My Home Library

 

N.T. Wright on Dispensationalism and Israel

 When I discovered N.T. Wright in seminary, I scoured the (excellent) Birdwell Library for books of his.  I found a short one challenging the idea of "the Rapture" (common among American Evangelicals who hold to a view called Dispensationalism).  I didn't know much then about the differences between Dispensationalism (held by many evangelicals since the late 1800s) and Covenant Theology (held by most of the Protestant Reformers, with roots in the Early Church Fathers).  I don't think Bishop Wright uses the term "covenant theology" in this video, but I believe that is closer to his own view.

N.T. Wright and Robert Barron Conversation

Two of my favorite bishops and theologians of the holy catholic Church are N.T. Wright, who was the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England before he retired, and Robert Barron, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Winona-Rochester in the USA.  Here is a wide-ranging conversation between the two:

 

Pageau and Fr. Josiah on the Importance of Marriage

 Eastern Orthodox thinkers Mr. Jonathan Pageau and Fr. Josiah Trenham discuss the importance of marriage as the foundation of society in this video.  For many Americans (and even many Christians) what they say will be very counter-cultural and worth wrestling with.

Jordan Peterson and John Lennox on God

 The Christian mathematician and apologist John Lennox talks with the not-quite-all-the-way-Christian-yet public intellectual, Jordan Peterson about the existence of God and the "Word-structured" reality we live in.  Fascinating stuff.

Gavin Ortlund on the Wesleyan/Methodist Revival

Gavin Ortlund is, without a doubt, my favorite Reformed Baptist clergyman YouTuber.  I really appreciate his charitable approach, intellectual rigor, and defenses both of Christian belief in general, and classical Protestantism as well.

I'm looking forward to the day when he sees the light on bishops and infant baptism.  

Here is a video that Ortlund did celebrating the early Methodist revival movement within the Anglican Church led by John and Charles Wesley.  It's a good video, especially in looking at the conditions in England before this 'awakening' and some of the lessons we might apply today.  

Since today is "Aldersgate day" - May 24th, when John Wesley had his "heart-warming" experience of assurance from the Holy Spirit that really sparked the revival - I commend it to you.  Today is a good day to remember just how much influence a Spirit-filled renewal can have on the whole of a society - and today is a good day to pray for another one.  

Pastoral reflections on the Coronation of King Charles

 It is about a year and a half now since the Coronation of King Charles III.  I have been wanting to do a video or commentary on the service, because it is actually a very rich example of Christian political theory "in action."  I haven't gotten to that just yet, but here is another commentary I ran across a while back, that some may find interesting: 

Do you have assurance of your salvation

 The question of "how can I be assured that I am saved, that I am receiving and standing in God's grace?" was one of the burning questions in the heart of John Wesley at the time of his heart-warming "Aldersgate experience," and it is an important question for anyone who takes seriously the claims of Christ and the Bible. 

 

Why should a church have bishops?

 I believe in bishops.  I've had both really good and really bad experiences of Episcopal oversight, but experience is not what drives my belief system: the Bible interpreted through the historic church is.  That is why I believe in bishops.  

I know that this is an active topic of discussion among Methodists - and the Global Methodist Church in particular will decide later this year about whether to accept bishops at all and, if so, what sort of bishop it will be.

In this video I explain some of the reasons (there are others) why I think bishops are essential for the flourishing and especially for the unity of the whole church, and the congregations within it. 

Identity and Feelings

 Where does identity come from?  Does how we feel determine who we are?

These are important questions that have a bearing on much of the new gender ideology/LGBTQIANP+ activism that has challenged traditional norms and assumptions and which Mr. Brian Holdsworth takes up in this video.  

How Materialism limits our thinking (about demons)

 Here is (another) great conversation with Eastern Orthodox Christian artist Jonathan Pageau.  A few minutes into this video he gives a very intriguing description of - or a way of thinking of - demons or dark spirits.  Really fascinating stuff that I am still chewing on.  

Holdsworth: It's not about Relationship, It's about Religion

 Here is a provocative video from Roman Catholic lay apologist Brian Holdsworth.  While I don't usually see things 100% the same way he does, he makes some excellent points in a compelling way here. 
I have a video on YouTube called "Consumeristic Christianity" that offers my "take" on these ideas.  Here is a glimpse: it is, as he says, not simply about "relationship," but rather "right relationship;" and in the Bible that always means "covenant relationship."

