Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile explains the value of authority---civil, parental, pastoral, and marital. He defines authority as "the right and ability to control, command, or determine the proper responses of others." Excerpt: "God laces all of life with some form of authority. It's clear, then, that a wholesale rejection of God-ordained authority leads inexorably to anarchy, instability, unrestrained desires, evil, and the judgment of God." … [Read more...] about The Role of Authority
Why We Believe the Bible
In 1969, Dr. Daniel Fuller wrote: "Thus we can never say that the Bible's good news is true news because it is good news. Instead, its truth must be based on something besides our desire for it to be true. There are two ways the attempt has been made to show the Bible as true. One way is to argue from its historical origins; the other, to argue from the gift of faith that God gives a man to credit it as true." (Hermeneutics, Chapter 8) In the Why We Believe the Bible seminar taught by John Piper, Apprentices were asked to read chapters 7 and 8 of Fuller's 1983 volume Hermeutics (either … [Read more...] about Why We Believe the Bible
Collin Hansen on Mark Driscoll
Writing for Christianity Today, Collin Hansen pens an engaging overview of Mark Driscoll. An excerpt: "The spectrum of response speaks to his sharp tongue—his greatest strength and his glaring weakness. But Driscoll also disturbs many fellow evangelicals because he straddles the borders that divide us. His unflinching Reformed theology grates on the church-growth crowd. His plan to grow a large church strikes postmoderns as arrogant. His roots in the emerging church worry Calvinists. No one group can claim him. Maybe that's why they all turn their guns on him." (HT: JT) … [Read more...] about Collin Hansen on Mark Driscoll
Interview with Piper on Wright
The DG blog will be posting a seven-part interview with John Piper over the next few weeks leading up to the October 23 release of The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright. Here is the publisher's description: N.T. Wright, a world-renowned New Testament scholar and bishop of Durham in the Church of England, has spent years studying the apostle Paul’s writings and has offered a “fresh perspective” on Paul’s theology. Among his conclusions are that “the discussions of justification in much of the history of the church—certainly since Augustine—got off on the wrong foot, at least … [Read more...] about Interview with Piper on Wright
Paul Collier on Poverty and Growth
"Cuba is a stagnant, low-income, egalitarian country with good social services. If the bottom billion emulated Cuba, would this solve their problems? I think that the vast majority of the people living in the bottom billion---and indeed in Cuba---would see it as continued failure. To my mind, development is about giving hope to ordinary people that their children will live in a society that has caught up with the rest of the world. Take that hope away and the smart people will use their energies not to develop their society but to escape from it---as have a million Cubans." Paul Collier, … [Read more...] about Paul Collier on Poverty and Growth
ESV Literary Study Bible
The father and son team of Leland Ryken, the Clyde S. Kilby professor of English at Wheaton College, and Philip Graham Ryken, senior minister at the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, have teamed up to produce the ESV Literary Study Bible. This newly released resource explores the Bible’s story lines, complex characters, historical settings, literary genres, motifs, theological themes, imagery, and important terms. The commentary (which accompanies the ESV text) focuses on the literary features of the Bible, as distinct from historical, cultural, or linguistic features. It … [Read more...] about ESV Literary Study Bible