Twenty resources on the Protestant Reformation

“2017 is the 500th anniversary of an event that strangely ignited the Protestant Reformation.

If you want to learn more about the Protestant Reformation, consider these helpful resources. I combed through about 800 relevant resources in my Zotero library and selected only twenty — including some picture books and videos.”

– Thanks to Andy Naselli who has compiled this useful list.

Article 29 — Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the use of the Lord’s Supper

“Sometimes it is only when you sit down and do a worked example that you understand a truth thoroughly. When I was 15 my local Roman Catholic priest asked me to choose whether to be a Roman Catholic or an Anglican. As we discussed Scripture and Salvation the worked example of just one person, Mary the mother of Jesus, was very helpful to me. If she was sinless then I should be a Catholic; if she was sinful like everybody else then I should be a Protestant.

The example of ‘the wicked… in the use of the Lord’s Supper’ does the same job with the Sacraments. …”

– At the Church Society blog, Charlie Skrine looks at Articles 29.

Romans commentary from David Peterson due in August

News from Dr. David Peterson:

“The commentary I have been working on since 2012 is finished and is due to be published on August 1st 2017. The series is called Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation. The publishers are B&H Publishing Group, Nashville Tennessee.

The series is based on the new Holman translation, simply called Christian Standard Bible (2017). But I have made a careful study of the Greek and brought this into the analysis of the text where necessary.

A particular feature of this series is the desire to relate the interpretation of each biblical book to the Bible’s story line and to explore theological themes in the light of biblical teaching more generally. I have done this for Romans in an extensive introduction, but have also demonstrated in the exegesis how Paul develops these themes. More details about the commentary and my approach to this book can be found in the folder on Romans on this website.”

What we lost when we lost our Hymnals

“I don’t think we should go back to using hymnals. But I do think there’s value in considering what we lost when, over the course of a relatively short period of time, we gave up hymnals for PowerPoint projection. Not all of us, mind you, but most of us.

It’s worth considering because it helpfully shows what we stand to lose when we switch from one media to another, and especially when we do so quickly and without due consideration. …”

– Tim Challies makes some very valid observations about singing in church.

Related: Songs of the Saints – by Mike Raiter and Rob Smith, from Matthias Media.

Anglican Connection National Conference 2017 June 13-15

Registration is now open for the Anglican Connection National Conference, June 13-15 in Dallas.

This would be a wonderful encouragement to Anglicans in North America.

“Exploring practical ways we can build effective gospel-centered churches through the lens of the 16th-century reformers.

The gospel need in the USA today is great. So many have never heard; and so many others do not know what to believe.

The Anglican Connection conference offers ministers, church leaders, and members an opportunity to re-envision and refresh effective gospel-centered ministries.”

Details here.

Encountering contemporary liberal theology – in its own words

“Conservative evangelicals are often accused of not ‘listening’ to other points of view. We’re told that we only engage with each other; we only read or listen to ‘approved’ versions of our faith; we caricature the arguments of revisionists without really hearing them.

So I was delighted to receive a press release from Modern Church, summarising the keynote address from the recent annual meeting of their Council, and giving a link to the substantial 12 page text of the talk itself, by Dr Lorraine Cavanagh, which can be found here. [Updated link]

‘Reclaiming the soul of Modern Church’ reads like a manifesto for mission for liberal Christians, and it’s worth reading with genuine enquiry, to ask whether this revisionist version of Christian faith offers a coherent and compelling vision that threatens orthodox biblical faith in any way. …”

– Andrew Symes at Anglican Mainstream provides a very interesting look at liberal theology’s rolling redefinition of Christianity.

Article 25 — Of the Sacraments

“The Sacraments ‘ordained of Christ’ then are to be ‘duly used’ and ‘worthily received’. What does that mean? First, we must distinguish between those sacraments of the gospel ordained by Christ and other ‘commonly (i.e. wrongly) called’ sacraments which may or may not have a useful place in the Christian life (matrimony, orders, and confirmation certainly do). …”

– At the Church Society blog, Wallace Benn takes a look at what the 39 Articles have to say about the sacraments. (GAFCON photo.)

