Gospel & Culture: A Faith and Work Conference

Redeemer, NY has arranged some big name lecturers to talk about the Gospel and Culture. Video here, or audio here. Looks fascinating.

• After You Believe - N.T. Wright
• Why Business Matters to God - Jeff Van Duzer
• Creating Power - Andy Crouch
• Why Work Matters - Dr. Timothy J. Keller
• Art Matters for God's Sake - Adrienne Chaplin
• Natural Law, God, and Human Dignity - Robert P. George
• Challenging the Darkness - Towards a New Christian Renaissance - Os Guinness
• Culture As Liturgy - James K. A. Smith
• Faith-Based Diplomacy: Bridging the Religious Divide - Douglas Johnston

Good News For People With Big Problems

Recently I've really benefited from listening to these MP3s by David Zahl of Mockingbird Ministries. They are unlike anything I've ever listened to and at heart that is because, as he repeatedly says, the motivation behind the series is to look at reality, not just Christian reality.

That works itself out in two striking things about the series:

1. Christian jargon is avoided and it is dominated by clips and stories from 'secular' culture. 10min clips from films, songs, poems, celebrity biography are all brought in, but not as a mere springboard but as something to really look at. David Zahl really believes that the Gospel has something to say to all of life.
2. Five out of the six talks are on the some of the darkest parts of our lives: self-involvement, judgment, depression, addiction, and death. It is a course which focuses on the diagnosis rather than the cure, and in some sense that is a weakness. But the strength is that David Zahl believes that the good news comes through the bad news. Unlike most of society and the church, he believes that it is through facing up to reality that resurrection life can be found.

Have a listen and see what you think.

1. "Starting with the Man in the Mirror: Self-Involvement and Suffering" starring Michael Jackson, Jack Kerouac and Woody Allen.
2. "It’s Not You It’s Me and Other Lies: Judgment, Guilt and Identity" starring George Costanza, Flannery O’Connor and T.S. Eliot
3. "Check Out Any Time You Like (But You can Never Leave), Part 1: Anger, Depression and Christian Hope" starring Whit Stillman, Emily Dickinson and David Foster Wallace
4. "When I Get to the Bottom I Go Back to the Top: Addiction, Anxiety and Recovery” starring Bill Wilson, Nemo’s dad Marlin and Wes Anderson
5. "Getting Out of Jail Free: Death, Despair and Sacrifice" starring Bob Dylan, W.H. Auden, Leo Tolstoy and Clint Eastwood.
6. "What Would Uncle Scrooge Do? Gratitude, Honesty and Astonishment" starring Kermit the Frog, John Lennon and Thornton Wilder

MP3s that have shaped me

I listen to a lot of MP3s on the move, for better or worse. Most of them I forget. But casting my mind back, I think the ones that have really shaped me over the last few years are the following.

• Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World by Tim Keller and Ed Clowney. Hours of lectures and Q&As, and almost all pure gold.
• The Lutheran Mind by various Concordia Seminary folks. A real mixed bag in every way. I don't recommend them all, but Leo Sanchez on the Trinity is worth listening to and the one lecture that I have listened to over and over is the final one of the course by Tim Saleska, Interpreting Scripture in a Systemtatics Context. A bit bleak, but a powerful stuff.
• Various talks by Mike Reeves

Rutherford House Audio

Rutherford House has put up quite a few old tapes in MP3 format. I think they'd appreciate donations for the cost of the bandwidth. Speakers include:

• Jim Packer
• Ed Clowney
• Don Carson
• Donald MacLeod
• Sinclair Ferguson
• Carl Henry
• David Jackman
• Dick Lucas
• John Piper
• Dale Ralph Davis
• Tim Keller
• Ravi Zacharius
• Peter Adam
• Tom Torrance
• Lesslie Newbigin and many more worth mentioning, but this list is already too long!

We do have an embarassement of riches these days on the internet. I'm listening to Sigur Ros instead though!

