Welcome to the SharperIron Blogroll.
The Blogroll is a collection of blogs that are often of interest and help to SI readers. SharperIron does not create the content of these blogs and the views expressed in them are those of their respective writers.
Most people assume that empathy is always virtuous. Two recent DG articles explain how empathy can be sinful:
1. Dodds, Abigail. “The Beauty and Abuse of Empathy: How Virtue Becomes a Tyrant.” Desiring God, 14 April 2020.
Dodds explains three ways to distort or abuse empathy:
2. Rigney, Joe. “Do You Feel My Pain? Empathy, Sympathy, and Dangerous Virtues.” Desiring God, 2 May 2020.
Abstract: Empathy has become a more recognized and applauded virtue in recent decades—so much so that many now count it superior to...
I recently teamed up with my friend Jonathan Leeman to write both a book and an article on politics, conscience, and the church:
New Book (Crossway)
Leeman, Jonathan, and Andrew David Naselli. How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics? 9Marks: Church Questions. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020. (63 pp.)
New Article (Themelios)
...
I recently moderated a panel on the millennium:
The title of the panel is “The Millennial Maze,” which misled many people at the conference to assume the panel would be about millennials!
The panel was part of the Bethlehem College & Seminary Conference for Pastors + Church Leaders and took place on February 4, 2020.
Here’s how I introduce the three panelists:
9Marks just published my review of Rebekah Merkle’s Eve in Exile: And the Restoration of Femininity (Moscow, ID: Canon, 2016).
It’s not so much a critical review as it is a case for Christians to read it. I suggest four reasons:
When my eleven-year-old daughter, Kara, was reading the book, I asked her what she thought of the author.
Kara replied, “She writes like Doug Wilson.” (I had recently read Wilson’s story...
I contributed an article on divorce and remarriage to the latest issue of the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal:
Andrew David Naselli. “What the New Testament Teaches about Divorce and Remarriage.” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 24 (2019): 3–44.
Evangelicals hold three main views on divorce and remarriage:
I argue for view 3b.
Here’s the outline:
1. Matthew 5:31–32 and 19:3–121.1. Jesus Permits but Does Not Require Divorce for Πορνεία
1.2. Remarriage Is Always Legitimate When the Divorce Was Legitimate...
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I have led a lot of funeral services during my twenty-plus years of ministry. Each one is painful and beautiful in its own way. Each one gives a unique opportunity to comfort the family, honor the deceased, and preach the gospel. But the service I led this last Sunday was an unusual one. It was […]
The post My First Stillborn Memorial Service appeared first on Church Works Media.
As if our country weren’t facing enough challenges with COVID-19 and the economic downturn it caused, racial tensions have again erupted. I say “again,” because they never completely disappear, and perhaps they won’t on this side of heaven; they just retreat for a time until another event causes them to boil over. Watching the needless […]
The post Grace > Race appeared first on Church Works Media.
This reading by Chris Anderson comes from Gospel Meditations for Fathers (Day 16), but it’s fitting for all Christians—perhaps especially church leaders—as we try to emerge from quarantine with our varied opinions, consciences, and fears. Read Matthew 11:25–12:21 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy […]
The post The Virtue of Gentleness appeared first on Church Works Media.
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The following was written as an appendix to the audio version of Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible. But there’s a longer story: I sent Dr. Jeff Riddle a review copy of my book, and he submitted a review to a theological journal but kindly sent it to me as well (or first—I do not now recall). I suggested a back-and-forth, a review and response in the journal. Brother Riddle liked the idea, and so did the journal’s book review editor. I spent many hours on my response—especially on shortening it after discovering that it was initially far too long! I sent it in, and the book review editor liked it. But the top editor at the journal felt the debate was too touchy for his readership, and he declined to publish either piece. Riddle ended up sending his piece to the Bible League Quarterly (you can read it here at Riddle’s blog). I ended up using my response in the Authorized audio book...
Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence by Alex Berenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
For every book there is an equal and opposite book. I read Smoke Signals by Martin Lee in preparation for my own small coauthored book, Can I Smoke Pot? Marijuana in Light of Scripture (Cruciform, 2016). I wish Berenson’s excellent book, Tell Your Children: The Truth about Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence, had been available then. It was, like Smoke Signals, journalistic in tone and therefore accessible to a non-specialist like me. But what can I say? Unlike Smoke Signals, I found Tell Your Children...
A story in pictures. Because this new ESV Bible—the ESV Heirloom Single Column Personal Size Bible—needs only a one-word review: exquisite.
Bloggers write words when none are needed, however, because the word-count of the internet is not yet full—so I will oblige with some more words.
The slip case with velvet wrapping up the Bible is exquisite.
The gilt embossing is exquisite.
The goatskin is exquisite. Mmm.
The gilt page edges are exquisite.
The single-column, paragraphed layout is, um, you guessed it.
The Bible stands.
The type (the excellent Lexicon) is exquisite, and the line-matching and bright paper commend it well.
The headings are helpful and elegant. I believe in the value and importance of these ESV headings even more now that I have had to write headings for a commentary project.
The paragraphing and page layout are careful and helpful. They are the exquisite culmination of centuries of tradition combined with the power of...
I have now completed a video series working through Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible—one video per chapter.
I recently read a promoter of exclusive use of the King James Version who argued that if anyone has trouble understanding KJV English, they can just go to Matthew Henry’s commentary for all the explanations they need.
I was skeptical. I still am. It’s just not the job or the concern of a turn-of-the-18th-century commentator to help turn-of-the-twenty-first-century readers understand turn-of-the-17th-century English words that have either died or changed in the last 400 years.
So I checked one of my false friends passages, Romans 5:8—and sure enough… If you know what you’re looking for, Henry nails it. 1) If you realize you don’t understand the word “commend,” and 2) if you realize that Henry’s use of the word commend is putting on display his knowledge of 17th century English, you’ll hear Henry explain the word to you.
So stop: what does commend mean in Roman 5:8 in the KJV?
But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Ask ten redheaded Christians what that word means in that context, and I think eight of them will tell you it means “demonstrates...
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