"Let not many of you become teachers, my brothers and sisters, knowing that we will experience greater condemnation. For we all stumble in many ways." (James 3:1-2a my translation). Reflection In James 3:1-2a, James gives a warning to those who are or would be teachers. One should be careful because teachers will be held to a stricter standard. As I teach biblical studies, I take this passage very seriously. James has in mind teachers within a church setting. The role of teacher, mentioned in Acts 13:1 alongside that … [Read more...] about Bible-Believing Biblical Scholar, Part 2: Integrating Christian Faith and Biblical Scholarship (Scholar’s Compass)
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The Legacy of Kuyper
The sixth and concluding post in a series drawing from and interacting with Richard Mouw's Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction (Eerdmans, 2011). Stay tuned for additional series by Dan Jesse applying Kuyper's insights to our context in higher education. We must continue to move forward in the tradition put forth by Luther. The Reformation has a famous saying, Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda! The church needs to reform, and forever be reforming. What is not meant in this motto is that we … [Read more...] about The Legacy of Kuyper
Kuyper on The Role of the Church
The fifth post in a series drawing from and interacting with Richard Mouw's Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction (Eerdmans, 2011). Today there is a fundamental error occurring in the way we think about the Church. We confuse and collapse two concepts into one, leading us down a dangerous path. These concepts are the Church of Christ and the Kingdom of Christ. “Kuyper makes much of the fact that the Kingdom of Christ is much bigger than the institutional church.” (Mouw, 57) When we hold that the … [Read more...] about Kuyper on The Role of the Church
Introducing Kuyper’s “Sphere Sovereignty”
The fourth post in a series introducing the thought of Abraham Kuyper. The series draws from and interacts with Richard Mouw's Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction (Eerdmans, 2011). Kuyper's love of multiplicity and unity ran deep. He thought it was the bedrock of creation, as shown previously. We discussed what not to do with diversity and unity and now it falls on us to examine what the proper use of the two realities is. Kuyper's answer lays in a key concept that is not fully developed, that … [Read more...] about Introducing Kuyper’s “Sphere Sovereignty”
The Lure of Abraham Kuyper
Why Kuyper? Richard Mouw's Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction (Eerdmans, 2011), in part, seeks to answer that question. Kuyper, according to Mouw, asked many of the questions that should be central for the Reformed church. The questions that motivated much of Kuyper's thinking about how Christians are to serve the Lord in the broad reaches of culture [are] How are we to understand God's intentions in creating the world and - in response to the human rebellion that thwarted God's creating purposes - in … [Read more...] about The Lure of Abraham Kuyper