Emphatic Evangelicalism

Andy Naselli —  June 17, 2011 — 2 Comments

Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 15–19 (numbering added):

[Th]e most strategic decision we ever make is the decision of what to emphasize.

Evangelicalism has always been concerned to underline certain elements of the Christian message.

  1. We have a lot to say about God’s revelation, but we emphasize the business end of it, where God’s voice is heard normatively: the Bible.
  2. We know that everything Jesus did has power for salvation in it, but we emphasize the one event that is literally crucial: the cross.
  3. We know that God is at work on his people through the full journey of their lives, from the earliest glimmers of awareness to the ups and downs of the spiritual life, but we emphasize the hinge of all spiritual experience: conversion.
  4. We know there are countless benefits that flow from being joined to Christ, but we emphasize the big one: heaven.

Bible, cross, conversion, heaven. These are the right things to emphasize. But in order to emphasize anything, you must presuppose a larger body of truth to select from. . . . Continue Reading…

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Why Drawing Lines Is Utterly Crucial

Andy Naselli —  June 15, 2011 — Leave a comment

D. A. Carson, “On Drawing Lines, When Drawing Lines Is Rude,” ch. 8 in The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 347–67 (numbering added):

[The point of this chapter is] to ponder briefly some of the reasons why drawing lines is utterly crucial at the moment.

  1. Truth demands it.
  2. The distinction between orthodoxy and heresy models it.
  3. The plurality of errors calls for it.
  4. The entailments of the gospel confront our culture—and must be lived out.
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The Problem of Religious Conservatism

Andy Naselli —  June 13, 2011 — 4 Comments

Dick France (b. 1938), who has served on the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) for two periods (1990–1995 and 1999–present), reflects on “some issues in Bible translations” at the end of this article:

“The Bible in English: An Overview.” Pages 177–97 in The Challenge of Bible Translation: Communicating God’s Word to the World; Understanding the Theory, History, and Practice: Essays in Honor of Ronald F. Youngblood. Edited by Glen G. Scorgie, Mark L. Strauss, and Steven M. Voth. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

France briefly reflects on five issues:

  1. The Text to Be Translated
  2. Literal versus Dynamic Translation
  3. The Problem of Religious Conservatism
  4. Public and Private Reading
  5. Inclusive Language

What he says about the third issue applies to more than just Bible translation:

The Problem of Religious Conservatism

Conservatism—in the sense of resistance to change—seems to affect people in matters of religion more readily than in other areas. Thoroughly modern people with radical political views may nonetheless be staunch advocates of the KJV and the Book of Common Prayer. Saint Luke long ago summed up the typical reaction to change in matters of religion: “The old is good” (Luke 5:39 NRSV). This is a hurdle every Bible translator must face. Continue Reading…

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Wisdom Christology

Andy Naselli —  June 10, 2011 — 2 Comments

This book could be a template for a topical sermon series:

Daniel J. Ebert IV. Wisdom Christology: How Jesus Becomes God’s Wisdom for Us. Explorations in Biblical Theology. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2011.

About the Author

Dan Ebert served as a missionary in Asia from 1977 to 1999. Then he taught at Clearwater Christian College for nine years, and he now teaches at Cedarville University. He also does adjunct teaching at several schools, including Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Virginia Beach.

He wrote his dissertation under D. A. Carson: Continue Reading…

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Formalist and Hypocrisy Taking a Shortcut

Andy Naselli —  June 8, 2011 — 2 Comments

Taken from John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come (edited by C. J. Lovik; illustrated by Mike Wimmer; Wheaton: Crossway, 2009), 60. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. [Cf. my review.]

Taken from John Bunyan, Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim’s Progress (edited by Oliver Hunkin; illustrated by Alan Parry; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 42. [Cf. my review coauthored with my wife.]
Continue Reading…

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The Pilgrim’s Progress for Children

Andy Naselli —  June 7, 2011 — 4 Comments

I love John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, and I’m so glad that my almost-three-year-old daughter does, too.

Here are some versions we enjoy:

1. Pictorial Pilgrim’s Progress

  • It’s illustrated by Joanne Brubaker (Chicago: Moody, 1960).
  • It’s excellent for young children because there is a picture on every page, and the text is simple and straightforward.
  • We love reading this book using the Kindle app on my iPad (click “Kindle Edition” in the box here).
  • The book is especially meaningful to me for reasons that are evident in the below correspondence I had with my former pastor, Mike Bullmore, one year ago:

*******

[email from me to Mike Bullmore on 6/7/2010]

Dear Mike,

I’m in the process of cataloging my print and electronic library, and I just entered this book in my database:

Bunyan, John. Pictorial Pilgrim’s Progress. Chicago: Moody, 1960.

I opened it up and reread what I wrote on the inside cover:

I read this very book to Michael after he relapsed. He loved to look at the pictures as I read and explained Bunyan’s outstanding allegory. Now Michael is at the glorious end of his difficult journey, and I look forward to seeing him again in the celestial city!

Andy
4/25/2002

A little background:

I’m the second of seven children . . . . In December 1998 (during my freshman year of college), my family was shocked to learn that my youngest brother Michael, who was three years old at the time, had cancer—Stage IV Neuroblastoma. Continue Reading…

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Irresistible Grace

Andy Naselli —  June 6, 2011 — 4 Comments

Kenneth J. Stewart, Ten Myths About Calvinism: Recovering the Breadth of the Reformed Tradition (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011):

[T]he I in TULIP was actually a caricature of the position championed in the Synod of Dordt. Those who derided the Reformed idea of effectual calling or prevailing grace branded it “irresistible.”[n53] This is the kind of inside information that needs circulating. It should change popular Calvinism’s use of TULIP.

[n53] The “I” of the acronym T-U-L-I-P, far from encapsulating Dordt’s intended emphasis, actually relays the protest of the Dutch Remonstrants against early seventeenth-century Calvinism in a way dependent on Jesuit writers of that time. How is it possible that irresistible, a term intended to besmirch and caricature the concept of a grace that eventually prevails over all opposition, has been taken up and championed by those it was meant to portray unfavorably? See Anthony Hoekema, Saved by Grace (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), pp. 104–5.

“Irresistible” is not an unredeemable term (I love singing “Grace irresistible drew me“!), but it’s not my first choice because it is so easily misunderstood. Continue Reading…

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