Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Summer Break

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I’m taking a little blogging break in July and early August so that I can focus on some other projects. God-willing, I’ll be back by mid-August.

The archives are open.

E.g., these two posts from 2014 have received the most views thus far this year:

  1. How I Set Up My Desks: One for Sitting, One for Walking
  2. Be More Specific Than “Points” or “Things”

These posts from 2013 received the most views in 2013 (my favorites are #25 and #29):

  1. Diabolical Ventriloquism: A 1-Sentence Summary of Each of Screwtape’s Letters
  2. How should churches relate to others with same-sex attractions? Read Peter Hubbard.
  3. 3 Reasons I Don’t Enthusiastically Recommend the History Channel’s “The Bible: The Epic Miniseries”
  4. Wayne Grudem on the Jason Bourne Films
  5. Piper Illustrates for Children How Faith Glorifies God
  6. Keller and Carson: Greco-Roman Slavery ≠ Race-Based Slavery
  7. Don Whitney: How Can I Be Sure I’m a Christian?
  8. Top 10 Tips for Being Clearer
  9. How a Recent Thesis Defines the Glory of God
  10. 6 Discontinuities between the Old and New Covenants
  11. Carson: The most painful things I’ve ever borne are betrayals by Christian friends
  12. How to Listen on Double Speed with an iPhone or iPod
  13. How Reliable Is Your Memory? 3 Practical Lessons
  14. Murray Harris’s 6-Page Expanded Paraphrase of Colossians
  15. The Best Book on Sexual Purity
  16. MacArthur: “It’s very easy to be hard to understand”
  17. Ben Witherington: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away” is “not good theology”
  18. What Is the Message of Each Book of the Bible?
  19. Brothers, We Are Not Professionals
  20. How to Disagree with Other Christians about Disputable Matters
  21. Exulting in Harry Potter
  22. How Should Parents Discipline Their Children? Is Spanking Wrong?
  23. An Unmistakable Sign of a Legalistic Spirit
  24. We’re Moving to Minneapolis: 5 Reasons We’re Excited to Serve at Bethlehem College & Seminary
  25. Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts
  26. Why You Should Not Be Dogmatic about All of Your Convictions: Lloyd-Jones on Silk Stockings, Baths, Radios, and More
  27. The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
  28. Why It’s Important to Understand Direct vs. Mitigated Speech
  29. The 2 Issues I Most Frequently Address When Copy-Editing

These 20 posts from 2012 received the most views in 2012 (my favorite is #20):

  1. John Frame’s Advice: 30 Suggestions for Theological Students and Young Theologians
  2. 3 Ways to Nourish and Cherish Your Wife: Practical Advice C. J. Mahaney Would Give You If He Met with You at Starbucks
  3. Why People Hate the Sermon on the Mount
  4. Don Carson’s Three Secrets of Productivity and Godly Efficiency
  5. HCSB vs. ESV vs. NIV
  6. Ten Narnia Resources
  7. Must a Wife Always Follow Her Husband’s Leadership?
  8. Videos of All 44 Stories in The Jesus Storybook Bible
  9. Ten Resources for Enjoying Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
  10. Covenant Eyes
  11. My New Book: From Typology to Doxology
  12. 22 Mistakes Pastors Make in Practicing Church Discipline
  13. Progressive Covenantalism: A Via Media between Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism
  14. This Is How We Pray for Our Children
  15. A New Systematic Theology by an Eccentric Genius
  16. Falsifying Views on the Extent of the Atonement
  17. Limited Atonement in the Bible, Doctrine, History, and Ministry
  18. Tom Schreiner’s Top Three Commentaries on Each of Paul’s Letters
  19. Critiquing William Webb’s Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic
  20. Announcing Emma Elyse Naselli

These ten posts from 2011 received the most views in 2011:

  1. Why John Piper Doesn’t Own a TV
  2. iPad Resources
  3. Courageous
  4. How to Manipulate People to Make (Fake) Professions of Faith
  5. Is C. S. Lewis the Patron Saint of American Evangelicalism?
  6. Bible Memory for Young Children
  7. Evernote or OneNote?
  8. The Importance of Dignified Translations
  9. The Myth of Mutual Submission
  10. Mirror Reading

20 Interviews

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Here are links to 20 interviews I’ve conducted over the last six years (mostly for my friend Justin Taylor’s blog):

  1. David Reimer on Ezekiel
  2. Andreas Köstenberger on 1 Timothy 2:12
  3. Tom Schreiner on New Testament theology
  4. Sam Storms on Colossians
  5. John Frame on the problem of evil
  6. Nathan Busenitz on apologetics
  7. Clint Arnold on Colossians
  8. Steve Baugh on Ephesians
  9. Mike Bullmore on preaching (audio)
  10. Rolland McCune on systematic theology
  11. Randy Alcorn on suffering and evil
  12. Simon Gathercole on the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Thomas
  13. Desi Alexander on biblical theology
  14. Chris Morgan on the glory of God
  15. Steve Dempster on Old Testament theology
  16. Peter O’Brien on Hebrews
  17. Michael Lawrence on biblical theology and the church
  18. Chris Morgan on the theology of James
  19. Champ Thornton on God’s Love: A Bible Storybook
  20. J. D. Crowley on Romans

Charts on the Book of Revelation: Literary, Historical, and Theological Perspectives

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chartsDon’t be put off by this book’s title. It’s not what you think.

Mark Wilson. Charts on the Book of Revelation: Literary, Historical, and Theological Perspectives. Kregel Charts of the Bible and Theology. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007.

Check out this 32-page PDF sample, which includes the table of contents and many of the charts. But don’t skip over the first two pages of the PDF: the endorsements. The Revelation scholars who endorse the book include [Read more…] about Charts on the Book of Revelation: Literary, Historical, and Theological Perspectives

The Flight to the Ford in Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring Movie

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My family loves The Lord of the Rings.

See “Ten Resources for Enjoying Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.” For Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (resource 7), I write,

This is one of the few cases where Jenni and I think that the films are better than the books. We probably just lost all of our literary credibility (not that I had much of it). We find Tolkien’s writing style often tedious.

artI recently read a book that has helped me more critically view films:

Paul Munson and Joshua Farris Drake. Art and Music: A Student’s Guide. Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

Munson and Drake take a little over four pages to critically analyze the scene from Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring in which Arwen and Frodo flee on horseback to the ford.

Here’s what Munson and Drake think (pp. 77–81): [Read more…] about The Flight to the Ford in Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring Movie

John MacArthur on Died-and-went-to-heaven-and-back Books

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heavenJohn MacArthur. The Glory of Heaven: The Truth about Heaven, Angels, and Eternal Life; With New Material Addressing the Current Debate and Issues. 2nd ed. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013.

One of the most talked-about books of 2011 was Heaven Is for Real, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent. The book recounts four-year-old Colton Burpo’s vision of heaven (as told by his father to Ms. Vincent). Colton claims he visited heaven during surgery a!er a burst appendix nearly took his life. His stories of heaven are full of fanciful features and peculiar details that bear all the earmarks of a child’s vivid imagination. There’s nothing transcendent or even particularly enlightening about Colton’s description of heaven. In fact, it is completely devoid of the breathtaking glory featured in every biblical description of the heavenly realm. That doesn’t deter Todd Burpo from singling out selective phrases and proof texts from Scripture, citing them as if they authenticated his son’s account. (p. 14) [Read more…] about John MacArthur on Died-and-went-to-heaven-and-back Books