Bible, Theology & Philosophy

Genuinely conservative Christianity is hard to find. Discovering people who understand Christian conservatism is even harder. Many Christians think that they are conservatives when, in fact, they are committed to alternative liberalisms in significant aspects of their thought and practice. Most likely the reason for this phenomenon is that most people do not realize that liberalism comes in more than one form.

Stott, John. Revelation: The Triumph of Christ. John Stott Bible Studies. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Connect, 2008. Booklet, 64 pages.

(Review copy courtesy of InterVarsity Press.)

Payton, James R. Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2007. Softcover.

(Review copy courtesy of InterVarsity Press.)

Barrett, Michael P. V., Love Divine and Unfailing: The Gospel According to Hosea. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008. Paperback, 224 pages

(Review copies courtesy of P&R Publishing.)

Want to know a secret? Something really personal? The kind of thing that could actually end up in a tabloid?

Well, here it is.

I love Christmas.

No, really. I love Christmas.

I love seeing trees and buildings aglow with colored lights. I love the smell of fresh-baked gingerbread. I love the red of bows and berries against the deep green of pine and holly. I love the jingling of sleigh bells and the soft sound of carols wafting in the streets.

O Father of lights, with Whom is neither variableness nor shadow of turning, from Your hand receive we every gift, each one good and perfect. Naught have we of our own; nothing do we possess that we were not given. Our open hands know not for what they grasp, but discover themselves filled with goodness and blessing from Your bounty.

The night before He was crucified, Jesus spent an extended period teaching His disciples. Apparently He began teaching His disciples while they were in the upper room, then continued to teach them as they left the room and walked toward Gethsemane. Part of what He taught them centers upon the image of the vine and branches, reported in John 15:1-8. Specifically, in the context of this image, Jesus uttered the command to “abide in me.”

One of the marks of the emerging churches is a certain kind of rejection of the distinction between the sacred and the secular. Of course, pious people have always insisted that none of life is secular, that all of life is (or ought to be) lived as worship to God. The pietistic approach is to extend the rubric “sacred” to all of life so that even life outside of church is regarded as sacred.

Word arrived earlier this week that Pillsbury Baptist Bible College will cease operations in December. This announcement was not entirely unexpected. Nearly two years ago, announcements were made nationwide that if the situation did not improve, Pillsbury would be in jeopardy. Those of us in Minnesota have been watching the slow strangulation of our college ever since.

Read Part 1.

Let me talk to all you younger guys out there. I’m on your side—I agree that younger leaders have something to contribute and should be heard. I don’t think that they should have to wait until they’re forty to get people to listen to them.