Word & Spirit

Sites that promote Word & Spirit content

2010-01-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

In the nearly four years that I have been blogging, I have provided dozens of links to other sites. In fact, it's probably the best service I have rendered here. I love surfing the Net and sharing neat stuff I find along the way.

Today's entry is going to be a little different. I will be providing links again --- but to the sites that link back to here.

First, I am honored to have a link to my blog on The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship website. Robert Graves, the president of TTFPS, was kind enough to e-mail and say, "Just discovered your blog. It is the best by a Pentecostal that I have seen." Here is the link (once there, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page).

Second, on February 28 I reviewed the initial issue of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven magazine. A link to that review (and others) is provided on the Purpose Driven Connection website.

Third, in the July/August 2006 issue of Ministry Today magazine, I wrote a review of Bishop N. T. Wright's book, Simply Christian (HarperSanFrancisco). The website devoted to all-things-Wright, www.ntwrightpage.com, provides a link to that review (again, once there, you will need to scroll down almost to the bottom of the page).

Fourth, the Pneuma Foundation website has a link to the article I did on open source theological education for Ministry Today magazine in its November/December 2006 issue. (The link on Pneuma Foundation's page is about a 1/4 of the page down).

Fifth, my friend, Paul Wilkinson, at his blog, Thinking Out Loud, linked to an item I posted about reading through the Scriptures.

Finally, the painting I did of William Wilberforce, can be seen here. Just kidding. One of my father's ancestors, John Rising --- not Jon Rising --- did the painting.

Bethesda celebrates its 75th anniversary

2009-09-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

Seventy-five years ago, in an old tire store on Nevada Avenue in Detroit, a mother of three started a Sunday School for her children and others in the neighborhood.

Tomorrow, more than 3,900 Sundays later, what has become the Bethesda Christian Church will celebrate all that God has done.

M. D. "Mom" Beall was the mother that started the Sunday School. She wasn't looking to pastor a mega-church, but that's what grew from her efforts. Over the decades, what was then known as, the Bethesda Missionary Temple, grew and grew without any of the church growth methods advocated today.

According to her obituary in the Detroit News in September 1979:

"Membership in the tiny church, with Mrs. Beall as pastor, 'just exploded,' said her son, James. When the church grew out of its tiny quarters, Mrs. Beall's husband, a builder joined the project.

"'Dad was the builder; mother the pastor,' her son recalled."

Today, Bethesda is a suburban church in Sterling Heights, Michigan, seating 3,000. It is non-denominational, and can be characterized as Pentecostal or Charismatic (if by Pentecostal one means, practicing speaking in tongues, and if by Charismatic one means, operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit).

After revival broke out in Saskatchewan in 1948, Mom Beall traveled to Western Canada to see what it was all about. Specifically, she went to meetings in Vancouver where the revival had spread, as well.

She returned ablaze with revival fire, and her church in Detroit became one of centers of what became known as, the Latter Rain Movement. Other cities with prominent Latter Rain churches were Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Memphis, and Houston.

Like far too many Pentecostal revivals, pernicious error crept into some of the churches. The most pronounced of these errors was a doctrine called, The Manifest Sons of God. Proponents of that doctrine taught that it did not matter what they did in their mortal bodies, because they had been spiritually glorified. Mom Beall and her children, who all followed her into the ministry, were grieved by such erroneous teaching and withstood it completely.

To my knowledge, the definitive work on the Latter Rain Movement is Dr. Richard Riss's, The Latter Rain Movement of 1948.

Balanced Biblical teaching and spontaneous, anointed praise and worship have been hallmarks of church life at Bethesda. In fact, the late Judson Cornwall, known for his teaching on praise and worship, stood in Bethesda's pulpit once and told the congregation, "I'm not sure why you've asked me to preach on praise and worship. The first time I ever heard the kind of praise and worship that I teach about, I was listening to a tape recording of this congregation." The beauty and harmony of Bethesda's spontaneous worship has been compared to a "heavenly choir" by many that have visited the church.

As noted, Mom Beall passed away in 1979. Her eldest, Patricia Gruits, is in her 80s now, but remains active in teaching and missions ministries. Her book, Understanding God, is a best-seller read worldwide.

The son quoted in the obituary, James Beall, went on to become one of the best-loved speakers in the charismatic movement of the 1970s. From articles in the Logos Journal to speaking at major events like the World Conference on the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem to teachings delivered to Roman Catholic charismatic audiences, James was in the thick of things. He wrote several books, including Laying the Foundation, a methodical teaching on the Christian life using Hebrews 6 as its springboard. He assumed both the pastorate of Bethesda and the microphone of the national radio broadcast, America to Your Knees, from his mother. After decades in Bethesda's pulpit he retired from daily ministry in 2004. He is seen in the photograph above, commissioning his daughter, Analee Dunn, to the senior pastorate.

The youngest of the three, Harry Beall Jr., was for years Bethesda's minister of music and treasurer, in addition to ministering the Word there and in congregations throughout the United States. Now retired from Bethesda's ministry, he lives in Mesa, Arizona.

I salute and thank Bethesda, its congregation and ministers, for 75 years of faithful service. Enjoy your celebration tomorrow!

Bethesda's website can be accessed here. The bulletin for tomorrow's service can be seen here.

REVIEWED: "Simply Christian"

2009-05-19T01:55:00.000-07:00

By Jon Rising
Ministry Today magazine, July/August 2006

Your friend tells you he is going to write a book of apologetics and Christian theology that will — in 240 pages — answer satisfactorily how it is that the Christian faith is reasonable, then go on to explain the continuity of the Christian message across the two testaments, before winding up with explanations of the Trinity, baptism, the canon of Scripture and life in the Spirit.

You avert your eyes from making contact with his. You shift your weight uneasily. You know he is biting off more than he can chew. Unless, of course, your friend is the Bishop of Durham, England, N.T. Wright.

One is tempted to say that Wright's Simply Christian — sure to become a classic — is his magnum opus. Simply the ability to elucidate such critical philosophical and theological themes in short compass would earn that praise. However, Wright already has a magnum opus. The bishop, 57, is best known for his multi-volume work on the New Testament, Christian Origins and the Question of God. It is a work of first-rate scholarship that has earned much acclaim.

But, as he has shown in Simply Christian, Wright knows how to distill the fruits of scholarship for a popular audience. He has done the same in his commentary series, The New Testament for Everyone (written under the name Tom Wright).

There is not a lull in the book — no dissatisfying sections. There are very high moments, though. In the chapter on beauty, the Anglican Wright will have Pentecostal readers coming out of their seats shouting. A sense of worship will be stirred as he deftly explains the Incarnation. And all should marvel as he unpacks the genius of the biblical narrative.

The rich texture God's wisdom calls for the reading and writing of many books (Wright has penned more than 40 himself), but a person who might be exposed to just one Christian tome would be well served by this one.

Strang Communications 2006

A video of Wright lecturing about Simply Christian at the National Cathedral in Washington D. C. can be seen here.

Gordon Fee pens new commentary

2009-05-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

A spokesperson for Eerdmans Publishing Company confirmed for Word & Spirit that Gordon Fee's commentary on the Thessalonian letters is scheduled for release in July.

Fee's volume will replace in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series the volume written by Leon Morris.

Roger Olson critiques Pentecostalism

2009-05-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

Not every critque of the Pentecostal movement is friendly or irenic. Roger Olson's is.

Olson is a professor of theology at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary and a prolific writer (his The Story of Christian Theology, for instance, is a treasure).

