Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

BEST DEBATE ON THE HISTORICAL JESUS: WILLIAM LANE CRAIG vs. JAMES CROSSLEY

So says Wintery Knight, whose judgment I respect.

 

ALBERT MOHLER - A FAILURE OF CHRISTIAN THINKING IS A FAILURE OF DISCIPLESHIP

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.

WILLIS E. ELLIOT - "THE MUTUAL BLASPHEMY OF ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY"

Elliot's article on Muslim-Christian relations was solicited and then rejected by the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog.  In the interest of free speech Pajama's Media picked it up.  It is well worth reading.

“Mutual blasphemers, love one another!” is the title of an essay I published many years ago. Now as then, the human project is to learn not only to live with, but to love, “the blasphemers” (meaning whichever of the two religions is not yours).

1. But the project, so defined, is not neutral. It is Christian and humanist. Christian: Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Islam, to the contrary, is essentially hostile to “the infidels.” Humanist: Calling evil good is bad news, but the worst news is violence done in the name of God (spelled out, for example, in Mohamed Atta’s theological justification for the attack he led, “9/11”).

2. Blasphemy (irreverent speech or action against a deity or religious person/belief/object) is currently in the news only when Muslims become violent, or threaten violence, when they feel offended: when we Christians feel offended, almost never do we become violent, and almost always we suffer the disrespect in silence.

In the New Testament (and other early Christian literature), much is said about nonviolence, never is violence commanded or even suggested; it is forbidden. Not so, early Muslim literature. The contrast is to be expected: Jesus was anti-violent, Muhammad was violent (a military leader as well as a religious leader).

NOTEWORTHY BOOKS OF 2010

Justin Taylor canvases a number of Christian leaders for their favorite new books published in 2010.  From Sam Storm's list I have chosen three to highlight:

God’s Battalions: the Case for the Crusades, by Rodney Stark (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009), 276 pp.

OK, here’s the book that actually came out in 2009. To be brief, Stark dismantles the long-held myth that “during the Crusades, an expansionist, imperialistic Christendom brutalized, looted, and colonized a tolerant and peaceful Islam” (8). Nothing, notes Stark, could be further from the truth. There’s no other way to say it: this superb historical treatment will challenge and, dare I say, change virtually everything you ever read or heard about the Crusades. It is beautifully written, meticulously researched, and persuasive.

Stark concludes his book with this brief summation: “The Crusades were not unprovoked. They were not the first round of European colonialism. They were not conducted for land, loot, or converts. The crusaders were not barbarians who victimized the cultivated Muslims. They sincerely believed that they served in God’s battalions” (248).

 The God Who Is There: Finding your place in God’s Story, by D. A.  Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 232 pp.

Update 1/6/11 - The talks on which this book is based are available free in mp3 format here.  Ten minute video introductions by Carson (also free) are available at that same site.

You won’t find anything revolutionary or novel in this superb new book by Carson, but you will find an extremely helpful approach to understanding the flow of God’s purpose in biblical history. Carson begins with Genesis and ends with Revelation, demonstrating along the way the nature and ways of our God and how his people are to relate to him. This is a great book to give to a new Christian, or even a non-Christian who is curious about how the Bible fits together. As is typical with Carson, he writes with both clarity and depth.

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER LECTURES

Francis Schaeffer lectures can be found here and here.   YouTube videos can be found here. 

Update:   J.I. Packer (via "Between Two Worlds") lists Seven Things that Francis Schaeffer did for Evangelicalism.

First, with his flair for didactic communication he coined some new and pointed ways of expressing old thoughts (the “true truth” or revelation, the “mannishness” of human beings, the “upper story” and “lower story” of the divided Western mind, etc.).

Second, with his gift of empathy he listened to and dialogued with the modern secular world as it expressed itself in literature and art, which most evangelicals were too cocooned in their own subculture to do.

N.T. Wright: "After You Believe" (A Review)

- Update - I am indebted to "Jim" who left a comment on this post linking to N.T. Wright speaking at Elmbrook Church last April on "After You Believe."  It's a wonderful talk which I highly recommend.  Click here.  For more of Wright's articles and talks, see the N.T. Wright Page.

- I love book reviews.  They introduce me to new books and new authors, and they offer critical evaluation of authors already familiar to me.   Bill Kynes' review of N.T. Wright's After You Believe  appears in the current edition of Themelios, a wonderful theological journal that helpfully (and wonderfully!) publishes its articles and book reviews online.  I found the discussion of "rule-based morality" particularly cogent.  Kynes writes:

What are we here for? What constitutes a “good life”? What does God want from us? N. T. Wright applies his considerable biblical acumen to these questions as he seeks “a fresh reading of the moral thrust of the New Testament” (p. 67). The book doesn’t set out to deal with ethical or moral questions or to offer a fine-tuned study of character traits. Rather, Wright looks at the big picture, the overall theological framework, for living the Christian life.

Wright’s biblical framework is decidedly teleological/eschatological: “The basic point is this: the Christian life in the present, with its responsibilities and particular callings, is to be understood and shaped in relation to the final goal for which we have been made and redeemed. The better we understand this goal, the better we shall understand the path toward it” (p. ix). This emphasis on God’s final redemptive purpose makes this book in some sense a sequel to Wright’s earlier work Surprised by Hope (2007), which sets forth the NT eschatological vision of resurrected believers populating the new heaven and new earth (versus the common conception of disembodied souls occupying an ethereal heaven). We are not only saved from sin; we are saved for a new purpose—to fulfill God’s design when he first created human beings in his image to have dominion over his creation. Knowing what we are made for is essential to our understanding of how we ought to live.

