During the summer of 2000, my wife and I travelled through Iowa on the way to visit family. Along the way we stopped in Ankeny to attend church and catch up with some old friends. After the evening service, Myron Houghton took us out for pie at Baker’s Square. It was...
The standard editions of the Greek New Testament are the Nestle-Aland and the United Bible Societies editions. The current versions are the NA 27th and the UBS 4th, both published in 1993. The NA 28th edition is scheduled to be published in September. The German Bible...
One of the persistent themes of the conservative evangelical movement has been a recovery of a “theology of the cross” from its eclipse by a “theology of glory.” In general, this is a positive development. The distinction between these two categories is generally...
This is a guest post by Matt Owen, my friend and associate pastor of Community Baptist Church in Trenton, MI. Only a few days have passed since the Olympic torch was extinguished at the conclusion of the 2012 summer games. London has no doubt wearily...
I did not eat at Chick-fil-A on August 1st. I've got a good excuse: they don't have Chick-fil-A's in Michigan, and Toledo is forty miles away. But honestly, I probably wouldn't have gone anyway, because I don't like fast food chicken (my refined fast food palate...
I received the most recent issue of Evangelical Missions Quarterly with some anticipation. The title article was "Proclamation vs. Social Action: A Symposium." With the 2011 release of Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert's book What is the Mission of the Church?...
God sometimes uses strange instruments to accomplish his gracious purposes. Such was the case in late 1830 when a young man named Alvah Strong (1809–1875) was converted under the ministry of Charles Finney (1792–1875). For roughly six months during the fall and winter...
This is a new online journal that has apparently just become available with volume one, number one. The articles can be accessed on the home page as individual pdfs, or one can download the entire issue. Check it out here.
Each year I look forward to Al Mohler’s summer reading suggestions. His lists contain just the kind of books I enjoy reading for recreation. Unfortunately, although Mohler has introduced me to a number of new authors, I’ve never made it through one of his summer...
During the past few months, a number of helpful resources related to the Protestant Reformation have hit bookstore shelves. This post will highlight two of the more significant volumes. Whitford, David M., ed. T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology. London:...
That's the title of an interview with Dr. Bryant Wood and Prof. Todd Bolen. Wood was the lecturer for the Seminary's 2012 Rice Lectures. Bolen was our guide for the Seminary's Israel Study tour in 2000. The interview discusses how both men got involved in biblical...
Did you take any Greek in seminary or Bible college? Perhaps you teach it. If so, then I suspect you’ll know what I mean when I say that my second-year Greek class has entered that time in the semester when I’ve got to start talking about Heinrich Bizter or posting...
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...
In the interests of avoiding a reputation as an iconoclast, I thought it might be good to offer a positive follow-up to my previous post, God Is Not My Fall Guy. Some of you perhaps were scandalized by the post, supposing that the only alternative to invoking...
"Hello, my name is__________, and I approve this message." This awkward disclaimer became part of standard political jargon in 2002, when the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was passed. Specifically, its "Stand By Your Ad" provision demands that all political ads run...
John J. Collins. The Scepter and the Star: Messianism in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2nd edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010, xi + 298 pp. Why was Jesus crucified as a messianic pretender (“King of the Jews”) or, upon his resurrection, declared by his...
The William R. Rice Lectures were held on March 14 with Dr. Bryant G. Wood. The theme for 2012 was, “Archaeology and the Conquest: New Evidence on an Old Problem.” The audio recordings from the sessions are now posted to the DBTS website. One of Dr. Wood's topics was...
I was preparing for my class in the OT Historical Books the other day when I stumbled over one of the ESV's little-advertised translation changes in 1 Samuel 13:1 (I'd call it a stealth version, but that would be a cheap shot). Unlike many of these changes, this was a...
We looked at Romans 9–16 last week in a course I’m teaching on Paul. I’ll admit, we spent most of our time in chs. 9–11, working a bit too closely—considering our time constraints—through Paul’s OT citations. One of the more puzzling of these citations is found in...
The Rice Lectures will take place on Wednesday March 14, with speaker Dr. Bryant G. Wood. His topic will be “Archaeology and the Conquest: New Evidence on an Old Problem.” There is no cost to attend the Rice Lectures. However, for planning purposes, all guests are...
Every time I hear a specific date announced for the end of the War in Afghanistan, I experience a brief snort of laughter. What kind of world do we live in where the beginning and end of wars can be scheduled? The fact is, so long as differing worldviews exist, wars...
What question do seminary students get asked more than any other? I’ll bet you know even if you’ve never been to seminary or met a real-life seminarian. No, it’s not what brand of lapsarian they are, believe it or not, nor even whether they prefer the Erasmian or...
According to Job 14:5, “A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” But Northwestern Mutual Life has come up with a calculator that predicts your life span after answering only 13 questions.
Each year DBTS hosts the William R. Rice Lecture Series, named for the Seminary's founder and first president. We are pleased to announce that the speaker for next year's event on March 14, 2012, will be Dr. Bryant G. Wood. His topic will be “Archaeology and the...
Welcome to the blog of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary in Allen Park, Michigan. This is a blog by the faculty of DBTS. Why the name Theologically Driven? We believe it accurately describes one of the important principles that distinguishes DBTS. Every discipline...
This being Thanksgiving, I wanted to express my thanks to all of the faithful pastors that are opening their hearts to people—upholding them in their hearts through prayer, pouring out their hearts in preaching, and exposing their hearts in counseling. It is a great...
“The new standard for a long time”—that’s how John Piper recently described Tom Nettles’s new biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892). Just released in the past week, Living by Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon has...
As one reads the Old Testament, he will undoubtedly notice the mysterious references to the angel of the LORD. Is this an angel like Michael who was sent out by the LORD? Or is this some kind of manifestation of deity? Who is the angel of the LORD? Let's initially...
This week we are giving away a copy of Klink and Lockett’s book Understanding Biblical Theology: A Comparison of Theory and Practice. In order to enter the drawing, all you need to do is post a comment indicating the author/title of a book you are planning to read...
A little over a year ago, I blogged about some church history resources for children, and I recommended the Christian Biographies for Young Readers series. Now a new book in that series, this one on Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033–1109), is set to be released in the...
I wasn't one of the privileged few who got to pre-screen the History Channel's miniseries, The Bible, but I thought a retrospective word about the series might be useful for those who didn't get a chance to watch. Here are a few of my observations, first positive,...
Several years ago Michael Haykin put together a short anthology of letters written by notable believers of the past about the subject of marriage. The letters provide interesting insight into a side of the Protestant Reformers, Puritans, and others that’s rarely seen...
A new year brings a new opportunity to develop a new series, a new program, a new outreach or something else that may prove refreshing and revitalizing for your ministry. However, I have chosen this year to renew a focus in my areas of ministry, and I would like to...
I just began my second time through an introductory course on the Gospels. The very first assignment I have my students do is to read and respond to an article Scot McKnight wrote in CT back in 2010 titled “The Jesus We’ll Never Know,” in which he argues that...
Being a major election year, attention to voter eligibility has again become an issue. Each side wants to make sure that every person who might vote for its candidate is eligible and registered to vote. But there is one class of citizens that in many states is...
What is the role of the seminary in the spiritual formation, as it now called, the spiritual growth and maturity of the seminary student? Carl Trueman begins the discussion in this post in which he says: This is a real challenge for theological educators as it is one...