He has also spoken in tongues and was, in fact, raised in a Pentecostal home. But, he is Pentecostal no longer. The anti-intellectualism of the movement was one of the factors that drove him away.

Olson's critique of the Pentecostal movement was printed in The Christian Century in 2006, the 100th anniversary of the modern Pentecostal movement.

His comments that specifically addressed Pentecostal anti-intellectualism went this way:

"Endemic to Pentecostalism is a profoundly anti-intellectual ethos. It is manifested in a deep suspicion of scholars and educators and especially biblical scholars and theologians. Yes, there are some Pentecostal scholars who are respected outside the movement: Russell Spittler served as a dean at Fuller Theological Seminary for years; Gordon Fee taught New Testament at Regent College in Vancouver and produced highly regarded volumes in biblical studies; Amos Yong holds a Ph.D. from Boston University and teaches in the doctoral program at Regent University Graduate School of Divinity. Yet too many Pentecostal leaders hold even their own scholars at arms length and view them with suspicion. Merely being a member of the Society for Pentecostal Studies often brings a Pentecostal scholar’s commitment to the movement into question.

"This is without doubt the main reason I drifted away from the movement and eventually broke from it. I was not satisfied with the pat answers I was given by my mentors and teachers to questions I had about Pentecostal doctrines and practices ....

"Not all Pentecostals are anti-intellectual or revel in incoherence. But a deep antipathy to critical rationality applied to theology is a hallmark of the movement. Too often spiritual abuse in the form of shame is directed at those, especially young people, who dare to question the teachings of highly placed Pentecostal ministers and evangelists.

"I was one of the first Open Bible members to attend seminary and, like most Pentecostals who did that, I left the movement. I felt pushed out for wasting my time on intellectual pursuits rather than becoming a missionary or evangelist. Today evangelical seminaries are full of Pentecostal youths. Many of them still find doors closed when they return to their home denominations for ordination or for leadership positions in churches. Pentecostal scholars too often have to work outside Pentecostal institutions and live in the shadows and on the margins of the movement.

"Shaking off this anti-intellectual attitude won’t be easy for the movement; it is part of Pentecostalism’s DNA. A good beginning would be to draw those Pentecostal scholars who work on the margins into the movement’s centers of power and leadership. Honest and open dialogue between Pentecostal leaders and the movement’s own intellectuals -- with promises there will be no negative consequences -- could help shake off some of the mutual suspicion and fear that haunts their relationships. And Pentecostal leaders need to pledge never again to subject eager, faithful and intellectually inclined young people to shame merely for asking tough questions about Pentecostal distinctives."

The full article entitled, "Pentecostalism's Dark Side", can be read here.

Zondervan has published a book that addresses anti-intellectualism in the Pentecostal movement. Assemblies of God missionary Rick Nanez is the author of "Full Gospel, Fractured Minds?" My review of Nanez' book was published in 2006 in Ministry Today magazine. That review can be read here (readers will need to scroll down that linked page to get to the review).

Oh-so-quotable

2009-05-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

"When John stood up after his encounter with the risen Lord, I suspect he was more fully John than ever before. Why? Knowing Papa does that to you. You become yourself by knowing Him as He really is," Larry Crabb in The Papa Prayer (Integrity).

"The gospel is both gift and demand. It is a divine call to both forgiveness and discipleship. It invites us both to 'come and dine' and to 'come and die,'" Larry Hart in Truth Aflame (Zondervan).

"Preaching parables is not the only way to preach to a postmodern. However, as a story it has an appeal to a worldview that rejects the larger story of life but is open, indeed curious, about the smaller stories. The preacher looks for ways to seed the Word. The use of parables is such a way," Brian Stiller in Preaching Parables to Postmoderns (Fortress Press).

"If Christians today were to learn discernment in large numbers, most television evangelists would go out of business!" Simon Chan in Spiritual Theology (InterVarsity Press).

"Like other recent Pentecostal and charismatic scholars such as Gordon Fee and former cessationist Jack Deere, I believe the position that supernatural gifts have ceased is one that no Bible reader would hold if not previously taught to do so," Craig Keener in Gift & Giver (Baker Academic).

"Although there is honest disagreement among Christians about the vailidity of tongues today, I personally cannot find any biblical justification for saying the gift of tongues was meant exclusively for New Testament times," Billy Graham in The Holy Spirit (Thomas Nelson).

Fee and Hubbard publishing new book

2009-04-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Renowned scholars Gordon Fee (left) and Robert Hubbard Jr. have compiled The Eerdmans Companion to the Bible and according to the publisher it will be released in October.

Fee is professor emeritus of New Testament studies at Regent College in Vancouver. A profile of his career was published on this blog last July 8.

This week, Regent is airing an audio lecture series by Fee on its internet broadcasting arm, Regent Radio. The 11-lecture series, The Holy Spirit in Pauline Theology, is based on his massive study on that subject, published in book form as, God's Empowering Presence. The syllabus for the lecture series is available here.

Earlier this month, his commentary on Galatians won an award from The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship. Also in April, Zondervan posted a video on YouTube where Fee notes that his favorite modern author is Bishop N. T. Wright.

Hubbard (right), professor of Old Testament at North Park Theological Seminary, is best known for his well-received commentary on the book of Ruth, as well as, his contribution to Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Thomas Nelson), co-authored with Craig Blomberg and William Klein. A video of Hubbard discussing his forthcoming commentary on Joshua can be seen here.

