Rod's blog is available here.
A month before he died, Rod made available on his blog an updated version of a PDF document about Koine verbs. (The PDF document is 50 megabytes in size.)
27 May 2014
Death of Rodney Decker
Many evangelical Christians (and especially those studying Greek) will be sad to hear that Rodney Decker died two days ago. Rod was Professor of New Testament and Greek at Baptist Bible Seminary in Pennsylvania.
Rod's blog is available here.
A month before he died, Rod made available on his blog an updated version of a PDF document about Koine verbs. (The PDF document is 50 megabytes in size.)
Rod's blog is available here.
A month before he died, Rod made available on his blog an updated version of a PDF document about Koine verbs. (The PDF document is 50 megabytes in size.)
11 November 2013
Lest We Forget
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Laurence Binyon, 1914
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Laurence Binyon, 1914
26 October 2013
GAFCON II
The GAFCON II Conference (an international conference of confessing/evangelical Anglicans) was held in Nairobi from Monday 21 October to Saturday 26 October 2013.
An important document released by the conference earlier today is "GAFCON 2013: The Nairobi Communique". Here is the full text of the Communique (PDF document).
Andrew Atherstone's reflections on the GAFCON II Conference can be found here.
And here are various resources (e.g. photos, videos, documents) relating to GAFCON II.
An important document released by the conference earlier today is "GAFCON 2013: The Nairobi Communique". Here is the full text of the Communique (PDF document).
Andrew Atherstone's reflections on the GAFCON II Conference can be found here.
And here are various resources (e.g. photos, videos, documents) relating to GAFCON II.
25 October 2013
The "Strange Fire" Conference
The anti-charismatic "Strange Fire" conference (16-18 October) has ended, but the discussions, debates and arguments will probably go on for ages. Here are two useful collections of weblinks about the issues raised at the conference:
1. Lyndon Unger's post at the MennoKnight blog
2. Jesse Johnson's post at the Cripplegate blog
1. Lyndon Unger's post at the MennoKnight blog
2. Jesse Johnson's post at the Cripplegate blog
23 October 2013
Pope Francis' Prayer
The new Pope has been in the news recently; many people (including a large number of Protestants) regard him as a breath of fresh air. Joseph Hoffman (an Oxford scholar) disagrees. After much searching, Hoffman found the new Pope's personal prayer, tucked away in an obscure corner of the Vatican website:
Lord, make me an instrument of political persuasion:
Where there is pomp let me feign humility;
Where there is skepticism, sincerity;
Where there is tradition, anything that looks new and comes in white;
Where there is certainty, relativism;
Where there is light, gray;
Where there is doctrine, opinion.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
Do as be seen to be doing;
Change things as to pray for changes;
Be Pope as to be one of the boys who happens to be Pope;
Teach anything clearly as to listen to absolute drivel from nincompoops in ten languages, including Chinese, and pretend to take it seriously.
For it is in pretending that we are convincing,
It is in forgiving everyone anything that we look good,
And it is in chucking it all up in about eight years, more or less, that I am saved...
[Joseph Hoffman's blog can be found here]
Lord, make me an instrument of political persuasion:
Where there is pomp let me feign humility;
Where there is skepticism, sincerity;
Where there is tradition, anything that looks new and comes in white;
Where there is certainty, relativism;
Where there is light, gray;
Where there is doctrine, opinion.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
Do as be seen to be doing;
Change things as to pray for changes;
Be Pope as to be one of the boys who happens to be Pope;
Teach anything clearly as to listen to absolute drivel from nincompoops in ten languages, including Chinese, and pretend to take it seriously.
For it is in pretending that we are convincing,
It is in forgiving everyone anything that we look good,
And it is in chucking it all up in about eight years, more or less, that I am saved...
[Joseph Hoffman's blog can be found here]
Rosaria Butterfield's Conversion
Rosaria Butterfield was once a lesbian and a leftwing professor of English and women's studies. Then she became an evangelical Christian.
