Grace Blog
What Theology Is About
Russell Moore has written a very good article entitled, “Will the Devil Be in My Classroom?“ In it, he makes a very important point about the point of doing theology. Those who love the truth must love the application of that truth to everyday life. Truth is not intended to intellectually satisfy but to transform our lives, and should we stop short of a thorough application of what we know and believe, we are in danger of the kind of mental assent found among demons rather than the obedient lives of God’s children. Here’s the quote:
It’s not about quarreling about words, or setting up partisan divisions. Theology is helping a shellshocked widow clean up after a suicide. Theology is about crying with a teenage boy who’s body is shaking with crystal meth. Theology drives you to rock orphans in India, singing “Jesus Loves Me” while you pray they learn what that means. Theology is hugging an animist African’s neck while you tell him Jesus can protect him from the spirits he fears…or hugging a self-righteous Southern Baptist American’s neck while you tell him he doesn’t fear those demonic spirits nearly enough.
Labels: Orthodoxy, Orthopraxy, Theology | posted by TimBrister at 6:48 am | Categories: Theology |
Resources on Union with Christ
In my last post, I mentioned a great little resource on union with Christ from the writings of John Flavel. There are a couple of other books worth checking out, though they are a little more academic in nature (and more costly!). In any case, the place where you can find nearly every resource related to the doctrine of union with Christ is on this blogpost by Phil Gons. There you will find everything from books, articles, essays, chapters, and even conference papers! Be sure to check it out.
A couple of other books that I recently picked up that might be of some interest to you are:
Mark A. Garcia, Life in Christ: Union with Christ and Twofold Grace in Calvin’s Theology (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster Press), 2008.
Maurice Roberts, Union and Communion with Christ (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books), 2008.
Labels: Resources, Theology, Union with Christ | posted by TimBrister at 1:59 pm | Categories: Jesus, Resources, Theology |
Book Recommendation: The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety
During the “Ask the Pastor” time of discussion during Bible Study, the question of union with Christ was raised, at which time I mentioned a helpful little book called The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety: John Flavel’s Doctrine of Mystical Union with Christ by J. Stephen Yuille. Dr. Yuille has mined the woks of John Flavel and presented a powerful summary of this fundamental doctrine from one of the most eminent Puritans of the 17th century, John Flavel.
Here’s the Table of Contents:
1. The Covenant of Redemption
2. The Basis of Union with Christ
3. The Nature of Union with Christ
4. The Act of Union with Christ
5. The Blessings of Union with Christ
6. The Fruit of Union with Christ
7. The Evidence of Union with Christ
8. The Suffering of Union with Christ
9. The Joy of Union with Christ
10. The Practice of Union with Christ
11. The Hope of Union with Christ
Union with Christ was a central theological motif for John Calvin and many who followed in his train, not the least was such men as John Flavel and James P. Boyce. In the introduction, Yuille provides a probing quote by Flavel in which he asks:
How transcendently glorious is the advancement of believers, by their union with the Lord of glory? This also is an admirable and astonishing mystery; it is the highest dignity of which our nature is capable, to be hypostatically united; and the greatest glory of which our persons are capable is to be mystically united to this Lord of glory; to be bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. O what is this! Christian, dost thou know and believe all this, and thy heart not burn within thee in love to Christ? (4, emphasis original)
In a follow-up post, I refer to the research compiling a comprehensive listing of books and articles related to “union with Christ.”
Labels: John Flavel, Stephen Yuille, The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety, Union with Christ | posted by TimBrister at 6:24 pm | Categories: Books, Jesus, Recommended Reading, Resources, Theology |
Grudem on Why Theology Is Important in the Local Church
Dr. Wayne Grudem Addresses the Advance 09 Crowd from The Resurgence on Vimeo.
Labels: Resurgence, Theology, Wayne Grudem | posted by TimBrister at 2:10 am | Categories: Theology |
