Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Why People Hate the Sermon on the Mount

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After I heard Tim Keller’s two-minute illustration (38:45–40:45) on the Sermon on the Mount, I tracked down the article he references.

Here it is (published 25 years ago):

Virginia Stem Owens. “God and Man at Texas A&M.” Reformed Journal 37, no. 11 (1987): 3–4.

Most of the students at my university come from middle-class, conservative, Republican families. The vices here, like the values, are traditional—weekend drunkenness and sexual promiscuity. Things a parent can understand.

Therefore, when I assigned my freshman English class “The Sermon on the Mount,” a selection in their rhetoric textbook taken from the King James Version, I had expected them to have at least a nodding acquaintance with the reading and to express a modicum of piety in their written responses. After all, Texas has always been considered at least marginally part of the Bible Belt. [Read more…] about Why People Hate the Sermon on the Mount

Audiobook Sale for Les Misérables (2008 Translation by Julie Rose)

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roseWhen Julie Rose’s fresh translation of Les Misérables came out in 2008, I began checking and waiting for its audiobook. It finally came out last year, and it’s currently about 50% off from Audible.

Jenni and I have enjoyed listening to it. We’re about 12 hours in to this massive 60-hour book. (Warning: The opening part about the priest is s-l-o-w [and we used double-speed!], but it picks up after that.) Jenni read it several times in her teens, but this is my first time through the unabridged version.

The narrator is not bad. You can sample the audiobook here. [Read more…] about Audiobook Sale for Les Misérables (2008 Translation by Julie Rose)

Critiquing William Webb’s Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic

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Reaoch - coverFive months ago I highlighted Don Carson’s critique of William Webb’s trajectory hermeneutic (copied at the end of this post).

Now there’s a more comprehensive, book-length critique:

Benjamin Reaoch. Women, Slaves, and the Gender Debate: A Complementarian Response to the Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2012.

It revises Reaoch’s PhD dissertation at Southern Seminary under Tom Schreiner, who writes the foreword.

Reaoch makes several arguments:

  • Slavery and the role of women are two critically different issues.
  • The NT neither condemns nor commends slavery.
  • Gender passages apply transculturally because they are rooted in creation.

[Read more…] about Critiquing William Webb’s Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic

Alleviating Poverty

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Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor—and Yourself. 2nd ed. Chicago: Moody, 2012. 272 pp.

From David Platt’s foreword:

[T]his book is virtually required reading for everyone in our church who is intentionally engaging the poor here and around the world. I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone who is passionate about spreading and showing the love of Christ to the “least of these.” [Read more…] about Alleviating Poverty

A Book on Heaven That Doesn’t Speculate

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heaven_cover“Dan Barber and Robert Peterson’s Life Everlasting is clear, timely, and important. It is biblical, too, both in content and in structure, as it refrains from speculation and highlights the Bible’s own key themes of heaven.”

That endorsement by Chris Morgan sums up this book well:

Dan C. Barber and Robert A. Peterson. Life Everlasting: The Unfolding Story of Heaven. Explorations in Biblical Theology. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2012.

  • 238 pp.
  • 19-page PDF available here (includes the table of contents)
  • Endorsements by Darrin Patrick, Sam Storms, Stephen Wellum, Stephen Nichols, and others

The authors give a road map to the book: [Read more…] about A Book on Heaven That Doesn’t Speculate

This Is How We Pray for Our Children

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crowleyGuest post by J. D. and Kim Crowley

[The Crowleys have six children, and J. D. is a pioneer missionary-linguist in Cambodia.]

For around 30 years Kim and I have prayed for our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and their spouses (often during a time of fasting and prayer during the Tuesday or Wednesday lunch hour). Besides praying for individual requests as needs arose, we have prayed the same general requests below, week after week, year after year—and we’re constantly amazed how God faithfully answers. [Read more…] about This Is How We Pray for Our Children