This Advent, Nan Thomas will share four Sunday reflections with us on these themes: hope, prepare, watch, and rejoice. Nan is deeply thoughtful about spiritual formation, a topic she pursues as an InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries staff member and as Associate Director of Faculty Development at Union University. In addition, Nan was part of the founding team that imagined the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) and made it a reality. We’re grateful for her ongoing advice and encouragement, and for this Advent series. [Read more…] about Watch: Third Week of Advent (Scholar’s Compass)
Pascal
Best Christian Book of All Time: First Round Update
The first round has closed in the Theology & Apologetics and Christian Life & Discipleship brackets of our Best Christian Book of All Time tournament. Download the updated bracket for your office pools, and head to Facebook to vote for your choices for the Sweet Sixteen.
First Round Results
Theology & Apologetics
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (1) defeated On Loving God by Bernard of Clairvaux (16) by a score of 99-11. [Read more…] about Best Christian Book of All Time: First Round Update
Why “Christian Apologetics”? — Hell
One of the ways in which the damned will be condemned is that they will see themselves condemned by their own reason, by which they claimed to condemn the Christian religion. — Blaise Pascal. Penses. ed. and trans. A. Krailsheimer (New York: Penguin, 1966), 175/563, p. 84.
In To skim or not to skim: A ‘case’ study of “Christian Apologeticsâ€, I share my initial response to Douglas Groothuis‘ newly released 752 page casebound Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for the Biblical Faith (IVP. 2011). As we begin a new term and jump into the daily grind, some readers may wrestle with the question of “why apologetics?” Although the Chapter 2 (The Biblical Basis for Apologetics) quotes included in my previous post address this concern, what I came across in Groothuis‘ Appendix 1: Hell on Trial also deserves attention.  Please join me in taking a few minutes to prayerfully consider and respond to some of the material in Appendix 1: Hell on Trial.Â
Groothuis opens the section with the above quote from Pascal and by stating “Christianity is the highest-stakes proposition imaginable” (653). After looking at Jesus and Hell (with significant attention to Bertrand Russell) and The Logic of Hell over the course nine pages, he concludes with these compelling words:
An apologetic that denies or shies away from the doctrine of hell is not a truly Christian apologetic. Yet this teaching must be done with compassion and tears. Such was exemplified by Francis Schaeffer, a man who believed in eternal punishment and who gave his life to rescue people from it and to lead them into the abundant life that only Jesus Christ delivers (John 10:10). When asked why he continued to defend and proclaim the gospel, even while afflicted with what would become terminal cancer, he replied [Read more…] about Why “Christian Apologetics”? — Hell