spurgeon

A Retort of Sorts

Tony Reinke spurgeon

I have a friend whose name sounds like Stephan Al-Hoagie.

This friend clearly doesn’t read my blog, or at least not as closely as he should, because by now he should know that I sign off my emails with the carefully chosen word “Blessings!” for a reason, actually one clear and intentional reason, and one subtle and indirect reason that only the French would perceive.

But I must stop there because it would be superfluous to say more on the subject, which I leave to your own consideration; but I cannot let slip this opportunity of declaring that I am, with the most inviolable esteem and attachment, dear Sir/Madam, your affectionate, obliged, humble servant,

Bony Deinke

The Gospel Coalition

Tony Reinke spurgeon

It’s been a great joy to attend The Gospel Coalition National Conference here in Chicago with 5,500 others to celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Rarely do I get to reconnect with so many old friends, and make so many new friends, than at this conference.

But it’s also very easy to get lost in the now-ness of the conference and to forget that this gathering (and others like it) are the realized dream of a previous generation of Christians, many of whom have now passed on to glory. One of those men was Dr. Carl F. H. Henry (1913–2003).

For several years my friend Owen Strachan served as the Managing Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. While recently sifting through Henry’s old letters, Strachan found a letter from Henry to Mark Dever written on September 12, 1989. In the letter, Henry wrote the following comment:

I may see Al Mohler at Southeastern. He has many gifts. Who knows how our Lord may bring together a core of young evangelical spirits for some dramatic breakthrough a half generation down the road. While we move under His banner who are, in any case, destined for victory.

We are now about a half generation down the road. It was quite fitting that the 2011 TGC conference opened this afternoon with a message from Dr. Mohler.

Life In the Greco-Roman World (Book Recommendations)

Tony Reinke Reading, spurgeon

[updated 4/10]

Great books change everything about a long, dragging, late night flight.

Last night I took my place on a crowded a jet to discover we were grounded for 45-minutes due to air traffic. Normally that’s a big bummer when you are already expecting another 3 hours of flight time and the tendons in your knees are being dented by the seats in front of you. But it wasn’t such a big deal since it gave me more time to read my new historical novel, A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers. By the time the plane landed I was over 150 pages into a book that I did not put down the entire time. And that’s how good books redeem bad flights.

But to get good recommendations we need to know discerning readers and that’s why I’m glad you read this blog. Last week I asked you for book recommendations that shed light on the everyday social life and the cultural heritage of the first century Roman world to gain a deeper understanding of the complex world that frames New Testament Christian history. Your response was overwhelming. I received book recommendations through the blog comments, email, from friends on Facebook, and from followers on Twitter. It is obvious that many of you have studied this topic from quite a broad array of genres from technical textbooks to historical fiction.

For my own benefit and future reference, I compiled the book suggestions into a select bibliography. This list includes the books that I currently own (º), those that I own and have read at least in part (•), and many of the books that are now on my list of books to buy and read in the future (*). Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions! Here’s the list (updated on 4/9):

Non-Fiction, Technical and Textbooks

•Eckhard Schnabel, Early Christian Mission, 2 volumes (IVP, 2004), 1,972 pages, $56.70 Amazon.

ºEckhard Schnabel, Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies and Methods (IVP, 2008), 518 pages, $23 Amazon, $22 WTSB.

*James Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era (IVP, 1999), 352 pages, $15 Amazon, $15 WTSB. See Craig Blomberg’s review here.

*Moyer Hubbard, Christianity in the Greco-Roman World: A Narrative Introduction (Baker, 2010), 344 pages, $24.99 Amazon. Read Ben Witherington’s glowing review.

*Bruce Malina, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology (WJK, 2001), 277 pages, $20 Amazon.

*A. A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy (Duckworth, 2010), 288 pages, $32 Amazon.

*Peter Connolly, The Ancient City: Life in Classical Athens and Rome (Oxford U, 2000), 256 pages, op.

