Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Are you passionate about the gospel?

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Chris Anderson‘s “Lost Lessons and Preserved Passions” is exactly right. Since the gospel of Jesus the Messiah is central, it must be central in our passions.

Carson wrote a communion hymn entitled “A Shocking Thing” that includes these convicting words:

A shocking thing, this, that we should forget
The Savior who gave up his life—
To turn from the cross, indifferent, and let
Our minds veer toward self-love and strife.
This Table, this rite, is habit—and yet
Christ’s words pierce our shame like a knife:
While breaking the bread, the Lord Jesus said,
“Do this in remembrance of me.”

Enamored with power, surrounded by praise
We set out ecclesial plans.
Efficiency hums, and we spend our days
Defending, promoting our stands.
Techniques multiply, our structures amaze—
The gospel slips out of our hands.

More on the New Perspective(s) on Paul

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Last week I linked to Scott McKnight’s five-part series on the new perspective(s) on Paul. Here are some other recent perspectives:

  1. Simon Gathercole, “What Did Paul Really Mean?” (Christianity Today cover article, 8-10-07).
  2. Rick Phillips, “Holding the Line on Justification” (8-11-07).
  3. Bryan Chapell, “An Explanation of the New Perspective on Paul for Friends of Covenant Theological Seminary” (8-14-07).
  4. John Piper, The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright (Wheaton: Crossway, forthcoming October 23, 2007). Here’s an excerpt from the conclusion. See blurbs by Michael Bird, Darrell Bock, Gerald Bray, D. A. Carson, Peter O’Brien, Tom Schreiner, Dan Wallace, and Doug Wilson.

Update: Cf. Phil Gons’s more thorough summary: “Recent Discussion on the New Perspective on Paul.”

Glenn Gould Plays Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”

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Glenn Gould’s (Wikipedia) recordings of the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach are among my all-time favorites. Amazon has excerpts of both his 1955 and 1981 recordings.

My favorite is his 1981 recording, which I’ve probably listened to more than any other piece in my music collection (over 200 times according to iTunes, but that doesn’t count years of listening to it on cassette tape and then CD prior to importing it to iTunes).

You can also watch him play on Google video (though I admit that he is eccentric!).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6984208089899995423#

Brilliant. Masterful. Edifying. And as Bach would say, Soli Deo gloria.

The Gospel Coalition Workshops

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MP3 downloads of workshops given on May 24, 2007 at The Gospel Coalition Conference are now available here. I attended “Q and A on Preaching” with Crawford Loritts and Ligon Duncan, and it was very profitable. I haven’t heard any of the other workshops yet.

See also TGC articles (including an RSS feed for recently added articles), audio & video (including interviews and a panel discussion), foundational documents, and the e-newsletter sign-up.

Kevin Bauder: “Thinking About the Gospel”

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“Thinking About the Gospel” is another thoughtful, compelling, and sometimes provocative series of short essays by Kevin Bauder.

  1. The Gospel Itself
  2. The Gospel and Doctrine
  3. Brief Detour
  4. The Gospel of the Kingdom
  5. The Gospel and Christian Fellowship
  6. Demeaning the Gospel
  7. Frontloading the Gospel
  8. Identifying the Fundamentals
  9. Practical Fundamentals?

Note: Central Seminary emails these essays every Friday afternoon. You can join the mailing list (as well as access the archives) here.

Mark Dever: “Where’d All These Calvinists Come From?”

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Mark Dever just finished an insightful ten-part series of blog posts entitled “Where’d All These Calvinists Come From?” He gives ten major reasons for the recent resurgence of Calvinism.

  1. C. H. Spurgeon
  2. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
  3. The Banner of Truth Trust
  4. D. James Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion
  5. Inerrancy controversy
  6. Presbyterian Church in America
  7. J. I. Packer’s Knowing God
  8. R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur
  9. John Piper
  10. “the rise of secularism and decline of Christian nominalism“

Before Dever posted reason #10, Justin Taylor suggested that it would be “the role of the internet.”

Cf. Phil Gons‘s summary post, “The Resurgence of Calvinism.”