Day Off Week 5 2021

 

I forgot to include this update so I have backdated to where it should be. The main thing on Tuesday February 2 was reading this new book by Carl Trueman that people have been talking about. it's a 400 page book and I made quite  dentin it and have subsequently finished it. It is well written (except that Trueman thinks LGBQT+ is an acronym, where as it is an initialism) and gives a philosophical framework to help us understand what we are up against when we are are confronted by modern thinking. There is a lot to get through just to get that far but Trueman does it well, never  being boring or recondite. The reading for just this one book must be massive. We should be thankful to God for such a helpful handbook. Just today I saw in my newspaper that down in Brighton they are advising midwives to refer to chestfeeding rather than breastfeeding and human milk rather than breastmilk. This issue an others raised in this book are going to be with us for some time to come.

Spelling mistakes, etc

I know the idea of correct spelling and such like strikes some people as a rather pedantic. Perhaps it is but my fear is that inattention to such minutiae is symptomatic of a deeper malaise. Here is an example from my recent reading.

The Story of Everything by Jared C Wilson published by Crossway, page 13. Just over halfway down there is a reference to a "stunning climatic scene" in a film. A "stunning climactic scene" surely. See here.

More controversially I was surprised to see in Grace Alone Salvation as a gift of God by Carl Trueman published by Zondervan, page 128, that Luther strived for many years to gain assurance. I would have thought the strong form strove the obvious word to prefer there but I may just be out of sync there.

PS We have plenty of typos on this blog, which I try to correct but these are mistakes (or not mistakes in the case of the second example) not typos.

(I was going to include here Martin Luther Renegade and Prophet by Lyndal Roper published by Bodley Head, page 346 . At the beginning of the section on Anabaptists comes a reference to "ideas of millenarian violence". I thought it should be millennarian (as in Millennialism) but apparently not.

Rising Sun Live

I heard this on the radio this morning. This is a nice live version. That's not a young Prof Carl Trueman on drums is it?

Some books

Recent reading has included these books:

1. One forever, Rory Shiner. This is a nice little book in a series of Guidebooks for life by Matthiasmedia. Seven brief chapters on union with Christ, it is full of good material. I picked up at the Affinity Conference earlier in the year.

2. A little bird told me, Timothy Cross (Focus). This book on everyday expressions from Scripture was a little disappointing in that it doesn't really go into etymological questions. Good fun though with 52 expressions covered, from "The apple of my eye" to "The half has not been told".

3. Jesus the Son of God, Don Carson (IVP). This little three chapter book is typical Carson in  that it is very thorough explanation of the biblical idea of Son of God that later goes into the question of how it should be translated in Muslim cultures.

4. The creedal imperative, Carl Trueman (Crossway). This 2012 book is a well written and convincing argument for the use of creeds and confessions.

Trueman on Medieval Theology

My current interest in Medieval theology has taken me most recently to a series of lectures given at Westminster Theological Seminary by Dr Carl Trueman. These are available from WTS on the iTunes U. These 11 lectures look at Anselm, Bernard, Aquinas, heresy, mysticism, etc. They are quite thorough and are marked from time to time by the legendary Trueman humour. They are in a league with the previously mentioned lectures from Douglas Kelly given at RTS. I'm not sure how old the lectures are but some of them contain an instruction to turn over the tape (!) so they can't be hot off the press. There is also some sort of problem with the audio probably caused by the recording being voice activated. You cans till get a lot of these lectures nevertheless.

Carl Trueman and Courtney Love

So I'm listening to a recording of Carl Trueman on Bernard of Clairvaux and he begins "On Courtney Love ... see the chapter ... on Courtney Love". He's a hip guy, I guess, so I wasn't too phased and I soon cottoned on that he was actually talking about courtly love, of course. Still going deaf.

More on the Geoff Thomas Festshrift

See this typically humorous piece from Carl Trueman, one of the contributors to the forthcoming tome here.

Billion dollar baby

Being away, I nearly missed this here (merci monsieur principal).

Last night my wife and I had the immense privilege of having dinner with Geoff Thomas and his Iola. Geoff has been praised on this blog before, and more than once. He is truly one of the giants of the last hundred years. Outside of this blog and Banner of Truth circles, you may not hear his name very often but as far as I am concerned he represents everything I would want our ministerial graduates at WTS to be.

* He has faithfully pastored a modest church for nearly 46 years.

* He has placed the preaching of the gospel absolutely central in his ministry.

* he has a passionate desire to see people come to Christ.

* He has a passionate desire to see people grow in their knowledge and love of the Lord.

* He has demonstrated that a small local church can have a worldwide impact. There are many people all over the world -- some known and many unknown -- who have been blessed by his teaching, inspired to go in to the ministry, or simply led to love the gospel more through his consistent preaching of God's grace. Derek Thomas and Mark Johnston both acknowledge huge debts to him. While at college, I was helped in my faith by Ian and Christine Hodgins who both sat under his ministry in Wales as students. Many of us who never attended his church are yet his debtors under God.