Lutheran and Reformed differences on Assurance

 This one is "into the weeds" a bit: Dr. Jordan Cooper has a great video on the differences between the Lutheran and Reformed/Calvinist understandings of Assurance.  Assurance was a huge issue - both theologically and practically/spiritually - for John Wesley.  He ultimately grounds assurance both in the reliability of the promises of God and especially the inner experience of the Holy Spirit "witnessing with our own spirit that we are children of God" (as in Romans 8).

Tucker Carlson on Physical Books

I'm not a regular Tucker watcher by any means, but I was intrigued by the title of this one when I saw it on YouTube.  I've become more and more an advocate for keeping physical books, because more and more unseen web-editors are able to "tweak" the information we have access to online - or just remove it.  Many of us have seen "Wikipedia wars" as articles are edited and re-edited by contributors with opposite interpretations of a given event.  Of course, we all remember the confusion, contradictory messages, and moves toward censorship in 2020.  Many of us were left wondering, "Which voices can I even trust?"

I've been wondering for a while if physical reference books like dictionaries and even physical encyclopedias are going to suddenly become more appreciated, and perhaps even make a little comeback in terms of sales.  

So I was curious about what Tucker would say in this clip.  His comment about "only work with things you can smell - pets, people, physical books" in an increasingly digitized world reminds me a bit of Gandalf the Wizard's quip: "When in doubt, always follow your nose."

If nothing else, this line of reasoning gives us a justification for the purchase of yet another book. 

Gavin Ortlund on "That Hideous Strength"

Baptist pastor & scholar, Rev. Gavin Ortlund, produces great and edifying videos - many defending the historic continuity and catholicity of classical Protestantism over against charges that Protestant theology is something totally novel that emerged only in the 16th Century as a departure from the Great Tradition of the ancient church.  As someone who cares greatly about the catholicity of our faith - that my beliefs are shared by Christians across every age (and not only the last 500 years) I greatly appreciate his work in this area.

Another passion that Gavin and I share is a love of C.S. Lewis.  Here is Gavin's review/introduction to one of Lewis' most mature novels, That Hideous Strength.  I think that Gavin is right to put this novel alongside Till We have Faces as being some of Lewis' best fiction.

Having read a bit of Charles Williams, I can tell you that you definitely see Williams' influence on this novel by Lewis.  Much of the other things Gavin says in this video strike me as "right on."  Gavin is right to point out that when Lewis talks about "the masculine" and "the feminine" in this work, he is not really talking about what we think of as gender or sex, but rather about something far more "Jungian": archetypal characteristics that - in mythologies, symbols, and typologies across many cultures - have been associated with a "masculine" or a "feminine" spirit for a variety of reasons that I suspect we moderns/post-moderns can only barely begin to appreciate.  I suspect there are depths of wisdom and insight buried there that Lewis would have recognized more readily than most of us.

I like what Gavin has to say about conversion often (especially in a post-Christian culture) being a "multi-stage" process.  This rings true to my experience and that of others I've known, and is refreshing to hear from a significant Baptist thinker.

A final point he makes that I think is very important is the connection between beauty and evangelism.  Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron is constantly making this point in his own excellent YouTube ministry (following a thinker named Hans Urs Von Balthazar): beauty points us to God, to the Source and Ground of all beauty, just as discovering truth points us to God who is the Highest Truth. 

It is my hope that in years to come Christians of all denominations and churches will be known by our wholesome and beautiful ways of being and building in this world in a way that will draw people in, as in the early centuries of our faith.  Lewis' work certainly is a great example of exactly that.

Calvin Robinson and Paul Kingsnorth on Christ and Culture

 Here is a fascinating conversation as Anglican clergyman Calvin Robinson (Free Church of England) interviews Paul Kingsnorth - writer and environmentalist - who converted to (Eastern Orthodox) Christianity from a kind of neo-paganism just a few years ago.  What they have to say about culture, about the monetization of the 7 Deadly Sins, about the call to steward the Creation is all worth considering.

 

Beauty will Save the Polis

In a secular-materialist worldview Beauty is merely a matter of personal opinion, rather than public good.  It is seen as a luxury which is great for those that can afford it, but truly serving no practical utility.  This is the mentality that gives us hospitals, libraries and (perhaps worst of all) schools that are ugly concert buildings in which the drive to "saving some money" always triumphed over aesthetic concerns. 

