Keller pastors Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. He is known for his thoughtful sermons which attract a large and varied audience. He has lectured at Google on three occasions that I am aware of (here, here, and here), as well as at Oxford and other universities. Keller is also a prolific author. Just before Christmas New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof published an interview with Keller titled, "Am I a Christian, Pastor Keller?" I think it really good, both the questions and answers, and commend it to you.
(Note: I have blogged about Tim Keller several times. Simply google "Muddling Toward Maturity - Tim Keller" for a list of posts.)
I found Eric Metaxas' short introduction helpful:
Text:
It’s been a rough few weeks. It seems virtually all of the news is bad. Whether it’s ISIS, Boko Haram, the refugee crisis, or, here at home, the troubling trends in American culture, depression, if not outright despair, seems like a reasonable response.
Thankfully, God has provided a remedy for this temptation, and it’s as close as your nearest Church calendar. I’m speaking of Advent, which begins this Sunday.
Relatively few Americans, including many Christians, understand what Advent is really about. Here’s a hint, it’s more than just a countdown to Christmas.
For nearly two millennia, Advent has been the season in which Christians reflect on the bookends of God’s redemptive acts in Christ: His Incarnation and His coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
These bookends are arguably best described in the hymns associated with Advent. They express the human longing for God to set everything aright, to wipe every tear from our eyes.
Take the hymn “Creator of the Stars of Night.” It was written, probably in England, sometime between 600 and 800 A.D., in the midst of what is commonly known as the “Dark Ages.” Life was unimaginably hard for those living back then: war was endemic, as was destitution, disease, and hunger.
This reality is reflected in the hymn’s opening stanza: “Creator of the stars of night, Thy people's everlasting light, Jesu, Redeemer, save us all, and hear Thy servants when they call.”
But it doesn’t stop there. The hymn then recalls the first bookend of God’s great redemptive act: “Thou, grieving that the ancient curse should doom to death a universe, hast found the medicine, full of grace, to save and heal a ruined race.”
It then looks forward to the second bookend: “O Thou whose coming is with dread, to judge and doom the quick and dead, preserve us, while we dwell below, from every insult of the foe.”
Now, talk of a dread coming and judging the quick and the dead no doubt sounds jarring to modern ears, but it’s a reminder that in Advent, we not only recall Jesus’ first coming, we look forward to Jesus’ second coming. And part of that looking forward is examining our lives.
That’s why Gospel passages like the parable of the wise and foolish virgins are associated with Advent. We’re called to be about our Lord’s business as we await His return.
But the word that best expresses the spirit of Advent is the refrain from the best-known Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”: Rejoice!
We are to rejoice even when all the news is bad because all the news that really matters is the “Good News.” God, in Christ, has decisively dealt with sin and evil. At his first coming, as Paul told the Philippians, he took on “human form, [and] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even on a cross.”
This resulted in his being given the “dread name” to whom “all knees must bend,” and “hearts must bow.”
To paraphrase Linus van Pelt, this is what Advent is all about, Charlie Brown. . .
Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, spoke at Stanford University in 2002 on the topic Nietzsche vs. Jesus. I found his talk intriguing. Willard treats Nietzsche respectfully, offering a helpful explanation of Nietzsche's historical context, and the way his perspective on "truth" now predominates in the culture of our day. Against Nietzsche Willard contrasts Jesus and Christ's way of discovering genuine truth and reality. The talk is nonpolemical and offers much to ponder. Go here.
Dallas Willard passed away in 2013 after teaching at USC from 1965 to 2013. He left behind an influential body of work. I have read several of his books and go back from time to time in order to better digest and internalize his thought. Willard offers fresh vocabulary. He replaces traditional terminology such as "disciples of Christ" with "apprentices to Christ." Some of his books include:
The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God
The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives
Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ
Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge,
Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with Christ.
A book published after his death is The Allure of Gentleness: Defending the Faith in the Manner of Jesus.
Eric Metaxas, bestselling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and the acclaimed Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, today published his latest book: Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life. I checked Amazon and read the endorsements -- wow! Genuinely impressive:
“As a secular reader, I come to such books with a certain resistance. Metaxas won me over instantly by meeting me where I live. His intellectual honesty, coupled with an open-hearted wonder at the sheer breadth of human experience, is irresistible.”
