Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Unnatural Birth and the Sovereignty of God

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My wife, Jenni, has encountered well-meaning Christian women evangelizing for all-natural births in a way that can make other women feel inferior and less of a real woman if they have an un-natural birth (e.g., an epidural in a hospital or a C-section). She’s had to counsel some women who had C-sections and consequently felt depressed and dejected that they didn’t have natural births instead.

After seeing Jenni counsel ladies like that several times, I encouraged her to write a short article on the issue. DG just published her wise perspective: “Better Than a Birth Plan.”

Update on 3/10/2016: The feedback that Jenni has received on her article has been overwhelmingly positive, but I have seen a few negative comments that misunderstand Jenni’s intent. Her target audience is primarily two people:

  1. women who feel inferior because they did not have an all-natural birth
  2. women who (intentionally or unintentionally) make women feel inferior for not having (or planning to have) an all-natural birth

As she says in her article, Jenni is not against all-natural births. There is nothing inherently wrong with planning to have a natural birth. If that’s what you think is best in your situation, then go for it. Have an all-natural birth to the glory of God!

 

A New Massive Book on the Bible’s Authority

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enduringThis book officially releases today:

D. A. Carson, ed. The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016.

It’s massive. And it was an honor to contribute 44 of its 1240 pages. (More on that below.)

Here is a nearly 18-minute interview with Carson about the book:

Carson explains in the preface (p. xvi), [Read more…] about A New Massive Book on the Bible’s Authority

What about Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God’s Sovereignty

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freeThis book releases next week:

Scott Christensen. What about Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God’s Sovereignty. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2016.

My endorsement:

Many think that free will is the silver-bullet answer to some of theology’s most difficult questions. But do we have a free will?

Short answer: It depends on what you mean by free.

Long answer: Read this book. [Read more…] about What about Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God’s Sovereignty

An Interpretive Lexicon That Analyzes Greek Connective Words

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lexiconThis book categorizes the connective words that indicate logical relationships between clauses:

G. K. Beale, Daniel J. Brendsel, and William A. Ross. An Interpretive Lexicon of New Testament Greek: Analysis of Prepositions, Adverbs, Particles, Relative Pronouns, and Conjunctions. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.

It mostly collates information from BDAG, Dan Wallace’s intermediate grammar, and Murray Harris’s book on prepositions. It’s small and short (96 pp.).

Endorsements: [Read more…] about An Interpretive Lexicon That Analyzes Greek Connective Words

David Dorsey on the Mosaic Law and the Christian

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David Dorsey wrote a thoughtful JETS article on the Mosaic law and the Christian in 1991:

Dorsey, David A. “The Law of Moses and the Christian: A Compromise.” JETS 34 (1991): 321–34.

Justin Taylor summarizes that essay in Q&A format here.

In 1999 Dorsey wrote another journal article on the Mosaic law and the Christian. This essay is not as well-known, and it was challenging to track down. I’m uploading an unmarked PDF of the essay here with the publisher’s permission:

Dorsey, David A. “The Use of the OT Law in the Christian Life: A Theocentric Approach.” Evangelical Journal 17, no. 1 (1999): 1–18. [Read more…] about David Dorsey on the Mosaic Law and the Christian

John Frame’s Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief

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apologeticsThe second edition of my favorite book on apologetics released last year:

John M. Frame. Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief. Edited by Joseph E. Torres. 2nd ed. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2015.  

This 78-page PDF sample includes the front matter, introduction, and chapter 1.

Check out these two interviews:

  1. Justin Taylor interviews John Frame
  2. Fred Zaspel interviews John Frame

And here are John Frame’s top five books on apologetics (HT: Ivan Mesa’s TGC interview):

  1. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
  2. Cornelius Van Til, Christian Apologetics
  3. Tim Keller, The Reason for God
  4. Vern Poythress, Redeeming Science
  5. William Edgar and Scott Oliphint, eds., Apologetics Past and Present (vol. 1 | vol. 2)

Is “Slave” a Good English Translation?

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I regularly play this 4-minute video in classes I teach because because it illustrates so well how complex it is to translate the Bible into English:

This illustrates how difficult it is to explain the concept of slavery in the OT and NT to people in America today. It also illustrates good translation sense. The committee members are asking exactly the right questions (especially Wayne Grudem here).

The BBC filmed this video when the ESV Translation Oversight Committee met in summer 2010. The committee debated how best to translate the Hebrew word עֶבֶד (‘ebed) and the Greek word δοῦλος (doulos). This video condenses hours of discussion. Members of the committee who speak in this video include Jack Collins, Peter Williams, Gordon Wenham, Paul House, Wayne Grudem, and Lane Dennis.

[Read more…] about Is “Slave” a Good English Translation?