The use of Turretin in this article is very helpful for gaining an understanding of how the Bible talks about sin. I agree with Turretin’s conclusions and Dillon’s general summary. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/sins-forefathers-accountable/

This nifty infographic seeks to give a quick rundown on entry-level Reformed soteriology. While it can be disputed whether the phrases should be “Preservation of the Saints,” “Radical Depravity”, or otherwise, the infographic is a nice resource to have. https://www.wesleyhuff.com/s/Infographics-pdf-copy-dragged-3hb2.pdf UPDATE: 20200817 If you haven’t seen Tim Challies https://visualtheology.church then head on over if you want some awesome infographics! I’ve linked a few below. These awesome posters attempt to put to pictures complex theological topics as well as wonderful reminders of who God is and what he has called us to do.

A fair summons to those in the theological disciplines to… wait for it… be more well-read! As if we didn’t have enough to read already! But I think the criticism is fair and I would wish to not be irresponsible. sigh. Time to add more books to the list. https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2020/07/61444/ In this 1999 article from the CATO Institute, Milton Frieman argues that businessmen tend to make poor decisions regarding their interactions with the government.

A good article on homeschooling. I recommend it! https://quillette.com/2020/05/23/the-fight-over-alternative-education/

While I disagree with the author’s interpretation/agreement with the book he is reviewing (and comparing to The Lord of the Rings) of who the Nephilim are and whether the sons of God are their fathers or not, and whether the sons of God are angels or not (I believe the sons of God are the sons of Seth, and thus they are marrying the daughters of Cain, and the Nephilim are not their offspring.

I have had interest in pursuing fasting as a spiritual discipline ever since reading Richard J Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth , 3rd ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988). and having met a friend of mine in the Coptic Orthodox (Oriental Orthodox) tradition. It isn’t a topic that comes up much in my theological circles; fasting is largely associated with the feast days of Anglicanism and the RCC and EO.

Amen! This is a great interview to read. Just as the Romanticism movement birthed out of a response to Modernism, we need to be cautious today about exalting artists above others, even in the Church. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/andrew-peterson-artists-adorning-dark-book/ UPDATE: 2020-01-25 RTS invited three speakers to talk about the arts and faith. The speakers are focused on poetry. https://rts.edu/resources/2019-reforum-theology-the-arts-1/ And here’s part 2! https://rts.edu/resources/2019-reforum-theology-the-arts-2/

In addition to my previous posts on the Ugaritic language, I have also created an Open Font Licensed Ugaritic Font, aptly called “Redemption Studio Ugaritic”. The other various fonts I saw were not free fonts, save for one. This font, under the Open Font License, can be used for any purpose as long as the creator of the font is given credit. You can read the license here: http://scripts.sil.org/OFL. I have provided a TTF, OTF, and WOFF file below.

This is one of the few helpful reads I have found on the internet regarding immigration. The other was Kevin DeYoung on TGC. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/immigration-policy-must-be-based-on-more-than-an-appeal-to-compassion/ There is a lot to discuss here, and as DeYoung points out, we cannot use simple platitudes for making big decisions. Wisdom demands more from us. https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/09/56067/

An absolutely fascinating post! This gives a philosophical framework explaining why we do not need to fear the rise of machines. As some in our political world and scientific world warn of either the domination and conquering of machines a la Terminator or the replacement of humans and the devaluing of humans, something like the rise of AI can actually force us to have to think about what makes humans unique and special.

Seven articles from five different sites each point towards a particular recurrent theme in today’s environmental movement. The first, from Quillette, highlights the history of today’s climate extremism. Another brings in asceticism. What is so fascinating about this is how environmentalism is easily its own religion now which means that religious and moral arguments now come into play in the discussions. While battles still loom over data and research regarding our climate, conservative political voices are highlighting the spiritual aspects of the movement.

With so many cases having arisen out of the disastrous and faulty ruling of 2015, it is good to see religious liberty being defended on various fronts. While we as Christians don’t put our hope in political power or political victories, for our sole hope is in Jesus Christ, the matters and affairs of the state are important. The Reformers, such as Calvin and Luther, certainly understood this. The church is facing difficult things ahead in the Western world; the trials currently underway are only the beginning.

A helpful article for those of us who find ourselves working with those in our churches who are offended at the inclusive exclusivity of Christianity. We must do a good job of teaching our children, students, and church members. They must understand why we believe what we believe and we must help them to see the issues with holding onto ideas like “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion” and “I’m spiritual but not religious”.

A good argument against pornography’s existence and use. There is so much more that could be said on the horrendous and heinous qualities of this sin, those who perpetuate this sin, and the nefarious industries which have arisen to satisfy the depraved desires of those lost in the sea of its destruction. What we do alone does not affect just us; all our actions are accountable before God and affects our community around us and around the world.

The idea of God accepting us “just as we are” holds only a half-truth in it. First, accepting is a bad term to be used, even if it is readily accessible. What is communicated by accepting is not what is communicated on the cross. Jesus’s death and resurrection was not an acceptance of sin, but a continuing declaration of war that dealt a decisive victory against sin. Second, we are not accepted for who we are, but we are accepted based upon no prior criteria as God chose us before the foundation of the world, before we existed, before we had done any works or had willed anything; God chose according to his own mercy and grace and love, not according to anything within us; God does not accept us.

Interesting thoughts about how to process the cultural shifts made by the Internet. Not unlike the argument I made in my poem, “The Search Engine Lament”, the book under review by Greg Bailey discusses how having a vast swath of information makes us process the information we have less. The Search Engine Lament Even companies are marketing in this way, arguing against information overload. (There was another company which marketed against it based on the idea that our brains would freeze because of how much information, but I can only seem to find Bing’s.

A challenging idea! Our children’s books certainly need to be able to cover more ground than silly stories or political activism, and Jackie Gibson’s suggestion and her husband’s own publication may be one way forward! Something like this could accompany a catechism very well. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/children-death/ UPDATE: 20200206 Simple but great advice for nourishing and admonishing our children in the way they should go! https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/point-kids-gospel-great-books/ UPDATE: 20200208 An interesting take on how we can use things like Frozen 2 to teach our children and understand our children.

A great discussion to begin the conversation about how can we work as Protestants to reclaim good Christian art. There is a lot of things briefly touched upon here which I have tried to highlight in the post’s tags, but utilitarianism is definitely a major component. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/tgc-podcast/christian-art-often-bad/ UPDATE: 20191016 It is good to see Christian arts perform well at the box office and in other arenas, but I still believe Christian art, especially evangelical art, has a long way to go and improve.

I was converted in part out of a political ideology and as part of that move, I took a two-year political hiatus in which I neither read nor watched the news. (This all followed a destructive act of anger on my part and God’s gracious humbling.) Following my return from political abstention, I slowly began to digest the news, wary of becoming enraged, concerned that I did not know what my fellow man was experiencing around me.

My introduction to biblical counseling came in the fall of 2017. I wish it had come sooner. The needs of the suffering are mountainous and deep valleys. Since then I have been learning much and growing in wisdom, and David Powlison’s writing and teaching has been moving, helpful, enlightening, and has been God-glorifying and worship-igniting. While I never met him, the Lord used him mightily for his kingdom, and I have no doubt will continue to use his writing and teaching and mentoring for years to come.

Desiring God has said it well. In the age of social media, our ability to argue, debate, critically think, analyze, synthesize, and the like have been degraded, corroded, and starved. Unlike the humanistic renaissance, if Wikipedia doesn’t include something (and hasn’t edited it out of existence), people are bound not to know the history of their ideas, culture, faith, or the like. Many modern peoples are happy eclectics, believing in disparate doctrines and ignoring the gulfs between them.

Corruption breeds in the dark; expose the darkness to the light. The prosperity gospel is a uniquely Western abomination that spawned within Christendom, spreading its virulent tentacles abroad, which must be squashed through the proclamation of the truth. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/pray-negative-prosperity-gospel-stories/

This covers an important trend I have seen since my days in Campus Crusade. Have you heard the catchphrase of the need for “vulnerability” or the need to be “vulnerable”? it is in vogue among the broadly evangelical to speak and even boast of one’s brokenness and the healing that is found in Jesus’s loving and personal relationship forming arms, but it is so often stripped of the responsibility and guilt.

I mentioned I was studying Ugaritic in the following post. Basics of Ancient Ugaritic I got tired of having to make reference to all the various pages with charts of information. I compiled those charts into the following documents for convenience and share them here. Ugaritic Cheat Sheet PDF Ugaritic Cheat Sheet ODS Ugaritic Cheat Sheet XLSX

Some great thoughts about sin and grace from Desiring God. Notably it starts off by talking about the importance of the words we use in our worship music and how one simple change has drastic effects upon the theology of the song! https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/does-grace-still-amaze-you UPDATE: 20200125 This site can help you worship through the psalter! Use it! http://www.thepsalmssung.org/ UPDATE: 20200130 Redemption Studio seeks to build up the Christian community through the arts, but a danger is that we would worship the things we create rather than the Creator.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

See also Postermodernism. Social justice is a light and fluffy term; it is meant to carry so much weight and yet defining it is like holding onto water: it changes anytime you try to put a definite meaning to it. Our goal is witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the good which comes from the light of God shining into the dark places of the world. I have too often heard the very theologically incorrect statement that people will be converted by our acts of service and kindness.

Robert Alter’s name has been mentioned more than once in biblical theology classes of mine at RTS. He presents a way to understand well Old Testament literature. Though he is not a Christian, his work I have been told can be used to understand Hebrew literature in ways we are unaware of as Western 21st century Christians. I would suspect that his observations are great but that his conclusions and/or presuppositions contain issues.

While interesting to see a non-theology professor gain a spotlight in the news, it is a shame that he belittles Augustine’s, Gottschalk’s, Ratramnus’s, Florus’s, the early Anselm’s, Aquinas’s, and Calvin’s—and of course many others—thought by thinking that God’s sovereignty and grace must equate to fatalism rather than compatibilism. There is a rich history which he throws away, leaning more into Enlightenment thinking that Scriptural reasoning. We must be well-versed not only in our own views, but in those of others, and we must be able to explain them well without turning to strawman arguments.

Some helpful thoughts! Let us not seek a legalistic community where we do not engage with the world, but let us seek understanding so that we be both compassionate and zealous for the truth. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series The following is the first post of a series I’m calling, “What I Read in Seminary”. I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read. This series seeks to remedy this by providing brief reviews of the books I read.

About the Series The following is the first post of a series I’m calling, “What I Read in Seminary”. I have had to read pages upon pages of theological material; so much that it feels like I forget a fair amount of what I read. While I do maintain a general synopsis of a book, I want to better internalize and remember what I am chewing and digesting as I read.

This blog post by Dr. Michael J. Kruger hits on issues of theology, politics, culture, and even the arts (or at least a performer of art). A good and humorous read explaining the importance of the need for a standard of truth over and against subjective claims! As Dr. Kruger mentions, you can find the consistent teaching of the Church laid out in one convenient work of history here. This book sits on my shelf waiting for a good read.