Ken Baker: Wisdom Christian College Student Forum


Ready to go? The second semester looms…
December 29, 2007, 6:45 pm
Filed under: INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, Old Testament, PENTATEUCH, REFORMATION: HISTORY AND THEOLOGY, THEOLOGY, Theological Education

Now that the next semester is looming (!) and the holidays all but gone, I present a short book list for those intending to take the courses I am offering in February.

1. PENTATEUCH

This is a first year course: an over-all sketch study of the first five books of the Bible. The textbook is    Introduction to the Pentateuch by Roger Whybray which you can purchase quite cheaply at http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=whybray&bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&sortby=3&sts=t&tn=pentateuch&x=32&y=3. Check elsewhere on the site for further details of the Pentateuch course.

2. INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

This is another 1st year course, comprising a brief survey of the major emphases of Christian theology. The textbook is Introduction to Christian Doctrine by Millard Erickson and can be purchased at http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=millard&sortby=3&sts=t&tn=doctrine&x=0&y=0

3. REFORMATION HISTORY AND THEOLOGY

This is a 3rd year module, with a strong emphasis on the theology and church praxis of Calvin. It should be of particular interest to those who have studied PURITANISM. The textbook is Timothy George’s  Theology of the reformers  and this can be purchased at  http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=952827979&searchurl=an%3Dgeorge%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26sortby%3D3%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dreformers%26x%3D62%26y%3D11

4. WISDOM LITERATURE

This module covers a sometimes neglected area of OT research study. We will provide an overview of the major Biblical Wisdom books: Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, together with a selection of Psalms and some extra-Biblical texts in the Apocrypha and other ancient writings. The text-book is  William Brown, Character in crisis: A Fresh Approach to Wisdom Literature  which can be purchased quite cheaply at  http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=brown&bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&sortby=3&sts=t&tn=character+in+crisis&x=46&y=9

5. OT TEXTS: HABAKKUK

This is a more advanced option. We will be attempting a detailed exegesis of the entire text. Though we will be using an English translation, it will be helpful if you have done at least one module of elementary Hebrew. One of the best recent commentaries (in my opinion) is Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (New American Commentary) by Kenneth L. Barker and Waylon Bailey (Hardcover - Oct 1998). Click on the link for the Amazon option.

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Romans: The Results of Justification
October 29, 2007, 12:30 pm
Filed under: PAULINE EPISTLES, Romans, THEOLOGY

This week’s lecture on romans-lecture-7.ppt still develops the theme of Justification from Romans 5. Please check that your Romans 3 assignments are posted on your weblogs ASAP. Looking forward to reading your reviews of Conflict and Identity. and forthcoming lesson plans on Romans 7.

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Missiology: The Prophets and their Mission
October 10, 2007, 4:35 pm
Filed under: Missiology, THEOLOGY

I  have been reading an article for the Missiology classentitled, The Biblical Foundation of the Mission of the Church by Robert Dobbie 1962. Dobbie does a wonderful job of setting the context for the Jewish idea of the coming Messiah. He states:

The dreams of the new Kingdom included the religious centrality of Jerusalem, the political significance of Israel, the return of many Jews of the dispersion to their homeland, and a triumph over traditional foes. (Page 197)

Dobbie also pointed out how an errant idea of the true Messiah and the structure of Temple worship led to a non-missionary theology. Sadly enough, a misunderstanding of the true Messiah and the structure and or content of our worship can, does, and always will lead to a non-missionary theology.

But Dobbie does not let the nation of Israel off easy:

Even if the Jewish Church as a whole, in most of its history, failed to develop a missionary soul, much of its teaching, many of its insights, and not a few of its spokesmen worthily represent a claim to which no missionary cause can be indifferent. (Page 200-201)

I appreciate this word on so many levels. First, as I stated, it does not let Israel off the hook, so to speak. Granted revelation was progressive, but they had the bare understanding of what God desired and what He demanded from all of His creation. I would point you to the Abrahamic Covenant, particular Psalms, and several passages in Isaiah.

Dobbie also does an excellent job of pointing to the fact that revelation was progressive and illustrates this with what the prophets preached, and expected from their preaching.

