“Arminianism trumps biblical sentences with metaphysics.” –John Piper, “How A Roman Catholic Anti-Calvinist Can Serve Today’s Poet-Calvinists” (DesiringGod.org)
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Remember the Gospel of Judas?
Do you remember when the National Geographic Society unveiled the Gospel of Judas a couple of years ago? The newly discovered document supposedly contained a positive portrayal of Judas Iscariot, the man whom the canonical Gospels say betrayed Jesus. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story about the aftermath of National Geographic’s unveiling, and it is not a pretty picture.
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How To Read 500 Books a Year
D. A. Carson recently revealed that he reads about 500 books a year . . . sort of. During a question and answer session at a conference in New Mexico, Carson was asked about his reading habits, and he explains how he approaches the reading of books. Some books, he will read every word. Others, he gets the main idea and skims. He doesn’t necessarily read every line of every book he reads. “There’s reading, and then there’s reading,” he says. If I remember correctly, this is in keeping with Mortimer Adler’s advice in How To Read A Book (but I can’t be sure because I think I skimmed it).…
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Are we all cessationists?
Are we all cessationists? Jim Hamilton says we are in an interesting essay on the cessation of the gift of apostleship. His conclusion: “So it seems to me that everyone who thinks that there are no more Apostles like Peter and Paul thinks that at least one spiritual gift has ceased. It seems, then, that this discussion is simply over the degree of cessationism that we hold, because anyone who holds that there is no one in the church today with the same kind of authority possessed by Peter and Paul believes that the gift of Apostle has ceased. In conclusion, it seems to me that, at least as it…
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Calvinism and the SBC
Last Fall, I wrote about the “Building Bridges” conference that was held in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. Featured speakers included Calvinistic Baptists and non-Calvinistic Baptists. The presentations from that conference are being published as a collection of essays, and the book is available for pre-order from Amazon.com. Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue. Ed. Brad J. Waggoner and E. Ray Clendenen. B&H Academic, 2008. Here is the table of contents:
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Carson on “Red-Letter Christians”
D. A Carson has a theological wallop for the Red-Letter Christianity promoted by the likes of Tony Campolo. In the most recent issue of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Carson writes: “I’m suspicious of anyone who uses ‘kingdom’ only as an adjective, for usually it is merely a theologically posh way of approving one’s current theological and ethical agenda. If we like some ethical course, we label it ‘kingdom ethics’ and bless it with a text, and epistemology is satisfied. “A particularly virulent form of this approach is hidden behind what Tony Campolo now approvingly calls ‘red letter Christians’. These red letter Christians, he says, hold the same theological…
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Irving Bible Church Goes Egalitarian?
In 2003, Pastor Rob Bell led Mars Hill Bible Church to amend its constitution and statement of faith in order to open all offices-including that of elder-to women. It was a high-profile egalitarian conversion of an entire church that received no little attention in the blogosphere (see here for the story). Earlier this month, a high-profile Bible Church in my own city made a similar move. Irving Bible Church (IBC) is a large Bible Church in the Dallas area. It is one of the many Bible Churches in our city that represents an important constituency of Dallas Theological Seminary. Recently, the elders of IBC published a website explaining how they…
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D. A. Carson on Just War
A student of mine alerted me to a lecture that D. A. Carson delivered in 2004 on the topic of Just War at a “Henry Forum” at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. Immediately following his presentation, Carson fielded questions from the audience. You can download the audio from the church’s website or listen to it below. Carson is a Just War proponent who rightly views Just War as an expression of Christian love. Carson also discusses how just war theory informs our assessment of the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, and preemptive war in general. Just War[audio:http://www.chbcaudio.org/podpress_trac/web/109/0/03-10-04.mp3] Just War – Q&A[audio:http://www.chbcaudio.org/podpress_trac/web/110/0/03-10-04q.mp3]
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Complementarian Series from Mark Dever
Dr. Mark Dever is the pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. He is a faithful pastor and expositor of God’s word, and I have benefitted greatly from his ministry over the years. Dr. Dever recently completed an excellent sermon series on gender roles, and all of the audio is available via his church’s website and podcast. The four sermons are listed below. Gender Identity in Creation – Genesis 1:27 Gender Identity in Redemption – Galatians 3:28 Gender Roles in the Family – Genesis 2:20-24 Gender Roles in the Church – 1 Timothy 2:12 The introduction to the sermon on 1 Timothy 2:12 is an adaptation of…
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Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood
The Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood (JBMW) is a theological journal that focuses on gender issues from a complementarian perspective. Last year I was hired as the editor of that journal, and the first issue for which I am responsible has just come back from the printer. I have made some changes in the format that I hope will open up the journal to a wider audience. I explain those changes in my editorial. The current issue includes articles from John Piper, Mark Dever, Jim Hamilton, Ligon Duncan, and more. In addition to my editorial, two articles are available on the website for free: “Pursuing Manhood” by Ray Van…