February 9, 2011 was a great day for the Hamiltons, as my sweet wife gave birth to our fourth child. Praise God. Meanwhile, over on the left coast Peter Enns was giving a lecture at Westmont College, and in the lecture he refers to Westmont as a left-wing California-style evangelical school. In preparation for a …
Author Archives: JMH
The Best Essay I’ve Ever Read on the Book of Ruth
Peter Leithart, “When Gentile Meets Jew: A Christian Reading of Ruth and the Hebrew Scriptures,” Touchstone, May 2009, 20–24. Some highlights: Christological reading that integrates the detailed studies of Jewish scholars has the potential to address some of the complaints against the historical practice of typology. Taking cues from Luke 24, typological interpretation has traditionally …
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Tolkein’s Own Drawings for the Hobbit
The Guardian has 6 drawings with a bit of commentary. Here’s one: HT: Malcolm Yarnell
Abortion Clinic Workers Plead Guilty to Murder
Jay Norlinger has the details: In Impromptus today, I touch on an untouchable subject: abortion. Two abortion-clinic workers in Philadelphia have pleaded guilty to murder. Why? Well, because they did the job after the babies happened to slip out of the womb. That’s a very fine line, don’t you think? Too fine for moral reasoning.
NIV 2011 Removes Selah from the Biblical Text
Rod Decker has drawn attention to the fact that the NIV 2011 puts the term Selah in the footnotes rather than in the text of the Psalms, and he suggests that the word should never be verbalized by those who read Scripture aloud. I like Rod Decker, but I think his post may be self-contradictory …
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Hans Frei’s Central Idea
Thanks to Patrick Schreiner for pointing to this essay, in which William C. Placher describes Hans Frei’s central idea: Frei certainly never thought of himself as a “great theologian, ” but he did have a central passion, a central idea. That idea emerged through long study, in the 1950s and ’60s, of l8th- and 19th-century …
Video for “There Is No Sin That I Have Done” by Schumacher and Ward
Eric Schumacher and David L. Ward of Reformed Praise have released an official video for their song, There Is No Sin That I Have Done.
Jeremiah: A Type of Christ Who Speaks for God
I’ve argued that Jeremiah was a prophet like Moses, and Jesus is the typological fulfillment of this pattern that began with Moses. Luke presents both Peter and Stephen asserting that Jesus is the prophet like Moses announced in Deuteronomy 18:15–18 (Acts 3:22–23; 7:37), and Matthew, Mark, and Luke are pointing to this in their transfiguration …
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Should Preachers Show Their Work? Or, Should Our Preaching Train People to Read the Bible?
Should our attempts to preach the Bible train people to be better readers of the Bible? I think the answer to that question is obvious. It seems like a no-brainer to me that our attempts to preach the Bible should train those who hear us to be better readers of the Bible. This has implications …
2011 Appalachia Conference on Theology and the Church
If you’re in West Virginia or surrounding areas, you won’t want to miss the 2011 Appalachia Conference on Theology and the Church hosted by Randolph Street Baptist Church Theme: “The Centrality of the Gospel” Speakers: Phil Johnson & Burk Parsons Date: November 4&5, 2011 Location: Charleston, WV Details.
B21 Panel on Preaching This Friday
Tony Merida is preaching at the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana’s Shepherds’ Conference this Friday and Saturday (October 21–22, 2011), and Friday night I’ll join Greg Gilbert, David Prince, and Merida for a Baptist 21 Panel on Preaching Christ from the Whole Bible. Would love to see you there. Details here and here.
Fall Sale at Canon Press
Canon Press is having their annual 5 day sale this week, October 17–21, 2011. Much of their stuff will go for 60% off or more. There’s a lot of good stuff for homeschooling, and those who teach and preach the Scriptures will be particularly interested in Peter Leithart’s commentary on 1–2 Samuel and the new …
Halton on the Human Element of History
Reflecting on a post entitled “The Spiritual Ground of History,” Charles Halton describes a poignant moment in his own research: . . . as I was going through the cuneiform tablet collection that belongs to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. I was bogged down in trying to read from broken tablets and …
Axl Rose: Adopted Son of a Pentecostal Preacher
David Zahl has a theological interpretation of Axl Rose and Guns N Roses in three parts. Here’s a snippet from the first: So Axl is sadly the product of the worst kind of religion: ultra-bootcamp Pelagianism compartmentalized to the point of cruelty (not to mention completely at odds with its founder). It wouldn’t be a …
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N. D. Wilson on Magic
On the Desiring God blog today N. D. Wilson was kind enough to address some of the comments on a recent post here (obviously I’m kidding – his post is unrelated to the comments here – but his post does address the issues being discussed). Wilson has this to say about magic: Bible-believing Christians frequently …
J. K. Rowling’s Harvard Commencement Address: Failure and Imagination
In 2008 Rowling gave a stirring address at the Harvard commencement on the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination. Some highlights: by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, …
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Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone: Why Do These Books Bother (Some) Christians?
Do you remember the concern some Christians voiced (loudly) over the Harry Potter books a few years back? I do. I remember some discussing the difference between the moral universe in the Harry Potter books and that depicted in The Lord of the Rings. If I recall correctly, one of the complaints was that while …
Adoption Can Change the World
Jenn Philpot closes a post on domestic adoption with this profound paragraph: In light of Steve Jobs passing away, a few news reports have talked about the fact that he had been adopted. One great article titled Steve Jobs Changed the World: Adoption Changed His mentions other notable figures that were also adopted, such as …
Union University KJV Festival
At Denny Burk’s recommendation I listened to these addresses in the car last week. Enjoyed them so much I’m commending them to you. Here’s what Denny said about them that got me to listen to them: Union University recently hosted the “KJV400 Festival,” a conference celebrating the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King …
R. C. Sproul and T. Lively Fluharty, The Barber Who Wanted to Pray
If you’re needing a little encouragement to do family devotions, or if you’re looking to spur someone in that direction, you’ll want to get your hands on The Barber Who Wanted to Pray by R. C. Sproul and T. Lively Fluharty. This book is a great encouragement to be reading the Bible, singing the Bible, …
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