10/10/10
It’s kind of neat. Add up the numbers in today’s date and you get my new age. Not like New Age, new age. I mean I’ve entered a new decade of life, and I want to say publicly (if this blog even counts) that I’m thankful for the divine gifts in the previous decade. I don’t deserve the good things God has given me, especially my wife, child, friends, church, and job. And I don’t want to forget you, either, blog readers. Both of you have meant so much to me! Thank you!
Charles Hodge on Love in 1873
I rarely do this, but I felt Hodge was worth quoting at length (I added paragraph breaks and updated the Scripture reference format): Love in us includes complacency and delight in its object, with the desire of possession and communion. The schoolmen, and often the philosophical theologians, tell us that there is no feeling in God. This, they say, would imply passivity, or susceptibility of impression from without, which it is assumed is incompatible with the nature of God. “We must exclude,”...
The Theological Messages of the Old Testament Books—Book Signing!
If you’re in Greenville, don’t miss today’s book signing of Dr. Bell’s new book*! How many books in your library are exactly 500 pages?! You need this one! The title of his new book tells you what it’s about: the messages (plural) Dr. Bell delivers are the theological ones found in the individual Old Testament books. Each book gets its own chapter (except that Judges-Ruth and Obadiah-Joel-Zephaniah are placed together), and the basic approach is more or less consistent: let each book make its...
Chapter 2 Approved! Dissertation Tickers Updated!
I've decided to enhance my dissertation tickers rather than spending time writing my dissertation. The first ticker now shows how many words have passed all the way through the pipeline and how many I have written (basically three-ish additional chapters in various stages of completion—I also have extensive notes). Anyone who has prayed for me I thank; I believe the Lord has helped me turn a corner in a sometimes very difficult but almost always enjoyable process. Please do pray that I would...
What Is the Will? Eight Views
Vernon Bourke's 1964 book Will in Western Thought has become a standard in its field. My roving dissertation eye brought me to it recently, and Inter-Library Loan did the rest. I just read the first chapter, and it was genuinely helpful for a section I'm writing on the nature of the affections. Bourke says he set out to organize his discussion of the will chronologically, but that this plan created too much repetition—the same views tend to pop up throughout history. He instead focused on the...