[The OT prophets] made the ethical response of the people focal to its fulfilment or continuance. In particular they linked this manifold concept of righteousness to the necessity and the availability of forgiveness, on the explicit understanding of repentance as its indispensable precondition. (Page 202)

Dobbie then moves to sum up this article this way:

Thus it would appear that the positive marks of an authentic gospel, even in the Old Testament, are to be found, not in the history of the nation as a whole, nor in the witness of the Church as a totality, but in the faith and insight and loyalty of a few - a spiritual remnant - whose committal to their own convictions has foreshadowed and foretold the coming of Jesus Christ and whose life has been a worthy and in the main a compelling adumbration of that incarnate life which involves or should involve irresistible missionary response.  (Page 204)

All in all, again, I enjoyed and appreciate his article.  I am not sure if I can put my .pdf copy up here on the web for you.  But if you want it and cannot find it, email me and we will see what can be done.  I would encourage you to find this article and read it…it is one for the reference shelf.

Here is yesterday’s powerpoint outline mission-in-the-prophets.ppt.

Make every effort to get hold of the textbook Announcing the Kingdom and get reading ready for your book review; keep posting up to date (Pentateuch/ Historical Books/ Prophets summaries are now due on the websites).

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Paul and the Law
October 8, 2007, 9:33 pm
Filed under: NEW TESTAMENT, PAULINE EPISTLES, Romans, THEOLOGY

What was Paul’s view of the Law?  1. Introduction
2. The Crisis over Gentiles and the Law in the Early Church
3. The Status of the Law in Relation to Being Declared Righteous
   3.1. Paul’s View of the Law Prior to Conversion
   3.2. Paul’s Reassessment of the Law in Relation to Being Declared Righteous
       3.2.1. Impossibility of Being Made Declared by the Law
       3.2.2. Purpose of the Law
              A. Law as Bringing Knowledge of Sin and Increasing Sin
                    1. Rom 3:19-20; 5:12-13; 7:7-8; Gal 3:19
                    2. Rom 5:20
              B. The Salvation-Historical Role of the Law
                    1. Gal 3:15-25
                    2. Rom 10:4
4. The Law and Its Relation to the Believer as a Moral Standard
   4.1. Paul’s Rejection of Part of the Law
       4.1.1. Circumcision
       4.1.2. Dietary Laws and Jewish Festival Calendar
   4.2. Statements that Appear to Indicate the Paul Rejects the Law as a Moral Standard

       4.2.1. Rom 6:14-15
       4.2.2. Rom 7:1-6
       4.2.3. 2 Cor 3:1-11
              A. 2 Cor 3:1-6a
              B. 2 Cor 3:6b-11, 17
       4.2.4. Gal 2:17-19
       4.2.5. Gal 3:23-25; 4:1-7
       4.2.6. Gal 4:21-31
       4.2.7. Gal 5:1, 13, 18
       4.2.8. 1 Cor 9:20-21; 10:23-24
5. Passages Suggesting the Abiding Validity of at Least Parts of the Law
   5.1. Rom 2:14-15
   5.2. Rom 3:31

   5.3. Rom 7:12, 14
   5.4. Rom 8:2-4

   5.5. Rom 13:8-9; Gal 5:13-14; 5:6b
   5.6. 1 Cor 7:19
   5.7. Eph 6:1-3
6. Synthesis (more…)

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Puritanism: Lectures
September 28, 2007, 7:43 pm
Filed under: Church History, Puritanism, Reformed, THEOLOGY

John Owen

Greetings to Year 2/3 students joining us for Puritanism: History and Theology

Here’s a student essay defending the subject, asking why-study-puritan-theology.doc and here’s the powerpoint of Lecture 1 puritanism.ppt.

Your immediate task is to purchase Pilgrims Progresss and read through Part One.

Peace and Grace!

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The sovereignty of God: an Arminian perspective
September 28, 2007, 7:30 pm
Filed under: Arminian, Bible, Bible Studies, Calvinist, Christianity, INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, Reformed, THEOLOGY

This article was posted over at Arminian Perspectives by Kangeroodort. In the article he discusses the differences between Calvinists and Arminians on this issue. He asks a question that I have asked in the past. In fact, when I first started to study Reformed Theology this was one of my first objections.

Kangeroodort said

Is a God who can only control His universe through cause and effect bigger or smaller than a God who can allow for true contingency in His creatures and still accomplish His will?

Likewise, Arminians consider that this view magnifies God’s power, in at least two interrelated ways.

1. God was able to create a being who was not merely “determined,” but an actor who also “determines” things, a being who is free and in His own image. He of the only true sovereign will was able to endow man with a will that really has the power of decision and choice.

