Dec 23, 2006 | Personal
There are a few CAPRANICA readers who are in the Amarillo area. If you are and are free from 3:00 p.m. to whenever (Saturday – Dec 23), drop by the Homewood Suites in the lobby area for an informal get together. Kelly and I are bringing some BBQ and would love to see any of you in the area. We are hoping to see a number of people from the church I used to serve as well as more family and friends. Drop by. If you can’t make it today, give us a call at the Hotel and we’ll see if we can get together. We’ll be in Amarillo until... read more
Dec 20, 2006 | Personal, Uncategorized
Kelly and I are heading off to the great nation of Texas – in just a few hours. We expect to spend Christmas with my parents and sisters in Amarillo, Texas, my hometown. If our hotel has internet, I’ll check in and maybe post some pics and catch up on some material I’ve wanted to keep up with. Enjoy your... read more
Dec 17, 2006 | Culture
TIME.com: Person of the Year: You — Dec. 25, 2006 — Page 1 I am “Person of the Year.” In fact, you are too. How fun. Obviously the people at TIME forgot to give much time to this topic, with all of the other really important things they do for the world. Were sales down and so they felt a last minute urge to glorify their customers? Do we have a low self-image? It’s really hard to believe that because I have a blog, a My Space and use You Tube, I made the cover of TIME. Somehow, this feels... read more
Dec 16, 2006 | Interviews
I believe this is the final installment of the Warnock Grudem interview. It is a good one with a leading evangelical scholar. Even in some places where I would not agree with one or the other, I have much appreciated the candid conversation. Adrian’s Blog: INTERVIEW – Wayne Grudem, Part Nine – Apostles, Theological Blind Spots & Models of Church... read more
Dec 16, 2006 | Culture, Personal
Biblical Foundations » A Puritan Christmas Adreas Kostenberger put together an intriguing article describing the 16th and 17th Century Puritans and their attempts to snuff out Christmas. I enjoy much of what I read from the English Puritans and have gleaned great spiritual benefit from them in my personal life over the past twenty years. But, should we go to the same extreme as they when it comes to Christmas? My wife has done an excellent job of decorating our house for the holiday season. From Thanksgiving through next week, we will have had just over 100 people in our home for holiday celebrations. For Christmas day, we will travel to Texas to see family and friends and perhaps even have a white Christmas. Kelly has a collection of Christmas CDs that she plays often in our home during this time of year. In my car is Handel’s Messiah which I have enjoyed listening to over and over. Today our choir will have a special outreach performance of our Christmas concert at a local senior mobile home park and Sunday we will have four services (two normal morning services and two Christmas concerts) connected with the Christmas season. All of these will be geared toward strengthening the hearts of the saints in their commitment to Christ and exposing the lost to the Gospel of Jesus. In this sense, I love Christmas. But there is another sense that makes me almost sick (literally) when I think about Christmas. It fuels pride. How so? This should be obvious. Pride is fueled at Christmas time as it exposes the rank materialism that... read more
Dec 16, 2006 | Interviews
Adrian Warnock’s eternal interview with Wayne Grudem continues. Today: Feminism and the Church’s future. Adrian’s Blog: INTERVIEW – Wayne Grudem, Part Eight – What Does the Future Hold for the... read more
Dec 15, 2006 | Interviews
Adrian’s Blog: Wayne Grudem Retracts His Agreement to the Use of the Word “Blasphemy” in Regard to Steve... read more
Dec 14, 2006 | Interviews, Uncategorized
Part 7 of the interview series: why Grudem believes the cessationism issue is a dead one for cessationists (I disagree with his interpretation – but think his irenic attitude is healthy) and how he has rethought his view of baptism as a requirement for church membership. Adrian’s Blog: INTERVIEW – Wayne Grudem, Part Seven – Things We Can Agree to Disagree... read more
Dec 13, 2006 | Interviews
This has been a long interview series by Adrian, but a good one. Today, Grudem on penal substitution and the church caving to culture. Adrian’s Blog: INTERVIEW – Wayne Grudem, Part Six – Did Steve Chalke Blaspheme About the... read more
Dec 13, 2006 | Biblical Studies, Pauline Theology
