The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine have an online forum for religious dialogue called “On Faith.” In this forum, scholars and religious leaders answer questions that are put to them by the editors of the “On Faith” site. Recently, the question up for discussion was this: “Do you have to believe the resurrection is literally true — that Jesus came back to life in his body — to be a Christian?” Obviously, the orthodox answer to this question is “yes,” but there were some who answered “no.” Among those who answered “yes” were Albert Mohler, N. T. Wright, Cal Thomas, and Chuck Colson. Among the ones who answered “no” were…
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Russell Moore on the Liberation Theology of Jeremiah Wright
Russell Moore has an outstanding essay on what should and should not trouble Christians about Barack Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright. This is one you’ll want to read. Here’s an excerpt: ‘What [Obama’s pastor] is preaching is a form of liberation theology, leftover Marxist theory baptized in the narrative of Scripture and applied to a set of political goals. The tenor of the Trinity United Church of Christ ministry is one that is defined by race and politics.
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Recent Lectureships at Southern Seminary
One of my favorite parts about studying at Southern Seminary was the endowed lectureships. Southern has had three such lectureships in recent weeks, and the audio is now available online. The lectures were given by Millard Erickson, Jim Hamilton, and Graeme Goldsworthy. Here are the links:
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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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A Few Thoughts about Obama’s Speech
Everyone has been talking about Senator Barack Obama’s speech on race and religion (transcript, video). I don’t know that I have much to add to what’s already been said by others, but I will share a few thoughts. 1. Low on substance. Obama is a great speech-maker. His rhetoric is top-notch. But I don’t think the substance of the speech really amounted to much. Obama admitted that he knew about Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s extremist views, but he didn’t do much to explain why he nevertheless enlisted him as an advisor.
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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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Witherington on the New Perspective on Paul
Ben Witherington has a forthcoming two-volume work on New Testament theology and ethics, entitled The Indelible Image. Witherington has posted on his website a subsection of the chapter on Paul. Here’s an excerpt: “There is something of a small war going on in Pauline circles on the issue of ‘the New Perspective on Paul’ . . .
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Wayne Grudem on Drawing Doctrinal Boundaries
Wayne Grudem has written a short article on when it is appropriate to draw new doctrinal boundaries. He writes: “Christian groups usually have doctrinal statements that define the ‘boundaries’ of their organizations. How can they know whether to add new topics to their doctrinal statements from time to time?” Grudem goes on to ask and answer four questions:
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Richard Bauckham Lecture at Criswell College
I teach at Criswell College in Dallas, Texas, and last week we hosted Dr. Richard Bauckham for a lecture on the biblical book of Revelation. Dr. Bauckham’s lecture was titled “How To Read the Book of Revelation.” The main point of his address was to explain how the genre of Revelation should effect the proper interpretation of the same. What was fascinating to me was the Q&A time at the end. Criswell College has a premillenial confessional statement, which suggests a certain reading of Revelation 20 that does not cohere with Dr. Bauckham’s. At the very beginning of the Q&A you’ll hear me ask Dr. Bauckham whether reading Revelation “symbolically”…
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Daniel Wallace in the Dallas Morning News
Daniel Wallace is probably best known for his intermediate grammar of Koine Greek, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics. I know him because I was his intern for a year when I was a master’s student at Dallas Theological Seminary. He also supervised my master’s thesis and inspired the thesis of my book. Needless to say, I and many others have benefitted greatly from his scholarship.