—Christopher Noel, author, Impossible Visits
“If you’re a skeptic, read this book with an open mind and you might just discover that miracles are real. If you’re already a believer, be ready to be inspired.”
—Kirsten Powers, columnist for USA Today and The Daily Beast
“A dense, edgy and awe-inspiring report on the possibility of the impossible.”
—Dr. Markus Spieker, Reporter for German National Television and bestselling author of Hollywood Cinema in Nazi Germany
““No Christian thinker today combines reason and wit, argument and imagination, to greater effect.”
—Joseph Loconte, Associate Professor of History at the King's College, NYC and author, God, Locke, and Liberty: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in the West.
"Metaxas has done it again....he presents hope for the tone deaf who cannot hear the splendor of the music of the spheres, and he brings in sunlight for modern cave dwellers who have become accustomed to only shadows on the wall of our increasingly windowless world."
—Os Guinness, author Long Journey Home
Metaxas produced a Breakpoint commentary today titled "Existence Itself Is a Miracle" which is well worth reading. He writes (or speaks, if you click the audio below):
NOW | DOWNLOAD
The universe as we know it requires such a careful calibration of variables as to render its mere existence—never mind the presence of intelligent life—a miracle in itself. The British astronomer and atheist Fred Hoyle, who coined the phrase “the Big Bang,” summed up the sheer improbability of existence by saying “The universe looks like a put-up job."
For instance, if the earth were slightly larger, it would of course have slightly more gravity. As a result, methane and ammonia gas, which have molecular weights of sixteen and seventeen respectively, would remain close to the surface of the earth. Since we can’t breathe methane or ammonia because of their toxicity, we would die.
If Earth were slightly smaller, water vapor would not stay close to the planet’s surface, but would instead dissipate into the atmosphere. Obviously, without water we couldn’t exist.
What’s true of Earth is true of the Universe as a whole. What physicists called the four fundamental forces—gravity, electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces—are so finely-tuned that if any of them were in the slightest degree different, our universe would not exist.
What’s more, each of these crucially precise values was established once and for all within one millionth of a second after the Big Bang. In other words, immediately.
He speaks at BYU Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM (EST), and at the Mormon Tabernacle Saturday evening at 8:30 (EST). Both talks will be live-streamed. Details here.
Anything suggested by Metaxas is worth considering. Metaxas writes:
Have you wanted to give an unbelieving friend a book about the Christian faith, but afraid it might come across in the wrong way? I’ve got some great reads to recommend.
Recently, Christianity Today asked me to recommend five books that would help non-believers better understand, and hopefully embrace, the Christian faith.
This being the season of giving, I’d like to share the list with BreakPoint listeners and ask you to consider giving these books as gifts to the non-believers God has placed in your life. And all of these books are the best kind of apologetics: apologetics that don’t read like apologetics.
The first book is called “The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt” by Joe Loconte. In an earlier BreakPoint, I called this book a “kind of field guide” to the spiritual restlessness that pervades our culture.
As Loconte tells us, notwithstanding the increasing number of people who don’t identify with any religion, our society is filled with what he calls “God Seekers.” These people “don’t always look in the right places, [but] there’s no doubt that they are seeking.”
Continue reading "ERIC METAXAS SUGGESTS BOOKS FOR UNBELIEVERS" »
No individual has had a more profound effect on my thinking than C.S. Lewis. In saying that, I realize I am but one of thousands of people who gladly say the same. Michael Gerson, former speech writer for George W. Bush, penned a good piece on Lewis today. It sparkles. I urge you to click through and read it. In the course of his article he links to Lewis's essay "The Poison of Subjectivism," a profound short essay which I have reread many times over the years. Gerson titles his piece, "C.S. Lewis, our guide to the good life."
- John Stonestreet of Breakpoint has penned several excellent pieces on Lewis and his writings this week. Check out "Narnia's Got it All: The World According to C.S. Lewis." For the audio: Listen Now | Download
- Stonestreet interviewed author and Lewis aficionado, Professor Joe Rigney, who explains "How to Live Like a Narnia." It's a 24 minute audio interview. Listen Now | Download Rigney wrote "Live Like A Narnian: Christian Discipleship in Lewis's Chronicles.
My own previous posts on Lewis can be found here: http://muddlingtowardmaturity.typepad.com/my_weblog/c_s_lewis/
Note: Breakpoint has been featuring C.S. Lewis all week:
Justin Taylor spotlights a new book to be published next month that looks particularly good, Jerram Barrs' Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts, Taylor quotes Tim Keller's endorsement:
Echoes of Eden is the most accessible, readable, and yet theologically robust work on Christianity and the arts that you will be able to find. It is biblical, theologically sound, filled with examples, and edifying. It anticipates and answers well all the most common questions that evangelical people ask about the arts. I highly recommend it.
Here is the table of contents:
1 God and Humans as Creative Artists
2 Imitation, the Heart of the Christian’s Approach to Creativity
3 Building a Christian Understanding of the Artist’s Calling
4 How Do We Judge the Arts?
5 Echoes of Eden: God’s Testimony to the Truth
6 The Conversion of C. S. Lewis and Echoes of Eden in His Life
7 Echoes of Eden in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings
8 Harry Potter and the Triumph of Self-Sacrificing Love
9 Shakespeare and a Christian Worldview
10 Jane Austen, Novelist of the Human Heart
Me: I'm thinking this book will be pure delight.
Found here:
Luc Ferry, A Brief History of Thought | "If you only read one, read this one."
Steven Smith, The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse
Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind
Andrew Delbanco, The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope
John Gray, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (approximately the first 65 pages)
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Justice: Rights and Wrongs (pp. 324-362) | "Probably the most difficult reading."
Michael Sandel, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
Miroslav Volf, Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation
Me: I have no particular comment on this list since the only book I've read is Lesslie Newbigin's The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. But that book, along with several others he wrote, has played an important role in shaping the contours of my mind. Because of Newbigin's experience living and serving in India, when he returned to the UK later in life, he brought a rich worldview perspective that challenged and nourished the Western Christian mind in important ways.
As for the first book on Keller's list, A Brief History of Thought, about which he wrote "If you only read one, read this one,"Justin Taylor quotes him further:
This book right now is a terrific, fast way to get a handle on western culture because:
It’s a great survey of western thought—very few are available, especially from a non-Christian who is sympathetic to Christianity. All other books you buy will be less comprehensive. Though his expression of Christian doctrine is often garbled, Ferry has deep appreciation for Christianity, and when he describes how Christianity swept Greco-Roman paganism away as a cultural force, it is a remarkable, eye-opening account. It shows a) how complex and difficult it is to change culture, but b) how indeed culture does get changed. The shifts away from Christianity are also extremely interesting.
TimChallies tells a moving story: (HT: Justin Taylor)
Doug Nichols is a friend of mine through the Internet. He is the Founder and Director of Action International Ministries and in that role he travels all over the world promoting missions and evangelism. He emails me often and from all parts of the world with words of encouragement. He closes almost every email by saying, “Let me encourage you with this” and then shares a Scripture passage. I love it.
It was a long time ago, in the summer of 1966, that Doug was working for Operation Mobilization and was stationed in London during their big annual conference. He was assigned to the clean-up crew. One night at around 12:30 AM he was sweeping the steps at the conference center when an older gentleman approached him and asked if this was where the conference was being held. Doug said that it was, but that just about everyone had already gone to bed. This man was dressed very simply and had just a small bag with him. He said that he was attending the conference. Doug replied he would try to find him a place to sleep and led him to a room where about 50 people were bunked down on the floor. The older gentleman had nothing to sleep on, so Doug laid down some padding and a blanket and offered a towel for a pillow. The man said that would be just fine and that he appreciated it very much.
Doug asked the man if he had been able to eat dinner. It turns out that he hadn’t eaten since he had been travelling all day. Doug took him to the dining room but it was locked. He soon jimmied the lock and found some cornflakes and milk and bread and jam. As the man ate, the two began to talk. The man said that he and his wife had been working in Switzerland for several years, where he had a small ministry that served hippies and travellers. He spoke about his work and spoke about some of the people he had seen turn to Christ. When he finished eating, both men turned in for the night.
Doug woke up the next
morning only to find out that he was in big trouble. The conference
leaders came to him and said, “Don’t you know who it was that you put on
the floor last night? That’s Francis Schaeffer! He’s the speaker for
this conference! We had a whole room set aside for him!”
