Knowing and Doing (Winter 2014)

The Winter 2014 edition of Knowing & Doing – ‘A Teaching Quarterly for Discipleship of Heart and Mind’ – from the C.S. Lewis Institute is now available online (here as a pdf), and contains the following articles:

Kerry A. Knott

Announcing The Aslan Academy: Intentional Parenting to Disciple Our Children

The Aslan Academy, our new program to help parents disciple their children, has launched. Through an intentional Seven Step Plan we will equip and encourage parents to raise up the next generation of disciples of Jesus.

Stephen D. Eyre

God’s Plan for Our Growth

Stephen D. Eyre explains that in spite of our sinful nature, God has a plan for our growth and perfection in Him.

Gerald R. McDermott

A Thumbnail Sketch of Islam for Christians

Dr. Gerald McDermott gives us a thorough and very helpful overview of Islam, the second biggest religion in the world.

Richard Turnbull

Shaftesbury: The Great Reformer

In this first of two articles Rev. Dr. Richard Turnbull gives us insight into the British evangelical social reformer, the seventh earl of Shaftesbury.

Randy Newman

Witnessing to Family Is Like Witnessing to Everyone Else... Only More So

Senior Teaching Fellow for the C.S. Lewis Institute Randy Newman shows us how witnessing to family members is both the same and different from witnessing to people outside of our families.

Africanus Journal 6, 2 (November 2014)

The most-recent Africanus Journal (published by the Africanus Guild, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), available as a pdf here, contains the below main articles along with a few book reviews:

Robert E. Boenig

C.S. Lewis and the Problem of Grief

Jet Li

Paul’s Parental Images in 1 Thessalonians 2:5-12 and 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 in Relationship to the Leadership Needs of China’s House Churches

William David Spencer

Intentional Teaching

More from Centre for Public Christianity (November 2014)

Among other items, the Centre for Public Christianity has posted a video interview with Bettina Arndt on the ingredients of a healthy sex life, and a video interview with Paula Gooder on her personal journey of faith, doubt, and coming to terms with conflicting beliefs.

Vern Sheridan Poythress on Philosophy

Vern S. Poythress, Redeeming Philosophy: A God-Centered Approach to the Big Questions (Wheaton: Crossway, 2014), 303pp., ISBN 978-1-4335-3946-6.

Through someone’s generosity, the latest book from Vern Sheridan Poythress is freely available in its entirety as a 7 MB pdf here.

Here’s some of the blurb:

‘Life is full of big questions. The study of philosophy seeks to answer such questions. In his latest book, prolific author Vern Poythress investigates the foundations and limitations of Western philosophy, sketching a distinctly Christian approach to answering basic questions about the nature of humanity, the existence of God, the search for meaning, and the basis for morality.’

See here for other freely available titles.

Tim Keller on Preaching

Thanks to Tony Reinke for drawing attention to some recent lectures by Tim Keller on preaching:

1. What is Good Preaching?

2. Preaching to Secular People and Secularized Believers

3. Preaching the Gospel Every Time

4. Preaching to the Heart

These were delivered as the 2014 John Reed Miller Lectures on Preaching at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, and the audio files (along with lectures from previous years) are available here.

Keller has a book on preaching due out in 2015, so these (and some earlier ones available via iTunes from here) will probably provide a flavour of what to expect.

Another Lost Gospel...

I’m just properly catching up with this, but last week saw the launch (at the British Library in London, no less) of The Lost Gospel: Decoding the Sacred Text That Reveals Jesus’ Marriage to Mary Magdalene, by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson.

From what I’ve been able to tell, it’s another variation of the story – ‘discovered’ and then ‘decoded’ by the special few – of Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene, the mother of his two children. In this account, Mary, it seems, is a ‘co-Messiah’. As Jacobovici says: ‘She’s not just Mrs. Jesus, she is a co-deity, a co-redeemer, she’s called “Daughter of God” as he’s called “Son of God”.’

I’ve seen a number of summaries and helpful reflections and responses:

Arun Arora – ‘It’s not Lost, It’s not a Gospel, It’s a very naughty Marketing Campaign.’

Greg Carey – ‘We’re basically looking at a sensationalist money-making scheme here, and there’s nothing else to say about it.’

John Dickson – ‘Honestly, folks, this business about the discovery of a document revealing Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene (and their two kids) is so entirely bunkum I feel embarrassed even commenting on it. But since quite a few have asked, I will swallow my pride and say...’

Dickson goes on to highlight 8 short points, worth reading if this is an area of interest or concern.

Credo Magazine 4, 4 (November 2014)

The current issue of Credo is out, this one devoted to ‘How Then Shall We Pray? The Necessity of Prayer for the Christian Life’.

According to the editorial blurb:

‘Church history shows that for Christians who came before us, private and corporate prayer was essential, assumed to be a necessary staple for the Christian and the church. After all, it is the God-given means by which we have fellowship and communion with God himself. Should we neglect prayer we actually neglect God, and the consequences are spiritually fatal. But should we set aside time to pray to God, we will benefit greatly, finding God to be a refuge and a shield in the midst of a chaotic, consuming, and demanding world.’

The magazine is available to read here, from where a 13.8 MB pdf of the whole issue can also be downloaded.