The panel of Christ the Center recently hung out with Lane Tipton and talked with him about Cornelius Van Til’s Trinitarian theology. You can listen here. Lane did an outstanding job of explaining the relationship between the Trinity and theology as it was found in the writings of Dr. Van Til. This was, of course, also the subject of Dr. Tipton’s doctoral dissertation and certain articles.

In case you did not know, Desiring God has 46 English titles by John Piper online for free. You can find and download a PDF copy of any of them here. This is a great blessing for those of us who do not have unlimited funds for book buying. I hope you all will make good use of this resource. There are also several in other languages as well.

Noel Weeks’ volume The Sufficiency of Scripture provides some very helpful guidelines in regard to the multi-variant issues that arise during the hermeneutical process. Weeks deals with such issues as cultural “Contextualization,” “The Human Element of Scripture,” and “‘Rabbinic’ Exegesis in the New Testament.” When he comes to explain the dangers surrounding the trend to emphasize cultural contextualization–a contextualization centering on the belief that “the fundamental concepts, ideas, and themes of Scripture are shaped by the culture within which the Scriptures were given(76)”–Weeks gives two examples to illustrate an illegitimate and a legitimate use of historical contextualization. First, he explains that all of Scripture is aimed at promoting truth in the midst of a world full of falsehood. He writes:

The ideas of a culture are not neutral. They are much influenced by the cultures acceptance of, or rejection of, the truth of God. This was true in Biblical times. Much of Scripture is a polemic against the ideas of the time. (78)

The great danger Weeks is seeking to confront is the potential loss of the Gospel. He explains:

If we may revert to the idea of sacrifice. The Scripture does not simply accept the ideas of the time. For contemporary ideas tended to see sacrifice as food for the god worshiped. Scripture, in rejecting this, is asserting a different view of God as the just, and hence the wrathful, God. If we change our view of sacrifice, and hence the work of Christ, we must also change our view of God…The fact is that such concepts as the justice of God cannot be relativized and “contextualized” without destroying the Gospel. (78)

Weeks is very careful, however, to note the fact that Scripture is, in fact, written within a cultural context:

It may be objected that Scripture is very much in terms of the culture of its time. The tenth commandment refers to an ox or a donkey and not to a llama or a yak. Surely such passages of Scripture must be ‘contextualized’ in order to be applied today. (78)

So how does one reconcile the fact that contextualization, if approached illegitimately can potentially be used to destroy the Gospel, while at the same time acknowledging the fact that Scripture has a historical context that must be taken into account? Weeks concludes with these thoughts:

It all comes down to a crucial question: Do we meet in Scripture a truth which transcends cultural barriers, even though it is applied to a particular culture, or do we meet a truth expressed in terms of the limited ideas of a particular culture?
If the truth is not culture bound, yet is directed to a particular culture, then we can apply that same truth to different cultures and different situations…If we may revert again to the example of the tenth commandment , the commandment already provides the ground for including llamas and yaks by the fact that it includes ‘anything that belongs to your neighbor.’ (78)

Did Jesus act at one time in His human nature and at another in His Divine? Is this the way we can reconcile the words of and about our Lord in the Gospels when they seem to contradict one or the other essential attributes of the human or Divine nature? Paul Helm seeks to give (or you might say ‘not to give’) an answer to this all important question. You can read his thoughts here.

Here is the link to the latest Christ the Center interview. This is the second time that we had the privilege of sitting down with Darryl Hart. The panel sat down with Darryl to discuss his book Deconstructing Evangelicalism. Hart points out that Evangelicalism actually is an umbrella term used to unite conservative Christians from different traditions. There never has been a generic Evangelical. The panel discussed the different senses of the word “Evangelical” and noted that the use of the word today in America is more or less governed by the rise of Neo-Evangelicalism in the mid-twentieth century. Perhaps it is best to identify oneself by one’s denominational affiliation. Listener’s will find this discussion timely and fascinating.

You can listen to the first Darryl Hart interview here.

RTS has an annual John Reed Miller Lecture Series. In 2005 they hosted Sinclair Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson gave a series of lectures on preaching Christ and preaching the Gospel. The lectures he delivered were:

Here is the final list of D.A. Carson sermons and lectures. Again, many thanks to P.J. Tibayan for the hard work of gathering these into one place. Some of the titles over at God is Greater Than All are left off since many of the same lectures are given at different locations:

Matt Chandler, pastor of the Village Church in Highland Village, TX, has started the Dwell Deep blog.

