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Wyatt Graham

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How Old Is the World?

February 10, 2017 by wagraham 3 Comments

In the mid to late twentieth century, Christians sought to establish the young earth creationist (YEC) view against what they perceived as an unbiblical intrusion of modern science. Evangelical Christians galvanized many around YEC, but in recent times YEC’s influence has begun to wane: “For some time now,” Tim Challies wrote, “the weight of conviction within the Evangelical world has swung toward views that demand an old earth.”

The Age of the Earth in Academics

The doctrine of YEC has today become a third-tier doctrine while 50 years it might been a second or maybe even a first-tier doctrine for certain groups. Evidence of this is the recent debate at Trinity International University. The title of the event was Genesis and the Age of the Earth and Drs. Albert Mohler (YEC) and John Collins (Old Age Creationist / OEC) discussed the issue.

Mohler opened his talk by clarifying how the age of the earth is not a central issue to the faith (watch the talk here). He objected to the term “debate” in that setting because he felt the issue did not merit winning an argument at all costs. Mohler was simply discussing an important issue among friends. There seems to be widespread agreement that the age of the earth is tertiary or non-central point of doctrine among Christians. The impulse to press the doctrine of YEC in the 1950s-1980s has become gentle hum, with Answers in Genesis being an exception to the rule.

[Read more…] about How Old Is the World?

Filed Under: Hermeneutics, Theology Tagged With: Old Earth Creationism, Theistic Evolution, Young Earth Creationism

Review: Paul and Gender by Cynthia Westfall

February 9, 2017 by wagraham 1 Comment

Westfall, Cynthia. Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle’s Vision for Men and Women in Christ. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016. Pp. xix +347. ISBN 9780801097942. $32.99 USD [Softcover]. Source for Book Cover.

Cynthia Westfall’s work Paul and Gender will likely become the standard evangelical work on Paul’s understanding of gender in the Bible. Westfall thoroughly exegetes the key biblical texts and avoids writing a book merely on women’s issues or on controversial biblical passages on women in the church.

Pastors and biblical students should read Paul and Gender to understand the contemporary discussion on the topic. Complementarian readers should especially invest time in reading Westfall because she presents a well-argued and biblical rationale for an egalitarian reading of Paul. Westfall’s monograph is not without its negatives, and Westfall’s arguments for an egalitarian Paul run into numerous problems. [Read more…] about Review: Paul and Gender by Cynthia Westfall

Filed Under: Books, Hermeneutics, Theology Tagged With: Apostle, Complementariansim, egalitarianism, Paul

The Twofold Intent of Messianic Psalms

February 7, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

RonAlmog. Source. CC BY 2.0
RonAlmog. Source. CC BY 2.0

Roland De Vaux, the former director of  École Biblique, speaks about the double-intent of messianic psalms.  De Vaux, a thorough-going historical researcher, argues that the messianic psalms speak of every king in the Davidic line and ultimately to the ideal king who was to come:

“It has been maintained that Ps 2, 72, and 110 were at first royal psalms, and were modified after the Exile in a Messianic sense; but it is very hard to say what the revisions were. It is more reasonable to suppose that these psalms, like Nathan’s prophecy and other texts referring to royal Messianism, had a twofold meaning from the moment of their composition: every king of the Davidic line is a figure and a shadow of the ideal king of the future. In fact, none of these kings attained this ideal, but at the moment of enthronement, at each renewal of the Davidic covenant, the same hope was expressed in the belief that one day it would be fulfilled. All these texts, then, are Messianic, for they contain a prophecy and a hope of salvation, which an individual chosen by God will bring to fulfilment” (De Vaux, 1961: 110)

[Read more…] about The Twofold Intent of Messianic Psalms

Filed Under: Hermeneutics Tagged With: Messiah, Psalms

Book Notice: Michael Vlach’s Biblical Theology of the Kingdom

February 6, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Source

Michael Vlach is a professor of theology at the Master’s Seminary, and he is publishing a 640 work on the theme of the kingdom in the Bible. His argument is “that the kingdom of God is the theme of Scripture and thus a proper understanding of the kingdom means that one is properly grasping the Bible’s storyline.”

Uniquely, Vlach rights from a dispensational perspective, making this the only recent dispensational work of Biblical Theology that I know of. Read his blog announcement for more information, and go to the publisher’s website to read a 38 page preview of the work.

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Biblical Theology, Dispensational, Kingdom

N.T. Wright Talks to Eric Metaxas about the Day the Revolution Began

February 4, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Eric Metaxas recently invited N.T. Wright on his show to talk about Wright’s new book The Day the Revolution Began. I recently reviewed Wright’s work and couple of people had minor pushback against my critiques of Wright. I noted that N. T. Wright created either-ors that should have been both-ands as well as displacing the Protestant doctrine of penal substitution. On the positive side, I believe his work shows the grandness of the cross and the vocation that God has called us to.

Wright and Metaxas talk about the grandness of the cross, and I think it’s helpful to hear Wright’s perspective from his mouth.

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Atonement, N. T. Wright

Jory Micah: If Matt Chandler Had a Degree, Sopposedly He’d Be an Egalitarian

February 3, 2017 by wagraham 3 Comments

William Murphy. Source.
William Murphy. Source. CC BY-SA 2.0

Recently Jory Micah, a relatively well-known advocate of women pastors, argued that Matt Chandler teaches the most unjust evangelical doctrine (that women cannot be pastors) and that this is due to his lack of seminary education. She continued to criticize Chandler on Twitter and explain her position:

Wake up folks.@MattChandler74 is planting churches through @Acts29 all over the world & spreading complementarian injustice rapidly.

— Jory Micah (@jorymicah) February 2, 2017

In Micah’s view, male pastors without seminary education like Chandler push complementarian teachings because they are insecure, thus perpetuating the injustice of sending women to seminary without the possibility of receiving a pastoral position.

And this scenario in which a woman goes to seminary without gaining a pastoral position is what makes complementarianism the most unjust doctrine of evangelicalism. Seminaries admit female students with the promise of a pastoral career, which does not materialize and female students are left with 80 grand in debt (see also: here):

Women are graduating from complementarian seminaries with 80 grand debt & can’t get pastoral jobs, but men can get jobs with no seminary.

— Jory Micah (@jorymicah) February 2, 2017

I find Micah’s critique of Chandler and of evangelicalism’s supposedly most unjust doctrine wanting. In fact, I find her critique of Chandler to be unfounded, assuming that an educated person could only hold to the egalitarian position (women can be pastors). I also find her critique of evangelicalism to be parochial, something that can only proffered in America which is supposedly the centre of the evangelical faith. [Read more…] about Jory Micah: If Matt Chandler Had a Degree, Sopposedly He’d Be an Egalitarian

Filed Under: Culture, Theology Tagged With: Complementariansim, egalitarianism, Jory Micah, Matt Chandler

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Wyatt is the Executive Director of The Gospel Coalition Canada. He enjoys his family and writing. You'll generally find him hiding away somewhere with his nose in a book.

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