Alex Chediak

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Theology

Stephen Westerholm

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Stephen Westerholm's Perspectives Old and New on Paul: The "Lutheran" Paul and His Critics is one of the most outstanding books I have ever read or seen on the issues of Paul, the law, and justification. Westerholm masterfully summaries the views of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley on matters such as sin, law, and redemption. Then he chronicles twentieth century responses to Paul, both those who are critical to the "Lutheran" slant on Paul (sharp dichotomy between law and gospel) -- everyone from Albert Schweitzer, Krister Stendahl, E.P. Sanders, N.T. Wright, James D.G. Dunn -- and … [Read more...] about Stephen Westerholm

Mark Dever on Healthy Churches

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Mark Dever, Executive Director of Nine Marks ministries and senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, has just published another book that is sure to be a great blessing to all who care about healthy church life. In this most recent work, Dever addresses the difference between "comfort" and "health" in local church life. Building on his earlier Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Dever unpacks how both pastors and laypeople can strengthen their local congregations in essential areas such as expositional preaching, biblical theology, and a biblical understanding of the gospel. Jim Hamilton … [Read more...] about Mark Dever on Healthy Churches

Law and Gospel – Part IV

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Continuing the series on Law and Gospel: 3. How should the two occurrences of “righteousness of God” in Romans 10:3 be defined (and translated)? My paraphrase of Rom. 10:3 is: For because of their inexcusable ignoring of the righteousness which comes from God, and because they are seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God’s righteousness. The way in which “their own” is understood is important. For Dunn, the phrase is to be understood corporately and nationally – something belonging peculiarly “to them” (as a race) rather than “to others” … [Read more...] about Law and Gospel – Part IV

Prominent Southern Baptist Church Elects a Female Senior Pastor

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Julie Pennington-Russell, a married mother of two, was voted on Sunday (June 17, 2007) to become senior pastor of 2,700-member First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga. She will begin her ministry with First Baptist on Aug. 19. Pennington-Russell, 46, has been serving as the senior pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas since 1998. She claims that Calvary was the first Baptist church in Texas to call a woman as a senior pastor. The Southern Baptist Convention's current Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) – the denomination's confession of faith – adopted and revised in 2000, limits the … [Read more...] about Prominent Southern Baptist Church Elects a Female Senior Pastor