Charles Raven on the Theology of Rowan Williams

Charles Raven, from SPREAD, and author of Shadow Gospel, spoke at the Mere Anglicanism Conference in January, on the Theology of Rowan Williams.

Anglican TV has now posted his address and also an interview with Kevin Kallsen. Worth watching.

Free PDF: The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands – Epilogue

The Australian Church Record and the Anglican Church League published ‘The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands – Epilogue’ just before last year’s meeting of Sydney Synod.

“Sydney’s discussion of lay and diaconal administration of the Lord’s Supper has occurred for some forty years. After a related legal question was referred to it, the Appellate Tribunal handed down its opinion in August 2010. This legal opinion needs to be set within its proper context, and the biblical-theological discussion about the issue needs to continue.

This booklet is an epilogue to The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands (2008), updating the discussion on the eve of Sydney Synod, October 2010.”

Chapters are:

The Minority Report – Peter Bolt

Diaconal Administration of the Lord’s Supper and The 2010 Opinion of the Appellate Tribunal – Glenn N. Davies

The Constitution, the Appellate Tribunal and other things – Robert Tong

The theological necessity of lay administration – Mark Thompson.

The ACR is making the Epilogue available as a free download. It’s a 2.4MB PDF file.

(Printed copies of the Epilogue and the original ‘Lord’s Supper in Human Hands’ from 2008 are still available from the ACR.)

‘Love Wins’ – A review of Rob Bell’s new book

Tim Challies:

“Questions matter. They can help you to grow deeper in your knowledge of the truth and your love for God—especially when you’re dealing with the harder doctrines of the Christian faith. But questions can also be used to obscure the truth. They can be used to lead away just as easily as they can be used to lead toward. Ask Eve.

Enter Rob Bell, a man who has spent much of the last seven years asking questions in his sometimes thought-provoking and often frustrating fashion. And when he’s done asking, no matter what answers he puts forward, it seems we’re only left with more questions. This trend continues in his new book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, where Bell poses what might be his most controversial question yet:

Does a loving God really send people to hell for all eternity?

The questions you probably want answers to as you read this review are these: Is it true that Rob Bell teaches that hell doesn’t exist? Is it true that Rob Bell believes no one goes to hell? You’ll just need to keep reading because, frankly, the answers aren’t that easy to come by…”

– Respected Canadian blogger Tim Challies has read Bell’s book. This review is essential reading.

Related: Denny Burk’s post, “Rob Bell Outs Himself” gives clear, biblical answers to the questions Rob Bell asks in his promotional video.

More on Science and Genesis

Barry Newman, well known to many in Sydney Diocese, and one of the ACL’s vice-presidents, has resumed his blogging on ‘Science and Genesis’.

See the latest posts here.

Responding to disaster — Broughton Knox

For many years, the then Principal of Moore College, Dr Broughton Knox, gave weekly talks (“The Christian Faith broadcasts”) on Sydney radio station 2CH. They were succinct messages packed full of Christian theology.

In the light of recent disasters, The Sola Panel has republished a talk he gave in 1975 – just after Darwin was devastated by Cyclone Tracy. (It’s also in The Selected Works of Broughton Knox, Vol III.)

Griffith Thomas’ Principles of Theology – Introduction

Church Society is continuing to post online sections from Griffith Thomas’ classic work, Principles of Theology. They’ve just added his Introduction. At Church Society.

‘An act of love, an act of justice, an act of triumphant redemptive power’

“Last year the Sydney Doctrine Commission produced its report on penal substitutionary atonement in response to a request of the Sydney Synod in October 2007.

I think the report is worth wide reading (and not just because I am the chairman of the Doctrine Commission). As the report itself remarks, ‘Because the death of Jesus has a central place in Christian thought and Christian living, it is our ongoing responsibility to carefully consider its significance’ (§2).

Here is part of the conclusion:

Penal substitution is an indispensable element in the Christian proclamation of the cross. It does not say everything about the atonement but it says a crucial thing, one which also helps to illumine every other facet of the Bible’s teaching on the subject. It has been treasured all through Christian history because it enables us to see how the atonement which reconciles us to God can be at one time an act of love, an act of justice and an act of triumphant redemptive power. What has been done for us was truly, morally done. What was done for us was complete and entire, addressing every dimension of the predicament we have created for ourselves. What was done for us secures our freedom and gives us a solid ground for assurance and hope. Precisely because in this penal substitution the consequences of human sin have been dealt with for those who belong to Christ, the words of Jesus from the cross are cherished above all others: ‘it is finished’ (John 19:30) (§45).

The full report can be found here.” From Mark Thompson at Theological Theology.

(There’s a version of the PDF file with smaller margins here.)

Griffith Thomas on The Lord’s Supper in the Prayer Book

Church Society is continuing to republish online excellent resources from days gone by.

They have just made available this chapter on “The Lord’s Supper in the Prayer Book”.

It’s from “A Sacrament of our Redemption — An Enquiry into the Meaning of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament and the Church of England” by W. H. Griffith Thomas, 1861-1924.

Some other chapters from the book are already on Church Society’s website, and you can download the entire book (in PDF, Kindle and other formats) from Archive.org.

Bruce Ware on the exclusivity of Christ and the gospel

Colin Adams at Unashamed Workman provides links to the audio files from last week’s visit to Scotland by Dr Bruce Ware from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Dr Ware’s topics included “Exclusivity of Christ and the Gospel”.

He also spoke on the latest assaults on biblical Christianity  – with a focus on the teaching of Brian McLaren (who was invited to speak at the last Lambeth Conference). Well worth hearing.

See Unashamed Workman for the links. (Related: Earlier stories on Brian McLaren.)

From the archives — Are we stronger than He?

Six years ago, we published this paper by David Short, Rector of St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver. It’s a good reminder of what is (still) at stake around the Anglican Communion. PDF file here.

(The paper was first delivered at The National Canadian Anglican Essentials Conference in Ottawa on August 31, 2004.)

Dever on Conversion and Evangelism

Last October, Mark Dever spoke on ‘Conversion and Evangelism’ at Boyce College, on the campus of the Southern Baptist Seminary.

The 18 minute talk is a 6.2MB download. The end of the talk is cut off, but the message is a straightforward reminder of the necessity of conversion.
(h/t Faith by Hearing.)

The Christian Worldview as Master Narrative

“Even as the Bible begins the story with creation, it immediately moves to an explanation of what has gone wrong. Again, such an account is required of every worldview, and every philosophy of life must provide some explanation for why human beings are as we are and why we act as we act.

The Bible directs those who asked this question to the Garden of Eden and to the event we know as the Fall…”

– Albert Mohler on the Bible’s unique view of our world.

Biblical inerrancy

“I have long wanted to write a serious piece on the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. Recently I was given the opportunity to do so through an invitation to contribute to a volume essays, The Bible and the Academy: Critical Scholarship and the Evangelical Understanding of Scripture in the 21st Century, edited by James Hoffmeier and Dennis Magary and to be published by Crossway in 2011.

I do not intend to reproduce the article here but instead simply to outline its argument…”

– ACL President Mark Thompson writes at Theological Theology.

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…”

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.

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