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.Biblical Archaeology: Top Ten Discoveries for 2016
According to Gordon Govier at Christianity Today. Number 1 is the unsealing of Jesus’ (supposed) tomb.
Criminalization Without Representation?
According to Jim Copland and Rafael A. Mangual, 98 percent of the crimes on the books in America are the result of bureaucratic regulation rather than direct legislation.
By taking crime creation almost entirely out of the political process, the government has stripped the governed of the opportunity to consent to, or not, the thousands upon thousands of outmoded, obscure, and often overreaching rules that litter the Federal Register — and threaten the unsuspecting citizen with criminal prosecution. The isolation of criminal lawmaking from the political process has also stripped citizens of the ability to hold anyone accountable for the creation of a given criminal offense.
A Sad Day Indeed!
Historic Washington D.C. Baptist church calls lesbian couple as co-pastors.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/9/lesbian-couple-hired-co-pastor-dc-church/
Michael Bird on Teaching Biblical Languages
When I saw the headline of Australian theologian Michael Bird’s blog post, “Why We Need to Teach Biblical Languages,” I thought he’d offer a reasoned response to the dumbing down of education by some seminaries.
Nope.
Conservatives Are Better Looking
So says a study in the Journal of Public Economics.
Alexander’s Counsel for the Lord’s Day
Consider the Lord’s day an honour and delight. Let your heart be elevated in holy joy, and your lips be employed in the high praises of God. This day more resembles heaven, than any other portion of our time; and we should endeavour to imitate the worship of heaven, according to that petition of the Lord’s prayer—“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Archibald Alexander, A Brief Compend of Bible Truth, 191.
A Critique of Scientism . . .
. . . By a scientist. Austin L. Hughes challenges the myth that science explains everything. Download the PDF from The New Atlantis.
Civics Report from National Association of Scholars
The National Association of Scholars has released a 525 page report on the teaching of civics within American universities. The report argues that traditional civics has been replaced by 60s-style liberal activism, and it views this trend with alarm. You can download the report here.
An Important but Alarming List
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2017/january/top-50-countries-christian-persecution-world-watch-list.html
Alexander on Sanctification and Ascetic Disciplines
Two things are commonly intended by the word sanctification. The first is, the mortification of sin, the last, the increase of the vigour and constancy of the exercises of piety. But, although these may be distinguished, yet there is no need to treat of them separately, because the advancement of the one cannot but be accompanied with progress in the other. Like the two scales of a balance, when one is depressed the other rises. Just so in the divine life in the soul, if pride is humbled, humility is of necessity increased; if the undue love of the creature is mortified, the love of God will be strengthened; and so of every other grace. Indeed, when we examine the subject accurately, we shall find, that all real mortification of sin is by the exercise of faith, and those holy affections which flow from it. By legal striving, however earnest, or by ascetic discipline, however rigid, very little headway is made against the stream of inherent corruption.
Archibald Alexander, A Brief Compend of Bible Truth, 134.
Kemosh
As usual, the ASOR does not take a high view of Scripture or of biblical history. Nevertheless, Collin Cornell’s article includes interesting information on the Moabite god Kemosh. View it here.
Kimball on Free Speech and the Academy
Introducing The New Criterion’s discussion of academic intolerance in an essay entitled “Free Speech and the Academy,” Roger Kimball uses George Orwell’s 1984 as a point of comparison.
Orwell intended Nineteen Eighty-four as a warning, an admonition. Our academic social justice warriors, supposing they are even aware of Orwell’s work, would seem to regard it as a plan of action. It was to shine some light into those tenebrous caverns of orthodoxy that we convened this symposium on free speech and the academy.
Intolerant Schools
The New Criterion is devoting an entire issue to the new intolerance on university campuses. Herbert Marcuse opens the discussion with an essay on “Why the Left Hates Tolerance.” Here’s his conclusion:
The classical liberal (who is also the contemporary conservative) championed tolerance because it helped maintain a space for civilized disagreement. Many readers will recall hearing sentences like this: “I disagree with you but support your right to voice your opinion.” How quaint that now sounds! The modern social justice warrior abominates disagreement as a form of heresy. Accordingly, he rejects tolerance in favor of enforced, indeed totalitarian, conformity. It is the antithesis of what a liberal-arts education was all about, which is why its installation at the center of our erstwhile liberal-arts institutions makes for such a sad irony.
Best Books on Tolkien
Joseph Pearce offers his picks of the best books on J. R. R. Tolkien at The Imaginative Conservative.
Catholic Hospital Sued for Refusing Sex Reassignment Surgery
The suit has been filed by Lambda Legal. The hospital is St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Paterson, New Jersey. The patient was a transgender “man” who wanted her uterus removed. The suit alleges that the hospital’s decision is illegal under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. See Lambda Legal’s story here.
Alexander on Justification
In most cases we should think it unnecessary and inexpedient to contend about the meaning of a word, when they who used it, explained the sense in which they take it; but, here it is exceedingly important, to ascertain the scriptural meaning of the word justification; for this is the point from which men’s opinions are most apt to diverge from the dictates of divine revelation. And if we put a wrong sense on the word, it will be sure to favour the dangerous doctrine of human merit.
We would, therefore, lay it down as a truth, capable of the clearest proof, that justification, as used in Scripture, does not mean any change wrought within us, but a change of our relation or standing under the law. As condemnation does not signify the making a man wicked, but declaring him guilty; so justification, which is the very opposite of condemnation, does not mean the infusion of holiness or justice into the hearts of men; but, it is the sentence of a judge, declaring that the person to whom it appertains, is acquitted from every charge, and stands right in the view of the law. It is then the act of the Judge of the universe, by which it is declared, that all condemnation is removed, and that the sinful man is accepted as righteous in the eye of the law.
Archibald Alexander, A Brief Compend of Bible Truth, 120-121
What to Do with an Altoids Tin?
The Art of Manliness suggests “22 Manly Ways to Reuse an Altoids Tin.” Some are pretty good. I use mine for small reloading tools and parts.
John Sailhamer Enters Eternity
Back in the 80s I did doctoral work under John Sailhamer. His theology of the Pentateuch was still in the works. I got to read his commentary on Genesis in draft. He was a kind and articulate individual, and a phenomenal scholar besides. His work was genuinely creative. I still owe certain aspects of my thinking to his influence, though we disagreed (sometimes rather pointedly) in other areas. Working with John was a genuine privilege.
On one occasion he wanted a debate in class between an advocate of Dispensationalism and an advocate of Covenant Theology. Nobody else was willing to argue for Covenant Theology, so I drew the assignment. I think I could have won the debate, except for the fact that my opponent was Jim Lytle–now the president of Clarks Summit University. Lytle had the arguments down cold. I think I made a better case for Covenant Theology than most Covenant Theologians would, but Lytle demolished it anyway.
In those days Sailhamer was on a binge of watching old TV shows. He would apply their titles to sections of his lectures. For example, his treatment of Ham, Shem, and Japeth was called “My Three Sons.” He wasn’t trying to be cute; it was just the way his mind worked.
Zondervan Releases Online Greek Course
It’s taught by Dan Wallace, and it may be alive option for some students who would like to go to seminary. Here at Central Seminary we offer Greek, but you don’t have to take your grammar and syntax from us. We’ll test you, and if you pass the exam you get the standing.
MLA Refuses to Boycott Israeli Academics
The Modern Language Association has rejected a resolution that would have endorsed a boycott of Israeli institutions. In fact, the association adopted an alternative resolution rejecting a boycott of the Israelis. See the story at Inside Higher Ed.
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