We Christians, like the ancient Hebrews and ancient Greek philosophers before us, believe that humans are not mere "meat machines", but that we have a soul, and that feeding and nourishing the soul is every bit as important to human flourishing as feeding and nourishing the body.

If we classical Christians are correct about this, it should follow that communities that actually do "go above and beyond" the bare necessities of our material existence and invest in beauty will actually be healthier, stronger, and - finally - even wealthier than communities that treat us merely as organisms needed food and shelter in order to survive.    

Like other Classical Christians I've affirmed lately my trust that, "Beauty will save the world," and here is one case where investing in beauty actually revitalized a community and created a virtuous cycle of improving the local public health, quality of life and 'commonweal.'  

Patterns of Symbolism to understand the Bible

 Here is a great video from Jonathan Pageau "doing his thing" and discussing patterns of symbols in Scripture, and in the ways that we actually perceive reality, and how recognizing these patterns helps us understand the Bible more deeply. 

Evangelical Mis-understanding of Baptism

 Below is a great video from a Lutheran teacher, examining why the New Testament leads us to a sacramental understanding of baptism, in which we believe that God actually offers saving grace through and with the outward sign of water. 

John Wesley is notoriously difficult on baptism.  In some places, such as his Treatise on Baptism, he clearly affirms regeneration and justification are given through baptism; in other places, such as his Notes on the New Testament, he seems only willing to affirm a more modest and symbolic view (the Notes seem to me to be more theologically modest and generic as a general rule). 
In still other places, such as his Sermon "The New Birth" he seems to be skirting the line between a view that holds to baptismal regeneration (for infants) and a view that focuses more on a conversion experience as the point of regeneration (for youth and adults).

What Wesley is trying to hold together is a sacramental and an evangelical view of baptism.  The Sacramental view holds that God really gives saving grace through baptism (as in Romans 6, Titus 3, 1 Peter 3, and John 3), and the evangelical view holds that we really receive God's saving grace through personal faith (as in Galatians 3 and Ephesians 2).  Wesleyan theology - following the Articles or Religion of the Church of England - holds these together by insisting that, while the grace is always given in baptism, it is not fully received until we have faith, which might not (from our point of view) happen until a conversion experience years after our baptism.  

The point is that baptism is an outward and objective declaration of God's promises to us, that we can return to again and again and reclaim throughout our lives - or each day as was Martin Luther's habit.

All of this will run counter to the view - common down here in the American "Bible belt" - that baptism is no more than a symbol of our own profession of faith in Jesus.
The video below examines the major New Testament texts (he doesn't even get into the many Old Testament texts) that show why this "baptism as merely symbolic of our profession" view is not drawn from the Bible, but rather presupposed and then imposed upon it.  He brings forward many of the same texts and arguments that I would use to make the case that Baptism not only symbolizes, but also effectually offers to us cleansing and renewing grace.

  

Theology of Monarchy for the 21st Century

 I recently listened to this lecture as I put together a toddler bed for our 2 year old.  I have said for years, half (but only half) jokingly, that I'd prefer to live in a constitutional monarchy.  While I treasure the values described in our declaration of Independence, I also believe that there is no "perfect system" of government (not in this fallen world, anyhow) and that there are some benefits to a constitutional monarchy with real, but limited powers. 

One of the points that really struck a chord in the lecture is the idea that, in a monarchy, the citizen is related to a person who governs us, rather than a system.  Of course, a person can be bad, foolish, tyrannical, or incompetent to govern, or worse.  But a king is still a person... and we are spiritually wired to relate to persons.  A system can, at best, be impartial and just... or at worse be convaluted, byzantine, unresponsive or dysfunctional.

And, of course, a system is made up of many persons, sometimes working at cross-purposes with one another.  But they are bureaucrats; they are largely anonymous to the people who are governed by them.  At least we know who (for better or worse) the king is. 

I suspect that one reason that many in our country have gravitated toward not only populisms but "big personalities" like, say, Donald Trump (or perhaps even Barak Obama) in recent years is a desire for a personality at the top, and not only a system.  Anyways, those are some random thoughts on this lecture: