Learning from Schaeffer

Ranald Macaulay, author of excellent books including the brilliant, "Being Human", and understudy of Francis Schaeffer has a short, yet great paper available entitled, "Learning from Schaeffer"

You can download it from the L'Abri website here, but here's a snippet of it:

"Without recourse to Van Til or Kuyper or Dooyeweerd, Schaeffer had discovered the ground-motif of Scripture they shared, namely the Reformed perspective. He also agreed with their critique of ‘evidentialism’ but carefully distinguished himself from them over the practical implications of this. Human beings could be reasoned with intellectually, he argued, not because they share a common presupposition with the Bible, because they don’t, but because they are unavoidably creatures of the one true God. Surrounded by evidences of God’s creation and actions in the real world — what he called the mannishness of man and the form of the universe they inevitably stand (though inconsistently within their alternative intellectual
frameworks) on common ground with the Bible."

John Dickson and the Christ Files Video

In case you hadn't known, John Dickson and Greg Clarke (formerly of CASE) have formed the Centre for Public Christianity (http://www.publicchristianity.org/ - not yet up online). John is releasing The Christ Files very shortly, which looks to be an excellent documentary supporting the historial reliability of Christ, the Gospel and the New Testament in particular.

Here's a sneak preview of the video:


And there's more to be seen here: http://au.youtube.com/user/PublicChristianity

Ancient-Future cover stories on Christianity Today

There is great value in plumbing the depths of our Christian history as we move into the future which is so suspicious of the latest big claims (or that suspicion might be better described by Lyotard as 'incredulity towards meta-narratives').

Following the legacy of Robert E. Webber, Christianity Today's February edition has some very good articles on the future on Evangelicalism. Here's a taster:

"Evangelicalism has been a chief engine of church renewal, with its emphasis on the individual's relationship with God, a proper suspicion of institutions that can indeed thwart the Spirit, and boldness to step into the future to which God is leading us.

But these strengths have also produced our movement's weaknesses: spiritual narcissism, shaky institutions, and historical amnesia—in short, a tenuous connection to the ancient church's wisdom and strength. The new appreciation of the early church is providing resources to face the challenges of 2008 and onward, which, in a lot of ways (increasing skepticism, paganism, libertinism), looks like the Roman Empire in and around A.D. 208.

That said, some of us have been basking in the warm glow of liturgy and tradition so long that the glow has worn off. We know the ancient church, in itself, is not the answer to evangelicalism's problems. If liturgy can revive, it can also deaden. If tradition can give us fresh perspectives, it can also bind us to anachronistic ways of thinking. Liturgy is another worthless work if not infused with faith and the Holy Spirit, and tradition is a noose around our necks if it isn't held up against biblical revelation.

This is why we are particularly encouraged to see evangelicals engaged in a search for the church's past. When fully immersed in Word and Spirit, what is ancient may truly become the church's lively future."

Read the intro article (Ancient Future People) here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/february/24.7.html
And the main article (The Future Lies in the Past) here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/february/22.22.html?start=1

Excellent reading, especially if you're new to this area of thought.

Enjoy,
Mark

Free Tim Keller Sermons

Post from Between Two Worlds, these are related to his forthcoming book, The Reason for God:

Exclusivity: How an there be just one true religion?
Suffering: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?
Absolutism: Don't we all have to find truth for ourselves?
Injustice: Hasn't Christianity been an instrument for oppression?
Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an angry Judge?
Doubt: What should I do with my doubts?
Literalism: Isn't the Bible historically unreliable and regressive?

Christians wrong about heaven?

NT Wright has a new book coming out called Surprised by Hope.
It seems like quite an interesting read, particularly if you're in Christian circles that think that heaven is a place where the soul escapes the body to be with God in some sort of timeless place! Here's an interview about the book:

Click here