A New Ministry: SBTS in the Fall

In God’s great mercy I will be joining the faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall. Here’s the story in the Towers Online. Here’s what I said when I shared this news with our church family at Baptist Church of the Redeemer: Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your …

Let Athanasius Spur You to Study the Psalms

In his fascinating lecture on “Reading the Psalms Messianically,” Gordon Wenham recommends The Letter of St. Athanasius to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms. Having followed that recommendation, I am now passing it on, and I would also recommend having a listen (or multiple listens) to Wenham’s lecture. The most striking thing, for me, …

1 & 2 Peter and Jude by David R. Helm

Great preaching is inspiring. When I hear or read great preaching, it makes me want to preach. I often benefit from listening to inspiring preaching in my car on the way to school to teach–listening to John Piper fires me up, reminds me of all that is at stake, points me to the greatness of …

“Narrow” on Wednesday Night in Beaumont

Lord willing, this Wednesday night – May 7, 2008 – I’ll be speaking at “Narrow,” which meets at Westgate Memorial Baptist Church in Beaumont, TX (6220 Westgate Dr, Beaumont, TX, 77706). The event is a weekly Bible Study aimed at college students, and it begins at 9pm. If you’re in the area, it would be …

Review of Tsumura’s NICOT volume on 1 Samuel

David Toshio Tsumura, The First Book of Samuel, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007. 720pp. $50.00, Hardcover. Japan Bible Seminary’s David Toshio Tsumura has given us a fine new commentary on 1 Samuel. He lucidly overviews the history of the modern discussion of the text of 1 Samuel, which, …

Biblical, Baptist Ecclesiology

I’ll be speaking on the most biblical form of ecclesiology at Redeemer Community Church in Katy, TX tomorrow night, Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 7pm. If you’re in the area, I would love to see you. I’ll be arguing that the most biblical form of ecclesiology is the one practiced historically by Baptist churches: elder-led …

Review of Messiah in the Old and New Testaments, ed. Stanley E. Porter

Stanley E. Porter, ed., The Messiah in the Old and New Testaments. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007. ix + 268pp. $29.00, paper. These essays were presented at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 2004. The collection is preceded by an introduction written by Stanley Porter and concluded with a response, in which each paper …

Thanks to Whoever Sent This!

Here at the Hamilton House we’re celebrating the recent birth of a little one, and someone sent us a fitting onesie–fitting, that is, for our family, even though the little baby doesn’t fit in it quite yet. He’ll grow into it! We don’t know who sent this to us, but we want to thank whoever …

Responses to Mike Bird’s Questions

My friend Mike Bird posted some questions in response to what is happening at Westminster Seminary with Peter Enns as a result of Enns’s book, Inspiration and Incarnation. My responses to those questions in the comments section on Bird’s blog became such that I thought it might be useful to post them here. For the …

Mitch Maher against Biblical Illiteracy

We are all aware of the growing phenomenon of biblical illiteracy, and I sometimes hear people who minister in churches complain that the mammoth proportions of the problem make it difficult to teach and preach because it is necessary to keep things at such a basic level. One of my classmates from DTS days, Mitch …

Audio of “The Typology of David’s Rise to Power”

Dr. Moore has just posted the links to the text of Graeme Goldsworthy’s addresses on Biblical Theology given this week at SBTS, and he has also linked to the newly posted audio of the Julius Brown Gay Lecture I gave last week, The Typology of David’s Rise to Power: Messianic Patterns in the Book of …

The Call to Joy and Pain, by Ajith Fernando

The Call to Joy and Pain looks like a great book from Ajith Fernando. It has just been honored among the 2008 Christianity Today Book Award recipients under the category of “The Church/Pastoral Leadership.” Congratulations to Dr. Fernando and Crossway! The title captures the Pauline experience of being “sorrowful and yet always rejoicing.” I’m eager …

Interview with Justin Hardin on Paul and the Roman Imperial Cult

I met Justin Hardin a few summers ago when I visited Tyndale House, Cambridge. Justin was there doing his Ph.D., and I feel blessed to call him a friend. His dissertation explored the question of whether Paul is engaging the Imperial Cult in Galatians, and he now teaches at Oklahoma Baptist University, but in September …

The Typology of David’s Rise to Power: Messianic Patterns in the Book of Samuel

It was my joy and privilege to present a lecture yesterday at Southern Seminary on the topic in the title of this post. For those interested in the presentation, I will update this post with the audio if/when it appears on the SBTS website. For anyone interested in the bibliography and the sections I had …

D. A. Carson’s new book: Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor

Just out from Crossway and just arrived in my mail, I’m eager to read this new book by D. A. Carson, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson. A few years ago Carson had a short piece on his father in the SBJT Forum that was a powerful reminder that …