Celebrating The Reformation in 2017 at Moore College
Moore College has some dates for your diary –
18th March. This event, held at Moore College, will be a morning of hearing Peter Jensen, Peter Adam and Simon Manchester each present a paper on a significant character from the reformation and what we can learn from them today.
26th-27 May. This afternoon and following morning event, held at Moore College, will reflect on the reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone and how the biblical doctrine bears upon many of the contemporary debates surrounding this subject. Speakers include, Mike Ovey (Principle of Oak Hill College, London), Peter Orr and Andrew Leslie.
4-11 August. The Annual Moore College Lectures will be given by Carl Trueman, a world renowned Reformation scholar.
26th August. This event, held at St Andrew’s Cathedral, will be a morning hearing Gerald Bray, Glenn Davies, Kanishka Raffel and will include a service conducted from the 1552 Book of Common Prayer.
13-14 September. The School of Theology will be a conference assembling Reformation scholars from around Australia who will present papers on Reformation theology, significant reformers as well as the reception of the Reformation in the five hundred years since.
Worship and Edification in The Book of Common Prayer
“How do we decide what to do with our services? Go trad? Or kick out all liturgy and call it a ‘youth service’? And whatever you do, you know some people won’t be happy. If we were to list all the things that churches can argue over, ‘worship’ would consistently come right at the top.
A wise older minister once observed that even the most united church has the ability to rip itself apart over the choice of hymn book in the pews. This can’t be right, but what is the answer?
David Peterson’s article takes us on a brief overview of a biblical answer to the two questions sitting right at the heart of these arguments—what is worship? And why do we gather as a church?…”
– At the Church Society’s blog, Ben Thompson highlights a 2012 article by David Peterson (pictured) in Churchman: “Worship and Edification in the Book of Common Prayer.” (PDF file)
“Amidst the confusion of contemporary practices and the diversity of opinions about why we gather, it is instructive to return to the simple models we have in The Book of Common Prayer and consider its profound teaching, both stated and implied, concerning worship and edification.
In the three hundred and fifty years since the 1662 revision, it has taken many of us less than thirty years to ‘lose the plot’ as Anglicans in the way we ‘do church.’…”
Reflecting on Fifty Years of Expository Preaching in Australia (1965–2015)
“I was a new convert when I attended the CMS Victoria Summer School at Belgrave Heights in January 1965, when John Stott gave those studies in 2 Corinthians. It was the first time I had heard expository Bible preaching.
My response was, ‘That is how to preach the Bible, and that is what I want to do!’
I knew that such preaching would grow churches, and when I went to London in 1972 and visited All Soul’s Langham Place and St Helen’s Bishopsgate, I saw that it worked!”
– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Peter Adam remembers the impact of expository Bible preaching, as exemplified by John Stott. (Photo: St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.)
Happy 200th birthday to J C Ryle
Today is J.C. Ryle’s 200th birthday.
Church Society is celebrating with the launch of a book.
Shakespeare’s Bible?
On the eve of the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare (died 23 April 1616, at the age of 52), Bible Society Australia has released this video of a Bible they believe was his.
Dr. John Harris explains, at this link.
SMBC celebrates Centenary
Sydney Missionary and Bible College at Croydon is this weekend celebrating its Centenary, beginning with a Thanksgiving Service on Friday night April 15 2016.
Principal Stuart Coulton introduced past Principal, and now Presbyterian Moderator General, David Cook. Preaching from Hebrews 1:1-4, David exhorted his hearers to hold fast to the Bible, the revealed word of God, and to be constantly vigilant against drifting from the truth.
The Centenary celebrations will continue on Saturday April 16 with an Open Day.
A highlight of the day will be the launch of the College’s centenary history, Out of Darkness, by Academic Vice Principal Anthony Brammall (pictured).
The book is available from the College.
Journal of Australian Church History – new issue
“Students in their fourth year of the Bachelor of Divinity degree at Moore Theological College have the opportunity to research and write a 5 000 word essay in Church History on some aspect of evangelicalism in Australia or Britain (post-1600). The excellent quality of some of these essays has encouraged the Church History Department to seek a way to share the fruits of the research and writing of these students with a broader audience.”
