I think it's fair to say that art can reach the inner person quicker than an outline (though perhaps "art" is a strong word for my poem!). That is the thrust behind this attempt to summarize the storyline of the Bible. My goal was to produce something that would...
Last month my colleagues and I had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (for more on the purpose and value, as well as the shortcomings of ETS, see Dr. Snoeberger’s recent blog post). Although I attend the conference for...
If you were to rate the importance of reading on a scale of 1-10, how would you rate it? Of course, as people of the Book, I trust you would rate it fairly high. If so, let me ask a second question, When was the last time you read a book about the skill of reading? If...
You're driving to church on a hurried Sunday morning and it hits you... You realize that you're going to have to see "that person." The wound from their careless words is still fresh and a chill hangs in the air between you. Your Sunday plans suddenly become a...
Over at the Gospel Coalition website, Justin Taylor just posted a short and incisive critique of abortion. In my opinion, his broad treatment of the issue is one of the best ways to converse with those who disagree. It takes a position that nearly everyone on the...
DBTS has a history of presenting papers at the Evangelical Theological Society. This year, I have the honor of presenting at the sister organization, the Evangelical Philosophical Society, a paper titled, "Perspectival Epistemology: John Frame’s Trinitarian Theology...
"I would like to buy about three dollars' worth of gospel, please. Not too much—just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don’t want so much that I...
I feel a bit inadequate to write on a topic on which so many with greater experience than I have written at length. I don’t purport to be an expert on writing homilies; only rarely have I had extended seasons of life where I have had to write a weekly (much less...
It’s finally here. Millions of Americans are turning out today to cast their vote in an election that many pundits are calling the most significant in a generation. I must confess that the arrival of election day brings mixed feelings: relief (that the election ads...
On this day 499 years ago, a monk named Martin Luther (1483–1546) approached a church door in Wittenberg, Germany and posted a list of topics for academic debate at the local university. With this relatively innocuous act Luther started a movement that developed into...
OK, so I told myself I was done talking about Christians and voting. But the events of the last week got to me. Not the Billy Bush video, but the evangelical reaction to it. Please don’t get me wrong—the video was awful and disgusting and demeaning and odious and...
The following post is part two of a two-part series. Part one may be found here. Last time we began a two-part series on the importance of Israel’s fall religious season by looking at the significance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We saw that these religious days...
The following post is part one of a two-part series. The conclusion will follow on Friday. Over the next several weeks observant Jews will enter one of the busiest and most important religious seasons of the year. Starting at sundown, October 2, and running through...
Church Planting is all the rage right now–the topic seems to be on everyone’s mind, on every conference schedule, and taking hold of many church budgets. All Glory to Christ! I am so thankful for the surge of church planting among evangelicals and the advance of...
In my occasional role as an interim pastor, I’ve been tasked more than once with creating a questionnaire for potential pastoral candidates who have submitted applications for a vacancy in the church. One of the questions that I like to include is this: “What is the...
This Saturday, September 17 from 1:00-4:30 p.m. Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary is hosting an apologetics seminar designed to promote critical thinking about two topics. The seminar is free, and all are welcome. 1) Does God Exist? Jonathan Swift's (pastor of...
In the early 1800s the church in America faced a number of challenges. Intermittent revivals of religion in the previous decades had fueled rapid church growth without a corresponding supply of godly, qualified ministers. The vastly expanding western frontier called...
Should the chief role of a seminary be the training of scholars or pastors? In recent years there has been much said about the Pastor-Scholar, a breed of theological prodigies capable of handling two full time jobs. While some may be able to maintain such balance,...
This morning we welcomed a new crop of seminary students into our halls. Their excitement is contagious, and the faculty is eager to start classes. But as I contemplate the four year path set before these new students, I recognize the importance of a good start....
When I was an associate pastor, I remember “Grandma” Audrey, an eighty-year-old woman, asking me why Jesus required His disciples to keep His true identity a secret (e.g., Mark 8:29-30). I was thankful that she had been reading her Scripture in such a way that...
Six months ago the Lord led my family to make a surprising move. I was teaching at a University in Wisconsin and believed the Lord would leave us there for many years to come. When the Lord led us to seriously consider moving to Detroit, a few things needed to be...
Christians should be personally sympathetic to the plight of those who are truly persecuted and traumatized by the effects of war, especially those who are innocent of and vulnerable to the atrocities of war. Further, Christians should personally extend benevolence,...
Most seminary students are involved in teaching children in some venue or another. Many are husbands and fathers, and so are responsible for training their own children on a daily basis. Others are not, but are still involved in teaching children within the context of...
Have you ever noticed that the writer of Hebrews never directly quotes from Jesus?[1] Of course, the New Testament epistles do not contain many quotations directly from Jesus. This is understandable in the case of Paul who probably never met the pre-resurrected...
In re-reading The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter recently, I was again encouraged to pray for and love those I help shepherd. It is far too easy to have the ministry become more professional than personal. Having a truly biblical, tender love for those in our care...
