Thursday, March 29, 2007

Reformation 21

A new edition of Reformation 21 is now online. Here are some links and summaries:

Carl Trueman asks Where (or How) Is Authenticity to Be Found?
The Bible writers clearly appreciated the need for complex literary forms to give full expression to complex theological ideas and to the complexity of life in covenant with God in a fallen world. Theological curricula, at home, at seminary, and at church, should surely take the forms of the Bible’s teaching with similar seriousness to that with which they take the basic content (to the extent that it is even possible to separate them). Only then can we avoid the reduction of biblical wisdom to bumper sticker slogans; only then will our theology find authentic expression.
Miles Van Pelt reviews Graeme Goldsworthy's Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics
This reviewer enthusiastically recommends Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics for both personal and classroom use. Note, however, that it is not a book best handled with casual reading. Rather, it is the type of book that must be approached with a certain level of hermeneutical angst and a willingness to perceive one’s own hermeneutical shortcomings. It is also the type of book that should be read more than once, perhaps annually for a decade or so. I conclude by expressing my sincere thanks and gratitude to the author for all of his hard work for our benefit.
Mark Johnston reviews the four views book on The Nature of the Atonement:
A good debate is not merely about making a case; it’s about marshalling the evidence and winning the argument. If that is so, then Thomas Schreiner wins hands down in this one.
Paul Helm reviews Roger Olson's book on Arminian Theology:
The book is a strange mixture; it contains a good deal of interesting information about the history of Arminianism and of Arminian theologians. But it is somewhat unbalanced in its theological judgements and, for an academic treatment, too gossipy in tone. Yet it has this virtue: it makes clear that no amount of fudge can seal the gap between Arminianism and Augustinianism. (66) Some years ago Alan P. F. Sell wrote a book on the Calvinist-Arminian controversy, The Great Debate (Walter, 1982). So it is still.
Phil Ryken meditates on the return of King Tut--to Philadelphia.

Derek Thomas thinks through adiaphora and what we wear.

Michael Travers asks why there is poetry in the Bible.