New Biblical Theology Blog

Today marks the launch of a new biblical theology blog. I’ll be collaborating with Desi Alexander, Mike Bird, and Steve Dempster. Here’s the blog’s purpose: “For the glory of God, in service to the church, this blog exists to promote the study and discussion of biblical theology’s history, methodology, aims, achievements, developments, direction, and points of contact with other approaches to the study of the Bible.”

Other contributors may be added later, but for now we’ll be posting together at Biblical Theology. In the initial post the contributors are introduced: “Posting from Ireland, Scotland (by an Australian), Canada, and the United States, we are excited about the international character of this blog, and we hope it will serve you well. We seek to know God in Christ by the power of the Spirit as revealed in the Bible.”

Interview with Thabiti on Being a Healthy Church Member (particularly as a seminarian)

Thabiti Anyabwile was kind enough to interact with me on topics related to his new book, What Is A Healthy Church Member? Our exchange is below. Enjoy!

[JMH = me; TMA = Thabiti M. Anyabwile]

———

JMH: Dear Thabiti,

Thanks for your service to us, brother. If I may, I’d like to ask you for some advice that applies to my particular situation, and then I’d like to put it on my blog that it might benefit others.

Moving from one seminary to another takes me out of a role at Baptist Church of the Redeemer, where I have been serving as pastor of preaching, to a new city (Louisville) where we’ll be looking for a church for our family to join. This is going to be a radical change for us in terms of church life. In addition to the ways I’ve been involved (preaching, worship planning, song selection, involvement in pastoral conversations and situations, etc.) my wife has been heavily involved in ministering to the ladies at our church. Redeemer is a church that was planted only three years ago, so, we’re accustomed to seeking the Lord, consulting with a relatively small group of people, and then doing what we think will most honor the Lord (whether that pertains to nursery furniture, a ladies’ Bible study or book club, or even a place to meet!). We certainly have our preferences on music style, preaching style, and ministry style, and we’re leaving a congregation we love that sings songs we love and does ministry, we think, in a healthy way.

I suspect that for various reasons there are others like me, who go from being involved in shepherding a congregation to looking for a new church to join. How would you advise us? What kinds of things would you suggest we look for as we seek a new church home, and how can we be healthy church members?

——–

TMA: Jim, that’s an excellent question.  Actually I can identify with you quite a lot.  When my family moved from N.C. to Washington, D.C., we moved from a 3-year old church plant into a situation where we knew next to nothing about the church scene.  We loved that church and we set about the task of finding something like it in many ways.  Actually, that’s the first piece of advice I’d have for someone in this situation.  Don’t look for a church that is “like” your previous church, particularly if the likeness you have in mind involves a host of secondary matters.  Our preferences can be the death of a good church search.  Hold them up to the light of Scripture and be sure to cultivate an accepting heart for other believers who do things differently in secondary matters (Rom. 14).  Look for the essentials first: a church holding a sound doctrinal stance, that preaches the gospel faithfully, that preaches the Scripture expositionally, and that at least encourages a strong “one anothering” culture.  With the word and a strong membership culture, so many other things have fertile soil in which to grow.  That would be my short list, I think.

As for being healthy members, overall it’s probably helpful to find a place where you think you can grow spiritually.  When the Lord moved us from NC to DC and Capitol Hill Baptist Church, I went from being one of three elders backing up the senior pastor in preaching and teaching duties to being #49 on the depth chart at CHBC.  It was clear to me that I knew less than most everyone there, and more important than how much I knew or they knew, they were living so much better than me it seemed.  I felt like the entire family would grow spiritually in ways that really mattered—holiness, humility, love, joy, righteousness and so on in Christ.  So, search for a place where you’ll grow spiritually, even if it’s a place where you’re one of the smartest guys there.