Doug had no idea that he was sleeping on the floor next to a celebrity, that he had told a man to sleep on the floor who had a profoundly important ministry. He had no idea that this man had helped shape the Christian church of that day, and really, the church of our day. And Schaeffer never let on. In humility he had accepted his lot and been grateful for it.
That is just a tiny little glimpse into a man’s life. Francis Schaeffer lived for 72 years and this little story consumed less than half of one of the 26,000 days of his life. But it tells you a lot about the man. I think it tells you as much about the man as his public ministry does. A book may proclaim that he is brilliant, but a story like this proclaims that he is humble. A speech in front of thousands may proclaim that he is a great philosopher, but the story tells us that that he is godly. There is so much we can learn about a person from those little otherwise-forgotten moments. It’s not only the great things a person does that make the man, but the small things.
When Doug tells the story he offers an application that has helped him. Not many of us can have the intellect of Francis Schaeffer; not many of us will ever have his abilities or his wisdom. But what we can do is reach out to others and minister to them with godly humility.
Me: I love this story. Years ago I met Doug Nichols. He's authentic and humble, too. I know OM life, and can imagine the setting of this story. As for Francis Schaeffer, like so many others, I owe him a huge personal debt. Encountering his person and works dramatically enlarged and deepened my own understanding of the Gospel and it's relevance to all of life. Schaeffer started a spiritual and intellectual revolution that changed the face of evangelicalism.
Justin Taylor offers the following resources:
The year 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984). It is difficult to think of an evangelical figure in the 20th century who so seriously engaged the philosophies and ideologies of the secular world and set them over against the Christian worldview than Francis Schaeffer.
But Schaeffer was no ordinary evangelical. The man wore knickers and knee high socks when he lectured, sporting not only long hair but a goat’s-chin beard! Most importantly, Schaeffer did not fear man, but feared God. Not only did he engage secular worldviews, but he confronted his fellow evangelicals, even rebuking them for doctrinal concession and compromise.
As many have observed, it is not an overstatement to say that the Schaeffers transformed, reshaped, and in many ways reformed American evangelicalism. Those writing in this new issue of Credo Magazine are proof, each writer bearing testimony to how Francis Schaeffer has made a monumental impact on how we understand and articulate the Christian faith and life in the world of ideas. Contributors include Bruce Little, William Edgar, Bryan Follis, and Stephen Wellum, and many others.
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Wow. I'm astonished at the wealth of information available at the TGC National Women's Conference website. I heard only two talks online at the time of the conference last month, but now they are all available online either via Video or audio. Avail yourself (whether a man or a woman) of these outstanding speakers.
An added bonus is that some of the women speakers were asked what books had particularly influenced them. See the list of books here. Prepare to have a feast.
Here's a wonderful listing of C.S. Lewis quotes, bibliographies, and articles about C.S. Lewis. How convenient and helpful! And speaking of C.S. Lewis, here's a site that gives us an audio recording of C.S. Lewis speaking over the BBC using the text that would later become part of Mere Christianity. The site also presents C.S. Lewis in his own voice reading the introduction to The Great Divorce.
Tilda Swinton played the White Witch in the latest movie version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In an interview she offers her perspective on how she sought to portray her character saying,
It's not always necessarily the most frightening thing for small children to be shouted at. Children shout and get hot themselves all the time, and in my experience it's actually a relief if you shout back at them. Whereas the thing that's really unfathomable for children is a kind of coldness and emotional detachment; that's the thing they don't do. So it occurred to me it would be more frightening to be faced with something really unaffectable. You can't affect the Witch; you can't appeal to her; she's incapable of any compassion. Someone who gets angry is emotional; I thought it would be fun to shake up that stereotype.
Note: I posted the above back on March 8, 2006. Jennifer, an alert reader, wrote me that the first link was broken. She supplied me with a link to the C.S. Lewis section of the Online University which I used as a replacement for the broken link. Anyone interested in C.S. Lewis will find an incredible wealth of material at the Online University website. Particularly astonishing to me is the availability of some of Lewis's full essays such as "Meditation in a Toolshed" (a must-read classic!!), "On the Reading of Old Books," "We Have No Right to Happiness" (posted on a Muslim Sunni website!), "De Descriptione Temporum," and a link to the additional following essays from God in the Dock: "Is Progress Possible? Willing Slaves of the Welfare State", "Man or Rabbit", "What are we to Make of Jesus Christ?" There are still many more essays available! Amazing!!
