2009-04-27

John Stott cautions preachers from listening to themselves preach, lest they become, in our audio/video age, preoccupied with themselves when preaching. That is, he who has no good friend needs a mirror. John Stott on Self-Forgetfulness

This post at ETC wonders about the starting point that scholars use and their sometimes opposing frameworks for understanding the text. People may sometimes be too quick to postulate two or more editions of OT books or different literary strata represented by different manuscripts. “A literary critic views the history of the text as gradually expanding with one stratum upon another. A LXX textual critic views the history of a Greek text as gradually “shrinking”, i.e. revised towards a stricter adherence to the Hebrew text.” Which do we favour?  When Literary Criticism Meets Textual Criticism

Turk answers some questions concerning why he thinks Driscoll should repent or step down from the pulpit for his course joking on CNN. Course jesting isn’t a matter of 'what will they accept in Crete or Seattle or wherever’ but ‘what does the Bible proscribe?’, and Driscoll has embraced behaviour which is proscribed in the Bible, and done so in a high profile way, thus tarnishing the Gospel. “It's not hard to say you're sorry and you're wrong -- unless you don't believe you are either. And it is in that latter state of mind that all the other concerns gather around.” Q and A with cent

JT points to Roger Nicole's classic 1958 essay, "New Testament Use of the Old Testament," which can now be downloaded. It has three parts: 1. Range of OT References 2. Authority of OT References 3. Accuracy of OT References. In (3), the outline is: 1. The New Testament writers had to translate their quotations; 2. they did not have the same rules for quotations as are nowadays enforced in works of a scientific character; 3. they sometimes paraphrased their quotations; 4. they often simply alluded to Old Testament passages without intending to quote them; 5. they sometimes recorded quotations made by others.

Adams writes that counselors must look for sinful patterns in the counselee. Is the current mess only one of a kind? This pattern must be replaced by the biblical alternative. After repentance, this will take time and coaching. Will They Ever Learn-

Many people engage in polemic in online discourse. Swan points to a description of the language used in medieval argumentation. 16th Century Insults

JT points to some new features on the Reformed Praise site. Reformed Praise

JT has links to Witherington’s reviews of Jesus, Interrupted. Witherington writes, “This book could have been written by an intelligent skeptical person who had no more than a seminary level acquaintance and expertise in the field of NT studies itself. And I do not say this lightly, for this book manifests problems in all areas, if one critiques it on the basis of NT scholarship of the last thirty or so years. There are methodological problems, historical problems, exegetical problems, theological problems, and epistemological problems with this book, to mention but a few areas.” Witherington- Bart Interrupted

Here’s an interview with Bruce Ware regarding his systematic theology for children. He intends for it to be used in the home and in homeschooling, and desires to help children ‘get God right’, ‘get ourselves right’, and understand Christ’s person and work, and help parents to avoid the self-glorifying error of reducing Christianity to moralism. Big Truths for Young Hearts- An Interview with Bruce Ware

Here’s a point from a message by Ligon Duncan at the Gospel Coalition. Pastors need to read, re-read, and live and minister out of the Pastoral epistles. The liberals made the error of thinking we need to change the message to reach our culture. Modern evangelicalism made the error of thinking that we needed to change our method to reach the culture, assuming wrongly that the method is not essentially related to the message. Rather, Scripture tells us that God has given us the Gospel message and means, and the Pastorals show us how our methods flow out of that message and means. Both traditionalists and progressives unwittingly impose their cultural assumptions, with the former assuming them, and the latter adopting them. Contextualization must be consistent with our theology or our message will be subverted. Ligon Duncan on How the Pastorals Help Us Avoid Two Huge Errors

Ascol posts an interview with Cindy Winters, the widow of pastor Fred Winters, who was shot down recently in a church service, where she gives a grace-filled testimony of the power of the gospel to enable believers to love their enemies. Interview with Cindy, widow of Pastor Fred Winters