Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Practical Theology

Useful Questions When Approaching Literature, Films, Etc.

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Grant Horner, “Glorifying God in Literary and Artistic Culture,” in Think Biblically! Recovering a Christian Worldview (ed. John MacArthur; Wheaton: Crossway, 2003):

If Christians attempt to approach culture—literature, film, the arts and philosophies of humanity—from a human, cultural standpoint, they will be acting in disobedience to God. (p. 315)

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Some Useful Questions

There are several core areas that must be considered when attempting to approach cultural artifacts from a biblical perspective:

Ephesians 6:1 Playlist

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I created a playlist for different renditions of Ephesians 6:1 in song. It’s only 9.2 minutes long, but it comes in handy sometimes!

  1. Children Desiring God (free download)
  2. Steve Green
  3. Seeds Family Worship (includes vv. 1–4)
  4. Hide the Word (track 2)
  5. Questions with Answers, vol. 4: The Word of God (track 5) (Cf. this video of Dana Dirksen previewing this song two years ago.)

(And yes, I realize that it’s possible to abuse Eph 6:1 and that the ultimate goal of parenting isn’t external obedience.)

Related:

  1. Bible Memory for Young Children
  2. An ominous video from two years ago:

Audio

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I added an Audio tab to the site (parallel to Publications).

I previously linked to some of these MP3s hosted on other sites, but after a few years, many of the URLs no longer work. So I uploaded 26 MP3s and link to them here.

Diagnostic Questions for Aspiring Pastors

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Dave Harvey, Am I Called? The Summons to Pastoral Ministry  (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 63–64:

[E]verything we’ll talk about presupposes that your sense of call is focused more on serving the church than on fulfilling a dream.

Here are some questions you should think about now, because they’re going to make a big difference later.

What’s your present involvement in a local church? If you were a pastor, would you be any more committed to the church than you already are? What does your answer say about you? [Read more…] about Diagnostic Questions for Aspiring Pastors

Harry Potter Is Filled with Implicit and Explicit Christian Themes

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Admission: I read a book about the Harry Potter series. And I liked (most of) it:

John Granger. How Harry Cast His Spell: The Meaning Behind the Mania for J. K. Rowling’s Bestselling Books. 4th ed. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2006. 304 pp. (34-page sample PDF)

I actually read a few others, too:

But they weren’t as captivating as this one (at least as this one starts out—it fizzles a bit).

I didn’t plan to read to read it straight through. I checked it out via my public library’s inter-library loan, and I planned to give it about 30 to 60 minutes. But after reading the first few chapters, I bought it in Kindle format and marked it up as I read the whole thing straight through. Chapters 1–10 and 19–20 are more interesting than the others.

The book is popular, not academic, and sometimes it is a bit corny. But its insights are worth the read. I don’t follow all of the symbolic connections Granger makes in this book: some of them seem like too much of a stretch (especially when deriving hidden meanings via tenuous etymologies), but most of them make sense.

I didn’t know that there are “Potter Scholars,” but TIME calls John Granger the “Dean of Harry Potter Scholars.”

One point that Granger demonstrates very well is that all seven Harry Potter books are filled with implicit and explicit Christian themes. He begins to unpack his argument in this sample PDF, but the rest of the book relentlessly and overwhelmingly proves that argument.

[Read more…] about Harry Potter Is Filled with Implicit and Explicit Christian Themes

15 Gospel-Centered Questions to Ask

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Jonathan K. Dodson,“Gospel-Centered Questions to Ask,” appendix 1 in Gospel-Centered Discipleship  (Re:Lit; Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 155–56 (formatting added):

Here is a list of questions to help you cultivate gospel motivations.

Questions 11–15 are taken from Sam Storms’s book A Sincere and Pure Devotion to Christ.

See . . . forty-five more questions in David Powlison’s list of “X-ray Questions.”

  1. What do you desire more than anything else?
  2. What do you find yourself daydreaming or fantasizing about?
  3. What lies do you subtly believe that undermine the truth of the gospel?
  4. Are you astonished with the gospel? [Read more…] about 15 Gospel-Centered Questions to Ask