Gospel Speech Online

“I’ve written this Brief Book to help Christians to speak the gospel of the truth in love in the online world. I draw on principles of Christian speech from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In many ways it’s a sequel to my earlier book Gospel Speech. …”

– from Lionel Windsor at Forget the Channel. A very timely resource!

Justification – “A Most Wholesome Doctrine”

“The eleventh article introduces us to the most important point of controversy in the sixteenth century. It would not be an exaggeration to say that polemics raged round the question of Justification by Faith. …”

– The Australian Church Record is continuing to reprint Archdeacon T.C. Hammond’s series on The Thirty Nine Articles. This from April 1956.

Why Princeton’s snub of Tim Keller should outrage progressives

“If you’re a conservative evangelical Christian who feels called to ministry, you’re welcome to attend Princeton Theological Seminary. But you’re not worthy of honor there. That’s the message sent by PTS’ president, Craig Barnes, today. …

If Christians like Tim Keller are unworthy of honor and deserve to be marginalized, American Christianity is in serious trouble. …”

– Jonathan Merritt writes at Religion News Service.

Related: What Hath Amsterdam to do with Princeton? – Reformation21.

“In 1898 B.B. Warfield invited the Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper to deliver six lectures at Princeton Seminary for the inaugural Stone Lectures. These lectures were eventually bound and printed as Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. In these lectures, Kuyper discussed what he believed to be the manner by which a Calvinist and Reformed worldview ought to be applied to quite a number of spheres of life.

The inaugural Stone Lectures forever linked the theology of Dr. Kuyper with Princeton Seminary. This connection was further solidified in the creation of the Kuyper Prize, awarded by the Kuyper Center for Public Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.”

On Leaving the Church of England — Gavin Ashenden

The Rev. Gavin Ashenden gives his reasons for leaving the Church of England in this video released overnight.

While our readers might hold to a somewhat different theological perspective (Gavin speaks from an Anglo-Catholic position), he raises concerns which many would share. The video runs for 27 minutes.

Related:

Princeton Seminary cancels award to Tim Keller after LGBT complaint – Christian Post.

Princeton Seminary reforms its views on honoring Tim Keller – Christianity Today.

NEXUS17 coming up on April 3rd

NEXUS17 is at MBM Rooty Hill this year.

“Four outstanding talks, morning and afternoon tea, a spit-roast lunch, time to talk with old friends and meet new ones…”

Theme: The Reformation we need today.

Details at the Nexus website.

An FAQ on shaping your ministry culture around Disciple-making

“In 2009 a small Australian publisher quietly released a book entitled The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift that Changes Everything, co-authored by Sydney Anglicans Colin Marshall and Tony Payne.

The book became an unlikely international bestseller, especially when Mark Dever offered his unsolicited endorsement that “This is the best book I’ve read on the nature of church ministry,” and began reading excerpts of the book aloud at conferences.

If you haven’t read it, you don’t need to. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor explains why you don’t need to read The Trellis and the Vine.

Beer, Bibles and free speech in Australia

“The Bible Society of Australia has recently celebrated its 200th birthday – a significant milestone in a country whose European settlement only took place about 230 years ago. It decided to celebrate the event by way of connecting with popular Australian culture – and in a fairly secular country, a key aspect of that culture is beer!

So in a creative move, the Society formed a partnership with Coopers, a long-established but slightly “niche” brewery, to arrange the release of cans of “Coopers Light”, a low-alcohol beer, with Bible verses on the cans. (The link was all the more appropriate because the motto of the Society was “Live Light”. Coopers also claims to be “Australia’s longest living family brewery”, having been established in 1862.)

So far, so good …”

– At MercatorNet, Neil Foster recounts the disturbing tale of the “Keeping it Light” video.

Why Christians should be punctual

“If you’re someone who is consistently late, are your reasons good? Maybe you’ve never even considered your lateness to be an issue. But have you thought about what it is that you’re (perhaps unintentionally) communicating to the person/people/event that you are late for? …”

– At GoThereFor.com, Kirsten McKinlay suggests five reasons why punctuality matters.

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