Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Be More Specific Than “Points” or “Things”

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McDill

Speakers and writers often say something like this: “My sermon has three points” or “I’d like to share four things.”

This book taught me not to do that:

Wayne McDill. 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching. 2nd ed. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2006.

I took my first homiletics courses in college in the 1999–2000 school year, and the first edition of this book was one of my main textbooks.

That book has served me well over the last fifteen years. It taught me to use language precisely. [Read more…] about Be More Specific Than “Points” or “Things”

David Bebbington Reviews “Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism”

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Several years ago Collin Hansen and I coedited a debate-book on evangelicalism.

David Bebbington’s famous quadrilateral features prominently in our book (cf. pp. 70, 73, 75, 95, 106, 119, 121, 122, 128, 151, 153, 157, 169–76, 182, 188, 196, 209–10), so I was eager to see what Bebbington thinks of our book in his review. I read his review in December 2012, and I’ve been checking regularly since then for this review to become available online. It’s now available as a PDF:

David W. Bebbington. “About the Definition of Evangelicalism . . . .” Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals 83 (2012): 1–6.

Overall, his review is favorable and generous. I’m grateful.

A Dramatic Reading of The Pilgrim’s Progress for Kids

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Charles Spurgeon read John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress over one hundred times. Many Christians today haven’t read it even once. That’s a tragedy!

The Pilgrim’s Progress is a favorite story at our home, and we’ve used several good resources for our children. We’re delighted to add one more: a dramatic reading for kids. This abridged reading is 1 hour and 44 minutes. Our kids love it.

Bunyan

(This abridgment, which J. I. Packer endorses, has corresponding curriculum that becomes available this month. I haven’t seen it, but I suspect that it’s good.)

Taking God at His Word

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takingSeveral years ago I attempted to write a short, accessible chapter on the doctrine of Scripture as part of a book that Kevin DeYoung edited. Now Kevin’s most recent work is a short, accessible book on the doctrine of Scripture:

Kevin DeYoung. Taking God at His Word: Why the Bible Is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What That Means for You and Me. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

It’s what we’ve come to expect from Kevin: sound, edifying, accessible, and witty. This is the best overall popular-level book on Scripture that I’m aware of.

  1. This 20-page PDF sample includes the front matter and chapter 1.
  2. Two DeYoung interviews: (a) TGC and (b) Books at a Glance
  3. Kevin preached on this topic at T4G a few weeks ago: “Never Spoke a Man Like This Before: Inerrancy, Evangelism and Christ’s Unbreakable Bible.” My school’s president called this sermon “powerful and massively important.”

Themelios 39.1

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ThemTGC published the latest issue of Themelios this morning.

I reviewed the Baker Academic Biblical Studies Bundle from Logos Bible Software.

Two highlights:

  1. the back-and-forth between Tom Schreiner and Gerald Bray on biblical and systematic theology
  2. the understated review article by Bob Yarbrough on a recent book that advocates historical criticism

Grudem: 5 Wrong Questions to Ask When Drawing Doctrinal Boundaries

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boundsWayne Grudem, “Why, When, and for What Should We Draw New Boundaries?” in Beyond the Bounds: Open Theism and the Undermining of Biblical Christianity [free PDF] (ed. John Piper, Justin Taylor, and Paul Kjoss Helseth; Wheaton: Crossway, 2003), 369 (numbering added):

Some wrong questions to ask

It is important to add that there are some questions that should not be part of our consideration in deciding which doctrinal matters to exclude with new boundaries. These are questions such as the following:

    1. Are the advocates my friends?
    2. Are they nice people?
    3. Will we lose money or members if we exclude them?
    4. Will the academic community criticize us as being too narrow-minded?
    5. Will someone take us to court over this?

Such questions are all grounded in a wrongful fear of man, not in a fear of God and trust in God.