2010 Reading List

Here's what Aaron and I read for the year of 2010.

Jonathan's Reading List 

1. Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem (70% complete) 
2. Christianity in Crisis by Hank Hanegraff (30% complete) 
3. When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert & Steve Corbett (50% complete)
4. Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas (5 stars)
   
5. The Mortification of Sin by John Owen (5 stars)
6. Teach Them Diligently by Lou Priolo (5 stars)
7. The Life of Edward Irving by Arnold Dallimore (5 stars) 
8. The Glory of God edited by Christopher Morgan (4.5 stars)
   
9. The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy (5 stars)
10. Evangelicalism Divided by Iain Murray (5 stars) 
11. The Masculine Mandate by Richard Phillips (5 stars) 
12. Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey (4.5 stars) 
13. Is God Really in Control? by Jerry Bridges (4.5 stars) 
14. A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards by George Marsden (5 stars) 
15. The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels by Gordon Fee (4 stars) 
16. Radical by David Platt (5 stars) 
17. Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff (4 stars) 
18. Family Worship by Don Whitney (5 stars) 
19. What Is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert (5 stars) 
20. Be Still, My Soul by Nancy Guthrie (5 stars) 
21. In the Land of Believers by Gina Welch (3.5 stars for interesting read, not content) 
22. Holy Subversion by Trevin Wax (4 stars) 
23. Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller (5 stars) 
24. Family-Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham (5 stars) 
25. God's Big Picture by Vaughn Roberts (5 stars)

Aaron's Reading List

1. Finally Alive by John Piper (75%)
2. The Future of Justification by John Piper (75%)
3. Justification by N. T. Wright (45%)
4. What Is The Gospel? by Greg Gilbert (4 stars)
5. The Case for Classical Christian Education by Doug Wilson (15%)
6. The Kingdom of God by Martin Lloyd-Jones (25%)
7. The Prodigal God by Tim Keller (80%)
8. The Reason for God by Tim Keller (5 stars)
9. Young, Restless and Reformed by Collin Hansen (4 stars)
10. Gospel and Kingdom by Graeme Goldsworthy (4.5 stars)
11. Church Planting Is For Wimps by Mike McKinley (4 stars)

Christmas Is the End of Redemptive History

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's an appropriate quote from John Piper (1981) to as Christmas comes to an close:

"Creation out of nothing was an awesome event. Imagine what the angelic spirits must have felt when the universe, material reality of which they had never imagined, was brought forth out of nothing by the command of God.

The fall was an awful event, shaking the entire creation.

The exodus was an amazing display of God’s power and love.

The giving of the law, the wilderness provisions, the conquering of Canaan, the prosperity of the monarchy—all these acts of God in redemptive history were very great and wonderful. Each one was a very significant bend in the river of redemptive history, bringing it ever and ever closer to the ocean of God’s final kingdom.

But we trivialize Christmas, the incarnation, if we treat it as just another bend on the way to the end. It is the end of redemptive history.

And I think the analogy of the river helps us see how.

Picture the river as redemptive history flowing toward the ocean which is the final kingdom of God, full of glory and righteousness and peace. At the end of the river the ocean presses up into the river with its salt water. Therefore, at the mouth of the river there is a mingling of fresh water and salt water. One might say that the kingdom of God has pressed its way back up into the river of time a short way. It has surprised the travelers and taken them off guard. They can smell the salt water. They can taste the salt water. The sea gulls circle the deck. The end has come upon them.

Christmas is not another bend in the river. It is the arrival of the salt water of the kingdom of God which has backed up into the river of history. With the coming of Christmas, the ocean of the age to come has reached backward up the stream of history to welcome us, to wake us up to what is coming, to lure us on into the deep.

Christmas is not another bend in the river of history. It is the end of the river. Let down your dipper and taste of Jesus Christ, his birth and life and death and resurrection. Taste and see if the age to come has not arrived, if the kingdom has not come upon us. Does it not make your eyes sparkle?"

 Thanks to: Justin Taylor

Just Plain Awesome!

Articles on Idolatry & Free Will

 Here are a two more articles that I added to the Articles page of this blog today.  "Soul Idolatry" by David Clarkson is a tough one and will take a while to trudge through, but it is definitely a must-read!

• Soul Idolatry Excludes Men Out of Heaven by David Clarkson (PDF also available)
• Compatibilist Middle Knowledge by DS Smith

New Articles

I'm finally going to start updating the Articles page on this blog.  As I read a good article, I'll put it on the page and let you know that I've added a new one.  Here's the first one that was added.