DR. CURT THOMPSON - "ANATOMY OF THE SOUL"

Chuck Colson introduces Dr.Curt Thompson's new book, Anatomy of the Soul,  saying:

Psychiatrist Curt Thompson is certified by the Amercian Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is also a devout Christian who has written a fascinating new book called .

The book has a long subtitle, but I’ll repeat it here because it sums up well what the book is all about: “Surprising connections between neuroscience and spiritual practices that can transform your life and relationships.”  [more]

A book excerpt is available here.

The scientific field of interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) has emerged as a firmly established endeavor to explore the connections between mind, brain, and relationships. We who study within the realm of IPNB believe—at least at this time—the following is a helpful way of conceptualizing the mind: The mind is an embodied and relational process that emerges within and between brains, whose task is to regulate the flow of energy and information. A quick tour of that concept may be helpful.  [more]

POLITICS AS AN EXERCISE OF THEOLOGY?

Yes!  Wintery Knight has an important post complete with videos of Wayne Grudem (author of Politics -- According to the Bible) and others weighing in.  Check it out here.  WK adds:

You can find out more about Grudem’s new book here – it’s a 50+ page excerpt from the book! I’ve got my copy! And you can listen to podcasts from his Sunday School class here.

PIPER AND TAYLOR: "SEX AND THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST"

"Desiring God" has made available online as a free PDF book John Piper's and Justin Taylor's edited volume, "Sex and the Supremacy of Christ."  (HT: Between Two Worlds)  Amazing.  It came out in 2005.  Is this a trend?  Publish online a book that is five years old?  I'm all for it!!  I haven't read the book yet, but I respect the contributors and find it incredible that the entire book is now available FREE online.   

Endorsements:

"This is the rare book that delivers more than it promises. Pick it up to learn about the true joy of sex: you will, and you'll also learn about the joy of God."
—Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-chief, World; Provost, The King's College, New York City

"This book is a glorious start to forming a Christian mind that expresses delight in God's gift of marital intimacy-a Christian mind that so desires to delight in that which God delights in that it revels in rejecting the cheap substitutes pawned off on this passing age as true pleasure. Instead, it only finds satisfaction in what is purest and highest and noblest and best."
—J. Ligon Duncan, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi; President, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

"Sex is a wonderful gift from God, but it makes a terrible idol, brutal and unyielding in the misery it inflicts. These authors are a breath of fresh air, because unlike our culture's self-proclaimed 'sexperts,' they respect biblical authority and warmly embrace the Lordship of Christ. Hence, they can lift up the torch of divine truth and expose the enemy's lies about sex that have penetrated not only the darkest corners of our culture, but of our churches."

—Randy Alcorn, author, If God is Good and Heaven

"THE BEST SERMON ON RELIGION AND POLITICS"

Well, that was the title Justin Taylor gave a recent blog post describing a sermon delivered by Pastor Mark Dever on September 19th at Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.  Dever's text was Mark 12:13-17 -  "Jesus Paid Taxes."   It's length was 70 minutes.  How many pastors today deliver 70 minute sermons, and in particular, one that could be described as "a biblical theology of Christians and the state, at once full of unction, intellectually challenging, and affecting the heart"?  Remarkable indeed. 

For those without 70 minutes to spare, Collin Hansen has provided an overvew.  David Crowe, a visitor that day, blogged "Capital Hill Baptist Church - Reflections From a Visit." I thought it noteworthy that 750 people jammed the church, and pre-teens were found - not doodling - but taking notes on the sermon!

What strikes me is the great value of the internet!  Not many clergy are capable of delivering such meaty messages, but because of the internet, a message such as this can be heard by anyone anywhere in the world.  What resources are at our disposal!  Are we making use of these resources?  I need to take much better advantage of them myself.  An iTunes podcast of Dever's sermon is available here.  

Some time ago I posted a video of Pastor Mark Dever offering a video tour of his library.  Click here.  You'll find it fascinating.

Speaking of Christianity and politics, the other day I happened to be at Barnes & Noble and there I thumbed through a copy of Wayne Grudem's just-published Politics - According to the Bible.  I found it quite intriguing.  I hope to browse more on a future visit.  Another recent publication that has caught my eye (which I haven't had a chance to browse yet), is  City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era by Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner with a foreward by Tim Keller.  Justin Taylor has posted blurbs and some principles from the book, plus Tim Keller's foreward.   In addition to the book's foreward, the preface in PDF format can be found here.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/09/24/want-to-raise-a-boy-who-reads/

DAVID PLATT - MATERIAL WEALTH AND JESUS' KINGDOM REASSESSED

David Brooks reflects on David Platt's hot-selling book, “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream.”  (HT: Between Two Worlds)   Brooks writes:

. . .  Platt earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. At age 26, he was hired to lead a 4,300-person suburban church in Birmingham, Ala., and became known as the youngest megachurch leader in America.

Platt grew uneasy with the role he had fallen into and wrote about it in a recent book called “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream.” It encapsulates many of the themes that have been floating around 20-something evangelical circles the past several years.

Platt’s first target is the megachurch itself. Americans have built themselves multimillion-dollar worship palaces, he argues. These have become like corporations, competing for market share by offering social centers, child-care programs, first-class entertainment and comfortable, consumer Christianity.

Jesus, Platt notes, made it hard on his followers. He created a minichurch, not a mega one. Today, however, building budgets dwarf charitable budgets, and Jesus is portrayed as a genial suburban dude. “When we gather in our church building to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshipping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead, we maybe worshipping ourselves.”