Lesslie Newbigin MP3s

• Confessing Christ in a Multi-Religion Society (Rutherford House)
• Christ: unique and universal (The Christian Institute)
• Nihilism (The Christian Institute)

Thomas F Torrance MP3s

This is all I know about (let me know if you know anymore):

• 7 Talks delivered at Union Theological College in Belfast, Northern Ireland (hosted by Ben Myers)
• 3 MP3s of Donald Macleod and Tom Torrance on Scottish Theology (Rutherford House - please consider donating)
• 10 lectures on the Ground and Grammar of Theology delivered at Fuller Theological Seminary (hosted by GCI)
• Talk on 'Theological Instinct' delivered at Regent College (pay to download)
• 3 lectures on the Mediation of Christ delivered at Regent College (pay to download)

A sprinkling of MP3s

In some neglected corners of the web I've found a few unique talks that others may be interested in:

1. Speaking To, Of, and For the Triune God by Robert Jenson (at the 2010 Lutheran CORE Theological Conference)
2. God's Decision and Our Decision by Gerhard Forde (at Mount Carmel Ministries)

James KA Smith - Desiring the Kingdom

Worth a watch. Jamie Smith summarises much of his recent book Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation. You can get an overview of the book on his blog. I think he massively over-states his case, but it's interesting. Spot the brief mention of York Minister towards the end.

James K.A. Smith - Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation from Calvin College on Vimeo.

MP3 of lecture here.

Some theological stuff I've recently found on the net

Audio/video

• A series of short youtube videos by St John's Nottingham. Little introductions to theologians, subjects in Biblical Studies etc. I enjoyed those on Pannenberg and von Balthasar as I didn't know anything about them. (HT Glen.)
• Also involving Tom Wright was the 19th Annual Wheaton Theology Conference devoted to discussing his work. Some excellent lectures (MP3/video). I thought Richard Hays was the highlight. It was my first big engagement with Wright for a while. Frankly I had forgotten how sharp and articulate he is. He is always encouraging you to rethink everything. I came away with respect renewed.
• Lectures and sermons delivered at Moore College, Sydney. Includes Wright again. Also Helmut Thielicke, Henri Blocher, FF Bruce, PT O'Brien and Barry Webb. (HT Chris.)
• Edmund Clowney lectures and sermons.
• Francis Schaeffer lectures and sermons.

Articles

• Archives of the mainline Lutheran journal Word & World. Includes articles by Walter Brueggemann, Gerhard Forde, Terence Fretheim, David Lose, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Gordon Wenham and others. I've only read the ones by David Lotz and Gustaf Wingren.
• Archives from Bulletin for Biblical Research.
• Archives of the Tyndale Bulletin.

I increasingly love books. Articles and MP3s are great - but they are only ever tasters. But as I only stumbled across these recently I thought other's may be interested.

Alternative audio

• A sermon by Rico Tice: Catching Heaven's Passion - Affection for the self-satisfied (2 Corinthians 6: 1-13). An absolutely stonking sermon I listened to a while back on the recommendation of Yemsee. Very arresting, it includes the wonderful line, "Do you see yourself as a laid back person.... it's unbiblical"
• An Interview by Michael Horton: Novelist Marilynne Robinson on her book of essays called The Death of Adam (HT and introduction to Robinson). Covers Darwinism, Calvin, Puritans and Prigs, the human condition, contemporary society, and what makes good fiction. I've read a few interviews with Robinson and they've all been a little disappointing. This interview between intelligent conservative-Reformed-theologian/radio-host and supremely talented liberal-yet-Calvin-and-Puritan-appreciating novelist is a wonder to listen to. Brilliant.
• 1979 Public Lecture at Moore College by Helmut Theilicke. I've only listened to it once and I'm still trying to work out what it was about. I don't think I was paying enough attention. But I'm still putting it out there because its probably the only audio out there by the great German theologian, and nobody seems to have mentioned it much.

Cruciformity MP3s

Listening to Julie Fowlis on myspace

I may not have any time to read, but I still make time to run and listen to stuff. Most recently I've listened to some excellent sermons from Tim Keller and a couple of others at The Christian Life Conference (2007) on Cruciformity. Highly recommended... for what its worth.

The other years of the conference look good too.

Snowed under in September

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd give you all an explanation of why the blog has been a little quiet recently, and how it is likely to get even quieter for a while.

Last month I purposely had a break from reading theology books and tried (largely unsuccessfully) to spend more time reading fiction and the bible itself. This month I have started a two-year part-time course at the College of Law, as part of my never-ending quest to be a solicitor one day. Having now seen my timetable and the teaching methods it is clear that I'm not going to have much time to do anything other than study and earn the money to live off. Consequently blogging and reading theology is going to be much lower down my to-do list. I'm sure you will all live, but at least you now know I'm not ill or something.

