Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

2015 EFCA Theology Conference: The Doctrine of the Scriptures

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Greg Strand has organized another outstanding theology conference for the Evangelical Free Church of America on the campus of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. This one is on the doctrine of the Scriptures (Jan 28–30, 2015). Speakers include Don Carson, Graham Cole, Phil Long, Doug Moo, Kevin Vanhoozer, and John Woodbridge.

More info here.

Update on 2/19/2015: Conference audio is available here.

Logos 6 Propositional Outlines: An Interview with the Author

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I think that the best part about knowing New Testament Greek is that it helps you better trace the flow of the argument.

That’s why one of my favorite features in Logos 6 is the propositional outlines. Mark Keaton, the primary author, kindly agreed to answer some questions about his work:

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Mark Keaton. I graduated with an M.Div. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2011. For two years, I was the Greek editor of the Bible Sense Lexicon. For the past year, I’ve been the creator and editor of the Lexham Propositional Outlines for Logos 6. And most recently by the grace of God, I’ve been called to be the pastor of Harper Creek Baptist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan. (Our website is a little dated, but we’re working on it!)

2. What are the Lexham Propositional Outlines in Logos 6?

Here’s a quick video overview showing the Lexham Propositional Outlines in action:

3. What did you do to create the Propositional Outlines in Logos 6? [Read more…] about Logos 6 Propositional Outlines: An Interview with the Author

3 Reflections on Evangelical Academic Publishing

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This morning the latest issue of Themelios released.

It includes an article I wrote entitled “Three Reflections on Evangelical Academic Publishing” (web version | PDF).

It’s the most personal essay I’ve written.

Here’s the abstract:

In light of John A. D’Elia’s A Place at the Table and Stanley E. Porter’s Inking the Deal, this article shares three reflections on evangelical academic publishing.

Ladd inking

(1) Evangelical scholarship is a gift to evangelicals for which they should be grateful.

(2) Evangelical academics should aim to be academically responsible more than being academically respectable.

(3) Evangelical scholarship is ultimately about glorifying God by serving Christ’s church.

Related:

  1. Kevin DeYoung, “7 Ways Christian Academics Can Be Truly Christian“
  2. Dane Ortlund, “Reflections on Christian Publishing“

C. S. Lewis: What Christmas Means to Me

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This short essay by C. S. Lewis originally appeared in Twentieth Century 162 (December 1957): 517–18, reprinted in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics (ed. Walter Hooper; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 338–40.

* * * * * * *

Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. This is important and obligatory for Christians; but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here. The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn’t go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business to have a ‘view’ on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business. I see no reason why I should volunteer views as to how other people should spend their own money in their own leisure among their own friends. It is highly probable that they want my advice on such matters as little as I want theirs. But the third thing called Christmas is unfortunately everyone’s business. [Read more…] about C. S. Lewis: What Christmas Means to Me

A Theology of Sleep

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Sweet sleep is a gift from God: “when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet” (Proverbs 3:24b).

I agree with John Piper and Don Carson on sleep:

  1. John Piper: “For me, adequate sleep is not just a matter of staying healthy. It’s a matter of staying in the ministry” (p. 189).
  2. Don Carson: “Doubt may be fostered by sleep deprivation. If you keep burning the candle at both ends, sooner or later you will indulge in more and more mean cynicism—and the line between cynicism and doubt is a very thin one. Of course, different individuals require different numbers of hours of sleep: moreover, some cope with a bit of tiredness better than others. Nevertheless, if you are among those who become nasty, cynical, or even full of doubt when you are missing your sleep, you are morally obligated to try to get the sleep you need. We are whole, complicated beings; our physical existence is tied to our spiritual well-being, to our mental outlook, to our relationships with others, including our relationship with God. Sometimes the godliest thing you can do in the universe is get a good night’s sleep—not pray all night, but sleep. I’m certainly not denying that there may be a place for praying all night; I’m merely insisting that in the normal course of things, spiritual discipline obligates you get the sleep your body need” (p. 147)

sleepSo I was delighted to read this book: [Read more…] about A Theology of Sleep

A Theology of Heaven

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heavenChris Morgan and Robert Peterson did it again. They’ve successfully addressed an important topic with a theological method that grounds its systematic and practical theology in exegesis and biblical theology (and historical theology informs it).

Christopher W.Morgan and Robert A. Peterson, eds. Heaven. Theology in Community. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

Look inside here to see the contributors in the Table of Contents.

Related:

  1. My interview with Chris Morgan on the theology of James
  2. My interview with Chris Morgan on the glory of God

A Model of How to Critique a Theological Giant: Ortlund on Edwards

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EdwardsThe title of this book’s final chapter is “Four Criticisms”:

Dane C. Ortlund. Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God. Theologians on the Christian Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

Ortlund qualifies,

Jonathan Edwards is way out ahead of me, and probably you, both in living and in theologizing on the Christian life. But the student, standing on the teacher’s shoulders, may on occasion glimpse something the teacher doesn’t. Cautiously, we proceed. (p. 178)

Ortlund unpacks four criticisms (my paraphrases): [Read more…] about A Model of How to Critique a Theological Giant: Ortlund on Edwards

A Theology of the Church with a Sound Theological Method

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churchI just reviewed this book for 9Marks:

Christopher W. Morgan and Kendell H. Easley, eds. The Community of Jesus: A Theology of the Church. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2013. 288 pp. 10-page sample PDF.

Excerpt:

When you have a solid grasp of how a theme develops across the Bible’s storyline in Scripture, you are able to trace that theme from a number of starting points. For example, you may be preaching or teaching through the Gospel of John and come to John 2:19: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” You may then zoom out so that you can trace the trajectory of the temple theme across the Bible’s storyline—from Eden, to the tabernacle, to Solomon’s temple, to Ezekiel’s temple, to Zerubbabel’s temple, to Jesus as the temple, to the tearing of the temple’s curtain, to the church as the temple, to the individual Christian’s body as the temple, to the heavenly temple, and all the way to its culmination in Rev 21:22: “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” Then you could zoom back in to John 2 and reflect on the significance of that passage in light of how it fits in the trajectory from Eden to the new heavens and new earth.