In early February, Nancy and I will be headed over to the UK to visit the Merkles, and while we are there, Credenda will be sponsoring a short mini-conference. The notice for that conference is below. We would like to cordially invite any of our friends in the UK who would like to join us …
Calvinism Under Jove
Reformation Calvinism was born under Jove. It flourishes under Jove, and is spiritually healthy there. But for the last several centuries (at least) it has come under the baneful influence of Saturn. For those who dismiss my “pagan tomfoolery” — planetary influences and theology indeed — with a sneer and say that they want a …
300 Cloth Napkins
Nancy and I had a wonderful week. We are currently ensconced in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, on our way back to the snow. The first part of the week we were at the pastors’ conference in Monroe, Louisiana, which was the usual good and edifying time. The topic was “Liturgy and Life,” and I commend …
The Complete Life Lived, Graven Images and All
Okay then. I have finished Piper’s book, and I still like it. It is well worth reading, and should be taken seriously. He emphasizes a number of things that I believe that Wright should incorporate into his broader insights, without giving up those broader insights. There are any number of places where the sweep of …
Whatever We Call It
The next to last chapter of Piper’s book (not counting appendices) returns to the question of imputed righteousness. “Wright regards the imputation of God’s righteousness as something that can be imputed to us or counted as ours as at best a category mistake” (p. 163). And of course, we need to return to a distinction …
Speaking of Hatchet Jobs
A correspondent informs me that somewhere out there on the web, one of our local critics is chastising us for a bunch of stuff. All to be expected, and part of the cost of doing business. This is not worthy of comment, but one point Nick Gier made in this criticism was too good to …
Speaking of Second Temple Judaism . . .
There are a couple of things to be drawn out of chapter ten, in which Piper argues (and in my view, demonstrates) that there is a single self-righteous root for both “self-help moralism” and prideful “ethnic badges.” That is the first point. But the second, and the one where I want to spend some attention, …
If That’s Grace, Then We Don’t Want Any
In the ninth chapter of Piper’s book, he starts to get into the issues that make Wright’s project really vulnerable — if we take Wright’s offerings in the “take it or leave it” way he offers them. For my part, I intend to continue to learn from Wright, but that can’t be done on Wright’s …
Ministerial Suffering Unto Glory
Posting this week will continue, but may be spotty and erratic here and there. I am down in Monroe for their annual pastor’s conference. The lead off talks tonight were by Peter Leithart and Jeff Meyers, both of them very good. Jeff made one point that was worth the entire trip — what does Paul …
Cattiness at the Christian School
Once there were two headmasters of two Christian schools who were good friends. They lived in different cities, and didn’t see one another very often, but they did make a point of catching up a couple times a year. One time they got together for lunch when their schools were competing in a regional spelling …