Matt is a very gifted, bold, and biblical preacher whose teaching on church planting can be found at the Acts 29 Website. You can also listen to Matt’s sermons here. A few of Matt’s other sermons are online. They include:

Gravity: The Weight of Pastoring and the Knowledge of Christ
Preaching the Gospel in the Center of the Evangelical World
Vision of a Church Planter
Q & A with Matt Chandler and John Piper
Interview with Matt Chandler
Advise for Preachers
Knowing and Preaching the Authority of Scripture

I have just listened to an excellent lecture by D. A. Carson on the training of future Evangelical scholars. This just goes to show that I do, in fact, read posts by my colleagues here at Feeding on Christ. Carson points out in this lecture (an ETS address going back to the 90s) that there is a need to bring together the various theological disciplines which have been fragmented for various and sundry reasons over the past hundred plus years and there is a need to bring together the church and the academy. I thoroughly resonate with both concerns. Carson is not the only theologian/scholar to raise these concerns. My friend and former school mate Lane Keister over at Green Baggins is researching the theme of unity within the theological curriculum or encyclopedia. This is absolutely essential for the health and wellbeing of individual Christians and of the church as a whole. It is essential that we read the Bible, for instance, as a whole book inspired by a single divine author working through many human authors. And Carl Trueman has written on the unfortunate divorce that has occured between the church and the academy in his book The Wages of Spin. The unusual hybrid which we call the seminary is the place where this divorce is most keenly felt. But my concern moves beyond these two, although it is intimately tied to them both. My concern is that we disciple theological generalists as well as specialists. Both are needed in the Christian academy and in the church. Given the heavy emphasis on specialization in the academic environment the thrust of my comments will be about discipling and supporting theological generalists.

My concern that seminaries and churches raise up theological generalists is, I believe, Scriptural, theological, and personal. The concern is Scriptural in that the Bible calls us to integrity. To have integrity is to be integrated. That is, a man of integrity is a man who is not fragmented. Morally, fragmentation is understood as “double-mindedness” and Scripture frowns on double-mindess as it is an indication of instability (James 1:5-8). Yes, I believe that an over stress on specialization to the detriment of generalization is not only an intellectual and pragmatic problem, it is an ethical one. As Christians, whether laymen or officers in the church, we are called to walk the Christian walk in union with our risen Lord and with integrity and that has implications for education and the ongoing life long learning process.

A concern that we have theological generalists in the academy and the church is also wise theologically. To speak of a theological encyclopedia is to speak of the the whole circle of disciplines that goes into making a well-rounded theologian. A theologian ought to be conversant in Bible and other languages. He ought to be familiar with church and secular history. He ought to be at home in the Bible, being adept at both exegesis of particular texts and understanding and explaining how particular texts relate to their contexts (which ultimately means the whole Bible). A theological generalist will be familiar with the history of philosophy and other kinds of thought. He will also be intimately acquainted with systematic theology. And, this is important, he will be able to apply what he knows in appropriate ways in the life of the school and/or the church. This is a pretty tall order. And I do not expect this to happen overnight or even in three or four years of seminary. A good seminary education starts you on your life-path, it does not land you at your destination. And what I say here about formal theological education and application (and yes, a theological education is meant to be used and put into practice in the church-oh my!) applies in its own way to laypeople who ought to desire to learn as much as they can about different aspects of the Christian faith. If you are wondering what a theological generalist looks like I would like to suggest two examples: Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield. I could list a whole host of others. These were theological rennaisance men.

My plea for theological generalists in the church and the academy is also rather personal. It is the way I personally lean. Yes, I have my special areas of interest and research, but I also desire to learn about areas outside of my speciality. God has wired me that way and I think I have an obligation to pursue knowledge in as many different areas as possible. I am not suggesting that I personally transcend the Creator/creature distinction and gain comprehensive knowledge (although I surely felt that was what was demanded of me in my doctoral comprehensive exams!) of everything. No. I am suggesting that the church needs ministers, elders, deacons, and laity who are well-rounded. I remember many years ago talking with a professor of mine about the fact that I was interested in a little bit of everything. He told me then that I would have to choose one topic to delve deeply into. He was surely correct. And I struggle with that. But I am suggesting that just like we need general practitioners and specialists in the field of medicine, we also need them in the field of spiritual medicine (if I may put it that way). Perhaps I am drawn to apologetics just because it is a discipline that requires that the apologist be familiar with many different fields that impinge upon the claims of the Christian faith. I am a theological waterboy.

In the end my plea is not about me. It is about what is good for the people of God. And what I have said, though geared more toward those attending seminary or those who have attended or want to attend it, is also applicable to the layperson. I would remind us that Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2 that we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. This what it means to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do we need specialists in the Old or New Testament? You bet! Do we need people who are experts in systematic and biblical theology and church history? We certainly do. But we also need theological generalists or waterboys who know how to integrate the different aspects of the Christian faith in order to bring them to bear in the life of the church.

Water anyone?

Here is the link to the most recent Christ the Center interview. We had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Philip Graham Ryken about his doctoral dissertation Thomas Boston as Preacher of the Fourfold State.