The full title of Stark's book is The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion (HarperOne). In presenting the book as World's Book of the Year, Marvin Olasky does an excellent job presenting sketches from the book.
[...] After Stark spends 200 pages on the triumph of Christianity, he turns to some defeats. The biggest ones came in the Middle East and across northern Africa, where Muslims murdered hundreds of thousands. Stark, quoting Muslim bragging about churches and lives destroyed, points out that "a great deal of nonsense has been written about Muslim tolerance." He calls the Crusades a "fundamentally defensive" counter-attack "precipitated by Islamic provocations, by many centuries of bloody attempts to colonize the West, and by sudden new attacks on Christian pilgrims and holy places."
Stark also criticizes other historians for being "as gullible as tourists, gaping at the monuments, palaces, and conspicuous consumption of Rome." He decries "the inability of intellectuals to value or even to notice the nuts and bolts of real life," and goes on to note medieval progress in windmills, crop rotation, chimneys, and a host of other practical matters.
He also calls "the Renaissance" a ridiculous myth: "Had there really been a return to classical knowledge, it would have created an era of cultural decline since Christian Europe had long since surpassed classical antiquity in nearly every way."
And yet, Stark mocks the idea of a medieval "Age of Faith," for "the masses of medieval Europeans not only were remarkably skeptical, but very lacking in all aspects of Christian commitment." Most people seldom if ever went to church, and some who did slept and snored, played cards while the pastor preached, or brought their dogs: "Most medieval Europeans were completely ignorant of the most basic Christian teachings," and many priests did not know the Lord's Prayer or other fundamentals. [more...]
The official title of the April, 2012 Wheaton Theology conference, was "Bonhoeffer, Christ, and Culture." Videos and mp3s of the presentations are available here.
A stunning Bonhoeffer quote I read years ago continues to challenge me:
“Nothing can be more cruel than the tenderness that consigns another to his sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe rebuke that calls a brother back from the path of sin.” - from Life Together
Chuck Colson resides up there with the top half-dozen or so men whom I respect most highly. I love the way his evangelistic passion was joined to a mind fully engaged with the streams of thought current in the world today. What a legacy he has left!
I value Emily Belz's tribute and her highlighting of Colson's accomplishments and thinking.
The Jewish columnist, Mona Charen, wrote:
"This is a deeply cynical country these days, and yes, there is much to be cynical about. But there are people who achieve moral greatness. And one just died today. RIP."
Justin Taylor writes:
Charles Wendell (“Chuck”) Colson went home to be with the Lord this afternoon (April 21, 2012). He was 80 years old.
The announcement is here. You can also read Sarah Pulliam Bailey’s obituary at CT.
Mr. Colson’s memoir Born Again was published in 1975. Earlier that year he had been released from a seven-month stint in federal prison after pleading guilty of obstructing justice in the Watergate investigation. He had converted to Christianity in 1973 after serving four years as Special Counsel for President Richard Nixon. C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity was pivotal in his spiritual repentance and awakening. The memoir was made into a 1978 film starring Dean Jones. In 2005 Jonathan Aitken—himself a former politician turned prison turned convert to Christianity turned author—penned an authorized biography, Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed (WaterBrook Press). On October 15, 2008, Mr. Colson gave his testimony at Columbia University during a Veritas Forum. It was entitled “How God Turned Around Nixon’s Hatchet Man,” and you can watch it below:
From Prison Fellowship "Remembering Chuck Colson":
I came upon David Brooks' article "When the Good Do Bad" via Charles Colson's Breakpoint article, "The Line Between Good and Evil." Both articles ponder the tragedy of Staff Sargent Robert Bales, the U.S. soldier who allegedly murdered 16 Afghan civilians, including women and children.
Both meditations are worth reading. In their own way, they make similar points. From Colson's article, I appreciated his recounting Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's profoundly true observation:
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart.”
And,
“This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.”