9Marks eJournal on Multi-site Churches (PDF also available)

Quote from the Author of "Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound"

"I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am."  - John Newton

What Is Sustaining Grace?

Last Sunday, one of my pastor's preached an excellent sermon on the grace bestowed on us by Jesus, namely, His saving grace and His sustaining grace.  You can listen to it or download it here.  As I was listening to him describe Christ's sustaining grace, I was reminded of a poem of John Piper's that he expounds upon and explains during a sermon he gave on the same topic.  I think it's a succinct & helpful reminder of what God's sustaining grace is.

"Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble & pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain."

The Apostle of the Golden Age--Interview Response

While reading the September 2010 issue of Christianity Today, I stumbled upon an interview with Classics Scholar Sarah Ruden. Earlier in the year, Pantheon Books published Ruden's Paul Among The People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time. I'm not particularly concerned with the content of that particular book, but I thought it might serve some of our readers to see one of the responses she gave to John Wilson's interview question/suggestion.

John Wilson: Quoting freely from many classical authors, you show how a kind of casual brutality was taken for granted in the ancient world, and how Paul's attitudes, by contrast, actually have much more in common with the norms of the 21st century.

Ruden:

"What characterizes our society at its best is the habit of looking at ourselves with a critical attitude. I think this really started for Western civilization on the road to Damascus. Paul is doing what he's expected to do in his environment. He's involved in persecution.This is all sanctioned by authority, and it's going to get him ahead in his career. He has this revelation, and he is forced to answer the questions, What are you doing? What are you actually doing? Why are you persecuting me? That is, what you do to the the world, what you do to other people, is what you do to God. So there's a galvanizing, horrifying, but enlightening realization that what you do every moment you do in the sight of an infinitely loving God. Paul's entire ministry was about that idea. He made a lot of mistakes. He certainly had changes of mind. He had regrets. As he repeatedly said about himself, he was really painfully human in pursuing this idea. He took no personal credit for what he accomplished - the credit belonged to God. But he pursued this great truth relentlessly. And I think that has made us who we are religiously and ethically. That is what brought the ministry of Jesus into our lives in very practical ways."

A few noteworthy thoughts:

1. Ruden's response isn't meant to be read as a heavy treatment of Paul's theology (and it seems obvious that she's more comfortable speaking about his views in very general terms), but I find it remarkable, that the Paul she describes is pretty consistent with the impression you get of his personal characteristics when reading his work.

A few examples:

Paul's Humility -- not taking credit, giving God the glory
Paul's Zeal -- his relentless pursuit of the truth he believes
Paul's Focus -- his entire ministry focused on a single truth

2.Her suggestion that Paul's experience on the road toward Damascus is foundational to an understanding of Western Society's self criticism as a whole is fascinating. I don't care to get into all of the implications underlying this assumption, but I believe it is a worthy suggestion. As a classical scholar, she's not really interested in the mission of Paul (or even his success or lack there-of) as much as she is interested in the message of Paul. The amazing thing about her discovery, is that the text itself seems to exemplify the changes from authoritarian brutality to humble leadership we observe more commonly in Western society. Paul asserts authority in a different way. Paul makes bold claims and answers ethical dilemmas with words meant to enlighten, warn and inform, rather than beat the reader into subjection.

Ultimately, I don't think this post is a fair representation of everything Ruden is trying to say in her book or even in this interview, but it's always encouraging to see scholarship that throws the usual (or rather "en vogue") presuppositions out the window to try to get a clear view of what the author is saying rather than serve an agenda. Ruden's views may be generic and docile enough to suit a variety of opinions, but we may say that her discoveries of Paul's inner-thoughts and context seem to match the Paul we've come to know and respect.

Is it not true that we've been blessed by this servant of Christ? I cannot speak for Ruden regarding her findings, but I'm encouraged to read some of the fruits of her labor that lead me to think on a faithful servant of an even more faithful God! Christ has blessed his bride with a body that works. A body that has big parts and little parts. Some parts have written the very Word of God, have appointed leaders and cast out demons. Some parts read the Word of God, serve quietly and suffer with confident assurance in their Savior. I believe all have something to learn of Paul's humility, zeal and focus. I believe all have something to learn of Paul's "things of first importance", and most of all his Lord, Jesus the Messiah.