The first session of the DBTS Summer School begins May 21 and lasts for two weeks (till May 31). Two classes will be offered: 2 Peter & Jude (Greek exegesis), taught by Dr. Bruce Compton, and Theology and Practice of Leadership, taught by Dr. David Doran. The...
I am not a handy person. The tool chest in my basement contains only a few basic tools, many of which were given to me by my dad when I left home. Next to my tool chest is a 1995 edition of Home Depot’s very useful book Home Improvement 1–2–3, also given to me by my...
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about six reasons for prayer drawn from John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (3.20.3). In addition to these reasons for prayer, and in fact immediately following them, Calvin also put forward four rules or guidelines for...
DBTS graduation exercises will take place at 7 pm on May 16 at Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, MI. Twelve men will be graduated from the Master of Divinity and Master of Theology programs. This year the commencement speaker will be missionary Phil Hunt. Dr....
Adoniram Judson, pioneer missionary to Burma, was not afraid to, and it changed his view and cost him dearly. I encourage, yes, challenge you—do not think you hold to a biblical mode of baptism that is not believer's baptism by immersion, unless you can read this...
I just finished a helpful book by Thomas E. Bergler, The Juvenilization of American Christianity (Eerdmans, 2012). Those of you who know me know that books on youth ministry are not my typical cuisine, but this was no typical book on youth ministry. Instead, it was a...
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Eph 5:11). We live in a world where too often we hear about the unfruitful works of darkness—the nightly news seems to thrive on ghastly stories of murders, rapes, and violence. Frankly, it...
Most people probably don’t have Detroit near the top of their list of possible vacation destinations, but there actually are quite a few interesting places to visit in and around the city of Detroit. The Detroit Historical Museum is located downtown in the museum...
A couple of months ago I posted a rather somber assessment of what is coming for the evangelical church as it confronts the push towards gay marriage under the guise of "marriage equality." I see that Professor Paul Rahe of Hillsdale College, who is also a Roman...
The tragic happenings associated with the arrest, guilty plea, and sentencing of Jack Schaap, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond are a sad spectacle. Well before any of this blew up, I’d expressed my opposition to Schaap’s ministry and toward ministerial...
In preparation for worship this Sunday, I’d like to follow up on a piece posted this time last year on TGC’s blog titled “The Neglected Resurrection” and suggest one more reason why the resurrection must not be neglected—one more reason why the resurrection is the...
In the early years of my Christian experience, I heard some messages on Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (KJV; NASB also uses “vision”). The gist of these sermons was that effective Christian...
For the first DBTS student body chapel of the Spring 2013 semester, a panel discussed the topic of missionary deputation. Specifically, they answered questions regarding the issues missionaries, churches, and church leaders ought to address regarding the process. For...
Although St. Patrick’s Day appears on our calendars each year, most modern celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day have little to do with the person behind the holiday. This coming weekend many people will wear a little extra green, some will celebrate their Irish heritage,...
Two days ago I posted a review of What Is Marriage? by Sherif Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson, and Robert P. George. One of the authors, Ryan Anderson, has now written a 12-page summary of the arguments for the traditional view of marriage titled: Marriage: What It Is, Why...
What Is Marriage? by Sherif Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson, and Robert P. George is an important book. It is based on a 40-page article penned by the three authors published in 2010 in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. The present volume is a 110-page expansion...
One of my favorite books on pastoral ministry is the hard-hitting classic, The Reformed Pastor, by Richard Baxter. Baxter lived and ministered in the 1600s in the town of Kidderminster in Worcestershire, England. Baxter, a Puritan, was called by J. I. Packer, "The...
I had the privilege of preaching in seminary chapel yesterday. One of the great blessings of my current ministry is that I get to teach seminarians each week and preach in the chapel regularly. I often try to preach from texts of Scripture that I think will help shape...
We’re giving away a copy of Karen Jobes’s book Letters to the Church: A Survey of Hebrews and the General Epistles. In order to be entered in the drawing, just share this post on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog. Once you’ve done one or more of those things, leave a...
The DBTS 2013 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 21-31, June 4-14, and June 18-28. Two different classes are...
Dave Doran talks about his recent sermon series on contentment, specifically addressing why it is an important subject for the church to think through in our culture. Topics covered in the talk: 0:24 Reasons for preaching on the topic of contentment 1:57 Cultural...
I first taught a seminary class on the book of Romans in 1985. I said then, as we discussed Rom 1:24–27, that I thought one day Christians in America would eventually face some sort of persecution for their views on homosexuality. It is easier to see now, many years...
Last week Dr. Carl Trueman had an informative post that touches on this spring's Gospel Coalition conference. At this conference the issue of the historicity of Adam and Eve will be treated. With some key evangelical leaders embracing theistic evolution, it has become...
I just finished reading a marvelous little tome by Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, and cannot help but exclaim its merits. It is, in a word, an apologetic for the discipline of systematic theology, but more than this, an apologetic for publicly chronicled and...
Dave Doran defines "worldliness" biblically and discusses the "in, but not of, the world" command. In a follow-up video, he talks about distinguishing between worldly and non-worldly issues in culture.