2. God is able to govern the truly free exercise of men’s wills in such a way that all goes according to His plan. A God who created a complex universe inhabited by beings pre-programmed to act out His will for them would be great. But one who can make men with wills of their own and set them free to act in ways He has not determined for them, and still govern the whole in perfect accord with His purpose is greater.” [page 43, italics his]

This was my position. I can still understand the argument. After all, in what way is God more powerful…when He controls everything or when He allows his creatures to have free will and He is still able to have His will accomplished? The answer seemed obvious. It makes so much sense, doesn’t it? Well on the surface it does. But there is so much more to this. The biggest problem I now see with this position is that it does not accurately account for the depravity of man. The depravity is total meaning that it permeates our whole being to the point of enslaving our will. Click here to read a more thorough discussion of Total Depravity. When we understand the true condition that our will is in we can understand that we can not have free will.

A.W. Pink explains it this way in Ch. 7 of The Sovereignty of God. He said

To will is to choose, and to choose is to decide between two or more alternatives. But there is something which influences the choice; something which determines the decision. Hence the will cannot be Sovereign because it is the servant of that something. The will cannot be both Sovereign and servant. It cannot be both cause and effect. The will is not causative, because, as we have said, something causes it to choose, therefore that something must be the causative agent. Choice itself is affected by certain considerations, is determined by various influences brought to bear upon the individual himself, hence, volition is the effect of these considerations and influences, and if the effect, it must be their servant; and if the will is their servant then it is not Sovereign, and if the will is not Sovereign, we certainly cannot predicate absolute “freedom” of it.

All men have free will but they are only able to make choices within and in cooperation with their nature.  For unregenerate people that nature is the sinful nature inherited from the Fall.  For regenerate people that nature is the new nature given to them at the point they are made alive and freed from the bondage of the sinful nature.  The new nature is one that seeks after God and can respond when the Gospel is proclaimed to them.

Post from Everyday Christian

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Wilberforce: “feelingly alive…”
May 29, 2007, 7:39 am
Filed under: CONTEMPORISMS, PRACTICAL MINISTRY, THEOLOGY

 

“If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”

- William Wilberforce, 1759- 1833, the British abolitionist and subject of the recent film Amazing Grace

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The Bluffer’s Guide to Theology
May 25, 2007, 10:08 pm
Filed under: INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, THEOLOGY

scene8.jpg

Can you identify everyone here?

A free Mars Bar for the first student email…

Find a solitary fact about each of the following and drop it into party conversation when the going gets slow: Athanasius, Arius,Montanus,Augustine,Anselm,Francis of Assisi,Tyndale,Wycliffe,Erasmus,Luther,Zwingli,Melancthon,CalvinBezaOwen GoodwinWesley,Whitfield,Edwards,Finney,Pusey,Newman,Muller,Spurgeon,

Barth,Bonhoeffer,Bultmann,N.T.Wright

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John Piper: The Supremacy of Christ
May 24, 2007, 8:12 pm
Filed under: CHRISTOLOGY, INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, THEOLOGY

Here’s a ten-minute clip of one of the great exponents of relevant theology of our day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYGLl0gO1dk

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Worried? Notes on forthcoming exams
May 21, 2007, 9:07 pm
Filed under: Bible, CHRISTOLOGY, INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, MODERN CHURCH HISTORY

Worried? No need.

Here’s some notes on the final exams in Modern Church History and Introduction to Christian Doctrine
 Modern Church History
We will follow the same pattern in MCH and in Doctrine as we went through in the Pentateuch preparation. As follows:
10 short answer questions (20 %)
5 paragraph questions (50%)
1 (out of 3) essay questions (30%)
 
The short answer questions will probably be famous names (cf that list etc) / date recognition (1815, 1869, 1962 etc)/ events (, Vatican 1 etc)
 
The paragraph questions will be explaining events (Tractarians, Chartists, Darwin controversy, Liberalism, Fundamentalism)
 
The essay questions will be a choice (Context and outcome of vatican 1 and 2/ Cause Course and Consequence of 1st or 2nd Awakening/ Impact of Industrial revolution on English religion etc)
 
Introduction to Doctrine
Short answer questions: famous names/ theological names (Harnack,Bultmann. kenosis, pneumatology,  etc)
 
Paragraph questions: on theological themes
 
Essay questions on ;larger doctrinal themes: authority, revelation, scripture/ christology/ doctrine of God/ pneumatology (Holy Spirit in the Bible etc)
 
Christology
Just a reminder to Year 3 Christology module: there is no final exam but TWO ASSIGNMENTS (Jesus in John 1 and Christ to Constantine are due by June 4th (Sorry: this is final cut-off date…. we cannot accept late submissions on this one, because of marking exigencies)

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