Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, and he is one of the bright lights of evangelicalism today. We all could stand to learn a great deal from Keller about how to engage this generation with the gospel. Recently, Keller spoke at Stanford University and at Berkeley. The video of his two presentations is available online, and I recommend them to you. Not only are the presentations very well done, but the question and answer times are instructive as well. Keller fields questions from Christian students as well as from atheists and agnostics.
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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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Southern Baptists Go Green
Jonathan Merritt, an M.Div. student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has spearheaded an effort to raise the awareness of Southern Baptists concerning global climate change. The name of the effort is the “Southern Baptist Environment & Climate Initiative” (SBECI). The website for the effort has a declaration outlining SBECI’s beliefs about climate change and how Southern Baptists should respond to it. Several prominent Southern Baptist leaders have signed on to endorse the declaration, including two former SBC Presidents.
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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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Michael Gerson: Iraq Is the Issue
Michael Gerson has a fascinating Op-Ed in today’s Washington Post. He argues that Barack Obama’s record on the Iraq War is mixed and will be a weakness for him in the general election. I think Gerson is right. Here’s an excerpt: “Obama will find — as John Kerry found in 2004 — that Americans are suspicious of a prospective commander in chief who votes against funding U.S. troops in the field. “The Iraq war determined the paths for McCain and Obama. But there is a large difference between them. McCain eventually won his nomination because he showed political courage in the face of overwhelming pressure. Obama may eventually win his…
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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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Fetus Fatigue
The evangelical left has been chastising other evangelicals for their “narrow-minded” focus on abortion. Folks like Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne and others are encouraging evangelicals to “broaden” their horizons when it comes to Christian involvement in the public square and in politics. I have argued on this blog that Wallis and friends are actually demoting abortion on the list of evangelical social priorities. I think this is a grave error. Douglas Groothuis wrote a piece last week that is a prophetic call to evangelicals to stop listening to the siren song from the Wallis’ and the Campolo’s. I’m only going to post an excerpt here, but you should…
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Families Together at Sunday Worship
Pastor John Piper and his wife Noel have some very helpful suggestions for families to worship together on Sunday mornings. By the time their kids were four years old, the Pipers had their children participating in “big church” with the rest of the family. They do not believe that “children’s church” is helpful at all for children in the long-run, and I agree. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
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Albert Mohler on California Homeschool Decision
Here’s the description of today’s edition of “The Albert Mohler Program“: “Like a bolt from the blue, a California appeals court has ruled that the state’s parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their own children. In a flash, a child welfare case that no one had noticed has become a flash point of controversy in the nation. Will homeschooling be ruled illegal in California? On today’s program, Dr. Mohler welcomes Michael Farris for a discussion about the significance of the decision and the threat it poses to parents’ rights.” You can listen to the audio below or visit the website for “The Albert Mohler Program.” [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/MP3/totl/2008/AMP_03_10_2008.mp3]
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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”…