Justin Taylor's Blog, page 72

Jeremy Begbie on 4 Ways Music Can Reshape Us

Jeremy Begbie, Thomas A. Langford Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School, argues that music can reshape us by

(1) by combining dissonance with hope, (2) by making us wait in the midst of delay, (3) by generating empathy, (4) by retiming us:

Two New Talks on Christian Faithfulness in a Post-Christian Country

QIdeas recently hosted a couple of talks that are well worth your time:

Russell Moore: The Prophetic Minority

Every year the number of churches closing their doors in America increases, the average age of church attendees goes up, and more Americans are ceasing to identify with any religion, especially Christianity. In a nation in which the church was once a dominant and unifying mainstay in America life, what does it look like to be the minority? Russell Moore, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, calls the Church to faithfulness in a post-Christian society.

Rod Dreher: The Benedict Option

Around the year 500, a man called Benedict fled from Rome to a forest to escape the revelry of city life. He spent three years in a cave as a hermit, preserving his own virtue and praying for society’s moral restoration. But does a medieval monastic story have modern-day significance? Rod Dreher, writer for The American Conservative, coined “The Benedict Option” to convey the challenge of sustaining tradition amidst a “Dark Age.” For such a time as this, could St. Benedict’s example be more relevant than we think?

Historical Adam, the Resurrection of Christ, and the Results of Mainstream Science

I really appreciated Hans Madueme’s contribution to the Books & Culture forum on the historicity of Adam. Dr. Madueme is Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College and the co-editor, with Michael Reeves, of Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin: Theological, Biblical, and Scientific Perspectives (Baker, 2014).

You can read his initial essay here. And here’s the conclusion to his response to the other contributions:

I want to close with a lingering Christological worry. Scientific plausibility is the key; can we still believe doctrines that are implausible by the lights of current science? We can invert the question: If scientific plausibility should guide the expectations we bring to Scripture, then why would we be Christians? Why would we believe that the Son of God became a man? That he died and rose again after three days? That he ascended into heaven? These fundamental Christian beliefs contradict everything we know from mainstream science. If we can no longer believe Adam was historical, then why should we believe in the resurrection? In The Evolution of Adam, Peter Enns answers this way: “For Paul, the resurrection of Christ is the central and climactic present-day event in the Jewish drama—and of the world. One could say that Paul was wrong, deluded, stupid, creative, whatever; nevertheless, the resurrection is something that Paul believed to have happened in his time, not primordial time.” That misses the point. We’re told that we can’t affirm a historical Adam because it’s scientifically unbelievable, but why trust Paul on the resurrection when that, too, is scientifically unbelievable? Or, to flip the script, if we believe the resurrection, then a historical Adam is no biggie.

HT: Andy Naselli

An Important New Book on Word-Filled Women’s Ministry

Gloria Furman and Kathleen Nielson sit down to talk about their new edited book, Word-Filled Women’s Ministry: Loving and Serving the Church, published by Crossway in conjunction with TGC. What a difference it would make to local churches around the world if the message of this book was taken to heart!

You can download an excerpt of the book here.

Endorsements

“Out of both biblical conviction and years of experience, these women think seriously about discipleship, evangelism, intergenerational mentoring, and compassion. Their strength is evident, their commitment to Scripture robust, their joy in the gospel intoxicating, their anticipation of the consummation providing a lodestar to their lives and service. Although this is a book by women to foster “Word-filled women’s ministry,” much of it will be read with equal profit by men. I hope that some of those men will be pastors who in consequence reflect on what they can do encourage such ministry in their own churches.”

D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

“Women’s ministry is ultimately not about women. Nor is it about programs. It’s about the glory of God and the health of his church. Word-Filled Women’s Ministry is a much-needed resource for both men and women to consider the necessity of ministry among women as well as the centrality of the Word for cultivating a church in which women flourish.”

