Death of Clark Pinnock

Clark Pinnock passed away this past Sunday, August 15, 2010.  While Pinnock was certainly better known in his later days for his involvement with the Open Theism movement (see this post from the White Horse Inn) early on he was known for his tough defense of an orthodox doctrine of Scripture.  Russell Moore and Justin Taylor have more.

Bruce Waltke's Resignation from RTS

There has been a lot of stuff on the internet, and even in USA Today, about Bruce Waltke's recent resignation from Reformed Theological Seminary, where he taught the Winter and Spring semesters in Orlando.  There has been a lot of speculation that the Seminary forced Waltke to retire.  I thought it would be worthwhile to share links to a few accurate stories about what happened.  RTS is stating that this coverage from the Aquila Report is an accurate representation of what happened.  Justin Taylor also shares a letter that Dr. Waltke posted on Facebook and an announcement from RTS Chancellor Ric Cannada about the separation.  From the accounts of those personally familiar with the situation it sounds like this was a peaceful agreement and not the harsh exchange reported by Inside Higher Ed or USA Today.

Some miscellaneous items

You can get some more free audio books from Christian Audio.  Right now you can get John Piper's Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship.  Go here to see the details.  Also they are offering a sale on all Piper and Bonhoeffer books for just $4.98 each.

Here's an interesting blog post at Reformation 21 on the most commonly broken vow.

It's usually worthwhile to click on the clearance tabs for various Christian bookstores every now and then.  Right now WTS Books clearance includes Roland Murphy's Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature and the edition of the Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God with essays by Mark Dever and Sinclair Ferguson for 50% off their usual prices.  Both books are excellent.

Finally, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church is having a special General Synod to address the issues at Erskine College and Seminary.  These special Synods are very rare and show that they have a lot of concerns with what is going on there.  You can read more about the Synod and the issues that they're addressing in this note from the Aquila Report.

A few miscellaneous items

Just a couple of things that I wanted to point out today:

• Many articles and books by D.A. Carson have been made available through the Gospel Coalition website as free .pdf files that can be downloaded. Carson is one of the brightest New Testament scholars alive and most of his works will be beneficial. His book reviews in particular are very insightful and helpful in looking for future reading. (HT: Justin Taylor)
• Also from Justin Taylor, you can browse through some of the content of Jerram Barrs' book, Through His Eyes: God's Perspective on Women in the Bible. Andrea is reading this book now and enjoying it so might be worth picking up.
• Since we just talked about the Regulative Principle of Worship two weeks ago I thought that I would link to this post from Shane Lems. Shane summarizes what William Ames teaches on worship in his Sketch of the Christian's Catechism. Some great stuff here so don't skim this one too quickly!
• Finally, I did want to make a note that Greg Beale is moving permanently to Westminster Theological Seminary as Professor of New Testament and Chair of Biblical Theology. You can listen to a lecture by Dr. Beale on "Inerrancy and the Apocalypse" through the WTS website.

Sunday School Reading - May 3, 2009

We did not make it into the doctrine of the church yesterday but instead finished our discussion of the signs of the times. Accordingly I do not really have many new recommendations for books. I will relist the same books from last week with one addition due to our discussion of the sign of the Antichrist. Please see last week's post for some recommendations from Presbyterian and Reformed systematic theologies. Finally, at the bottom of this e-mail are links to some free or on sale resources that are currently available. Definitely check out the sale on Reymond's work!

First, here are the book recommendations. As I mentioned earlier, all but one of the books on this list are repeats from last week.