DBTS will be sponsoring Seminary Days this spring on February 28–March 1 and March 14–15. Complete information on Seminary Days 2013, including a brochure and registration form, can be found on the Seminary website. Students will be able to attend classes, share meals...
Dave Doran talks about preaching from the book of Proverbs in light of his recent sermon series from the book. Check out the other video where Dave talks about applying principles from Proverbs to believers today.
MACP Roundtable 2012: Dave Doran, Michael Vlach (The Master's Seminary), and Neal Cushman (Northland International University) talk about the different kinds of premillennialism. Audio and notes from their 2012 MACP general sessions and workshops are available at the...
We are conditioned at times to think that grace and theology are confined to the spiritual realm—to believers and the church. Outside of the church independent forces like politics dominate. But when President Obama uttered the words “These tragedies must end” in the...
The Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal has been produced annually by DBTS since 1996. The 2012 edition (vol. 17) is scheduled to be mailed out in about a week. Here is the table of contents: "The History of The NIV Translation Controversy" by William W. Combs...
One of the benefits of attending the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society is the opportunity to visit the meeting’s exhibition hall. In the hall one can peruse the latest titles from major Christian publishing houses and can purchase such books at...
Recently the Anglican Church, the Church of England, rejected the consecration of women as bishops. Women have been allowed to become priests since 1994 and have been pushing to move up the ladder. Most believe it will happen eventually, and the recent vote rejecting...
Mark Snoeberger's recent post on sanctification generated a number of comments on this blog and over at SharperIron. One person asked this: Do you really believe that sanctification is furthered by rules and if so in what way? I fail to see any way that rules...
One of the commonest errors about law relative to Christian conduct is that God no longer uses fear or laws to promote Christian conduct. I was born and raised in a fundamentalist milieu that was at times excessive in its proliferation of rules and regulations. I...
Resource materials from 2012 Mid-America Conference on Preaching, "The Mystery of Christ: God's Glory among the Gentiles," are now available for free download. Included are audio recordings (mp3) from all general sessions and workshops, as well as printed notes (pdf)...
On 12 October 2012 the Roman Catholic Church inducted a new class of saints, including a 17th-century Mohawk woman named Kateri Tekakwitha. Hope for the canonization of this patroness of Montreal has been in the works for nearly 130 years, but her sainthood was...
Dispensational Understanding of the New Covenant is the title of a new book from Regular Baptist Press, edited by Mike Stallard, Dean and Professor of Systematic Theology at Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, PA. Dispensationalists have had some disagreement as to...
In my last post, I suggested that the role of the pulpit in preparing a congregation for the upcoming presidential election is more complex than simply identifying relevant biblical values at stake in the election and offering corroborating textual support. Instead,...
As an interim pastor charged in part with exposing the Scriptures so as to inform the moral and ethical decision-making of a congregation, I have been forced to consider the role that the pulpit should play in the upcoming presidential election. The simplest model,...
I am reading through John Owen's Of the Mortification of Sin in Believer's, Etc in Vol VI of his Works with a brother here in our church. One passage caused me to stop and think of how I view my own sins and to be renewed in fighting them, for, as Owen said, "be...
With this entry, I will finish my previous post on "America's Violation of "You Shall Not Murder." Having looked at the Bible's teaching on the sanctity of life, the next question we must ask is this: What does the Bible teach concerning the inception of human life? A...
In my previous post I described the announcement of a papyrus fragment that Harvard professor Karen L. King titled "The Gospel of Jesus Wife" because it apparently contains the phrase "Jesus said to them, 'My wife....'" I suggested then some scholars had already...
Dave Doran talks about the Mid-America Conference on Preaching occurring next week at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. He provides a little history regarding the conference, explains the theme "The Mystery of Christ: God's Glory among the Gentiles," and...
One of the benefits of attending the Mid-America Conference on Preaching each year is the opportunity it affords for catching up with DBTS alumni. Last fall, I found myself sitting next to alumnus Matt Ortega in a workshop session. Both of our families have grown...
The intersection of common grace with special grace is on my mind today, but not for a particularly "spiritual" reason. Bow season has begun here in Michigan and I'm anticipating the pleasure of taking one of my boys out this afternoon to see if one of us can woo a...
Last week John Aloisi posted an informative entry on "Abortion and the Early Church." With this post, and another to follow, I would like to focus on the Bible's view of abortion. The thesis of this post and the next is that an induced abortion violates the sixth...
In 1 Tim 3:2 Paul lists one of the requirements for the man who would aspire to the pastoral office: he must be "able to teach." What exactly does that mean? Dr. Mark Snoeberger, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at DBTS, unpacks the idea by expounding 2 Tim...
This is the second part of a two-part post on the importance of history and historical work—like the quest for the historical Jesus—for studying and proclaiming the Gospels. For the first part, see “Why Christians Need History.” Since history matters, since it’s...
Did Jesus have a wife? No, of course not! Though, as you may remember, that was what Dan Brown’s controversial novel The Da Vinci Code claimed. The internet has been abuzz the last 24 hours about a small papyrus fragment written in Coptic that professor Karen L. King...