Some time ago I was asked in a conversation whether I ever drank beverage alcohol and I replied “No.” Upon hearing my answer, my interlocutor quickly and harshly reprimanded me for being a legalist. Then, after I pressed him for an explanation, he made a calculated...
Introduction As was the case in the previous article of this journal, the question addressed in this article is the destination of the souls of Old Testament saints at death: Did they go (1) to an undifferentiated “place of the dead” to which all human souls descend,...
Introduction Many recognize that Habakkuk 2:4b is the center of Habakkuk’s theology. ((Mr. Meyer is a PhD candidate in Biblical Studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He currently serves as an Administrative and Library Assistant at...
Writing near the end of the 1950s, the renowned dispensational eschatologist and professor of Bible exposition, J. Dwight Pentecost (1915–2014), formulated the standard dispensational understanding of the afterlife in the Old Testament (OT). “[Sheol],” argued...
2007 William R. Rice Lecture Series Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2007Speaker: Dr. John WhitcombTheme: “Recent Trends in Creationism” Lectures:The Creation of the World – mp3The Origin of Man – mp3Dinosaurs and Men – mp3 About Our...
2010 William R. Rice Lecture Series Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010Speaker: Dr. Michael VlachTheme: “Replacement Theology: Has the Church Superseded Israel as the People of God?” – notes Lectures:Introduction to Replacement Theology – mp3A...
In what may be the most highly contested passage of Ecclesiastes, the writer Qohelet((Given that the author of Ecclesiastes does not identify himself outside the nom de plume Qohelet (Heb. קֹהֶלֶת), I will use this nomenclature to designate him. ((Dr. Dunham is...
As Paul closes out 2 Corinthians, he makes a rather startling command: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor 13:5).((Dr. Pratt is Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Plymouth, MN. Of Dr....
Baptist Foundations: Church Government for an Anti-Institutional Age, ed. Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman. Nashville: B&H, 2015. xxiv + 397 pp. $44.99. The study of Baptist polity has been greatly enriched in the past fifteen years thanks to a series of...
American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths, by Thomas S. Kidd. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. 329 pp. $20.00. Astonishing changes took place on the continent of North America between the years 1492 and 1763. Prior to Columbus a state of constant...
The Disruption of Evangelicalism: The Age of Torrey, Mott, McPherson, and Hammond, by Geoffrey R. Treloar. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017. xiii + 334 pp. $35.00. This is the long awaited final volume (although the fourth in the series chronologically) of...
Baptist History in England and America: Personalities, Positions, and Practices, by David Beale. Maitland, FL: Xulon, 2018. ix + 627 pp. $28.99. David Beale, retired professor of Church History at Bob Jones University, has written a fresh look at Baptists of England...
Dispensationalism and Free Grace: Intimately Linked, by Grant Hawley. Taos, NM: Dispensational Publishing House, 2017. 74 pp. $12.95. In this brief book, Grant Hawley attempts to demonstrate that the literal interpretation of dispensationalism gives rise to free grace...
The Suffering Servant of the Lord: A Prophecy of Jesus Christ, by David J. MacLeod. 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2018. xviii + 265 pp. $32.00. David MacLeod is Professor Emeritus of Bible and Theology at Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque, IA. In this second...
Redeeming Productivity, by Reagan Rose. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2022. ix + 158 pp. $15.99. Reagan Rose is the founder of Redeeming Productivity, an online teaching ministry aimed at recapturing personal productivity for the sake...
Pastoral Identity: True Shepherds in the Household of Faith, by Douglas D. Webster. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2023. 186 pp. $19.99. Douglas Webster (PhD, University of St. Michael’s College; BA and MA, Wheaton College) is Professor of...
Preparing Sermons from the Page to the Pulpit: Exegesis to Exposition in Seven Steps, by Wayne Baxter. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2023. xii + 185 pp. $22.99. Wayne Baxter encourages preachers to do all they can to furnish their flock...
Dave Deuel on Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters A Parallel Hebrew-Aramaic Handbook DBSJ 29 2024Download Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters: A Parallel Hebrew-Aramaic Handbook, by Scott N. Callaham. Wilmore, KY: GlossaHouse, 2021. xv + 249 pp. $35.99....
Dustin Burlet on A Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic LexiconDownload A Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, by Frank Matheus. Wilmore, KY: GlossaHouse, 2020. x + 388 pp. $29.99. There is a dearth of up-to-date, inexpensive, and user-friendly lexicons for biblical Aramaic....
The newest issue of the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal is now available online. The 2024 issue contains six peer-reviewed articles and 68 pages of book reviews. This year's issue, along with all back issues of the DBSJ, can be downloaded for free from our seminary...
I’ve seen several people recently discussing the issue of Federal Vision, a theological movement among Reformed churches that arose in 2002 and was both championed and condemned by various leaders within those churches. Some seem confused as to why some popular...
An article published recently by the Religion News Service, “Is a Pastor’s Sin a Private Matter?” addresses a matter of great consequence and relevance in the Christian Church. Unfortunately, the article offered an answer that was terribly incomplete. It...
I love productivity. So, you can imagine my excitement when I heard about the 2023 E3 Pastor’s conference. This year’s theme is “Focused and Faithful: Dealing with Distractions and Demands in Ministry.” One of our guest speakers is Reagan Rose. He is working hard to...
