Monday 18 March 2024

Centre for Public Christianity (March 2024)


Among other items, the Centre for Public Christianity has posted a ‘Life and Faith’ interview (here) with Justin Brierley on ‘the return of religious belief’.

Thursday 14 March 2024

Theos Report on the Rise of Insecure and Lone Working and the Search for Mutual Bonds


A new report from Theos has been published:


Tim Thorlby, The Ties That Bind: The Rise of Insecure and Lone Working and the Search for Mutual Bonds (London: Theos, 2024).


This is the first report in Theos’ Work Shift series, exploring how a renewed focus on the relational elements of work could improve the labour market.’


According to the blurb:


‘This report draws together evidence on the health and social impacts of two significant trends transforming the labour market in the UK – the rise of lone working and the rise of insecure work – to argue that a loss of mutuality in the workplace has made millions of us both poor and ill. More than half of the UK workforce now work alone for all or part of the week, while nearly one in five UK workers are now in insecure work – over half of whom are in work that is both insecure and low paid.


‘The report draws upon Christian thinking to argue that greater attention to “the ties that bind” is needed to ensure that increasingly flexible working arrangements can also be dignified, fair, well-connected and healthy.’


A pdf of the full report is available here.

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Rebecca McLaughlin on Easter and Resurrection


Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (March 2024) it’s Is Easter Unbelievable? Four Questions Everyone Should Ask about the Resurrection Story by Rebecca McLaughlin, a short but excellent exploration of the reality and significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

Friday 1 March 2024

Christian History Magazine on Stories Worth Retelling


The special 150th issue of Christian History Magazine is devoted to ‘Stories Worth Retelling’.


From the blurb:


‘In 1982, founder Ken Curtis set out a mission for our unique publication: a magazine that seeks to tell the whole story of the church, acknowledging its full and honest story while also seeing the best in each faith tradition. For 41 years and through 150 issues, Christian History has tried to do just that.


‘Find out what makes Christian History Christian history in this special issue. Rediscover with us stories worth retelling – stories that have captured the imagination and interest of our readers throughout the years and the eras of the church. Don’t miss this fascinating issue of readers’ favorites from 150 editions of Christian History.’


The whole magazine is available as a 12.8 MB pdf here.

Wednesday 28 February 2024

Ink (2023)


The latest issue of ink produced by Tyndale House has been available (for a while – I’m late posting this), this one including articles on the ‘law code’ of Hammurabi, the significance of role models and imitation in early Christianity, the message of hope in Jeremiah, faith and works in James, where the Bible’s chapters came from, the influence of the Septuagint on modern Bible translations, the artistry of the Hebrew acrostic form, and reading the Bible in a secular age.


UK residents can sign up here to receive issues through the post or subscribe for online updates, but articles from the publication are also available to read from here.

Saturday 24 February 2024

The Master’s Seminary Journal 34, 2 (2023)


The latest Master’s Seminary Journal has been posted online. According to the Editorial, ‘the focus of the current issue… is the biblical imperative to teach the Word of God faithfully by interpreting it accurately in order to deliver the divine intent of each passage’.


A pdf of the journal can be downloaded here.


Iosif J. Zhakevich

Editorial: Accurate Interpretation of Scripture


John F. MacArthur

The Mandate of Biblical Inerrancy: Expository Preaching

The special attention evangelicalism has given to the inerrancy of Scripture in recent years carries with it a mandate to emphasize expository preaching of the Scriptures. The existence of God and His nature requires the conclusion that He has communicated accurately and that an adequate exegetical process to determine His meaning is required. The Christian commission to preach God’s Word involves accurately transmitting that meaning to an audience, a weighty responsibility. A belief in inerrancy thus requires, most important of all, expositional preaching that does not have to do primarily with the homiletical form of the message. In this regard, expository preaching differs from what is practiced by non-inerrantists.


John F. MacArthur, Austin T. Duncan

Inerrancy and Exposition: A Conversation with John MacArthur

This dialogue between John MacArthur and Austin Duncan explores the battle for biblical inerrancy and its relationship to biblical exposition. With years of preaching

experience and wisdom, Dr. MacArthur provides counsel to pastors seeking to

accurately and boldly preach the Word of God. In the previous article… Dr. MacArthur explained the inseparable partnership inerrancy has with hermeneutics and expository preaching. In this conversation, Dr. MacArthur reinforces the fact that, as Scripture is the eternal Word of God, so the charge to interpret it accurately and preach it boldly is also timeless.


