The New City Catechism
“Last week Tim Keller asked ‘Why Catechesis Now?’ This morning TGC introduced the New City Catechism, adapted by Tim Keller and Sam Shammas from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York…”
– Andy Naselli has the links and some related resources.
Why Catechesis now?
“The church in Western culture today is experiencing a crisis of holiness. To be holy is to be ‘set apart,’ different, living life according to God’s Word and story, not according to the stories that the world tells us are the meaning of life.
The more the culture around us becomes post- and anti-Christian the more we discover church members in our midst, sitting under sound preaching, yet nonetheless holding half-pagan views of God, truth, and human nature, and in their daily lives using sex, money, and power in very worldly ways. …”
– Tim Keller lays out the need for a new Catechism to be launched next week by The Gospel Coalition.
Related: Grounded in the Gospel – J I Packer on The White Horse Inn.
Creeds and Confessions in the Contemporary Church
Carl Trueman was interviewed on the role of creeds and confessions in the church – at Christ the Center broadcast.
Where general church culture is increasingly forgetting the place of creeds, this is worth hearing. The interview starts 5:15 into the audio file.
Related: See also the video about Trueman’s new book The Creedal Imperative here. (Availability.)
Why Archbishops must lead Theologically
The latest issue of The Australian Church Record (number 1906 / October 2012) is now available for download at their website.
Here’s the Editorial – Read more
The Power of overlooking an Offense
“In her masterful biography of Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin records an interesting story in the mid-1850’s, when Lincoln was in the middle of his career in law. The story shines light on Lincoln’s ability to overlook major personal offenses. …”
– Trevin Wax gives an illustration with wide contemporary application. (h/t Tim Challies.)
Preaching Matters
The beginnings of a what looks to be wonderful video resource from Great St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.
Preaching Matters. (h/t Reformation21.)
The hermeneutics of homosexuality: A response to Michael Kirby
“In his winsome way, the Honourable Michael Kirby introduces his recent Marshall Memorial Lecture with a surprising autobiographical account of his Sydney Anglican Protestant credentials, given the more Melbourne Anglo-Catholic audience…”
– On the ABC’s Religion and Ethics website, Gordon Preece (co-editor of Sexegesis) responds to a lecture by Michael Kirby, also published on that website.
‘Churchman’ digitised for the Web
“Church Society are pleased to report that Rob Bradshaw, Director of “Theology on the Web”, has recently digitised and uploaded to the internet, most back articles of Churchman (est 1879), dating from the 1920s. In total Rob has uploaded 3,531 individual Churchman articles to his Biblical Studies website, for which the Council of Church Society express their deep gratitude.
Click here to view the Churchman page on Rob’s Biblical Studies website. It is hoped in due course that these files will also be made available on the Churchman website. …”
– from Church Society’s EV News.
The Land of the Lost Weekend
Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen reminds us what this long weekend is all about –
“This long weekend celebrates Labour Day, but most 21st century Australians do not give it a second thought. We have forgotten the struggle of the 19th century when twelve hour shifts for six days a week was the normal lot of the worker.”
– Read it all at Phillip Jensen’s website.
Did we get Jesus right? Jesus in the Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels
Another lecture given at The Lanier Theological Library in Houston has been released. It’s Dr Simon Gathercole (Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University) on “Did we get Jesus right? Jesus in the Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels.”
He looks at the message of the four Gospels, and then compares them with the later Apocryphal ‘Gospels’.
The talk runs for 49 minutes, followed by two responses and then questions. Worth watching and sharing, and a good answer to notions arising from The Da Vinci Code and similar.
Related: Dr Peter Williams, New Evidences the Gospels were Based on Eyewitness Accounts. (Vimeo)
Why I am a Complementarian
“God is graciously moving his universe towards the goal of all things being summed up under Christ (Eph 1:9-10). But this ultimate state of life has already begun, as the Father brings people to the Son, and unites them together under Christ as their head (Eph 4:1-16). …”
– Read Jane Tooher’s essay at the Moore College website.
The Man on the $20 note
“The John Flynn episode of ABC’s Compass … was on ABC Television 1’s Compass last Sunday night…”
– Gary Ware at Mount Gambier Presbyterian Church draws attention to this (somewhat secular) account of Presbyterian Missioner John Flynn. Good to learn a bit of history on the centenary of the founding of the Australian Inland Mission. Image: ABC TV.
CMS Summer School 2013 registration
Registration for the NSW CMS Summer School is now open. Details here.
Myths about Christianity
On a recent episode of The White Horse Inn, Michael Horton interviewed History Professor Jeffrey Burton Russell on his new book, Exposing Myths about Christianity: A Guide to Answering 145 Viral Lies and Legends.
Worth listening to a historian’s perspective.
‘Christians in the QandA fiery furnace’
“It takes courage to stand up for one’s faith… even when you’re the Archbishop of Sydney confronting an audience of unbelievers and a panel of atheists on ABC’s Q & A program. …”
– Dale Stephenson of Crossway Church in Melbourne gives his take on that recent episode of Q&A – from Eternity Newspaper – at The Bible Society website.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…