Dr. Ashley Null on Cranmer — article reprint
In September 2001, ACL News spoke with Dr. Ashley Null while he was visiting Moore College. The interview was mentioned in the October 2014 issue of The Australian Church Record. Here is that interview if you’d like to read it…
“Most people don’t realise that the first liturgical change Cranmer made was to insist on good solid biblical preaching in every Sunday church service.
To ensure that, he and others gathered together a set of Homilies that were to be read in course throughout the year. The first six of these sermons explain how one comes to a biblical understanding of having Jesus Christ as your Saviour by faith alone – and the gratitude that one receives from knowing God has saved you, even though you are not able to make yourself worthy of salvation.”
– Read the interview here – in our Resources section.
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ – Packer’s introduction
Dr Jim Packer’s introductory essay to The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen remains a classic essay on Christ’s atonement. Written in 1958, it is probably even more relevant now than it was then.
Among other things, Dr Packer gives a helpful introduction to Calvinism. The essay will repay careful reading.
There are several copies of the essay on the Internet – Monergism has one here.
Confess or Die audio
The audio files of the Confess or Die conference held at the Presbyterian Theological College in Sydney last month are now available for download, with thanks to the PTC.
“The contemporary church seems to have amnesia about what it really believes. This two day conference is here to jolt the church’s memory, and give it new life for mission. …”
Carl Trueman – Talk 1, Talk 2, Talk 3
John McClean – Bible and Confessions
Mark Thompson – The 39 Articles and Global Anglicanism
Geoff Tacon – The AFES Doctrinal Basis
Chris Balzer – WCF and Presbyterian Church of Australia (Text only)
Source: Confess or Die website.
Book Review — Words from the Fire
“We’ve seen a steady stream of books come from Mohler’s pen in the past couple of years. I have read them all and am quite comfortable saying that this one is the best of the bunch.”
– Tim Challies reviews Albert Mohler’s new book, “Words from the Fire: Hearing the Voice of God in the 10 Commandments”.
New College Lectures 2009 this week
Bioethics And Future Hope: This year’s New College Lectures offer a Christian perspective on the impact of technology on contemporary medical practices.
John Wyatt, Professor of Ethics and Perinatology, University College London, will consider the bioethical issues faced every day as we make decisions about creating, preserving and protecting life.
“Our understanding of the future changes the way we think about our ethical responsibilities in the present. The lectures will outline three different conceptions of the future and their implications for bioethics. The secular perspective derived from the Enlightenment sees the future as a human construct, an artefact created by human ingenuity. In contrast, the neoplatonic future offers the hope of an escape from the material world into the timeless realm of the spirit. The biblical view of the future provides a third radical perspective. …”
The lectures are set for September 8, 9 and 10 and details are available in this PDF file from the New College website.
ACL Centenary Dinner Address
The Rev. Ed Loane gave this reflection on the history of the Anglican Church League at the ACL’s Centenary Dinner on Thursday 3rd September 2009:
I’ve been asked this evening to offer some account of the work of the ACL over the last 100 years. So I humbly put on my amateur historian hat – and amateur should be read in capital letters in light of present company – and I offer these reflections…
It has often been claimed that Sydney Diocese, with its pervasive and dominant conservative evangelicalism, is unique within the Anglican Communion – particularly within western Anglicanism. One of the chief questions that this situation raises is ‘how did this come to be?’ Read more
Focussed on Christ
“The holiest Christians are not those most concerned about holiness as such, but whose minds and hearts and goals and purposes and love and hope are most fully focussed on our Lord Jesus Christ.”
– J.I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit.
With thanks to Of First Importance.
9Marks eJournal on Church Discipline
“Western culture doesn’t seem to understand tough love. Love today means unconditional acceptance. If you love me with conditions, you don’t love me. You’re judgmental and intolerant.
God knows better. He knows we’re finite and fallen. Therefore, his love challenges us at the very points of our finitude and fallenness for our good, and that’s not comfortable.
Church discipline is just such an uncomfortable act of tough love, which is why 9Marks would like to spend two issues of the eJournal considering this important topic…”
– Jonathan Leeman introduces the current 9Marks eJournal – on the seldom-addressed topic of church discipline. Worth reading – it’s available as a 420kb PDF file.
Leadership on the front foot — 20% off
As a follow up to last week’s mention of the 2009 Australian Christian Book of the Year Awards, we thought you might be interested to know that Youthworks is selling Zac Veron’s ‘Leadership on the front foot’ for 20% off.
(You can download a sample chapter from their website.) Photo: Zac Veron, Bishop Paul Barnett and Don Howard receive their awards.
‘God’s Word Heard’ — September free Audiobook
This month’s free audiobook from Christian Audio is the New Testament from ‘God’s Word Heard’ – a translation published by Baker Books.
You can see some PDF samples of the translation here – and download the audio using the code SEP2009 via the link on this page. (Requires free registration.)
Of course, if you prefer the rather more literal English Standard Version, you can hear audio in your browser by going to esv.org – or esvstudybible.org click on ‘Listen’ just next to the book and chapter number.
Related:
Using the Online ESV to Listen.
Choosing a Bible: free download.
Al Mohler: The NIV Announcement — A Statement.
The Doctrine of the Church
“I suggest what we need is more theology, not less and, in particular, careful thinking about the place preaching has in our doctrine of the church.”
– Mark Thompson blogs about the just-concluded 13th Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference – Part 1, part 2, part 3.
The Work of the Minister of the Gospel
“You have been called as minister in this congregation and you have been ordained in pursuance of that call. There are many functions which devolve upon you in that particular capacity, but I want to draw your attention particularly to two of these functions because I believe they are the two main functions which devolve upon the minister of the Gospel. …”
– Food for sober reflection from a 1960 ordination charge given by John Murray – with thanks to Martin Downes at Against Heresies.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
There are a number of bands seeking to make hymns known to a contemporary audience. Page CXVI, apparently in Boulder, Colorado, is one – check out their website and hear (or buy) their album – at pagecxvi.com
41 Questions to ask a potential Church
Colin Adams at Unashamed Workman has posted questions he asked of the elders at his new church prior to him being called.
There are a lot of sensible questions there.
Do we have free will?
Andy Naselli writes:
“This summer my church… hosted a “Difficult Issues Series” on Wednesday nights, and on June 10 I addressed this topic: “Do We Have a Free Will?”
MP3 (1 hour and 45 minutes including Q&A)
Handout (7-page PDF), Condensed Essay (4-page PDF).”
– thoughtful resources from Andy Naselli’s theology blog. (Andy serves as research assistant to Don Carson at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.) h/t Justin Taylor.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…