• Christ and the Future: The Bible's Teaching about the Last Things by Cornelis Venema - This is the first book that I recommend on these topics. Venema has written a great deal on eschatology and approaches these topics from an "optimistic amillennial" perspective. I think that you'll find this book very satisfying. I'm seeing if the church can get several copies to put on the church booktable to make it easier for people to get.
• The Promise of the Future by Cornelis Venema - This is the earlier and larger work that Venema did on the last things. The topics covered are very similar to what he covers in the above book. The difference is that this is a longer (just under 500 pages) and more scholarly treatment of the subjects. This is a fantastic book and my personal favorite on eschatology but I think that most people (and their wallets) will be satisfied by the shorter book above.
• The Bible and the Future by Anthony Hoekema - This is an older but still very good work on eschatology from an amillennial perspective that Venema borrows heavily from. Hoekema is especially helpful in his critique of dispensationalism. I do want to note that I disagree with Hoekema on his interpretation of "all Israel will be saved" in Romans 11:25-26 (though if you take his side you are certainly in good company with Bavinck, Ridderbos, and others).
• The Man of Sin: Uncovering the Truth About the Antichrist by Kim Riddlebarger - I have to be honest and confess that I have not read this book but if it is on the same level as his Case for Amillennialism then it will be a helpful read. Pastor Riddlebarger is one of the co-host of the White Horse Inn radio broadcast, Senior Pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, and an adjunct professor of theology at Westminster Seminary California.

Here are some essays and articles that you can read online for free about these topics:

• "What about the Great Tribulation?" by Kim Riddlebarger
• "The Nature of Apostasy" by John Owen - This comes from John Owen's commentary on Hebrews.
• "Apostasy: Hebrews 6:4-6" by A.W. Pink - Note that both this and the next article come from Pink's commentary on Hebrews.
• "A Warning Against Apostasy" by A.W. Pink
• "Prophecy Makes Stranger Bedfellows: On the History of Identifying the Antichrist" by Stephen Nichols
• "Eighteen Sermons on 2 Thessalonians 2 on the Description, Rise, Growth, and Fall of the Antichrist" by Thomas Manton

Finally, as promised, here are some cheap or free resources not necessarily related to eschatology that you should look into:

• Westminster Theological Seminary Audio Resources - WTS has made their online audio archives available for free to anyone who registers. This means that lectures and sermons by men like John Murray, Cornelius Van Til, J. Greshman Machen, Ed Clowney, Richard Gaffin, Vern Poythress, and Scott Oliphint are now available at no cost. This is definitely something to take advantage of!
• A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 2nd Edition by Robert Reymond - Monergism Books is currently offering this book for 50% off today only. While I do have some minor quibbles with a couple of things in here I still think that Dr. Reymond has done a marvellous service to the church in providing us with a modern, readable systematic theology. And it's going to be hard to beat the discount.
• Finally, for anyone who does not have a pocket copy, Banner of Truth Trust is offering copies of the Westminster Shorter Catechism for just $1 each. Pick up a copy and memorize it!

Miscellaneous

I'm going to hold off on the next post for apologetics to link to a few things this morning. First, a book deal for you. Monergism books is offering a 50% discount on all of the books published in the Reformed Expository Commentary series. All of the volumes in this series should be excellent and well worth having for personal study. These commentaries are written by men who are both pastors as well as trained teaching theologians. The volumes on Matthew, Esther & Ruth, Daniel, Hebrews, and James are particularly valuable.

Second, here are a few things from John Frame. First, an older post linking to his four favorite books on the Doctrine of Scripture. Every single one of these books is worth having. About a century later the Warfield book remains one of the best books on the subject. Frequent readers know that I highly recommend Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics in general though as Professor Frame notes you'll find him particularly helpful on this topic. Kline's The Structure of Biblical Authority is a fantastic work and not that lengthy. I will warn you that it is very technical and it's a tough read. I would probably put it last on the list for that reason. I do highly recommend both of the articles in The Infallible Word that Professor Frame mentions. The article by Van Til is probably the best thing you will ever read on the relationship between natural and special revelation. One book that I would add to Professor Frame's list is E.J. Young's Thy Word Is Truth. This is probably a better introduction to the topic than Warfield so I would recommend starting here.

Also, Professor Frame posted an article last week titled "The Bible and Joe the Plumber." I found this to be a very good article showing that the Bible does have a lot to say about economics. I recommend giving it a quick read.

