Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Carson: The most painful things I’ve ever borne are betrayals by Christian friends

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Here’s how Don Carson recently replied to a question about suffering during a Q&A. (This is a lightly edited transcript from 13:37 to 14:40 in the audio file.)

  • We grew up in some of the suffering of French Canada.
  • I’ve had typhoid because I went to Africa and came within death’s door.
  • I’ve had two or three other diseases that have almost taken me out.
  • My wife’s had cancer that has almost taken her out. She didn’t expect to live to 50; she just turned 59.
  • But that’s part of the stuff of life, isn’t it? And if you’re a Christian leader, then sooner or later you go through situations in churches and relationships that are really tough. The most painful things I’ve ever borne are betrayals by Christian friends.

  • [Read more…] about Carson: The most painful things I’ve ever borne are betrayals by Christian friends

By nature editors hate error, but by vocation they are called to deal with it daily

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I’ve been doing a lot copy-editing over the last seven years. This made me laugh:

By nature editors hate error, but by vocation they are called to deal with it daily. And painfully enough, it is sometimes their own.

Daniel G. Reid, “Commentaries and Commentators from a Publisher’s Perspective,” On the Writing of New Testament Commentaries: Festschrift for Grant R. Osborne on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday (ed. Stanley E. Porter and Eckhard J. Schnabel; Texts and Editions for New Testament Study 8; Leiden: Brill, 2013), 464.

The Handy Guide to New Testament Greek: Grammar, Syntax, and Diagramming

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HuffmanThis little book’s title sums it up:

Douglas S. Huffman. The Handy Guide to New Testament Greek: Grammar, Syntax, and Diagramming. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2012. 112 pp.

This 13-page PDF excerpt includes the table of contents.

Part 3 (pp. 83-106) is by far the most helpful section of the book.

Outline of part 3: [Read more…] about The Handy Guide to New Testament Greek: Grammar, Syntax, and Diagramming

Are Theological Discussions a Waste of Time?

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ware_2Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Questions on the Humanity of Christ   (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 55–56:

Another application from this brief account of Jesus’s boyhood experience in Jerusalem is that Jesus understood the importance of engaging in biblical and theological discussion and learning. We don’t know the exact content of the discussion that took place, but [Read more…] about Are Theological Discussions a Waste of Time?

Carson: How Do We Know If God Is Disciplining Us?

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Don Carson answered that question recently for TGC’s blog.

He draws three inferences:

  1. We are likely to make exegetical and theological mistakes when we take any one of these passages and treat it as if it explains all suffering.
  2. In any suffering, or in any other event for that matter, God is doubtless doing many things, perhaps thousands of things, millions of things, even if we can only detect two or three or a handful. [Cf. Piper’s tweet.]
  3. It follows that when we face suffering of any kind, we should use the occasion for self-examination.

Conclusion: “We sometimes observe that hard cases make bad theology. But easy, formulaic answers to questions of suffering are invariably reductionistic — and they make bad theology, too.”

Read the whole thing.

The History of the NIV Translation Controversy

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Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary recently released the seventeenth volume of their journal, and one of the articles is available as a PDF:

William W. Combs, “The History of the NIV Translation Controversy,” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 17 (2012): 3–34.

Outline:

  1. Translation History of the NIV
  2. Reception of the NIV
  3. Continued Controversy over Translation Philosophy
  4. The Gender-Inclusive Language Controversy
  5. Today’s New International Version
  6. New International Version 2011
  7. Conclusion

It’s an informative survey.

Update on 3/31/2017: In my latest attempt to explain how to interpret and apply the Bible, I include a chapter on Bible translation (pp. 50–81).

James: The Latest Volume in B&H’s Exegetical Guide to the Greek NT Series

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VlachosIn 2010 I shared my top five books on the letter of James and interviewed Chris Morgan on the theology of James.

Now I’d add this book to that top-tier list:

Chris A. Vlachos. James. Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2013. 225 pages.

This sample 53-page PDF includes

  • Endorsements by Craig Blomberg, Darrell Bock, Peter Davids, Rob Plummer, Tom Schreiner, and Bob Yarbrough
  • The table of contents
  • Doug Moo’s foreword
  • Other front matter
  • The introduction and notes on James 1:1–4

We’re Moving to Minneapolis: 5 Reasons We’re Excited to Serve at Bethlehem College and Seminary

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bcsLogoColorBethlehem College & Seminary (BCS) just announced that I’ll be joining their faculty in August 2013 as Assistant Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology.

Jenni and I are grateful to God and excited to join the BCS family. We’re planning to move to Minneapolis this summer.

If you don’t know much about BCS, these links are a good place to start:

We’re excited to serve at BCS for at least five reasons:

1. Doctrine

The doctrine BCS affirms and celebrates is what we affirm and celebrate. [Read more…] about We’re Moving to Minneapolis: 5 Reasons We’re Excited to Serve at Bethlehem College and Seminary