New: Desiring God and John Piper’s New ‘Look at the Book’

Kirk E. Miller

Desiring God, the headquarters of sorts for the ministry of John Piper, has just recently announced the launch of a new ministry. In a recent email they say,

This has been a dream for several years. In recent months, John Piper and the Desiring God team have been working behind the scenes to envision and develop this new tool for helping people to read the Bible for themselves. These 8-12 minute videos put the biblical text on the screen, and show Pastor John’s pen, as his voice guides us through the passage. His hope is not just to feed us from his catch, but to teach us to fish for ourselves.

I love John Piper, his passion for God, and his desire to see himself and others conformed to the world of scripture. I also find myself lining up with him theologically to a significant degree. Therefore, I have essentially no hesitation recommending to you what I believe is likely an incredible resource.

You can find specific ‘Look at the Book’ episodes on Desiring God’ website.

Check out the introduction video below.

Announcing Table Talk Event: Inerrancy with Kevin Vanhoozer

Kirk E. Miller

I’m excited to announce a new series of events that reference librarian, Rebecca Miller, and I will be hosting at Rolfing Memorial Library. They are called Table Talks; and at them we will host cross-table discussions on a variety of currently “hot” biblical, theological, ethical, ministerial, and cultural topics demanding our concern. At each Table Talk, an expert on the given topic will also be present to facilitate discussion

We start off this new series of events with the topic of inerrancy, facilitated by prestigious TEDS professor, Kevin Vanhoozer. Vanhoozer is a contributor in the recently published Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy. He defended the position he titled, “Augustinian Inerrancy: Literary Meaning, Literal Truth, and Literate Interpretation in the Economy of Biblical Discourse.”

We look forward to seeing you there!

7 Implications of Jesus’ Ascension (Steve Walton)

Kirk E. Miller

Steve Walton

Steve Walton states that Jesus’ ascension “expresses the Christian conviction that Jesus now reigns over the universe” (59) and “The ascension of Jesus … provides the apostles with a visual demonstration of the truth of Jesus’ exalted status” (60).

In addition to these summary-type statements, he provides 7 significant theological implications of the ascension.

(1) The ascension implies that Jesus now reigns alongside God in heaven, and thus it is appropriate to call him *“Lord” as well as “Messiah” (Acts 2:36). The (singular) cloud (Acts 1:9) echoes the one in Luke 21:27 on which the *Son of Man comes to God (cf. Dan 7:13), clearly placing Jesus alongside Israel’s God. Thus Jesus, still human, is to be *worshiped (Lk 24:52) alongside Yahweh, and the portrait of Israel’s God expands (Johnson). Psalm 110 (esp. Ps 110:1, 4) was a key biblical passage that was interpreted (following Jesus’ own lead [Mk 12:35–37]) concerning Jesus, who is thus to be understood as having been enthroned at God’s right hand as coruler (e.g., Rom 8:34; Heb 10:12–13).

(2) The ascension presages Jesus’ return to earth from heaven (Acts 1:11; cf. Heb 9:28). That return will be the time of cosmic renewal and restoration promised in Scripture (Acts 3:20–21) and of *judgment (Acts 17:31). The cloud—a key marker of Jesus’ departure (Acts 1:9)—became an emblem of Jesus’ return in early Christian writing (e.g., 1 Thess 4:17; Rev 1:7; 14:14–16). Paul picks up Psalm 110:1 as testimony that the time will come when God will place Jesus’ enemies under his feet (1 Cor 15:25–26). The ascension is “the advance notice of the end” (Robinson, cited in Zwiep, 196).

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Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools: Bible Introductions

Kirk E. Miller

This post is a re-blog of my post at Rolfing Unshelved.

This post is part of a series entitled Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools. This series seeks to provide one with an introduction to some key Biblical and theological reference tools. In this series one will find basic explanations, significant examples, and other information about these reference tools.

Basic Description of Introductions

An introduction (note: this guide is specifically referring to introductions to Biblical corpuses) is a reference work that provides introductory information on a given Biblical corpus. This material often includes helpful information regarding specific Biblical books (e.g., surveys, outlines, background information, presentations of key theological themes, discussions on authorship and dating issues, etc.) as well as information on broader topics (e.g., Old Testament canonical development, the relationship of the four gospels, etc.).

New York Times, you had one job.

Kirk E. Miller

Last year the New York Times had a major journalist oopsy as they described the Christian holiday of Easter as a celebration of Christ’s “resurrection into heaven.”

Um, no. That doesn’t even make any theological sense. Easter is not the celebration of Christ’s ascension, if that’s what you were trying to describe. We do believe and celebrate the ascension. But we don’t conflate it with the resurrection.

Well, this year, they’ve done it again. Recently they described the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as the place “where many Christians believe that Jesus is buried.”

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