I think there are some temptations and sensitivities you can bring to a church given your labor as a pastor and professor.  The temptation would be to either try to influence the church in pride (“I’ve been a pastor and professor and you should do it this way”) or to assume that you should have more access to the pastors than other members (“I’m a pastor; I can help.  Why don’t they ask?”)  Either attitude, left unexamined or unidentified, could create strain and difficulty in a new church situation.  Be careful of the temptation to say, “I wouldn’t do it that way.”  There may be pride and a judgmental attitude there.  Instead, pray and look for the mindset that says, “I want to support and follow the leaders in any way I can.”  As a member, we’re called to that attitude without regard to our history as pastors.  Support the leaders the Lord has called to that place, and perhaps go out of your way to let them know of your support and that you’re not judging them.  Be a good leader to the other sheep by modeling the kind of submission you perhaps experienced or longed for in your previous church situation.  And that’s one of the unique sensitivities a former pastor brings to a new church.  He knows what it’s like to be the shepherd and for the sheep to misunderstand.  With that sensitivity, you can model so much of what nearly every pastor wishes his people understood.

Beyond that, be healthy church members by attending regularly, giving your life to the people there, sitting joyfully, humbly and eagerly under the leadership and teaching of others.  Pray fervently and without ceasing for the leaders, the members, and the ministries of the church.  Give generously and so on.

———–

JMH: Following up on that question, do you have thoughts on how seminary professors in particular can be healthy church members?

———–

TMA: Again, you bring perspectives and resources that most members will not have.  You can be helpful in your area of expertise, or connect the church to seminary-based resources.  When the elders or the church is working through a particularly knotty problem, you may be in a position to deliver some expertise.  Only be careful.  Remember you’re not in a classroom but in a living breathing church where histories and cultures are always at play.  Be sensitive to who those people are.

Another way you can be a healthy member is help the church leaders fight the mistaken impression that “the seminary is where it’s at.”  Your participation in the church will help with that.  But talk often of the seminary’s parachurch support role for the church.  Encourage seminarians to cultivate that understanding.  Encourage more young men with gifting to consider the pulpit rather than the academy.

——–

JMH: And lastly, how can seminary students be healthy church members?

——–

TMA: Seminarians should think of themselves primarily as church members, not “seminarians.”  I think a lot of men see themselves as ‘tweeners levitating somewhere between their previous church and the church or mission field they’re headed towards.  They’re in a kind of suspended animation.  And often a seminarian can suffer spiritually as they float out their in academic space somewhere.  The church suffers too without their gifting and service.

It will be tempting to think of their studies as a special status that obviates their relationship to and responsibilities in the local church.  But they are primarily Christians, and as such should be active in a local church body as members not seminarians.  We don’t excuse other college students from the expectation that they should be active in a local fellowship; and we shouldn’t do it with seminarians either.  So, they should join a local church and plant roots.  They may be leaving in a few years but learning to love a church quickly will help them learn to love new members quickly when they’re pastors or when serving in highly transient areas.

And like seminary professors, students should be humble and patient, avoid judging others and asserting unimportant preferences.  They should see the church as the main classroom of Christ, and the classroom as an auxiliary.  Given that, they should seek to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  And by God’s grace, they will as they humbly receive the word (Jam. 1:21), receive grace through the various administrations of God’s gifts (1 Peter 4:10-11), and are equipped for service until they reach maturity in Christ, the Head (Eph. 4:11-16).

——–

JMH: Thabiti, hearty thanks for these helpful and edifying thoughts. I am particularly grateful for the way you have applied the truth of the Scripture to the situation we face. May the Lord continue to bless your ministry!

Good Thoughts for Public Speakers

Justin Beadles tells you how to keep from killing listeners with power point here.

Justin learned preaching at DTS, and there we were taught to do five things in the introduction to a sermon:

  1. Grab Attention
  2. Raise a real need to hear what you’re going to say
  3. State your main point
  4. Preview the sections of your presentation
  5. Give the context of the passage you’re preaching

Keruxson ton logon! That is, “Preach the word!” (2 Tim 4:2).

