That’s the title of my Pastoral Pensées article in the latest issue of Themelios (which just released yesterday).
* * * * * * *
Andrew David Naselli. “12 Reasons You Should Pray Scripture.” Themelios 38 (2013): 417–25.
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
This new edition is scheduled to release in February 2014:
Craig S. Keener. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. 2nd ed. Downers Grove: IVP, 2014.
The first edition, which has sold over 600,000 copies, released twenty years ago in 1993, and the second edition slightly revises it. (Keener’s foreword and acknowledgments to the second edition doesn’t specify what he has revised in the second edition, and I haven’t compared the two editions to spot changes.) [Read more…] about The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
My Carriage Is Broken! (John Newton on the Folly of Complaining)
Suppose a man was going to New York to take possession of a large estate, and his [carriage] should break down a mile before he got to the city, which obliged him to walk the rest of the way; what a fool we should think him, if we saw him ringing his hands, and blubbering out all the remaining mile, “My [carriage] is broken! My [carriage] is broken!”
–John Newton
- Quoted in Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, in The Works of the Rev. John Newton (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1985), 1:107.
- Cited in John Piper, “John Newton: The Tough Roots of His Habitual Tenderness,” in The Roots of Endurance: Invincible Perseverance in the Lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce (The Swans Are Not Silent 3; Wheaton: Crossway, 2002), 68.
Joe Rigney Explains How Envy Works and How to Fight It
Joe Rigney recently preached two insightful sermons on envy to my church:
(Video, audio, and manuscripts are available at those links.)
I’ve often witnessed well-intentioned people warn others against pride, but I don’t recall similar warnings against envy. This excerpt from the first sermon was an aha-moment for me: [Read more…] about Joe Rigney Explains How Envy Works and How to Fight It
Ben Witherington: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away” is “not good theology”
“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21b).
The daughters of two well-known theologians recently died, and both theologians publicly reflected on the tragic events. One is an Arminian, and one is a Calvinist:
- Ben Witherington (an Arminian), “What Good Grief Looks Like When a Daughter Dies: Walking the Way of Grace in the Midst of My Grief” (April 11, 2012)
- Fred Zaspel (a Calvinist), “Reflections on the Loss of Our Daughter” (November 13, 2013)
(HT: Tony Reinke)
Losing a daughter in the prime of her life must be unimaginably painful! But my jaw dropped when I read what Ben Witherington asserts about Job 1:21 (bullet points added):
Definite Atonement in Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective
For the last several years, I’ve been corresponding with my friends David and Jonny Gibson about a 700-page book they’ve been editing on definite atonement.
During this time, Mark Snoeberger and I have been editing a much smaller debate-book titled Perspectives on the Extent of the Atonement: Three Views, with essays and responses by Grant R. Osborne, John S. Hammett, and Carl R. Trueman (B&H, forthcoming).
So I’ve been eagerly anticipating this book for several years:
David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson, eds. From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013. 703 pp.
It doesn’t disappoint my high expectations. It’s amazing. It’s definitely the most thorough and compelling book describing and defending definite atonement. And best of all, it not only refutes other views and presents strong arguments for definite atonement; it addresses the issue with the right tone. It leads the reader to worship the triune God!
[Read more…] about Definite Atonement in Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective
Insecurity and Pastoral Bullies: Secure vs. Insecure Pastors
Sam Storms wisely contrasts secure and insecure pastors.
See also reflection 10 in this wisdom-packed post: What I Wish I Had Known or Done: 10 Reflections on Nearly 40 Years of Pastoral Ministry. (And one more: Some Words of Counsel for Pastors.)
What Is the Message of Each Book of the Bible?
I’m teaching a course at Bethlehem College & Seminary this fall to second-year seminary students called “New Testament Background and Message.” We are systematically working through the NT, and prior to each time we meet for class the students must summarize the theological message of a NT book in one clear, concise sentence. Then they must briefly unpack that sentence by showing how the book’s themes support that message. (And it takes a lot of work to do that well!)
It frustrates me when books and articles discuss the “theology” of a Bible book by presenting a bucket list of parallel motifs but without showing how they integrate as one coherent theological message. So I was delighted to see that the new NIV Proclamation Bible (ed. Lee Gatiss; cf. publisher page and 40-second video) includes a one-sentence summary of the message of every book of the Bible.
I disagree with many of these one-sentence summaries (which are rather uneven), but it’s still helpful to consider how others articulate the messages. These are from the introduction to each book of the Bible:
[Read more…] about What Is the Message of Each Book of the Bible?