A little over fifty years ago, Carl Bangs lamented that Jacob Arminius (1559/60–1609) had been consistently misunderstood and misrepresented by both friend and foe alike (Bangs, “Arminius and the Reformation,” Church History 30 [1961]: 155–56). Some thirty years...
Guy Waters has an excellent summary of justification and sanctification over at the Ligonier Blog.
In a few days, we’re going to give away a couple of books to one of our readers. The books we are giving away are Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy and Four Views on the Historical Adam, both in the Counterpoints series published by Zondervan. In order to enter the...
This blog post is fairly ambitious, seeking to answer two questions: How can we prove the existence of universally “received laws of language”? And, assuming they exist, Who gets to decide what those laws are in the absence of an explicit biblical statement of those...
If you notice the header of this blog, you will see a tab marked "Journal," which if selected will take you to the web page for our seminary journal. Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal began in 1996 and is published annually in the fall of the year. At the web page you...
In the West, most Protestants are at least somewhat familiar with Roman Catholicism. Many of us have Roman Catholic friends, neighbors, and even family members. And many believers have been saved out of Roman Catholicism. Much less familiar to most westerners is the...
If you notice the header of this blog, you will see a tab marked "Journal," which if selected will take you to the web page for our seminary journal. Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal began in 1996 and is published annually in the fall of the year. At the web page you...
The Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal has been produced annually by DBTS since 1996. The 2014 edition (vol. 19) was recently published: "'The Chief Exercise of Faith': John Calvin and the Practice of Prayer" by John Aloisi "Spirit-Filling in Ephesians 5:18" by William...
If you notice the header of this blog, you will see a tab marked "Journal," which if selected will take you to the web page for our seminary journal. Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal began in 1996 and is published annually in the fall of the year. At the web page you...
I confess I don’t keep up very well with the evangelical left and its culture-lapping delight in all things morally degenerate. So I’m rather late getting into the discussion of Perry Noble and his ignoble attempt to catch Mark Driscoll's mantle before it reaches the...
The DBTS 2015 summer school schedule is now available. Each class meets Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 noon for two weeks (no classes on Monday). There are three sessions of summer school: May 19-29, June 2-12, and June 16-26. Here are the classes: May 19–29...
From time to time I’ve met professing Christians who for one reason or another claim that they do not need to be part of a local church. In most cases, they seem to believe that because God has placed them in the universal Church, they can worship God just fine apart...
I heard recently of a church seeking a new pastor. Some said, "We want a pastor whose preaching is practical and encouraging." Others said, "We need a doctrinal, expositional ministry." Still others prefer preaching heavy on confrontation. It is easy to identify what...
Most of us are familiar with how 2 Cor 5:7 reads in the KJV, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." If you do a Google search on this verse, you will find explanations of what this means, such as, "the Bible challenges us to 'walk by faith, not by sight,'" or...
In honor of Reformation Day, here are a few resources you might want to check out. Ligonier Ministries has made a number of Reformation-related e-books and audio/video resources available to download for free (until 11:59 pm, Oct 31, 2014). Over on Amazon, several...
Last year we were jolted when the Supreme Court struck down one of the central pillars of the “Defense of Marriage Act,” effectively releasing whatever brake was still restraining same-sex marriage. This week we moved one step closer to trouble for our churches when a...
Last month a new book was released titled A Conservative Christian Declaration. Co-authored by six men (Kevin Bauder, Scott Aniol, David de Bruyn, Mike Riley, Ryan Martin, and Jason Parker) this fairly short volume (92 pp.) is intended to articulate “a fully orbed...
In August 1998, I ordered some of my first seminary textbooks as a student. That particular semester, one item stood out above the rest. Philip Schaff’s 8-volume History of the Christian Church stood out primarily due to its price. At the time Schaff retailed for...
Michigan Cherry Coffee Sure, you can order it online. But only Michigan coffeehouses serve freshly brewed coffee made from cherries grown just a few hours to our north. If you like coffee but haven’t tried Michigan Cherry coffee, you need to. And if you don’t like...
Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–c. 340) is generally considered the church’s first real historian. Although he provides invaluable insight into the history and workings of the early church, Eusebius is often criticized for his selective record and especially for his...
Over the past month or two, I’ve put forward a few suggested reading lists in the field of church history. These lists have included surveys of church history, books on the history of Christian doctrine, books that discuss church history in specific areas of the...
One of the best-known lines from St. Paul is found at the beginning of his letter to the Philippians where he says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (1:21). I think this was my life verse for at least a few years. In fact, I’m pretty sure I put the...
In recent weeks, I’ve posted a few suggested reading lists in the field of church history. These lists have included broad overviews of church history, books on the history of Christian doctrine, and books that discuss church history in specific areas of the world. In...
Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted a couple of suggested reading lists. These lists have included broad overviews of church history and books on the history of Christian doctrine. In this post, I’m going to recommend a number of books that focus on the history of...