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Posts Tagged "Culture"

Ehrman-Wallace Debate Wrap-Up

Posted by on Feb 2, 2012 in Blog | 46 comments

Thanks to those of you who were following my tweets from the debate. As promised, here are some further reflections on last night’s debate between Bart Ehrman and Dan Wallace. First of all, both men did a good job presenting their case and responding to each other’s questions. Bart Ehrman is a skilled debater and a very gifted communicator. He took charge of the debate from the very beginning, communicating clearly and directly. He also effectively anticipated many of Wallace’s arguments, especially regarding the number of Greek NT manuscripts. When it was Wallace’s turn, he showed... Read More

When Was Jesus Born, and When Did He Die?

Posted by on Dec 23, 2010 in Blog | 3 comments

Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter every year, but few know when Jesus was actually born and when he died. Not that any great doctrine rests on the calculations below, but it sure is nice that we can have reasonable confidence that the dates of Jesus’ birth and death are secure and can be gleaned from a combination of biblical and extrabiblical historical data. I may not be willing to stake my life on the accuracy of the data below, but I am confident enough of these calculations that the license plate of my van reads as follows: 5BC–AD33. Read More

Surrejoinder to Voddie Baucham

Posted by on Aug 25, 2010 in Blog | 3 comments

Voddie: Thank you for these additional points of follow-up. First of all, thank you for articulating your strong commitment to regenerate church membership, with implication for observance of the Lord’s Supper. I accept your assurance that this is not an FIC issue even though Presbyterians will differ from Baptists on these matters. Perhaps a bit more dialogue is needed on this to crystallize the issue even more clearly. I’m not sure what was unclear about my response regarding the Mohler blog. As I tried to indicate, Dr. Mohler had planned to post a blog but did not end up doing so, and... Read More

Rejoinder to Voddie Baucham

Posted by on Aug 24, 2010 in Blog | 9 comments

Voddie: Thank you for taking the time to read the chapter on God, Marriage, Family, and the Church in the second edition of God, Marriage & Family and for your blog post in response to it. You are a man of God, and I am deeply grateful for your ministry. In fact, I endorsed your most recent book! I think it’s great that you and I seem to agree on the bottom line—you quote at length my positive and constructive prescription on how to move forward in encouraging family-friendly and family-oriented churches (though you prefer the term “family-integrated”). We also agree on the... Read More

The Heresy of Orthodoxy

Posted by on Jul 24, 2010 in Blog | 1 comment

The Bauer-Ehrman thesis contends that “orthodoxy” is not a first-century phenomenon but only a later concept that allowed the Roman church to squelch alternate versions of Christianity. We have seen that Bauer virtually ignores the New Testament evidence while believing to find evidence for early heresy and late orthodoxy in various urban centers of the second century. Ehrman, likewise, makes much of second-century diversity and assigns the notion of orthodoxy to later church councils. The precursors of the orthodox, Ehrman calls “proto-orthodox,” even though it must,... Read More

The Bible Among the Myths

Posted by on Aug 14, 2009 in Blog | 2 comments

In a Zondervan publication, John Oswalt, long-time Old Testament scholar and author of the two-volume commentary on Isaiah in the NICOT series, discusses The Bible among the Myths. In light of controversial books by writers such as Peter Enns or Kenton Sparks, Oswalt tackles an important question: How is the Bible (actually, the Old Testament) similar or different from other ancient (Near Eastern) literature? Is it, to quote the subtitle, “Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature”? In essence, Oswalt argues that while there are doubtless numerous surface similarities between the Old... Read More

Christians and the Economy

Posted by on Apr 27, 2009 in Blog | 1 comment

A generation ago, Francis Schaeffer prophetically lamented that the West had lost its spiritual moorings in its pursuit of prosperity, personal peace, and affluence. Now, as Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter Tanous suggest in their book The End of Prosperity, it appears that this prosperity is fast slipping away, too (though, as will become clear later on, while I agree with their diagnosis, I believe their solution does not nearly go deep enough). In fact, the current economic crisis is global in scope, and the depth of the recession increasingly approaches the magnitude of the Great... Read More

The Church’s Mission: 12 Theses

Posted by on Oct 3, 2008 in Blog | 8 comments

There are few tasks more urgent than for the church to reflect on the nature of its mission and to formulate a clear understanding of its task in the world today. As Paul wrote, “There I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air” (1 Cor 9:26). I developed the following 12 theses as a humble contribution to the ongoing conversation on this topic. THE TWELVE THESES (1) The church’s mission-in both belief and practice-should be grounded in the biblical theology of mission. This requires sustained reflection on the biblical teaching... Read More

