Romans commentary from David Peterson due in August

Posted on March 30, 2017 
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News from Dr. David Peterson:

“The commentary I have been working on since 2012 is finished and is due to be published on August 1st 2017. The series is called Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation. The publishers are B&H Publishing Group, Nashville Tennessee.

The series is based on the new Holman translation, simply called Christian Standard Bible (2017). But I have made a careful study of the Greek and brought this into the analysis of the text where necessary.

A particular feature of this series is the desire to relate the interpretation of each biblical book to the Bible’s story line and to explore theological themes in the light of biblical teaching more generally. I have done this for Romans in an extensive introduction, but have also demonstrated in the exegesis how Paul develops these themes. More details about the commentary and my approach to this book can be found in the folder on Romans on this website.”

What we lost when we lost our Hymnals

Posted on March 30, 2017 
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“I don’t think we should go back to using hymnals. But I do think there’s value in considering what we lost when, over the course of a relatively short period of time, we gave up hymnals for PowerPoint projection. Not all of us, mind you, but most of us.

It’s worth considering because it helpfully shows what we stand to lose when we switch from one media to another, and especially when we do so quickly and without due consideration. …”

– Tim Challies makes some very valid observations about singing in church.

Related: Songs of the Saints – by Mike Raiter and Rob Smith, from Matthias Media.

Anglican Connection National Conference 2017 June 13-15

Posted on March 29, 2017 
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Registration is now open for the Anglican Connection National Conference, June 13-15 in Dallas.

This would be a wonderful encouragement to Anglicans in North America.

“Exploring practical ways we can build effective gospel-centered churches through the lens of the 16th-century reformers.

The gospel need in the USA today is great. So many have never heard; and so many others do not know what to believe.

The Anglican Connection conference offers ministers, church leaders, and members an opportunity to re-envision and refresh effective gospel-centered ministries.”

Details here.

Calls for Macquarie University to distance themselves from Christian Academic

Posted on March 29, 2017 
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“In the latest case in a growing line of stories, Dr Steve Chavura, a Senior Research Associate at Macquarie University, has been the subject of calls for his dismissal from the university. …

It should be noted that Dr Chavura is not the first LMI board member to receive attention in recent days, indeed these stories a fast becoming common place around the country. For example: …”

– Murray Campbell looks at the latest ‘take no captives’ approach in the culture wars.

(Interestingly, Dr. Chavura’s “research interests include … philosophical issues relating to freedom of speech”.)

Christian leaders slam ‘appalling and unAustralian’ gay activists

Posted on March 29, 2017 
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“The nation’s most senior Christian leaders have described as ‘appalling’ and ‘unAustralian’ attacks from gay activists that have driven two Christian charities to request board secrecy.

And the Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies has slammed the multinational corporates who surrender to those ­attacks as ‘weak-kneed’.”

– Story from The Australian. (paywalled). File photo of Abp Davies: Moore College.

Related: Another Christian persecuted by Gay Left – Herald Sun.

Encountering contemporary liberal theology – in its own words

Posted on March 29, 2017 
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“Conservative evangelicals are often accused of not ‘listening’ to other points of view. We’re told that we only engage with each other; we only read or listen to ‘approved’ versions of our faith; we caricature the arguments of revisionists without really hearing them.

So I was delighted to receive a press release from Modern Church, summarising the keynote address from the recent annual meeting of their Council, and giving a link to the substantial 12 page text of the talk itself, by Dr Lorraine Cavanagh, which can be found here. [Updated link]

‘Reclaiming the soul of Modern Church’ reads like a manifesto for mission for liberal Christians, and it’s worth reading with genuine enquiry, to ask whether this revisionist version of Christian faith offers a coherent and compelling vision that threatens orthodox biblical faith in any way. …”

– Andrew Symes at Anglican Mainstream provides a very interesting look at liberal theology’s rolling redefinition of Christianity.

Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!

Posted on March 29, 2017 
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“Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!”

These, of course, were the last reported words of William Tyndale who was strangled and then burnt in 1536.

His crime? Translating the Bible into English.

His prayer? That King Henry VIII would allow the distribution of the English Bible.

– GAFCON General Secretary Archbishop Peter Jensen reflects on the life and work of William Tyndale, whose belief in the clarity of scripture led him to translate the Bible into English.

Article 25 — Of the Sacraments

Posted on March 29, 2017 
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“The Sacraments ‘ordained of Christ’ then are to be ‘duly used’ and ‘worthily received’. What does that mean? First, we must distinguish between those sacraments of the gospel ordained by Christ and other ‘commonly (i.e. wrongly) called’ sacraments which may or may not have a useful place in the Christian life (matrimony, orders, and confirmation certainly do). …”

– At the Church Society blog, Wallace Benn takes a look at what the 39 Articles have to say about the sacraments. (GAFCON photo.)