Finally, Derek Thomas at Reformation21 posted that Sean Lucas has accepted a call as Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Hattiesburg, MS. I haven't seen a confirmation of this on Covenant Seminary's or Dr. Lucas' websites but assuming that it is true praise God for providing a shepherd for his flock there and pray for Dr. Lucas, his family, and the congregation in making the transition. Dr. Lucas is the author of On Being Presbyterian: Our Beliefs, Practices, and Stories, a fantastic primer on Presbyterianism that I highly recommend. He also wrote a biography on Robert Lewis Dabney that is very helpful in familiarizing ourselves with some of our heritage as Southern American Presbyterians.

New book, new seminary, old martyr

A couple of things for this morning. First, Martin Downes has a new book coming out this May called Risking the Truth that is a collection of interviews on handling truth and error in the church. It includes interviews with people like Carl Trueman, Thomas Schreiner, Michael Horton, Iain Campbell, Joel Beeke, and Greg Beale. Downes has posted the table of contents here. Looks interesting.

Second, the extension campus of Wesminster Seminary California in Dallas is officially launching as an independent seminary and will be known as Redeemer Seminary. Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York, will give the inaugural address on February 16th. Faculty (full time or adjunct) includes Daniel Davis, Sinclair Ferguson, Douglas Gropp, and Dan McCartney.

Finally, Michael Haykin (church history, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) posted a reminder that Friday was the 64th anniversary of Helmuth James von Moltke's martyrdom under Adolf Hitler's regime in Germany. Von Moltke was a well-known lawyer who opposed the Nazi party. He recognized that both the Nazis and Christianity demanded the whole man in allegiance and thus he could not ever behave or live as a Nazi. See the post for more information.

Obama, Calvin, Fesko, and Lucas

A hodgepodge of things for today:

First, as I'm sure no one could have missed, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America yesterday. God commands that his people pray for the earthly leaders who have been set over them and promises that these prayers are pleasing to him (1 Tim. 2:1-4). When it comes to President Obama we might begin to wonder how we ought to pray for a leader who we may disagree with a number of important issues (particularly abortion). Ligon Duncan, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi, answers that question. Further, Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offers a prayer for President Obama on his inauguration that I think all Christians ought to be able to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, Westminster Seminary California has concluded their conference on the legacy of John Calvin. You can purchase the mp3 files of the conference from the WSCAL bookstore.

Third, some seminary news for you. John Fesko, who is currently the pastor of Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church outside of Atlanta and adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, Atlanta, has accepted a position as academic Dean and Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary California. Rev. Fesko is the author of Justification: Understanding the Classic Reformed Doctrine and Last Things First: Unlocking Genesis with the Christ of Eschatology. The former is a fantastic book on the doctrine of justification and I highly recommend it to everyone and particularly anyone who has questions about newer false views of justification as are articulated in the New Perspective of Paul and Federal Vision theologies. The latter book is an introduction to the theological issues that are raised in Genesis 1-3 (what Fesko argues should be classified as protology). This is a very good book that will definitely get you thinking. Further, just published this week was a book that Fesko co-edited with Bryan Estelle and David Van Drunen titled The Law Is Not of Faith: Essays on Works and Grace in the Mosaic Covenant. This is in a box waiting for me on my doorstep now so hopefully I'll be able to offer some thoughts on it soon.

Finally, I wanted to point you to some resources that have been made available by Sean Michael Lucas, Assistant Professor of Church History at Covenant Theological Seminary. Dr. Lucas wrote a book titled On Being Presbyterian: Our Beliefs, Practices, and Stories. This book is the best introduction to Presbyterianism that I have read. I do not know if it is quoted in the book for Presbyterian Theology that I prepared for Sunday School but I can assure you that much of the reason that we focus on Presbyterian Theology as opposed to "Calvinism" or "Reformed Theology" more broadly is due to this book. I highly recommend it (Shady Grove PCA provides it to those who take the Inquirers' Class along with a copy of the Westminster Confession of Faith and a binder on practices at Shady Grove). At the Covenant Theological Seminary website you can now access powerpoint files to go along with this book. These might be helpful in reading along with the book. Dr. Lucas is also the author of a biography of Robert Lewis Dabney that is very good.

Hopefully another post later today.