Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Andy Naselli

The Glory of God

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Coming June 30, 2010:

Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson, eds. The Glory of God. Theology in Community. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010. 255 pp. [Amazon | WTS Books | Crossway]

I just surveyed it, and it looks excellent.

Contents

  • Introduction
  • 1. Stephen J. Nichols, “The Glory of God Present and Past”
  • 2. Tremper Longman III, “The Glory of God in the Old Testament”
  • 3. Richard R. Melick Jr., “The Glory of God in the Synoptic Gospels, Acts, and the General Epistles”
  • 4. Andreas J. Köstenberger, “The Glory of God in John’s Gospel and Revelation”
  • 5. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., “The Glory of God in Paul’s Epistles”
  • 6. Christopher W. Morgan, “Toward a Theology of the Glory of God”
  • 7. Bryan Chapell, “A Pastoral Theology of the Glory of God”
  • 8. J. Nelson Jennings, “A Missional Theology of the Glory of God”

Endorsements

“The glory of God, celebrated by angels, but often lost on the church today, is here restored to our vision. This is a serious engagement with biblical truth and it asks the reader to engage with it seriously, too. When we climb a mountain, we know that however long is the ascent, it is all made worthwhile by the view from the top. So it is here.”
—David F. Wells, Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

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Should Pastors Get PhDs?

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John Piper answers that question in three and a half minutes (transcript | audio | video):

My initial response yesterday after reading and watching Piper’s answer was this:

I think I understand where Piper is coming from here, but it seems to me like he devalues his PhD without sufficient warrant. Did the PhD not help him hone his ability to think and communicate clearly and carefully?

I just read Dane Ortlund’s response to Piper’s answer. It’s excellent. (Dane just completed a PhD in New Testament at Wheaton under Doug Moo.)

Update: Just for the record, I certainly don’t think that all pastors should get PhDs. (But that’s not the point of this post. I am questioning whether we should devalue them so much.)

A False Dilemma

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I received the below comment a few minutes ago—on my thirtieth birthday—in response to my post three days ago entitled “Dissertation Defended.” It’s a good example of a false dilemma, also called a false disjunction or the fallacy of the excluded middle.

Unfortunately two Ph.D.s can hardly be said to serve God’s kingdom. Just think of the gospel ministry by-passed because of such esoteric work. I hope you’ll have more opportunity now to minister and evangelize while the night has not come and there’s still time to work for the Lord of the harvest.

Dissertation Abstract

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In my last post, “Dissertation Defended,” I wrote, “I’ll share the abstract in a forthcoming post.” Here it is:

Doctoral Student: Andrew David Naselli
Dissertation Mentor: D. A. Carson
Dissertation Title: Paul’s Use of Isaiah 40:13 and Job 41:3a (Eng. 41:11a) in Romans 11:34–35

This dissertation examines the use of Isa 40:13 and Job 41:3a (Eng. 41:11) in Rom 11:34–35. Its structure generally follows the six-step approach used in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007). It addresses

    1. the NT context of Rom 11:34–35 [ch. 2]
    2. the OT context of Isa 40:13 and Job 41:3a [chs. 3–4]
    3. textual issues in Isa 40:13, Job 41:3a, and Rom 11:34–35 [ch. 5]
    4. relevant uses of Isa 40:13 and Job 41:3a in Jewish literature [ch. 6]
    5. Paul’s hermeneutical warrant for using Isa 40:13 and Job 41:3a in Rom 11:34–35 [ch. 7]
    6. Paul’s theological use of Isa 40:13 and Job 41:3a in Rom 11:34–35 [ch. 8]

    It concludes that when Paul quotes Isa 40:13 and Job 41:3a, he includes their larger OT contexts, which reveal a remarkable typological connection between the two OT passages and the end of Romans 11. The three rhetorical questions in Rom 11:34–35 communicate three of God’s characteristics that correspond to his ways in salvation history, and each carries simple and profound theological implications. By quoting Isa 40:13 and Job 41:3a in Rom 11:34–35, Paul typologically connects Isaiah 40 and Job 38:1–42:6 with Romans 9–11 in order to exalt God’s incomprehensibility, wisdom, mercy, grace, patience, independence, and sovereignty.

    Dissertation Defended

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    Two weeks ago I wrote that I “am scheduled to defend my dissertation on July 2, 2010 before D. A. Carson (my mentor), Bob Yarbrough (second reader), and Willem VanGemeren (program director).”

    After I submitted my dissertation draft to the Academic Doctoral Office last week about a month and a half early, Willem VanGemeren asked me if I’d like to defend it sooner, and my committee moved the date to May 13, 2010 (this morning).

    The committee’s verdict: clear pass.

    And I’m grateful to God!

    The dissertation’s title is “Paul’s Use of Isaiah 40:13 and Job 41:3a (Eng. 41:11a) in Romans 11:34–35.” (I’ll share the abstract in a forthcoming post.)

    Here’s what I wrote in the “Acknowledgments”:

    This dissertation began as a paper prepared for D. A. Carson’s PhD seminar “The Old Testament in the New” in fall 2006. Carson required each student to write a paper on the use of the OT in a specific NT passage, and I chose Rom 11:34–35 primarily because it is attached to my favorite verse in the Bible: Rom 11:36. I slightly revised the paper and presented it at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society on November 19, 2008. The study was so rewarding that I expanded it into this dissertation.

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    Endorsements for Collected Writings on Scripture

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    I mentioned this book a few months ago:

    D. A. Carson. Collected Writings on Scripture. Wheaton: Crossway, coming July 31, 2010.

    Now the endorsements are in:

    “This book is a road map of pathways to pursue and pitfalls to avoid in handling Scripture. D. A. Carson would be the first to agree that God himself upholds his written word, the Bible. But God uses means. In recent decades, Carson’s voice has been among the most forthright, consistent, rigorous, faithful, and compelling in serving the vital divine end of testifying to Scripture’s veracity. This book guides readers to the priceless destination of confidence in God’s Word through refutation of its critics and commendation of its truth.”
    —Robert W. Yarbrough, Professor of New Testament, New Testament Department Chair, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School [Read more…] about Endorsements for Collected Writings on Scripture