For anyone who doesn’t know… I just finished my second semester of Greek at Reformed Theological Seminary (Atlanta Campus). It has been a great year learning the language of the New Testament. So, to celebrate the completion of my second semester, I decided to let my son, Ezekiel, start learning. Now, he’s only 9 months old, but I think he’s catching on pretty fast! 🙂
And, for anyone interesting in learning Greek, this is a great book to use!
Enjoy the video!
Thousands of dollars in free books are being compiled for give on December 24, 2007! This is something crazy that I stumbled upon recently and once I found out how to enter I just couldn’t pass it up. 🙂
Here are the contest details:
Thousands of dollars in free books – Library Giveaway
Take a look at his site under the topic of “Giveaway” and you will see the books that have been added recently. Hopefully there will be plenty of books added to the stock by December 24, 2007, so that the giveaway really is about $10,000 in free books!
What a great Christmas present indeed!
For anyone interested in a great book on Theology that is easy to read and understand and doesn’t take very long to go through, I recommend this one:
For those of you who have not heard…
Doug Wilson and Christopher Hitchens will be debating their views against each other over at Christianity Today! The Debate is over “Is Christianity Good for the World?” This is going to be a great and lively debate between a great Christian pastor and a popular atheist.
Here is the hilarious jest that Wilson made over at his blog. Enjoy!
For those of you who don’t know. Doug Wilson has written many wonderful books on the family and Christian education. The title of Wilson’s book above is a real book he’s written. It’s just hilarious that he dressed up like Hitchens and made a book cover!
I could hardly stop laughing. 🙂
For more on Wilson’s view of satire and Trinitarian skylarking, see A Serrated Edge. I’ve read this book and it is awesome!
In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,
This should prove to be an interesting book. I have Dr. Fesko’s book on Genesis 1-3 entitled “Protology” andĂ‚Â found it to be very informative.Ă‚Â I think this might be the same book, but now it has been published by a bigger company. Eitherway, this should be a very thought provoking book for anyone interested in understanding God’s plan for mankind throughout the ages.
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Publisher Description: We think that we know the first three chapters of the Bible well – Creation and the Fall, we say, knowingly. But have we ever stopped to consider that Jesus in the book of Revelation is called ‘the last Adam’ and the ‘Alpha & Omega’? Should this make a difference to how we look at the first three chapters of Genesis? Dr. John Fesko says that it does and that without seeing Christ and the end days, we cannot understand the first days.
Over the controversies that surround these first three chapters he says ‘there are many theologians who represent different schools of thought. Is there a better way to approach the opening chapters of Genesis in spite of the debate? The answer to that question is an unqualified, ‘Yes’… The way through the impasse is to interpret Genesis in the manner presented in the New Testament. More specifically, one must interpret Genesis 1-3 in the light of Christ and Eschatology.’
By doing this, he is able to explain this important portion of scripture from a holistic Christological viewpoint, one that is consistent throughout scripture. If you are tangled up on origins in Genesis then this may be your way through the maze.
(HT: Green Baggins)
This is a book I highly recommend listening to when you get a chance. Especially if you are involved or plan to be involved in the ministry. Best of all… it’s FREE!
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In his introduction, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” This charge from Acts 20:28 only is the beginning of a solemn and overarching task to be personally involved and disciple all of your congregants. Richard Baxter’s plea for shepherding his flock continues with a charge to pastors to verify their own spiritual walk and then walks them through various disciplines, strategies and goals to guide and instruct their congregation.
Use the coupon code MAY2007 during check out to get the download format of The Reformed Pastor free!
Price: $0.00
List Price: $22.98
This is a book I hope to purchase soon. I recommend that anyone interested in Reformational thought and history consider purchasing it for their reading pleasure.
You can read the table of contents, the preface, and the introduction online.
Publisher Description: The Reformed churches of the sixteenth century affirmed the need to be semper reformanda—always reforming.
But in the ensuing centuries, some have taken this conviction as a mandate to abandon the departure from received orthodoxy, while others have progressed toward a rigid confessionalism that cements the Reformation itself as a final codification of truth.
Between these extremes is the ongoing need of the church to be always reforming—subjecting its beliefs and practices to the renewed scrutiny of Holy Scripture and restating the truth of Scriptures in ways that faithfully communicate the gospel, advance the mission of the church and empower the people of God.
This collection of essays by senior theologians and edited by A. T. B. McGowan practices what it preaches, mining the whole terrain of systematic theology to refresh, renew and yes, even reform the church for its next season.
Westminster Bookstore is the first book seller in the US to offer this great new book! Check outĂ‚Â the books web site over atĂ‚Â WTS Books and see all the cool features.Ă‚Â
They have an exclusive “Ask the Authors” discussion setup for those of you who purchase the book and have specific questions. Enjoy!
(HT: James Grant)
This is the book I am currently reading: Justification in Perspective: Historical Developments and Contemporary Challenges
Here is what one reviewer said:
“As the doctrinal fountainhead of the Reformation and subsequent Protestant tradition, any innovation concerning justification tends to spark explosive discussion. All too frequently, these incendiary debates favor collateral damage over precision strikes. Alternatively, serious debate across lines of disagreement has often spurred past theological leaders to further, careful reflection and insight. Justification in Perspective is an excellent example of this latter sort of constructive theological dialogue. Each contributor comes from one of Reformed Protestantism’s many strands and examines justification within a particular period or theologian from the early church and Augustine through the Reformers to modern developments in Barth and the New Perspective.”
So far, the book has been an excellent read. Their interaction is honest and humble in seeking to understand and explain the history of the debate. If you want to look at much of the past and current debates and viewpoints regarding the doctrine of Justification, then this is the book for you.
As an example of what I’ve read, I found the chapterĂ‚Â about the Council of Trent extremely eye opening and helpful.
Here is a breakdown of the chapters:
PART 1: The Protestant Doctrine of Justification: The Heart of Protestant Preaching
1. Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference Sermon (Mark Bonnington)
PART 2: The Protestant Doctrine of Justification: Its Antecedents and Historical Development
2. Justification in the Early Church Fathers (Nick Needham)
3. Justification in Augustine (David F. Wright)
4. Simul Peccator et Justus: Martin Luther and Justification (Carl Trueman)
5. Calvin’s Doctrine of Justification: Variations on a Lutheran Theme (Karla Wubbenhorst)
6. A Tale of Two Imperial Cities: Justification at Regensburg (1541) and Trent (1546-1547) (Anthony N.S. Lane)
7. Justification and the Ordo Salutis (A.T.B. McGowan)
PART 3: The Protestant Doctrine of Justification: Continuities and Discontinuities in Current Challenges to the Traditional View
8. Justitia Aliena: Karl Barth in Conversation with the Evangelical Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness (Bruce L. McCormack)
9. The Lutheran-Catholic Declaration on Justification (Henri A. Blocher)
10. The Doctrine of Justification in Paul and Beyond: Some Proposals (Simon Gathercole)
11. New Perspectives on Paul (N.T. Wright)
Author Information: Bruce L. McCormack (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary; Dr. theol. h.c., Friedrich Schiller University) is the Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. A world-renowned Barth scholar, he is a frequent writer and lecturer on topics of Reformed theology.
Gary DeMar has just posted his initial thoughts on John MacArthur’s new commentary on the Book of Revelation. You can see his post over at Wittenberg Hall. Enjoy!