ºEverett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Eerdmans, 2003), 648 pages, $22 Amazon, $21 WTSB.

*Wayne Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (Yale U, 2003), 320 pages, $20 Amazon.

*Ben Witherington, The Indelible Image: The Theological and Ethical World of the New Testament, Vol. 1: The Individual Witnesses (IVP, 2009), 856 pages, $31 Amazon.

*Ben Witherington, The Indelible Image: The Theological and Ethical Thought World of the New Testament, Volume 2: The Collective Witness (IVP, 2010), 838 pages, $31 Amazon.

Ben Witherington, New Testament History: A Narrative Account (Baker, 2003), 431 pages, $22 Amazon.

Ben Witherington, New Testament Rhetoric: An Introduction Guide to the Art of Persuasion in and of the New Testament (Wipf & Stock, 2008), 274 pages, $25 Amazon.

David John Williams, Paul’s Metaphors: Their Context and Character (Hendrickson, 1999), 385 pages, $25 Amazon.

•F.F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity from Its First Beginnings to the Conversion of the English (Wipf & Stock, 2004), 436 pages, $36 Amazon.

Various, The New Testament in Antiquity: A Survey of the New Testament within Its Cultural Context (Zondervan, 2009), 480 pages, $31 Amazon.

Calvin Roetzel, The World That Shaped the New Testament (WJK, 2003), 192 pages, $24 Amazon.

Paul J. Sampley, Paul in the Greco-Roman World: A Handbook (Trinity, 2003), 700 pages, $110 Amazon.

Non-Fiction, Original Sources

*Eusebius, Eusebius: The Church History (Kregel, 2007), 368 Pages, $10 Amazon, $11 WTSB.

*Jo-Ann Shelton, As The Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History (Oxford U, 1998), 512 pages, $46 Amazon.

•Michael Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers in English (Baker), 336 pages, $30 Amazon, $25 WTSB.

*Elwell and Yarbrough, Readings from the First-Century World: Primary Sources for New Testament Study (Baker, 1998), 224 pages, $25 Amazon.

*C. K. Barrett, New Testament Background: Selected Documents (HarperOne, 1995), 400 pages, $18 Amazon.

Inwood and Gerson, Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings (Hackett, 1998), 439 pages, $16 Amazon.

Mark Harding, Early Christian Life and Thought in Social Context: A Reader (Sheffield Academic, 2003), 400 pages, $72 Amazon.

Non-Fiction, Commentaries on Acts

•Ben Witherington, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Eerdmans, 1997), 923 pages, $34 Amazon, $35 WTSB. Don Carson, for example, is no big fan of the socio-rhetorical commentary format, since it tends to place greater emphasis on sociological points at the expense of more important theological points. Yet he commends this one, saying it is “very good indeed,” and that “his ‘socio-rhetorical’ approach (which in this volume tends to mean no more than that the author is sensitive both to the world of the first century and to the structure of the text) is particularly suited to this sort of biblical book” (NTCS, 81).

*Colin Hemer, Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History (Eisenbrauns, 1990), 482 pages, op. Clearly a commentary worth finding. Writes Carson, it is “a wonderfully erudite study of the social context of Acts, with countless insights” (NTCS, 84).

Historical Fiction, Christian

ºPaul Maier, The Flames of Rome: A Novel (Kregel, 1995), 464 pages, $11 Amazon. Maier’s novels are unique in that he begins with historical facts, real people, and true events, and then tells these stories by filling in the gaps with fictional putty. He calls this style a “documentary novel.”

*Paul Maier, Pontius Pilate: A Novel (Kregel, 1995), 384 pages, $10 Amazon.

•Francine Rivers, A Voice in the Wind, Mark of the Lion #1 (Tyndale, 1998), 515 pages, $10 Amazon.

*Francine Rivers, An Echo in the Darkness, Mark of the Lion #2 (Tyndale, 1998), 461 pages, $10 Amazon.

*Francine Rivers, As Sure as the Dawn, Mark of the Lion #3 (Tyndale, 1998), 508 pages, $10 Amazon.

