Simon J. Gathercole. Where Is Boasting: Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul’s Response in Romans 1-5. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. 311pp. $32.00. Simon J. Gathercole fires a salvo into the ongoing battle over Paul’s doctrine of Justification and the new perspective on Paul. In Where Is Boasting: Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul’s Response in Romans 1-5, Gathercole contends with the growing consensus among Pauline scholars that the Judaism of Paul’s day was not a legalistic religion of merit, but a gracious dispensation of covenantal election. This work represents Gathercole’s Ph.D. dissertation which he wrote under the supervision of James D. G. Dunn, with whom Gathercole is in decided disagreement. Gathercole argues…
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Review of “Blue Like Jazz”
Shane Walker at 9Marks ministries has reviewed Donald Miller’s popular book Blue Like Jazz. What can I say? The review is devastating and gets at the heart of all that’s wrong with the postmodern ethos in certain sectors of the Emergent church movement. Here’s a teaser from the review: Don wants to invite the reader to authentic Christian spirituality, but he’s not really sure what it looks like. He can only report back what he’s experienced—and it’s been a confusing trip. This means that some of his readers will walk away even more confused, but more resolved to get another tattoo, another piercing, grow those dreads, attend another anarchist protest,…
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Review of “The Face of New Testament Studies”
Scot McKnight and Grant R. Osborne, eds. The Face of New Testament Studies: A Survey of Recent Research. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004. 544pp. $34.99. Eminent New Testament scholars Scot McKnight and Grant R. Osborne have edited an important volume that introduces the various sub-disciplines of New Testament studies. In The Face of New Testament Studies: A Survey of Recent Research, various luminaries of the scholarly guild have contributed essays that give an overview of their respective disciplines and that introduce some of the important voices in those disciplines. There are a total of twenty-two essays, and they are divided into four parts: (1) Context of the New Testament, (2)…
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NBC Cancels ‘West Wing’ After 7 Seasons
The AP is reporting that NBC is canceling the Emmy-winning “West Wing” after 7 seasons (source). For some of you, this announcement is no big deal. But I’ve been watching the “Left Wing” since its second season. It was a good decision to cancel the show because it has been in decline ever since its creators Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme left the show. Now what am I going to do? Is there anything else on TV with a predictable liberal slant that will chafe me every time I turn it on? Oh, well. I’m sure I’ll be able to find something. 🙂
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Review of “Choosing a Bible” by Leland Ryken
Leland Ryken, Choosing a Bible: Understanding Bible Translation Differences (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005). 32pp. $3.99. This little 32-page booklet is in many ways an extension and abstract of Leland Ryken’s earlier and more comprehensive work, The Word of God in English: Criteria for Excellence in Bible Translation (Crossway, 2002). The booklet consists of three chapters and an appendix. Chapter one asks and answers the question, “How Do Bible Translations Differ from Each Other?” Here Ryken introduces the distinction between dynamic equivalent and formal equivalent approaches to translation. Chapter two sets forth five negative effects of the dynamic equivalent approach. Chapter Three discusses ten reasons why “essentially literal” translations are trustworthy.…
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Has the Iraq War Compromised Evangelical Witness?
Charles Marsh argues that Evangelicals in the United States have undermined the credibility of their moral and evangelistic witness in the world by supporting the war in Iraq. The essay is titled “Wayward Christian Soldiers.” Marsh recently read sermons delivered in 2002-2003 by prominent evangelicals who supported the President’s decision to go to war. What surprised me, looking at these sermons nearly three years later, was how little attention they paid to actual Christian moral doctrine . . . As a result, many ministers dismissed [just war] theory as no longer relevant . . . The single common theme among the war sermons appeared to be this: our president is…
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The Essence of Idolatry: Worshipping the God of My Understanding
Larry King conducted a panel discussion on Tuesday that used the widely-acclaimed movie “Brokeback Mountain” as a catalyst for discussing the issue of the wider culture’s debate over the morality of homosexuality (transcript). The discussion focused on the question of homosexual rights and, in particular, the question of homosexual “marriage.”
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David Howard on the Story behind “End of the Spear”
David Howard of Bethel University has penned and excellent opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal titled “Triumph From Tragedy: Five missionaries’ murders were not the end of the story.” It’s the kind of essay that will pique interest in the faith that led these five men to die martyr’s deaths. Go read it. Tell others.
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Big Security Council Members Agree on Iran
The AP reports that the members of the U. N. Security council are coming together against the recent, provocative steps taken by Iran. Here’s the article: “Big Security Council Members Agree on Iran.” The developments reported here are significant because it’s the first sign that Russia and China might oppose the actions taken by Iran. Russian and China are permanent members of the Security Council and can veto any sanctions that the other members might propose. Hopefully, this is a sign that they are moving toward challenging Iran. According to this article, Russia is hinting that it may do just that. If you are wondering what might happen if the…
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The Great Gulf War of 2007
A great big Hat Tip to Dr. Mohler for bringing our attention to Niall Ferguson’s OP-ED piece in today’s LA Times: “Tomorrow’s world war today.” This piece is narrated as if it were written by a historian looking back on the “Great Gulf War” of 2007. The essay rings eerily prescient and is a must read. If you don’t read any thing else today, read this one.