Archive of entries posted by Ray
The Bible- Moralisms or Gospel
While reading on the King James I recently found an interesting quote from Bruno Bettelheim’s book, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (Alfred A. Knopf, 1976). The portion cited was the following: “As long as parents fully believed that Biblical stories solved the riddle of our existence and its purpose, …
KJV Anniversary & the Waning Influence of the Bible in American Culture
Robert Alter, in his fascinating book, Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible, makes this observation about the difference seen in American culture from the 300th anniversary of the KJV (1911) to today. “As I assemble these reflections on the presence of the King James Version in American writing, the fourth centennial …
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Ordination, Prayer of Dedication
It was my privilege yesterday to preach at the ordination of Corey Cummings, a former student of mine. As part of the service, a prayer of dedication was given which Corey had written. Because I thought this prayer expressed well the sort of things a pastor ought to desire to have prayed for him, I …
To the Men Who Lose
I recently came across this poem and appreciated it. It can apply to various situations, and the field of pastoral ministry is certainly one of them. Many faithful brothers never win the world or the church’s applause or even appreciation. Sometimes a faithful work fails. And every faithful work has it share of failures- and …
Nathan Finn’s New Edition of Help to Zion’s Travellers
I have had the privielge of reading through the draft of Nathan Finn’s new edition of Robert Hall’s Help to Zion’s Travellers soon to be published by Borderstone Press. This book was orignially published in 1781, and had significant influence on William Carey and others involved in the renewed mission efforts of that day. Finn …
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Pastoral Epistles & Pauline Theology at ETS
Latest from PastoralEpistles.com: I previously announced the creation of a new consultation of the Pastorals at the Evangelical Theological Society to begin meeting this Fall. As stated before, the overall goal of this consultation is to explore the ways that the exclusion of the Pastoral Epistles has impacted the work of Pauline theology and how …
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Conduct Gospel-Centered Funerals
This week my fellow pastors & I discussed the pastor’s role at funerals with our pastoral apprentices, and I was glad to be able to commend this new book by Brian Croft and Phil Newton– Conduct Gospel-centered Funerals: Applying the gospel at the unique challenges of death. Newton and Croft are both experienced pastors who …
Pastor as Shepherd in a Children’s Book
I am currently reading to my children Douglas Jones’ little book, Huguenot Garden, which is a fictional story of the experiences of one Huguenot family as they seek to be faithful to God under persecution. There are many good points in the book, but one section we read last night stood out as brought home …
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KJV Coverage
Hopefully you have seen a number of the essays that have been written this year on the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. Since May is the actual anniversary of the publication of the KJV there has been a flurry of stories in the last week or so. Here is an overview of some …