Luther on the Preciousness of the Psalter

Throughout the history of the church, key leaders have extolled the value of the Psalms, even its unique value within the canon, typically because it summarizes the whole of scripture and teaches us to worship. Here is Luther echoing this sentiment: “The Psalter ought to be a precious and beloved book, if for no other …

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The Hymns of Philip Doddridge

  Just last night my copy of The Hymns of Philip Doddridge came in the mail, and I was straightway taken in. Doddridge (1702-1751) was mentored by Watts and was a prominent Dissenting minister in England. This volume is a reprint of the posthumously published volume of Doddridge’s hymns with a brief biographical sketch added. …

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“The Story for Little Ones” Misses the Mark

Here is the latest review from my blog on children’s books, The Children’s Hour: The Story for Little Ones: Discover the Bible in Pictures (Zonderkidz, 2011), hb. Ages 3-5 Recently I received a review copy of this book along with some other materials related to Zondervan’s The Story project, an effort to help people see …

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Westerholm- The Pastorals Negate the New Perspective

The latest from PastoralEpistles.com: I have previously mentioned here the new section at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting devoted to the Pastoral Epistles. This section came into being due to the conviction (shared by myself and others) that the exclusion of the Pastorals from our thinking about Paul has skewed our understanding of Pauline theology. …

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Bede, the Pastor

The Ancient Christian Texts series from IVP is a real treasure, as it provides access to writings of the Patristic era. I have been recently thumbing through the new volume, Commentaries on Genesis 1-3, which contains writings from several men including Bede the Venerable. In the introduction to Bede’s commentary, the following quote struck me …

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P. D. James and the “restless desire for change”

Brad Green recently posted this significant quote from P. D. James, the famous British novelist. James takes aim at our society’s “restless desire for change.” It reminded me of Paul’s warning against “youthful desires” (2 Timothy 2:22), which several scholars suggest may refer to a penchant for the novel. This quote is worth contemplating: “We …

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