My good friend Phil Gons was sitting just a couple rows directly behind home plate in Seattle on May 8 for the Mariners-Rangers game when 6′ 8” Richie Sexson charged the mound and the benches cleared. If all you saw was a replay of the pitch prior to his charging the mound, you might wonder why he did that; the fastball was right down the middle (although eye level). This video at MLB.com serves as a good lesson in biblical hermeneutics: context, context, context!
Collin Hansen Discusses “Young, Restless, Reformed”
On April 24, 2008, Dr. Doug Sweeney and Collin Hansen discussed Hansen’s Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008). An MP3 of this discussion, sponsored by the Henry Center, is now available from the Henry Center’s media archive (MP3 | video).
I reviewed Hansen’s book in March for the forthcoming issue of Themelios (more on that later). Highly recommended!
“Logos in the Classroom”
Dale Pritchett, Senior Vice President of Logos Bible Software, argues in “Logos in the Classroom” (PDF | MP3) that Bible colleges and seminaries are on the threshold of transitioning from print resources to electronic ones. This parallels other technological advances, e.g., from slide rule to calculator to computer or from records to cassette tapes to CDs to MP3s.
Here are some excerpts:
- “Last year Logos sold more than 5.2 million digital books. We have 9,000 books now available, and our goal is to release 2,000 additional titles every year.”
- “We are, in reality, an extension—in some cases a replacement—for the bricks and mortar Bible college or seminary library. We have become the world’s largest producer of digital Bibles and academic Bible reference works. We have become an affordable alternative for standard, unabridged books representing more than 100 different publishers. We have become the tool of choice for writers and researchers. . . . We’re a useful resource for distance education and remote campuses. We’re a supplement for classroom demonstration. We are a fully linked, interactive seminary library on a notebook computer. We are, in short, the future today. And we’re totally digital right now. And that’s a good thing because the digital revolution is almost 30 years old.”
Cf. my two reviews of Logos products:
HT: Phil Gons
Modern OT and NT Study
I just discovered this accessible pair of articles by a couple evangelical scholars who used to teach NT together at Aberdeen:
Related: See Mark Dever’s interview “The New Perspective on Paul with Simon Gathercole and Peter Williams” (MP3).
D. A. Carson: “The Wrath of God”
Baker just published a collection of essays by theological heavyweights:
McCormack, Bruce L., ed. Engaging the Doctrine of God: Contemporary Protestant Perspectives. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008.
Here are the contributors (corresponding to their chapter number):
- David F. Wright
- N. T. Wright
- D. A. Carson
- Paul Helm
- Oliver D. Crisp
- John Webster
- Henri A. Blocher
- Pierre Berthoud
- Stephen N. Williams
- Bruce L. McCormack
- Donald Macleod
Check out the Table of Contents in this ten-page PDF of the front matter and preface.
D. A. Carson’s essay “The Wrath of God” (pp. 37–63) is a must-read. Here’s just the skeleton of his argument:
T4G 2008 MP3s
All of the MP3s for the general sessions and panel discussions are now available for free downloads. Brief bios of the speakers are available here.
I’d recommend listening to these in order:
- Ligon Duncan: Sound Doctrine: Essential to Faithful Pastoral Ministry
- Panel Discussion 1: Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler
- Thabiti Anyabwile: Bearing the Image: Identity, the Work of Christ, and the Church
- Panel Discussion 2: Anyabwile, Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler
- John MacArthur: The Sinner Neither Able Nor Willing: The Doctrine of Absolute Inability
- Mark Dever: Improving the Gospel: Exercises in Unbiblical Theology
- Panel Discussion 3: Dever, Duncan, MacArthur, Mahaney, Mohler
- R.C. Sproul: The Curse Motif of the Atonement
- Panel Discussion 4: Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler, Sproul
- Albert Mohler: Why Do They Hate It So? The Doctrine of Substitution
- Panel Discussion 5: Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler
- John Piper: How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice
- Panel Discussion 6: Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler, Piper
- C.J. Mahaney: Sustaining a Pastor’s Soul
Related:
- T4G 2008 Highlights and Pictures
- T4G 2006 MP3s (general sessions and panel discussions listed in order)
- More T4G 2008 Pictures
T4G Highlights and Pictures
I thoroughly enjoyed attending T4G 2008 last week (thanks to T4G’s generosity!). It was edifying and God-glorifying.
Here are some highlights and pics:
D. A. Carson’s Christ and Culture Revisited
D. A. Carson’s Christ and Culture Revisited (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008) is now available.
- Cf. a 12-page PDF of the front matter and preface.
- Cf. my previous post “Dever on Carson’s Latest Book” (March 7, 2007).
- Cf. Eerdmans’s description and Dever’s and Keller’s endorsements.
I heartily recommend this volume.
- Carson skillfully applies his biblical theological framework—interpreting the whole Bible with a robust salvation-historical grid—to the issue of “Christ and Culture” that H. Richard Niebuhr raised in 1951.
- It is a model work for combining biblical, historical, systematic, and practical theology for the benefit of the church.
- Though Carson normally publishes in the fields of NT exegesis and theology, this book is impressively up-to-date with the relevant literature and arguments.
I had the privilege of meticulously reading this volume straight through at least three times at various stages last year. It’s the type of book that rewards slow, thoughtful, even repeated reading.