DINESH D'SOUZA NAMED PRESIDENT OF THE KING'S COLLEGE IN NEW YORK CITY

Breaking news:

The best-selling author and Christian apologist Dinesh D'Souza has been selected as the new president of the King's College, a small Christian institution located in the Empire State Building.

Mr. D'Souza is the author of books like Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus and What's So Great About Christianity. He was a White House policy analyst in the Reagan administration and is a former fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. In recent years, he has become well known for high-profile debates against atheists like Christopher Hitchens.

In some ways, Mr. D'Souza is a surprising choice. He doesn't have a background in academic administration, and he is a Roman Catholic, while the King's College's has "its roots in the Protestant evangelical tradition" according to its Web site.

But in an interview Mr. D'Souza said that would not be a problem. He attended a nondenominational church in San Diego and has called himself "a believing Catholic but a poorly practicing one." He said that the college was "very well administered," and his job would be to help tailor its mission—along with bringing in more students and more money.

"I've been kind of a think-tank scholar for most of my career," he said. "In that sense, I've been part of a faculty of scholars, but in some ways I've seen myself as a lone operator, and this is a chance to spearhead an institution with a great history."

Mr. D'Souza said he would like to see the college grow from 450 students to four or five thousand. He said he wanted to take something that is "very young and build it into something." . . .

Me:  D'Souza is a fine scholar.  It will be interesting to see what kind of dynamic he brings to the college.  I find the choice intriguing.

CLARK PINNOCK (1937-2010)

Justin Taylor writes:

Controversial Canadian theologian Clark H. Pinnock died on Sunday afternoon (August 15, 2010) at the age of 73. He and his wife Dorothy were members of Little Bethel Community Church, where the funeral service will be held.

In March of this year he had written to a couple of colleagues to explain why he was retiring from active theological work:

I want to inform you that I am now middle stage Alzheimer’s. I will not be able to do my writing etc. I am 73 years now, and I’ve enjoyed my biblical three score and ten. I am not bitter. I have had a good life. I’ll meet you over Jordan if not before.

You are free to make this news known.

With love,

Clark

Taylor offers an assessment of this evangelical theologian whose theological position kept moving, many would say, away from crucial Biblical positions.  Others would disagree.  In addition to his own assessment, Taylor points readers to Russell Moore's “Why Conservative Evangelicals Should Thank God for Clark Pinnock."

Me:  I count myself privileged to have sat under Pinnock for a semester during his more conservative years.  I found him gracious, humble, deeply engaged in pursuing truth, and a stimulating lecturer.  He was always honing his material, and fully open to class dialog.   I did not follow his later wanderings (though my dippings in his Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit I found vigorous and stimulating), but I have only fond memories of the man and great respect for his personal integrity.

I note one commentator to Taylor's blog wrote:

My first book was a sustained critique of Pinnock’s position on annihilationism (or conditional immortality). I sent it to him to make sure it was fair. He went further and gave it a glowing endorsement along with my other three endorsers of J.I. Packer, Wayne Grudem, and Dallas Willard.

Clark Pinnock blessed me with his generosity and humility!

Pinnock's endorsing a book that critiqued him doesn't surprise me.  It sounds exactly like the man I remember from so many years ago. 

Another person left this comment, which also does not surprise me:

The church he was involved with is a small, very missional and very evangelical congregation in a very poor section of town. Whatever his left-of-center views concerning God’s foreknowledge and the Scriptures, they didn’t keep him from being engaged in Kingdom work.

Christianity Today has an excellent, balanced article on Clark Pinnock.  (HT: David Virtue)  It concludes with these words:

While he was courageous in his ability to adopt new ideas and positions, Pinnock did allow that theological change has its painful aspects. "Not only am I often not listened to, I am also made to feel stranded theologically: being too much of a free thinker to be accepted by the evangelical establishment and too much of a conservative to be accepted by the liberal mainline."

C.S. LEWIS - "MERE CHRISTIANITY" and THE SIGNIFICANCE OF "DESIRE"

I am facilitating a Sunday morning discussion class on C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity."  In the process I came across a wonderful 60 minute audio introductory lecture to "Mere Christianity" by Boston College philosophy professor Peter Kreeft. 

Also, I was pleased to discover a helpful outline/summary of the book here.

One of my favorite chapters in Mere Christianity is Lewis's chapter on "Hope."  Here he touches on the theme that lies at the center of his life:  human desire and longing as a pointer to God and heaven.  We  experience it as "joy".  This feeling of longing and desire is what the Germans call "sehnzucht," which Louis Marcos explains as:

 a German word that means "longing" or "yearning."  Lewis often used it to signify moments in his life when he felt an intense, overwhelming desire for an indefinable, numinous "something" that was just beyond his grasp.  For Lewis, the reality of these moments of longing (he more often calls them simply, "joy") and the stubborn fact that he could find no object for them, either within himself or the natural world, proved to him that their source must be supernatural (a "proof" of the existence of God and heaven that is  generally referred to as the "argument by desire").  - From Louis Markos, Course Guidebook to "The Life and Writings of C.S. Lewis," published by The Teaching Company.

Perhaps Lewis's premier discussion of longing and desire may be found in his masterful sermon preached at Oxford University, "The Weight of Glory", which some regard as the best sermon of the 20th century.

Boston College philosopher Peter Kreeft dissects the subject in his internet article, "The Argument from Desire." He offers a longer discussion in his contribution to G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis: The Riddle of Joy, (a wonderful book for anyone interested in GKC or CSL).  Check also his audio lecture here.