In this interview Dr. Ryken explains the significance of Boston as a preacher, theologian and pastor with regard to his sermons on the fourfold state of man (i.e. man in the state of innocence, man in the state of nature [corruption], man in the state of grace, and man in the state of glory or condemnation). Among other things, we talked with Dr. Ryken about Boston’s literary dependence, his contribution to the understanding of union with Christ, his use of illustrations in preaching, and other valuable works written by Boston. We hope this interview will serve as a helpful introduction to the life and writings of Thomas Boston, preacher of the fourfold state.

Thanks to the diligent work of P.J. Tibayan most of the free D.A. Carson sermons and lectures have been gathered together in one place. Here is the first of 3 lists of all the audio P.J. has posted links to over the last two years:

The Incarnation in the Gospels contains twelve advent season sermons. Dan Doriani provides us with four sermons from Matthew, Phil Ryken with four sermons from Luke, and Rick Phillips with four sermons from the gospel of John. I found myself caught up with the gospel narratives in each sermon. These sermons get at the heart of the matter of our Lord’s birth-the birth was the beginning of our Lord’s redemptive work but by no means its end. If I may put it this way: the cradle was for the cross! In fact, this point is made quite well in the preface to the book where six orthodox beliefs are set in bold relief with the final one noting that “[t]he birth of Jesus is no end in itself, but is part of the fulfillment of God’s plan of redemption. Jesus exercised the offices of prophet, priest, and king in his role as mediator, and especially took on human flesh that he might suffer in that flesh, offering himself as a substitutionary sacrifice, to atone for the sins of his people” (xi). There is no danger of sentimental fluff covering over the truth of the Scriptural accounts in these sermons. The wonder, excitement, and glory of the incarnation are highlighted in a most wonderful way here.

And there is more. Not only do we possess these fine sermons, but the book contains four appendecies. Mark Dalbey provides a very helpful discussion of issues related to Christmas season worship in the local church and Rick Philips offers a sample Christmas eve service of lessons and carols. An especially delightful aspect of this book is that it contains recent Christmas carols by Paul Jones, James Montgomery Boice, Eric Alexander, Derek Thomas, and Phil Ryken. When I received this volume in the mail my daughter was practicing her piano and so I prevailed upon her to play these and they are quite singable. The book conludes with Dan Doriani’s meditation on Christmas customs and a Scripture index.

This is an excellent resource and will service as an attractive introduction to the Reformed Expository Commentary set. I should note that these sermons are all drawn from the forthcoming volumes on Matthew (now available here), Luke, and John. This collection of sermons reminds us of the glory that is Christmas as properly understood. Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Phil Ryken has just written a post, over at Ref21, vindicating his position on women and deaconal ministry. You can read it here.

For those interested, I did make a point to defend Phil on the Bayly blog a few months back since I was at the special Saturday meeting of the Philadelphia Presbytery which was called to consider how to proceed on the request of Liberty Church and their involvement in this matter. While Tenth has women involved in their mercy ministry they do not ordain them to the office of deacon. In keeping with BCO 9-7 (It is often expedient that the Session of a church should select and appoint godly men and women of the congregation to assist the deacons in caring for the sick, the widows, the orphans, the prisoners, and others who may be in any distress or need) the only issue for Tenth is what they should call those women. At one point Dr. Ryken stood up and recommended something to the intent that the Presbytery should petition the GA committee concerning what title should be used in reference to these women serving in a commissioned capacity.

Though I may not hold the exact view as Dr. Ryken on this particular matter, I know that he has not pushed for or supported the ordination of women to the office of deacon. I hope that people will be careful in what positions they impute to others. This is a good lesson for all of us. We are often too quick to misrepresent another man’s views.

One of the best things about having entire years of Sinclair Ferguson’s sermons online is the fact that there are many excellent Christmas messages. Below you will find all the Christmas messages Dr. Ferguson preached at First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, SC.:

A Troubling Visitor (Luke 1:5-25)
This is His Body (Luke 1:26-32)
Around the Manger:Shepherds (Luke 2:1-20)
Around the Manger: Jesus (John 1:1-18)
Around the Manger: Mary (Luke 1:26-38)
Exodus II (Matthew 2:13-23)
An Angel’s View of Christmas: What Angels Long to See (1 Peter 1:1-12)
Prepared in Ancient History (Matthew 1:1-17)
A Teenager’s Christmas (Luke 1 & 2)
An Angel’s View of Christmas: What Angels Come to Do (Matthew 1:18-25)
Announced Very unexpectedly (Matthew 1:18-25)
An Angel’s View of Christmas: What Angels Want to Say (Luke 2:8-20)
Born Into a World of Poverty (Luke 2:1-7)
The First Christmas (Luke 2:8-20)

Paul Helm has a new post out for December entitled “Incomprehensibility Made Man.” In typical Helm-like fashion it is a philosophical meditation–this time, on the Incarnation of the Son of God.