Theology Central
Theology Central exists as a place of conversation and information for faculty and friends of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Posts include seminary news, information, and opinion pieces about ministry, theology, and scholarship.The Cell of Saint Columba?
Columba is remembered as the Irish missionary who did much to evangelize the Picts in northern Scotland. Archaeologists have identified a site in Iona that dates to the time of Columba and that they believe may have been the cell where he prayed and wrote. You can read the story at Atlas Obscura.
The missionary was also a hymn writer. Here is a fragment of his most famous hymn, Altus Prosator, as translated by Samuel Stone.
High Creator, Unbegotten,
Ancient of Eternal days,
Unbegun ere all beginning,
Him, the world’s one source, we praise:
God who is, and God who shall be :
All that was and is before:
Him with Christ the Sole-Begotten,
And the Spirit we adore,
Co-eternal, one in glory,
Evermore and evermore:—
Not Three Gods are They we worship,
But the Three which are the One,
God, in Three most glorious Persons :—
Other saving Faith is none.
All good angels and archangels,
Powers and Principalities,
Virtues, Thrones, His will created—
Grades and orders of the skies,
That the majesty and goodness
Of the Blessed Trinity
In its ever bounteous largesse
Never might inactive be;
Having thus wherewith to glory,
All the wide world might adore
The high Godhead’s sole-possession
Everywhere and evermore.
Darnell Weeden on Marriage Equality and Religious Liberty
Writing for the Southern Illinois University Law Journal, Darnell Weeden argues that
Religious freedom, a long-standing right protected by the Free Exercise Clause, has become significantly diluted by the enhanced protection of marriage equality rights that restrict religiously motivated conduct.
In the Nick of Time
Final thoughts on the FBFI and the NTAIBC.
How to Wear a Polo Shirt
And here I thought I knew. There’s a good tutorial at The Art of Manliness.
AIG Reclaims the Rainbow
Read Ben Zornes’s comments here.
So, the Ark Encounter exhibit has marvelously trolled this deep conviction of the GQBLT tolerance crowd. Do they really have respect for all cultures, including Christian culture? If so, why have they appropriated Christian culture and used it contrary to our “deeply held beliefs”? If dressing up in a hijab, or blackface, or warbonnets, or gangster garb is so offensive, shouldn’t they show more respect to such a sacred component of Christian culture, doctrine, and symbolism?
Introducing Christopher Dawson
If you’re a conservative–or even if you just think you are–Christopher Dawson is one of the names with which you should become familiar. The Imaginative Conservative has published a long-form article by Russell Hittinger that serves as a useful introduction.
As one sits in the pews of many Christian churches today, he has his attention called to world-historical issues: to the “new” historical moment of the nuclear arms race; to the movements for social justice in the Third World; to the struggle to liberate men and women from structures of “patriarchal oppression;” and, in general, his attention is called to all sorts of momentous issues which are linked together by hyphens along what Kierkegaard called the “prodigious railroad” of world history. Rather than being addressed as individuals who need to cultivate the virtue of justice—as well as the other interior excellences of the soul—we are all too often invited from the pulpit to jump aboard the caboose of the train of world history lest it pass us by altogether.
A New Hymn
Actually, an old psalm (Psalm 122), newly metricized. Along with a reflection on Jerusalem.
Jewish Baptistery Discovered Under Al-Aqsa Mosque
Back in 1927 an earthquake damaged the Al-Aqsa mosque, which occupies the Temple Mount. During the repairs Robert Hamilton, a British archaeologist, was allowed to sift through the rubble, but he was forced to hide much of what he found. Certain artifacts were hidden away, but have now come to light as part of the Antiquities Authority archives at the Rockefeller Museum. Among other things, it appears that the Al-Aqsa mosque is built over the site of a mikveh, a baptismal pool in which Jewish worshippers would immerse before entering the temple.
More recent discoveries indicate that a Byzantine church occupied the temple mount before the Muslims built the Al-Aqsa mosque. Evidently these discoveries are creating a bit of a stir. Read the entire story at Israel Hayom.
Hechinger Report Argues for More Homeschooling Recognition
“Despite Opposition, Homeschooling Is Thriving.” So writes William Heuer in an opinion piece that was even acknowledged by Education Week.
Homeschooling has been legal in all 50 states since 1993. Yet relatively little information is made available to parents about homeschooling as an option. In Massachusetts, for example, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education lists and links to all private and parochial schools in the commonwealth. Yet its website provides no equivalent links to statewide homeschooling organizations. Why leave out valuable information that could assist families when making educational decisions?
The Vice President’s Speech on Israel
To Christians United for Israel. The full text is here. It’s mostly good politics. Theologically? Well, there’s this:
Ezekiel prophesized: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.” And the State of Israel and her people bear witness to God’s faithfulness, as well as their own.
How unlikely was Israel’s birth, how more unlikely has been her survival, and how confounding, against the odds, has been her thriving.
Bill Barrick’s Book Recommendation of the Week
See it here. And I’ll add my endorsement. This is one of the books that are tedious to read, but necessary to understand.
19 Odd Musical Instruments
Most defy any brief names. See them at Atlas Obscura.