Finally, I will simply add that I thoroughly enjoyed and profited from a book I read shortly after it was published in 1974, Bright Shadow of Reality: C.S. Lewis and the Feeling Intellect by Corbin Scott Carnell.  It is still in print, though with a revised subtitle: "Spiritual Longing in C.S. Lewis."  Highly recommended.

N.T. WRIGHT - "SIMPLY CHRISTIAN: WHY CHRISTIANITY MAKES SENSE"

Is there a better communicator than N.T. Wright?  Not many, I'm convinced.  The following 50 minute talk flies by, and what Wright says, stimulates and enlivens.  Dorothy L. Sayers, writing about conditions in England in 1949 said, "The brutal fact is that in this Christian country not one person in a hundred has the faintest notion what the Church teaches about God or man or society or the person."  (Creed or Chaos).  It's worse now, if that can be imagined, and the U.S. is about where England was in 1949.

My thanks to the Veritas Forum for permission to embed the lecture below.

GOLD FROM JUSTIN TAYLOR'S "BETWEEN TWO WORLDS" BLOG

No doubt there are many fine Christian blogs "out there" in cyberspace, and I wish I had unlimited time to benefit from many more than I do.  But for my money, the one blog that requires frequent visiting is Justin Taylor's Between Two Worlds.  Here's a sampling from recent posts:

- Free Audiobook: Tim Keller's Ministries of Mercy 

- Keith Getty on Writing Today's Modern Hymns  (I found this stunningly good)

- Thielman's New Testament Theology  (Seminary audio lectures with outline.  Amazing resource!) 

- Professor Peter Kreeft's audio lectures:

• 10 Uncommon Insights Into Evil from The Lord of the Rings
• Christianity in The Lord of the Rings
• The Language of Beauty

- D.A. Carson's "The God Who Is There" Video and Audio (MP3s for the 14 - part series here).

CAMARADERIE IN BOOK APPRECIATION

What a pleasure it is to discover a respected person thinking as highly of a certain book as you do!   Two experiences come to mind, the latest came just last night.  The first occurred at a C.S. Lewis conference in the South some years ago.  A professor of theology attending the conference mentioned in a personal conversation that he thought C.S. Lewis's book Miracles the finest piece of theology written in the 20th century.  "Wow," I said.  "You do?  It's been incredibly helpful to me, but I've never heard anyone else say the same."   This man had read a lot more theology than I had (an understatement), and to hear him rave about Lewis's book gave me delight and encouragement.

When looking at Alan Jacob's blog last night (which inspired a blog entry of my own), I noted his listing of the  books most important to him at ages 6, 10, 14, 16, 20, 22, 24, 30, 35, and 38.  His list makes fascinating reading, as one might suppose.  But here's the recommended book, and his comment, that especially grabbed me:

Age 35:  Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.  If I could have every young and thoughtful Christian read one book, it would be this one. There’s no one quite like Newbigin — or perhaps it would be better to say that there have been few like him since Augustine: the bishop-missionary-theologian.

I found Newbigin's The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (published 1989) profoundly helpful myself.  In fact I  recommended the book to friends as well.  But to read Jacobs saying, "If I could have every young and thoughtful Christian read one book, it would be this one" -- that I found simply stunning!  It makes me want to go back and read it again.  It's rare to hear such high praise for any book.  And it would be a tough challenge to find a person more well-read than Jacobs. (See, for example, one of his latest books, Original Sin: A Cultural History).

MARK DRISCOLL & GERRY BRESHEARS - "DOCTRINE: WHAT CHRISTIANS SHOULD BELIEVE"

I love it when  publishers offer free chapters to read online.  Such is the case with just-published Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears’s book, Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe.  (I am in debt to Justin Taylor for his blog post from which I have derived the links included in my own post.) 

Here is a free 34-page chapter on worship from the book.  And here is a free 24-page chapter on resurrection.  (I scanned it and found it quite excellent and helpful).

You can read the table of contents online.  You can also check out the official website.   The book comes highly praised.  Professor John M. Frame writes:  "...There is much here to aid readers who have thought in the past that theology was too complicated, uninteresting, or irrelevant. This book is none of those things. It takes off on wings of eagles. . ."

SENDING A YOUNG MAN OR WOMAN OFF TO A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE?

Joel Belz, founder of World magazine, has some advice for young people going off to college:

  . . . So before making any commitments, sit in on at least a handful of classes. And don't just walk away then from the classroom. Go up, pointedly and politely, and tell the professor you're thinking of enrolling there. And ask very directly: "Can you tell me how your teaching is different because you're a Christian? Can you tell me how your trust in the Bible affects your teaching?" Pay close attention to the answers you get.

RAVI ZACHARIAS NAMED UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR AT LARGE FOR TRINITY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Trinity International University's announcement:

Ravi Zacharias, who earned his MDiv at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1976, is coming home to Trinity to teach. Recently named a university professor at large for Trinity International University, Ravi will again visit Trinity's Deerfield campus to address the community and to inaugurate his new role with the university on April 12, 2010.

Ravi’s professorship is one facet of a recent partnership announced between Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) and Trinity. Trinity and RZIM are in the midst of developing an educational initiative that takes advantage of the strengths of the institution for the preparation of leaders in ministry for the worldwide church. Ravi and his team from RZIM will have a regularized presence on campus, focusing

DR. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: ONE OF THE 20TH CENTURY'S GREATEST PREACHERS

One Sunday evening years ago I happened to be in London and had the great privilege of hearing Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preach a sermon I still remember.  He took as his text Revelation chapter 3, the church in Laodicea.  The great Welshman commanded rapt attention as he unfolded the text in a way that only one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century could do.  I am indebted to Justin Taylor's blog post for the following 10-minute documentary introduction to his life, and for the other links provided below:

Justin Taylor says "A few years ago Mark Dever interviewed Lady Elizabeth [Lloyd-Jones' daughter] and her husband, Sir Fred Catherwood, about the famed preacher: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Reflections on His Ministry with His Family."  Me: I greatly enjoyed listening to this interview.  I learned that Lloyd-Jones encouraged C.S. Lewis to keep writing after his first book, The Pilgrim's Regress met with a generally poor reception and Lewis was discouraged.  There's lots more in that interview!

