Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Mark Dever at TEDS on January 30

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Mark Dever is scheduled to speak twice on campus at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on Wednesday, January 30, 2008:

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  1. 10:00–11:00 AM: Trinity College Chapel
  2. 3:00–4:30 PM: Scripture and Ministry Lecture sponsored by the Henry Center, which provides this description:
  • “Re-ordering Friendship, Love, and Enmity: A Biblical Reflection on Church Membership.” Membership should reflect a living commitment to a local church in attendance, giving, prayer and service; otherwise it is meaningless, worthless, and even dangerous. What does the lack of church membership say to the rest of the world about the church? To be a member is knowingly to be traveling together as aliens and strangers in this world as we head to our heavenly home. Dr. Dever will explore church membership from a biblical and historical approach, touching on the most difficult issues, which keep many Americans from committing to church membership.
  • Schedule | 2:45 PM – Refreshments | 3:00 PM – Lecture | 4:00 PM – Discussion
  • Location | Hinkson Hall, Rodine Building, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Piper on “Planet Earth”

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Last summer I published a blog post entitled “Planet Earth: A Theological Documentary.”

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Yesterday morning during a painfully freezing (!) early morning run, I was listening to an MP3 from John Piper’s 2007 regional conference on “The Pleasures of God.” In part 2 (MP3 | video), Piper describes the pleasure of God in His creation, and he enthusiastically endorses the above “Planet Earth” DVDs.

In the MP3, start at 38:08 to get the context (“God loves the world that He made”) and listen until 42:43. Here are a few highlights:

  • 39:30: “There are many aspects of nature that no human ever sees.” And then some BBC cameraman comes by and captures it!
  • 40:54: This is where the “Blue Planet” and “Planet Earth” endorsement begins.
  • “My wife and I and little girl have worshipped for eight hours watching these unbelievable works of God! There are all these pagans producing this worship DVD!”
  • While they were watching the DVDs, Piper kept saying to his daughter, “That can’t be happening! That can’t be happening!”
  • “I hate evolution. It is so worship destroying! I mean that. Secular, atheistic evolution is worship destroying.”
  • “I get so much pleasure talking about what God has done in creation. It’s way better than talking about movies, but that’s another story.”

Bible.org Gets a Facelift

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Darrell Bock just posted this note on his blog:

“If you go to our host site, www.Bible.org, you will see a completely new look and feel. It is part of a several year discussion about how to best serve those who visit the site. Check it out.”

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This site is one of my favorites listed on the “theological writings” page of my recommended resources:

*Bible.org: about, NET Bible (cf. my blog post), Daniel Wallace’s “Prof’s Soapbox,” authors, series, reviews, Q&A topics

John Piper’s Fundamentalist Father

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John Piper just posted an article entitled “A Birthday Gift to My Father on His 89th Birthday.” The second section of this brief article—which quotes his father quoting Bob Jones Sr.—opens with this:

“My father was a card-carrying fundamentalist, with a twist. He was irrepressibly happy in the grace of God. I suspect there are a lot of fundamentalists out there like that. For all I know, I may be one. So here is a taste of what I grew up with, which may be why abstaining from dancing, smoking, drinking, movie-going, and card-playing never felt like big sacrifice.”

On a similar note, Piper dedicates The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright to his father:

“This is the year (2007) that my father died. Who can estimate the debt we owe our fathers? Bill Piper preached the gospel of grace for over seventy years, if you count the songs and testimonies at the nursing home. He was an evangelist—the old southern, independent, fundamentalist sort, without the attitude. He remains in my memory the happiest man I ever knew” (p. 9).

Denver Seminary’s 2008 OT and NT Bibliographies

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Denver Seminary recently released updates of two useful lists:

  1. “Annotated Old Testament Bibliography” by M. Daniel Carroll R., Hélène Dallaire, and Richard S. Hess
  2. “New Testament Exegesis Bibliography” by William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Susan M. Hecht

A noteworthy new feature is an RSS feed for The Denver Journal: An Online Review of Current Biblical and Theological Studies.

Bob Jones Jr. on Reading Evangelicals

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Jenni and I are visiting family in Greenville, South Carolina, and this afternoon I guided one of my brothers on a tour of the Jerusalem Chamber at Bob Jones University‘s library. On our way out, I showed him the seminary building, which includes several interactive kiosks, one of which contains video testimonials from faculty, pastors, and graduates attempting to convince prospective students to come to BJU Seminary. That kiosk includes a letter on BJU letterhead with this explanation: “In 1994 a young man preparing for the ministry wrote to Dr. Bob Jones Jr. asking for his advice to someone who is called to preach. The following is Dr. Jones’ reply.”

Bob Jones Jr.

[Read more…] about Bob Jones Jr. on Reading Evangelicals