Brad Klassen

The Doctrine of Inspiration and Its Implications for Hermeneutics

The doctrine of inspiration affects biblical hermeneutics. If every word of Scripture is to be affirmed as simultaneously God’s Word and man’s word in the truest sense, if every portion and element of Scripture equally possess all the qualities of the divine and human intents, if there is no separation to be sought between what was meant by God and what was meant by the human writer, then what method provides the most appropriate principles to study such a text? Because God is the Author of Scripture, the Bible is to be read unlike any other book. Yet, because God has revealed His Word through human biblical writers, the Bible is to be read like other books. The hermeneutical method that best achieves the study of this unique text is the grammatico-historical method.


Michael J. Vlach

Hermeneutical Principles and the Bible’s Storyline: A Dispensational Approach

This article addresses the issue of interpretation principles for understanding the Bible’s storyline from a dispensational perspective. The particular questions discussed are the (1) consistent use of grammatical-historical hermeneutics in all Scripture; (2) consistent contextual interpretation of Old Testament prophecies; (3) passage priority; and (4) Jesus as the means of fulfillment of the Old Testament. Application of these principles leads to a proper understanding of the Bible’s grand narrative from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22.


Tom Pennington

The Pastor and Systematic Theology

Pastors committed to expository preaching often fail to grasp in theory and execute in practice the legitimate use of systematic theology in studying the biblical text and in crafting the sermon. Some tend to downplay its importance in the interest of being biblical, while others give systematic theologies, creeds, or confessions too exalted a role in both exegesis and exposition. Part of the path forward is to understand the scriptural guidelines for the illegitimate and legitimate use of systematic theology in the normal pattern of consecutive exposition.


Noah Hartmetz

The Expositional Method of John Chrysostom

This article recognizes Chrysostom as a noteworthy expositor in the early church and examines the key aspects of his technique. After surveying Chrysostom’s life and training, the article explores Chrysostom’s view on the inspiration of the Bible, the effect of biblical inspiration upon his hermeneutics, and the particular elements of his hermeneutical and homiletical methodology. Chrysostom’s method defined his exposition of the biblical text such that his homilies were a clear explanation of the literal sense of Scripture.


John Calvin (with an introduction by Ian P. Hazlett)

Calvin’s Latin Preface to His Proposed French Edition of Chrysostom’s Homilies: Translation and Commentary

The contribution below consists of two parts. First, Ian Hazlett offers a helpful introduction to Calvin’s preface on Chrysostom and the value Calvin saw in this preacher with a “golden mouth”… The second part is the actual preface by Calvin to the homilies of Chrysostom. In his preface, Calvin indicates that while he affirms the priority of Scripture, he also recognizes the benefit of resources that help interpret Scripture. He turns particularly to Chrysostom to feature him as an example of a preacher who explained the plain meaning of the text and who would be profitable to the study of Scripture. Thus, Calvin defends the use of secondary resources specifically for the goal of accurately expositing the Word of God.


John Calvin

The Epistle Dedicatory: John Calvin on Exposition and the Book of Romans

The contribution below consists of two parts. The first part (“A Man Worthy of All Honour”) is a letter that Calvin wrote to another scholar and friend Simon Grynæus, describing to him the practice of Bible exposition. Calvin noted that the goal of exposition is to explain the mind of the author to the reader, both with simplicity and brevity. The second part (“Epistle to the Romans: The Argument”) is Calvin’s introduction to Romans in which Calvin moved through the book chapter by chapter in summary form. Calvin thereby illustrated exposition by demonstrating how Paul advances through his argument in the epistle. The ultimate purpose of Calvin’s work is to mature the believers in their love for Christ.


Reviews

Friday 16 February 2024

Theos Report on AI and the Afterlife


A new report from Theos has been published:


Nathan Mladin, AI and the Afterlife: From Digital Mourning to Mind Uploading (London: Theos, 2024).


More information can be found here, and a pdf of the full report is available here.