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What I’ll Be Up to at the TGC National Conference
Next week, Sept 25-27 th , I’ll be headed to Indianapolis to participate in The Gospel Coalition NationalConference entitled, “Hope in the Wilderness.” The conference this year is unique because TGC is partnering with other organizations to offer “microevents.” These are sort of like smaller conferences within the larger conference. So, while TGC hasinvited plenary...
September 20, 2023
Articles
Apologetics
Are Christians Allowed to Doubt? My Conversation with Josh Chatraw
At the inaugural Keller Center gathering last spring, I got together with Josh Chatraw, Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism at Beeson Divinity School, to discuss this important issue of doubt in the Christian life. The video of our conversation is below. Both of us have written on the subject. Josh has recently released an entire book on...
August 28, 2023
Articles
Authority of Scripture
So, What Did Jesus Think about the Old Testament?
The Old Testament has run into some hard times as of late. It’s seen by many as a curmudgeonly, legalistic, violent, confusing, and, maybe most of all, boring sort of book. As the atheist Richard Dawkins famously opined, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction.” On...
August 21, 2023
Articles
Ethics & Morality
The World’s Easiest Theological Question
For those who love to talk about theology, a good head-scratching question can really be fun. It allows us to stay up late in deep conversations with our friends over the mysteries of God and his Word. Indeed, Jesus was known for asking some pretty tough theological questions. Sometimes the answer seemed obvious when it...
August 7, 2023
Articles
Academics & Seminary
Is It a Waste of Time for Seminary Students (and Pastors) to Learn the Biblical Languages?
It’s that time of year again. A wonderful new crop of seminary students has arrived here at RTS-Charlotte and today they begin the grueling month-long experience of Summer Greek. And, like all seminary students before them, they will begin to ask the question of why studying these ancient languages even matters. After all, a few years after...
July 31, 2023
Articles
New Testament Canon
How Were the Books of the Bible “Chosen”?
“Who chose the books of the New Testament canon?” Among the countless questions I have heard over the years about the origins of the canon, this may be the most common. And that’s totally understandable. The Bible didn’t drop from heaven on golden tablets, perfectly complete and intact. It was delivered through normal historical channels,...
July 20, 2023
Articles
New Testament Canon
Even More Books on the Origins of the New Testament Canon
As I noted in a previous blog post, it seems that the issue of the origins of the biblical canon continues to garner quite a bit of scholarly attention. And this is good news. There’s always more issues to be explored and debated. Let me mention four new volumes sitting on my desk, the first two...
July 3, 2023
Articles
New Testament Canon
How Did We Get the Bible?
I recently did a weekend conference for Christ Covenant Church in Atlanta, GA, on the topic of where the Bible came from, and why we can trust it. Here’s a video of my lecture, followed by a video of an interview I did with Jason Dees, the senior pastor of Christ Covenant. Enjoy!
June 19, 2023
Articles
Pastoral Ministry
How to Make People Feel “Seen” Rather than “Watched”
As the tributes to Tim Keller continue to pour in, I was struck by a comment my wife Melissa made recently in a podcast with Collin Hansen. As they discussed Tim’s ministry, she made the observation that Tim had the ability to make a person feel ‘seen’ rather than ‘watched’ (starting at 19:33). I thought that...
May 30, 2023
Articles
Pastoral Ministry
My Tribute to Tim Keller
By now, you have heard the sad news. Tim Keller has just passed away. I still remember the first time I heard a Tim Keller sermon. It was the mid-90’s, and I happened to be in New York City. Having just graduated from seminary, I had heard all the buzz about this new pastor in...
May 19, 2023
Articles
New Testament Canon
New Book on Canon Formation
My interest in the origins of the New Testament canon began probably 30 plus years ago. At the time, there was a general interest in the subject, but it was still pretty niche. One had to dig around to find works on the canon that went beyond the well-known volumes by the likes of Bruce...
May 9, 2023
Articles
Apologetics
6 Ways Christian Students Can Prepare for College: #6 Stick Together Like a Band of Brothers (or Sisters)
Over the last few months I have been working through a 6-part series helping Christian students think through how to prepare for life at a big university. This topic is particularly relevant, I hope, given the number of high school seniors who are in the middle of deciding where they will go to college in the fall....
April 24, 2023
Articles
Apologetics
6 Ways Christian Students Can Prepare for College: #5 Doubting Your Faith Does Not Make You a Bad Christian
I am in the middle of a 6-part series helping Christian students think through how to prepare for life at a big university. This topic is particularly relevant, I hope, given the number of high school seniors who are in the middle of deciding where they will go to college in the fall. This little series is...
April 18, 2023
Articles
Apologetics
6 Ways that Christian Students Can Prepare for College: #4 People Don’t Believe Things Simply Because of the Facts
I am in the middle of a 6-part series helping Christian students think through how to prepare for life at a big university. This topic is particularly relevant, I hope, given the number of high school seniors who are in the middle of deciding where they will go to college in the fall. This little...
April 4, 2023
Articles
Authority of Scripture
Were Later Versions of Christianity Radically Different than Earlier Ones? Reflecting on Recent Scholarly Claims
I think it’s fair to say that the last decade has witnessed a bit of a resurgence of academic interest in early Christianity. By “early Christianity,” I don’t mean the Christianity represented by the major figures in the fourth and fifth centuries when the church had risen to power—e.g., Athanasius, Constantine, Augustine. Rather, I am...
March 30, 2023
Articles
New Testament Canon
6 Ways that Christian Students Can Prepare for College: #3 What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
I am in the middle of a 6-part series helping Christian students think through how to prepare for life at a big university. This topic is particularly relevant, I hope, given the number of high school seniors who are in the middle of deciding where they will go to college in the fall. This little...
March 20, 2023
Articles
Apologetics
6 Ways that Christian Students Can Prepare for College: #2 You Won’t Have All the Answers
Last week I began a new 6-part series helping Christian students think through how to prepare for life at a big university. The series is based on a recent lecture I gave to the Regents School in Austin, Texas, where I laid out 6 principles designed to help rising college students think more clearly about...
March 6, 2023
Articles
New Testament Canon
6 Ways that Christian Students Can Prepare for College: #1 Take This Transition Seriously
Well, it’s that time of year. By now, many high school seniors have heard where they have been accepted to college. Others are still waiting. But all are beginning to think about the next stage of their life post-high school. And for Christian students this time of anticipation can be particularly acute. It is natural...
February 27, 2023
Articles
Counseling
Here’s Why I Wrote My New Book, “Bully Pulpit”
Since the release of my new book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church (Zondervan, 2022), I have done a ton of podcasts. Some of the most enjoyable have been with Collin Hansen at Gospelbound podcast, Warren Cole Smith at World Magazine, and Sean McDowell and Scott Rae at Think...
February 20, 2023
Articles
Apologetics
How a Pagan Philosopher Came to Believe the Scriptures are from God
It probably comes as no surprise that the most common question I receive from both Christians and non-Christians is “How do I know the Bible is the Word of God?” And the reason this question is at the top of the list is not hard to determine. The authority of the Bible is the foundation...
January 24, 2023
Articles
Apologetics
When Were Christians First Regarded as Intolerant “Haters”?
In the midst of the high octane culture wars of the last ten years, Christians have been labelled all sorts of things: intolerant, bigoted, arrogant, narrow, dogmatic, just to name a few. But, one noteworthy word stands out. Christians have been labelled haters. Despite the fact that Christians are to be known by their love...