Taylor says you can hear The Doctor preach online for free at Martyn Lloyd-Jones Recording Trust.

Some free sermons are available here.

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS - AUDIO LINKS

I came across an  astonishing collection of links to great audio lectures and debates.  This is a website begging to be bookmarked and thoroughly explored.

Update 2/23/10 - Another Christian audio site with great links.  HT:

WHICH DOES THE BIBLE SUPPORT: PROPERTY RIGHTS OR REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH?

Wintery Knight offers a fine excerpt from an article by David Puller, "Is Scripture Statist?"

Wintery Knight also links to a short First Things review of  Jay W.  Richards' Money, Greed And God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem  of which George Gilder wrote:

"In Money, Greed, and God, Jay Richards has written the definitive case for capitalism, a crisply written and incisive discourse on wealth and poverty, money and morality for the 21st Century."

WORSHIP "CENTERS" THE SOUL

The Bible reading for today includes Revelation 4:1-8. 

(1) After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” (2)  At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.. . 

Eugene Peterson (Reversed Thunder) says it well:

“A throne centers authority.  Worship is centering...  In worship God gathers his people to himself as center: ‘The Lord reigns’ (Ps. 93:1)  Worship is a meeting at the center so that our lives are centered in God and not lived eccentrically.  We worship so that we live in response to and from this center, the living God.  Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasm and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction, every siren.  Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives.  We move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are, in turn, alarmed by spectres and soothed by placebos. If there is no center, there is no circumference.  People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in the world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

On the road today I came unexpectedly upon a major book sale being held in a small town about an hour and a half away.  I happened to see a sign on the road advertising the sale, and since I had a few extra minutes, I wandered in.  I picked up Willliam F. Buckley Jr.'s Nearer, My God: An Autobiography of Faith which I expect to enjoy perusing.  I also picked up Philip Yancey's Reaching for the Invisible God.  I read a few pages a moment ago and came across this quote from C.S. Lewis:  "The Christian has a great advantage over other men not by being less fallen than they, nor less doomed to live in fallen world, but by knowing that he is a fallen man in a fallen world."  Of this Yancey says, "That recognition forms my starting point in understanding a journey to know God."   I appreciate that starting point.  It liberates us from a lot of false notions and expectations.  I shall look forward to reading this book.

DEALING WITH TRAGEDY: STEPHEN CURTIS CHAPMAN

Justin Taylor provides excerpts from a Christianity Today interview with Stephen Curtis Chapman:

Steven Curtis Chapman’s new album, Beauty Will Rise, is the first recording he has done since the tragic death of his 5-year-old daughter, Maria Sue.

CT’s Mark Moring interviewed Steven about the album and about the pain in their grief. Here’s an excerpt:

Ain’t feeling it at all. I’m just not sure. I needed to hear my pastor speak truth again to me. I needed to hear somebody say again, here’s what’s true.

That has been an important process, the whole thing of taking every thought captive and saying, God, this is what I choose to believe. Because I’ve found myself, especially in the first few days and weeks after Maria went

DOUG GROOTHUIS SUMMARIZES PASCAL'S ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Doug Groothus, Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary, and author of the valuable, Truth Decay (among other books), reviews various books at Amazon.Com.  If you value his opinion, as I do, you'll want to subscribe to the RSS.  

Here is Groothuis offering a 10-minute introduction to Pascal's Anthropological Argument.

RANDY ALCORN'S BOOK: "IF GOD IS GOOD . . . FAITH IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING AND EVIL"

From Between Two Worlds:

Randy Alcorn's new big book on the problem of evil and suffering is now available: If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil (Multnomah).

You can read the table of contents and some excerpts at EPM's page, read an interview that Andy Naselli did with Randy here at Between Two Worlds, or read a review of the book by Tim Challies.

Me:  I've clicked through the links.  This book looks tremendous!  I'm reminded of his earlier blockbuster, Heaven, which I have on my shelf and need to get to soon.

Faith and Reason (Apologetics): More Resources

The following comes courtesy of Wintery Knight blog.  He spotlights a recent apologetics conference held at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church.  For a video and audio of the following lectures, click here.

• How Can I Know God Exists? – Dinesh D’Souza
• How Did the Universe Begin – William Lane Craig
• If God Exists, Why is there Evil? – Norman Geisler
• Has Science Made Belief in God Obsolete? – J.P. Moreland
• What Do the Gospels Really Say About Jesus? – Darrell Bock
• How Can I Defend My Faith Without Sounding Defensive? – Greg Koukl

Wintery Knight also includes the following new audio lectures and video from William Lane Craig:

Can We Be Good Without God? (National Faculty Leadership Conf. 2008)  Audio

Why Does Anything at All Exist? (National Faculty Leadership Conf. 2008)  Audio

Healthy Relationships (National Faculty Leadership Conf. 2008) Audio

Who Does Jesus Think He Was? (National Faculty Leadership Conf. 2008)  Audio

Why Does Anything at All Exist? (Wake Forest University)  Video

Response to Richard Dawkins book, The God Delusion (University of Florida) Audio

One Question: The top 3 questions Univ. of Florida students are asking God (University of Florida)
Audio

