Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Starving for the Grandeur of God

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supremacyI recently read this updated edition:

John Piper. The Supremacy of God in Preaching. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015.

One of the most motivating lines:

People are starving for the grandeur of God. And the vast majority do not know it. (p. 147)

Here’s an appetizer:

For more, check out the topics under “God” and “Jesus Christ” in the Desiring God Topic Index.

Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity

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do-more-betterTim Challies just wrote a new little book on productivity called Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity (Minneapolis: Cruciform, 2015).

I process a lot of books, and when I started reading Tim’s latest book on Monday night last week, I thought that I would survey it for about ten minutes and then move on to the next book. I had read Tim’s blog series on productivity, so I thought this would merely compile his blog posts. But the book drew me in, and I ended up reading the whole thing straight through. [Read more…] about Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity

On Plagiarism: An Interview with Justin Taylor

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Yesterday my colleague Joe Rigney announced, “Plagiarism discovered in Justice book by D. Wilson & R. Booth. … Booth confesses; book pulled.”

Justin Taylor, executive vice president of book publishing and book publisher for Crossway, then shared five lessons from this incident:

  • 1. You cannot be too careful when taking notes. Some people plagiarize intentionally, but it often comes from not being careful.
  • 2. Booth is wrong about exact wording of dictionary definitions being excluded from plagiarism.
  • 3. Publishers, authors, teachers, and students should be aware that detection software exists when in doubt: e.g., http://www.ithenticate.com/
  • 4. Some, especially those without academic training, simply haven’t been taught what plagiarism is. Here’s a start http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism
  • 5. Plagiarism, intentional or not, is literary theft, and it should be repented of as such.

Justin kindly agreed to answer some questions about plagiarism for my readers:

1. What is plagiarism?

[Read more…] about On Plagiarism: An Interview with Justin Taylor

Psalm 110 and the Logic of Hebrews: An Interview with Jared Compton

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comptonThis book recently released:

Jared Compton. Psalm 110 and the Logic of Hebrews. Library of New Testament Studies 537. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015.

Jared (@jaredmcompton) entered the PhD program at Trinity one year after I did, and he and our wives became close friends. While we were at Trinity, we both joined CrossWay Community Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and learned so much from Mike Bullmore. After serving as a NT professor at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary for a few years, Jared returned to CrossWay Community Church as one of their pastors.

Both Jared and I wrote our dissertations under Don Carson on the use of the OT in the NT. Jared focused on how Hebrews uses Psalm 110, and now it’s in the prestigious LNTS series. Jared kindly agreed to answer some questions about his new book:

1. What sparked your interest in Hebrews and this topic?

[Read more…] about Psalm 110 and the Logic of Hebrews: An Interview with Jared Compton

Jerusalem: The IMAX Film Is Now on DVD

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The 45-minute film Jerusalem that has been showing for a few years in IMAX theaters is now available on DVD.

Jerusalem

I watched the film with my wife and three daughters a few weeks ago, and we all enjoyed it. It’s valuable for at least four reasons:

  1. It has beautiful images.
  2. It has breathtaking cinematography (as you can see in the previews below).
  3. It accurately informs you about history and geography (which helps you better understand the Bible’s historical-cultural context).
  4. It shows why modern-day Jerusalem desperately needs the gospel.

Heads-up:

  1. National Geographic is not exactly a conservative evangelical organization, so it’s not surprising that the film’s perspective on religion is sociological, not theological. The film concludes that while Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have distinct customs and traditions, they are not so different after all.
  2. The versions of “Christianity” that the film displays are Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, not evangelical Christianity.

This is a film worth owning.

7-minute preview:

2-minute trailer: [Read more…] about Jerusalem: The IMAX Film Is Now on DVD

When You Indulge in Pornography, You Participate in Sex Slavery

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That’s what I argue in this article (PDF | web version):

Andrew David Naselli. “When You Indulge in Pornography, You Participate in Sex Slavery.” Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood 20:2 (2015): 23–30.

(The JBMW issue released online today.)

I attempt to answer three questions:

  1. What is sex slavery?
  2. How does pornography fuel sex slavery?
  3. How should men feel about pornography?

[Read more…] about When You Indulge in Pornography, You Participate in Sex Slavery

5 Baptist Distinctives

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BaptistThree Baptist historians recently teamed up to write a textbook on Baptist history:

Anthony L. Chute, Nathan A. Finn, and Michael A. G. Haykin. The Baptist Story: From English Sect to Global Movement. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2015. 46-page PDF sample.

In the final chapter they unpack five Baptist distinctives:

  1. Regenerate church membership
  2. Believer’s baptism
  3. Congregational polity
  4. Local church autonomy
  5. Religious freedom

Here’s a six-minute interview with the authors:

See also Jason Duesing’s review.