Central Seminary Begins Distance Ed
A degree online that’s not an online degree
Many pastors and missionaries desire to further their theological training and attend a seminary but cannot take time to leave their churches or mission fields. Because of this, some feel like they must settle for an online degree that is less than desirable. Central Seminary believes that pastors, missionaries, and students should not have to settle. We believe there are no shortcuts in ministry. Effective ministry often comes from effective preparation.
Central Seminary has designed a distance education program that is different from most. It puts the distance student in the classroom during the class. Through multiple high definition cameras and monitors, advanced sound equipment, and the best conference software available, distance students will be able to interact live with each class.
Central Seminary’s distance education program is not a separate program – it’s only a medium. None of our academic programs have been lessened and every requirement is the same. The only difference between resident students and distance students is just that…distance. All of our graduate programs (MAT in either Biblical Studies or Biblical Counseling and MDiv) are offered in their entirety through this medium.
- Learn theology from theologians.
- Learn history from historians.
- Learn Greek and Hebrew from people that know it.
- Learn ministry from pastors, not programs.
- Be a student, not a consumer.
How does it work?
Each classroom has:
- 2 high definition cameras (one facing the professor and one facing the students)
- Large, high definition monitors
- Microphones
- Dedicated computers
- Advanced conferencing software
By using Zoom software, distance students will have the ability to see and hear both resident students and other distance students, professors, and any and all presented media (which includes PowerPoint, writing on the board, etc.). In addition, the resident students and professor can fully interact with the distance students enabling complete and simultaneous interaction.
Be in the class without being in the classroom.
For more information or if you’d like to see a demonstration of how it works, contact Dan Johnson in our recruitment office: djohnson@centralseminary.edu
Haddon Robinson Has Died
Haddon Robinson passed away on July 22. He was not a fundamentalist; in fact, he once presided over one of the nations leading neoevangelical seminaries. Nevertheless, he profoundly influenced the way many fundamentalists preach. That influence, whether direct or indirect, was very good.
Douglas Wilson to the Wife Beaters
Because sometimes Wilson’s explanations are even better than his original propositions. I won’t expand on that remark. Just go read the essay.
Al Mohler on Eugene Peterson
As usual, what Mohler writes is worth reading. His purpose is not to trounce Peterson. In fact, he incorporates a definite pastoral twist.
. . . [Y]ou had better have your answer ready. Evasive, wandering, and inconclusive answers will be seen for what they are. Those who have fled for security to the house of evasion must know that the structure has crumbled. It always does.
Central Seminary Begins Distance Ed
A DEGREE ONLINE THAT’S NOT AN ONLINE DEGREE
Many pastors and missionaries desire to further their theological training and attend a seminary but cannot take time to leave their churches or mission fields. Because of this, some feel like they must settle for an online degree that is less than desirable. Central Seminary believes that pastors, missionaries, and students should not have to settle. We believe there are no shortcuts in ministry. Effective ministry often comes from effective preparation.
Central Seminary has designed a distance education program that is different from most. It puts the distance student in the classroom during the class. Through multiple high definition cameras and monitors, advanced sound equipment, and the best conference software available, distance students will be able to interact live with each class.
Central Seminary’s distance education program is not a separate program – it’s only a medium. None of our academic programs have been lessened and every requirement is the same. The only difference between resident students and distance students is just that…distance. All of our graduate programs (MAT in either Biblical Studies or Biblical Counseling and MDiv) are offered in their entirety through this medium.
Learn theology from theologians.
Learn history from historians.
Learn Greek and Hebrew from people that know it.
Learn ministry from pastors, not programs.
Be a student, not a consumer.
How does it work?
Each classroom has:
- 2 high definition cameras (one facing the professor and one facing the students)
- Large, high definition monitors
- Microphones
- Dedicated computers
- Advanced conferencing software
By using Zoom software, distance students will have the ability to see and hear both resident students and other distance students, professors, and any and all presented media (which includes PowerPoint, writing on the board, etc.). In addition, the resident students and professor can fully interact with the distance students enabling complete and simultaneous interaction.
Be in the class without being in the classroom.
For more information or if you’d like to see a demonstration of how it works, contact Dan Johnson in our recruitment office: djohnson@centralseminary.edu
Rolland McCune on Pastoral Authority
The local church which elects its pastor is the source of his ecclesiastical authority. He carries no inherent authority as a person and does not rule the local church by any native rights or gifts. This type of authority is bestowed by the local church and may be withdrawn by the local church.
Rolland McCune, A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity, Vol. 3, p. 250.
Only In Minnesota . . .
The Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, free to the public (donations accepted).
The Shoe Is On the Other Foot
For years, the Left has used the “outrage machine” of the Internet to harass and pillory conservatives. In fact, it’s been used to harass anybody who transgresses the norms that the Left finds acceptable. When a dentist was being persecuted for shooting a lion, nobody cared. When a kid dressed in the wrong Halloween costume, he was expelled from university and subjected to death threats. Now that some on the Right are determined to hold them accountable, however, liberal professors don’t like it one little bit. They want “an organized response” to the “organized outrage machine.” Read about it at the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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