OS GUINNESS SPEAKS AT UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA VERITAS FORUM

"Survival of the Fastest: Living Sanely When Life is Fired Point Blank"  (18.3 mb mp3) 

--- The Q&A  following the talk (11.6 mb mp3)  

"You Only Live Once (if then): Shopping for Our Selves in the Global Supermarket"    (16.1 mb mp3)    

 ----The Q&A following the talk (10.5 mb mp3)

About Guinness:

Os Guinness is the author of more than twenty books on religion, culture and political life, including The Case for Civility and Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Hype, Lies and Spin. He is the co-founder of the Trinity Forum in Washington, DC, and formerly a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. Dr. Guinness was born and spent his early childhood in China, where he witnessed the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949; he has since lived in Switzerland, England and the United States. He received his PhD in social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford, and is a frequent speaker to college students, business leaders and government officials around the world.

DALLAS WILLARD - CHRISTIAN FAITH DOESN'T ENCOURAGE INTELLECTUAL SLACKNESS

Dallas Willard, in his soon-to-be-published book,  Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge, writes in the Preface:  ". . .  many people now believe you do not need to think deeply and carefully to follow Christ. C. S. Lewis has a very penetrating comment to make about this matter:

 "God has room for people with very little sense, but He wants every one to use what sense they have. The proper motto is not 'Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever,' but 'Be good, sweet maid, and don't forget that this involves being as clever as you can.' God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers. If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all…. One reason why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself."  (From Mere Christianity)

SPIEGEL: 10 LESSONS FROM GREAT CHRISTIAN MINDS

I am indebted to Justin Taylor's blog for the following:

From philosophy professor James Spiegel:

Augustine (5th century): Remember that you are a citizen of another kingdom.
Martin Luther (16th century): Expect politicians to be corrupt.
Thomas Aquinas (13th century): God has made himself known in nature.
John Calvin (16th century): God is sovereign over all, including our suffering.
Jonathan Edwards (18th century): God is beautiful, and all beauty is divine.
Thomas a’Kempis (15th century): Practice self-denial with a passion.
John Wesley (18th century): Be disciplined and make the best use of your time.
Fyodor Dostoevsky (19th century): God’s grace can reach anyone.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (20th century): Beware of cheap grace.
Alvin Plantinga (21st century): Moral virtue is crucial for intellectual health.

Read the whole post for his explanation of each point.

WANTED: THINKING CHRISTIANS

That's the headline of a short article by Kenneth Samples in the Reasons to Believe Newsletter.  He writes (my bolding):

. . . The United Negro College Fund's provocative motto is "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."  Christians could understand this as "A mind made in the image of an infinite, eternal, and personal God is all the more a terrible thing to waste.' 

According to Scripture, true wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are rooted in reverence for God and his revealed word (Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7).  Intellectual virtues such as discernment, reflection, testing, analysis, and renewal of the mind are biblical mandates (Acts 17:11; Romans 12:2; I Corinthians 14:29; Colossians 2:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:21).  Therefore, Christians' overall devotion must include pursuing the life of the mind to the glory of God.  Using divinely given faculties to think clearly and carefully about the most important issues of life pleases our Creator.

PROF. BEN WITHERINGTON POSES FIVE QUESTIONS TO BISHOP N.T. WRIGHT ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE

Ben Witherington begins his interview saying:

N.T. Wright's Surprised by Hope has been called an instant classic, and now with two years of positive reviews under its belt, it was time to sit down with the Bishop and ask some follow up questions which arise from some of the things he has said in the book and some of the responses he has gotten.    More. . .

Me:  This is an exceptionally excellent interview!  It is brief, to the point, and illuminating.  Note: I posted a picture of N.T. Wright at his desk earlier.

BEN WITHERINGTON - THE NOBLE VOCATION OF ARTIST OR ARTISAN

Ben has posted a portion of a forthcoming book on "work in the light of kingdom come."  Ben says,  "I want to present a brief case for being an artist as a proper way to glorify God and edify others."    Read on...

Update:  I decided to add an excerpt in which Ben refers to God as an inspirer of music:

God is not just a ‘visual’ artist, God is both an inspirer of, but also a composer, of music, as Robert Banks points out. So for instance God tells the Israelite leaders in Deut. 31.19 “write down this song and teach it to the Israelites, and have them sing it.” In fact there is a direct connection made between God giving verbal

CAPITALISM AND THE BIBLE

Philosopher Dr. Douglas Groothuis, at his blog, "The Constructive Curmudgeon," suggests:

"In light of the trashing of capitalism of late, and the sad, bad, and mad move toward socialism, I suggest you read this speech by the late Christian philosopher, Ronald Nash on "Socialism, Capitalism, and the Bible."

Center for Christian Study at the University of Virginia

This organization does high-level work. The Center's website lists their Fall 2008 Faith & Life lectures available for listening:

The Biblical Practice of Prayer, Tony Monaghan
The Abuse of Sex, Roger Scruton
What is the Bible, and Where Did It Come From?, Drew Trotter
Saturday Seminar, Understanding the Bible, Bill Wilder
Love and Justice, Nicholas Wolterstorff
Ken Myers, Mars Hill Audio
Dr. Robert Wilken, University of Virginia
Prayer and Art, Gene Veith

I receive the Center's newsletter, Praxis (available at the website).  An undergraduate student is quoted there as saying of Scruton's lecture, "The Abuse of Sex": "I thought it was absolutely amazing... Among professional philosophers alive today, he now is by far the one whom I respect most." 

