If you didn’t know, 5 June 2011 is Ascension Day. What does the ascension mean? I’ve heard an atheist speaker refer to it as the “Launching of the Lord”. The ascension in Luke-Actts functions to end the resurrection appearances of Jesus and to also indicate his future parousia. However, the ascension also signifies much more than that. Let me give seven things to note about the ascension. 1. Jesus ascends to heaven so that he can send the Holy Spirit... Read more
I continue my series on writing style with lesson 6 in Williams and Colomb’s book Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (10th Edition). This lesson is the last of part 2 of the book’s five parts. Part 2 is the longest in the book and the subject has been clarity. In the previous lesson, Williams and Colomb’s focused on the importance of writing sentences that begin with the more familiar material, allowing new and more difficult material to be placed... Read more
Over at Virtue Online, Ted Schroder has a great piece on the ascension. Andrew Purves in The Crucifixion of Ministry takes issue with the theology of WWJD: “What would Jesus do?” He argues that it turns Jesus into a teacher of fixed moral ideas which must be imitated, i.e. a moralist not a Savior. Even with a little help from the Holy Spirit, it sounds like a religion of obedience to moral laws. This is to define Christian activity as... Read more
Do you have a poor man’s vacation story? One of the benefits of having a wife who works for an airline is the blessing of easy air travel. Before the kids we regularly traveled. As the kidos get older we are now beginning to see that we can travel with them. It takes a great deal more preparation to bring two 4-year olds, but it is conceivable. This weekend we pack up the fam for a long weekend away to... Read more
G. Walter Hansen The Letter to the Philippians PNTC; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009. Available at Amazon.com. I have a number of favourite Philippians commentaries (Bockmuehl, Fee, O’Brien), but I do have to say that there are some likable elements to G. Walter Hansen’s Philippians commentary in the Pillar series. Hansen regards Philippians as a letter of friendship and he accepts the integrity of the letter on the grounds that there is no textual evidence for a fragmentary hypothesis and... Read more
Why do we pray the Lord’s prayer? Well a good reason is given in the Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer: Question. What desirest thou of God in this Prayer? Answer. I desire my Lord God our heavenly Father, who is the giver of all goodness, to send his grace unto me, and to all people; that we may worship him, serve him, and obey him, as we ought to do. And I pray unto God, that he will... Read more
Scot McKnight has a discussion of Tom Wright’s new (by new I mean new edition) on Authority and Scripture. Over at the Gospel Coalition there is a great post by Kevin DeYoung that obedience is possible, prescribed, and precious. See my earlier posts on Anti-nomian wars! Andy Naselli has a great summary on apps for iPad if you’re a pastor/scholar type person. All the relevant since I finally bought an iPad today! James McGrath gives us a cute photo describing... Read more
There is no official “evangelical ecclesiology,” nor can there be in the strict sense. You can have an Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, or Presbyterian ecclesiology. Such ecclesiologies prescribe the confession, order, structure, discipline, governance, worship, sacraments, and ministries of these respective denominations. But there is no prescriptive evangelical equivalent because being evangelical is a theological ethos not a denominational entity. Belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America does not make you “evangelical” and you can still be an... Read more
What do you think is a good name for this statue? It sets in front of the museum in Aphrodisias Turkey. Photo by: Anne Heaps Read more
This is the second part of a two-part post on Rob Bell’s fifth chapter (“Dying to Live”) in his book Love Wins. The chapter is about the meaning of Jesus death and resurrection. In the first part of the post I discussed the Atonement. In this post I want to address his discussion of the resurrection. In the section, he makes three points: (1) the idea of resurrection is not new; it is the essence of reality, (2) the death... Read more
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