David Reimer on Learning Biblical Languages

David Reimer is one of three filling in for Justin Taylor this week, and I have found him to be an invariably stimulating person. Linking to another article, he had this to say about the learning of the biblical languages:

Meanwhile, one of my jobs as a teacher of biblical languages is to get the inevitable rote-learning to go down deep, so that the Hebrew (or Greek, or Aramaic) becomes a language, and not just an obscure code for what we already knew the text meant from our favourite translation.

Amen. Read the post and the post to which he links.

Denny’s Prayer for Us

Today my sweet Jill and I celebrate our tenth anniversary. These have undoubtedly been the best ten years of my life. Folded up in my wallet, I carry around with me the little piece of paper on which my dear friend Denny Burk had written out the prayer he prayed for us during our wedding. I have received favor from the Lord, I have found what is good (Prov 18:22), and I feel so deeply the words that were bouncing around in my brain all through our wedding ceremony:

“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me” (Psalm 16:6).

Thinking on my sweet wife makes me want to weep with joy, to praise God for his mercy, to go to her and recite every poem I’ve ever known . . . and none of it would be enough.

I don’t deserve my wife, and I don’t deserve to have a friend like Denny. His prayer brought tears to my eyes on July 25, 1998, and it does the same to this day. Here it is, and may God continue to answer all his petitions:

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Thy name give glory Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth” (Psalm 115:1).

Lord, may Jim and Jill, above all else, earnestly desire to see Your name, Your glory, and Your renown made great in all the earth. May they honor You for who You are in all of life. Capture their hearts by Your grace so that they might persevere in faith and love for Your sake. And make their union a picture of Christ’s love for His bride.

Lord Jesus, grant Jim grace that he might follow hard after You for all of his life. Make him a godly man who treasures You above all else. Make him a graceful and worthy head for his wife in this marriage. Stir up in Jim a perpetual love and affection for Jill that he might love her with the same extravagancy with which You love your church. May he love self-sacrificially all of his life. Help him to listen to Jill with great sensitivity and seriousness. And when the euphoria of the honeymoon wears off, and the mundane sets in, make his heart swell all the more with great love for his bride. May he love and honor you by the way that he faithfully loves and honors Jill all of his life.

Lord Jesus, likewise grant Jill the grace that she might follow hard after You all of her life. Make her a godly woman who treasures You above all else. In loving submission, may she faithfully and singlemindedly honor Jim for Your glory. May she show her love and devotion to You by the way that she loves Jim.

Lord, give Jim and Jill hearts that long for Your appearing.

“Whom have we in heaven but You? And besides You, we desire nothing on earth. Our flesh and our hearts may fail, But God is the strength of our hearts and our portion forever” (Psalm 73:25, 26).

God, so bless this union for Your glory. Amen.

Prayer for the Young, Restless, Reformed

Lord willing, our family will travel from Houston to Louisville at the end of next week, departing Houston on August 1. We are headed to what some have called “Camelot,” which I think captures the spirit of the place (even if I don’t agree with what those who called it that meant–they were partial to the pre-1993 era at SBTS, and they said something like, “once there was a Camelot” [google that if you want to see what I mean]).

So this morning I finally got around to Collin Hansen’s chapter about Southern Seminary in his book, Young, Restless, Reformed. It’s a fascinating chapter. Anyone interested in where things are in the SBC should read it. Hansen doesn’t call it Camelot, he calls it “Ground Zero.” I’ll let you read the chapter to find out why.

One thing that stands out to me about those of us who hope to be a part of a rising generation that is more biblical and less pragmatic, more thelogical and less programmed. That one thing is that we desperately need to feel and walk in the humility and love that should accompany our theology. In this regard I appreciate D. A. Carson’s words on the back cover of Hansen’s book, words that inform the prayer that ends this post. Carson writes, “It is time for quiet gratitude to God and earnest intercessory prayer that what has begun well will flourish beyond all human expectation.”