From Schreiner on Paul’s theology of righteousness: Regarding Righteousness “. . . justification should not be accepted as the center of Pauline theology . . . . The foundation of his theology is the glory of God in the work of Christ” (193) “This righteous status with God is no fiction but a reality. Further, because believers are right in God’s sight, God grants them his Spirit and power to live a new life. Hence, the forensic gift of righteousness becomes the basis (and is the only basis) on which believers receive God’s powerful Spirit that transforms their lives” (194). “In the death of Jesus Christ, therefore, the saving righteousness and the judging righteousness of God meet. God vindicates his judging holiness since God in Christ absorbs his wrath at his crucifixion (203). Schreiner demonstrates a rare humility in scholarship today when he acknowledges changing his position regarding the righteousness of God. He once saw it not as forensic, but reformative. He has changed his position and acknowledges those who helped him in the process. (205-206). “Paul is arguing that the forensic work of Christ is the basis of God’s transforming work, but it does not follow from this that the forensic and transforming work are the same thing. What this verse does indicate is that Christ’s forensic work is not separated from a changed life but is the basis for such a change” (207). “To sum up, righteousness is an end-time gift (Gal 5:5), a verdict from the day of judgment, which has now been pronounced in the lives of believers on the basis of the death and... read more
Dec 12, 2006 | Bookreviews, Ecclesiology, Seeker-Sensitive
On the revamping of the church by men such as George Barna “The expectations of the postwar baby boomers have been shaped by such a therapeutic bounty and surfeit of on-demand entertainment that small, struggling, one-dimensional churches may well appear unattractive and uninviting however real and faithful their worship and service may be. In order to offer a rich array of programs to this new generation – a large selection of Sunday school classes, support groups, and specialized pastoral staff from which to choose, good child care facilities, and engaging (or even entertaining) worship services – churches have to become large. This generation is used to working and living within large bureaucratic structures, so they may well feel more at home in the corporate environs of a megachurch than in the more familial context of a small congregation. That may explain why a new megachurch emerges every two weeks in America” (74). “What is going to happen when churches meet all of the felt needs of their consumers and then realize that they have failed to meet the genuine need for meaning? Meaning is provided by the functioning of truth – specifically biblical truth – in the life of the congregation”... read more
Dec 12, 2006 | Culture, General Theology
Gay and Evangelical, Seeking Acceptance – New York Times “Justin Lee believes that the Virgin birth was real, that there is a heaven and a hell, that salvation comes through Christ alone and that he, the 29-year-old son of Southern Baptists, is an evangelical Christian. Just as he is certain about the tenets of his faith, Mr. Lee also knows he is gay, that he did not choose it and cannot change it.” So, mere mental assent and emotional affection for God and Jesus means one is a Christian and a conservative Evangelical. Have you ever heard this theology before? The New York Times article is another example of how the debate over the lordship of Christ in salvation has indeed resulted in a redefinition of the gospel. This group of evangelical homosexuals is also a fascinating display of the mixture of liberal theological approaches to the Bible. I have had a few conversations with some conservative Christians in more liberal denominations, who believe homosexuality is still an unbiblical issue of sin. Yet, they also reject the idea that the the inerrancy of the Scripture has had any effect or relevance in the debate over homosexuality. The NYT article shows differently. “In fact, both sides look to Scripture. The debate is largely over seven passages in the Bible about same-sex couplings. Mr. Gagnon and other traditionalists say those passages unequivocally condemn same-sex couplings. Those who advocate acceptance of gay people assert that the passages have to do with acts in the context of idolatry, prostitution or violence. The Bible, they argue, says nothing about homosexuality as it is largely... read more
Dec 11, 2006 | Time/Life Management
Interesting concepts here about creating virtual work space for teams. Get Spaces for Productivity – lifehack.org read more
Dec 11, 2006 | Time/Life Management
Being one who works with a team and sees the value of an Administrative Assistance, this is a good review of how the popular Getting Things Done can work with teams and Admin Assts. Ideamatt on GTD with support staff | 43... read more
Dec 11, 2006 | Interviews
In this installment of Adrian Warnock’s interview, Wayne Grudem discusses his understanding of women teaching in the church and addresses the idea proposed of women allowed to give “non-authoritative” teaching vs. “authoritative” Bible teaching. SPECIAL NOTE: THE CAPRANICA was blogspotted by the mighty Warnock blog!! We in the villa are most humbled. Adrian’s Blog: INTERVIEW – Wayne Grudem, Part Five – Must a Woman Always Remain Silent in... read more
Dec 11, 2006 | Biblical Studies, Bookreviews, Uncategorized
