Sleep is a cornerstone for health and life. Yet today in the West, we have done the unthinkable. We have chosen to reduce the number of hours that we sleep in a given day. And as Matthew Walker describes in his book Why We Sleep, lack of sleep leads to disastrous results because it limits the healing and learning function of sleep, leaving us partially recovered and unable to think and to learn to our full potential. [Read more…] about Review of Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Review of Paul: A Biography by N.T. Wright
Wright, N.T. Paul: A Biography. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2018.
One of the most well-known Pauline scholars, N. T. Wright, has written a biography on the apostle Paul. While Wright intends to do history, he also takes some license to fill in the historical holes that frustratingly leave us with unanswered questions some 2,000 years after the famous apostle’s life. [Read more…] about Review of Paul: A Biography by N.T. Wright
What is the image of God? Answer: Christ.
What is the image of God?
Irenaeus and Athanasius would compare Scripture with Scripture and say: Christ. Paul does say that “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” and speaks “of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4). So the image of God is Christ.
[Read more…] about What is the image of God? Answer: Christ.
Language works at (at least) four levels: grammar, syntax, speech-acts, and rhetoric.
Language is an objective reality that people have described through abstracting general use. One of the earliest theorists of language Dionysius Thrax (2nd ce. BC) sketched out a theory of grammar and syntax on the basis of assumed and stated rules of language. Like Isaac Newton’s discovery of the law of gravity became an assumed and unquestioned reality, so also laws of language have come to be understood—at least when it comes to grammar and syntax. Most will also affirm the reality of rhetoric—that the shape and form of speech matters for communication and that patterns of speech exists across cultures and can be discerned.
Yet fewer people are aware of speech-acts since the language to describe speech-acts is relatively new. [Read more…] about Language works at (at least) four levels: grammar, syntax, speech-acts, and rhetoric.
Review of Kingdom through Covenant (2nd Ed) by Gentry and Wellum
Gentry, Peter J., and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant. Crossway, 2018.
When Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum released the first edition of their Kingdom through Covenant in 2012, they made a significant contribution to the evangelical theological scene. Their argument, in short, is that the biblical covenants form the backbone to the storyline of Scripture. Hence, Christians ought to read the Bible according to the storyline that progresses along time through the covenant.
What they call progressive covenantalism does not quite fit within traditional covenantal or dispensational theology. So it forms a third system that stands between (or apart from) dispensationalism and covenantalism. [Read more…] about Review of Kingdom through Covenant (2nd Ed) by Gentry and Wellum
Where the Differences Lie between Bruxy Cavey and (Reformed) Evangelicals
Recently, TGC Canada hosted an interview between Paul Carter and Bruxy Cavey. The former sought to understand Cavey given his influence in Ontario and beyond. One of the benefits of this conversation was to clarify what Cavey teaches and, secondarily, to help evangelicals understand why they believe what they do.
The reason why conversations like this one work is because of the nature of truth. God is true, his creation exhibits truth, and truth is therefore beautiful and attractive. Hence, whatever the ultimate result of the interview between Carter and Cavey is, we can be confident that the truth of God always finds its home in the hearts of his people.
Since this is so, consider the following three areas in which Cavey and evangelical Christians differ to understand the disagreements better so that we can search out the Scriptures for ourselves to find the truth. [Read more…] about Where the Differences Lie between Bruxy Cavey and (Reformed) Evangelicals