Pastors' Academy 2019 Sons of Jacob Day 2

Numbers were slightly down for day 2. We had such a good day yesterday, it was hard to keep up the pace and the first two of the three papers were quite demanding. First, Mark Garcia continued his exploration of Genesis 38, especially taking in the story of the other Tamar in 2 Samuel 13. He sought to connect the reference to Joseph's long sleeved garment to that of Tamar in 2 Samuel and that, with much else he said, was very stimulating. Sadly, there was less discussion time on this second day and so we had no chance to discuss.

After lunch it was a change of pace as we were in the hands of Yannick Imbert from Aix en Provence who spoke on the remark in Genesis that God intended it for good. This was a thorough an academic, highly nuanced look at a difficult subject.

We ended the day with David Green who looked with us at the references to Egypt in Genesis. This was typically thorough and provocative. He argued for a nuanced understanding of this world and our place in it as believers. We had a good discussion to follow before parting.

This is a really worthwhile conference and one wishes it was better attended.

Pastors' Academy Conference 2019 Sons of Jacob Day 1

We had a very good first day of conference at the seminary today with Academy leader Garry Williams giving us two sessions and US based Mark Garcia, president of Greystones Theological Institute. About 40 of us were present. Garry spoke on the subject of typology, giving a brief and interesting history and urging a cautious but willing use of typology. His focus was on the story of Joseph. He sought to lay down parameters for the employment of this tool. We had a good couple of discussions on the subject with several taking part.

Mark Garcia spoke at the end of the day on Genesis 38. He began with these observations

1. We should be happy to admit that its placing is jarring and unexpected at first sight
2. Tamar reminds us of Eve and her desire to be blessed with children and to see Messiah
3. There is also the link forward to David and his family, including a namesake Tamar
4. Tamar is the first woman mentioned in the New Testament
5. At the very end of the canon we meet the final king Christ on his throne, the lion of the tribe of Judah who has a glorious bride, which takes us back not just to Eve but to Tamar.

The story is a smaller type scene of the larger Joseph type scene. Dr Garcia focussed on the moment where Tamar asks Judah to recognise whose beongings she had. This echoes the request of Jacob's sons to him to recognise Joseph's coat.

At the end of Ruth Tamar is remembered in reference to fruitfulness

Here in Genesis 38 is a type scene 

Expectation is followed by deception and counter-deception, admission of guilt and final denoument. There are many examples of this in Scripture.

Judah deceives Tamar just as his son has. It is Judah who in the wider Joseph narrative is the spokesman for the deception toward Jacob. Again in th wider narrative we have Joseph remaining unknown to his brothers adn so on, leading to a similar revealing and resolution moment.

When preaching we might want to back further and point out how the story refects the history of the world. Thecross is the final resolution.

Very stimulating stuff, and a good discussion again to follow.

Noah Conference at the John Owen Centre

I haven't been able to report until now on the John Owen Centre conference on Noah, partly because I have been suffering with toothache (I actually missed Stephen Clark's Lloyd-Jones lecture on Noah and the future on the Monday night, though I hear it was good).

On day one we had Steffen Jenkins and Garry Williams looking at Noah in a biblical theological way. Steffen simply looked at the text in Genesis 6-9 and spoke of the context in Genesis 1-5, the ruin of creation while God remained steadfast in purpose (6:1-8), Noah the new Adam and Noah's new world the global foundation of all future salvation. Garry looked at the Noahic Covenant dissenting from VanDrunen (see elsewhere on this blog) and arguing that it is redemptive.

On day two we had Ian Hamilton on the faith of Noah, Mark Garcia in America (by the wonders of modern technology) on Noah, the church and the sacraments (on ravens, doves and rainbows) and Geoff Gobbett on Noah the preacher for preachers.

It was all very interesting and stimulating. I'm sure most of us are not as well thougt through as we ought to be on Noah and his covenant. Steffen Jenkins (a new name to me) was perhaps the most stimulating with his very thorough exegesis of the Scriptures in Genesis regarding Noah. Garry Williams and Mark Garcia were also very interesting. The conference as whole was a blessing and the discussion of a good standard. Around fifty were there. The recordings are worth looking out for.

