Student Journal of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary: Adorare Mente
Matt Crawford just posted the first volume of Adorare Mente, the Student Journal of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. At least two of the debut writers also maintain blogs: Blake White and Trevin Wax. Owen Strachan and Adam Winters, who serve on the team producing the journal, are also bloggers.
The papers are listed below. Each paper can be downloaded individually as a PDF, or you can download the entire journal as a single file.
Hyun-Gwang Kim, Imitating Christ: An Exegetical Study of Philippians 2:5-11
John Mead, The Meaning of Circumcision in Israel: A Proposal for a Transfer of Rite from Egypt to Israel
Blake White, Christ as the Last Adam
Trevin Wax, The Centrality of Christology in the Marburg Colloquy
Nathanael Copeland, Pastoral Presuppositionalism: Lessons from the Life and Work of Francis Schaeffer
Adorare Mente, Volume 1 (complete issue as a PDF)
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“We Get It” Declaration: Caring for the Environment and the Poor - Biblically
There is another declaration coming out about Evangelicals and the Environment. This one is supported by the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission as well as some other noted Evangelical groups. It is very short and also expresses a concern for the poor.
Dr. Russell Moore, Dr. Danny Akin and Dr. Wayne Grudem are listed as charter supporters of the declaration.
Here is the statement in full:
The We Get It! Declaration:
God Said It
God created everything. He made us in His own image, and commanded us to be fruitful and multiply and watch over His creation. Although separated from God by our sin, we are lovingly restored through Jesus Christ, and take responsibility for being good stewards.
We Get It
Our stewardship of creation must be based on Biblical principles and factual evidence. We face important environmental challenges, but must be cautious of claims that our planet is in peril from speculative dangers like man-made global warming.
They Need It
With billions suffering in poverty, environmental policies must not further oppress the world’s poor by denying them basic needs. Instead, we must help people fulfill their God-given potential as producers and stewards.
Let’s Do It
We will follow our Lord Jesus Christ and honor God as we use and share the principles of His Word to care for the poor and tend His creation.
You can visit the We Get It Website to learn more.
Four Other Posts About The Environment From Said at Southern
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Book Review: Holiness by Henry Blackaby
Introduction and Background Information
Henry Blackaby has been in the ministry for over 50 years. He has served in the local church, as a college president, as a missionary, and as an executive in the Southern Baptist Convention. Of the many offices he has held in the convention, his role as the leader of the Revival and Spiritual Awakening division is why Dr. Blackaby is qualified to talk about revival. Currently, he serves as the president of Henry Blackaby Ministries.
He states on the first page of the introduction he states, “these messages are the heart of my present ministry. They are my life-messages to God’s people, as God calls us to renewal, revival, and spiritual awakening” (ix). Having traveled all over the United States, Blackaby has witnessed revival in local churches and communities. However, he has witnessed more lip service about wanting revival than ministers and lay people actually doing something about it. This book is about the prerequisite for God’s people that must be met if true revival is to break out across the land or in your own church.
Summary of Holiness
The book is broke down into three chapters easily read in one sitting. The first chapter deals with a general sense of a loss of the fear of God by His people. Blackaby contends that it is the people of God who steer the nation. Many believe that because God does not judge immediately, He will not judge ever. We are too dull to notice God’s judgment on our nation.
In chapter two, Blackaby discusses seeing sin from God’s perspective. He traces the problem of a loss of fear of God in America (in a general sense) back to the 1960’s and then builds his case that most Christians in America no longer see sin as an offense to God. Rather, we now proclaim sin to be that which is not acceptable by the culture in which we live. He makes the point that most of what we find “acceptable” would have led to our being stoned in the Old Testament.
By far the longest chapter of the book is chapter three. This chapter entitled, “The highway of holiness” comprises more than 40% of the entire book. Based upon Isaiah 35, Dr. Blackaby shows how God moves in the lives of His people when they live a life holy unto the Lord. He argues that as Christians, we need to be accountable to living a holy life to God. We must first seek holiness if we expect God to bring about revival.
Critical Evaluation of Holiness
Given the nature of the book, my critiques are to be held subjectively in that not everyone will agree with me. For some, what I view as a weakness will be a strength. With that in mind, I felt there were two glaring problems with Holiness.
First is Dr. Blackaby’s use of his own paraphrase of Scripture. While he does not violate the texts, in my opinion, he does reword some passages to make his point come more into focus. This is especially evident when he discusses the sins of David and God’s dealing with him. He uses his paraphrases so frequently that it is sometimes a bit difficult to discern what he is saying versus what God has spoken in His Word.
Second, on pages 24-26, Dr. Blackaby sounds the alarm that he believes this generation to be the generation in which Christ returns. I guess at some level, we must all think as though this is the case-it seems as though every generation since the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ has thought this. While there is nothing wrong in thinking like this, I believe that those who preach this particular message have caused many to become callous to the call of the gospel. How many preachers must proclaim that “this is the generation” and then the next generation comes and goes and we are still here?
I realize this is an extremely volatile issue for many so I do want to be careful with what I am saying. In my opinion, we should preach, “the end is closer than you think” because for you, it may be that you will die today. However, I think to preach the end of time will be this generation is extremely dangerous and unnecessary.
Conclusion
I have owned this book for more than three years and have read it at least a dozen times (I try to read it once a quarter). This book should be on the shelf of any believer whose heart cries out for revival. This little book, easily read in a couple of hours, is a must read for ministers and missionaries. Actually, a missionary serving in Botswana recommended the book to me. There are many “gut-checks” found within the pages of this book that ought to be meditated upon. Every time I have read this book, I find myself putting down in order to stop for prayer. It is a sobering call for personal holiness, which we could all use, in order that we may experience true revival that is of God and not man.
Available at Amazon.com Holiness: God’s Plan for Fullness of Life
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Podcast: A Mighty Fortress Arrangement By Scott Lee
Scott Lee, a Southern Seminary alumnus, currently serves as the Minister of Worship at State Street Baptist Church in New Albany, IN. He has a heart for God-centered worship and it shows in his selections of music each week. He has also updated some of the greatest hymns of the church. Periodically in our worship service, Scott introduces these new arrangements. He is working on putting together a CD, which has been delayed due to the birth of his first child. For the time being, I have been granted permission to share with the readers of Said at Southern his arrangement of Martin Luther’s A Mighty Fortress.
Please give it a listen and tell us what you think.
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Help Me Design A Poll About Sunday School Models
Breakfast With A Revolutionary
This morning I had breakfast with SBTS alumni Darryl Wilson. He is the guy behind the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s Sunday School Blog titled Sunday School Revolutionary.
We had great conversation about Sunday school and it’s role in local church ministry. If you teach Sunday school or lead a small group, you can find practical advice on his blog.
You Design A Poll About Sunday School
The conversation got me thinking about the competing visions that many people have about Sunday school. For an example, go read the comments on my post about Sunday school decline in the SBC.
I’m designing a poll here on Said at Southern about these different ideas. But to be fair, I want to get your feedback on the survey. Here are my initial thoughts, leave a comment to make suggestions.
In your opinion, what is the ideal model for adult Sunday school?
- Seminary education for lay people that aims for maximum Bible instruction.
- Relationship building groups that aims for maximum fellowship.
- A tool for evangelism that aims for maximum outreach.
- A tool for practical outreach that aims for community service.
- Family worship in large groups that aims for intergenerational instruction.
- Let it die, all of the above goals are better reached without traditional Sunday school
Leave a comment to let me know how you would modify this poll. I’ll probably post it later this week.
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Forum: School Is Out, What Will You Do Now?
It didn’t take long for my wife to ask, “Now that your classes are over, what will you do with all your extra time?” If I was a handy kind of guy, then I would suspect some kind of honey-do-list behind that question. But I’m not, and there wasn’t.
It did get me thinking about making the most of my Summer break. I will have a class in July, but should still have some time (and energy) to balance a few other projects. This sounds like a good topic to kick around here, I might even get some new ideas. So, leave a comment below and join the conversation. Also, check out what Terry Delaney wrote about “Quality Down Time” at Going to Seminary.
What will you do now that Seminary is out for the Summer?
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Book Review: Scripture Memorization by Christopher Pearson
Introduction and Background Information
Chris Pearson thought he was saved, until God showed him otherwise. At 18-years old, he had a “moralistic” faith in which he lived in perfect contradiction to every thing he professed to believe. Then God saved Chris. After this, he went to Missouri Baptist University (then College) where he was introduced to Reformed Theology. He attended First Baptist St. Peters which is pastored by Joe Braden. This is where he was introduced to scripture memorization. Since then, he has memorized the books of Jude, Colossians, 1 Peter, and 1 Thessalonians. He is currently working on memorizing Ephesians.
This book came about because, James Briggs, a current student at SBTS and friend of Christopher’s, asked Christopher to write a study for his (James’) youth group about scripture memorization. You can visit Christopher’s website at www.dwelling-rich.org.
Summary of Scripture Memorization
Pearson begins the book by explaining that the purpose of memorizing Scripture, “is quite simple: The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God in our hearts to further conform us into the image of Christ” (12). He also shows that memorizing scripture leads to greater fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ, enables the greatest defense against sin taking root in our hearts and mind, and allows for us to meditate deeper and more often on the things of God.
His main thesis in the book is that we should not memorize our “favorite” verses but should instead memorize whole books of the Bible. His reasoning is similar to a hermeneutic that is stressed in the SBC-context, context, context. While it is good to know the “key” verses, it is better to know whole books and be ready to meditate on the word of God or “read” the Bible wherever you are even if you don’t have a Bible with you.
Christopher spends the next six chapters explicitly stating why you should memorize whole books of the Bible. His first argument is that it is a great weapon to battle against Satan when engaged in spiritual warfare. Second, it helps in your prayer life. Third, your meditation on the things of God is greatly enhanced. He does offer three more chapters with other reasons, but you get the picture. In the last chapter, he offers a method of how he memorizes whole books of the Bible.
Critical Evaluation of Scripture Memorization
As far as accomplishing his goal of providing a lesson plan of sorts for a youth group, Christopher Pearson successfully accomplishes his goal. However, it is very obvious that this book was self-published. There are spelling errors and grammar mistakes on just about every page. Also, there are some major formatting issues that need to be taken care of if a second edition is published.
His writing style is conversant and engaging and you get the feeling that he is truly writing from the heart. He does write as one with a burden to teach others the benefits of scripture memorization. Errors aside, the book is full of Biblical reasons for memorizing Scripture.
Conclusion
If one is able to read past the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, then this book should be very useful in your ministry or personal devotion time. I realize not most people are interested in a self-published title, but this is one worth looking into. Christopher has set up a 6 or 7 session study to prepare a young group to memorize whole books of the Bible. I would recommend it to a youth pastor or a young believer (or any believer) who is wanting to memorize scripture and teach others how and why it should be done.
You can purchase the book from his website here.
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