Other lectures from the Center can be found here.

A TREASURE TROVE OF MP3 LECTURES AVAILABLE AT THE MacLAURIN INSTITUTE

Edited 1/9/11  (Updated links)

Information on the MacLaurin Institute can be found here.  Located near the University of Minnesota, it's a place for the integration of Christian thought with the wider world of academia.

Of special interest to me is the 2002 series of lectures by Vishal Mangalwadi, the great Indian thinker whose understanding of the West and the world-wide spiritual crisis is so profound.  For more on Mangalwadi click here. 
Actually there are so many wonderful lectures on this site that it boggles the mind. 

The larger audio tape list (below) is from this link.

VIEW BY PROGRAM CATEGORY
Student Apologetics Training Conference
View 4 audio files
Must the Sun Set on the West?
View 1 audio files

(Keep reading by clicking below)

Philip Yancey's Tribute to C.S. Lewis

I stumbled this evening on the following short article by Philip Yancey subtitled, "How C.S. Lewis has shaped my faith and writing."

I first encountered C. S. Lewis through his space trilogy. Though perhaps not his best work, it had an undermining effect on me. He made the supernatural so believable that I could not help wondering, What if it's really true? What if there is a God and an afterlife and what if supernatural forces really are operating behind the scenes on this planet and in my life?

I was attending college in the late 1960s, just a few years after Lewis's death. I ordered more of his books from second-hand bookshops in England because many had not yet made it across the Atlantic. I wrestled with them as with a debate opponent and reluctantly felt myself drawn, as Lewis himself had, kicking and screaming all the way into the kingdom of God. Since then Lewis has been a constant companion, a kind of shadow mentor who sits beside me, urging me to improve my writing style, my thinking, and my vision.   (more . . .)

Hugh Hewitt Interviews J.P. Moreland on Evangelicals and the Left-Leaning Obama Presidency

J.P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Talbott School of Theology in California, has just published a new book, The God Question: An Invitation to a Life of Meaning.  (More on the book at the end of this post).

Hewitt's interview with J. P. Moreland centers mainly on evangelicals and the left-leaning direction of current politics.

Moreland: ... I have a lot of concerns as an Evangelical about the Obama presidency precisely because I’m a Christian Evangelical. 

HH: What kind of concerns? 

JPM: Well, the first, as a Christian, the first thing that I see can be understood by the difference between negative and positive rights. A negative right is a right for me to be protected from harm if I try to get something for myself. A positive right would be my right to have something provided for me. If health care is a negative right, then the state has an obligation to keep people from

EXCELLENT BLOG: "BETWEEN TWO WORLDS"

I have found Justin Taylor's blog, "Between Two Worlds," so valuable that I now read it daily.  Today he strongly recommends two books.  I looked up the comments on Amazon and have put the books on my "wish list."  Here is what Taylor wrote:

If you don't yet have following books on your bookshelf--Reinventing Jesus by Daniel B. Wallace, J. Ed Komoszewski, and James Sawyer, and Putting Jesus in His Place by Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski--I'd warmly recommend them. They are both exactly what the church needs--excellent material, written in clear, accessible English, on important subjects under attack.

He goes on to  recommend inviting Ed Komoszewski to do seminars at one's local church. He also lists mp3s available from the Christian Life Conference at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis where Alistair Begg and Sinclair Ferguson recently spoke.  Taylor lists the talks available for download on his blog.

Most Memorable Christian Audio of 2008

Justin Taylor links to the Faith by Hearing Audio blog which has posted their best audio list for 2008.  I hope I won't get in trouble for reproducing the list below.  (I am not sure of blog etiquette regarding this).  But let me add that this website/blog, Faith by Hearing looks amazing!  There's an incredible amount of material here.  "Faith by Hearing" says:

Having listened to hundreds of sermons, discussions and interviews this year, I have listed here the 12 mp3’s or mp3 series that still linger in my memory as being particularly impactful.

Gordon Fee’s 3 part series on Reading & Studying the Bible for Life is perhaps the most important series I’ve posted on FBH. Fee nails one of our generation’s most dangerous blind spots in regards to the Christian faith.

Sinclair Ferguson’s 17 part sermon series through James is an incredible journey of powerful expository preaching.

D.A. Carson's Lectures and Sermons Now Online

Dr. Don Carson, a prolific writer and outstanding Bible lecturer and preacher, currently serves as Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School,  Deerfield, Illinois.  Carson now has 443 of his sermons available online.  This is a boon to the serious Bible student.  The sermons can be accessed here by Scripture passsage, topic, or category.   (HT: Justin Taylor).

Top 100 Theology Blogs

Click here.    HT: Matt Harmon (listed as #11!) via Justin Taylor (listed as #75)

Update: Having had a chance to look at a few of the blogs, it is clear to me that they are not listed in order of excellence.  In some cases, I am puzzled to know how the blog made such a list in the first place.   I am, in short, disappointed.  

Francis Schaeffer Revisited

In the course of reviewing two new biographies of Francis Schaeffer [HT: Between Two Worlds], Douglas Groothuis says the following: [my emphases]

Let me mention two basic ideas that I (as a professional philosopher, unlike Schaeffer) find profound and helpful.

