Upon arriving at Southeastern Seminary in 1996, I had little or no motivation to study church history and historical theology. I wanted to learn “the bottom line” on the major biblical and theological issues, and then get on with the business of sharing the gospel and defending the faith. My assumption was that I could learn the “bottom line” quickly, and ought do so through my personal Bible study and some books written by late … [Read More]
On Disciplined Reading (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]
Gospel, Church, and City (4): The Gospel Produces Missional Planters & Churches
In the fourth session of the Greenhouse Church Planter’s CoOp, we talked about building missional churches in the 21st century post-Christendom contexts. Again, we used some passages from Keller’s Manual as starting points for our discussion.
At the beginning of the session, we talked about how we minister in the context of a dying Christendom. Christendom was marked by “cultural Christianity” in which American social institutions often stigmatized non-Christian belief and behavior. Christendom provided some advantages … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (6): Selected Passages by Augustine, Reading Recommendations, and Concluding Thoughts
Now, this installment is well worth your time reading. Unlike the previous installments of this blog series in which I bloviated about Augustine, this installment provides the real payoff: some bona fide passages from Augustine’s sermons and commentaries. Although I have read several of his books (City of God, The Confessions, and On Christian Doctrine), I have not read his sermons, commentaries and letters. Therefore in this post I rely upon Jules Brady’s collection in … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (5): What Can We Learn from Augustine as a Pastor-Theologian?
Pastor Augustine was not a perfect man, but he embodied certain virtues, disciplines, and convictions that we would do well to emulate. Sixteen hundred years after he lived and wrote he continues to teach.
Summary of Augustine’s Life. Augustine was born in Hippo (modern-day Algeria) in AD 354 to a Christian mother and a pagan father. At age 18 he discovered Cicero’s writings and started his quest as a philosopher. At first, he was drawn to … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (4): What Were Augustine’s Starting Points and How are They Relevant for Today?
Augustine teaches us to use Christian doctrine as a lever to unseat false prophets such as Peter Singer, Richard Dawkins, or Christopher Hitchens.
Augustine defended Christianity from one basic starting point: the biblical narrative is true and it alone explains the world within (existential viability) and the world without (empirical adequacy). He knew that his interlocutors did not agree. Augustine understood that, as Romans 1 puts it so damningly, the Roman pagans were busy suppressing the … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (3): What Can We Learn from Augustine’s Apologetic Strategy?
Augustine teaches 21st century evangelicals how to defend the faith in their respective contexts. Among the many lessons we may learn from him, one is central: We as Christians must “out-narrate the narrators.” In the face of the narratives emerging from naturalist, pantheist, and Muslim worldviews, we must communicate the biblical narrative in such a way as to show that it alone makes sense of the world.
Like Augustine, we must expose the flaws in competing … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (2): What is Augustine’s Argument in The City of God?
Augustine used theology, philosophy, and history to hoist the cultured despisers of Christianity by their own petard.
These cultured despisers were Roman. On August 24, 410, Alaric and the Goths had sacked Rome. For the Romans this event was devastating and needed interpretation. What had weakened Rome and brought her to her knees? Why was she now being dominated after centuries of being the dominator?
Volusianus and other pagan intellectuals speculated that Christianity caused the downfall of … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (1): Why Should We Read Old Books?
I have never been trampled by a herd of evangelicals on their way to the Augustine section of the local bookstore. Perhaps one reason for this is chronological snobbery, our tendency to believe that the new books are better than the old ones. Another reason might be that the local bookstores don’t even have an Augustine section (True, Barnes & Noble and Borders carry books by Augustine, but Christian bookstores rarely do. The Christian stores … [Read More]
Guest Blog: On Disciplined Writing (2): Theology and Writing 101
By: John Burkett
Editor’s Note: John Burkett is Instructor of Rhetoric and Composition and Director of the Writing Center at SEBTS. He is a nice fellow with a wickedly keen mind and pen. We at BtT invited him to write a follow-up to Bruce Ashford’s series, “On Disciplined Reading.” This is the second installment of three.
Theology and Writing Theory 101.
Contrary to popular opinion, writing is not a “subject” or a “course,” nor merely “expression,” but it is an art of … [Read More]