Diocese of Niagara parish offers Islamic prayer

Posted on March 28, 2017 
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“In the wake of the Quebec mosque shooting, St. Simon’s in Oakville decided to support Muslims by praying to Allah during its monthly labyrinth walk.…”

– News from David Jenkins at Anglican Samizdat.

Safety fears at Christian charities force board security

Posted on March 28, 2017 
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“Two Christian charities have been granted official permission to keep their board members’ names secret on the grounds of ‘public safety’, after abuse and threats from gay activists forced an IBM executive to sever his links with a Christian education group.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission yesterday agreed to keep the boards of the Lachlan Macquarie Institute and the Australian Christian Lobby off the public record ­because publication ‘could ­endanger public safety’. …”

– from The Australian. File photo: Lyle Shelton, Australian Christian Lobby.

Abortion, Obscenity and Free Speech

Posted on March 26, 2017 
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“Sometimes a powerful visual image is what is needed to shock us into action. But can an image be so powerful and horrifying that it becomes “obscene” and hence unlawful to use in public?

That, it seems, is now the view being taken in Victoria of a particular type of image: pictures of unborn babies who have been killed. While the decision of a Victorian court, it may be followed elsewhere in Australia. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster (Associate Professor in Law at Newcastle) discusses the decision in Victoria, and implications for free speech.

Image: Australian Christian Lobby.

Anglican renewal in Brazil

Posted on March 25, 2017 
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“Most Christians in the UK probably have only the haziest idea of what Anglicanism looks like in South America.

The Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910 inhibited Protestant and Anglican missionary work in the continent at a time when the English language was (and still is) marginal. This is unlike most other areas of the Anglican Communion where the British influence was much stronger.

And yet, out of the continuing crisis in the world wide Anglican Communion, and in spite of official persecution in the area, a reinvigorated and missionary church is emerging in South America.

In fact, the pattern of North America is being repeated – just as a new GAFCON recognised Province, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), arose out of the aggressive and assertive revisionism of the American Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada, so in South America a new orthodox Province is coming into being as the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) and various TEC satellite provinces in central and northern South America follow the lead of their North American counterparts.

This new emerging Province is based on the Anglican Diocese of Recife …”

– Charles Raven with more encouraging news about GAFCON.

Photo, left to right:

Canon Charles Raven, GAFCON Membership Development Secretary;
Canon Dan Alger, ACNA;
Bishop Flavio Adair Torres Soares, Anglican Diocese of Recife;
Canon Alan Hawkins, ACNA
— meeting in Sheffield in January 2017.

Gospel Speech Online

Posted on March 24, 2017 
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“I’ve written this Brief Book to help Christians to speak the gospel of the truth in love in the online world. I draw on principles of Christian speech from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In many ways it’s a sequel to my earlier book Gospel Speech. …”

– from Lionel Windsor at Forget the Channel. A very timely resource!

Justification – “A Most Wholesome Doctrine”

Posted on March 24, 2017 
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“The eleventh article introduces us to the most important point of controversy in the sixteenth century. It would not be an exaggeration to say that polemics raged round the question of Justification by Faith. …”

– The Australian Church Record is continuing to reprint Archdeacon T.C. Hammond’s series on The Thirty Nine Articles. This from April 1956.

Why Princeton’s snub of Tim Keller should outrage progressives

Posted on March 24, 2017 
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“If you’re a conservative evangelical Christian who feels called to ministry, you’re welcome to attend Princeton Theological Seminary. But you’re not worthy of honor there. That’s the message sent by PTS’ president, Craig Barnes, today. …

If Christians like Tim Keller are unworthy of honor and deserve to be marginalized, American Christianity is in serious trouble. …”

– Jonathan Merritt writes at Religion News Service.

Related: What Hath Amsterdam to do with Princeton? – Reformation21.

“In 1898 B.B. Warfield invited the Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper to deliver six lectures at Princeton Seminary for the inaugural Stone Lectures. These lectures were eventually bound and printed as Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. In these lectures, Kuyper discussed what he believed to be the manner by which a Calvinist and Reformed worldview ought to be applied to quite a number of spheres of life.

The inaugural Stone Lectures forever linked the theology of Dr. Kuyper with Princeton Seminary. This connection was further solidified in the creation of the Kuyper Prize, awarded by the Kuyper Center for Public Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.”

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