Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Kevin DeYoung

Ten Resources That Have Helped Me Make Sense of Our Current Culture and How Christians Are Responding to It

by

In summer 2021 I prepared a talk for the young adults in my church on resources that have helped me make sense of our pagan culture. I recently updated that for the Spring 2022 issue of CBMW’s journal Eikon:

Andrew David Naselli. “Ten Resources That Have Helped Me Make Sense of Our Current Culture and How Christians Are Responding to It.” Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology 4.1 (2022): 116–41.

PDF | web version

These are the ten resources I commend and annotate (the first five are by non-Christians):

1. Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure (New York: Penguin, 2018).

[Read more…] about Ten Resources That Have Helped Me Make Sense of Our Current Culture and How Christians Are Responding to It

The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden

by

biggestKevin DeYoung. The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015.

This book targets children ages 5–12. As with Kevin DeYoung’s other publications, he writes clearly, creatively, and soundly. It’s short enough that I read the whole book in one sitting to my three girls (at the time ages 7, 4, and almost 3). They followed it intently. And a few months later my wife read it to the girls in several sittings.

This book isn’t ideal to use to teach children the Bible’s detailed storyline; it’s too brief for that. It makes more sense if you already know the Bible’s basic storyline so you can follow the witty story-telling and fill in the gaps. But what it does, it does very well. No wasted words. Compact. Crisp. Compelling.

Kevin explains the book’s background here.

See also some brief reviews:

  1. Ray Van Neste
  2. Carl Trueman
  3. Doug Wilson

Update (9/1/2016): The book is now available as a 26-minute video. Here’s a preview:

What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

by

DeYoungThis book releases this month:

Kevin DeYoung. What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015. 158 pp.  

Check out this 36-page PDF sample. (And here’s a free corresponding 36-page study guide.)

I read a draft of this book last December, [Read more…] about What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

Taking God at His Word

by

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.”

Kevin DeYoung’s “The Hole in Our Holiness”

by

holeThis book is as good as advertised:

Kevin DeYoung. The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 159 pp. | 20 pp. sample PDF

DeYoung emphasizes what some who hold a Reformed view of sanctification tend not to emphasize: effort (i.e., Spirit-powered, gospel-driven, faith-fueled effort). And it helps that he can flat-out write.

I ordered the audiobook for my wife (who found Kevin’s T4G sermon so helpful that she listened to it three times). [Read more…] about Kevin DeYoung’s “The Hole in Our Holiness”

Why, Where, and How Do We Draw the Line?

by

The current issue of Tabletalk is on “Drawing the Line: Why Doctrine Matters.”

These two articles are particularly worth reading:

  1. DeYoung, Kevin. “Where and How Do We Draw the Line?” Tabletalk 36:7 (July 2012): 13–14. (Also on Kevin’s blog.)
  2. Trueman, Carl R. “Why Do We Draw the Line?” Tabletalk 36:7 (July 2012): 21–22.

DeYoung suggests and explains “seven steps we ought to pursue in establishing doctrinal boundaries”: [Read more…] about Why, Where, and How Do We Draw the Line?

Some Kevin DeYoung MP3s

by

I’ve recently listened to several MP3s by Kevin DeYoung, and they’ve all been outstanding:

Two lectures on preaching at Westminster Theological Seminary (November 2011)

  1. How Can a Biblical Sermon Be So Boring? Part 1: The Case for Clarity, Specificity, and Authenticity
  2. How Can a Biblical Sermon Be So Boring? Part 2: The Case for Ingenuity, Spontaneity, and Authority

Two sermons and an interview from the NEXT conference (May 2012)

  1. The Church and Friendship
  2. The Church and Holiness [focus on the conscience]
  3. A Conversation Between Friends | interviewed by C. J. Mahaney

A sermon and a panel discussion at T4G (April 2012)

  1. Spirit-Powered, Gospel-Driven, Faith-Fueled Effort [video]
  2. Contextualization: Lost in Translation? [video] | panel

A sermon series on 2 Peter (March–November 2010)