Baptism ... hell ... evolution

2009-04-25T02:00:00.000-07:00

Like well-trained professionals in many areas of society, Christian ministers have a lot of information to cover. It is reasonable to expect that they will show ignorance on topics from time to time.
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However, there are three areas where I have observed ignorance far too often; areas where a minister should be, at the very least, conversant with major theories. Those areas are: baptism, hell, and evolution. I would go so far as to say, ordination should be withheld from someone who cannot find their way around the landscapes of these issues.
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Baptismal controversies are numerous, of course (e.g., mode, purpose, formula, candidacy). Most ministers I have met are at least knowledgeable about the position their fellowship holds on those points. However, it seems a much smaller group of the same ministers is prepared to explain where baptism even came from.
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Seriously, what is John the Baptist doing standing in the Jordan River, calling people to a rite that appears to be without antecedent in the pages of Scripture? Where did he get the idea that that was the right thing to do? This is the type of inquiry that can get a poorly-trained pastor's defensive side to show (not a manifestation that will aid in parishioner-pastor bonding).
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There is a brand new resource on baptism that should make it onto the bookshelf of every minister: Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (Eerdmans). It is written by noted church historian, Everett Ferguson. With a serious work like this, I think it is more meaningful to you that I provide the endorsement of one of the author's peers. In this case, Ferguson's work gets the hearty endorsement of Scot McKnight over on his blog:
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"This book is not innovative; it is not an attempt to argue a brand-new theory; it's an examination of what can be known from the ancient evidence about baptism. For years I have always gone to G. R. Beasley-Murray's justifiably well-known book on baptism (Baptism in the New Testament). I will now go first to Ferguson's magnum opus."
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Having read Ferguson, you may conclude that we still don't really know where John's impetus to water baptize came from, but if that is your conclusion, you will be able to share it comfortably with others --- without the awkwardness of being caught flat-footed, and avoiding the temptation to make the questioner feel they have asked a pointless question.
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HELL
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It can be successfully argued, of course, that a minister may go his entire career without ever being asked the question I raised about baptism (that, of course, does not negate the notion that he, or she, should be informed on the topic). Hell ... well, that's a different story.
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I was raised in a fundamentalist church where hell --- and a certain depiction of it --- was a given. It is hot. Very hot. And though enveloped in its flames, its occupants do not perish. Ever.
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I was well into adulthood when I first heard a minister in our circle of fellowship suggest anything otherwise. He put forth the idea that hell was a sort of inky, black darkness where one was tormented, not by horrific heat, but by utter loneliness and deep regret.
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Others feel souls in hell will eventually extinguish, simply cease to exist. Going further still, well-respected British theologian John Wenham found the idea of hell noxious.
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"I believe that endless torment is a hideous and unscriptural doctrine which has been a terrible burden on the mind of the church for many centuries and a terrible blot on her presentation of the gospel. I should indeed be happy if, before I die, I could help in sweeping it away," Wenham wrote in Facing Hell: The Story of a Nobody (Paternoster Press).
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You may say Wenham is all wet. You may wonder what the minister with the inky, black darkness does with the Lake of Fire. But, if you are a minister, at the end of all the to-ing and fro-ing, you need to speak intelligently to the subject of hell. You owe that to your listeners.
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All three of my children have heard me say that religious ideas are the most powerful ideas in the world. And the potency of this one is almost immeasurable. It must be reckoned with.
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Getting your hands on material discussing hell is easy enough. But, I want to suggest two references for you.
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Four Views on Hell (Zondervan) is part of the Counterpoints series by that publisher. I personally delight in the format that has biblical scholars and theologians putting forth their ideas, and having them responded to. The participants in this book are John Walvoord (literal view), William Crockett (metaphorical), Zachary Hayes (purgatorial), and Clark Pinnock (conditional).
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I do understand that not everyone likes debate on theological issues; to some, it seems like an exercise in intellectual vanity. On an issue like hell, however, I think the body of Christ is well served by an open airing of disparate views.
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The foreward to the book adds weight to my concerns, "So disturbing is the idea of hell that most pastors and church members simply ignore the doctrine of final retribution, preferring to talk in vague terms about a separation of the wicked from the righteous.
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"But what is hell? A literal place of fire and smoke? A banishment from God? Annihilation? Is there such a place as purgatory where people are readied for the presence of God? In this book four professors describe in non-technical language what they think the final judgment will be like, and then at the end of each chapter, they evaluate the opinions of their colleagues ....
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"Although the authors differ sharply on some points, they do so in a congenial spirit, with the hope that the arguments in this book will help readers to form their own opinions."
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Earlier this month, I provided the link to the other resource I am recommending, and it warrants re-posting. Wheaton College professor Douglas Moo has posted online a paper on the apostle Paul's teachings on hell. It can be read here.
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EVOLUTION
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Of these three areas where there is often lamentable ignorance, Darwinian evolution is perhaps the most understandable. There is much, much more ground to cover than the other two.
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Now, so well-publicized is the commotion about evolution, that I won't belabor readers with much introduction. But, it does bear mentioning why I make the case that it is imperative that ministers be informed in this area.
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Firstly, it escapes me how one can adequately teach on the first three chapters of Genesis without interacting with the claims of the proponents of evolution. I am convinced that obscurantism is unbecoming to modern evangelical believers.
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Secondly, the atheistic evolutionary posture strides back-and-forth like a modern-day Goliath, defying the army of the Lord. It is no small challenge being issued. The veracity of our worldview is belittled as preposterous; held to only by a silly, superstitious people. It would hardly come from a "renewed mind." Like David, it is incomprehensible to me that we should shrink from this battle.
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As with the topic of hell, above, finding material on evolution is as easy the proverbial "shooting fish in a barrel." However, I would like to suggest ideally that ministers read from each of the main perspectives on evolution so that they can arrive at a critically informed judgment. In that regard, I am recommending works that I have handled and have found profitable.
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ATHEISTIC EVOLUTIONARY VIEW ... Eugenie Scott's Evolution vs. Creationism (Greenwood Press) provides her take on the history of the controversy. She says her aim was to provide "one-stop shopping" for those wishing to read on the "historical, legal, educational, political, scientific, and religious perspectives ...." Clear and combative, the book is a good apologetic for its viewpoint. [Doubts about Darwin (Baker) surveys the same history from a theistic point-of-view.]
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INTELLIGENT DESIGN VIEW ... Understanding Intelligent Design (Harvest House) by William Dembski and Sean McDowell is a helpful 233-page primer for those who are looking for a quick read.
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THEISTIC EVOLUTION ... Francis Collins, the leader of the ground-breaking Human Genome Movement, presents both his faith in God and his belief in theistic evolution in The Language of God (Free Press). It is sure to make the adherents of both atheism and creationism squirm.
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CREATIONISM ... Scientific Creationism by Henry Morris is one of the seminal works for this point-of-view.
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THREE VIEWS IN DIALOGUE ... As with the Zondervan Counterpoints book on hell (above) Three Views on Creation and Evolution allows scholars to set out their views, and then receive responses from their colleagues. The contributors are: Paul Nelson and John Mark Reynolds (young earth creationism), Robert Newman (progressive creationism), and Howard Van Till (theistic evolution).
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With so much reading to do, you can see one of the reasons for my belief that the research should be done before one enters busy full-time ministry. But the issue is not small and neither should be our investment of time.

Two systematic theology aids

2009-04-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

When I redesigned the use of this blogspace last July, my first two posts were about my attempts (one of which was eventually successful) at reading through a systematic theology.

And while I don't spend much time in the area of systematic theology (I am more inclined toward biblical theology), I was fascinated recently when I stumbled across a couple of aids for studying systematics.

The first is a laminated chart produced by Zondervan that condenses Wayne Grudem's massive, Systematic Theology, down to six pages, tri-folded. The chart's organization is identical to the book. It gives the briefest of definitions and outlines, as well as, the salient Scriptures Grudem uses to advance his arguments. It comes three-hole punched and I have added it to the old cloth-bound notebook that houses my most important notetaking. (The chart is now the neighbor of Mounce's 4-page chart for Biblical Greek, and Practico and VanPelt's 4-page chart for Biblical Hebrew. They, too, are laminated.)

The other neat resource is The Hendrickson Topical Bible, which I have yet to purchase. Long ago, I owned a Nave's Topical Bible, but let it go because I seldom used it. I am eager to purchase the Hendrickson volume, edited by Walter Elwell, because it follows commonly-used categories of systematic theology. As I grow older, I am increasingly interested in economizing motion and time, and having many relevant texts laid out together in this type of organization well be a blessing. It should be noted that this is a re-release of what was formerly known as the Baker Topical Guide to the Bible (and before that, the Topical Analysis of the Bible), so many of you have, no doubt, been enjoying the fruit of Elwell's labor for a long time. I am eager to join you.

You may also be interested in John Jefferson Davis' Handbook of Basic Bible Texts (which is a mini-version of Elwell's work), or, J. I. Packer's Concise Theology. Like Grudem's chart, Packer's work provides the salient verses to his arguments, and it is also remarkably meaty, though typically giving just two or three pages to each topic covered (e.g., Revelation, Trinity, Satan, Salvation, and so on).

All of these tools will serve well either the student who is wanting to get an initial sense of systematics, or, the busy pastor who wants quick access to references.

If Grandma sends you $200 for your birthday ...

