Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Richard Muller's "Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics"


The second edition of Muller's four volume "Post Reformation Reformed Dogmatics" is gaining much praise within the reformed community. Originally published in 1987, this (apprently) ground-breaking study explains and defends post-Calvinian Reformed orthodoxy, which is often referred to as "reformed scholasticism", which is not usually a very complimentary term. Muller's work shows us how much we really don't understand this era of theological reflection (ca. 1520-1725). Muller very effectively debunks many myths concering reformed scholasticism. Muller's work makes it much easier to see why Charles Hodge and Old Princeton routinely required Francis Turretin and other such reformed scholastics. (I found the discussion of theological method in volume 1 alone very interesting.) My interest in the theology of this era was piqued a few years ago when I read in George Marsden's biogrpahy a comment that Jonathan Edwards made concerning Peter van Mastricht. Edwards praised van Mastricht as one of the very best theologians, even superior to Turretin. He would have his students read van Mastricht above all others. I immediately began to search for volumes by him, but found that he originally wrote in Latin, and then it was translated into Dutch, but that there has been no English translation of his works to date. The only work of van Mastricht to be translated into English that I could find is "A Treatise on Regeneration" published by Soli Deo Gloria. So be aware of Muller's work. There are entire vistas of sweeping theological thought that are barred to us simply because we know English, but not Latin or Dutch. If you have any interest in reading Muller (and I would recommend reading Herman Bavinck or John Owen first), then a good place to start is this overview of his four volume work:

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Carl Sagan's lectures on science & religion

Carl Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, has collected his lectures on science and religion, given in Glasgow in 1985, and retitled them (with a nod to William James) "The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God." I supposed that Sagan can be considered a generational precusor to the shrill, overrated Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion"). These lectures support that POV which says that "religion is bad", particularly in its "fundamentalist" form (see also Sam Harris' "Letters to a Christian Nation"). It seems that the pejorative term "fundamentalist" is applied to anyone who believes in revealed truth (which is particular, exlusive truth) concerning what lies beyond the metaphysical veil. I have to admit that I've never thought of myself as a "fundamentalist", just an orthodox Christian who confesses the historic, biblical Christian faith. And I certainly have never thought of myself as being part of the same cloth as Islamic terrorism. I cannot see how a snapshot of my life and a snapshot of the life of a member of al Qaeda would in any way overlap. The fruit of our lives is different, to say the least. The claim is absurd. But nonetheless it is made. The same folly is repackaged generation after generation with an academic gloss. And people go on surpressing the knowledge of the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1). Read the New York Times article on the Sagan/Druyan book here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/science/13carl.html?pagewanted=1&8dpc&_r=2

Monday, February 12, 2007

Al Groves' letter to us...

Read the letter that Al Groves wrote to those attending his memorial service.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Flossing as an Act of Hope

As my readers know, our friend and teacher Al Groves had his grand "homegoing" to heaven this week. I wanted to post this blog entry he wrote 11 months ago, just about a month after the doctors told him that his case was terminal. I am moved by the picture of remaining faithful in the little tasks of life as an expression of a living hope in Christ. My own life is filled with so many things I'd rather not do, but part of following Jesus is doing them anyway (and, with God's help, doing them with excellence!) because it's not about me. It's about Jesus. May God give me grace to keep flossing all the way to the end!
Anyway, here is what Al wrote back in March of last year:

03.16.06 Flossing as an Act of Hope

Like many of the rest of you, I have been flossing my teeth for years, more years than I can count, it seems! Notwithstanding flossing every night, I still never managed to make it a habit, because I simply never really enjoyed flossing. Perhaps it's because I try to do it last thing of the day, at a time when I'm usually tired. Who knows? Not surprisingly, any excuse that made flossing a pass for the evening, and I was all over it. Most of the time however, I had no excuse, so I dutifully flossed.

Lately it crossed my mind that flossing my teeth may not matter any more. If I'm dying, what's the point? My teeth are in good shape (one of God's providential blessings in my life is that I have never had a cavity.) Just think: going to bed without any pre-bedtime rigmarole. Bliss. But somehow I just couldn't do it. And it wasn't the guilt of abandoned habit or improper hygiene crying out to my conscience. Rather, I realized that I would be caving in (in a small way) to hopelessness. Flossing your teeth is hardly earth-shaking. But somehow, it felt like giving up. I don't know what God is going to do with this cancer. So many people are praying for me/us. God might choose to extend my life, even bring me healing for years to come. I have not given up hope, and I'm not going to start a slide down the slippery slope.