– Check out Volume 3, currently highlighted on the Moore College website.
What the Anglican Homilies say about Justification by Faith Alone
“How old is the doctrine of justification by faith alone? Was it just invented at the Reformation? Was it the brainchild of Martin Luther or John Calvin?
Well, the Church of England’s official view on that subject is that justification by faith alone is an ancient doctrine — taught by the Bible itself and found in the best theologians of the early church in both East and West. So despite what some today might say, it is not a mere ‘distortion due to the heated atmosphere of the time.’…”
– At Church Society’s blog, Lee Gatiss goes on to provide a comforting extract from the Homily of Salvation.
Mohler: The Secularization of the West and the Rise of a New Morality
“The claim that humanity can only come into its own and overcome various invidious forms of discrimination by secular liberation is not new, but it is now mainstream. It is now so common to the cultures of Western societies that it need not be announced, and often is not noticed. Those born into the cultures of late modernity simply breathe these assumptions as they breathe the atmosphere, and their worldviews are radically realigned, even if their language retains elements of the old worldview…”
– Albert Mohler publishes Part 2 of a four part series on Secularisation and the Sexual Revolution. See also Part 1.
The future of liberalism
“Does Liberalism have a future? Or is it only parasitic on the real life of the church? What are the respective fruits of Liberalism and Evangelicalism?
Whilst we might instinctively feel we know the answers to such questions it is highly insightful to see if history corresponds to theory. And it does!
In this highly interesting and informative article, Barry Shucksmith traces the historical development of Liberalism in the Church and the decline of Church life that resulted from it alongside the story of Victorian Evangelicalism with a particular focus on the 1857-1860 revival in Great Britain.…”
– Rob Brewis writes on Church Society’s blog.
Rome Recreated (AD 320)
At With Meagre Powers, George Athas draws attention to “a stunning animation that recreates the city of Rome as it was in AD 320—the reign of Constantine”.
AP scores a hit with scoop on ISIS’ destruction of Iraqi monastery
“Certainly, journalists can’t do enough to explain what’s up with this orgy of monument desecration that ISIS and Al Qaeda enjoy doing. But there’s a deeper issue here…”
– Julia Duin at Get Religion looks at coverage of the destruction of the 1400 year old St. Elijah’s Monastery of Mosul monastery. (Image: CCTV.)
‘ISIS destroys Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery’
“Satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press confirm what church leaders and Middle East preservationists had feared: The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble … St. Elijah’s Monastery stood as a place of worship for 1,400 years…”
– Report from Fox News.
C.S. Lewis — a secret Government Agent?
“As I browsed eBay not long ago, I came across a 78 rpm recording of a lecture by C. S. Lewis.
I assumed that it was a mistake or that the seller was trying to defraud an unwitting public. I knew Lewis well enough to know that he had never made a 78 rpm recording for general distribution, much less one produced by something called the Joint Broadcasting Committee…”
– News of an interesting discovery, from Christianity Today.
(Image: Christianity Today.)
What was the Star of Bethlehem? — is this the answer at last?
“Readers should be appropriately skeptical any time they hear about a new theory revealing the true star of Bethlehem.
But reading the comments below from various experts – in biblical studies and apologetics and science and cometography – should encourage readers to give Colin Nicholl’s groundbreaking work, The Great Christ Comet: Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem, serious attention…”
– Justin Taylor on a fascinating new book – and there’s an 85 minute interview of the author, Colin Nicholl, by Eric Metaxas.
From the book:
“When it comes to claims of major advances in the understanding of long-debated Biblical mysteries, many people are naturally very skeptical. We have all seen too many television documentaries on mysteries of the Bible. A grandiose claim is made at the start of the program, and we wait patiently – or, more often, impatiently – through commercials and a long, drawn-out build-up for the narrator finally to unveil the supposedly great discovery. When the program does eventually get there, almost without exception we end up rolling our eyes and regretting that we have just wasted an hour of our lives. The most common, but by no means the only, problem is that key details of the Biblical text have been twisted or ignored in order to accommodate the featured hypothesis.”
– from this excerpt (PDF) on the Crossway website.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…