Under my last post, there has been some discussion about what emotions Jesus went through before going to the cross. If Jesus did not experience doubt or fear, then what was he feeling? The synoptic Gospels tell us something of Jesus’ emotional state as He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. As Jesus’ sweat became like great drops of blood, the darkness of His final hours seems to have reached a climax.
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Review of Köstenberger’s “God, Marriage, and Family”
Andreas J. Köstenberger with David W. Jones. God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation. 2nd ed. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010. 399 pages. $22.99. When the second edition of God, Marriage, and Family hit the shelves in 2010, reviewers focused a tremendous amount of critique on a new chapter about family-based ministry. In fact, I think it is fair to say that this theme, which comprised one part of one chapter in the new edition, dominated the vast majority of the online chatter about the book. This was most unfortunate—not because it is an unworthy topic (see Timothy Paul Jones’s well-done review in The Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry 1:1…
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Life’s Biggest Questions
I was happy to receive Erik Thoennes’ new book Life’s Biggest Questions: What the Bible Says about the Things That Matter Most. The title pretty much gives the book away. It’s a primer in basic Christianity. It’s designed to give the broad outlines of the Christian worldview. At 176 pages, the book is not laden with impenetrable theological jargon but is written in a style that is accessible to just about any reader. J.P. Moreland describes the book this way:
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The New ESV-Hebrew Bible Is Here!
I just received in the mail Crossway’s new Hebrew-English Old Testament that displays the ESV Old Testament alongside the Hebrew text. I have been really enthusiastic about receiving this volume because the diglot options for the Hebrew Old Testament are pretty limited. Now, Crossway has given us the standard critical text of the Hebrew Bible text (BHS) laid out next to one of the best translations in English. You can order one now at Amazon.com. The actual size of this Bible is a little bit bigger than what you see in the promo picture. In fact, its size is almost identical to the ESV Study Bible.This is an outstanding resources.…
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Are Your Sermons Too Long?
Here’s a bit of wisdom from the Prince of Preachers on sermon length: Brethren, weigh your sermons. Do not retail them by the yard, but deal them out by the pound. Set no store by the quantity of words which you utter, but strive to be esteemed for the quality of your matter. It is foolish to be lavish in words and niggardly in truth. –C.H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 71 There is no intrinsic value in an overlong sermon. Nor is there anything to boast about that a congregation has become conditioned to endure them. What constitutes a long sermon is a relative term anyway, isn’t it?…
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Albert Mohler Interviews Jimmy Carter about the Bible
Last week, Dr. Albert Mohler interviewed former President Jimmy Carter about Carter’s new book The Lessons from Life Bible. This really is an interview, not a debate (though Dr. Mohler’s registers disagreement with him on some points during the conversation). You can read the transcript of the interview here, download the audio here, or listen below. [audio:http://albertmohler.com/media/audio/totl/Podcast/Thinking_In_Public_Jimmy_Carter.mp3] Here’s President Carter’s answer to Dr. Mohler’s question about the inspiration of scripture:
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Review: Another Attempt to Discredit Inerrancy Falls Flat
The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When It Gets God Wrong (and Why Inerrancy Tries To Hide It). By Thom Stark. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2011, xx + 248 pp., $29.00 paper. It is no secret that some of the most fervid theological liberals tend to be former evangelicals. Evangelical-turned-agnostic Bart Ehrman has vindicated that truism with books like Misquoting Jesus and Jesus Interrupted, both of which seek to discredit biblical inerrancy by popularizing critical studies of scripture. Thom Stark describes himself as a former fundamentalist, and his book The Human Faces of God belongs to the Ehrman-genre, though with at least one significant difference. Despite the…
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Dan Wallace Enters the Blogosphere
My old mentor in all things Greek has entered the blogosphere. Actually, Dan Wallace has already been here a while as a contributor to the “Parchment and Pen” blog, but now he is venturing out on his own at DanielBWallace.com. Here’s how Dan describes it: I decided, after much consternation, to follow the advice of some of my friends. They wanted me to start my own website, so here it is, warts and all. I will be discussing from time to time issue relevant to biblical studies. A special focus will be New Testament textual criticism, Greek grammar, exegesis, and Christology. You bibliophiles will want to add this one to…
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A Jimmy Carter Study Bible
Former President Jimmy Carter has just published a study Bible based on his decades of service as a Sunday School teacher in a Baptist Church. It’s titled NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter, and it “takes Mr. Carter’s years of teaching Sunday school lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, GA, and meshes them with the text of the NIV Bible.” A synopsis on Zondervan’s website describes the book this way: The legacy of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has been teaching directly from the Bible for over 65 years and has taken the Bible’s teachings seriously, implementing them into his life’s work. Now he…
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How To Cite a Tweet MLA and Chicago Style
I read this week that the Modern Language Association (MLA) has developed a standard format for citing a Tweet in academic writing. That’s all well and good, but what about those of us who don’t use MLA? The college where I work follows The Chicago Manual of Style, and I’m sure many of you use that one as well. Well, you’re in luck. The Chicago Manual of Style suggests a format for citing Tweets as well on its website. So for all of you theologues, here are both formats. The Chicago Manual of Style (Endnote) John Piper, Twitter post, February 26, 2011, 3:09pm, http://twitter.com/johnpiper. Modern Language Association (MLA) (Works Cited…