Melissa Kruger, Women’s Ministry Coordinator, Uptown Church; author, The Envy of Eve

“There is no question that the women in your churches will be discipled. The only question is whether they will be discipled by the world or the Word. That’s why I’m so excited about Word-Filled Women’s Ministry. It’s more than a book. These contributors represent a movement of teachers guiding women to find hope and freedom and salvation in the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in his Word. I couldn’t more highly esteem these writers, and I pray that you will take up their charge to take up the Word.”

Collin Hansen, Editorial Director, The Gospel Coalition; author, Blind Spots

“Here is a book that focuses on the possibilities and not just the problems of ministry among women. It is written by women from a wide range of ministry contexts, but all with hearts that beat with a common gospel rhythm. Every chapter is grounded in Scripture and wonderfully practical. Women and men of the Word, read it and be encouraged by all the gospel possibilities.”

Jenny Salt, Dean of Students, Sydney Missionary and Bible College

“This is a significant subject that I have long been interested in, and the voices of my sisters in this book are as edifying as they are encouraging. Pastors, teachers, elders, and women’s ministry leaders alike will benefit from this Bible-based, gospel-centered, local church-focused work. I so resonate with their central thesis—“Profitable ministry among women is grounded in God’s Word, grows in the context of God’s people, and aims for the glory of Christ”—that I anticipate with joy the flourishing of this vision in the churches.”

J. Ligon Duncan, Chancellor and CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi

“Word-Filled Women’s Ministry is written for the bustling daughters of Christ, who need God’s Word to train and sustain them in their various labors. It acknowledges the vast diversity of women’s ministries in different churches while calling them to a unified commitment to God’s Word. Women grow best as they learn from Scripture, first as it is preached to the gathered church and then as it is explored and explained in the company of other godly women. This book is an incentive to the latter, casting a vision for what can and ought to happen when the Bible takes its rightful place at the center of women’s ministry.”

Megan Hill, pastor’s wife; author, Praying Together; blogger, Sunday Women

“A marvelous resource for thoughtful Christians, male and female, who long to see the power of the gospel unleashed in their own lives, in the church, and throughout world.”

Colin S. Smith, Senior Pastor, The Orchard, Arlington Heights, Illinois

“Full of careful biblical teaching and many helpful applications, this book is an invaluable aid for all Christian women to think through their own ministry possibilities. But it is also a highly useful tool for pastors and elders to understand and then activate much-needed biblical opportunities for every ministry in the local church. I hope it will be on the must-read list of every church leader.”

David Jackman, Former President, Proclamation Trust, London, England

“Gloria Furman and Kathleen Nielson, along with a host of other talented writers, help us explore a vision-guided practice of our theology. Too often in church ministry, gender is received as a problem to be solved rather than as a beautiful gift from God to be explored. This book is a marvelous map to enjoy God, lead in God’s church, and explore God’s world, whether a woman is stepping into ministry for the first time or is a seasoned veteran.”

Daniel Montgomery, Pastor, Sojourn Community Church, Louisville, Kentucky; Founder, Sojourn Network; author, Faithmapping and Proof

Table of Contents

Part 1: The Heart of Women’s Ministry

The Word at the Center: Hearing God Speak

Kathleen Nielson
The Word on Women: Enjoying Distinction

Claire Smith
The Word Passed On: Training New Leaders

Carrie Sandom

Part 2: Contexts for Women’s Ministry

The Local Church: Finding Where We Fit

Cindy Cochrum
The World around Us: Practicing Evangelism

Gloria Furman
The Ends of the Earth: Thinking Global

Keri Folmar

Part 3: Issues in Women’s Ministry

Older and Younger: Taking Titus Seriously

Susan Hunt and Kristie Anyabwile
Sexual Wholeness: Affirming Truth with Compassion

Ellen Mary Dykas
Gifts and Giftedness: Finding the Place to Serve

Kathleen Nielson and Gloria Furman

Part 4: The End of Women’s Ministry

Ultimate Goals: Heading for That Day

Nancy Guthrie

A Theology of Singleness

One of the things I think the gay-marriage debate has revealed is that many evangelicals do not have a robust theology of singleness.