In addition, Geoff is an hilarious raconteur (I spent much of the dinner last night bursting with laughter), takes himself with a pinch of salt, doesn't `do' jeans, has no earrings or other body piercings, and generally doesn't wear black, has no swagger, couldn't care less about being cool or trendy, and only tells jokes in the pulpit that actually have a serious point rather than those designed to tell the congregation that `Hey, I'm a funny guy who wants to be your friend so please like me.' In some quarters, that might lead some to wonder if he is really a minister. Believe me, he is more real than many. He also writes great emails. My favourite, which I included in the paperwork for his DD, went something like this: `Dear Carl, Just read your piece on Packer and Lloyd Jones. What a disaster! You are a complete idiot. Oh, and sorry to have missed you in Wales last week. Best wishes, Geoff'

When the Westminster Faculty and Board realised he was such an astute man, the DD was in the bag, so to speak.

This afternoon I will have the immense honour of `hooding' Geoff at the DD ceremony. Like Wayne and Garth confronted with Alice Cooper, I can only say `We are not worthy! We are not worthy!'

Geoff will be preaching at the commencement service this afternoon and then again this Sunday at Franklin Square OPC in New York, for Bill Shishko -- another real minister of the unsung hero variety. I hope to post a link to Geoff's commencement address early next week.

Meanwhile, as commencement is today, Geoff would no doubt agree that `school's out for the summer'. (Thanks to Gabe Fluhrer for that line).

As ithers see us

We didn't keep Burns night the other week here (we didn't even keep Dydd Santes Dwynwen if truth be told) but I am aware of the final verse of Burns poem "To a louse". Burns wrote it apparently on seeing a louse crawl across the fine bonnet of a lady in the pew in front. My recollection was prompted by a remark over on Refomation21 by Carl Trueman following the Affinity conference.

O wad some Power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us,

An' foolish notion:

What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,

An' ev'n devotion!

("Then, there was Gary Brady, famous opponent of jeans*, surprisingly sporting smart trousers and a pair of moth eaten gym shoes, apparently in an unsuccessful attempt to fuse Reformed Baptist theology, Welsh mysticism, and an emergent ..."

[*I once remarked, obviously in Carl's presence, that jeans are a sign of teenage rebellion and so inappropriate for certain situations. I did notice that Brian Edwards wore jeans throughout so may be I have a point!])

Affinity Conference 01/02

Carl Trueman                                           Peter Naylor

So here we are once again in High Leigh Conference Centre for the Affinity Theological Conference. The numbers are smaller than last time and the subject, hopefully, less controversial (though no doubt prompted by the Enns and McGowan books that have caused such a stir). We followed the usual format of hearing a summary of the already received paper then discussing it first in small groups and then in plenary session. We began with Carl Trueman's historical paper which had the limited aim of demonstrating that the Princetonian view of Warfield et al was not a historical novelty, which he seemed to be able to do. We discussed modes of inspiration found in Scripture among other things. The second paper by Peter Naylor looked at literary genres and evangelical hermeneutics focusing on recent commentaries on Jonah, Daniel, etc, that argue against miracles on grounds of genre. Again useful discussion followed.

Ken Brownell chaired the first session and David Green the second. The group I am in was chaired by Colin Jones from Crawley. We had Carl Trueman in the group, 2 LTS students, one of the only women here and mostly ministers.

A good start.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Most of the papers have now arrived for The Affinity Theological Study Conference 2-4 February at High Leigh Conference Centre in Hoddesdon, Herts. The programme is

DAY ONE

We arrive by 11.30 and after lunch and a welcome we have

14.15 Paper 1: Is the Princeton View of Scripture an Enlightenment Innovation?

Carl R Trueman (Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia) Interview with Trueman here.

Then after tea at 16.15

16.45 Paper 2: Lost on the Old Testament? Literary Genres and Evangelical Hermeneutics

Peter Naylor (Minister, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Cardiff)

DAY TWO

9.15 Paper 3: Right doctrine, wrong texts. Can we follow the apostles’ doctrine but not their hermeneutics?

Greg Beale (Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia)

11.00 Coffee Break

11.30 Paper 4: Every heretic has his text: the use and abuse of the Bible in the church

Stephen Clark (Minister, Freeschool Court Evangelical Church, Bridgend and Tutor at London Theological Seminary). This I understand is Martin Downes' paper. He can't be there because of the continuing situation at home.

We're free after lunch until

17.00 Paper 5: The Sufficiency of Scripture for Public Theology

Dan Strange (Lecturer in Culture, Religion and Public Theology at Oak Hill College, London)

Followed by Dinner and 20.30-21.30 Corporate Prayer

DAY THREE

9.15 Paper 6: Preaching the Word in the Power of the Spirit: biblical, historical and practical reflections

Hywel R Jones (Visiting Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary, California)

After a coffee break at 11 there's

11.30 Panel Discussion

Followed by lunch and depart (though I'll have to make a quicker getaway as I'm hoping to see my son in  a play in Aber that night).

What is this life?

Earlier on today the line came up in conversation "What is this life so full of care, if we have no time to stand and stare?". It is by Newport poet W H Davies. Then tonight I noticed this at Reformation 21 by Carl Trueman.

One of the amazing things about modern American culture is surely the pathological fear of wasting time. It is especially evident in the attitude to children. Public school kids have their lives scheduled from morning till night; homeschool parents seem to regard any second of the day from the age of two that isn't used to learn Latin poetry or the cello or conversational Swahili as time that is wasted. It's a far cry from my childhood, when school ran from 9 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon, and then I was free to ride my bike, walk on the common, or just sit around with friends. And it continues in to later life: all the technology we have, and people seem to have less free time than ever.

Indeed, we have surely lost the virtue that is laziness. As Kierkegaard once said, 'Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good' -- a truly amazing theological insight. Some may think that that maybe going a bit far, but compared to the idea that the essence of humanity is busy-ness, it is much to be preferred.

The greatest testament to the power of wasted time in the history of the church is surely Luther's Table Talk. A collection of anecdotes and sayings collected by Luther's closest friends, it reflects the full range of Luther as pastor, mentor, Christian and friend. Reading the comments, from advice to young preachers (`The sixth mark of a good preacher is knowing when to stop.') to comments on lawyers (`One only studies something as dirty as law in order to make money') to general observations on life, some of which don't bear repeating on a polite blog such as this, I suspect Luther's table companions learned more about life and ministry while drinking beer and having a laugh with the Meister than in the university lecture hall.

Numerous applications come to mind: seminary is the people with whom you strike up friendships (a point which must be taken into account as seminaries move towards more distance education);friendships (real, embodied friendships that are not exclusively mediated through pixels) are crucial to staying the course of ministry -- laughter in the face of adversity and hardship not only being vital in this regard but also, of course, an almost exclusively social phenomenon that requires company; drinking beer with friends is perhaps the most underestimated of all Reformation insights and essential to ongoing reform; and wasting time with a choice friend or two on a regular basis might be the best investment of time you ever make.

Book Buys May

The main bit of book buying in May was at the Assembly bookstall where I got the following:

1. Paul Garner - the New Creationism

2. Erroll Hulse -Who saves God or me?

3. "E M Hicham" - Your questions answered - a reply to muslim friends

4. Alec Motyer - Life 2 the sequel

5. William Grimshaw (selected by Faith Cook) - Living the Christian Life

I also bought the Dan Walker thing from Day One. They sent me a free copy so I gave mine to a boy in the congregation. I'd already bought 10 of the Jonathan Holdt one mentioned here, which we are reading on Sundays as a family bit by bit. I notice that a member of the congregation who bought a copy has started to come Sunday evenings. Yes, I also got the John Blanchard travel guide I mentioned here for reference.

In May I also bought these two online:

1. John Piper - Finally Alive

2. Carl Trueman - John Owen

Then there were three secular books. I love the Thames Hudson New Horizon series (translated from the French) and have several volumes. It is quite an old series now so you sometimes see them going cheap. I saw the one on jazz somewhere and bought it and the one on Shakespeare in the NPG. Then at some other point I was in a charity shop and saw the Neil Gaiman book Coraline. I rarely read children's books but as it's out as a film I thought I'd buy it and read it. It's well written but not really my cup of tea now nor would it have been as a child. Fantasy/horror is not really my thing.

Unfair slur 02

In the opening sentences of his essay on Machen in the new Themelios Carl Trueman writes

"In the lounge next to my office hang the portraits of a number of the founding faculty of my institution, Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. There is one of John Murray, the dour-looking Scotsman with the glass eye. Legend has it that you could tell which eye was the real one because that was the one which did not smile."

I know he is writing for students but it is a shame that he is perpetrating a myth. My father-in-law, Geoff Thomas, knew Murray personally and gives quite a different impression (the man I have described as more full of God than anyone else I have known). The impression I am left with is of an Aslan type figure and if you know anything abut Aslan he was no cold fish.

In 1966, The 33rd OPC General Assembly recognized Murray's labors with a testimonial scroll which read (with my italics):

"You have been a warm friend and counselor to us, one and all, giving individual counsel whenever we sought always out of a rich wealth of knowledge and inspiring reverence for the written Word.
You have been a faithful presbyter, spending untold days in the service of our beloved church, both in its assembly services and as a member of many of its committees.
You have been a gracious reprover, a hearty encourager, and an un-bitter dissenter in our deliberations.
To many of us you have been a patient teacher and more, for you have taught us exactness in the study of Holy Scripture, and a deep reverence for its high doctrine.
We honor you in our hearts. We respect you for your scholarship and wisdom. We are grateful to our God for you, Professor Murray. But we are compelled to say more: we love you dearly, and it is with deep sorrow that it appears that we may not see your face or hear your voice in future assemblies. We pray God that He may lay His hand on you for a most useful and happy ministry during your retirement years in your native land. We "thank God on every remembrance of you.""