Here are some quotations that struck me

Steffen Jenkins quoted Gordon Wenham saying "The call of Abraham is the answer to the problems of the world" (See Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey)

Ian Hamilton quoted Bavinck saying, in his Dogmatics (III) “common grace and special grace…flow in a single channel” and Calvin on Romans 4:20 " Let us also remember, that the condition of us all is the same with that of Abraham. All things around us are in opposition to the promises of God: He promises immortality; we are surrounded with mortality and corruption: He declares that he counts us just; we are covered with sins: He testifies that he is propitious and kind to us; outward judgements threaten his wrath. What then is to be done? We must with closed eyes pass by ourselves and all things connected with us, that nothing may hinder or prevent us from believing that God is true."

Geoff Gobbett quoted George Orwell (in the novel 1984) "In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." and Boris Johnson writing several years ago in response to a horrible crime

"Bourgeois Britain is going through a bit of a panic about the role of God in society, largely fuelled by nervousness of Islam. Attacks are made on faith schools, or on BA staff who wear the cross, and the idea seems to be that we can only voice reservations about one religion if we bash them all impartially.

That is why Richard Dawkins is having such a soaraway success with an atheist tract called The God Delusion, ...

Alert readers of this column will know that my own faith is a very feeble tinsel object. I sometimes think there might be some kind of celestial radio signal, but it is about as intelligible as Radio Tirana. ... My only thought, as I stare at the faces of Carty and Brown, is that, if we throw out religion, then we lose a useful tool in changing lives. You and I lead comfortable existences, full of pleasure and interest, and generally so heavily regulated that we do not face that many moral challenges. We may feel that we do not have much of a spiritual void to fill.

But look at these creeps, the shambles of "sperm fathers" and gang warfare and violence. It's not so much that they have been deprived of love, but that they have been deprived of authority of any kind, and our feminised paedophile-obsessed culture means there is less and less chance that they will find a male role model in the classroom.

However ludicrous it may seem, religion sets boundaries; it suggests to bad and loveless people that they are loved. It provides a framework.

Of course it would be nice if Carty and Brown were not recruited to some militant Islamic group; it would be nice if they turned to the good old milquetoast Church of England. But it doesn't really matter. We can't just string these people up. We can't flog them. We are forced to incarcerate and hope for the best.

Before we go all the way with Dawkins and chuck out religion, we should look at the savage and remorseless faces of Carty and Brown, and reflect that, if we are to have any hope of changing them for the better, then God is a useful card for society to keep up its sleeve." (See article here)

Noah Conference

Hoping to be at the Noah Conference at the John Owen Centre Monday and Tuesday. More here. A little bird told me one of the sessions will be on Skype.

Book Buys March

I have probably mentioned most of these. All pretty theological this time.

There were the Calvin ones

1. An introductory guide to the writings of John Calvin by de Greef (Trans Bierma)

2. The unaccommodated Calvin: studies in the foundation of a theological tradition by Muller

3. Life in Christ: Union with Christ and twofold grace in Calvin's theology by Garcia

I also got

4. Reformed Dogmatics Volume 4 by Bavinck

And my books from GPT

5. Just by believing by Allred

6. Christian basics by John Hall

Also which I haven't had a proper look at yet

7. The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in the Letters of Believers by Haykin

JOC on Calvin

[Dr G with Neil, myself and Wim at the back

and Katie & Rich, Lewis and Peter seated]

I've spent the best part of the last four days up at the John Owen Centre sitting in on the latest module of the MTh course. The LTS Library building work continues apace and so we were confined to the common room, which was okay (except for the lack of an Internet connection). There were seven of us all told - three actually doing the course and four auditing. I knew three students and the other three were new to me. Five of us seven are ministers like the lecturer himself, Dr Mark Garcia. He led us through his recently published book (from his PhD) Life in Christ: Union with Christ and Twofold Grace in Calvin's Theology (Studies in Christian History and Thought). See here.

I have given up all hope of going to Geneva this year and so was glad to be doing something on Calvin. Besides the book, we were recommended Muller's Unaccommodated Calvin and the introductory work by de Greef, translated by Bierma. I've only really dipped into these so far.

It's always a great privilege not only to read such a work but to have the author there ready to answer questions. Perhaps we did too much reading at times but it was very good. I particularly appreciated seeing the doctrinal connection between justification and the sacraments, something that had long puzzled me. Some seem to suggest that the Reformation was all about the Lord's Supper, some that it was justification, whereas the two are intimately linked.