15 August 2013
Not Doing Their Homework
It does irritate me when authors of novels and movie-makers do careful and sustained research to make their books and movies more plausible and convincing, but when it comes to Christianity they cut corners and don't do their homework properly.
Here is Larry Hurtado complaining about the fact that Lee Child (author of the Jack Reacher novels) has been slack about doing his homework concerning the Book of Revelation.
Here is Larry Hurtado complaining about the fact that Lee Child (author of the Jack Reacher novels) has been slack about doing his homework concerning the Book of Revelation.
20 November 2012
18 November 2012
Descendit ad inferna
Lee Irons, who blogs at The Upper Register, has written an article entitled "He Descended Into Hell", which discusses one of the most controversial clauses in the Apostles' Creed.
The article (a PDF document) is available here.
The article (a PDF document) is available here.
21 October 2012
Tim Challies on Busyness
In a blog post written four days ago, Tim Challies offers some wise words about the pervasive syndrome of "busyness".
You can read Challies' post here.
Challies quotes a perceptive observation from an article by Tim Kreider: "Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day".
You can read Challies' post here.
Challies quotes a perceptive observation from an article by Tim Kreider: "Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day".
19 October 2012
Silence is Criminal
Conrad Mbewe, in a recent blog post entitled "Our Criminal Evangelical Silence", complains about the disgraceful state of many of the so-called evangelical churches in Zambia. He says:
"The disaster is the silence about all this from those who are supposed to provide spiritual guidance to the masses. In Zambia, and in Africa at large, evangelical leaders who have worked their way up the ecclesiastical ladder are holding hands with religious fraudsters and thus they cannot speak about this engulfing evil. They would rather throw stones at political leaders out there than address the Trojan horse within evangelicalism. They would rather tell the world to stop being worldly than tell those who are raping the church from within to stop it. And yet in the light of this spiritual tsunami, the silence is criminal."
Read the whole article here.
"The disaster is the silence about all this from those who are supposed to provide spiritual guidance to the masses. In Zambia, and in Africa at large, evangelical leaders who have worked their way up the ecclesiastical ladder are holding hands with religious fraudsters and thus they cannot speak about this engulfing evil. They would rather throw stones at political leaders out there than address the Trojan horse within evangelicalism. They would rather tell the world to stop being worldly than tell those who are raping the church from within to stop it. And yet in the light of this spiritual tsunami, the silence is criminal."
Read the whole article here.
15 October 2012
New City Catechism
The Gospel Coalition and Redeemer Presbyterian Church have developed the New City Catechism. You can read about it on The Gospel Coalition Blog.
The whole catechism is available here as a PDF file.
The whole catechism is available here as a PDF file.
02 September 2012
Is Theology Optional?
Brian Lee, writing in Modern Reformation:
"At lunch with a prospective church member, I described the process of joining our church: a six to ten-week membership class that introduces our church's teaching in its confessions, its worship and life together, and an extensive interview to examine a candidate's profession of faith and knowledge of the catechism. He shook his head and said, 'Man, this is a lot of stuff. Do you ever worry that the Reformed church is just for smart people?'"
Aimee Byrd, commenting on Lee's article:
"...our faith involves a confession - it has content. When someone tells me that they 'don't need to get into all that theological stuff' because they have faith, I ask them who their faith is in. Of course, they tell me Jesus Christ. Well, who is Jesus Christ? These are theological questions. We are all theologians, as John Gerstner put it in his book Theology for Every Man, the question is whether we are good ones or bad ones."
"At lunch with a prospective church member, I described the process of joining our church: a six to ten-week membership class that introduces our church's teaching in its confessions, its worship and life together, and an extensive interview to examine a candidate's profession of faith and knowledge of the catechism. He shook his head and said, 'Man, this is a lot of stuff. Do you ever worry that the Reformed church is just for smart people?'"
Aimee Byrd, commenting on Lee's article:
"...our faith involves a confession - it has content. When someone tells me that they 'don't need to get into all that theological stuff' because they have faith, I ask them who their faith is in. Of course, they tell me Jesus Christ. Well, who is Jesus Christ? These are theological questions. We are all theologians, as John Gerstner put it in his book Theology for Every Man, the question is whether we are good ones or bad ones."
28 August 2012
Words of Wisdom
James Houston, in The Transforming Friendship: A Guide to Prayer:
"The Desert Fathers (a protest movement in the early church) spoke of busyness as 'moral laziness'... Busyness acts to repress our inner fears and perpetual anxieties, as we scramble to achieve an enviable image to display to others. We become 'outward' people, obsessed with how we appear, rather than 'inward' people, reflecting on the meaning of our lives."
This reminds me of a comment made by Michael D. O'Brien:
"There are burdens, even heavy burdens, that ease the weight of a man's life. And there are burdens that, when they are lifted from a man's life, will crush him."
Wise words indeed.
"The Desert Fathers (a protest movement in the early church) spoke of busyness as 'moral laziness'... Busyness acts to repress our inner fears and perpetual anxieties, as we scramble to achieve an enviable image to display to others. We become 'outward' people, obsessed with how we appear, rather than 'inward' people, reflecting on the meaning of our lives."
This reminds me of a comment made by Michael D. O'Brien:
"There are burdens, even heavy burdens, that ease the weight of a man's life. And there are burdens that, when they are lifted from a man's life, will crush him."
Wise words indeed.
11 August 2012
Lewis on Reading
C.S. Lewis, in An Experiment in Criticism (1961):
"The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others. Reality, even seen through the eyes of many, is not enough. I will see what others have invented. Even the eyes of all humanity are not enough...
Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality... in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself then when I do."
"The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others. Reality, even seen through the eyes of many, is not enough. I will see what others have invented. Even the eyes of all humanity are not enough...
Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality... in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself then when I do."
Semi-Pelagians and Visionaries
Chris Rosebrough is a funny fellow. Here are two recent posts from his "Letter of Marque" blog:
The Semi-Pelagian Narrower Catechism
Is Vision Casting Biblical?
The Semi-Pelagian Narrower Catechism
Is Vision Casting Biblical?
10 August 2012
Believing in the Real Presence?
Here is a post (dated 9 August) from Lydia McGrew's blog "Extra Thoughts".
The topic of the post is: "Why a Protestant believes in the Real Presence".
The third sentence of Lydia's post says: "...the question has arisen as to whether there is good Scriptural reason to believe in something more than memorialism as a view of the Lord's Supper".
I need to read Lydia's post with an honest and open mind, for two reasons: (1) I respect the work that Lydia has done in the area of analytic philosophy, and (2) Regarding the Lord's Supper, I have always been an intuitive, automatic, and dyed-in-the-wool supporter of memorialism, without taking the trouble to study the whole issue properly.
The topic of the post is: "Why a Protestant believes in the Real Presence".
The third sentence of Lydia's post says: "...the question has arisen as to whether there is good Scriptural reason to believe in something more than memorialism as a view of the Lord's Supper".
I need to read Lydia's post with an honest and open mind, for two reasons: (1) I respect the work that Lydia has done in the area of analytic philosophy, and (2) Regarding the Lord's Supper, I have always been an intuitive, automatic, and dyed-in-the-wool supporter of memorialism, without taking the trouble to study the whole issue properly.
03 August 2012
29 July 2012
18 June 2012
Living With Stress
Peter Enns:
"I've had far too many conversations over the last few years with trained, experienced, and practicing biblical scholars, young, middle aged, and near retirement, working in Evangelical institutions, trying to follow Jesus and use their brains and training to help students navigate the challenging world of biblical interpretation. And they are dying inside.
Just two weeks ago I had the latest in my list of long conversations with a well-known, published, respected biblical scholar, who is under inhuman stress trying to negotiate the line between institutional expectations and academic integrity. His gifts are being squandered. He is questioning his vocation. His family is suffering. He does not know where to turn. I wish this were an isolated incident, but it's not."
