Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

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A Security Camera for Parents

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I work at home. My wife and I are usually downstairs, and our two little girls sleep upstairs. And we often want to see how they’re doing when they’re upstairs:

  1. Are they asleep or awake? We wonder this (1) shortly after we put them down for naps or for bed, (2) periodically while they are supposed to be sleeping, and (3) when we anticipate them waking up.
  2. Are they OK? We may wonder this if we hear a strange noise or hear them crying or simply want to check on them for peace of mind—whether they’re playing or supposed to be sleeping.

We used to creep upstairs as silently as we could and crack open a bedroom door to check on them, but often this would wake them up.

So I researched baby monitors and security cameras to see if I could find one that meets five criteria:

  1. Wireless. We wanted to mount it in our children’s rooms, where there are no computers, modems, or routers.
  2. Streaming. We wanted to easily stream the video on a computer (Mac or PC), iPhone (or other web-enabled smartphone), iPod Touch, and iPad—whether connected to the Internet via our home WiFi or another way when away from home.
  3. Day/Night. We wanted a clear picture regardless of the lighting in the room.
  4. Audio. We wanted the option to hear as well as see what’s happening.
  5. Secure. We wanted the video to be password-protected.

Last year we decided to get a Sharx Security Camera, which meets all five criteria, and we love it. [Read more…] about A Security Camera for Parents

Themelios 36.3

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TGC published the latest issue of Themelios this morning.

I contributed two book reviews:

  1. Review of John Dickson, Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership. (I highlighted this book last month.)
  2. Review of Steven E. Runge, Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis.

Note also Rod Decker’s “An Evaluation of the 2011 Edition of the New International Version.” (It revises a paper I mentioned in July.) Related to Decker’s article is a recent unpublished one:

William W. Combs. “The History of the NIV Translation Controversy.” A paper presented at the Mid-America Conference on Preaching in Allen Park, MI (hosted by Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary). October 20, 2011 (MP3).

Zotero: A Guide for Librarians, Researchers, and Educators

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If you use Zotero for research and writing, this book will serve you well:

Jason Puckett. Zotero: A Guide for Librarians, Researchers and Educators. Chicago: American Library Association, 2011.

Jason Puckett is the the Communication Librarian at Georgia State University Library in Atlanta, where he teaches library classes on research and information literacy skills, bibliographic software, and library technology topics.

If you don’t want to buy a personal copy, at least request that your library (school or public) add it to their collection. It’s readable and well-organized.

Related: “Why You Should Organize Your Personal Theological Library and a Way How”

Using Zotero for Theological Research and Writing

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If that topic interests you and you live in the Greenville area, you may be interested in a seminar I’m planning to give at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary on November 10 (7–9 PM).

The seminar will expand on this article: “Why You Should Organize Your Personal Theological Library and a Way How.”

It’s for GPTS students, but there is limited room for non-students. Email “bookstore [at] gpts.edu” with the subject line “Zotero lecture” to confirm that there is space.

Omit Needless Words

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I agree with Jim.

James M. Hamilton Jr., “Appreciation, Agreement, and a Few Minor Quibbles: A Response to G. K. Beale,” Midwestern Journal of Theology 10, no. 1 (2011): 67:

I want to register a stylistic complaint. Beale is prolix. It’s as though he is exclaiming, “Why should I say in three words what I can expand to ten?!” In the “Introduction” to “the little book,” E. B. White epitomizes Professor Strunk: “‘Omit needless words!’ cries the author on page 23, and into that imperative Will Strunk really put his heart and soul.” Imagine the pleasure Strunk would take eliminating words from Beale’s oeuvre. To take one example, consider the title of his second lecture, “The Inaugurated End-Time Tribulation and Its Bearing on the Church Office of Elder and on Christian Living in General.” Edwardsian in its fullness, but would not “Elders and the End-Times” have been sufficient? I love the ideas that Beale communicates, but I wonder whether he hopes to be paid on the Dickensian wage (critics of Charles Dickens complain that his books are so long because he was paid a penny a word).

Two Guest Bloggers

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Two guest bloggers have graciously agreed to contribute here this week:

1. Matthew Hoskinson

Matthew (PhD in theology, Bob Jones University) is pastor of the First Baptist Church in the City of New York. He and his wife, Kimberly, live in Manhattan with their four daughters (and #5 in the womb).

Matthew, whom I’ve mentioned on my blog numerous times, recently survived cancer and was one of my accountability partners. We became friends while taking seminary classes together.

He’s a gifted preacher, and he can write, too. He occasionally blogs at Debtor to Grace.

And he has guts: earlier this month he wore a Detroit Tigers hat and jersey to Yankee Stadium for a playoff game!


2. Mark Rogers

Mark (PhD candidate in historical theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is on the pastoral team at CrossWay Community Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in Gurnee, Illinois, with their three daughters.

We became friends while our families lived on campus at TEDS and were members of CrossWay. We worked together for a while when Mark served as D. A. Carson’s administrative assistant. Mark grew up as a son of a Baptist pastor, and he earned his MDiv from Southern Seminary.

He’s writing his dissertation on “Edward Dorr Griffin and the Edwardsian Second Great Awakening” and hopes to graduate in May 2012. His responsibilities at CrossWay include their pastoral training program, newcomers, and young adult ministry. And he’s a good preacher, too.

And Mark didn’t hesitate to wear his San Fransisco Giants gear at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas last year for game 5 of the World Series (when the Giants won the series)!

I thank God for Matthew and Mark (and Luke and John, too). They’re mature, humble, gifted guys whom God has significantly used to help me love him and my family better, and I’m honored that they agreed to contribute a few blog posts while I’m off-line this week.

Lit!

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This book comes out later this month:

Tony Reinke. Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011. 202 pp.

You know it’s good when Leland Ryken, professor of English at Wheaton College, says this about it:

There is so much to commend about this book that it is hard to know where to start. The most obvious virtue is its scope. On the subject of reading, Reinke covers every possible topic. Each topic, in turn, is broken into all of its important subpoints. With a lesser writer, this could produce a tedious book, but the opposite is true here. Reinke says just enough, but not too much. The effect is like seeing a prism turned in the light. There is never a dull moment. Once I sensed that Reinke was going to cover all the important topics, and with unfailing good sense and Christian insight, I could hardly put it down. ‘What will Reinke say about that topic?’ I found myself asking. But to add yet another twist, he has read so widely in scholarly and religious sources that I do not hesitate to call the book a triumph of scholarship. Reinke writes with an infectious and winsome enthusiasm. It is hard to imagine a reader of this book who would not catch the spark for reading after encountering Reinke’s excitement about reading and his carefully reasoned defense of it.

Here’s the table of contents: [Read more…] about Lit!

Essential vs. Peripheral Doctrine

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Erik Thoennes, Life’s Biggest Questions: What the Bible Says About the Things That Matter Most, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 35–37 (formatting added):

Essential vs. Peripheral Doctrine

The ability to discern the relative importance of theological beliefs is vital for effective Christian life and ministry. Both the purity and unity of the church are at stake in this matter. The relative importance of theological issues can fall within four categories:

  1. absolutes define the core beliefs of the Christian faith;
  2. convictions, while not core beliefs, may have significant impact on the health and effectiveness of the church;
  3. opinions are views or personal judgments that generally are not worth dividing over; and
  4. questions are currently unsettled issues.

These categories can be best visualized as concentric circles, similar to those on a dart board, with the absolutes as the “bull’s eye” (see fig. 3.4).

Into which category an issue falls should be determined by the cumulative force of at least eight considerations: [Read more…] about Essential vs. Peripheral Doctrine