December 2006 Archives

I recently discovered a fairly new blog (launched this past August) that I really like. It's the blog of Justin Buzzard. Why do I like it? Just read his most recent post—a book recommendation—and you'll know why.

Wow. This book is good. Everything that Goldsworthy writes is worth reading, but this may turn out to be my favorite by G.G. So far, this is proving to be the best book I've ever read on prayer. It dovetails nicely with the sermon I preached on prayer several weeks back, though I still would've loved to have read this book before preaching that sermon. Here's a few quotes I'm appreciating:

"A wrong perspective on prayer may well come from thinking of it as playing a part in establishing our acceptance with God. Prayer that is not the grateful response of the justified sinner is likely to degenerate into an attempt to gain acceptance

....if the sole motive to pray is, as I have heard it put in sermons, 'Jesus got up early to pray, so how much more do we need to get up early to pray', it is missing the grace of God in the gospel. 'He did it, therefore we ought to' is not the perspective of the gospel unless it's linked with, 'He did it for us because we are unable to do it as we ought.'"

This looks like a very fascinating series of lectures by Alister McGrath on how the Christian might use literature "to explain and defend the gospel."� I'm particularly interested in lectures 3a and 3b where he discusses the apologetic use of the writings of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. Laurence O’Donnell writes:

"Dr. Alister McGrath, professor of historical theology at Oxford University, has released free audio lectures from Wycliffe Hall’s summer school program. These fascinating lectures begin by briefly defining Christian “apologetics” and then proceed to pithy presentations on using various genres of literature apologetically. With British wit and humor Dr. McGrath explores the question, 'In what ways can Christians use literature to explain and defend the Gospel?'"

(HT: Dave Cruver)

How important is it that the preaching of the church be informed and shaped by biblical theology, that is, by the story of God's redemptive activity within human history? Graeme Goldsworthy writes:

If a pastor does not understand or teach biblical theology, the members of the congregation are likely to suffer thus:

1. Congregations will not understand the unity of the Bible or the progressive nature of revelation. They will fall prey to those proclaiming the disunity of the biblical message; and a fragmented Bible cannot be recognized as the inspired word of God.

2. Congregations will not understand the centrality of Christ for interpreting Scripture and the meaning of life in our world. Recourse to people and events—particularly those of the Old Testament—will be valued mainly for their exemplary lessons, and not for their typological contribution to understanding the person and work of Christ. They will not see that Christ in his gospel is the interpreting principle for Scripture and, indeed, for all reality.

3. Grace will be eroded by legalism. Preaching that principally points to the examples of Bible characters leads almost inevitably to legalism since the connection with the gospel of grace will be clouded or even completely lost.

4. The application of Bible texts will often be short-circuited. The Bible is reduced to a lucky-dip of texts all of which are perceived as standing in the same essential relationship to the Christian believer, and the progressive nature of biblical revelation in salvation-history is ignored.

5. The presuppositions of the New Testament in portraying Christ as the fulfiller of the Old Testament will be overlooked so that the fullness of Christ’s person and work is undermined. Teaching from the Old Testament is particularly at risk.

6. The doctrinal formulations of the church will be seen as less important in that their relationship to the progressive revelation of the Bible will not be evident. Biblical theology and doctrine work together for a robust understanding of God and his purposes for his people and the world.

Graeme Goldsworthy is the visiting lecturer in hermeneutics at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

Note to Readers: Those of you who regularly visit Eucatastrophe are well aware of the fact that my blogging has been almost non-existent the past three months.� I’ve only posted 15 times since July 28^th!� My intention is to begin� posting regularly once this particular semester is over.