Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

MP3

Piper on “Planet Earth”

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Last summer I published a blog post entitled “Planet Earth: A Theological Documentary.”

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Yesterday morning during a painfully freezing (!) early morning run, I was listening to an MP3 from John Piper’s 2007 regional conference on “The Pleasures of God.” In part 2 (MP3 | video), Piper describes the pleasure of God in His creation, and he enthusiastically endorses the above “Planet Earth” DVDs.

In the MP3, start at 38:08 to get the context (“God loves the world that He made”) and listen until 42:43. Here are a few highlights:

  • 39:30: “There are many aspects of nature that no human ever sees.” And then some BBC cameraman comes by and captures it!
  • 40:54: This is where the “Blue Planet” and “Planet Earth” endorsement begins.
  • “My wife and I and little girl have worshipped for eight hours watching these unbelievable works of God! There are all these pagans producing this worship DVD!”
  • While they were watching the DVDs, Piper kept saying to his daughter, “That can’t be happening! That can’t be happening!”
  • “I hate evolution. It is so worship destroying! I mean that. Secular, atheistic evolution is worship destroying.”
  • “I get so much pleasure talking about what God has done in creation. It’s way better than talking about movies, but that’s another story.”

Mark Farnham Interview on Fundamentalism

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This morning I listened to Jason Janz (Sharper Iron profile) interview Mark J. Farnham, assistant professor of theology and NT as well as chaplain at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary:

  1. “Four Historical Stages of Fundamentalism” (32:17 min.)
  2. “Current Issues Within Fundamentalism” (22:10 min.)
  3. “Trends in Evangelicalism” (30:07 min.)

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The interview is not filled with energy and humor like the recent Mahaney-Dever interview; Farnham, in comparison, is calm and perhaps a bit monotone. I’d take issue with some of his comments here and there, but I realize that it is very challenging to nuance complex historical and theological issues in an interview like this. If you have been exposed only to the worst forms of fundamentalism or to caricatures of such, you may be surprised to listen to a fundamentalist who doesn’t sound like a belligerent anti-intellectual. Check it out.

Bob Yarbrough MP3s on “Adolf Schlatter and the Future of Christianity”

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Dr. Robert W. Yarbrough‘s 1995 Francis Schaeffer Lecture Series at Covenant Theological Seminary on “Adolf Schlatter and the Future of Christianity” is available for free as nine MP3s.

  1. Schlatter’s Life and Legacy
  2. Schlatter’s Life and Legacy – Q & A
  3. Schlatter’s Interpretation of Scripture
  4. Schlatter’s Interpretation of Scripture – Q & A
  5. Schlatter’s Methodological Genius
  6. Schlatter’s Methodological Genius – Q & A
  7. Schlatter and Prayer
  8. Schlatter’s Promise for the Church and Theology
  9. Schlatter’s Promise for the Church and Theology – Q & A

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Yarbrough is an expert on Adolf Schlatter. In fact, he has been in Korea this very week lecturing on Schlatter in various venues. Yarbrough asserts that Schlatter’s “impact on generations of German pastors and theologians was enormous, and Schlatter’s stock seems to be rising in contemporary discussions. . . . Once little known in the Anglo-Saxon world there is today fresh interest in his work, in part due to the excellent translations of his two-volume New Testament theology by Andreas Köstenberger” (Salvation Historical Fallacy? [listed below], p. 82).

Yarbrough’s Schlatter contributions include the following (listed in chronological order):

