Harry Potter for Presbyterians

The Reformed folk of the world (among others) are gearing up for the release of the new ESV Study Bible on Wednesday. Around these parts (especially if you’re a seminary student), it’s going to be insane. I think of it as Harry Potter for Presbyterians.
This past Thursday, when I arrived at Covenant’s bookstore to work my afternoon [...]

How We Know What We Know

I’ve been reading some really good stuff of late on epistemology (that is, “how we know what we know”). With regard to truth, most people feel the pull of the Enlightenment’s demand for proof, as well as postmodernism’s questioning that truth can even exist. Many people (kids especially) feel caught in the middle between what [...]

Eating (and Experiencing) God

“One’s position on the Supper is an accurate index of one’s understanding of the Christian faith as a whole.” The Lord’s Supper by Robert Letham (23)
Previous to embracing Reformed doctrine, I lived a majority of my Christian life with a Zwinglian understanding of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper; that is, communion is a memorial [...]

Some Thoughts on the Holy Spirit

When I was on staff with The Navigators, I used to joke that we in the organization thought of the Holy Spirit as being the member of the Trinity dressed in a three-piece suit sitting quietly in the corner of the boardroom. As a member of the PCA, I sometimes make the same joke (except [...]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Interpretation

A few weeks ago, a post in which I wrote on gay marriage got quite a bit of traffic and discussion. In the midst of the interactions, some important questions came up pertaining to my use of the Bible as the basis for my thinking.
For instance, escapethedrain wrote in comment #2:
“If you are using the bible [...]

Linky, Linky

It’s usually feast or famine for me with links; today, I happen to be eating well. Here are some particularly inspiring links that I hope fill your creative cup and stick to your spiritual ribs:

If you’re not doing anything this weekend, think about checking out the Unversity of St. Louis’ StoryTelling Festival (we’re taking the [...]

On Reading, Thinking, Learning

The best part about education is the worst part about education: the more you learn, the more you realize how much there is to learn. And then comes the worst realization of all: there’s no way or time to learn it all. And that stinks.
I experience this sensation everytime I walk into a library or [...]

Emerging Evangelicalism?

Rob Bell was featured in Time last week, causing somewhat of a stir among the evangelical faithful that perhaps an heir apparent to the fading Billy Graham is emerging. Bell, of course, is used to “emerging” – he’s founding pastor of Mars Hill Church (which I think I visited once back in the mid-90’s but [...]

Owen on the Non-Efficiency of the Bible

Puritan John Owen on why God didn’t just “give us a list” of everything we need to know that we could use more easily than the “non-efficient” nature of the Bible:
“Such a systematical proposal of doctrines, truths, or articles of faith, as some require, would not have answered the great ends of the Scripture itself. [...]

On Predestination

(I’m not sure if anyone’s interested enough to want more than this here, so I’ll just post my strengths/weaknesses lists for Arminianism and Calvinism, as well as my paper’s introduction comparing the books I read on each and we can go from there. If there’s interest, I may post more; if not, no big deal.)
Assignment
Read [...]

How We Know We Are Loved

My kids are always amazing me with what they understand about life. Here’s an exchange my three-year-old and I had this evening while cuddling (a favorite activity for all involved):
Daddy: Do you know I love you?
#4: (smiles and laughs, almost embarrassed) Daddy…
Daddy: No, really. How do you know I love you?
#4: Because I said ‘yes’.
The [...]

Learning from My Methodist Roots

My Reformation and Modern Church History class readings took a somewhat familiar turn today, focusing on the person and teaching of John Wesley, founder of Methodism.
I grew up Methodist, but experienced few intentional and traditional characteristics of Methodism to really know what it was. The small town church of my youth was not (nor is) [...]

Something to Think About for Lent

Lent is upon us, and, rather than spend the rest of my day (and this post) trying to figure out what one thing I should give up for the next 40 days, I thought I’d focus a bit on why to consider giving up anything at all.
John Calvin taught that original sin “seems to be [...]

On Teachers and Teaching

My kind of weekend: intensive January term class on prophecy with visiting prof, Dr. Richard Pratt of Third Millennium Ministries (check out the website – way cool vision); teaching tomorrow morning at Memorial on leadership (specifically how being a good follower is key to being a good leader); and digging into Proverbs to prep for [...]

Humorous, Ludicrous

I’m usually not one for quizzes and the like, but this one seemed interesting enough. While I don’t know all that much about Anselm (yet), Calvin and Edwards are heroes, so it was nice to see them in the top three. I would have liked to have seen Augustine and Marty Luther round out the [...]

Possibly In Need of a Little Persecution?

As part of my Pastoral and General Epistles class with Dr. Dan Doriani, I’m studying the book of Hebrews, which essentially means doing some Greek translation, following along in the lecture notes, and reading William Lane’s excellent commentary, Hebrews: A Call to Commitment. Lane does an amazing job of analyzing and understanding the structure and [...]