In case you care, when I do get time to read I'll be aiming to read:

• Till We Have Faces (CS Lewis)
• Gilead (Marilynne Robinson)
• The Christian Doctrine of God (TF Torrance)
• War of Words (Paul Tripp)

And I'm reading most of those because I've been told to!

While I'm here though I'll also let you know how much I've been enjoying listening to a bit of Dick Lucas recently. I heard an American introduce him before one of his sermons by saying that he had been told by a British pastor that 'John Stott taught our generation what to preach, Dick Lucas taught us how to preach'. At first you struggle to see how he came to have so much influence. But soon you realise it is his absolute confidence that it is the bible, and not his ideas or rhetoric which has power to change people. In contrast to Dick Lucas you wonder how much you, and many preachers, really believe that the bible speaks today.

Here are a couple of series I've enjoyed:

• Romans 8 Re-Examined at St Helen's Bishopgate (5 talks)
• The Charles Simeon Sermon series (2007) at Taylor University (5 talks)

Mike Reeves MP3s

Mike Reeves is the Theological Advisor for UCCF. Previously he was an associate minister at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London. He holds a doctorate in systematic theology from King's College, London. He has written The Unquenchable Flame: Introducing the Reformation and The Breeze of the Centuries: Introducing great theologians - From the Apostolic Fathers to Aquinas, On Giants' Shoulders: Introducing great theologians - From Luther to Barth, and contributed to Should Christians Embrace Evolution?.

• NWA 2011: Hebrews 1:8-19 (1 sermon to purchase) - NEW!
• NWA 2011: Matters of the Heart (4 MP3s - to purchase) - NEW!
• NWA 2009: Right with God? (4 MP3s - to purchase, BUT Free on the Theology Network site called Justification) - NEW!
• NWA 2008: Knowing the Triune God (4 MP3s - to purchase) - NEW!
• Forum North West 2010: Leviticus (4 MP3s) - NEW!
• UCCF South West Transformission 2010: The Love of God (3 MP3s) - NEW!
• John 17:17-23: The other Lord's Prayer (video) - NEW!
• 1 Corinthians 15:22,23: Secure in Christ (video) - NEW!
• Secure in the Saving God with Angus Moyes, UCCF Forum 2010 (3 MP3s) - NEW!
• John 20:19-23, UCCF Forum 2010
• Psalm 42: The Christian's Ode to Joy (video, overlap with talk on the External Word below)
• 9Marks Interview: Mike Reeves interviewed by Mark Dever on the Reformation - NEW!
• UCCF South West Transformission 2009: Union with Christ (3 MP3s, they can also be found here and here)
• The Doctrine of Revelation (4 MP3s)
• CU Leaders' Training Weekends on 1 Corinthians; 2008 version, London; 2009 version, Scotland; 2010 version, Midlands; (4 MP3s each)
• UCCF South West Transformission 2008 on The Word of God (3 MP3s)
• UCCF South West Transformission 2007 on the glory of the cross (3 MP3s)
• Christology and Revelation (6 MP3s)
• Depending on the Living God with Jo McKenzie (3 MP3s)
• DIY theology
• Introducing the Apostolic Fathers (2 MP3s)
• Introducing Justin Martyr
• Introducing Ireneaus
• Introducing Athanasius (2 MP3s)
• Introducing Augustine (2 MP3s)
• Introducing Anselm (3 MP3s)
• Introducing Thomas Aquinas (3 MP3s)
• Introducing Martin Luther (4 MP3s)
• Introducing John Calvin (3 MP3s)
• Introducing Jonathan Edwards (5 MP3s) - NEW!
• Eastern Orthodoxy - NEW!
• Sin and Evil (3 MP3s) - NEW!
• Eastern Orthodoxy - NEW!
• The Trinity and Mission - NEW!
• Where are we heading? Armageddon or Apocoalypse?
• Trinity 1, Trinity 2, Trinity 3, Trinity 4
• Table talk: Mike Reeves interviews various people about various things! - always new stuff
• OICCU 2011 Reps Conference on 'The Love of God': 1. The Beautiful Son; 2. The Heart-Melting Spirit - NEW!
• 4 sermons at CICCU
• 34 sermons at All Souls, Langham Place
• 'Fundamentalism, terror and faith: Is Christianity good for the world?', 28/03/10, Holy Trinity Eastborne (Evangelistic talk)
• Evangelism Podcast with Clive Parnell
• Why GO?, 2006, York University CU
• How the Atheists are Right, 2009, Bath University CU - NEW!
• Zechariah 5: Behold Your King Enthroned - NEW!
• Theology of Music (3 MP3s)

There are also some duplicates and clips on the Gospel Coalition site as well as the Theology Network site.