  1. “The heilsgeschichtliche Perspective in Modern New Testament Theology.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 1985. [This is not solely devoted to Schlatter, but Schlatter is part of the discussion.]
  2. “Biblical Authority and the Ethics Gap: The Call to Faith in James and Schlatter.” Presbyterion 22:2 (1996): 67-75.
  3. Review of Stephen A. Dintamann, Creative Grace: Faith and History in the Theology of Adolf Schlatter. Evangelical Quarterly 68:3 (1996): 253–56.
  4. Translator of Neuer Werner, Adolf Schlatter: A Biography of Germany’s Premier Biblical Theologian. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996.
  5. “Adolf Schlatter’s ‘The Significance of Method for Theological Work’: Translation and Commentary.” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 1:2 (1997): 64-76.
  6. “Adolf Schlatter.” Pages 518–23 in Historical Handbook of Major Bible Interpreters. Edited by Donald McKim. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1998.
  7. Review of Werner Neuer, Adolf Schlatter: Ein Leben für Theologie und Kirche. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41 (1998): 139–41.
  8. “Adolf Schlatter.” Pages 59–72 in Biblical Interpreters of the Twentieth Century: A Selection of Evangelical Voices. Edited by Walter Elwell and J. D. Weaver. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999.
  9. Review of Adolf Schlatter, Romans: The Righteousness of God, translated by Siegfried Schlatzmann. Themelios 24:2 (1999): 63–64.
  10. “Schlatter Reception Now: His New Testament Theology.” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 3:1 (1999): 52–65.
  11. “Schlatter Reception Then and Now: His New Testament Theology.” Pages 417–31 in Adolf Schlatter, The Theology of the Apostles. Translated by Andreas J. Köstenberger. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999.
  12. “Schlatter, Adolf (1852–1938).” Pages 505-7 in The Dictionary of Historical Theology. Edited by Trevor Hart. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
  13. “Paul and Salvation History.” Pages 297–342 in The Paradoxes of Paul. Vol. 2 of Justification and Variegated Nomism. Edited by D. A. Carson, Peter T. O’Brien, and Mark A. Seifrid. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 181. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004. [This is not solely devoted to Schlatter, but Schlatter is part of the discussion. See pp. 298, 309, 313–17, 319–21.]
  14. The Salvation Historical Fallacy? Reassessing the History of New Testament Theology. Edited by Robert Morgan. History of Biblical Interpretation Series 2. Leiden: Deo, 2004. [This is not solely devoted to Schlatter, but Schlatter is part of the discussion. See pp. 3–5, 81–117, 135–36, 141, 150n194, 256, 267n33, 275n89, 280n123, 286n158, 301n230, 325–28, 342–43, 380–81.]
  15. Co-translator with Andreas J. Köstenberger of Adolf Schlatter, Do We Know Jesus? Grand Rapids: Kregel: 2005.
  16. “Witness to the Gospel in Academe: Adolf Schlatter as a Teacher of the Church.” Perichoresis 4:1 (2006): 1–17.
  17. Revision of “Adolf Schlatter (1852–1938).” In Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters. Edited by Donald McKim. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, forthcoming (November 2007). [This volume is a significant revision of McKim’s Historical Handbook of Major Bible Interpreters.]

Rodney Decker Critiques Bart Ehrman

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Rodney Decker recently uploaded the following article to his useful NT site: “The Rehabilitation of Heresy: ‘Misquoting’ Earliest Christianity.” Jenni and I were fortunate to be present when he presented this paper in July 2007 in Minneapolis. It’s a thoughtful critique of Bart Ehrman‘s recent works.

Update: An MP3 of Decker’s presentation is now available, along with Decker’s brief explanation of the audio.

T4G 2006 MP3s

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MP3s from the 2006 Together for the Gospel conference (both main sessions and panel discussions) are now available for free at the Sovereign Grace store. Highly recommended.

  1. Mark Dever: The Pastor’s Understanding of His Own Role
  2. Panel Discussion 1
  3. Ligon Duncan: Preaching from the Old Testament
  4. Al Mohler: Preaching with the Culture in View
  5. Panel Discussion 2
  6. R. C. Sproul: The Center of Christian Preaching: Justification by Faith
  7. Panel Discussion 3
  8. John Piper: Why Expositional Preaching Is Particularly Glorifying to God
  9. Panel Discussion 4
  10. John MacArthur: Forty Years of Gospel Ministry
  11. C. J. Mahaney: Watch Your Life
  12. Panel Discussion 5

Cf. (1) Preaching the Cross (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007; 176 pp.), which makes available the main sessions from the 2006 conference in print and (2) the edifying T4G video that debriefs on the 2006 conference and talks about the upcoming 2008 conference. The video, like the five panel discussions from the 2006 conference, are hilarious!

Carson at College Church in Wheaton

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D. A. Carson recently preached at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, three Sundays in row: May 20, May 27, and June 3.

  1. May 20: “How to Think About Pastors” (1 Timothy 3:1-7)
  2. May 27: “How to Think About Money” (1 Timothy 6:3-19). In this sermon Carson highly recommends Craig Blomberg‘s Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions.
  3. June 3: “How to Think About the Last Days” (2 Timothy 3:1-17)

College Church is still looking for a pastor. R. Kent Hughes “retired from his pulpit ministry at College Church and was given the title Senior Pastor Emeritus in December 2006.“