This is the extraordinary insight germane to the Christian understanding of reality and the human heart. David Brooks understands and accepts this perspective. He begins his article saying,
Continue reading "DAVID BROOKS - THE KILLER THAT IS INSIDE EACH OF US" »
Ted Schroeder, in a devotional piece for Lent titled "The Tears of God," explores the profound mystery of God suffering on the cross, which reality sustains and inspires us in coming to terms with our own suffering. Schroeder writes:
During Lent I am going to reflect on portions of the four Psalms that Handel uses in Messiah. Psalm 22:7,8 is used to describe the religious leaders' ridicule of Jesus during his agony on the Cross as quoted in the Gospels.
"All they that see him laugh him to scorn: they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying: 'He trusted in God that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, if he delights in him.'"
"Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, 'You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God.' In the same way the chief priests and teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 'He saved others,' they said, 'but he cannot save himself. He's the King of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (Matt.27:39-44)
They saw suffering and God as incompatible. If Jesus were God he would not be suffering an ignominious death. His claims to be the divine Son are shown to be false by his crucifixion. Is this true? It provokes us to consider the relationship between Christian faith and suffering.
As a teenager Ted Turner was religious and decided he was going to become a missionary. His twelve year old sister contracted systemic lupus. Ted tried to comfort her and prayed for her recovery. After years of misery she succumbed to the disease. Ted lost his faith. "I was taught that God was love and God was powerful, and I couldn't understand how someone so innocent should be made or allowed to suffer so." (Ken Auletta, The New Yorker, 23 April, 2001)
Continue reading "TED SCHROEDER - GOD'S SUFFERING AND OURS " »
Justion Taylor interviewed Dr Peter J. Williams, Warden of Tyndale House, Cambridge, the premiere research library for biblical studies. Biblical scholarship doesn't usually rank high on the priority list of most lay persons, but its worth is utterly important. Williams points out:
Christians accept that it may take vast sums of money to train a soldier or a doctor, and yet sometimes we are unwilling to accept that, if we want Bible scholars as well trained as our medical specialists, it is also going to involve serious investment. Investing in Christian scholarship is a long-term strategy and will usually seem less appealing than more obvious and apparently pressing needs. However, if the church does not have robust scholarship then it will be highly vulnerable to false ideas.
Williams' suggestion for mature charitable giving makes sense:
Evangelicals need to divide up their giving in sensible proportions, giving some to urgent and immediate causes, but also making adequate provision for ministries that tend only to yield fruit in the longer term.
It's only been recently that I've become aware of the new scholarly fascination with tracing the neglected African roots of Western Christianity. Thomas Oden wrote in 2007 How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind and has a new book in press, The African Memory of Mark: Reassessing Early Church Tradition. Last fall Inter-Varsity Press conducted a fascinating interview with Oden. More information, he says, is available at www.earlyafricanchristianity.com
In his five-star review of How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind," Amazon reviewer C. Stephens wrote:
Thomas Oden writes, "Christianity would not have its present vitality in the Two-Thirds World without the intellectual understandings that developed in Africa between 50 and 500 C.E. The pretense of studying church history while ignoring African church history is implausible." (10) Yet, in his book "How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind," Oden purports that for centuries Western intellectuals have in fact ignored or downplayed the momentous contributions of African Christians to church history and theology. According to Oden, today's Christian mind has its roots in the writings and teachings of the early church leaders from Africa, in the struggles of the early church martyrs from Africa, in the lives of the desert Fathers of Africa, and in the early Christians who fled Africa taking their faith throughout the Mediterranean cities. Oden suggests that it is critical for contemporary African Christianity to learn of its prestigious heritage--to learn that Christianity is a vital, traditional African faith rather than a foreign imposition.
He writes, "The profound ways African teachers have shaped world Christianity have never been adequately studied or acknowledged, either in the Global North or South." (9) This is a story that Oden believes needs to be told throughout African villages and cities and must especially reach the African child. He believes it is a story best told fully by young African scholars. The story of African Christianity conveys extraordinary faith, courage, tenacity and intellect that must serve as inspiration and guides not only for African Christianity but for universal Christianity today.
Continue reading "AFRICA'S ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY" »
I have appreciated J.P. Moreland for a long time. Wintery Knight linked to this audio of Moreland's talk at Texas A & M on December 31, 1995. The Veritas Forum website describes his talk this way:
Dr. Moreland makes it plain that this talk is for Christians. Contending that the Church is now in one of the most anti-intellectual periods in history, Moreland draws a stark picture of how Christians' neglect of intellectual pursuits has hurt missions, Christian discipleship, and the very cause of the gospel. Moreland traces the historical path that has brought about this current problem, discusses its implications for today, and provides biblical injunctions and practical solutions for a way out of this serious problem for the Church.