The following talks are not directed to those who struggle with same-sex desire, but I think they are both helpful in helping the church recover a biblical understanding of a full and fulfilled life lived chastely before the Lord:

For the manuscript and audio of Piper’s talk, go .

An Interview with John Frame on Apologetics to the Glory of God

P&R Books has just released John Frame’s book, Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief, a redeveloped and expanded version of Frame’s previous work, Apologetics to the Glory of God. This was one of the most influential books I’ve read on defending the Christian faith, and helped me bring together theology, Bible, and apologetics in a clear and compelling way.

James Anderson offers a similar testimony:

If I were asked to list the top three books that have had the greatest impact on me as a Christian thinker, John Frame’s Apologetics to the Glory of God would undoubtedly be one of them. It brought about a paradigm shift—one might even say a “Copernican revolution”—in my understanding not only of apologetics but of all other intellectual endeavors as a Christian. Ever since then, it has been the first book I recommend to those looking for an introduction to Christian apologetics, and it is required reading in my apologetics classes.

You can read for free online Vern Poythress’s foreword and Frame’s first chapter.

Dr. Frame, the J. D. Trimble Chair of Systematic Theology and Philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, answered a few questions for me about this new edition:

How would you summarize your approach to apologetics?

I am called a “presuppositionalist,” following the work of Cornelius Van Til. That is probably not the best label for what I do, but I don’t quibble much over words. My emphasis is

to base all my argument on the truth of God’s revelation,
to apply that revelation to each apologetic encounter differently as the situation calls for it,
to move as quickly as possible to the Gospel,
always expressing “gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15).

What makes your approach different from evidential or inference-to-the-best-explanations apologetics?

I can use the same evidence as they, and some of the same arguments. But I argue that no evidence and arguments make sense unless the God of the Bible exists. So in discussing causality, the point is not just that causality implies God, but that all discussion of causality presupposes God. You really cannot even talk coherently about causality if the universe is nothing but matter, motion, time, and chance.

What is different about this new edition? Have you changed your mind or nuanced any of your particular arguments?

The substantive argument is the same as the 1994 edition. Joe Torres, editor of the new edition, has added some clarifying footnotes and essays. He has also added an additional chapter dealing with the discussion of “transcendental argument” that occurred after the 1994 edition was published.

What criticisms of covenantal-presuppositional apologetics to you find most frustrating?

The argument that presuppositional apologetics is “circular” (that is, that it presupposes what it intends to prove). We’ve answered that argument scores of times, it seems, but it keeps coming back again. My reply:

Presuppositional apologetics does not endorse all circular arguments, but only a small class of them, namely those designed to prove an ultimate authority for human reason.
All arguments of this type are circular in a way. If a rationalist, for example, tries to prove that human reason is the ultimate rational authority, he can do nothing else than appeal to a rational argument, using reason to prove reason. He cannot appeal to anything higher than reason, because he believes reason is the highest authority.
The same is true with any other attempt to prove an ultimate authority: the Islamic appeal to the Qur’an, the empiricist appeal to sense experience, the existentialist appeal to feeling, etc., etc.
The circular argument is not the end of discussion. In addition to that circular appeal, the presuppositionalist is able to show that alternative presuppositions (i.e. alternative circles) deconstruct: they cannot account for their own meaningfulness without themselves appealing to the biblical God.
This view is biblical, for the God of Scripture presents himself as the origin of all things: all meaning, all rationality, all goodness, and his Word claims absolute authority.

How has the state-of-the-discussion and the popularity of these arguments changed since you wrote the first edition of this book?

As I said earlier, there has been a renewed interest in “transcendental” argument. To me, “transcendental” is a synonym of the “presuppositional” argument I have outlined above. But the substantive apologetic arguments haven’t changed much. In 2000, we published Five Views of Apologetics (ed. Steve Cowan, Zondervan Publishers), and the five views debated there are pretty much the same as those debated today.

