• Culture,  Personal

    Two Thoughts on Thanksgiving

    Today is a holiday, so my post will be brief. 1. Do not miss John Piper’s short essay “Ganging Up on Gratitude.” It’s an exhortation to an atheist and a liberal Bishop who have a chip on their respective shoulders when it comes to giving thanks to God. Piper engages them evangelistically, and it reminds me why I am thankful to the Lord for the ministry of John Piper. 2. There’s a hymn that I learned in church as a youngster that I don’t often hear anymore (Thanks, Mom and Dad for taking me to church. What a heritage of grace!). Maybe some of you remember it. It’s called “Count…

  • Christianity,  Personal

    ETS President Comments on Proposed Amendment

    ETS President, Dr. Hassell Bullock, comments on our amendment proposal in an interview with Collin Hansen for Christianity Today. Here’s the relevant section: CT: Is there any merit to suggestions for changing the ETS doctrinal basis? BULLOCK: The recent return of Francis Beckwith, the ETS president, to the Catholic faith of his childhood, has obviously and understandably created questions within the society about the adequacy of our theological basis, which is quite brief: “The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in…

  • Personal,  Theology/Bible

    Amend ETS

    Many of my readers likely know very little about the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). Nevertheless, those same readers would probably recognize the names of many of its members. The membership is a veritable who’s who of evangelical scholars and writers (e.g., William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, John Piper, Tom Schreiner, Wayne Grudem, just to name of few). Thus, the theological orientation of the ETS impacts the broader evangelical movement through the writings and publications of it members—members who come from all over the world.

  • Personal,  Politics

    Expatriates for Bayou Bobby

    I have often said that I feel like I have a dual citizenship on earth. My earliest memories of life are in Texas, but I was born and raised in Louisiana. I have a special affection for both places, but Louisiana is still home base. Nevertheless, the politics at home base have often been less than exemplary. I can remember the infamy of having Grand Wizard David Duke and crook Edwin Edwards as our two choices for governor. Thankfully, we elected the crook. But how low have the politics sunk when citizens have to make such a choice?

  • Christianity,  Personal,  Theology/Bible

    Touchstone Forum on Evangelicalism

    The latest issue of Touchstone magazine has a forum in which a diverse group of Evangelicals answer questions related to the state of Evangelicalism today. I am a contributor to this discussion along with Russell Moore, Michael Horton, Darryl Hart, John Franke, and David Lyle Jeffrey. The article is posted online, and you can read it here. Here are the questions that each of us answered: ● “How do you define ‘Evangelical,’ in a way that distinguishes Evangelicals from other believing Christians? And has this definition changed over the last several decades?”

  • Christianity,  Personal

    C. F. D. Moule, R.I.P. (1908-2007)

    His was not a household name, but C. F. D. Moule was a luminary in my field. He was a great scholar who also had a reputation for having a warm evangelical spirit. For me by far, his most influential book was his first book, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek. I have benefitted from this book immensely over the years and can say that some of the ideas in my own publications can be traced backed to nuggets found in this little volume. Would that we all could be as careful and prolific as C. F. D. Moule. R.I.P. “C. F. D. Moule: Last of the Gentlemen-Scholars” –…