Moreland's talk is timeless. See also his important book, "Love Your God With All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Mind." When I read the book several years ago, it had a profound effect on me.
Before beginning his interview with Brian Auten, Lee Strobel introduces "Apologetics 315" by saying: (HT: Wintery Knight)
Apologetics 315 features a terrific compilation of material for Christians to equip themselves to better define and defend the faith. It’s full of links to resources dealing with every imaginable area of apologetics. As a regular reader of the site, I became curious what its creator, Brian Auten, thinks about the current state of apologetics around the world—and he was willing to share his insights by answering a few questions.
Strobel then asks Auten:
• Every year, the U.S. president gives a “State of the Union” address to Congress. What’s your assessment of the “State of Apologetics” today?
The “state of apologetics” today should encourage us. Not only has there been a large proliferation of publishing on both the academic and popular levels, there is a growing online presence of apologetics resources and ministries. Within the last five years the number of apologetics websites, blogs, and podcasts has increased dramatically. We have now reached the point where anyone with an Internet connect has access to more resources for defending the faith than any time in the past.
In addition, seminaries across the U.S. are offering more courses in apologetics, with some featuring Masters of Arts in Apologetics, such as Biola, Southern Evangelical, and Liberty University.
At this point I will pick and choose a few questions and answers but you really need to read the whole interview.
• What websites do you find helpful for apologetics?
For apologetics resources that are great for the layman, www.PleaseConvinceMe.com is a great place to go for material in the form of both articles and podcasts. Stand to Reason is another great resource. I also appreciate www.BeThinking.org for a lot of good audio resources, as well as articles. Finally, William Lane Craig’s website, www.ReasonableFaith.org, is a good place for scholarly work in the areas of philosophy and classical apologetics
• Who are your favorite contemporary apologists and why?
Apologists who have an attitude of Christlikeness in their tone and character—along with demonstrating wisdom and integrity—really earn respect from me and make me want to learn from them and emulate those characteristics. Although I could mention a large number who have had an impact on me, let me just share three who I find to be good examples.
William Lane Craig is among my favorites, not only for his intellectual clarity and brilliance, but also for his humility, tone, and consistency. On a scholarly level, he is certainly worthy of much respect, but I wouldn’t place that above his personal manner, carefulness in properly representing views, and being a faithful teacher in the local church.
Ken Samples is another favorite. One will immediately notice his love of learning coupled with a humble tone. He has a clear, careful, and charitable style. Ken is both extremely knowledgeable and a great communicator.
I would also point to pastors like Tim Keller (New York) or David Robertson (Scotland) as examples of pastors who are excellent apologists. They both have been engaged on the front lines with contemporary issues for quite some time, they have a broad knowledge base, and they communicate warmly and effectively with a wide variety of audiences.
I close with a final quote:
Certainly my favorite part of Apologetics 315 is the apologist interviews. These are a chance to interact and gain insights from some of the best Christian thinkers today. Past guests have included William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, J.P. Moreland, Frank Turek, Paul Copan, Michael Licona, Greg Koukl, Sean McDowell, Craig Hazen, Douglas Groothuis, and many more.
Mohler does a good job laying out our calling as disciples of Christ and the integral relationship that exists between mind and heart. He writes: (my bolding)
. . . Christianity is a comprehensive worldview and way of life that grows out of Christian reflection on the Bible and the unfolding plan of God revealed in the unity of the Scriptures. . .
Christianity brings the world a distinctive understanding of time, history, and the meaning of life. The Christian worldview contributes an understanding of the universe and all it contains that points us far beyond mere materialism and frees us from the intellectual imprisonment of naturalism. Christians understand that the world-including the material world-is dignified by the very fact that God has created it. At the same time, we understand that we are to be stewards of this creation and are not to worship what God has made. We understand that every single human being is made in the image of God and that God is the Lord of life at every stage of human development. We honor the sanctity of human life because we worship the Creator. From the Bible, we draw the essential insight that God takes delight in the ethnic and racial diversity of his human creatures, and so must we.
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