Byron Borger on Books for Life-Long Learners 24.0

The latest entry in Brian Borger’s series of ‘must-read books’ highlights Roots of Western Culture: Pagan, Secular, and Christian Options, by Herman Dooyeweerd (Grand Rapids: Paideia, 2012), a new paperback version of the 1979 edition, and A Thicker Jesus: Incarnational Discipleship in a Secular Age, by Glen Harold Stassen (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2012).

Protestant Reformed Theological Journal 46, 1 (2012) on Herman Bavinck

Thanks to Steve Bishop for the heads up that the latest issue of Protestant Reformed Theological Journal (contents below, and available here as a pdf) is devoted to Herman Bavinck. The Book Reviews section includes a review of Ron Gleason’s 2010 work, Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman, and Theologian.

Editor’s Notes

David J. Engelsma

Herman Bavinck: The Man and His Theology

David J. Engelsma

Herman Bavinck’s Doctrine of the Covenant

James A. Laning

Herman Bavinck’s View of Common Grace

David J. Engelsma

Another Defender of Shepherd (and the Federal Vision)

Book Reviews

Themelios 37, 3 (November 2012)

The latest Themelios is online here (and available here as a single pdf), containing the following articles:

D.A. Carson

Editorial: More Examples of Intolerant Tolerance

Michael J. Ovey

Off the Record: Sorrow at Another’s Good?

Andreas J. Köstenberger

The Present and Future of Biblical Theology

Rob Smith

Music, Singing, and Emotions: Exploring the Connections

Peter R. Schemm, Jr.

The Writing Pastor: An Essay on Spiritual formation

Book Reviews

Foundations 63 (Autumn 2012)

Issue 63 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now freely available (here in its entirety as a pdf). This is a themed issue, devoted to baptism, with the following contributions:

Ralph Cunnington

Editorial

Derek W.H. Thomas

Water-Ordeals of the Seventeenth Century: Should Baptism Divide?

John Stevens

Infant Baptism: Putting Old Wine into New Wineskins?

Kevin J. Bidwell

A Covenantal View of Baptism and Its Relationship to Evangelism

Lee Gatiss

The Anglican Doctrine of Baptism

Mike Gilbart-Smith

“Let the Little Children Come to Me... But Should We Baptise Them?”

Jonathan Leeman

Review Article: David F. Wright (ed), Baptism: Three Views

Justin Mote

Book Review: Robert Letham, A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Baptism – The Water that Unites

Three Theos Reports

Theos, Religion and Law (London: Theos, 2012).

Nick Spencer & Holly Weldin, Post-Religious Britain? The Faith of the Faithless (London: Theos, 2012).

Hats off to the ever-prodigious folk at Theos who are releasing three new reports before the year is out. The above two are already available, and the arrival of the third is imminent.

Religion and Law is ‘a collection of essays written by sixteen leading legal experts exploring the complex and often controversial relationship between religion and the law in Britain today’. According to the blurb, ‘it explores the often contested relationship between religious commitment and British law, seeking to challenge the ultimately oppressive reduction of religion to the private realm, and questioning, among other contentious matters, whether human rights and religious commitment are fully compatible’.

Post-Religious Britain? The Faith of the Faithless ‘examines the shape of unbelief in Britain today’. The report ‘llustrates the mistakes of the secularisation thesis, rejecting the common understanding that as we become less institutionally religious, we necessarily become more secular or atheist. It paints a different picture of modern society – one in which the lines between the religious and non-religious are becoming increasingly blurred’.

The third report, From Goodness to God: Why Religion Makes Sense of our Moral Commitments, to be published later this week, ‘argues that religious belief provides a better foundation for moral reasoning than atheism’.

Lausanne Movement on Media and the Gospel

The current topic focus from the Lausanne Movement on the issues raised in The Cape Town Commitment is media.

There is a summarising piece by Naomi Frizzell – ‘Media and the Gospel: A Call to the Global Lausanne Community’, urging us to take seriously:

• Media awareness – ‘The need for greater understanding of how media messages shape individuals, families and societies; and the need to develop skills of critical evaluation and response.’

• Media presence – ‘The need for a new emphasis on working in the mainstream news and creative media, from a Christian perspective, with professionalism, creativity, integrity, and courage.’

• Media ministries – ‘The need for courage, creativity, innovation, and integrity in using every medium to its full potential to communicate the gospel and biblical truth.’

Several short essays and responses exploring the topic further are available from this page.

Byron Borger on Books for Life-Long Learners 23.0

Byron Borger continues his series on ‘must-read books’, this time highlighting 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life, by Matthew Sleeth (Carol Stream: Tyndale, 2012), and Glimpses of Another Land: Political Hopes, Spiritual Longing: Essays, by Eric Miller (Eugene: Cascade, 2012).