In the eyes of many evangelicals, Peter Enns is something of a bogeyman. But here, where Enns is not talking about controversial things like evolution or Genesis or ancient near eastern myth or the diversity of the Old Testament or Second Temple Judaism or whatever, there can be little doubt that he is highlighting a real problem.
Any thoughts on this issue?
"I've had far too many conversations over the last few years with trained, experienced, and practicing biblical scholars, young, middle aged, and near retirement, working in Evangelical institutions, trying to follow Jesus and use their brains and training to help students navigate the challenging world of biblical interpretation. And they are dying inside.
Just two weeks ago I had the latest in my list of long conversations with a well-known, published, respected biblical scholar, who is under inhuman stress trying to negotiate the line between institutional expectations and academic integrity. His gifts are being squandered. He is questioning his vocation. His family is suffering. He does not know where to turn. I wish this were an isolated incident, but it's not."
In the eyes of many evangelicals, Peter Enns is something of a bogeyman. But here, where Enns is not talking about controversial things like evolution or Genesis or ancient near eastern myth or the diversity of the Old Testament or Second Temple Judaism or whatever, there can be little doubt that he is highlighting a real problem.
Any thoughts on this issue?
09 June 2012
Calvin the Higher Critic
David Williams (on his blog "Brick by Brick") posted two articles on John Calvin during April and May:
The first article is about Calvin and Genesis chapter one.
The second is about Calvin and the authorship of Second Peter.
Williams' point is that some of Calvin's views on these issues make him sound like the sort of Christian who is regularly attacked by the strict evangelicals for interpreting the Bible in a suspect and problematic way...
The first article is about Calvin and Genesis chapter one.
The second is about Calvin and the authorship of Second Peter.
Williams' point is that some of Calvin's views on these issues make him sound like the sort of Christian who is regularly attacked by the strict evangelicals for interpreting the Bible in a suspect and problematic way...
22 May 2012
Women Against Women Bishops
The Anglican Mainstream website and the BBC News website report that 2200 female members of the Church of England have signed a petition opposing the ordination of women bishops. The petition will be presented to the House of Bishops at the start of their meeting in York.
Many trendy churchmen will be skeptical; they will say that these women have been bullied and dominated by male church members, and coerced to sign the petition with some reluctance. Perhaps the trendies have a point; you only have to glance at the picture above to see the fear and resentment staring out of the women's faces...
17 May 2012
Williams on Christian Belief
David Williams at the "Brick by Brick" blog:
"...one of the profoundest paradoxes of contemporary Church life: that week by week we drowsily summon the God who shouted Job down out of the tempest, and blithely invoke Him who toppled Pharaoh's empire with wave after wave of catastrophe. We glibly propose to encounter the King of kings who could wither a tree with a glance and who cracked Death itself in two as though we were taking a trip to the post office. The contradiction between the extraordinary claims we make about the God we worship and the lackadaisical, flip, or trite ways in which we engage in our worship of Him betrays a fact about us that is both too obvious to need saying and to difficult to bear saying: Hardly any of us believes a word of Christianity anymore. What ever can I mean? Do we not say the Creed? Have I not accepted Jesus Christ as my very own personal Lord and Savior? Can I not check all of the necessary doctrinal boxes? Yes, yes, yes. That's all very well. But in our bones we believe something else entirely."
"...one of the profoundest paradoxes of contemporary Church life: that week by week we drowsily summon the God who shouted Job down out of the tempest, and blithely invoke Him who toppled Pharaoh's empire with wave after wave of catastrophe. We glibly propose to encounter the King of kings who could wither a tree with a glance and who cracked Death itself in two as though we were taking a trip to the post office. The contradiction between the extraordinary claims we make about the God we worship and the lackadaisical, flip, or trite ways in which we engage in our worship of Him betrays a fact about us that is both too obvious to need saying and to difficult to bear saying: Hardly any of us believes a word of Christianity anymore. What ever can I mean? Do we not say the Creed? Have I not accepted Jesus Christ as my very own personal Lord and Savior? Can I not check all of the necessary doctrinal boxes? Yes, yes, yes. That's all very well. But in our bones we believe something else entirely."
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