Amen. Quiet gratitude. Earnest prayer. And, as one elderly SBC pastor whose name I do not know once said to me: “preach the word and love the people; love the people and preach the word.”

As we prepare to leave Houston, I am unspeakably encouraged at the young men who will continue in the work here, young men whom it has been my privilege to know and serve, young men who are now pastoring churches. There are some older men, too, who have been at the school, and whose enthusiasm for the Bible and its teaching has been a joy to see. I’m encouraged by these guys who are shepherding flocks in the power of God’s word and prayer, men whose names are known to God, even if they are not known to the conferences, blogs, and publishing houses.

For these men, and for those whom we go to serve at SBTS, this prayer is offered. We want to see God work in power as we preach his word and rely on his Spirit to move. We long to see the fruit that cannot be credited to human power, so we want to rely on God’s word and Spirit so that he gets the glory instead of the glory going to cool buildings, billboards, and the same marketing techniques that sell coca cola and Starbucks. May our humble confidence in the sovereign God yield him the glory due his name:

These Students, Lord, are yours to bless.
Make them mighty warriors;
For our own frailty, we confess,
That all glory may be yours

Come, we pray, and in our weakness,
Set forth Thine awesome power.
You are our God. In you we rest.
Your name is our strong tower.

We come to you through Christ our Lord,
Who ever lives and reigns
With Thee and the Holy Spirit.
One nature, three persons, Lord.

Thine be the glory forever,
World without end, Amen.

Justin Beadles Joins the Blogosphere

One of my favorite classmates from DTS days has joined the blogosphere. The folks at Grace Bible Church in Nacogdoches, Texas are blessed to have Justin Beadles as their pastor.

And we in the blogosphere are now blessed to be able to add his blog to our google readers.

Sometimes I wonder what this guy is thinking, and I’m sure you will too:

He is one interesting bird, and I anticipate that his posts will be refreshing and godly. Well, they’ll be different, anyway:

You just can’t make this stuff up. This is real life, and this is a real pastor:

The great thing about Justin is that he’s living proof that being a conservative, expository preaching, sheep loving pastor doesn’t have to mean that you’re boring, uncreative, unadventurous, or uptight.

You can check out his first few posts on his blog, which he has entitled “Brain Spasms.” Somehow that name doesn’t surprise me. His first is “Families Adrift,” followed by “Time Management,” and then “The Value of Illustrations.”

Videos above notwithstanding, these are posts worth considering.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Justin!

Review of Hess and Carroll, eds., Israel’s Messiah in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Israel’s Messiah in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by Richard S. Hess and M. Daniel Carroll R. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003. 192 pages. Paperback, $19.99.

This volume is a collection of essays edited by two OT profs at Denver Seminary. The essays were presented at the second annual biblical studies conference hosted by the Denver Institute for Contextualized Biblical Studies of Denver Seminary in February of 2001. The book’s title describes its first three parts: Part 1, The Messiah in the OT; Part 2, The Messiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls; and Part 3, The Messiah in the NT. Part four reflects the name of the institute that hosted the conference: The Messiah in Latin American Theology. Each part consists of an essay and a response, but Part 1 has two responses. In my judgment the organizers and editors have rightly recognized that the question of the Messiah in the OT is far and away the most contentious and interesting issue dealt with in the volume, thus it is placed first and given two respondents. This review will reflect these priorities, giving more space to Part 1 and briefly summarizing the others.

Daniel I. Block’s massively documented study on the Messiah in the OT argues that ancient Israelites would not have understood the Messiah in either prophetic or priestly terms. In his argument against a prophetic aspect of OT messianic expectation, Block makes every effort to fit the citation of Deut 18:15 in Acts 3:22–23 and 7:37–38 into his view (28–31). Perhaps recognizing the implausibility of what he has argued, Block concludes with the question, “Even if Peter and/or Stephen viewed Jesus as a messianic prophet ‘like Moses,’ are we thereby authorized to read their use of Deut. 18:15 back into the original context?” (31). Block’s implied answer is clearly “No” (as Carroll notes in his response, p. 75).

