Follow-up on BT and ST from Ken Casillas, Ph.D.
I liked these comments on Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology (following my post on the topic) from Dr. Ken Casillas, BJU Seminary faculty and pastor of Cleveland Park Bible Church. I asked if I could excerpt them on my blog: [Carl Trueman's] point about ST assumptions regarding the canon, etc., is one I regularly bring up to defend the validity and necessity of ST. Nobody is purely a biblicist. Our "beef" against ST is more along these lines: Be increasingly tentative the further away...
Court Upholds U. of California Admissions Requirements
A major case in the culture wars over Christian education has been decided. "A federal judge on Friday rejected a claim that the University of California violates private Christian high schools’ freedom of speech and religion by not certifying certain courses for its college preparatory requirements." Those courses included some which used BJU Press textbooks, and I met some of the administrators from the Calvary Chapel school at the center of the controversy. "While Judge S. James Otero sided...
Ontology, Economy, ST, and BT
Those who dive into the articles I'm about to recommend are going to have to understand a little something about the parallels Carl Trueman is drawing: Ontology (from ων, οντος) = Systematic Theology (or ST) Economy (from οικονομος) = Biblical Theology (or BT) Got it? Yeah, you do. Think of the ontological equality in the Trinity (the Father is not any better than the Son; each person is equal). Parallel that with the unity of God's revelation which is seen by a sound systematic theology (ST)....
Peter Enns’ Inspiration and Incarnation
Here's a page collecting links to the controversy surrounding Peter Enns' book Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament. I don't think any fair reader of Scripture can deny that the NT's use of the OT raises some difficult questions ("Out of Egypt I have called my son"?), but I am glad Westminster Theological Seminary views bibliology as an important enough doctrine to suspend a professor over it. Here are a few comments on the issues at stake in Enns'...
Keynote
My boss just defended his Ed.D. dissertation, and he hired me to produce a slick visual presentation to accompany it. (I had to make it real small to fit on the blog; sorry!) We did some real thinking about transitions and when to click. Apple's Keynote makes that a very smooth, intuitive process. But working multiple hours on this presentation also raised again a question I've had: Is "powerpoint" (used generically like "xerox" or "frisbee" or "kleenex") really effective and helpful, or is it...