Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

John Woodbridge

A Resource for Mentoring Seminary Students: Advice from Don Carson and John Woodbridge

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Update in April 2022: Crossway released a second edition of this book:

Carson, D. A., and John D. Woodbridge. Letters Along the Way: From a Senior Saint to a Junior Saint. 2nd ed. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022.

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Tomorrow begins what I hope will be many meetings with my four new seminary mentees. They are each in year three of our four-year MDiv-program at Bethlehem College & Seminary. Among other things we’re planning to work through many of the letters in this book:

Letters

D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Letters Along the Way: A Novel of the Christian Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 1993.  

I briefly reviewed this book in 2006 after Jenni and I read it together, and I reread it earlier this month. It’s packed with wisdom. So edifying. [Read more…] about A Resource for Mentoring Seminary Students: Advice from Don Carson and John Woodbridge

Subject Index for Carson and Woodbridge’s Letters Along the Way

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Many thanks to Matthew Hoskinson for serving us by preparing a two-page subject index to this book:

D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Letters Along the Way: A Novel of the Christian Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 1993.

More info:

Take a moment to scan the subject index, and don’t be surprised if it makes you want to read the book.

The “Fundamentalist” Label: An Interview with John Woodbridge

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John D. Woodbridge is research professor of church history and the history of Christian thought at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he has taught since 1970. One of his areas of expertise is the history of fundamentalism and evangelicalism. (I benefited from taking a seminar with him on that subject in fall 2007.) His father, Charles Woodbridge, taught at Fuller Seminary (cf. George Marsden, Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism) and later wrote The New Evangelicalism (Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1969). So John Woodbridge has had a front-row seat on this issue since childhood.

Trinity Magazine recently published this useful interview:

John D. Woodbridge. “The ‘Fundamentalist’ Label: An Interview with John Woodbridge.” Trinity Magazine (Spring 2009): 7–9, 23.

The subtitle of this evenhanded interview captures its theme: “We regularly hear people from different religious backgrounds referred to as ‘fundamentalist.’ Is this labeling appropriate?” Woodbridge responds to nine questions and statements:

  1. What do you think the word “fundamentalist” means to people today?
  2. Where did this concept of “world fundamentalisms” come from?
  3. Were there any other significant contributing factors?
  4. Is it legitimate to use the word “fundamentalist” for Muslims?
  5. How does this usage misunderstand actual American fundamentalism as well?
  6. I think what happens in the media is that they end up thinking about the kind of people who bomb abortion clinics, then assume that that’s really where this type of Christianity leads.
  7. What can happen because of this popular misusage of “fundamentalism”?
  8. Has anyone challenged the assumptions of Fundamentalisms Comprehended?
  9. There is a challenge in all this for us as evangelical Christians as well.

Read the whole thing.

For a more thorough handling of this issue, see the following:

Timothy George and John D. Woodbridge. “What’s in a Name: Are We All Fundamentalists?” Pages 123–50, 182–83 in The Mark of Jesus: Loving in a Way the World Can See. Chicago: Moody, 2005. 192 pp. This important chapter traces a significant etymological trajectory of the label “fundamentalist” and usefully overviews fundamentalism’s history.

Book Recommendation: A "Novel" by Carson and Woodbridge

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Letters Along the Way

Last night my wife, Jenni, and I finished reading Letters Along the Way: A Novel of the Christian Life by D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge.

We really enjoyed reading it, and I highly recommend it. This isn’t your typical novel. It’s the compilation of (fictitious) correspondence between two people: Dr. Paul Woodson (i.e., Woodbridge + Carson) and Timothy Journeyman. Professor Woodson is a professor of systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Tim spends part of the book as a student in college and seminary and part of it as a rookie pastor. Tim perennially asks for advice, and Woodson shares his wisdom on all kinds of issues, including assurance of salvation, perseverance, campus evangelism, evangelical seminaries, evangelicalism, foreign politics, marriage, psychology, spiritual formation while in seminary, pastoring, and much more. Reading these made-up letters is almost as personal as if you wrote the question to Drs. Carson and Woodbridge themselves and then received a thoughtful reply.

This is not a heavyweight theological tome. It’s light reading. Jenni would usually read it aloud (to give my eyes a break from reading print and electronic resources all day) while cleaning up after dinner or lying down just before retiring. We’re kind of sad that the book is over, but it was a thoroughly edifying adventure.

Update:

  1. It’s available for free as a PDF.
  2. Subject Index for Carson and Woodbridge’s Letters Along the Way