First, Schaeffer taught that worldviews need to be compared on the basis of objective criteria. That is, one does not simply presuppose one's worldview apart from rational testing. Every worldview-or basic perspective on life's deepest questions-needs to pass three individually necessary and jointly sufficient tests. First, it must be internally consistent. That is, its defining beliefs must cohere with one another. Second, a worldview needs to fit the facts of reality; it must be "true to what is," as Schaeffer put it. A worldview needs to match the external facts of history and science. (This shows that Schaeffer held to the correspondence view of truth, not the "coherency theory of truth," as Hankins claims [91].) Third, a worldview needs to be livable to be credible. This means that it must pass the existential test of fitting the facts of the internal world. For example, any worldview that denies the objective reality of evil (such as secular relativism or Eastern monism) cannot be lived out consistently, since we intuitively know that rape, murder, and racism are wrong. These three apologetic criteria can be nuanced and made much more sophisticated, but they form the backbone of any solid apologetic method. These truths are far from outdated!

Second, Schaeffer repeatedly emphasized that the God of Christianity was an "infinite and personal" being, and that humans were not machines or little gods, but made in the image of this infinite-personal God. In other words, for Christianity, personality is the deepest and most profound ontological category of reality-not impersonal time, space, law, chance, matter or some impersonal sense of deity held by Eastern religions. Schaeffer's apologetic capitalizes on this uniquely personal sense of reality held by Christianity. Persons, though fallen, have objective and eternal meaning on this scheme-as does community, since God himself is a Trinity: a relationship of divine persons coexisting in one Godhead from eternity.

Tony Dungy, Coach of the Indianpolis Colts, Delivered His Retirement Speech

What a guy!  Speech here.  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said:

Tony has inspired millions through his response to personal tragedy and professional success alike. A role model first and coach second, Dungy will have a legacy of service that outlasts any football record or championship. For seven years in Indiana, he used his celebrity platform to promote adoption, prison ministry, family values, outreach to the poor, and simple Christian decency.

As his own pastor said, Dungy came to Indianapolis with the understanding that "faith would come before football" and he managed to exceed expectations in both. In his retirement speech yesterday, Tony said, "I remember... saying that our goal was to win... but that we needed to win the right way, we needed to win with the right kind of players that... our young men and women in this community could look up to and say, 'I want to be like him, or him, or him.'" 

CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW - AN INTERVIEW WITH RAVI ZACHARIAS

Julia Dunn of the Washington Times conducted a recent interview.  Zacharias is always worth reading, and this interview is no exception.  Dunn introduces the interview with these words:

Indian-born Ravi Zacharias, who grew up steeped in Hinduism, is one of the first Christian apologists to come out of the Third World. Headquartered in Atlanta, his expertise on comparative religions has earned him audiences from Capitol Hill to Harvard.

An excerpt:

Q: How do you present the uniqueness of Christianity?

A: I am totally convinced the Christian faith is the most coherent worldview around. Everyone: pantheist, atheist, skeptic, polytheist has to answer these questions: Where did I come from? What is life's meaning? How do I define right from wrong and what happens to me when I die? Those are the fulcrum points of our existence. I deal with cultural issues whether they be in the Middle East, Far East, the Orient or the West. You broach questions in the context of their culture and then present Christian answers.   [More. . .]   (Note: I have made additions to this post since it was originally posted).

NOV 22, 2008 - THE 45th ANNIVERSARY (1963) OF THE DEATHS OF JFK, C.S. LEWIS & ALDOUS HUXLEY

John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley each represented a distinctive worldview (secular humanism, Christianity and Eastern pantheism, respectively).  It's remarkable that they all died on the very same day, Nov. 22, 1963.

Dr. Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy at Boston College, understands well the respective worldviews  each man held.  Kreeft wrote a fascinating and highly entertaining imaginative book about the three meeting and conversing after death.  It is titled Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley.  I read the book years ago and it has recently been re-issued. 

Now Peter  Kreeft talks about the book in a National Review Online podcast.

SUMMER 2008 PUBLIC LECTURES FROM "CALVIN SEMINARS IN CHRISTIAN SCHOLARSHIP"

When I get a chance, I look forward to listening to the following lectures from Calvin College's 2008 Summer Public Lecture series.  Each lecturer is an outstanding scholar in his respective field.

Sir John Polkinghorne
“Can a Scientist Believe in a Destiny Beyond Death?”

Dr. Alvin Plantinga
“Science and Religion: Why Does the Debate Continue?”

Owen Gingerich
“The Divine Handiwork: Evolution and the Wonder of Life”

Richard Swinburne
“God and Morality”

WE WOULD ALL LOVE TO LIVE IN THE LEFTISTS' DREAM WORLD

But that's what it is, a dream world. Thomas Sowell published an astute column today.  He says:

Conservatives, as well as liberals, would undoubtedly be happier living in the kind of world envisioned by the Left.

Very few people have either a vested interest or an ideological preference for a world in which there are many inequalities.

Even fewer would prefer a world in which vast sums of money have to be devoted to military defense, when so much benefit could be produced if those resources were directed into medical research instead.

It is hardly surprising that young people prefer the political Left. The only reason for rejecting the Left’s vision is that the real world in which we live is very different from the world that the Left perceives today or envisions for tomorrow.

Most of us learn that from experience — but experience is precisely what the young are lacking.

“Experience” is often just a fancy word for the mistakes that we belatedly realized we were making, only after the realities of the world made us pay a painful price for being wrong.

Those who are insulated from that pain — whether by being born into affluence or wealth, or shielded by the welfare state, or insulated by tenure in academia or in the federal judiciary — can remain in a state of perpetual immaturity.

Keep reading for more of Sowell's column.  [I might insert here that those who believe in "original sin" perceive human life in a profoundly more realistic way than those who do not.  See, for example, Alan Jacobs' book, Original Sin: A Cultural History and the review of the same, by George Sim Johnston originally published  in the Wall Street Journal (6/13/08)]