It is that time of year here in Michigan when you begin to see yard sales cropping up around your neighborhood. When I decide to sell something, I have become more fond of the online methods that eliminate the unpleasant experience of moving things from your yard...
A recent Wired article fascinated me. It began with the line, “One day, human wombs will no longer be necessary for bearing children.” It continued, highlighting the scientific advances that make it quite probable that there will be artificial wombs in factories...
I have not engaged substantially in the study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Most of the celebrity that Bonhoeffer has earned is in the spheres of ethics, piety, and courage (and he rightly merits our admiration on those counts); still, I have been concerned that unqualified...
If you are trying to read through the Bible this year there is a good chance you have recently finished the book of Exodus, are in the middle of it now, or will soon be starting it (depending on what kind of plan you use). When you read through the account of God's...
We live in a hyper-sexualized and semi-pornographic culture. The problem dominates popular advertising, pervades our entertainment choices, and even weasels its way into our churches. The concept of modesty is no longer a standard for judgment, but an object...
A few weeks ago I drew attention to the AI movement and its complications with education. Namely, to what degree can students use AI and still consider the product their own work. Just recently, ChatGPT launched and now has over one million users. If you try to use...
I knew I had a difficult task ahead of me. The next passage to teach in my Adult Bible Fellowship was 1 Peter 3:18–22. If you have ever preached or taught through 1 Peter, you got goosebumps when I mentioned that passage. In just five verses there is complexity upon...
Even though there has been a steady rise of in-person and online gambling over the last several years, few voices seem to be speaking out against this societal ill, a true threat to human flourishing. While some of the focus inevitably needs to deal with the role of...
DBTS just hosted the Bible Faculty Summit, a meeting of faculty from various theological institutions. This year, we had multiple faculty members from institutions like Bob Jones University, Maranatha Baptist University, Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, and...
The death and Resurrection of Christ together represent the pivotal event of the Christian Scriptures. In these two paired incidents are contained the seeds from which the whole Christian Gospel sprouts, and in them are seated the great Christian hope that I am...
When we think of Jesus, what comes to mind? My thoughts immediately turn to His sacrificial love for me on the cross. I think of hymns and texts of Scripture that talk about Jesus being a friend. Hymns like: What a Friend we have in JesusJesus, Savior, blessed...
Some time ago I took up the question of whether God intended ancient Israel to serve as a verbal witness proclaiming God’s salvation to the nations. In other words, did Israel have a “missionary mandate” in that she was commissioned directly by God to be a missionary...
The last several months have included a lot of opportunities for Christians to think about the government. Contested elections, controversial judicial decisions, political scandals, progressive laws, and changing health orders have led believers to wrestle with what...
As Christians in North America continue to transition from governments that were largely favorable or neutral to Christianity to governments that demonstrate an increasing animosity toward traditional Christianity, believers and churches will be forced to wrestle more...
A few years back I made a proposal that we replace the label “literal translation” with a better one—originalism—a term that has been robustly defined away from competing hermeneutical ideas in the secular/legal sphere. For decades the dispensationalist has dealt...
Brett McCracken has written a helpful, short book on managing our information-overload world. He rightly notes that though we live in a world of exponentially increasing knowledge, such knowledge has not done much to make us wise. The book breaks into two unequal...
According to the World Heath Organization, over 42 million abortions were performed across the globe in 2020, making abortion the leading cause of death. This Friday marks the 48th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the...
The intersection of Acts 5:29 and 1 Peter 2:13 encapsulates a tension facing many churches today. Harmonizing these texts is not a simple task. Still, it can be done. The simplest harmonization goes something like this: “We must obey the government unless the...
One of the most important philosophers of our day died last weekend, and almost no one noticed. Best known as a proponent of political conservatism (or Toryism in the British circles in which he lived much of his life), Sir Roger Scruton was also a champion of...
The origins of the Septuagint (hereafter, LXX) remain murky despite the evidence of its wide dissemination in the Hellenistic world.[1] Clues to its existence begin to emerge as early as the mid-second century B.C. Historical details, however, concerning the identity,...
I am excited to announce the release today of the 24th volume of the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal. Articles include: Andrew David Naselli, What the New Testament Teaches About Divorce and Remarriage Ryan E. Meyer, The Interpretation of Matthew 10:23b Timothy E....
On occasion through the years one reads or hears of a great revival somewhere in the world, a sudden outburst of the power of the Holy Spirit. It usually includes the testimony of many souls saved as well as miracles of all sorts that seem to parallel those of the...
A message from Dr. Doran: Dear Friend of DBTS, Happy Thanksgiving! God has been gracious to us and is worthy of every bit of thanks, and more, that He receives. I am looking forward to a fun and refreshing time with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day, then...
These things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So says the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:11. The statement caps a rapid-fire sequence of references to the Old Testament in a timeless...
In my previous posts, here and here, I reported on a debate between Dan Wallace and Bart Ehrman during which Wallace remarked that he had information about the discovery of a fragmentary papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Mark that possibly may be from the 1st...
In the past few weeks, a number of significant new commentaries have been released, and several more are on the immediate horizon. Below are a few of the more interesting additions. Douglas Moo, Romans, 2nd ed., NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018) Originally...