Guess what? Each night flossing my teeth has become an act of faith and hope! At least one point in every day I am reminded that until I draw my final breath, God is my hope. And he can do as he alone is able.

In truth, I still sometimes feel the bother of flossing on the occasional late night, but each time I come to that moment of flossing, I am reminded that I want to live and that God is a God in whose faithfulness I can trust. He may choose not to heal me, but my choice is to hope in Him. If I die, my hope is in his resurrection. If I live, my hope is in Christ as well.

And this has applied across the board in my day-to-day life. What joy the little things in life have become. I might even learn that taking out the garbage is blessing. Okay. That's a bit much for now.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Evangelism and Small Groups

Mindy and I went to small group tonight and had a great time. The conversation around Acts 3 was particularly stimulating. Lots of folks had great insights.
Our small group leader tonight did a wonderfully simple thing. As each of us went around the circle to share prayer requests, he asked us to include the first names of one or two people we know who do not "obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 1 Peter 4:17). In this way, we were all encouraged to remember those in our lives who are spiritually lost and under God's wrath (Romans 1:18, Ephesians 2:3). It is a way of holding ourselves accountable to pray for and find ways to share the good news of Jesus with the lost. And it also employed at that very moment the most powerful evangelistic weapon ever invented: prayer. A very simple idea. But one worth replicating dozens and dozens of times in our small groups, homes, quiet times, and lives.

How You Prepare to Preach

Another great post from Colin Adams on how one pastor prepares his sermons. It certainly reminds us all that sermon preparation is hard work.

New York, Sam Brownback, and Rudy Guiliani

Peggy Noonan on New York as the center of the political map in 2008 (Guilian vs. Clinton?): http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/
John Armstrong reflects on how well a Christian candidate for President (Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback) reflects godly values when he is strongly pro-life but rarely goes to work on the Hill when Congress is in session: http://johnharmstrong.typepad.com/john_h_armstrong_/2007/02/if_you_want_to_.html
Guiliani's strategy with evangelical voters: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1587264,00.html

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Time Mag: A Calvinist Faces Death



Al Mohler, a reformed Baptist, had a recent brush with death. To my surprise, Time Magazine interviewed him about his experience. To my even greater surprise, Time entitled the article "A Calvinist Faces Death". I've included the introduction to the article below. It speaks about how calvinism is making a comeback among younger evangelicals. Check it out. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1583921,00.

After roughly 200 years of decline, Calvinism, the faith of the Puritans, has made a modest comeback among younger Evangelical Christians. One of the movement's potent mentors is Albert Mohler, the influential, telegenic head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who made waves last June when he critiqued the religious claims of presidential contender Barack Obama in an essay called Secularism With A Smile.

Mohler, a Calvinist, went into the hospital in December for a fairly routine stomach operation and suddenly developed pulmonary embolisms, a frequently fatal form of clotting, in both lungs. After emergency surgery and four days in the Intensive Care unit, he made a complete recovery. David Van Biema asked him whether his crisis could illuminate his brand of faith.

Death by Ministry?

Here is a very sobering article by Mark Discoll in Seattle on "Death by Ministry?"It points out many of the dangers associated with full time ministry. I think these dangers are very real and they call us to keep our hearts open and fresh with both the Lord and one another. http://theresurgence.com/mdblog_2006-05-24_death_by_ministry

Monday, February 5, 2007

Al Groves, 54, went to be with the Lord tonight

In Memoriam, Professor J. Alan Groves

J. Alan Groves (b. December 17, 1952) met his Savior face to face on February 5 at the age of 54. He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Elizabeth W. Davis Groves; by his four children, Alasdair and wife Lauren, Rebeckah, Eowyn, and Alden. Born in 1952, Al received his B.A. in 1975 and B.E. in 1976 from Dartmouth College, and an M.A.R. in 1981 and a Th.M. in 1983 from Westminster Theological Seminary. He also pursued graduate studies at Dropsie College of Hebrew and Cognate Learning and was a Ph.D. candidate at Vrije Universiteit, working on a doctoral thesis entitled “A Textlinguistic Analysis of Exodus 1-14.” He was a ruling elder at New Life Presbyterian Church (PCA), Glenside, Pennsylvania.

A wonderfully honest and tender blog has been kept these past 13 months. www.algroves.info is well worth reading to improve your hope of heaven.