Foundations 65 (Autumn 2013)

Issue 65 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available (here in its entirety as a pdf), with the following contributions:

Ralph Cunnington

Editorial

Robert Strivens

Evangelical Spirituality in Eighteenth-Century Dissent: Philip Doddridge and John Gill

Andrew Towner

Gathered Worship: Personal Preference or Sacrificial Service?

Mark Pickett

The Changing Architecture of Global Mission

David McKay

Augustine on Revelation 20: A Root of Amillennialism

Ted Turnau

Review Article: Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works (James K.A. Smith)

Robert Strivens

Review Article: Romans: The Divine Marriage (Tom Holland)

Book Reviews

Thronging Angels Hailed His Birth

The thronging angels hailed His birth,

Their chorus woke the morn.

But not for them He came to earth –

Unto us a child is born!

This wondrous Child is of our kin,

Though Lord of earth and heaven,

Redeemer from the curse of sin –

Unto us a Son is given.

For God spared not His only Son,

The Saviour freely came,

Endured until His work was done,

For Jesus is His name!

We who have greater cause than they

Acclaim with them the morn,

With angels and archangels say,

Hallelujah! Christ is born!

Words by Frank Houghton (1894-1972), who served as General Director of the China Inland Mission (now OMF) between 1940 and 1951.

Mission Catalyst

I’ve been meaning to post on this for a while, and the arrival of Issue 1 for 2014 finally prompted me to do so.

Mission Catalyst is a quarterly publication, produced by BMS World Mission. According to its blurb, ‘in a world increasingly influenced by both secularism and a plurality of religious views, Mission Catalyst seeks to prepare Christians in positions of influence and leadership for the mission of the mind’.

Issues are topical and contain a variety of shortish, readable articles. The current issue contains several pieces on end of life issues.

Hard copies are available via a free subscription, but the publication is also available online, including a good collection of archived issues, all downloadable as pdfs.

D.A. Carson on Hebrews

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School has kindly posted online videos of four lectures by D.A. Carson on Hebrews, part of a longer module on ‘Acts, Pauline, and General Epistles’ taught by Carson.

As well as the videos, transcripts of the lectures are available from the same page.

Here’s the blurb:

‘In these four lectures, Dr. Carson covers the basic questions involved in interpreting Hebrews such as authorship, date of composition, and intended audience, as well as covering its content and focusing in particular on major themes of Christology. Hebrews is unique in the New Testament in its explanation of Christ’s high priestly work and its extended application of Yom Kippur imagery to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Dr. Carson highlights the unique, once-for-all quality of Jesus’ sacrificial death as presented by Hebrews as well as the reality of Christ’s ongoing high priestly ministry on behalf of believers.’

Journal of Biblical Counseling 27, 3 (2013)

The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Counseling is now available ($10 for a year’s electronic subscription of three issues), this one containing the following pieces:

Editorial

Featured Articles

Matthew C. Mitchell

A Gallery of Gossips

We’ve all been guilty of talking about others. Stories about other people titillate us, tempting us to pass the story on to the next person. Matt Mitchell helpfully identifies five common types of gossips. He explores the potential motivations of each, and pinpoints how the gospel of Christ provides an escape from the temptation to gossip.

Joshua Blount

Lessons from Proverbs: Not Just a Collection of One-Liners

Josh Blount identifies a problem all minsters struggle with: how do the big truths of the gospel connect to the daily details of a person’s life? Blount finds help for this question in the book of Proverbs. He traces the connection between the larger story of redemption and those succinct, practical bits of wisdom in Proverbs and offers advice for pastors and counselors about how to help others live out their faith in the everyday.

Pierce Taylor Hibbs

Words of Counsel – Part 2: Letting Words Work

In Part 2 of ‘Words of Counsel,’ Hibbs provides practical helps and guidelines for how counselors can ‘let words work’ when writing to those who are hurting and struggling. Even if you don’t see yourself as a writer, you still offer written words to those you help – even if only in an email – and Hibbs will help you do that in increasingly thoughtful ways.

David Powlison

Revisiting Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair

David Powlison’s article ‘Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair’ has had a long shelf-life and has often been cited. Over the years, we have heard of how people understand and apply this article helpfully – and we’ve also encountered ways that people misunderstand and misapply it. Powlison has now written a companion commentary to address these misunderstandings and to offer you a reading strategy. It is included here along with the original article.

Counselor’s Toolbox

Alasdair Groves

When Should Counseling End?

Our Counselor’s Toolbox articles provide practical help that counselors can immediately use in their own counseling. This offering aims to answer the recurring question, when should counseling end? Alasdair Groves lays out a simple framework to help counselors answer this question, and he walks out implications both for vocational counselors and pastors.

Lives in Process

Anonymous

When It’s All Up to You

We continue our Lives in Process series with a story of a woman who suffered from anxiety due to unrealistic expectations for helping others. Recognizing her limits enables her to still care deeply for others, while learning to trust that God truly will take care of the rest.

Lauren Tapscott

Flawless? A Perfectionist Humbled by a Perfect God

This Lives in Process testimony comes from a young woman who, since childhood, was tempted to both devise and pursue her own standards of perfection. Lauren Tapscott offers us a keen look into the dynamics of her struggle with perfectionism. She captures how God is helping her to grow by becoming more concerned with loving him and others than by attempting to be perfect.

Book Reviews

Centre for Public Christianity (December 2013)

There’s the usual collection of helpful items from the Centre for Public Christianity this month, including a two-part video interview with Sherif Girgis, co-author of What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense, on ‘marriage, body-self dualism and contemporary belief in the West’. There’s also a video interview with Michael Goheen on ‘the importance of knowing what stories we are living by and how this is crucial for knowing who we are’, and another video interview with him in which he discusses how ‘the West has been shaped by Christian faith and what interest the Christian story has for the postmodern age’.

Murray J. Harris Expanded Paraphrase of Colossians

Thanks to Andy Naselli for the link to an expanded paraphrase of Colossians (linked to here) by Murray J. Harris, from the latter’s Colossians & Philemon, Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2013).