The first respondent to Block, J. Daniel Hays of Ouachita Baptist University, asks why Block assumes that what the ancient Israelites understood is equivalent to what the OT authors intended (59). Hays also gently suggests that Block has committed a word study fallacy by equating the concept of the Messiah with the use of the term mashiach in the OT, when it is clear that the concept is much broader than the mere use of the word (59 n. 1). Hays offers thorough-going critiques of, among other things, Block’s readings of Deut 18 in Acts 3 and 7 (61–62). He argues that “David blurs the image of priest and king together, as did many kings in the region” (67), and, while making kind remarks about Block and his paper, concludes that the OT “does portray the coming messianic figure as prophet, priest, and king” (69).

The second response to Block is provided by M. Daniel Carroll R. Carroll points to three positive contributions Block makes, then faults him for too narrowly defining what is messianic in the OT (72–76) and for prioritizing some data to the exclusion of other information (77–78). The most helpful comment for understanding Block’s approach comes from Hays:

Sometimes he seems to be pushing for an ‘Old Testament only’ concept of Messianism, one in which it is not valid to use New Testament or even inter-testamental interpretation of Old Testament texts. Yet at other times he drifts over into the New Testament . . . . This is a critical issue, because if we can bring early Christian interpretation or Jewish inter-testamental interpretation of messianic texts into the discussion—and I believe we should—then several of Block’s central arguments lose much of their convincing appeal (59).

In Part 2, Craig Evans (Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia) surveys Messianism in the Dead Sea Scrolls. He concludes that the community’s hopes for eschatological restoration presupposed messianic expectation; that Qumran’s Messianism matches Jewish Messianism of late antiquity and was important; and that the Messianism witnessed in the Qumran scrolls is helpful for understanding what we see in the Gospels. Richard S. Hess develops what Evans presents (rather than responding/challenging) by offering brief considerations on the term “messiah” and by reviewing some “recent theories regarding the figure of the messiah” in the DSS (104).

Craig Blomberg limits his investigation of the Messiah in the NT to an argument that “There is no unambiguous evidence to demonstrate that ‘Christ’ in any of its 531 New Testament uses ever ‘degenerated’ into a mere second name for Jesus” (141, italics his). In other words, just as “President” is not President Lincoln’s first name, Christ is not Jesus’ last name. This conclusion is based squarely on a thorough consideration of the evidence, including 18 separate arguments that Paul means something more like “Messiah Jesus” or “Jesus, the Messiah,” than he does “Jesus Christ” with Christ amounting to little more than “Smith” or “Jones.” Blomberg’s colleague at Denver Seminary, William W. Klein responds with cautious agreement and suggestions that the methodology could be tightened and the conclusion could be softened.

Gerardo A. Alfaro González, who teaches at Central American Theological Seminary, offers a proposal and assessment from Latin America. Karen H. Jobes (Westmont College) concludes the volume with reflections on Jesus as Liberator.

This book is significant because the Messiah is one of the Bible’s most central themes (some say the central). The exchange between Block, Hays, and Carroll raises the issue of how the OT is to be interpreted among evangelical Christians. Block represents the older insistence on interpreting the OT without regard to the NT—even among those who think that the NT is inerrant. Block is perhaps the preeminent representative of this school, and his paper is astonishingly good according to the standards of this approach. Hopefully this way of reading the OT will be replaced by the likes of Hays and Carroll, who build on the strengths of the older approach by interpreting the OT in its historical context, but who also read it as a messianic document, written from a messianic perspective, to sustain a messianic hope. Understanding the OT as a collection of messianic documents (rather than a random collection of the national lit. of ancient Israel) explains the Messianism of the inter-testament lit. and allows for the possibility that Jesus and his apostles read and cited the OT according to its intended meaning. If this is how we view their use of the OT, we can use their methods as a model for our own interpretation of it as we preach and teach the OT in our contemporary Christian context. Block expresses a wish that the apostles would have preserved what Jesus said on the road to Emmaus. I think that Hays and Carroll would agree with Earle Ellis that they have, in fact, done just that in the NT’s use of the OT. That to say, the authors of the NT learned to read the OT from the teaching of Jesus.

