We are discussing marriage by examining the recent book of John Piper’s called This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence. In the first chp Piper examines marriage in two respects: * It is from God.* It is for God’s glory. Anyone who has read Piper knows he reads everything through the lens of the “glory of God,” which is (for me) theologically true yet somehow Piper manages to emphasize a theme far more often than does the Bible. We’ll see... Read more
What, in your view, are the top five mistakes made in marriage by couples? I got this question from Gretchen Rubin here. Her top five are: 1. Wanting the gold stars of appreciation.2. Using a snappish tone.3. Getting angry about a fixed trait.4. Score keeping.5. Taking her husband for granted. Read more
Once again, James draws us into the world of Jesus. James 5:6 reads: “You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.” A more literal reading, here quoting from the NASB, tells a different story: “You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.” The NIV generalizes this into humans; the NASB translates as a singular because the Greek is singular. Perhaps “the righteous man” represents the righteous person and stands... Read more
The second section of Alister McGrath’s new book A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology deals with fine-tuning and natural theology in the context of a number of scientific theories and observations. The first of these relate to cosmology and the fundamental constants of the universe. We discussed some of this in a post, The Heavens Declare, a month or so ago, but it is worth a revisit in the context of McGrath’s book. It has... Read more
We started yesterday, with a post of our own, a series on marriage by examining the recent book of John Piper’s called This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence. Question added at 9:25am CT (find at bottom of post).John Piper, pastor at Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis (or St Paul — the same to me), chooses to punctuate his biblical exposition with Dietrich Bonhoeffer — and he’s got me on his side with that. In prison, Bonhoeffer wrote some about marriage... Read more
James personifies with a vivid imagination, something he perhaps learned from Jesus or one of the prophets. Here are the words of James, from 5:1-6: Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. Powerful rhetoric. James’ intent is clear:... Read more
I begin a series today on John Piper’s new book about marriage (This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence ) but I do so by posting a recent essay of mine from Out of Ur: it was called there “The Story of Us.” The Story of Us At the end of his lecture and after answering a smattering of questions, the pristine and aged New Testament scholar, Bruce Metzger, asked Doug Moo, at that time a colleague of mine, if... Read more
In a recent post we discussed the hooked up culture and the neuroscience connected to hooking up — the brain, so those authors argue, is the most influential sexual organ. That book discussed the facts and interpretation of neuorscience. Laura Sessions Stepp, a well-known journalist at The Washington Post, has a book about the nature of life for women in the hook-up culture, and the book is nothing less than a bold revelation of things you might not want to... Read more
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Pastor’s Bookshelf: Philippians
I’m not keeping up with this commentary list, spending too much of my time doing what Paul seems to be doing to the left, but here goes on Philippians. The first commentary I consult on Philippians is Gordon Fee, and I do so in part because he’s such a good writer, because he is sensitive to Greek exegesis and because he’s theologically alert to the text for preaching and pastoring: Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (New International Commentary on the... Read more