Two-Year Bible Reading Plan

One of the most-searched-for terms on our website is “Bible reading plans” – and here Stephen Witmer on The Gospel Coalition website has some helpful thoughts – as well as a quote from Robert Murray M’Cheyne.

Barry Newman on ‘Science & Genesis 1:1–2:3’

Barry Newman has now uploaded all his blog posts on “Science and Genesis 1:1 – 2:3” as a single PDF file.

“One of the most significant areas that we believers need to address is the scepticism that arises because of what is perceived to be the consequences for belief of commitment to certain cosmological, biological evolutionary, anthropological, psychological and sociological theories. This blog series and ones hopefully to follow, will attempt to examine afresh the early chapters of Genesis to see what implications there are for such theories. Its main emphasis however will be on the text of Scripture itself rather than the theories themselves.”

– There’s plenty to provoke thought and further investigation.

Assurance and Perseverance

“I was recently asked to write a brief response to a question about assurance. The questioner had been troubled by the question (or rather by some responses to the question) ‘Can a believer lose their salvation?’

The question of assurance is a deeply troubling one for many. In every church where I have served there have been people who have struggled with this question…”

– Mark Thompson writes on “Assurance and Perseverance” at Theological Theology.

See also Mark’s (unrelated) previous post, Whatever happened to ad fontes?

“Many of the great advances of the Renaissance and Reformation eras were built upon the humanist program of education in the eloquence of antiquity. Intellectuals such as Desiderius Erasmus believed that society could be improved, and the abuses and errors of the past corrected, through serious and extensive engagement with classical literature.

In the field of theology, one of the most decisive changes was an insistence on first-hand engagement rather than a reliance on secondary summaries of great thoughts from the past. Instead of relying on the Vulgate, Greek and Hebrew studies flourished. Instead of working from collections of purple passages from the church fathers, reading extensively in their works was encouraged as a means of properly understanding the context and significance of things they taught…”

Christmas Day sermon 2010 — Bp Stuart Robinson

Read Bishop Stuart Robinson’s Christmas Day sermon — to be preached this morning at St. John’s Reid, in Canberra. (PDF file.)

Bp of Canberra & Goulburn’s Christmas message

Bishop Stuart Robinson’s Christmas message, 2010 —

“Leo Tolstoy wrote a book in 1879 called A Confession. This work tells the story of his search for meaning and purpose in life. Rejecting Christianity as a child, Tolstoy left university and went out in search of pleasure. In Moscow and St. Petersburg he drank heavily, lived promiscuously, and gambled frequently. His ambition was to become wealthy and famous but nothing really satisfied him…”

– Read it all here.

A Christmas sermon ‘from Luther’

“Dr. Rod Rosenbladt preaches a Christmas sermon borne of Martin Luther’s writings, constructed by Dr. Roland Bainton, who taught history at Yale University from 1936 to 1961. Though Luther never wrote nor preached this sermon, it is assembled from his writings as a series of parts, as Dr. Bainton envisioned Luther could have written a Christmas sermon. This audio was dug up from the archives…”

– a 14 minute 9.6MB mp3 file from The White Horse Inn. Listen with a smile. (h/t Faith by Hearing.)

Seasonal Reflections from Carl Trueman

Carl Trueman has been posting some seasonal reflections at Reformation21. Part 1, part 2 and part 3 are now online.

From part 2,

“The glory of Christmas is the reality of the God in human flesh; and one of the greatest aspects of this incarnation is that which found its clearest doctrinal expression in the so-called Chalcedonian Formula of 451 AD. This rather dusty looking formula emphasized the union of the two natures, divine and human, in the one person of the Lord Jesus Christ.   While many of us instinctively recoil at the language of natures and person, as being somewhat abstract and philosophical, as taming what is really a most explosive biblical truth – that God entered history in human form — this formula is actually the most glorious of practical truths.  Actions are, after all, things performed by persons, not natures. Thus, Chalcedon underlines the fact that, when Jesus looked with pity on the woman with the flow of blood, we know that this was not something that his human nature did while the divine nature was somehow disengaged or hidden or even opposed to what he was doing. No, God manifest in the flesh looked with pity upon her. God saw, God knew, God acted with mercy.