The Warrior

I’ve posted on Dr. John Hannah before. He had a profound influence on my while I was at DTS. Now that I’ve figured out how to do single spacing (shift then enter), I’m posting this poem that was inspired by his teaching.

The Warrior

Inspired by Distinguished Professor
Reverend Doctor John D. Hannah

Proud generals do plot and plan
Deployments and stratagems,
But wise men know that wars depend
Not upon the diagrams.
No, battles shift when in the fray
Stalwart strong the men do stay.

When all seems lost and death most sure,
When sheer fear retreat would cure,
There and then momentum is turned
When the dreadful lie is spurned:
That there’s no cause worth more than life;
And bold men stand and face the scythe.

A name is given to such men,
It means more than “soldier” can,
We dub the resolute and pure
With the firm title, “Warrior.”
The warrior knows love and truth,
And he will die for their worth.

Like a warrior my teacher stands;
With the Sword his post he mans.
Proud generals do come and go;
Fighting men are more than show.
And when their clever tricks won’t do
Men fit for the task are few.

There’s nothing new that’s needed here,
Call forth courage, drive out fear,
Wave the banner, and bang the drum,
With loud hurrahs let them come
And they will meet a reckless charge
Of the wise whose hearts are large.

Aye, large, and filled with holy dread
—all other fears by it dead—
Of God so great and pure and true
Gracious, loving, and just too;
Indeed, courage that comes from fear
Is just the thing that’s needed here.

Where? Where? Pray-tell can this be found?
You won’t find it gazing round
At nifty tricks and strategies,
Nor in the new psychologies.
What drum to bang, what flag to wave
To swell hearts bold and make them brave?

Just hear the warrior-teacher’s charge;
Feel what makes your own heart large.
Hear him speak of the Lord most high,
Find that you don’t fear to die,
For such a God and such a Name
Gladly you’ll be put to shame.

Yes hear the warrior prophet preach;
Depths of soul his words do reach.
Hands on hips and his head held high,
Love to Christ beams in his eyes,
As valiantly he speaks again
Of the great offense of sin

Which God so hates that evermore
Wrath ‘gainst it He has in store.
This wrath does vindicate His name,
Shows His worth and spreads His fame.
While many think that sin is slight
God loathes it with all His might.

To spurn the Lord is no small thing—
That’s the song my teacher sings.
And in the music’s melody
If you listen you will see
The worth of Christ made clear and plain,
For His death takes all sin’s claim

And makes it null and sets us free
Righteous now in Him to be.
The banner’s waving in the strife;
Here is truth worth more than life.
So let us join the warrior’s song,
Voices loud, clear, and long

Will raise anew the Gospel’s tones,
Its truth like fire in the bones.
Hear now the warrior teacher’s word,
“None love I more than the Lord,
For He loved me when loved me none
And my life bought with His Son.

My debt all paid, His wrath all spent
—meant for me, to Christ it went—
Here by His grace I’ll stand and fight,
Christ to serve with all my might.
And I will wait for that Great Day
When knees will bow and tongues say,

‘Praise and glory to God most high!’
O Lord Jesus, draw Thou nigh.”

