The Perfect Saviour: Key themes in Hebrews

Dr. David Peterson draws our attention to an important new book.

(Get a copy.)

Lightning strikes

“Apparently York University was hit by lightning last week. In and of itself, that fact may be of minor meteorological interest; but given that the General Synod of the Church of England was meeting there to discuss the possibility of ordaining female bishops, some have turned it into a matter of major theological interest. …”

– Iain Campbell at Reformation21 writes about the nature of God, the status of the Bible, and the willingness of the church to hear.

Making sense of Scripture’s ‘inconsistency’

“I find it frustrating when I read or hear columnists, pundits, or journalists dismiss Christians as inconsistent because ‘they pick and choose which of the rules in the Bible to obey.’

Most often I hear, ‘Christians ignore lots of Old Testament texts – about not eating raw meat or pork or shellfish, not executing people for breaking the Sabbath, not wearing garments woven with two kinds of material and so on. Then they condemn homosexuality. Aren’t you just picking and choosing what you want to believe from the Bible?’…”

– Tim Keller looks at the relationship of the Old Testament to the New. (h/t Tim Challies.)

Getting to grips with the ‘God-particle’

“If you have studied a lot of physics, then you may understand your photons from your bosons and your leptons from your quarks. And you might be able to understand with ease what such things tell us about our universe.

But for those of us who struggle with physics and want a little assistance when it comes to engaging with our non-Christian friends on this subject, here are some helpful words from the Gospel Coalition…”

– Helen Thorne writes at The Good Book blog. (Image: phdcomics.com)

Remembering a Pioneer

“On 13 July each year we remember Bishop Sydney Kirkby, a pioneer missionary for Rural Australia and the Bush Church Aid Society.”

– The Diocese of Perth website gives thanks.

Read more about Bishop Kirkby (1879–1935) at The Australian Dictionary of Biography.

 

Commended: The Faith we Confess

“The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion found at the back of the Book of Common Prayer are the doctrinal standard of the Church of England.

… Anglican churchgoers, ordinands, and ministers still require some kind of exposition of the Articles which are nearly four and a half centuries old, in order to understand them and see their importance as an expression of the faith we confess today. Into the breach steps Gerald Bray with this well-written, historically-aware, and faithful unwrapping of each Article.”

– Lee Gatiss, review editor for Churchman commends (PDF file) Gerald Bray’s book on the Articles. (Availability.) Related: “a brilliant resource” – Mark Thompson.

Download the Introduction from The Latimer Trust.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of Church Planting

“It was only about fifteen years ago that Sydney Anglicans recommenced church planting. Since then we can see that church plants can be described in the title of the old spaghetti western as ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’.

People plant churches for a variety of reasons. Consequently, there are many different kinds of church plants. Some of the reasons are great but some are somewhat less than noble. Unfortunately, the sinful and deceitful heart of man is rarely so simple as to have only one motivation. Here is a list of twelve different reasons for church plants as a reality check on our motivations. …”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column for the Cathedral.

Related:

“Late last year I was invited to speak at a conference on the topic Why we need more churches. It seemed a silly question really. Of course we need more churches. …

But for me, it was and is a real issue. People confronted me with this question a number of times after hearing that we were moving to Darwin to plant a new church.”

– Dave McDonald in Canberra: Why we need more churches.

Griffith Thomas on Original Sin

Church Society has posted the latest extract from W H Griffith Thomas’ classic work, Principles of Theology. This is the first section of his piece on Article IX of the Thirty Nine Articles.

Dean of Dallas reflects on 41 years in the Episcopal Church

As he retires from his position as Dean of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Dallas, Texas, Kevin Martin bemoans the direction in which TEC is heading –

“Things have changed and I think not for the better. For example, as a seminarian I attended the General Convention held in Houston. I remember the hearing held on the proposed new Baptismal Rite. It started with a 20 minute presentation by a leading theologian and seminary professor on the need for changes. This was followed by a 10 minute ‘response’ by another theologian from a different perspective. This theologian began by affirming a number of points made in the initial address, and only then did he respectfully present a differing opinion. This was followed by a panel discussion among a group of outstanding leaders and thinkers. Only then was the discussion open to deputies in the audience who could ask questions.

Compare all this to a discussion at the General Convention in 2000 over the issue of ordination of gay and lesbian persons in same-sex relationships. The initial resolution that would be taken to the floor of convention was read by the Chair of the Committee and then members of the audience were invited to give testimony limited to two minutes. Participants went to a set of microphones labeled either pro or con.

I saw a seminary dean given only two minutes to speak to the Church’s theology of marriage. This was followed by a two minute personal sharing by a woman who was married to a transvestite on how accepting their local parish had been. I sat watching as a once thoughtful and intelligent community that valued substantive engagement with issues reduced itself to a community of passionate partisanship who reduced discussion to a superficial series of slogans and clichés.”

– Read it all at his blog. (h/t Anglicans United.)

The Wisdom of the Cross (2)

“In part one of this series I considered Paul’s question to the church in Corinth concerning wisdom, Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? (1 Cor.1:20). There I concluded that Christian wisdom is neither a matter of gaining kudos amidst worldly fashions nor the desire we have for God to do something spectacular to make us feel like we are on the winning side. Instead, we seek a world-view that rests on God’s actions for us in the cross of the Lord Jesus.

Next, I’d like to add Job’s question to the mix: In Ch.28:12 Job asks, Where shall wisdom be found?…”

– Dr David Höhne continues his series at the Moore College Faculty blog.

Defining Marriage webcast

On Tuesday night, the Australian Marriage Forum’s Defining Marriage webcast was seen in hundreds of churches across the country. The video from the evening has now been posted on their website and at Vimeo.

(John Anderson’s comments starting at 67 minutes 30 seconds are well worth watching.)

Welcoming Defence families

Defence members and their families probably move houses more than most and can face real challenges. Defence Anglicans have some ideas on how to welcome defence families to your church.

(The article complements the feature in the July 2012 issue of Southern Cross newspaper.)

The Atonement — Visual Theology

Tim Challies has published another chart in his ‘Visual Theology’ infographic series, this one to help explain what is meant by the Penal Substitutionary Atonement. See it here.

Audio file: The Thirty Nine Articles

A few years back, Lee Gatiss at The Theologian took the time to record a reading of The Thirty Nine Articles. It’s very helpful to hear them read.

You can find the audio here as a 9.5MB / 28 minute mp3 file.

(Or you can read the Articles here.)

 

Decline and Fall

“Practical Ethics, a webpage based at the University of Oxford, has an interesting post on research that suggests a society’s crime rate will be higher where there is widespread rejection of the notion of hell. …”

– Carl Trueman writes at Reformation21.

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