I am one of the speakers responding to Iain Provan (who has just written this book) in this Davenant Institute event on Protestant hermeneutics. Continue reading “Iain Provan, ‘In Defence of Protestant Hermeneutics’ (and responses, including mine)”
Month: November 2018
Sexuality in Zero Gravity
A talk delivered at Patrick Henry College on the changing shape of sexuality in the twenty-first century. Continue reading “Sexuality in Zero Gravity”
The Trinity in the OT, the Faith of OT Believers, the Angel of the Lord
A number of years ago there was a lot of debate in certain circles in the UK revolving around these topics: the degree to which Christ/the Trinity is explicitly present in the OT; the nature of the Angel of the Lord; relatedly the object of believers’ faith in the OT (did OT saints trust consciously and explicitly in the Son?); the degree to which revelation is progressive from the OT to the NT. A lot of these threads were explored in the Blackham-Goldsworthy debate: http://www.theologian.org.uk/bible/blackham.html
What are your views on these topics? Some more specific questions might be:
– Does the OT, read on its own terms, clearly present a unipersonal God or a binitatian/Trinitarian God? Or does it murkily present the latter?
– How were OT believers saved? Through explicit faith in the Son, or through other means?
– Who is the Angel of the Lord?
Continue reading “The Trinity in the OT, the Faith of OT Believers, the Angel of the Lord”
Legal and Natural Consequences of Sin
What is your understanding of the legal and natural consequences of sin? Should we separate the two? Is there any difference between God’s judgement/wrath and the natural consequence of being handed over to sin/the powers?
Man, Woman, Deception and Authority in 1 Timothy 2
How do we explain 1 Timothy 2:14? On the one hand it appears to have a novel idea that Adam was not deceived in the fall. While on the other it appears to ground the submission of women in a tendency to be deceived. What’s going on here?
Continue reading “Man, Woman, Deception and Authority in 1 Timothy 2”
Call No Man Father, Castor and Pollux, Contraception
1.) How can Paul call Timothy his “true child in the Faith” (1 Tim 1:2; cf. 1 Cor 4:17, 2 Tim 1:2) when Jesus forbids calling anyone Father besides God (Matt 23:9)? I’m assuming Jesus meant “call no man a spiritual father” but that seems to not clear up the issue since it seems like Paul is referring to himself as Timothy’s spiritual father (maybe in a nuanced sense). Is this situation analogous to how, in the next verse, Jesus tells us to call no man instructor except for the Christ, but we obviously have instructors in the church?
2.) What is the significance of Luke mentioning in Acts 28:11 that the boat Paul was sailing on had the twin gods (Castor and Pollux, I think) as figureheads? That might be an historical detail but was curious.
3.) What should Christians think of contraceptives (specifically non-abortive contraceptives, like condoms and birth control)? Should Christians only use methods of “family planning” or are any methods (artificial or natural) of preventing children from being conceived immoral?
Continue reading “Call No Man Father, Castor and Pollux, Contraception”
The Church and the Natural Family
In the past two episodes of “Mere Fidelity” there was an underlying issue which was touched on, but not fully discussed. That is the relationship between the biological family and the New Family of which Christ is the firstborn. Examples I am thinking of: 1.) Does the Great Commission now call us to emphasize “being fruitful and multiplying” for this New Family through making disciples, over and against being fruitful in biological families? 2.) For those who cannot have biological families, how much should the church be relied upon to be family? 3.) The New Testament certainly seems to de-emphasize biological family to some degree, what do we make of this?
Jairus’ Daughter and the Woman with the Issue of Blood
What’s going on with the story of the healing of Jairus’ daughter and the woman who touches the hem of Jesus’ garment? I know there are similarities between the two, but I’m not sure what to make of them.
Continue reading “Jairus’ Daughter and the Woman with the Issue of Blood”
Adversaria Videos and Podcasts 