Please let me know of any that I've missed and I'll try and keep it up-to-date. I'm sorry that there is little order to the list.

Perfection and Presence: God With Us, According to the Christian Confession

If you fancy listening to 6 hard-core theological lectures, John Webster gave The "Kantzer Lectures in Revealed Theology" just over a year ago at the Henry Center.

The blurb reads as follows:

Dr. Webster presented the first Kantzer Lectures at Trinity on September 11-18, 2007. These six lectures offer a theological description of the double theme of the Christian gospel, God's perfect life which he has in himself and God's presence with his creatures.

The series began with an account of the source of the Christian confession of God's perfection and presence, which is God's loving gift of himself as Lord and companion of creatures, on the basis of which God may be known, feared and loved above all things. This was followed by an account of God's perfection: the fullness, majesty and glorious freedom of the life which God has from and in himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As the one who has life in himself, the perfect God also gives life to creatures, and sustains them by his presence. The nature, modes and history of this presence were explored in a Trinitarian analysis of God's works in creating, reconciling and bringing creatures to completion. Finally, life in the fellowship of the saints was presented as the creaturely counterpart of the presence of the perfect God.

Taken as a whole, the lectures were an exercise in positive or revealed theology, seeking to display the instruction of the gospel and commend the consolation which it offers. The series brought together pastors, professors and students from various institutions and churches around the Chicagoland area. The lectures will be published in book form by William B. Eerdmans.

Webster describes it more briefly as a meditation on Immanuel, 'God with us', which does not diminish that it is 'God with us' and keeps in mind the uncreated perfection of God.

Online Timothy Wengert Resources

[I'll try and keep this updated as I find more, but please let me know if you know of anything I don't].

Timothy Wengert is Ministerium of Pennsylvania Professor, Reformation History at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

Articles, Papers etc

• "Luther's Catechisms and the Lord's Supper", World and Word, Winter 1997
• "Graceful words: Justification", The Lutheran, December 2000
• "Luther and Melanchthon on Consecrated Communion Wine (Eisleben 1542-1543)", Lutheran Quarterly, Volume XV (Spring 2001)
• "Bearing Christ as Melanchthon’s Contribution to The Book of Concord", Lutheran Quarterly, Volume XV (Winter 2001)
• "'PEACE, PEACE ... CROSS, CROSS': Reflections on how Martin Luther relates the theology of the cross to suffering", Theology Today, July 2002
• "Authorization for Ministry and the Lutheran Confessions", The ELCA Conference of Bishops October 2003
• "The End of the Public Office of Ministry in the Lutheran Confessions", The ELCA Conference of Bishops October 2003
• "Trust the heavenly banquet", The Lutheran, November 2003
• "Martin Luther and the Ten Commandments in the Large Catechism", Currents in Theology and Mission, April, 2004
• "The Priesthood of All Believers and Other Pious Myths", Sessions of the Institute of Liturgical Studies 2005
• Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, November 2002
• Sermon on John 3:1-17, February 2005

Audio

• Lecture: Martin Luther on the Decalogue (MP3)
• Lecture: Reading the Bible with Martin Luther (Video)

Total Church Conference Audio

Audio from the North American Total Church Conference including Tim Chester and Steve Timmis is now available here (HT Tim Chester).

Online Mark Seifrid resources

[I'll try and keep this updated as I find more, but please let me know if you know of anything I don't].

Mark Seifrid is Mildred and Ernest Hogan Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Articles

