That the glory of the Lord might cover the dry land as the waters cover the sea
God glorifies himself as the weak overcome the proud and strong by faith, and these triumphs are like God’s creative surprises–he makes butterflies from caterpillars and oaks from acorns. Here’s my attempt to exposit Ezra 4: In the World You Will Have Trouble. The chapter is arranged thematically rather than chronologically. Here’s a chart that …
Continue reading “Ezra 4: In the World You Will Have Trouble”
Before I play wiffle ball in the back yard with my sons, we have to set the bases down so that we know what the playing field is. The first and third base line enable us to see when a batted ball is fair or foul. Biblical theology has these, too. Here’s the first base …
What is biblical theology? It’s an attempt to get at the unstated assumptions from which the biblical authors make their statements. The only access we have to those assumptions are the statements they make. Take Leviticus, for instance. The book has all these instructions for offering all these sacrifices, but it never states the rationale …
When Andy Cheung asked me about the extent to which biblical theology should influence preaching, I mentioned my essay, “Biblical Theology and Preaching,” which has just appeared in a new book from Broadman and Holman. Text Driven Preaching: God’s Word at the Heart of Every Sermon, edited by Daniel L. Akin, David L. Allen, and …
If you’re interested in biblical studies, here’s a site to add to your reader: Larry Hurtado’s Blog Here’s my review of one of his recent books, Earliest Christian Artifacts. HT: Mike Bird
As mentioned earlier, I think that A. Philip Brown II’s Hope Amidst Ruin: A Literary and Theological Analysis of Ezra is the best book on the theology of Ezra available. Last week I posted notes I took from the book on the way that literature works. Here are the links to those posts in one …
Continue reading “Literary Notes from Brown’s Hope Amidst Ruin”
Yesterday at Kenwood it was my privilege to preach Ezra 3. The main point of the sermon was that safety is only to be found in obedient worship to God. This grows out of the way that the returnees respond to their fear of the inhabitants of the land by building the altar and renewing …
So this is the final installment of my notes on how narrative literature works from Brown’s Hope Amidst Ruin. For more, you’ll have to read the book for yourself, which I don’t think you’ll regret doing. Here’s what he says about Characterization: “Characterization refers to how an author portrays the characters in his narrative” (108). “There …
Continue reading “Notes on Characterization from Brown’s Hope Amidst Ruin”
Andy Cheung, Academic Dean of King’s Evangelical Divinity School, interviews me about God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology here. You can preorder the book on Amazon. Watch for it, Lord willing, in early November.
So yesterday I noted that this material from Brown’s Hope Amidst Ruin will help you read all kinds of narrative, and today I note that ambitious souls thinking about writing narrative would be helped by such thoughts as these on Point of View: Point of View: “Point of view refers to how a story is …
Continue reading “Notes on Point of View from Brown’s Hope Amidst Ruin”
So I’m posting the notes I took on how literature works from A. Philip Brown’s Hope Amidst Ruin, and it occurs to me that maybe I should note that attending to these features will help you read all kinds of narrative, not just biblical narrative. Maybe I didn’t need to say that, but there it …
Continue reading “Notes on Plot Composition from Brown’s Hope Amidst Ruin”
As mentioned in a previous post, I started a sermon series on Ezra – Nehemiah this past Sunday at Kenwood. And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with a building program. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable. Preparing for this sermon was a study in the OT’s use of the OT. Ezra is interpreting …
As I mentioned yesterday, I deeply appreciate A. Philip Brown’s book, Hope Amidst Ruin: A Literary and Theological Anaylsis of Ezra. Here are the notes I took on what he says about plot–page numbers in parentheses refer to Brown’s book: Plot: ordered arrangement of the incidents . . . which has a beginning and a …
Continue reading “Notes on Plot from Brown’s Hope Amidst Ruin”
A. Philip Brown II has given us a treat in his published dissertation, Hope Amidst Ruin: A Literary and Theological Analysis of Ezra. If you like biblical theology that is sensitive to the literary features of the biblical authors, you’ll love this book. One of the aspects of this book that I most appreciated was …
Continue reading “The Best Literary and Theological Analysis of Ezra Available”
Denny Burk linked to a good article on how Manute Bol lived out his Christian faith, and Denny’s post has a nice pic of Manute Bol and Spud Webb. I sometimes get asked about whether it is okay for wives and/or mothers to work outside the home. John Piper does a phenomenal job answering that …
Erich Auerbach (Mimesis, 14-15) writes that the intent of biblical stories: “is not to bewitch the senses, and if nevertheless they produce lively sensory effects, it is only because the moral, religious, and psychological phenomena which are their sole concern are made concrete in the sensible matter of life. But their religious intent involves an …
HT: Robbie Sagers
Douglas Wilson makes an offhand comment that is worth further thought regarding: what makes up a worldview in the first place (dogma, narrative, symbol, and liturgy), Narrative–biblical theology; Dogma–systematic theology and catechesis; Symbol–art, architecture, etc; Liturgy–the expression of dogma, narrative, and symbol in worship. More to think on here. In the previous post, Wilson prescribes …
Continue reading “Douglas Wilson on Worldview and Preaching”
Have you ever wondered why Peter says (1 Pet 3:20-21) that the waters of the flood through which Noah and a few others were saved correspond to baptism? In the sermon it was my privilege to preach yesterday, I tried to pursue a biblical-theological explanation of how the flood was an expression of God’s wrath …
Over on the MCTS blog there’s an answer with which I heartily agree!