James Merrill Hamilton Jr.
December 25, 2000

Denny Burk Named Dean of Boyce College

Big news from the undergraduate arm of Southern Seminary:

July 7, 2008

For immediate release

Criswell College professor Denny Burk named new dean of Boyce College

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Denny Burk, associate professor of New Testament at Criswell College in Dallas, TX, has been appointed dean of Boyce College, the undergraduate school of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Burk is an SBTS alumnus, having earned his Ph.D. from Southern Seminary in 2004. He also received a master of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a bachelor of arts from Louisiana Tech.

“We have the leader for the next era at Boyce College,” said Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. “I am really excited about the coming of Denny Burk as the new dean of the college.  He is a great young leader, a promising scholar, a tested teacher, and a man of great vision and conviction.  He has a solid track record at Criswell College and left his mark during his doctoral studies at Southern Seminary.  He is one of our own, and he is a man who is well prepared to lead Boyce College into the future.”

Burk has published numerous books and articles and writes a popular blog on theology, politics and culture. He is also a favorite teacher at the First Baptist Church of Dallas.

“Denny Burk is one of Southern Baptists’ most perceptive young scholars,” said Russell Moore, senior vice president for academic administration at Southern. “He also is keenly in touch with culture, especially those issues facing the next generation of young Christians. He will be one of the few deans, I’m sure, anywhere who can discuss articular infinitives in the Greek, contemporary challenges for youth ministry, and how to share the gospel with a Mormon, all while turning flips on a skateboard with a group of college students in the parking lot.

“Denny will be loved by students, respected by faculty, and trusted by Southern Baptists as he leads Boyce College students toward their callings in the pastorate, global missions, youth ministry, women’s ministry, and other fields of service to our Christ. I am proud to have him on the Southern Seminary team.”

Burk and his wife Susan have been married for eight years and have two daughters. He says his aim is for Boyce College to become known as the premier training center for ministers who want to know the word of God and to make it known.

“I couldn’t be happier about the prospect of moving back to Louisville to lead Boyce College,” said Burk. “Boyce is poised to be the leading evangelical institution for training undergraduates for Christian ministry, and I can’t imagine a more exciting time to be joining the team at Southern Seminary.”

Burk assumes his new post on August 1. He replaces Jimmy Scroggins, who was elected pastor of the First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach, Florida in June.

Scroggins said Burk is an excellent choice to succeed him, citing his commitment to training pastors and leaders.

“He has a great love for our seminary and our college,” said Scroggins. “It was a great honor for me to serve at Boyce College, and I have full confidence that Denny will provide excellent leadership as he moves Boyce into the future.”

Mohler said Burk will continue the legacy of great leadership at Boyce.

“Boyce College has been so well led in the past by great deans — each of whom has left his mark,” said President Mohler. “Denny Burk will serve in that great tradition and will make his own mark.”

–30–

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is the flagship seminary of the 16-million member Southern Baptist Convention. More information is available at www.sbts.edu.

Dostoevsky on Jesus

From The Brothers Karamazov, Book VII “Alyosha,” Chapter 4 “Cana of Galilee”:

Do you fear Him. He is terrible in His greatness, awful in His sublimity, but infinitely merciful. He has made Himself like unto us from love and rejoices with us. He is changing the water into wine that the gladness of the guests might not be cut short. He is expecting new guests, He is calling new ones unceasingly for ever and ever. . . .

God Glorified in Numbers, the Universe, and People

My scientist brother in law is lured by infinity, and he has some thought provoking posts up:

asking “What Makes You Shudder?”

and exploring “The Singularity of Humanity”

These two posts highlight God’s unique glory: the first in a recounting of the massive proportions of the universe and the distance between the numbers 0 and 1, and the second in helping us realize the power in weakness realized in the creation of human beings.

CCEF Annual Biblical Counseling Conference

Those interested in biblical counseling might want to consider attending the 2008 Annual Conference hosted by CCEF.

This year’s theme is “The Addict in Us All.” I think this conference would be beneficial for anyone interested in (or practicing) biblical counseling.