The Berlin Declaration

Posted by on Sep 26, 2008 in Blog | 1 comment

In a previous post, I discussed the question, “Do Jews Need to Be Perfected?” An international task force of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) met on the issue of the uniqueness of Christ and Jewish evangelism in Berlin, Germany, from August 18-22, 2008 to consider how the Christian community might express genuine love for the Jewish people, especially in Europe. Participants included Christians from Germany and Messianic Jews. The result was the following “Berlin Declaration.” 1. Love is not Silent: The Need for Repentance We deeply... Read More

Albert Schweitzer

Posted by on Feb 27, 2008 in Blog | 0 comments

This blog was originally written for inclusion in the Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, 4 vols., ed. G. Kurian (Blackwell). Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) was born January 14, 1875 at Kaysersberg in Upper Alsace, Germany, the son of a Lutheran pastor. In 1893, he began his studies at the University of Strassburg, taking classes in New Testament with the well-known German scholar Heinrich Julius Holtzmann. From 1902 until 1912, he served in Strassburg as a lecturer in New Testament, as pastor of a church, and as director of the Thomasstift. Apart from being a New Testament scholar,... Read More

Was Jesus Born on December 25? (with C. L. Quarles)

Posted by on Feb 1, 2008 in Blog | 4 comments

The Christmas season is over, but the debate regarding Jesus’ probable date of birth is never out of date. While many have disparaged the traditional date of December 25, J. Stormer, PCC [Pensacola Christian College] Update (Winter 1996), cited by G. E. Veith, “Evidence December 25 is the right day,” has recently argued for December 25 as a possible date of Jesus’ birth on the basis of the course of temple duties for the clan of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5, 8; cf. 1 Chron 24:10). The argument goes as follows. The sons of Abijah ministered in the eighth month... Read More

Jesus and Politics

Posted by on Jan 7, 2008 in Blog | 2 comments

As Mike Huckabee said a while back, “Jesus was way too smart to run for political office.” Isn’t that the truth. One certainly sympathizes with the candidates having to reinvent themselves about once every few days to appeal to different constituencies of voters. Indeed, Jesus didn’t run for political office. In fact, he said that his kingdom was not of this world. This doesn’t mean he was so otherworldly that he was of no earthly good. To the contrary, he was well aware of people’s anxieties and preoccupation with existential necessities. He was critical of those who hoarded... Read More

David Instone-Brewer Responds

Posted by on Oct 30, 2007 in Blog | 2 comments

NOTE: Time has picked up on this debate (HT: Justin Taylor) David Instone-Brewer took the time to respond to my previous post on divorce and remarriage. In the response he clarifies some misunderstandings connected with his CT article. His response is below: Dear Andreas Thank you for interacting with my work at such length and with such evident understanding of my arguments. I share your main problem with my CT article, which is that some people who are not familiar with my work might conclude that I’m advocating divorce for minor reasons. My actual conclusions are closer to yours –... Read More

Do Jews Need to Be Perfected?

Posted by on Oct 12, 2007 in Blog | 12 comments

A while back, Ann Coulter said on a television program that Jews need to be “perfected,” with reference to the teaching of the Old and New Testament. Her talk show host promptly declared himself “offended,” and later Joe Scarborough, on his show, countered Coulter, saying to his “panel of experts” that “nowhere in the New Testament” did he find the teaching she was talking about. Instead, people would be judged on the basis of whether they fed the hungry, helped the sick, and visited those in prison. He also said we should not judge other people. I know when I’m out of my... Read More

The Drama of Doctrine

Posted by on May 7, 2007 in Blog | 14 comments

Clearly, Kevin Vanhoozer’s book The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology (Westminster John Knox, 2005) is not for the faint-hearted. It is a hermeneutical tour de force with ample Latin terms pressed into service (scientia, sapientia, habitus, theoria, technē, phronesis, et al., et al., ad nauseam; how about including a Glossary in any future editions?) and Vanhoozerian wordsmithing galore. Vanhoozer’s main sources of inspiration for his volume are two: (1) George Lindbeck and his 1984 The Nature of Doctrine; and (2) Hans Urs von Balthasar and his... Read More