highlighting the dangers of the charismatic movement. The Christian Post is reporting that Mark Driscoll showed up to the conference today, engaged attendees, and handed out free copies of his new book, which has a chapter advocating the continuationist position. Driscoll himself posted pictures of his visit on Instagram. Driscoll also says that the books he was handing out were confiscated by security. Security confiscated my books. #strangefire http://t.co/mGccvXZwyK — Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) October 18, 2013 Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports…
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Documentary on Albert Mohler’s presidency
I am grateful beyond words for Dr. R. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. When he was elected president of Southern Seminary in 1993, the seminary was in the throes of theological liberalism. Hardly anyone could have fathomed back then the absolute transformation that God would bring about through Dr. Mohler’s leadership. It has been truly remarkable. What a blessing it is to be serving here at this time under this president. On campus this week, we have been celebrating the 20-year anniversary of Dr. Mohler’s election to the presidency. The documentary above was premiered Tuesday night at a dinner honoring Dr. Mohler. It tells the story…
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Southern Baptists sue federal government over Obamacare
USA Today reports that Southern Baptists are suing the federal government over Obamacare’s contraception mandate. Guidestone Financial Resources is a division of the SBC that provides health benefits to Southern Baptist churches. When the law goes into effect on January 1, it would require Southern Baptists to foot the bill for insurance that covers contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs. From the report:
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ERLC and ManDec Panel on Religious Liberty
The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the Manhattan Declaration teamed up last week and hosted a fascinating panel discussion on religious liberty. Andrew Walker moderates and panelists include Kirsten Powers, Ross Douthat, Russell Moore, Jennifer Marshall, and Timothy Shah. I think this discussion is really helpful, and I commend it to you. Click the image at right or click here to watch.
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Worlds Collide: Tullian Tchividian on “Morning Joe”
MSNBC’s Morning Joe is my favorite political program. It’s the only one that I’m into every weekday. So it’s an unusual confluence to see one of the Young, Restless, and Reformed to make an appearance there. And yet that’s exactly what happened yesterday morning when Tullian Tchividian came on to talk about his new book and to give an update on how his grandfather Billy Graham is doing. Watch it above. Get the book here.
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Time is running-out on religious liberty
Rod Dreher has a must-read article about gay marriage and religious liberty in The American Conservative. He shows that the battle over the definition of marriage has largely been lost, and there’s not much that can be done about it now. Religious conservatives are conceding that legal gay marriage is inevitable. As a result, conservatives are turning their attention most urgently to the threat that legal gay marriage poses to religious liberty. Dreher writes:
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Pope offers “blessing” to gay Catholic group?
The magazine America reports that Pope Francis has continued his informal outreach to gay and lesbians within the Roman Catholic Church. In June, Pope Francis wrote to one such group called Kairos of Florence. According to one member of the group, “Pope Francis…assured the group of his blessing.” Here's an excerpt from the report: In their letter, a group of gay and lesbian Catholics… asked for openness and dialogue, noting that closure to discussion “always feeds homophobia.” The members were shocked to receive a personal response to their appeal from Pope Francis. One leader of the group told La Repubblica “no one had ever even given a nod of response”…
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Rosaria Butterfield is fighting the good fight
I cannot overstate how much I appreciate and love Rosaria Butterfield’s book The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. It’s the story of her conversion from lesbian feminist scholar to Christianity. It’s easily the best book I’ve read all year. Since her book came out, she has been asked to speak in a number of different venues. As you can imagine, her message is hated in certain contexts, not least of which is the average university campus. Recently, she spoke on the campus of the University of South Florida, and her reception was less than warm. Before she even spoke, one student editorialized in the campus newspaper what seems to…