‘The New Theist’

“When, during a conversation in a swank hotel lobby in Manhattan, I mentioned to Richard Dawkins that I was working on a story about William Lane Craig, the muscles in his face clenched. …”

– from a story on William Lane Craig in The Chronical Review. (h/t Tim Challies.)

Related: Dr. William Lane Craig and Prof. Lawrence Krauss will be debating in Sydney on Tuesday 13th August.

Moore College Library Day — 27 July

Some think of him as “the flogging parson”, but across the Tasman, he is remembered as “The Apostle to New Zealand” and a missionary statesman. In January 1814, the Rev. Samuel Marsden brought the good news of Christ to the Bay of Islands.

As the Bicentenary approaches, Moore College’s 2013 Library Day will focus on the start of Marsden’s mission.

Details from Moore College.

Update: College Principal Mark Thompson adds:

“Come to the 2013 Moore College Library Day and hear of the real Marsden and his lifelong passion to see the lost won for Christ.”

“In a few week’s time there will be a celebration of Samuel Marsden and particularly his involvement with the earliest Christian mission to New Zealand two hundred years ago this year. He will be the subject of a day conference at Moore College on Saturday 27 July. I must confess this is an aspect of the great man’s life of which I was blissfully unaware until recently.

Marsden is sometimes misunderstood and his enormous positive contribution to the cause of Christ in Australia and New Zealand overshadowed by such less than flattering epithets as ‘the flogging parson’.

Come to the 2013 Moore College Library Day and hear of the real Marsden and his lifelong passion to see the lost won for Christ. Hear too of his ceaseless efforts to overturn one of the most horrendous miscarriages of justice in those early years. Here was a man of integrity and courage who sought above all else to diligently serve his Lord.

Details of the Library Day can be found on this advertisement. See you there!”

Resources for pastors — on same sex attraction

Adrian Reynolds’ blog, The Proclaimer, at The Proclamation Trust has links to some resources mentioned at the Evangelical Ministers Assembly last week.

Latest George Whitefield College newsletter

In the latest newsletter from George Whitefield College in Capetown, new Principal Mark Dickson asks, “Please pray that God will enable me to continue to build upon the legacy of David Broughton Knox and David Seccombe in leading GWC to realise its vision.”

– Get the latest from the college in this 1.2MB PDF file from their website.

A vision for 21st century Anglicans — Church Society Conference audio

Church Society held a half-day conference on 1st June – the topic: Reformed Foundations, Reforming Future: A vision for 21st century Anglicans.

Audio files are now available – direct links to mp3 files.

Guest speaker was Peter Adam. His topic was Trusting our Saviour and Reforming the Church Today. Very encouraging talk.

“It is fatal to trust Christ for the invisible Church, and not to trust him for the visible Church… God has already appointed his Messiah – we need not apply for the job.”

Church Society Director Lee Gatiss also spoke, on
‘Confessional’ Anglicanism and the 39 Articles.

SPCKA winter newsletter 2013

The latest SPCKA newsletter is now out.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Dr Megan Best, palliative care doctor and ethicist, was recently interviewed by Justine Toh on some of the moral issues facing our nation. It’s a two-part interview (9:25 and 5:38) here.

And see her book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Ethics and the Beginning of Human Life, from Matthias Media.

John Shelby Spong on the Gospel of John — the same old

“[John Shelby] Spong claims … that The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic is the result of an ‘intensive five-year-long study’ of the Gospel of John and of Johannine scholarship. ‘I have now read almost every recognized major commentary on John’s gospel that is available in English from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries’ (Fourth Gospel, 8). Unfortunately, it doesn’t show …”

– Rob Bowman at Reclaiming the Mind reviews Jack Spong’s latest offering.

Related: See this lecture by Peter Williams on “New Evidences the Gospels were Based on Eyewitness Accounts” (Lanier Theological Library.)

Christian Voices in the Public Square

The next Moore College Centre for Christian Living open night is at St. Barnabas’ Broadway on Wednesday 26th June.

Archbishop Peter Jensen is speaking on ‘Christian Voices in the Public Square’.

Bookings essential. Website & booking here. Flyer here.

Student Reading for the Summer

“I am still convinced that one of the major weaknesses in modern preaching is our failure to have a theology of preaching. That is why so many sermons can end up as either lectures or conversations or stand-up routines.”

– In mentioning books he recommends for students, Carl Trueman gives a plug for Speaking God’s Words by Peter Adam.

Choosing a Minister

Phillip Jensen and Kel Richards speak about Choosing a Minister – in ‘The Chat Room’. Plenty of good advice.

St. Helen’s training videos: Mark Tookit parts 3 and 4

In the two latest St. Helen’s Training videos, Andrew Sach is in the kitchen to cook up a clearer understanding of the structure of Mark’s Gospel.

A terrific resource.

The power of stories

Mark Gilbert explains his new book, Stepping out in Faith, to Sam Freeney:

“For me it was hard to imagine that I and my bunch of evangelical friends could be right and the massively impressive Catholic church could be wrong. No-one in my life experience had ever done what I was thinking about doing — a book like this would have been very helpful for me.”

Read Mark’s interview about this very helpful book – at The Briefing.

New Life newspaper — 15 June 2013

The latest issue of New Life newspaper is out. Published for many years in Melbourne as a print newspaper, it’s now available in PDF format only. This issue covers expansion plans for Moore College, and the farewell service for Archbishop Jensen.