2009-04-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

Now, in all likelihood, if your grandma sends you a birthday card with two C-notes in it, you will know immediately how to allocate that money.
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However, on the off chance that you are stumped on how to get your largesse into circulation in these recessionary times, let me help.
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First, head to your favorite burger joint and order the following: a hamburger, fries, and a milk shake (Canadians may substitute halibut and chips for the burger and fries). Should you feel guilty about consuming such a meal (perhaps because you read the New England Journal of Medicine), just remember --- it's your birthday.
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Having treated yourself to the comfort food, purchase one of the following:

The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
Gordon Fee's DVD lecture series on Biblical Interpretation
The IVP New Testament Dictionary set (four volumes)
Roger Olson's The Story of Christian Theology; The Mosaic of Christian Belief; and his, Arminian Theology
Darrell Bock's audio CD courses on Luke and Acts
A premium calfskin leather ESV Study Bible

Whichever you choose, you will have some money left. Remember your friends ... the needy ... bloggers who have blessed you ....

Oh, and ... have a Happy Birthday!

In case you missed it ...

2009-04-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

Of the endless stream of news items on the internet, you will doubtless miss some. I wanted to make sure you didn't miss these: .

Biblical scholar Scot McKnight has started to blog his New Testament commentary recommendations .... The frontal lobes of the brain seem to be inactive when a person speaks in tongues (meaning that it is unlikely they are making up the syllables), reports this article from the New York Times .... Ben Stein (yes, that Ben Stein) will give the commencement address this year at Liberty University (yes, that Liberty University) .... Wheaton College professor Doug Moo's 19-page examination of the apostle Paul's views on hell can be read online .... From the Cafeteria Catholic Department, we get this dispatch: former UK prime minister Tony Blair thinks the Roman Catholic Church has it wrong about homosexuality .... Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has also converted to Roman Catholicism .... and finally, another interesting choice for commencement speaker: megachurch pastor Billy Hybels will address Oral Roberts University graduates in May.

Bruce leads us to Easter --- Part 5

2009-04-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

This is the concluding post of a series featuring the writings of the late Biblical scholar, F. F. Bruce. The writings were taken from his out-of-print book, Answers to Questions (Zondervan).

Question: Is the New Testament doctrine of the resurrection of Christ satisified by the view that He continued to live on in the lives of His followers?

F F Bruce: No. It is true, of course, that a Christian in New Testament times (or in modern times) could say with Paul "Christ lives in me"; but that was the consequence of Christ's resurrection, not the resurrection itself.

The only evidence we have for the resurrection of Christ makes it plain that the body which was taken down from the cross and laid in Joseph's tomb was no longer in that tomb when the third morning came, and (more important still) that Christ appeared alive again to various people who knew Him, not only on Easter Day but intermittently for some six weeks thereafter.

Our subjective experience of the power of the risen Christ is the result of the objective fact of His rising from the dead on the third day. It was to the objective fact, not to the subjective experience which follows from it, that Paul referred when he said: "If Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith is also vain" (1 Cor. 15:14).

Question: Were souls of the righteous dead of Old Testament times held captive by Satan until our Lord Himself set them free at His Resurrection?

F F Bruce: Even an uncanonical writer like the author of the Book of Wisdom knew that "the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them" (Wisdom 3:1).

Many Old Testament saints were subject to lifelong bondage through fear of death until Christ came to abolish it (Heb 2:15; 2 Tim. 1:10), but some had sufficient faith to see that a man who walked with God in this life would not be bereft of His presence and protection in the life to come (cf. Ps. 73:24; 139:8).

The idea that the soul of a man like Abraham, who was justified by faith, was held captive by Satan is without Scriptural support and is incredible in itself.

Bruce leads us to Easter --- Part 4

2009-04-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

My posts between now and Easter will feature the writings of the late Biblical scholar, F. F. Bruce. The writings are taken from his out-of-print book, Answers to Questions (Zondervan).

Question: While it is fully recognized that the bread and the wine in the Lord's Supper are symbols of the body and blood of Christ, it is clear the our Lord said "This is my body" and "This is my blood" (Matt. 26:26, 28), and also "he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" (John 6:54). How can we explain these Scriptures to people who believe that the elements are corporally charged into the body and blood of Christ?

F F Bruce: When our Lord instituted the Lord's Supper on the night of His betrayal, it was impossible for His disciples to understand His words, "This is my body ... this is my blood", in any other than a symbolical sense. He was present in body with them; they could see, hear, and touch Him; how could they have understood Him to mean His physical body?

The paterfamilias at every passover meal used similar language when he lifted a plate of unleavened bread and said, "This is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt." The participants knew that it was not the same bread as their fathers had eaten so many centuries before, but that it represented that bread.

As for John 6:54 and its context, our Lord Himself explained that these words were to be understood spiritually, as against some hearers who were inclined (v. 52) to take them in a crassly material sense: "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (v. 63). In both places the natural meaning of the language is made clear by the context.

Question: Is it strictly correct to speak of the "real presence" of Christ in the Lord's Supper?

F F Bruce: Certainly; like many other expressions that we use which are not found in Scripture, this one conveys a Scriptural truth, and one moreover which is repeatedly verified in Christian experience --- that in the giving and taking of the bread and the cup Christ communicates Himself to the believing soul.

If the phrase has been misused to imply that Christ is localized in the elements in a bodily manner, that is no reason for avoiding its proper use, as occasion may require.

No believer need be deterred from praying, with Charles Wesley:

"To every faithful soul appear,
And show Thy real presence here."

Bruce leads us to Easter --- Part 3

2009-04-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

My posts between now and Easter will feature the writings of the late Biblical scholar, F. F. Bruce. The writings are taken from his out-of-print book, Answers to Questions (Zondervan).

Question: Does the discovery of the bones of a crucified man near Jerusalem throw any light on the New Testament narrative?

F F Bruce: The reference is to one of several first-century ossuaries discovered in 1968 on Ammunition Hill, north of Jerusalem. The first official report of the discovery appeared in the Israel Exploration Journal in January, 1970.

The ossuary in question contained bones which were unmistakeably those of a crucified man. Crucifixion had been suspected in some earlier instances, but now for the first time the evidence is unambiguous.

The man, whose name (according to the inscription on the ossuary) appears to have been John, son of Ezekiel, was in his middle twenties. He had been crucified with three nails --- one driven through each wrist or forearm and a third driven through both heels together. This last nail was still in situ, as it had been turned and could not be readily removed. Both shin-bones had been smashed by a single blow.

The discovery illustrates in particular the crucifixion narrative of the Gospel of John: that is the only Gospel to mention the nails (John 20:25) and the breaking of the legs (John 19:31 - 34).

Bruce leads us into Easter --- Part 2

2009-04-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

My posts between now and Easter will feature the writings of the late Biblical scholar, F. F. Bruce. The writings are taken from his out-of-print book, Answers to Questions (Zondervan).

Question: Is "cross" the best translation of stauros, the Greek word used in the New Testament for the instrument on which our Lord was executed?
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FF Bruce: There are two words used in the Greek Testament for this instrument: one is xylon (derived perhaps from the Septuagint version of Deut. 21:22, 23, quoted in Gal. 3:13) and the other is stauros.

The former word, used in this sense five times in the New Testament, is translated "tree" in the older versions, but it can be used of anything made of wood, such as cudgels (Matt 26:47, etc.) or stocks (Acts 16:24); as used of the cross, it means a wooden gibbet (and so it is rendered in the New English Bible).

The word stauros means a stake; when used of an instrument of execution it may mean a stake for impalement (as among the Assyrians) or (as in the New Testament) the instrument used for the Roman practice of crucifixion. There are numerous places in Greek literature outside the New Testament where stauros means "cross" in this latter sense. But neither Greek stauros nor Latin crux nor English "cross" says anything definite about the shape of this instrument of execution.