• "The Narrative of Scripture and Justification by Faith: A Still Fresher Reading of Paul" 2006 Symposium on Exegetical Theology, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana (17 January 2006) published as "The Narrative of Scripture and Justification by Faith: A Fresh Response to N.T. Wright" in Concordia Theological Quarterly (Vol 72:1, January 2008)
• "The Gospel as the Revelation of Mystery: The Witness of the Scriptures to Christ in Romans" in SBJT 11/3 (Fall 2007)
• "Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: An Introduction to the Distinction between Law and Gospel" in SBJT 10/2 (Summer 2006)
• "Justified by Faith and Judged by Works: A Biblical Paradox and Its Significance" (SBJT Winter 2001) - a revised version of his faculty address
• "The Waiting Church and Its Duty: James 5:13-18" (SBJT Fall 2000)
• "The 'New Perspective on Paul' and Its Problems" (Themelios, Issue 25-2, Feb 2000)
• "Faith, Hope, and Love: Paul’s Message to the Church at Thessalonica" (SBJT Fall 1999)
• "Salvation, BF&M Article 4 Summary" from An Exposition from the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on The Baptist Faith and Message 2000
• "'The gift of salvation': Its failure to address the crux of justification" (JETS, December 1999)
• "Natural Revelation and the Purpose of the Law in Romans" (TynBul, 49.1, May 1998) [pdf] [doc]
• "Blind Alleys in the Controversy Over the Paul of History" (TynBul, 45.1, May 1994) [pdf] [doc]

Audio

• Discussion with Albert Mohler, Tom Schreiner, Brian Vickers and Denny Burk: N.T. Wright and the Doctrine of Justification, video and MP3 (3 September 2009)
• Discussion with Tom Schreiner, Brian Vickers and Denny Burk: "Assessing the Piper-Wright Debate on Justification", MP3, (15 April 2009)
• Sermon: "The Radically Realistic Gospel: Romans 7:7-25", MP3, (1 June 2008)
• Sermon: "The Parable of the Talents", MP3, (1 July 2007)
• SBTS Faculty Address: "Justification by Faith", MP3, (16 February 2000)

Reviews by Seifrid

• The Galatians Debate: Contemporary Issues in Rhetorical and Historical Interpretation by Mark Nanos (Trinity Journal, Fall 2004)
• Leben aus den Verheissungen: Traditionsgeschichtliche und biblisch-theologische Untersuchungen zur Rede von Gottes Verheissungen im Frühjudentum und beim Apostel Paulus, by Gerhard Sass (RBL, 2000)
• Paul, Judaism, and Judgment According to Deeds by Kent L. Yinger (RBL, 22 June 2000)
• Neglected Endings: The Significance of the Pauline Letter Closings By Jeffrey A. D. Weima (JETS September 1998)

Reviews of Seifrid

• Review of Christ Our Righteousness: Paul's Theology of Justification by Simon J. Gathercole (Beginning With Moses / Themelios Vol. 26 No. 2)
• Review of Christ Our Righteousness: Paul's Theology of Justification by Kim Riddlebarger (Modern Reformation, March/April 2002 Vol: 11 Num: 2)

Goldsworthy MP3

• "The Necessity and Viability of Biblical Theology" (SBTS, 18 March 2008)

Sources of free UK Christian MP3s

There are now a whole host of MP3s of talks on the internet, but I think a lot of great UK resources are missed because American's get more publicity. So I thought I'd list a few resources I have found.

• @ the castle
• bethinking.org (UCCF's apologetics site)
• UCCF
• European Leadership Forum
• Oak Hill College
• The Christian Institute
• The Proclamation Trust
• East Anglia Gospel Partnership
• Yorkshire Gospel Partnership
• The North West Partnership
• The Theologian
• The Evangelists Conference
• The Northern Men's Convention
• The Northern Women's Convention
• The Fulwood Conference

I've restricted the selections so that I have not included individual churches, it is also quite biased to the conservative Evangelical side of the spectrum.

Any suggestions welcome. This is a work in progress.

MP3s on the Trinity

[this is a work in progress]

• Allah vs. Yahweh / Tawhid vs. Trinity (Keith Small) - Bethinking.org, Seminar on differences between Muslim and Christian conceptions of God
• Trinity (Mike Reeves) - 30min evangelistic talk
• Digging Deeper - Depending on the Living God (Mike Reeves and Jo McKenzie) - 3 seminars at UCCF Forum 2007
• The Trinity of Persons, Jesus and the Father, Jesus and the Spirit (Bruce Ware) - 3 messages at the 2005 Desiring God Conference for Pastors
• Inseparable Operation: The trinity working together (Michael J. Ovey) - In a masterful talk given to returning graduates at Oak Hill Theological College in 2002, Mike Ovey expounds the Augustinian doctrine of the inseparable operation of the members of the trinity.
• Equal in Essence, Distinct in Roles: Eternal Functional Authority and Submission among the Essentially Equal Divine Persons of the Godhead (Bruce Ware) - 2006 SBTS Faculty Address
• How can Christianity be both monotheistic and Trinitarian? (Tim Keller)

More here.