In Augustine’s Confessions his description of Ambrose as a pastor is instructive. He mentions how Ambrose is taken up with ministering to the needs of his people (“to whose infirmities he devoted himself”) and then stealing time for study (Book 6.3). His first mention of Ambrose’s labors provides a model portrait for pastors: And to …
I have had the privilege of reading a pre-publication copy of Leland Ryken’s forthcoming book, The Legacy of the King James Bible: Celebrating 400 Years of the Most Influential English Translation, which is due out from Crossway in January. Too many people my age and younger will simply yawn at the 400th anniversary of the …
Continue reading ‘Leland Ryken’s Forthcoming Book on the KJV’ »
I am pleased to be busily working on two conferences through the Ryan Center for Biblical Studies for 2011. I believe both will be helpful for pastors and laypeople. This Spring we will host our regular bi-annual Bible study conference. This time our theme will be “Read the Bible for Life” and our plenary speaker …
John D. Currid, in his recent commentary, The Expectant Prophet: Habakkuk Simply Explained, sets the stage of this minor prophet with these words: “At the very heart and core of the Scriptures is the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. What this means is that God is the Creator of the universe, Lord and Master …
In the recent translation of Augustine’s Homilies on the First Letter of John, Boniface Ramsey in his introduction describes Augustine’s sermons in this way: “…they are marvelous examples of the easy interaction that Augustine enjoyed with his congregation; they demonstrate his ability to adapt to the moment, to show how scripture spoke to contemporary issues, …
In our opening session of our men’s class at church Wednesday night we started with this video from Darrin Patrick which many of you have no doubt seen. Patrick is introducing a book on church planting, but his point in this video is the importance of men in the life of the church. We took …
Continue reading ‘Eusebius, How God Used Men to Uphold His Church’ »
I have been perusing Robert Jenson’s new Ezekiel commentary in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series and have found much to like. Jenson does not hedge his bets but rights in a straightforward, winsome manner affirming confidence in the text and its theological meaning. For example in reference to the date of Ezekiel, …
Recently Tremper Longman created quite a stir when he argued, in the video below, that it was unnecessary to hold to a literal Adam in the Genesis account. I am among those who found this very disturbing given the place of Adam in Paul’s thinking (esp. Romans 5). I was intrigued then to see what …
Duguid’s recent commentary on these three oft neglected prophets is a great resource for preaching and teaching particularly due to his “Application” sections where he demonstrates how to properly apply these books in a New Covenant setting. The whole task of applying Old Testament books to our New Covenant setting is so often misunderstood and …
Continue reading ‘Duguid on Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi’ »
I have often argued for simplifying the busy schedule churches often have. I just recently came across this quote from Craig Barnes book, The Pastor as Minor Poet: “So rather than developing a ‘seven day a week’ church that fills up the members’ lives with church activity, the poetic pastor will wonder why these folks …