There was no standard shape, although the Gospel references to bearing one's cross suggest a cross-beam to be fixed to an upright. In addition to the conventional shape of the cross in Christian art (pictured here), which was convenient for fixing the "title" to the upper projection of the upright plank, the T shape was quite common; there was also the X shape (St. Andrew's cross) and the Y shape; there might be an upright only with no cross-beam, the arms being then stretched above the head; or a board with the general shape of a door might serve quite well.
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There can be no objection to the word "cross" as a translation of stauros, provided we do not think it denotes one particular shape of gibbet.

Bruce leads us to Easter --- Part 1

2009-04-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

My posts between now and Easter will feature the writings of the late Biblical scholar, F. F. Bruce. The writings are taken from his out-of-print book, Answers to Questions (Zondervan).

Question: Is Easter a pagan festival and, if so, ought Christians to observe it?

FF Bruce: The name Easter is of pagan origin, being derived from the name of a Germanic spring-goddess. But it is certainly not of her that we think nowadays at Eastertide.

In most European languages the word for Easter is derived from pascha ("Passover"), and "Easter" itself is used in the sense of "Passover" in the Authorized Version of Acts 12:4.

A festival is pagan if it is celebrated in a pagan way; it is Christian if it is celebrated in a Christian way. Christians at Eastertide think of Christ their Passover who was crucified for them, and of Christ who rose from the dead as the first fruits of those who sleep (1 Cor. 5:7, 15:20), although Eastertide is not the only season when they think of Him thus.

If they desire to observe the yearly anniversary of His resurrection as well as the weekly "anniversary", then let them observe it, as Paul says, "in honor of the Lord" (Rom. 14:6).

Dumbrell explains the faith of Israel

2009-03-28T12:14:00.001-07:00

About 20 years ago I stood in a Christian bookstore and read quickly over the back flap of yet another survey of the Old Testament.

The endorsers were making bold claims: "The best survey of the Old Testament, bar none" .... "All who care for high-grade canonical biblical theology should welcome Dumbrell's magnum opus" .... "This is the very best sort of Old Testament survey."

Call me persnickety, but I don't care to read those kind of endorsements of the back of a book unless they are coming from true experts in the field (actually, if you call me persnickety, it will bring you much more into question than it will me, lol).

The quoted endorsers of The Faith of Israel (Baker Academic), are, in fact, true experts in either the Old Testament or Christian theology. Peter Gentry (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), J. I. Packer (Regent College), and Douglas Stuart (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) really want you to read and trust this book. So do I.

I will admit that I was not quick to come to this hearty endorsement. I bought the first edition, then sold it (with few pages turned) when I divested myself of my library in a household move.

I picked up the second edition a few years ago (owing mostly to those superlatives on the back cover), but, for the most part, it stood ignored on my bookshelf until this year.

On January 26, I listed four books that I was using to supplement my reading of the Old Testament. Days later, I pulled Dumbrell's book from the shelf and found a treasure trove awaiting me.

Dumbrell doesn't just restate the material of the Old Testament. He doesn't merely organize it. He makes sense of it.

One example is his treatment of the book of Leviticus. For the contemporary evangelical believer, who has come into relationship with the Living God via placing faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this book can be quite a puzzle. A variety of sacrifices to be offered, issues of ritual purity to be adhered to, and mandatory festivals are not part of such a believer's life. Dumbrell reminds, though, that Leviticus is part of the history of God's dealings with human beings, and, it therefore, offers a 'snap shot' of sorts.

Last week, I quoted OT scholar Bruce Waltke on the jolt that readers of the Bible get when they leave the narratives of the patriarchs and Moses, and then encounter the specs for the Tabernacle (twice!) in the later part of Exodus. Then, of course, Leviticus falls on the readers like a stack of handsomely-bound law books in the library.

Why does the story change so? Dumbrell points out that the nation of Israel needed a system whereby "covenant relationships could be maintained or repaired."

He says further of Leviticus, "The book is concerned not with antiquarian or peripheral issues, but with the practical issue of how life within the covenant is to be maintained."

Like oxygen to a body, the necessity of God making provision for Israel this way can be seen very clearly by part of the Exodus narrative. In Exodus 32, the Israelites, in their impatience, press Aaron for idols to worship --- and Aaron complies with a calf made of gold! The severe response from Moses and God should not be lost on anyone.

Dumbrell, and Paul House in his Old Testament Survey (B & H Academic), point out the significance of Moses furiously throwing the tablets of stone God had written on, breaking them.

"Besides demonstrating his anger, this action symbolizes the broken covenant," House says on page 59.

"Moses fracture of the two tablets (32:19) is his fracture of the covenant, an action understandable from later Babylonian terms," Dumbrell, page 40.

Unfortunately, the modern reader may shrug his shoulders and think, "So? ... a covenant has been broken."

R. W. L. Moberly spells out the upshot of Israel supplanting Yahweh with a golden calf shortly after having agreed to be in covenant with Yahweh: "... it is rather like committing adultery on one's wedding night," in Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament (Baker Academic).

House adds, "Covenant breaking was a great offense. When it occurred, nations went to war, and clans feuded. Individuals sought restitution from their unfaithful partners. To mark the unfortunate occasion, the covenant's basic requirements, often written on stones, were smashed. New stones were cut only if a new covenant was made."

The nation of Israel is jammed up. Its 'marriage' has come to a screeching halt before it had a chance to develop a history. It has grievously insulted its gracious, benevolent, and jealous bridegroom. We know how the relationship gets repaired --- in this instance. Moses intercedes. And graciously, new tablets are created. The destroyed marriage license, if you will, has been replaced.

But, House poignantly asks, "What if they act like they did in chapter 32 again? Is having Moses pray for them the only way their sins can be covered?"

Hence, the levitical system.

In the parlance of modern romance, God wants these people "in His life." He must give them revelation both of His holiness and how they, in their innate unholiness, may stay in covenant with Him.

"Two dominant threads run through Leviticus, which begins and ends with Sinai (Lev. 27:34)," says Dumbrell, "the goal of holiness for Israel and the need for forgiveness."

On forgiveness, Dumbrell challenges readers to re-examine the text. "To take the common view of the OT sacrifices as being merely typical or symbolic, but hardly efficacious, is to read into the OT the later conclusions of the Epistle to the Hebrews, drawn in light of the finality of Jesus' sacrifice .... To suggest that forgiveness offered through the system was only symbolic or typical reduces sacrifice in the OT to a vague and meaningless ritual. This was never intended."

Nor had God devised a system that the Israelites could 'game.'

"Forgiveness depended ultimately on divine grace," Dumbrell contends, "a fact the OT underscores by reporting occasions in which God forgave without the operation of the system (e.g., 2 Sam. 12). Such instances reminded Israel that sacrifice was the customary means of approach, but that God's forgiveness was not distributed mechanically in a context in which there was a constant disposition to misunderstand the system."

When dealing with, what is often called, the Holiness Code of Leviticus, Dumbrell treats both Yahweh and Yahweh's people.

"When Yahweh manifests himself, his holiness is visible as glory, the radiant power of his being. Glory is not identical with holiness, but it stresses a power included in holiness," he explains. "Glory is often the exterior manifestation of the power and holiness of Yahweh himself, while holiness denotes Yahweh's intimate nature and often has a moral aspect that is not necessarily included in the concept of glory. So holiness refers to Yahweh's inner nature and glory to his outward manifestation. Because Yahweh's holiness implies his absolute power over the world, mighty upheavals in nature attend God's appearing."