I have recently been reading through Darrell L. Bock and Buist M. Fanning’s text Interpreting the New Testament Text. I am about half way through the book and have thoroughly enjoyed it. While not formally called a festschrift, the book is written in honor of long time New Testament professor Harold Hoehner. I will be writing a more lengthly and formal review of it later, but just to note, this looks like a very well-rounded, read and practically helpful text book on New Testament exegesis. I have thoroughly enjoyed the detail of chapters on the definition of exegesis, textual criticism and grammatical analysis. The chapter I have most benefited from and enjoyed thus far is that on “Sentence Diagramming, Clausal Layouts, and Exegetical Outlining: Tracing the Argument,” written by Jay Smith. In my experience over the past ten years, such diagramming (especially structural and block diagramming) is the single most important disciplines one can employ in finding and tracing the author’s main point and intention n a given NT text. I have also been reminded that exegesis is not really exegesis if one is not personally delving consistently and deeply into the Greek New Testament. The book has put me on a course to strengthen my Greek exegetical skills and pay closer attention in my weekly exegetical sessions in my sermon preparation. I can remember the days of using the word “exegesis” without any working knowledge of Greek or Hebrew. How foolish. I have been made even more aware of how foolish I can still be to throw the term around with even the small amount of training I... read more
Dec 10, 2006 | Biblical Studies, Pauline Theology
From Schreiner: “Paul must explain in his gospel how Jesus Christ has accomplished redemption. Human beings are freed to honor and praise God because Jesus in his person and work has vindicated God’s honor. He has succeeded where Adam and Israel failed. He is the promised seed of Abraham and David, the Lord of heaven and earth, and he even shares in the divine nature. He fulfills the promises of the new covenant, and through him the promise made to Abraham that all nations would be blessed is inaugurated” (152). “The promises of salvation made to Israel were not yet fulfilled, and the nation continued to live under Roman control because of its sin. The pattern of sin that permeated Israel’s history demonstrated that the glorious promises of deliverance and salvation were not yet a reality. The history of Israel shows that for God’s promises to be fulfilled, a new humanity is necessary; and for a new humanity, we need a new Adam. Paul proclaims that Jesus the Messiah is the new Adam” (152). Schreiner notes that Israel had not seen the fulfillment of the OT prophecies regarding their ultimate salvation (159). He rightly sees that the promise to Israel in the Abrahamic Covenant is limited to the area of Palestine, but the whole of the Abrahamic promises makes Abraham the heir of the world (160), involving descendants that are broader than Israel as a nation (but not detrimental to the literal fulfillment of those promises to Israel either). “The lordship of Jesus cannot be confined to an initial decision where one submits to his lordship. Paul often appeals... read more
Dec 10, 2006 | Bookreviews, Ecclesiology, Education, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching, Seeker-Sensitive, Theological Education
In my quiet time, I begin by reading from a book that will stimulate my mind and heart about sanctification or practical life in the church. Recently I have begun reading God in the Wasteland by David F. Wells. I want to share a few excerpts from his book that I noted during my fifteen minute-a-day reading time. On the current reactions against formal theological training: Noting the how the early colonial American trends in the mainline schools were producing polished institutions, there was a strong reactions against them. “This ambitious drive [among the intellectual schools of colonial America] produces some savage anti-clericalism but also because the insurgent leaders were “Ëintent on destroying the monopoly of classically educated and university trained clergymen.’ Their sermons were colloquial, “Ëemploying daring pulpit storytelling, no-holds-barred appeals, overt humor, strident attacks, graphic application, and intimate personal experience.’ The point of it all was to engage the audience. Charles Finney despised sermons that were formally delivered on the grounds that they put content ahead of communication, and, although both he and Dwight L. Moody had their own theologies, they both vigorously opposed “Ëthe formal study of divinity'” (65). “‘As the common man rose in power n the early republic,’ says Hatch, “Ëthe inevitable consequence was the displacement from power of the uncommon man, the man of ideas.’ Never again, he adds would America produce people of the caliber of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison in the realm of politics or of Jonathan Edwards in the realm of theology” (67). In light of some of what we have seen in the modern Seeker Sensitive and Emergent Church... read more
