Today I have been studying a portion of Acts 10 and have been particularly delighted with Melancthon Jacobus’ Notes, Critical and Explanatory, on the Acts of the Apostles reprinted by Solid Ground Christian Books. I have commended this work but could not help doing so again. Jacobus, a 19th century author, makes theological comments as …
Dear Gentlemen, A dead ministry will always make a dead people. Whereas, if ministers are warmed with the love of God themselves, they cannot but be instruments of diffusing that love among others. This, this is the best preparation for the work whereunto you are to be called. Learning without piety, will only make you …
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Doug Baker, editor of The Baptist Messenger, has written a helpful article on how programs have come to dominate church life and ministry titled “Against the McDonaldization of the SBC.” Drawing from Richard Baxter, Doug hits some key points on how program efficiency too easily becomes the goal rather than community and ministry. Here is …
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“God did not intend that we study our Bibles in a mental vacuum. John Nelson Darby and G. Campbell Morgan both decided that for an extended time they would read only the Bible. They soon discovered that this plan was a mistake. The danger of reading only the Bible is that we do not then …
Today as I ran an errand I caught a portion of a popular old song. It had a drawing power to it, and it brought to mind some things I had been thinking about, pondering the work of Jack Collins (see his masterful notes on the Psalms in the ESV Study Bible). Songs by their …
This week Matt Crawford, who is doing doctoral work in patristics, pointed me to Gregory of Nazianzus’ (c. 329-390) second theological oration which he preached after having initially fled from his ordination as bishop. Reading this oration, its influence on Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care was obvious. The writing is tedious at times and the …
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Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars, written about 120 AD, provides interesting historical information. His description of Nero resembles some of celebrity culture today- egotistical, pursuit of applause, self-centered, exaggerated sense of self-importance. “He [Nero] also chose a few young equites and more than 5,000 ordinary youths, whom he divided into claques to learn the various Alexandrian …
In 1990 Saul Bellow, Pulitzer and Noble Prize winning author made this observation: “In today’s Chicago Tribune I learn that the American Catholic bishops have hired, at a fee of five million dollars, a public relations firm to direct their anti-abortion campaign… to ‘practice paid persuasion,’ says the writer of this Tribune article. Evidently the …
Connecting my last two posts, Paul Schneider is an example of Spirit-empowered boldness. As he shepherded his people he found himself compelled to call evil by name as he saw it in the Nazi party which was solidifying its power in Germany and in the cowardice of some church leaders. Notice the boldness and clarity …
Until recently I had never heard the name Paul Schneider. Then, I was introduced to his powerful story by a compelling lecture by John Dwyer. Following that lecture I bought and read an English translation of Rudolf Wentorf’s book, Paul Schneider: The Witness Of Buchenwald. This edition is not the greatest. The translation is odd …
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