I think the development of “postmodern” thought since the 1980s has made people more responsive to the idea that presuppositions underlie all human thought. We dealt with postmodernism somewhat in the Five Views book. But we don’t seem to have impressed sufficiently on the Christian public the astonishing fact that the Biblical God is the source of all meaning, rationality, truth, beauty, and goodness.

Audio FAQ with D. A. Carson on the Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Decision

On the Desiring God Ask Pastor John podcast, Tony Reinke asks New Testament scholar and Gospel Coalition president D. A. Carson the following questions:

[1] Generally speaking, what would you say to someone who came up and asked you for your initial thoughts about the SCOTUS ruling?

[2] Does this landmark ruling today mark a new era for the church in America?

[3] What would you say to Christians who feel angry and betrayed by the courts for this ruling?

[4] This ruling hit on Friday. Sunday’s coming. If you were preaching on Sunday. What text would you choose?

[5] Back to religious freedoms. What do you predict will be the fallout from this SCOTUS decision for religious freedom in America?

[6] Finally, you travel extensively. As the international community watches so-called same sex marriage become the law of the land in America, how is the international community viewing the United States right now? And especially from the global church?

You can listen below to the 18-minute audio:

The First Amendment Defense Act: A New Bill Before Congress

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision that gay marriage is legal and required in all 50 states—the decision in explained here—the question now becomes what to do with those individuals, associations, or businesses who disagree.

It seems to me that we should support this new proposed bill designed to protect religious liberty and prohibit federal intrusion on the rights of conscience—specifically, to prevent discriminatory treatment of any person on the basis of views held with respect to marriage.

Here is the press release about it:

WASHINGTON – Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID), today [June 17, 2015] reintroduced legislation to clarify and strengthen religious liberty protections in federal law, by safeguarding those individuals and institutions who promote traditional marriage from government retaliation.

The First Amendment Defense Act  (S. 1598, H.R. 2802) would prevent any federal agency from denying a tax exemption, grant, contract, license, or certification to an individual, association, or business based on their belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. For example, the bill would prohibit the IRS from stripping a church of its tax exemption for refusing to officiate same-sex weddings.

“There’s a reason the right to religious liberty appears first in our nation’s Bill of Rights,” said Senator Lee. “The freedom to live and to act in accordance with the dictates of one’s conscience and religious convictions is integral to human flourishing, serving as the foundation upon which America has produced the most diverse, tolerant, and stable society the world has ever known. The vast majority of Americans today still hold a robust view of religious liberty, yet across the country the right of conscience is threatened by state and local governments that coerce, intimidate, and penalize individuals, associations, and businesses who believe that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. The First Amendment Defense Act is necessary to ensure that this kind of government excess never occurs at the federal level.”

“Religious freedom is at the heart of what it means to be an American,” Labrador said. “America set the standard for upholding freedom of belief and worship in a diverse society. No American should ever doubt these protections enshrined in the First Amendment. Our bill ensures that the federal government does not penalize Americans for following their religious beliefs or moral convictions on traditional marriage. Our bill shields against federal intrusion without taking anything away from anyone. In a shifting landscape, it’s time that Congress proactively defend this sacred right.”

There are currently 18 co-sponsors on the Senate bill and 57 co-sponsors on the House companion bill. Senate co-sponsors include Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE).

Similar bills were introduced in the 113th Congress as H.R. 3133 and S. 1808.

And here is the actual bill:

First Amendment Defense Act by Senator Mike Lee

Reaction To The Supreme Court Decision on Same-Sex Marriage

Dr. Russell Moore, president of the ERLC:

Please also read Dr. Moore’s new post, “Same-Sex Marriage and the Future.”

Hudson Taylor and the Gospel to China: 150 Years Ago Today from the Sands of Brighton Beach

OMF International:

And here is John Piper’s 2014 talk on “The Ministry of Hudson Taylor as Life in Christ”: