At the end of John’s Gospel, the risen Christ says to the disciples: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” It’s such a stark statement that, when I get to preach on this text, I usually spend about half the
Essay / Theology
Featured Essay / Literature
A Wrinkle in Time Among the Great Books
Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time was published in 1962. A few years ago, several Torrey professors had a panel discussion about this strange book that had stayed in print for 50 years, finding new audiences all the time. Now that the Ava DuVernay-directed Disney movie version of it is…
Essays
Essay / Theology
“Why So Much Preaching Is Lost Among Us”
The Puritan Isaac Ambrose (1604-1664) wrote a large book called Looking Unto Jesus. If I call it a devotional book, you’ll simply need to upgrade your notion of what a devotional book could be, or the condition to which all devotional books should aspire. Ambrose
Essay / Literature
A Few Writing Tips
Some tips on writing that I posted on a friend’s blog back in 2010, but which have gone missing from the internet since then. Lightly revised and updated, they still represent my best advice about the craft of writing. 1. Read for craft. Once you’ve
Essay / Education
Dennis Kinlaw and Christ-Like Love
Last week during Holy Week, God called home one of his followers, Dennis Kinlaw (June 26, 1922—Monday, April 10). (Read the announcement here.) During the 1970’s and 80’s, Dr. Kinlaw served as the president of Asbury College, a Christian liberal arts school with roots in
Essay / Theology
The Triune God: A Video Study
If you’d like to hear –nay, see— my lectures on The Triune God (Zondervan, 2016), then here’s some good news: we recorded them. Professionally produced, the brand new Video Study (also called The Triune God) features 2 hours and 35 minutes of me talking through
Essay / Theology
Father and Son at the Cross
This is my last post in a series of theological preparations for Easter. The first post was about God experiencing death on the cross, and the second was about the two natures of Christ. I’m not trying to clutter up your Holy Week with theology
Essay / Theology
How the Real Word Really Became Real Flesh
I’m no Bible Answer Man or anything, but I get a lot of questions around Easter time. How can God be unchanging if the Son became Jesus? What happened to the Trinity while the Son was dead? How could God the Father and God the
Essay / Theology
God Died on the Cross
In the days leading up to Good Friday, I’m going to post a few theological answers to questions I get every year around this time. The answers will be unblushingly doctrinal, so prepare to put your thinking caps on. This little series isn’t mainly about
Essay / Culture
Thoughts on the “Benedict Option” – A Lament
For years Rod Dreher (senior editor at The American Conservative) has been writing about his “Benedict Option.” Now his book of the same title has finally appeared. To be honest, I have not been convinced by his articles addressing the Benedict Option and his book
Essay / Theology
New Essay, New Word
The new issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society is out, and it’s got plenty of Trinitarian theology in it. Don’t miss Scott Swain’s article on the Bible and the Trinity, and Gerald McDermott’s piece on the Trinity and world religions. It’s also
Essay / Theology
Grashop’s Bible Chart
I just came across this fascinating chart by T. Grashop. It’s printed in the front of the Geneva Bible, and it diagrams, using a tree of subdivisions, the way to read the Bible. There are seven steps, and they start as far back as “earnestly…pray
Essay / Theology
Deep Things of God, Second Edition
My 2010 book The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything, is coming out in a second edition in April 2017. Why? Because while the first edition has found a home in classrooms as well as churches, it contained a few obstacles that