The Sola Panel switches on
In the fine tradition of the T4G blog, The Sola Panel – a new blog sponsored by Matthias Media – is now online.
With regular contributions from Peter Bolt, Mark Thompson, Tony Payne, Archie Poulos “and more!”. See it at solapanel.org
Review of Stott’s ‘The Living Church’
Reading John Stott’s The Living Church is like having a conversation with a venerable and godly grandfather. There’s no bold new vision. No young man’s castles in the sky. You might not even agree with everything he says. Yet all of it commands respect. All of it evinces wisdom. Every single word, every single expression, feels permeated with the deep and calm virtue of a man who has, for more days than can be counted, found his refreshment lying beside the quiet waters of our Lord…
Jonathan Leeman reviews John Stott’s The Living Church: Convictions of a Life Long Pastor. At IX Marks. (The book is available at Moore Books.)
Phillip Jensen interviewed for IX Marks
Last November, Mark Dever interviewed the Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen for IX Marks Ministries. Phillip speaks on dealing with success, his early days at UNSW, how Two Ways to Live came about, and much more.
For a mainly Baptist audience, he gives some historical background on why Sydney Diocese is what it is today.
The interview has just been made available. It runs for 60 minutes and the mp3 file is a 28MB download. It’s available here.
A new Marian dogma?
“In February a letter was published from four Roman Catholic Cardinals and apparently over 500 Bishops and 7 million laity requesting a ‘solemn definition’ of the aspects of the Roman teaching on Mary… this is what they are seeking in such a definition: regarding Mary Most Holy as the Spiritual Mother of all humanity, the co-redemptrix with Jesus the Redeemer, Mediatrix of all graces with Jesus the one Mediator, and Advocate with Jesus Christ on behalf of the human race.”
In the light of the coming World Youth Day in Sydney, it’s worth reading this article by David Phillips, General Secretary of Church Society, in the current issue of Crossway. (PDF)
Godliness and good learning
Mike Ovey, now the Principal of Oak Hill College in London, reviews John Piper’s book, “The Future of Justification: A Response to N T Wright” –
“In one sense, Piper’s thesis can be simply stated: the traditional Reformation understanding of justification by faith, whereby God counts me righteous because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone, is correct. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to me in my union with Christ, not imparted nor infused, and is sufficient, such that my justification does not depend on what I work after my conversion, although my life can and should evidence what Christ has done for me. My heart warms as I summarise these simple but profound truths of traditional evangelical belief. …”
– from the Oak Hill website.
(The book is available from Moore Books in Sydney. It’s also available as a free PDF download at DesiringGod.org)
Why do they hate it so? The doctrine of Substitution
At the Together for the Gospel Conference two weeks ago, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler gave a very helpful overview of recent attacks on the Biblical doctrine of the Substitutionary Atonement of Christ.
Are Anglicans untouched by these attacks? Dr. Mohler’s 67 minute address will repay careful listening.
The audio of this talk – and all the other sessions – are freely available from T4G.
(Photo: Together for the Gospel.)
The word of God in Hebrews 9-10
Back in August 2006 at the WorshipGod06 Conference (hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries), Ryan Ferguson gave a memorised dramatic recitation of Hebrews 9 and 10 using the ESV.
This powerful 11 minute recitation (via Google Video) is a great blessing to all who want to understand Hebrews better.
True Worship
“To worship God ‘in spirit and in truth’ is first and foremost a way of saying that we must worship God by means of Christ. In him the reality has dawned and the shadows are being swept away (Hebrews 8:13). Christian worship is new covenant worship; it is gospel-inspired worship; it is Christ-centred worship; it is cross-focussed worship.”
– D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 37. With thanks to firstimportance.org
‘How about a fresh cup of reality?’
Among Anglican bloggers, there has been a great deal of comment on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s video about his hopes for Lambeth. American Anglican blogger BabyBlue has posted an entertaining, but serious, comment –
Something is missing from the video. It’s often called the “Elephant in the Room,” … the question we ask is how can any bishop trust another bishop when the chief pastor bishop cannot even admit that there is “division of the first magnitude” going on outside his palace gates? …
What we see here instead, is an Archbishop of Canterbury who has created an environment free from bishops suing laity, bishops suing clergy, bishops defrocking clergy, bishops deposing bishops, bishops suing bishops, bishops wigging out so much that judgment flies out the window and they start threatening to defrock the general editor of the English Standard Version of the Bible, for heaven’s sake. Hello? Apparently, none of that is visible from inside this ivory tower. Pull up a comfy chair. A full course of denial is on the menu.
See her full post – complete with The Parrot Sketch – here.
Patristics for busy pastors
Who cares about the Church Fathers?
This Interview with Dr. Ligon Duncan addresses questions such as, Why should a busy pastor invest time in reading the patristic authors? How will a pastor benefit? Where should he start?
The 14.4MB mp3 file of the interview with Tony Reinke may be downloaded from Sovereign Grace Ministries.
(With thanks to Faith by Hearing for the link. Photo: First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi.)
Together for the Gospel 08 audio
The 2008 Together for the Gospel Conference is currently under way in Louisville, Kentucky.
More than 2,500 Christian leaders have gather to be encouraged by Mark Dever, John Piper, and friends. Mark Dever’s talk is titled: Improving the Gospel: Exercises in Unbiblical Theology.
As each talk is given, the audio is being made available for free download here.
Counterfeit Gospels
How many counterfeit gospels can there be?
9Marks’ Jonathan Leeman summarises seven ‘counterfeit gospels’ – from the book How People Change: they are – Formalism, Legalism, Mysticism, Activism, Biblicism, Therapism, Social-ism.
He asks, “How many of these do you recognise in your own heart?”
– Read about them at Church Matters, the 9Marks blog.
ESV Study Bible in the works
A Study Bible based on the ESV is in its final stages of preparation and it is due to be published (in the US) in October.
Details are available at www.esvstudybible.org.
Huldreich Zwingli, Swiss Reformer
“Zwingli was born on January 1st, 1484, a few weeks after Luther, in a tiny village high in the Alps above Lake Zurich. Of peasant stock, he early showed his brilliance, and graduated at the University of Vienna in 1505, where he met Wittenbach. Ordained in 1506 and appointed to the pastoral charge of Glarus, he laboured there ten years studying the classics, the Fathers, and the Bible at the same time.
In 1516 he removed to Einsiedeln, where he began to show his real theology. He preached that Christ, not Mary, is our only salvation, and gained his reputation as a preacher. He was promoted to Zurich in 1518 and by his Biblical preaching began to formulate the principles and doctrines of the Reformation. …”
In 1961, Churchman published an article by James Atkinson on this Swiss Reformer. Happily, Church Society are continuing their tradition of republishing helpful Churchman articles, and this one has just been placed online.
It’s available as a PDF file here.
Gnosticism in the bookshops
Dr. Michael Horton and friends at the “White Horse Inn” broadcast continue their series on “Christless Christianity”.
This week, it’s part 2 of “The Gospel According to Barnes and Noble”. So what’s popular in US bookshops? – The same books are probably already on sale in Australia.
– from The White Horse Inn.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…