Think Theology

“Athanasius showed us that sometimes it is not right to compromise – when core theology is at stake. There are matters of ego and nonessentials on which it is proper and Christian for us to compromise. But when the heart of the gospel is at stake, it is time to be like Athanasius and refuse [...]

Dr. John S. Bohannon’s latest book, Preaching and the Emerging Church, can be downloaded for free here. It’s an examination of Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Dan Kimball, and Doug Pagitt and their preaching methods.

“The plain old Protestant doctrine is that the place of faith in justification is only that of a hand or instrument, receiving the righteousness of Christ, for the sake of which alone we are justified. So that, though great scholars do often confound themselves and others in their disputations about faith’s justifying a sinner, every [...]

Robert Harris was a Puritan theologian, pastor, and member of the Westminster Assembly. Commenting on Eph. 2:7, Harris preached, “Meditate seriously upon the excellency of grace, and so set your mouth on watering after more of it. The least saving grace is a pledge of heaven; it is our life, our comfort, our honor. Think [...]

John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is considered a classic by most theologians. Regardless of whether one is Reformed or not, Calvin is one of the greatest theologians that the Reformation produced. His influence spans from the realm of theology to economics. When former President Bill Clinton was asked by CNN’s John Roberts, “Could [...]

“Dance around the burning effigy of man as the world shrivels and folds in on itself, or dance around the God who blazes and smokes and bring hope to the world. Paraphrasing Kreeft a bit, I would please, Please love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Please love Jesus [...]

“What do you do when you don’t desire the Word of God? Or when you read it and don’t see anything that gives you joy? Or when your joy is weak and disintegrates before the allurements of the world? What do you do if you are not satisfied in the God of the Bible, but [...]

Mark Dever – Study Video from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

There is a lot of discussion on the subject of revival within the Church. Depending upon your tradition, your perspective on what revival is and what it produces will be different. I have heard revival expressed in various ways throughout my life. Some suggest that revival will produce really good worship music. Others suggest that [...]

I just picked up Andreas J. Kostenberger’s A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters and I’m impressed. It, along with Carson’s Pillar commentary, is quickly becoming a must read for anyone interested in Johannine studies. At 656 pages, Kostenberger has provided a very interesting theology of John’s Gospel and three Epistles. I read the following [...]

“As the new birth, the acquisition of eternal life, has been grounded in the ‘lifting up’ of the Son (vv. 14-15), so also that ‘lifting up’, the climax of the Son’s mission, is itself grounded in the love of God. The mission of the Son and its consequences is the theme of the paragraph, but [...]

I’ve often felt that Christian books on the subject of “marriage” are a dime a dozen. I’ve read through many that were helpful but often I’ve been left wondering where the biblical insights are! Not every “Christian” book on marriage should claim to be “Christian” if there is little appeal to the Scriptural position regarding [...]

Somewhat related to my previous post is this book review at the Christians in Context blog of The Bible Among the Myths by John Oswalt. I am currently teaching on the Patriarchs and have purchased four commentaries on Genesis to aid my studies as follows: Gordon J. Wenam (Word series, 2 vols.) John H. Walton (NIV [...]

I can’t stop meditating upon a statement that John Owen wrote in the first chapter of The Glory of Christ. Owen was an English theologian who lived in the 17th century; his works are still considered to be some of the greatest works on various aspects of theology, Christology, and on Reformed theology. Owen and [...]

Tim Chester, one of the authors of my favorite book of this year (Total Church), has written three reviews of books tackling the subject of sexuality from a Christian perspective. Chester reviews Les Parrott’s Crazy Good Sex: Putting to Bed the Myths Men Have About Sex,Craig Gross and Mike Foster’s, Questions You Can’t Ask Your Mama [...]

Nearly two years ago I was sitting at a Christian bookstore and started flipping through Preaching the Cross, written by Dever, Duncan, Mohler, and Mahaney (with contributions from Sproul, MacArthur, and Piper). The book was fantastic. Every page dripped with the precious message of Christ crucified on behalf of the sins of His people. Unfortunately, [...]

So I did it. Finally. I have cracked open N.T. Wright’s Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision. I’ve had the book for a bit and have been reading reviews of it on various blogs (a good list of reviews is found here). I’m not sure if reading reviews of the book before I actually read [...]

So I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that Fee has released a fresh commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians within the NICNT series. I’m actually a bit stunned, as the former commentary by Morris hasn’t been out

So this week I’ve been studying Acts 17:1-9 as the backdrop for our up and coming series on 1 & 2 Thessalonians. I had previously noted some of the resources I’ve been using (found here) and, alongside the text, these resources are proving extremely helpful. With that in mind, I need to suggest that anyone [...]

Andrew Faris has written the shortest review of The Shack that I have read (my thoughts on the book are here). He says, If I was an egalitarian, arminian, open theist who was rather confused about the trinity and about justification, and who had no concern about writing quality in literature, then I would have absolutely [...]

So I just finished reading the first essay of Fee’s in his wonderful To What End Exegesis? I’ve owned this book for about six years now and I’ve read most of the essays but hadn’t read this one – “One Thing is Needful”? (Luke 10:42). The article was originally published in 1981, which is probably why [...]

I just picked up a copy of Dr. Rick Blackwood’s The Power of MultiSensory Preaching and Teaching (Zondervan, 2009). Dr. Blackwood pastors Christ Fellowship in Palmetto, FL. I’ve read about half of the book and spent a bit of time flipping around the rest of the chapters and the two appendixes. In many ways this [...]

Jonathan Edwards is, in my opinion, clearly one of the greatest minds that America has every produced. I’m continually challenged by his life and writings. I just picked up a copy of Storm’s devotional on Colossians and found this gem in the introduction: Be assiduous in reading the holy Scriptures. This is the fountain whence [...]

Perhaps no other Reformer has been more misunderstood and demonized than John Calvin, the great French theologian. Calvin more or less put Geneva’s young budding Protestant community on the map as he rubbed shoulders with or mentored the likes of Philipp Melanchthon, Heinrich Bullinger, John Knox, and Theodore Beza. These are all stalwart fathers of the Reformation.

Everyone and their mother has been telling me that I either need to read William P. Young’s bestseller, The Shack, or they are asking me what I think about it. I’ve heard some very good reports (which is why it is probably selling like hot cakes) and I’ve heard some very troubling statements. I’ve also read some [...]