*Tim Woodroof, A Distant Presence: The Story Behind Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (NavPress, 2002), 500 pages, op.

*Bruce Longenecker, The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World (Baker, 2002), 192 pages, $12 Amazon, $9 WTSB.

Historical Fiction, Non-Christian

*Tom Holland, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic (Anchor, 2005), 464 pages, $10 Amazon.

Colleen McCullough, First Man in Rome (William Morrow, 2008), 1,152 pages, $12 Amazon.

Colleen McCullough, The Grass Crown (William Morrow, 2008), 1,152 pages, $12 Amazon.

Robert Harris, Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Pocket, 2007), 305 pages, $11 Amazon.

Robert Harris, Conspirata: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Simon & Schuster, 2010), 352 pages, $10 Amazon.

That is a wonderful list of books, a feast for any diligent reader.

Thank you for your book recommendations, and thank you for your blog readership.

Tony

The Rob Bell Debate

Tony Reinke spurgeon

By now you may have heard about the most recent debate over Rob Bell’s theology and his new book Love Wins. The debate is an important one in my opinion because so many primary truths of Scripture have been called into question. On the one hand, these types of debates can edify the Church. On the other hand I am aware that many blog readers simply do not have the time to follow the debate. So I attempted to compose a simple and concise blog post to collect the important pieces of the debate into one place. In the post I provide a summary of the discussion up to this point, which has been updated this morning with the most recent developments including links to an important panel discussion yesterday at Southern Seminary. If interested, you can find my post on C.J.’s blog here.

God’s Love and God’s Wrath

Tony Reinke Cross of Christ, D.A. Carson, Hell, Judgement of God, spurgeon, wrath of god

Dr. Don Carson writes the following in his outstanding article “God’s Love and God’s Wrath” published in Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. 156 (1999), pages 388–390:

The Bible speaks of the wrath of God in high-intensity language. “The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war. … Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. … See, the day of the Lord is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it” (Isa. 13:4, 6, 9). Even allowing for the unusual nature of language in the apocalyptic genre, Revelation 14 includes some of the most violent expressions of God’s wrath found in all literature. …

How, then, do God’s love and His wrath relate to each other?

One evangelical cliché has it that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. There is a small element of truth in these words: God has nothing but hate for the sin, but this cannot be said with respect to how God sees the sinner. Nevertheless the cliché is false on the face of it, and should be abandoned. Fourteen times in the first fifty psalms alone, the psalmists state that God hates the sinner, that His wrath is on the liar, and so forth. In the Bible the wrath of God rests on both the sin (Rom. 1:18–23) and the sinner (1:24–32; 2:5; John 3:36).

Our problem in part is that in human experience wrath and love normally abide in mutually exclusive compartments. Love drives wrath out, or wrath drives love out. We come closest to bringing them together, perhaps, in our responses to a wayward act by one of our children, but normally we do not think that a wrathful person is loving.

But this is not the way it is with God. God’s wrath is not an implacable blind rage. However emotional it may be, it is an entirely reasonable and willed response to offenses against His holiness. At the same time His love wells up amidst His perfections and is not generated by the loveliness of the loved. Thus there is nothing intrinsically impossible about wrath and love being directed toward the same individual or people at once. God in His perfections must be wrathful against His rebel image-bearers, for they have offended Him; God in His perfections must be loving toward His rebel image-bearers, for He is that kind of God. …

The reality is that the Old Testament displays the grace and love of God in experience and types, and these realities become all the clearer in the New Testament. Similarly, the Old Testament displays the righteous wrath of God in experience and types, and these realities become all the clearer in the New Testament. In other words both God’s love and God’s wrath are ratcheted up in the move from the Old Testament to the New. These themes barrel along through redemptive history, unresolved, until they come to a resounding climax in the Cross.

Do you wish to see God’s love? Look at the Cross.

Do you wish to see God’s wrath? Look at the Cross.

Read the entire article here.