Because God in Christ is a person, not two people or simply two natures spookily floating in the one space, the action of Jesus revealed something deep and wonderful about God himself: the one who created all things, the one who measures the very dimensions of the universe as if they were the mere span of his hand — this God looks with pity upon a poor, nameless woman in her sufferings which, while terrible to her, were of no cosmic significance whatsoever.”

‘Another day, another reason to dislike WikiLeaks’

“Listening to Radio 4’s Sunday programme this morning, there was an interview with Andrew Brown from the Guardian in which he said something like this: that the reason the WikiLeaks cables were so useful was that, unlike journalists, they could disclose their sources, because those who sent them assumed that they were speaking confidentially — “But of course, they were not.”

Now this was interesting, coming as it did from a journalist…”

– This last week John Richardson has been posting some thoughtful comments on the Wikileaks saga – at The Ugley Vicar. Today’s is no exception.

New Themelios online – Volume 35, Issue 3

The latest issue of Themelios (Volume 35, Issue 3) is available as a free download from The Gospel Coalition. Articles include:

Editorial: Contrarian Reflections on Individualism – D. A. Carson
Minority Report: Terrible Beauty, Beauty, and the Plain Terrible – Carl Trueman
Fiction and Truth in the Old Testament Wisdom Literature – Daniel J. Estes.

Spiritual Warfare 101

“Several years ago I read David Powlison’s book, Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare. (Sadly, no longer in print—though I believe a second edition may be forthcoming.) I found it extremely helpful and persuasive. I took notes, and thought it might be worth posting them…”

– Justin Taylor’s notes are indeed helpful and worth reading.

‘The Anglican Church League’

“In his book The Chosen Ones – The Politics of Salvation in the Anglican Church journalist Chris McGillion paints a somewhat unflattering picture of the inner workings of the diocese of Sydney over the 1993–2001 period. Crafted chiefly from interviews with some of the protagonists, it is a story of manoeuvrings, tactics, parties and vote-counting…”

– Michael Jensen writes about Sydney and the Anglican Church League – at The Blogging Parson.

Part 2.

How churches lose the plot

“I have spent the last few weeks reflecting on the general question as to why churches lose the plot and end up going liberal. Of course, the simple answer is, ‘Because of human sinfulness,’ but that is not particularly helpful as an explanation of why particular churches lose the plot at particular points in time.

Thus, over the next few days I want to offer a series of posts, in no specific order of priority, about more particular, immediate causes for the phenomenon of theological decline within churches. I should add that my reflections are avowedly Presbyterian, and I make no apologies for that; but I do believe that the causes I outline have their parallels within other Christian ecclesiological traditions such as evangelicalism etc.…”

– Carl Trueman has been exploring the question at Reformation21.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Reading Sibbes Aloud Project

“The Reading Sibbes Aloud Project provides a growing collection of sermons of the Puritan Richard Sibbes. The great value of Puritan writing continues to be its depth of scriptural insight and timeless application. Please join Mark Dever as he reads through the works of the ‘Prince of the Puritans’ Richard Sibbes.”

– at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. (h/t Faith by Hearing.)

Moore Bolt

“Peter Bolt, the brilliant Head of New Testament Studies at Moore College, has published again. It is fascinating the way he has followed the same trajectory as another great New Testament teacher at Moore, Donald Robinson (who would later become Archbishop of Sydney). Like Bishop Robinson, Peter has taught and published landmark works on the New Testament. His The Cross at a Distance: Atonement in Mark’s Gospel (Nottingham: IVP, 2004) comes to mind.

But lately he has added a new passion: study of the early colonial period in Sydney, and in particular the influential gospel men who laid the foundations of Australian evangelicalism…”

– Mark Thompson writes at Theological Theology.

Something funny is happening to our Bible readings

“Something funny is happening to our Bible readings at church. I noticed it last week.

We use the NIV at St Michael’s for our public reading of Scripture and preaching. … Everyone on our reading roster knows we use the NIV.

But last week some of the readings were different from what we had in front of us. And others noticed too. What was going on?…”

– Sandy Grant at St. Michael’s Wollongong writes about the changes to the NIV – at The Sola Panel.

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