Then on to the people: "The call to be holy meant that the people were to develop in themselves characteristics similar to Yahweh's. This process is called sanctification. The process is reciprocal. Yahweh sanctifies (20:8; 21:8, 15, 23; 22:9; , 16, 32), and the people are to sanctify themselves (11:44; 20:7). By keeping the law and by worship the people sanctified themselves and revered Yahweh as the holy God in their congregation (22:32). Yahweh also sanctified them by his holy power working in their lives, affirming the noble and purging the corrupt. Yahweh's holiness sought to penetrate the whole person and not merely the soul."

Most assuredly, the holiness of Israel was not abstract. "Two qualities undergirded the national holy life: justice and love," Dumbrell says. Some of the laws in Leviticus that we may find irrelevant were necessary to teach former slaves how to not become the next oppressors. Dumbrell explains how the principle of lex talionis in Leviticus (an eye for an eye, and so on) "was a great advance in the law codes, for it raised personal injury from a civil tort to a criminal law, increasing the citizen's worth." Plus, Yahweh stressed that Israel was to deal justly with foreigners. It was not to oppress, as it had been oppressed.

"Leviticus is a book operating within a context of grace," he says in summation. "God has redeemed Israel, separated the people from their world (18:24), and given them laws by which they are to live (18:5) and by which the land to which God is bringing them is to be protected (chap. 26). In the final sense, Leviticus is a political document describing Israel as a theocracy, an entity ruled by God. God is to be obeyed because of God's holiness, demonstrated in the saving history of Israel."

Like Gentry, Packer, and Stuart, I commend William Dumbrell's understanding of the Old Testament to you.

Stalled in Leviticus? There's hope

2009-03-21T21:14:00.001-07:00

About 12 weeks ago, thousands upon thousands of Christians were planning a trek they sensed would be demanding and exhilarating at the same time. They wanted to read all the words of Scripture in one year.

Like Sir Edmund Hillary planning to conquer the heights of Mt. Everest, they went out, purchased gear (Bible reading plans, a lucid translation, etc) and plotted their course.

Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke picks up the story from there:

"Most Bible readers make at least one attempt in their lives to read the Bible from cover to cover. The enterprise is surprisingly successful at the beginning as they are engaged by the irruption of God's kingdom in overcoming the primordial darkness, the Fall, the Flood, a hostile and powerful pharaoh, the Red Sea, and a terrible wilderness. In these stories the author proves himself as having a flair for the dramatic. From the creation to the destruction of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea and Israel's survival in the wilderness, the author enthralls his readers with action and conflict. The readers are carried along by the smooth-flowing narrative to the feet of Mount Sinai (Horeb) but then are unexpectedly dumped into an incomprehensible heap of case laws and curtain measurements. It is like reading Moby Dick, a thrilling narrative interrupted by a taxonomy of whale species." --- from An Old Testament Theology, by Waltke with Charles Yu (Zondervan).

My advice? Push through the howling winds of boredom in late Exodus and throughout Leviticus. Things pick up a little in Numbers and Deuteronomy. When you reach the plateau of Joshua you will see sunshine again. And remember, when you reach the summit in the Book of the Revelation, the view is breathtaking.

Having said that, it is very important to note that a book like Leviticus does have its own joys. An expert tour guide is usually necessary to gain full appreciation of these joys. I'll introduce you to one in my next blog entry.

Potpourri

2009-03-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

I keep a notes file on items to write about on this blog. Lately, the file has grown large and yet I have limited time to write because I am engaged in some in-depth scriptural studies. So, it seems that the best way to handle the burgeoning file is to comment briefly on many of the items in one potpourri blog entry.

Here's what I've been jotting down:

I already own two interlinear Bibles, but if I was buying one today it would be the one just produced by Bill Mounce and his dad, Robert. The Zondervan Greek and English Interlinear New Testament (NASB/NIV) can be sampled here (be sure to scroll down as most of the first page is blank).
The announcement of Dr. Mark Rutland as the new president of Oral Roberts University is sitting well with alumni. They are giving in record numbers, according to this article in the Tulsa World newspaper. My blogging about the Rutland appointment can be read here and here.
If I knew someone who was about to invest in a commentary series and a) he didn't have Greek and, b) he was actually interested in my input, I would suggest, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Revised Edition (Zondervan). The Old Testament editor for the series, Tremper Longman III, talks about the new 13-volume work on this video. (Incidentally, Robert Mounce, mentioned above, wrote the commentary on the Gospel of John for the EBC. Also, Robert's fresh translation of the Fourth Gospel can be accessed here.)
You may be interested to compare Mounce's rendering of John with that of Bishop N. T. Wright. Wright's translation of John can be found in his book, John for Everyone (Westminster John Knox Press), written under the name, Tom Wright.
Now, back to my commentary-seeking friend. What if he rejected (shudder) my advice on purchasing the revised EBC? Welllll ... he wouldn't be my friend anymore. No, seriously, I would then point him to (in this order): the NIV Application Commentary (Zondervan) which covers the entire Bible, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (InterVarsity Press) which I blogged about previously, the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series (Tyndale House) which uses the New Living Translation, the New International Bible Commentary (Hendrickson Publishers), and finally, the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series and the Tyndale New Testament Commentary series (InterVarsity Press). I have used all these series with profit and do not hesitate to recommend them.
How many people read this blog everyday? Well, through the first fourteen days of March the average was 11 per day. The daily hits have gone this way in March (11, 12, 18, 18, 12, 7, 9, 10, 10 14, 11, 11, 9, and 16). Besides the United States and Canada, March visitors have come from Poland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Solvakia, the Philippines, Dubai, and Mexico. Thank you all for visiting!
If I was heading off to get a master's degree in biblical exegesis this fall, where would I go? I am pretty sure I would head to the Wheaton College Graduate School. Why? Six reasons: Greg Beale, Daniel Block, Andrew Hill, Karen Jobes, Douglas Moo, and John Walton are all professors on the biblical exegesis faculty.
If you are in the market for Bible reference work software you should definitely consider The Essential IVP Reference Collection Version 3 (InterVarsity Press). At only $129.95, this is one handsome deal, indeed. Listen to J. I Packer's praise, "I cannot imagine that there is another CD-ROM in the world offering as much accredited help to the serious Bible student as you find in The Essential IVP Reference Collection. Up-to-the-minute academically, lucid, lively and sometimes provocative, it is a truly magnificent resource. And think of the money it saves-- shelf space too!" I agree.
There are many things Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann says that I cannot agree with, but I do concur with the advice he gives to pastors on this video. Oh, that every pastor would hear this advice ... and heed it.

Well, I didn't exhaust my notes file, but I did get a lot off my chest :-)

Rick Warren's Purpose Driven magazine

2009-02-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

The title, Purpose Driven, and the name, Rick Warren, go hand-in-hand. They form an easily identifiable brand.

And in my opinion, it's a brand that offers top-flight spiritual resources for the nation.

Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in California, sold over 50 million copies worldwide of his book, The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan), and has become one of the leading evangelical voices in the United States.

The brand is now being enhanced with a quarterly magazine, Purpose Driven Connection, which hit news stands last month.

Like Warren's books and national media appearances, Purpose Driven Connection has an unwavering Biblical message packaged in savvy relevance.

In The Purpose Driven Life, Warren was able to 'pick the lock' of a consumerist culture and deposit a message of meaning and ... well, yes ... purpose. In television appearances, he is direct and engaging.

Likewise, his new magazine offers the centuries-old message of a resurrected Savior, but makes application of that message to topics as current as the economic downturn and "Have I Failed My Child?"

Purpose Driven Connection follows up on the purposes Warren wrote about in his best-seller. The magazine articles are organized within sections entitled Knowing, Relating, Growing, Serving, and Sharing. They range from "12 Ways to Study God's Word" (Growing) to "Fighting a Flood with Faith" (Serving) to "Compassion Cured Me of Atheism" (Sharing).

Besides Warren and his wife, Kay, some of the magazine's contributors include megachurch pastor Billy Hybels, authors Max Lucado and Lee Strobel, and bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham.

Special features include a six-lesson DVD ("40 Days of Love"), two Purpose Driven postcards, and the address for the magazine's website (just as brimming with edifying info as the magazine).

A transcript of the interview Warren did with President Obama at the Saddleback Civil Forum is included, as is the prayer Pastor Warren offered up at the Inauguration.

In short, the magazine's 144 pages are chock-full of inspirational articles and vibrant photos. Its niche is devotional literature over against the more news-and-theological thrusts of the evangelical magazine gold standard, Christianity Today.

Rick Warren --- thankfully --- has found his purpose. His new magazine is a delightful extension of that ministry.

Tennent is Asbury Seminary's new president

2009-02-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Asbury Theological Seminary has selected a fine professor from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary to become its new president.

Dr. Timothy Tennent, a professor of world missions at Gordon-Conwell, will take the leadership at Asbury in Wilmore, Kentucky in July.

I was heartened by a quote from Tennent on Asbury Seminary's website:

"I am alarmed by the growing trend away from serious theological reflection and do not believe that the church will be adequately prepared to face the challenges of pluralism and post-modernism without a more robust theological preparation," he says. "I am also passionate about the emergence of the Majority World Church. I believe that the Western Church continues to have an important role in global missions, in partnership with the increasingly vibrant Majority World Church." The entire news release on the announcement of Tennent's presidency can be read here.

In his 2007 book, Theology in the Context of World Christianity (Zondervan), Tennent explains his choice to use the term, Majority World, versus the terms, Third World and Two-Thirds World:

"This is the best phrase currently available. It is to be preferred because it is simpler and less confusing to students just entering this discussion for the first time, and it helps to highlight the basic point that Africa, Asia, and Latin America are where the majority of the world's Christians are now located."

Dr. Christopher J. H. Wright (whose recent book was noted on this blog February 7), says this of Tennent's book:

"This is the book we have waited a long time for. We have all sampled selections from the growing menu of theological reflection in the Majority World church, but so often these have been viewed by scholars and students in the West as the theological equivalent of ethnic restaurants --- exotic and interesting but not to be taken too seriously in the dining hall of real (Western) theology ....

"This book, organized in the systematic way that Western theology likes, offers teacher and student alike a representative, thorough, constructively critical compendium of some of the key contributors to the task of global theology."

Tennent's chapter titles spell out his approach:

The Emergence of a Global Theological Discourse
Theology ... Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad?
Bibliology ... Hindu Sacred Texts in Pre-Christian Past
Anthropology ... Human Identity in Shame-based Cultures of the Far East
Christology ... Christ as Healer and Ancestor in Africa
Soteriology ... Is "Salvation by Grace through Faith" Unique to Christianity?
Pneumatology ... The Holy Spirit in Latin American Pentecostalism
Ecclesiology ... Followers of Jesus in Islamic Mosques
Eschatology ... Jonathan Edwards and the Chinese Back to Jerusalem Movement
The Emerging Contours of Global Theology

Tennent, whose undergraduate work was done at Oral Roberts University, caught my eye with this paragraph in the chapter on Pneumatology:

"There are, of course, glaring inconsistencies and theological problems within Pentecostalism. The so-called 'prosperity gospel,' which weds an American consumer culture with outlandish interpretations of certain biblical texts, is well known. Moreover, several prominent Pentecostal figures have brought embarrassment and shame not only to Pentecostalism but to the broader cause of Christ in the world. If, in this study, I have neglected the 'mote' in the Pentecostal eye, it is only because I am so painfully aware of the 'beam' in my own eye. In other words, I maintain that despite the incongruities, Pentecostalism remains the most important corrective to the blind spots in our pneumatological theory and practice on the planet today."

Bill Mounce's website, BiblicalTraining.org, offers six audio courses by Dr. Tennent for free. You can access those courses, which include studies of Buddhism and Hinduism, here.

The Louisville Courier-Journal's coverage of Tennent's appointment can be read here. Two YouTube videos of his acceptance can be seen here and here, plus the Asbury website has posted a video interview with him that can be seen here.

Provan lectures on the Book of Daniel

2009-02-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

In the introduction to his commentary on Daniel, Tremper Longman says,

"Daniel is a book of paradoxes .... While children resonate with the lessons of Daniel 1 - 6, seasoned bible scholars scratch their heads over Daniel 7 - 12 with the move from simple stories to obscure apocalyptic visions ...." NIV Application Commentary: Daniel (Zondervan)

Beginning Tuesday, internet surfers will have good help available to sort out that Old Testament book when the first of Iain Provan's 20 audio lectures on Daniel is posted.

Regent College, the theological graduate school in Vancouver, will broadcast the lectures for free (one each day, all day long) on its Regent Radio website. The series will conclude March 8.

Provan has established himself as an Old Testament scholar by writing commentaries on the books of 1 and 2 Kings, Ecclesiates and Song of Songs, and Lamentations, as well as, co-authoring A Biblical History of Israel (Westminster John Knox Press) with V. Philips Long and Tremper Longman III. He also provided the notes on 1 and 2 Kings for the new ESV Study Bible (Crossway Bibles).

Readers who are going to take in the Daniel lectures, may also want to have access to the 11 pages of commentary Provan wrote on Daniel for the Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Those pages can be sampled here.

The God Chris Wright doesn't understand

2009-02-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

Theodicy: A term coined by Leibniz to refer to a theoretical justification of the goodness of God in the face of the presence of evil in the world. --- Alister McGrath, in Christian Theology: An Introduction (Blackwell Publishing).

A perfectly good, righteous, and holy God with evil --- seemingly --- running rampant in His world. A conundrum; and one that theologians have wrestled with for centuries.

Best-selling evangelical author and columnist Philip Yancey wrote on the subject in 1997 in his book, Where is God When It Hurts? (Zondervan).

More recently, Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright tackled the topic in Evil and the Justice of God (InterVarsity Press).

We can, of course, ignore the topic altogether, throwing it, as it were, in our theological 'junk drawer', only ruminating on it if we are visited by catastrophe.

Today, I stumbled onto the topic once more when I learned that Christopher J. H. Wright, an Old Testament scholar and biblical ethicist, has written a new book called, The God I Don't Understand.

To promote the book, Wright's publisher, Zondervan, has posted online short video clips of the author giving a synopsis of each chapter.

Although my current stack of reading is far off the topic of theodicy, Wright won my attention in the first video by suggesting that part of the difficulty with evil is that we try to make sense of it. Wright says maybe sense cannot be made of evil, because that would, in a sense, legitimize evil --- giving it an undeserved, legitimate place in our world. God allows us to lament evil (even in His presence), Wright says, but reiterates that it is evidently in the wisdom of God that we aren't to understand evil.

While gentle and assured in his demeanor, Wright does tell in subsequent videos of anger with God and resultant tears. His is not a mere clinical assessment of evil, but a believer's struggle.

I sense that this work will take its place among the serious works on theodicy that are consulted --- with profit --- over and over again.

A review of Wright's book by Denver Seminary professor M. Daniel Carroll Rodas can be read here.

"OT Exegesis" gets a new edition

2009-02-05T19:27:00.001-08:00

[Update March 20 --- This book can now be sampled here.]

What an author meant roughly 3,000 years ago can be difficult to determine. Of course, readers are seldom called to such a task ... unless they are reading Homer or the Old Testament.

Old Testament scholar Douglas Stuart equips Bible students for the task in his popular, Old Testament Exegesis (Westminister John Knox). The fourth edition will hit bookstore shelves this spring.

Stuart has made a career of trying to help folks interpret the Scriptures. In addition to being a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, he co-authored the best-selling How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Zonderan) with Gordon Fee, and has written widely-acclaimed commentaries (Exodus, Ezekiel, Hosea-Jonah, and Malachi).

In Old Testament Exegesis he walks readers through --- literally step-by-step --- the process of analyzing and interpreting passages. He takes time explain each of 12 steps:

Text
Translation
Historical context
Literary context
Form
Structure
Grammatical data
Lexical data
Biblical context
Theology
Secondary literature
Application

In the Preface, Stuart spells out the usefulness of his book: "It is for the vast majority of all seminary students and pastors. It is predicated on the conviction that even the most intelligent people cannot understand procedures and concepts that are not somehow explained to them, and that there is no shame in seeking such explanations inspite of the fact that most seminary professors do not volunteer them. Old Testament exegesis has regular procedures and concepts, and these can be taught to almost anyone willing to learn. It is a tragedy that so few seminary students ever really feel sure of themselves in doing OT exegesis --- and most pastors apparently abandon the practice altogether."

Sensitive to the time-crunch that many pastors operate under, Stuart also provides instruction on how to shorten the 12-step process. Most valuable are his many reference work recommendations (one of the features requiring a fully-updated fourth edition).

Fee, professor emeritus at Regent College in Vancouver, wrote the companion volume, New Testament Exegesis (Zondervan).

The audio presentation of an OT Survey course by Stuart can be accessed here for free.

REVIEWED: James Beall's "Straight Talk about the Holy Spirit"

2009-02-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

I used to work with a man who, shortly after being saved and baptized, had a very jarring church experience. In short, the pastor of his church went 'off the rails' morally.

My friend stopped attending church. But, he didn't give up on Christianity entirely --- he watched it on cable TV. He used to come in to work and ask me, "What in the world is going on with these TV preachers?" From eccentric dress to eccentric practices, my friend was no more impressed with church on television than he had been in his short stint in church.

Veteran pastor James Lee Beall has written a book for people like my friend. He's called it, Straight Talk about the Holy Spirit.

Now, to be entirely accurate, this treatise on the work and person of the third member of the Trinity will be appreciated by a much wider audience than just the disillusioned. There will be many mature believers who will enjoy Pastor Beall's surveying of the scriptures that arrives at orthodox and well thought out doctrinal positions. New believers seeking power to live out their new life in Christ will appreciate his explanations (both scriptural and anecdotal) of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

But again, the disillusioned observers of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity are going to find a friend in Pastor Beall.

"... people who have the idea embedded in them that opening their life to the Holy Spirit could very well make them off-center, weird, and spiritually strange. For they have witnessed odd and questionable goings on by people who professed to be moved by the Holy Spirit. This has made them wary and disconcerted. This is precisely why the Incarnate Jesus must remain in our biblical picture and framework."

Beall's presentation of Jesus being the prototype of a man filled with the Holy Spirit was my favorite part of the book. Looking at any other man (or, woman) filled with the Spirit --- no matter how mature --- I will see someone still in-process, someone with a few rough edges yet. Reading scriptures that tell about praying and singing in the Spirit, being gifted by the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit are, of course, of supreme importance. But, I still have the need to see it walked out. I want to know where we are headed, and not simply out of curiosity. I need it to arouse faith for the journey. In Jesus, we see the full glory of Spirit-empowered living.

"The Scriptures clearly reveal that Jesus, the Christ, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and this infilling did not make Him a religious eccentric or divorce him from reality. Jesus was the most balanced, poised man who ever walked the earth and was always in touch with the real world."

Always of importance when discussing the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, is the matter of identity; questions posed on the back cover of the book, "Who is the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit? Is it God or a Force?" are answered on the inside.

In keeping with the teaching of the scriptures and the historic creeds of the Church, Pastor Beall teaches that the Holy Spirit is as certainly God, as the Father and Son are.

"The Spirit is so prominently presented in the Bible that it is impossible to ignore the fact that He possesses divine attributes and exercises divine prerogatives and those who admit His personality have never denied His divinity."

The book's 189 pages present a comprehensive view of the Holy Spirit's person and work, while never lapsing into an arid rehearsal of facts. In fact, Beall shows awareness and sensitivity of the potential for such:

"The doctrines and teachings of Christianity are many and some of them more complex than others, but there are few doctrines more perplexing to the average man than the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. This is deeply regrettable because the Holy Spirit in early Christianity was not a puzzle but a convincing power --- the heartbeat of the Christian faith."

The bulk of the book's limited anecdotal material is kept to the end, where the author tells, interestingly, of his mother's Pentecostal experience, specifically, speaking in tongues (Beall also devotes an earlier chapter to glossolalia). His mother, Myrtle Beall, came to experience this same phenomenon that first-century Christians knew ... without prompting --- she had never heard that such things happened to people. She went on, through a series of remarkable experiences, to pioneer a church that continues to this day --- the large Bethesda Christian Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

Straight Talk about the Holy Spirit is a serious --- and edifying --- study of the Holy Spirit; one that sets out proper understandings for the committed, while providing proper perspective for the disillusioned.

Beall's writing style is inviting. The book can be leisurely read in a couple of evenings. While the prose of the following passage is not representative of the entire book (for effect, Beall drives his points home here like a hammer steadily hitting a nail), it summarizes well the message of Straight Talk about the Holy Spirit:

"The Christian faith can rightly be called a religion of the Holy Spirit. The scriptural account informs us: the Spirit conceived Jesus in Mary; the Spirit descended on Jesus at His baptism. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the Judean wilderness to be tempted by Satan for forty days and nights and He came out of the experience in the power of the Spirit. Jesus began His ministry in the synagogue of His hometown, Nazareth, and declared His manifesto by saying, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ...' (Luke 4:18). He cast out evil spirits by the Spirit of God and was offered up as a sacrifice through the Eternal Spirit. The Spirit of Holiness raised him from the dead. He issued commandments to His disciples after His resurrection by the Spirit. John the Baptist foretold that Jesus would baptize believers in the Holy Spirit. The Church of Jesus Christ was born of the Spirit at Pentecost. Only those led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. We are changed from glory to glory by the work of the Spirit. The Church forms a habitation for God in the Spirit. His Spirit guides us into all truth. His Spirit strengthens us in the inner man. The fruits of the Christian life are the fruits of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit quickens (makes alive, energizes) our mortal body. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the Law of sin and death. We receive new power and authority when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. From first to last, the Christian faith is a religion of the Holy Spirit."

[James Lee Beall is pastor emeritus of Bethesda Christian Church. He has authored several books, including, Laying the Foundation: Achieving Christian Maturity (Bridge-Logos Publishing). A five-minute video of him teaching from Laying the Foundation can be seen here. In the NKJV New Spirit-Filled Life Bible (Nelson), edited by Jack Hayford, Pastor Beall wrote the notes on the Pastoral Epistles. Copies of Straight Talk about the Holy Spirit can be purchased from the Bethesda bookstore at 586-264-2300 x102.]