• Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    New Website for CBMW

    The Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) launched a new website over the weekend. If you haven’t seen it yet, you need to check it out: www.CBMW.org. There are many resources available for free, including every single back issue of the Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood. There is even a “Gender Blog” to which you can subscribe. Also, don’t miss the sermon audio section.

  • Culture,  Entertainment

    The Wonder Years: Nostalgic about Nostalgia

    I’m a sucker for nostalgia. That’s why I got so hooked on the television show “The Wonder Years” back in the late ’80’s. It was a collage of laughter and bittersweet Americana. The characters were familiar and so were their stories. I loved it. The show ran for six years, but as the main character Kevin Arnold began to grow up, I eventually lost interest. When I noticed this summer that reruns of “The Wonders Years” had been showing on channel 26 here in Dallas, I wondered how the story had ended. In particular, I wondered how the central piece of the plot was resolved. Did Kevin and Winnie ever…

  • Christianity,  Personal

    ‘Confessions of a Pastor’ in Defense of Mohler

    When I was a candidate for the Ph.D. at Southern Seminary, I spent the vast majority of my time with faculty who were specialists in the New Testament. As a result, I missed out on getting to know some of the faculty representing other disciplines. One of the men that I didn’t get to know very well was Dr. Hershael York, Professor of Preaching. I think we have met a couple of times, but in reality I hardly know Dr. York personally. But let me say that I love him nevertheless. He keeps a blog called “Confessions of a Pastor” that is one of the most enjoyable blogs that I…

  • Book Reviews,  Theology/Bible

    Review of The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views

    James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy, eds. The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006. 208pp. $20. It is no accident that Intervarsity has chosen to publish a “four views” book on the meaning of Christ’s atonement. The topic is very much in dispute right now, even among those who are associated with the evangelical movement. Not long ago, the consensus among evangelicals consisted more or less of an affirmation of the penal substitutionary view, but this is no longer the case. As evangelicalism has splintered, so has its tacit orthodoxy concerning atonement. Now, we are not surprised to hear certain pastors and theologians castigating…

  • Culture,  Theology/Bible

    September 11, 2001

    Of course I’ll never forget where I was on September 11, 2001. My wife and I were in our second year of marriage, and we were living in Louisville, Kentucky while I was working on my Ph.D. On the morning of the attacks, I was in our apartment, and she called me from work to tell me to turn the television on. I think both buildings had already been struck by the time I tuned in, but I was watching live television as both of them eventually crumbled to the ground. The emotion of that day has left an indelible mark on me. The uncertainty. The questions. The very real…

  • Politics

    General Betray Us?

    Politics reached a new low in the run-up to General Petreaus’ testimony before Congress yesterday. The editors at The Wall Street Journal excoriated the slanderous tactics used against Petreaus and have called for congressional Democrats to repudiate MoveOn.org’s full-page ad in The New York Times which renamed the general “General Betray Us.” Norman Podhoretz gives a good account of the “Vietnam syndrome” that has given birth to the cynicism that seems to be the order of the day in politics. In “America the Ugly,” he writes: “It is impossible at this point to predict how and when the battle of Iraq will end. But from the vitriolic debates it has…

  • Theology/Bible

    More John Piper on the Problem of Evil

    The discussion about Greg Boyd and the problem of evil is still ongoing as I write this blog. The whole thing began with John Piper (John Piper, Greg Boyd, Denny Burk, Greg Boyd, Denny Burk), and so it’s fitting to bring him in again now. Last week John Piper delivered a series of message at Wheaton College titled “Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer.” In these messages he addresses the very questions we’ve been discussing for over a week now. If Piper’s messages do anything, they show that the view I have been arguing for is not narrowly derived from the book of Job. Dr. Piper powerfully communicates the…

  • Culture,  Politics

    A Publicity Coup for Noam Chomsky . . . Not!

    You’ve gotta feel for the guy a little bit. Everyone’s favorite linguist has put his best foot forward to write about politics and other areas outside his technical expertise (We know a little bit about that on this blog!). Nevertheless, Noam Chomsky seems to be the man of the hour among all the wrong people. Last Fall, Chomsky got endorsed by the world’s most notorious dictator, Hugo Chávez. And now this Fall, he has just been endorsed by the world’s most notorious terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. All in all, I’d say that’s a pretty bad 12 months worth of publicity. Talk about your unintended consequences!