The Lord of Time

“The coming of the New Year is always the signal for a rash of resolutions to break out, most of which, though well-intentioned, have a very short life-expectancy, as the insurance people might put it.

But with the thought of the passage of time in mind, it may be well to give a little attention to the Christian view of time, a subject which is very much before the theologians in recent times …”

– The Australian Church Record has republished this piece from Leon Morris, from January 1955.

400 Free eBooks

Looking for some holiday reading?

Monergism has 400 free eBooks for download. Many older texts.

Large fine for refusing to supply same sex wedding cake upheld in Oregon

“There have been a number of ‘wedding industry’ religious freedom cases arising in the United States and the UK over the last few years.

On 28 December 2017 the Oregon Court of Appeals, in Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries … upheld a $135,000 fine levied on the Kleins, wedding cake makers, for declining to make a cake for the wedding of Rachel and Laurel Bowmen-Cryer.

The case is another example of religious freedom (and, arguably, freedom of speech) being over-ridden in the name of ‘dignitary harm’ to same-sex couples. It is a good example of the issues being presented to the current Ruddock Inquiry into Religious Freedom being conducted in Australia at the moment. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Assoc. Professor Neil Foster takes a look at the Oregon wedding cake case.

He writes, “Attempts to learn from overseas experience and provide a clear legislative solution to the issues were defeated in the passage of the legislation enacting same sex marriage for this country.” He encourages Australian readers to make their views known to the Ruddock Enquiry.

The Gospel and the Anglican Tradition — new book from Martin Davie

Anglican theologian Martin Davie’s new book, “The Gospel and the Anglican Tradition” is due to be published next month. Here’s one commendation:

“The sweep of Martin’s new book is breathtaking. It conveys an encyclopaedic knowledge of church history, biblical theology and the worldwide Anglican tradition. Anyone wondering why they should be part of the Anglican church will find a very comprehensive answer here.

However, the book is much more than an apologia for Anglicanism. It is written to appeal for unity in the gospel. Martin affirms that order and truth belong together – but shows that both of these hinge, and have always hinged, on a clear understanding of the gospel. He takes the view that while diversity can be hugely beneficial, disagreement over the content of the gospel can never be.

Given that this is his message, some readers might be surprised to find him quoting so freely from the GAFCON Jerusalem Declaration and an ACNA document. His purpose, however, is to show that these stand in the mainstream of Anglican theological tradition and are thus a great reforming influence for our own day.”

– Rt. Revd Rod Thomas, Bishop of Maidstone.

Published by Gilead Books.

(Australian availability – should be updated closer to publishing time.)

See also:

Why the Arguments for a Third Way do not Work – Martin Davie (GAFCON website).

Can we agree to disagree? – Martin Davie, Crossway. (PDF)

Review of the Report from the Marriage Commission of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Four things you can’t do without Systematic Theology

“Systematic theology builds on the results of biblical theology.

Biblical theology is the exegetical discipline that seeks to grasp the entirety of Scripture as the unfolding of God’s plan from Genesis to Revelation. Starting with Scripture as God’s Word written through human authors—our final authority (sola scriptura) for what we think about God, ourselves, and the world—biblical theology seeks to “put together” the entire canon in a way that’s true to God’s intent.

Systematic theology then applies the truths gained in biblical theology…”

– As part of Crossway’s promotion of their new ESV Systematic Theology Study Bible, The Gospel Coalition  has published this article by Stephen Wellum.

Matthias ebooks half price until 31 Dec 2017

Matthias Press is selling their ebooks at half price until 31st December 2017.

Their website states, “Please note that the price of ebooks shown on the product page is the normal price, but a 50% discount will automatically be applied to all epub/mobi purchases.”

Meet the Nativity – A Christmas Comedy in Four Parts

The final cut of Meet the Nativity is now available on their website.

Archbishop of Sydney’s 2017 Christmas message – tweet it to your friends

Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney
2017 Christmas Message

Twitter now seems to be the preferred method of communication for at least one of our world leaders.   Read more

The Condition of the Stable

“As we enjoy the sounds and smells of our Christmas — roast turkey, excited children, and the amicable throng of the communion table — they are different from the first Christmas. Its outward smells and signs are dung, urine, and the sounds of fear as a child is born under reprobate appearance.

But nothing we have can match the glory of that Bethlehem Christmas. For here the Son of God has come into the world …”

– A Christmas editorial from The Australian Church Record, December 1986.

A Church Near You

The Church of England has a dedicated website to find your closest Anglican church – with the message that, for most people in the UK, their local church is less than a mile away.

If you are looking for an Anglican Church in Sydney this Christmas, check out Sydney’s own ChurchNearYou.com.au.

‘Get with the Program’ — The Church of England votes to ordain Women Bishops — 2014

“Writing about the age of John Milton, the British author A. N. Wilson once tried to explain to modern secular readers that there had once been a time when bishops of the Church of England were titanic figures of conviction who were ready to stand against the culture.

‘It needs an act of supreme historical imagination to be able to recapture an atmosphere in which Anglican bishops might be taken seriously,’ he wrote, ‘still more, one in which they might be thought threatening.’…”

– This 2014 piece from Albert Mohler is worth re-reading to remember how much has changed in such a short time in the Church of England.

And do pray for those gospel-minded leaders in the C of E, that they will be filled with wisdom, and will stand firm in the faith.

Related:

St. Helen’s Bishopsgate relationships with other deanery churches ‘temporarily impaired’.

Anglican Unscripted #357 – Welby revokes Carey’s Permission to Officiate.

NTE17 talks

AFES has posted the main session talks from the 2017 National Training Event in Canberra – talks by Richard Chin and Gary Millar – on its Vimeo account.

Very encouraging.

Can Evangelicalism survive Donald Trump and Roy Moore?

“For centuries, renewal movements have emerged within Christianity and taken on different forms and names.

Often, they have invoked the word ‘evangelical.’ Followers of Martin Luther, who emphasized the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, described themselves in this way.

The Cambridge clergyman Charles Simeon, who led the Low Church renewal movement within the Church of England, adopted the label. The trans-Atlantic eighteenth-century awakenings and revivals led by the Wesleys were also often called “evangelical.” In the nineteen-forties and fifties, Billy Graham and others promoted the word to describe themselves and the religious space they were seeking to create between the cultural withdrawal espoused by the fundamentalist movement, on the one hand, and mainline Protestantism’s departures from historic Christian doctrine, on the other.

In each of these phases, the term has had a somewhat different meaning, and yet it keeps surfacing because it has described a set of basic historic beliefs and impulses…”

– In The New Yorker, Tim Keller lays out what ‘evangelical’ means – in the context of the label being used by every man and his dog.

PrayerMate in 2017: Giving Thanks

Andy Geers at PrayerMate gives thanks for the way the app has been used this year, and foreshadows new content for 2018.

If you don’t use PrayerMate, be encouraged to check it out.

New book by Paul Williamson makes it into IVP’s Top 10 of 2017

“Dr Paul Willamson’s latest book has just been published.

Based on the material he presented at the Annual Moore College Lectures in 2016, the book is titled: Death and the Afterlife: Biblical perspectives on ultimate questions. It has been published as the most recent volume of the New Studies in Biblical Theology series, edited by D.A. Carson.”

– Good news from Moore College to round out the year.

See IVP’s top ten books for 2017 listed here.

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