Discussions about the recent suspension of Peter Enns from his teaching post at Westminster Theological Seminary have been all over the blogosphere. If somehow you have missed the story, Christianity Today ran a piece yesterday explaining the whole situation. Here’s the heart of it: ‘Westminster Theological Seminary’s board voted to suspend tenured professor Peter Enns last week after a two-year theological debate over his 2005 book, Inspiration and Incarnation. . .
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Obama’s Abortion Extremism
Michael Gerson hits another homerun with his column in today’s Washington Post. He argues that Senator Barack Obama’s record on abortion is anything but moderate. Obama is a radical pro-choicer. Gerson writes: ‘Obama’s record on abortion is extreme. He opposed the ban on partial-birth abortion — a practice a fellow Democrat, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once called “too close to infanticide.” Obama strongly criticized the Supreme Court decision upholding the partial-birth ban. In the Illinois state Senate, he opposed a bill similar to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which prevents the killing of infants mistakenly left alive by abortion. And now Obama has oddly claimed that he would not…
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Did the President Lie? (April fooled you!)
April fools! I confess. I used a little bit of misdirection in the survey that I posted yesterday. Yes, it was tricky. But it was an April Fool’s gag with a point. What was the trick? I began the post by discussing the fact that many people believe that President Bush lied about WMD in Iraq before the war. But in the last sentence of the fifth paragraph, I stopped using Bush’s name and substituted the generic appellation “the President of the United States.”
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Did the President Lie?
March 20 marked five years since the beginning of the war in Iraq, and yet many Americans still don’t understand it very well. Opinions seem to be driven more by partisan politics than by a balanced consideration of the issues. Since the beginning of the Iraq War, the public discourse about the conflict has become increasingly wearisome. For me, the revisionist histories of the run-up to the war have been particularly frustrating. The public’s general inability to recall more than a few nanoseconds of the historical record have given the revisions some staying power.
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Book Notice: “The New Guidebook for Pastorsâ€
My dear friend and colleague Dr. James Bryant has a new book that was released just last year The New Guidebook for Pastors. His co-author is Dr. Mac Brunson, and the publisher is Broadman & Holman. Here’s a description from Amazon.com: ‘The New Guidebook for Pastors is written in the tradition of classics like Criswell’s Guidebook for Pastors. But since most pastoral guidebooks available today date back to 1980 or earlier, this new resource by Mac Brunson and James W. Bryant will offer fresh experience-based encouragement to all pastors in their pursuit of excellence and development in their God-called profession.
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Local News Covers Daniel Wallace’s Manuscript Find
I was an intern for Dr. Daniel Wallace as a master’s student, and he also supervised my master’s thesis. So I am always excited to see his work receiving some attention. In recent years, he has been focused on his task as the director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. Last summer, his group uncovered a treasure trove of 47 ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Last night, the local ABC affiliate did a brief story. Here it is: “Frisco man leads quest for Biblical truth” – WFAA.com I thought it was funny that the reporter referred to Dr. Wallace with the non-descript “Frisco man”…
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More on the Cancellation of “Issues, Etc.â€
Last week, I briefly noted the cancellation of the syndicated radio program “Issues, Etc.” Today, the Wall Street Journal has an opinion piece explaining its demise. ‘The program was in all likelihood a pawn in a larger battle for the soul of the Missouri Synod. The church is divided between, on the one hand, traditional Lutherans known for their emphasis on sacraments, liturgical worship and the church’s historic confessions and, on the other, those who have embraced pop-culture Christianity and a market-driven approach to church growth.
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Russell Moore’s Review of Charles Schultz Biography
There is a new biography of Charles Schultz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip and of the famous television special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Russell Moore has given an outstanding review of the book for Touchstone magazine, and you should read it.
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Is the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Essential?
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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Mohler’s tumor is not cancerous
You may have read the report last week about the tumor that Dr. Albert Mohler had removed from his colon. Many friends and supports have been praying since then that the pathology report would show the tumor was not malignant. Today the Baptist Press reports that tests show that the tumor is not malignant. Mohler announced the good news in Southern Seminary’s chapel service, and he said the following: