Lord willing, over the next few days I will be blogging through the GCR Declaration in anticipation of next week’s SBC Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. This is the second article in what I hope will be a series. As you read, please remember that while Between the Time is a group blog that includes a number of Southeastern Seminary professors, these articles (and every article I write) represent my own personal opinions. I speak … [Read More]
On Disciplined Reading (Pt. 3): How Should I Read? Tips on Getting the Most from Your Reading
If you would like to become a disciplined reader, you probably need to make a plan. Make a list of books that you would like to read in each of your various categories of interest. If you have difficulty finding the right books to read in each category, spend some time researching. Ask an expert to give you a short list of favorites. Visit your library. Cruise the local Barnes & Noble. Surf the net. In … [Read More]
On The GCR Declaration, Part 1
Lord willing, over the next few days I will be blogging through the GCR Declaration in anticipation of next week’s SBC Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. This is the first article in what I hope will be a series. As you read, please remember that while Between the Time is a group blog that includes a number of Southeastern Seminary professors, these articles (and every article I write) represent my own personal opinions. I speak … [Read More]
Movements and Margins
We who call ourselves Evangelical Christians owe a great debt to Martin Luther. Luther, a Catholic monk who learned that the just shall live by faith rather than by religious behavior, led a Reformation. His impact demonstrates how movements often happen. Rarely if ever do spiritually renewing movements come from the center of a tradition; rather, most of the time movements start at the margins and bring life to the center. In Luther’s case … [Read More]
The Differences Between “Religion” and the Gospel
Because of the craziness involved with the end of the spring semester followed immediately by a three-week summer class, over the past month or so I have not been as active in my blogging. I hope to start blogging in earnest against next week, when I will share my personal thoughts about the GCR Declaration and my hope that a Great Commission Resurgence will become the unifying vision for Southern Baptist churches and the numerous denominational parachurch ministries those churches support.
For the weekend, I … [Read More]
On Disciplined Reading (Pt. 2): What should I read? Choosing from a Vast Array of Options
Determining what to read is more than a little important. Of the many books in any given library or bookstore, most can be left unread without any fear of intellectual or moral deprivation. Even (and sometimes especially) the bestsellers are not necessarily worth reading. So what should a seminary student read? Without being able to answer this question in specific, because each person’s callings, abilities, and tastes are unique, I will attempt to give some … [Read More]
On Disciplined Reading
“Of making many books there is no end.” (Ecc 12:12)
There are three types of people in our country. There are, first of all, those who do not read. An AP-Ipsos poll recently revealed that 25% of Americans do not read books, while other polls have put the number higher, at around 50%. It is not that these Americans cannot read or that they do not accumulate knowledge. (No country’s citizens-and I mean none-bring more depth … [Read More]
A Vision for Missionary Theologians
Trevin Wax, who blogs at Kingdom People, recently conducted an interview with Danny Akin on the need for missionary theologians in the SBC. Trevin has now posted the first part of that interview.
Baptist Identification and Article IX
As many BtT readers know, no section of the GCR Declaration has caused more angst than Article IX: A Commitment to a More Effective Convention Structure. While Morris Chapman has recently come out against the current movement because of Article IX (though one could argue he voted for it before he voted against it) and other SBC leaders have signed the Declaration with caveats (not necessarily related to Article IX), by far the most vocal critics of … [Read More]
Helpful Historical Commentary Series
I like scholarly commentaries, I really do. Anytime I preach or teach through a particular biblical book, I make a point of reading through two or three such commentaries, knowing that if they are worth their salt they will interact with other scholars and tell me what I need to know. But as I prepare a sermon or lesson I try to read at least as many “homiletical” or “devotional” commentaries and “pre-critical” commentaries as … [Read More]