Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
2 Timothy 2:8-10, ESV
Some links I wanted to get out there right away...
Guy Kawasaki interviews Fake Steve Jobs. Funny stuff. (FSJ blog)
Resurgence goes Greek: Re:Greek. Awesome resource.
I don't think I've linked before to Joe Thorn's excellent Six Rules of Cultural Engagement.
My kids can't stop watching this...
More here...
I've spent some time with the Literary Study Bible and am really enjoying it and highly recommend it.
I generally don't enjoy study Bibles. I think they can distract Christians from reading and discovering the meaning of Scripture for themselves by encouraging people to read Scripture in a choppy way: verse or two, check the study notes, verse, cross-references, study notes, another verse, etc. Study notes can be very helpful if used correctly, but I've never seen a Christian use them in a way that I've found very helpful.
The ESV-LSB removes those bold section headings and cross-references and instead gives a shaded box with brief guidance before each chapter or two, or section or pericope of Scripture. So you start with some guidance concerning the genre, literary structure, techniques, symbolism, whatever. Then you read the passage (single-column) without distraction. That means the emphasis isn't on finding your favorite verse or cheating to get the meaning through headers or notes. The emphasis is to read it yourself and focus on getting the gist of larger sections of Scripture.
The ESV-LSB provides notes before each book of Scripture, which is in pretty much every study Bible. These are really well done. What I liked the most was the section in each book introduction describing how the book fits into the larger "story of the Bible." Brilliant. So you aren't just getting the understanding of larger sections of Scripture, or even whole books. You are also gaining understanding of how the books work together in the storyline of Scripture.
This Bible also has wider margins for your own notes and their own Bible reading plan at the end. It's easily my favorite study Bible and I hope many of you pick it up. And by the way, one of the editors of the ESV-LSB is Dr. Leland Ryken who has produced many great books including two favorites of mine: The Christian Imagination and The Liberated Imagination. Even more reason to love this study Bible.
To see it for yourself, check it out for free online for 30 days. Very helpful.
Other stuff to check out...
Literary ESV is Unapologetically Complementarian
Interview with Dr. Leland Ryken
Internet Monk's Glowing Review
It wouldn't work for me, but Sprint's new HTC Touch might be a nice phone for those who can't afford an iPhone.
As the father of an autistic son, I take notice when pediatricians urge autism screening for all children. We know our son would have been diagnosed sooner (he was diagnosed at just about 3 years old) because the symptoms were there. The article says they urge screening because "early therapy can lessen its severity." We can testify that therapy greatly helped our son, and we urge parents of autistic children to find similar therapy all the time.
Check out SBTS lectures from philosopher Alvin Plantinga.
Gary Rohrmayer is talking "Evangelistic Entropy."
Dave Zimmerman at IVP has some advice for writing books.
Five Reasons Why Churches Cannot Ignore Branding
A 9 Marks Workshop is online for free
Seattle P-I: Mars Hill makes faith cool for 20-somethings
I'm going to see Gone Baby Gone this week. It's getting great reviews.
Al Mohler has some good thoughts on reading books. Here are the main points, but go read the whole thing.
1. Maintain regular reading projects. I strategize my reading in six main categories: Theology, Biblical Studies, Church Life, History, Cultural Studies, and Literature. I have some project from each of these categories going at all times. I collect and gather books for each project, and read them over a determined period of time. This helps to discipline my reading, and also keeps me working across several disciplines.
2. Work through major sections of Scripture. I am just completing an expository series, preaching verse by verse through the book of Romans. I have preached and taught several books of the Bible in recent years, and I plan my reading to stay ahead. I am turning next to Matthew, so I am gathering and reading ahead -- not yet planning specific messages, but reading to gain as much as possible from worthy works on the first gospel. I am constantly reading works in biblical theology as well as exegetical studies.
3. Read all the titles written by some authors. Choose carefully here, but identify some authors whose books demand your attention. Read all they have written and watch their minds at work and their thought in development. No author can complete his thoughts in one book, no matter how large.
4. Get some big sets and read them through. Yes, invest in the works of Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and others. Set a project for yourself to read through the entire set, and give yourself time. You will be surprised how far you will get in less time than you think.
5. Allow yourself some fun reading, and learn how to enjoy reading by reading enjoyable books. I like books across the fields of literature, but I really love to read historical biographies and historical works in general. In addition, I really enjoy quality fiction and worthy works of literature. As a boy, I probably discovered my love for reading in these categories of books. I allow some time each day, when possible, to such reading. It doesn't have to be much. Stay in touch with the thrill.
6. Write in your books; mark them up and make them yours. Books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled. [Make an exception here for those rare antiquarian books that are treasured for their antiquity. Mark not thy pen on the ancient page, and highlight not upon the manuscript.] Invent your own system or borrow from another, but learn to have a conversation with the book, pen in hand.
A few weeks back I received the new ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament (whew!). I've used it a few times now and like it a lot. If you know Greek well then this product may not be very helpful. I will probably not use it much myself since I have one of those intense Bible programs on my laptop. But for those who don't have a great grasp on the Greek, this can be a fantastic Bible study tool. I'm especially thinking of small group leaders and Bible study teachers in my church.
Basically this tool is the ESV Bible with the Greek words below. Each Greek word is transliterated, parsed and numbered from Strong's. There are helpful guides at the beginning of the book on how to use the book that explain these things further.
As a pastor who preaches from the ESV and encourages my church members to use it for their own reading and study, I want to express my thanks to the nice people over at Crossway who are continuing to deliver great ESV tools and Bible editions.
I finally got around to reading Scot McKnight's 30 page paper on the Emerging Church, "What is the Emerging Church?," that he presented at WTS. It once again proves that McKnight is one of the most important voices speaking about (and within) the Emerging Church. I highly recommend you read it if you any interest in understanding the EC.
The English Standard Version of the Bible (my Bible of choice) turns 5 years old in a few days. Congrats!
Today, the ESV is available in more than one hundred formats, has seen nearly 3 million copies distributed worldwide, and is reaching the world in creative and strategic ways. ESV General Editor J. I. Packer recently stated, “I find myself suspecting very strongly that my work on the translation of the ESV Bible was the most important thing that I have done for the Kingdom, and that the product of our labors is perhaps the biggest milestone in Bible translation in the past fifty years or more.”
[...]
The English Standard Version (ESV) Bible is an essentially literal Bible translation that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence, beauty, and readability. Believing that every word of the Bible is inspired by God, the translators of the ESV sought to be transparent to the original text so that the reader could see the structure and meaning of the original as clearly as possible. For more information on the ESV Bible, visit www.esv.org.
If you haven't seen the ABC news piece on the XXXChurch.com's Jesus Loves Porn Stars Bible, you should. I find this issue fascinating and important. Craig Gross and others in this ministry go to porn expo's and give away Bibles that have some Christians displeased, including Al Mohler (as the video shows). More from Mohler at his website.
Please watch the segment and let me know what you think.
Justin Taylor emailed me this brief video clip of Tim Keller talking about Scripture and foundations. Thanks for the love JT. More videos from Desiring God Conference speakers are online as well, including Driscoll on Emerging/Emergent distinctions.
One of commenters mentioned Mark Driscoll's first sermon on Ecclesiastes, which is very good. I've just finished listening to his sermon on Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 which was excellent. It's somewhat Piperesque at the end, and I mean that as a big compliment to both Piper and Driscoll. Really good stuff. Download all of Driscoll's sermons on Ecclesiastes.
By the way, I have the honor of being the #1 Google hit for "Piperesque."
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