Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Interview with Sharon Gerber on Her New Celloasis Album

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My family loves Sharon Gerber’s cello music.

cellocase cellolake

Kaffeemusik1Our girls listen to her Eine Kleine Kaffeemusik each night, and according to iTunes, we’ve played that album over 15,000 times! It’s beautifully soothing. (See also albums 2 and 3.)

In the first half of this 7.5-minute video for Sharon’s church, she explains why she experienced a tragic divorce, how that caused her to doubt everything she believed about God, and how God showed grace to Sharon through members in her new church. Then she introduces her latest cello album, Into the Night, and shares the background to the song “Jehova-Rohi,” which the second half of the video features.

Sharon kindly let me interview her earlier this month:

1. How did this video come about? [Read more…] about Interview with Sharon Gerber on Her New Celloasis Album

Do Complementarians Consistently Apply How Paul Argues from Creation in 1 Cor 11:8–10 and 1 Tim 2:13–14?

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In 1 Cor 11:2–16 Paul says that a wife should wear a head covering when praying or prophesying when the church gathers to worship, and in 1 Tim 2:9–15 he says that a woman should not teach or exercise authority over a man.

Most complementarians today do not insist that women in all cultures must wear head coverings, but they do argue that women should not teach or exercise authority over a man. Yet in both passages Paul argues from creation:

  • 1 Cor 11:8–10 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
  • 1 Tim 2:13–14 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

Do complementarians consistently apply how Paul argues from creation in 1 Cor 11:8–10 and 1 Tim 2:13–14?  [Read more…] about Do Complementarians Consistently Apply How Paul Argues from Creation in 1 Cor 11:8–10 and 1 Tim 2:13–14?

John Calvin Had 300 Books in His Personal Library

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Calvin“Calvin’s personal library has been estimated at three hundred to three hundred fifty volumes; after his death, his heirs sold the majority of the books to Geneva’s magistrates for inclusion in the library of the Academy.”

—Scott M. Manetsch, Calvin’s Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536–1609, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 222.

When I read that, I recalled how I concluded a review article in 2006: [Read more…] about John Calvin Had 300 Books in His Personal Library

Essays in Honor of Douglas J. Moo

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On November 19, 2014 in San Diego during the Evangelical Theological Society’s annual meeting, Biblica, the Committee on Bible Translation, and Zondervan presented “The NIV 50th Anniversary Dinner and Program: Celebrating the Commissioning of the NIV.”

At the event Doug Moo, chair of the Committee on Bible Translation, spoke about the NIV. Here’s what he said (available as a free PDF): [Read more…] about Essays in Honor of Douglas J. Moo

Free MP3s: OT Survey by Jason DeRouchie

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derouchieOne of my greatest joys is serving alongside my colleague Jason DeRouchie (pronounced deh-ROW-shee) at Bethlehem College & Seminary. My respect and gratefulness for him grows as I get to know him better. I love carpooling with him about three hours each week during the school year (and I missed him while he was out of state on sabbatical this last semester!).

I especially love co-teaching a fourth-year graduate course with him on biblical theology. He is both an Old Testament scholar and a biblical theologian.

I already recommended his book in which he surveys Jesus’s Bible. Now you can download free audio files in which he surveys the Old Testament. [Read more…] about Free MP3s: OT Survey by Jason DeRouchie

One God in Three Persons: Unity of Essence, Distinction of Persons, Implications for Life

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In 2008 I live-blogged a debate at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School between (a) Bruce Ware and Wayne Grudem and (b) Tom McCall and Keith Yandell. They debated this question: “Do relations of authority and submission exist eternally among the Persons of the Godhead?”

TrinityThis week Crossway is releasing a book on that issue:

Bruce A. Ware and John Starke, eds. One God in Three Persons: Unity of Essence, Distinction of Persons, Implications for Life. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015.

This 49-page sample PDF includes the front matter and Wayne Grudem’s opening chapter.

Phil Gons and I coauthored chapter 9: “An Examination of Three Recent Philosophical Arguments against Hierarchy in the Immanent Trinity” (pp. 197–215).

Update on 5/22/2015: Crossway gave me permission to share a PDF of the Gons-Naselli chapter.

Update on 2/6/2019: In this panel on the Triune God, I state that I do not hold to EFS (but neither do I think it is heresy).