Confessions of a Seminarian

Around the Wire…

• We’ve had a lot of discussion about the deity of Christ, stemming from the historical (un)reliability of John. Dan Wallace over at Parchment and Pen just started a mini-series analyzing the historical reliability of the gospel, and some very interesting insights into academic history regarding it. A very good read!

• Over the summer, I am going to take a more in depth look and write about issues of masculinity (starting next week actually). This article, written by Dr. Anthony Bradley and hosted by The Resurgence, is an excellent look into the problems facing men in our culture, and the sad state of masculinity in desperate need of some redeeming. It is helpful in establishing the “problem” into which I plan to write.

• I just found out that one of my favorite (mostly unknown) bands, Greenwheel, has disbanded and reformed as Go Van Gogh. It’s so good… I would describe their sound as Indie-ish Rock with killer hooks and clear Pop props. My favorite song is a funk-inspired “vampire love story” called “Blood Money.”

• One of my other favorite bands (probably #2 actually), Fundamental Elements, is having a CD release party at Chuck Berry’s Blueberry Hill here in St. Louis. It’s “100% Original Blue-eyed Soul,” and some of the most creative music I’ve ever heard (especially lyrically).  Their new stuff (on the website) is just out of this world… I’m tossing around the idea of trying to corner frontman Russ Mohr for an exclusive COAS interview, so keep your fingers crossed!

• Thanks to Duncan for this gem of a find on youtube. Tim Keller speaking about his new book, “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.” This book (or at least the first half of my reading of it) is incredible, and I highly recommend it. People are calling this book the “Mere Christianity” of the 21st century. A “friend of a friend” who was recently hired at Keller’s church said that once he retires from the pulpit, we can expect a flood of writing that’s been stored up over the years, to rival J.I. Packer’s plethora of works! Insanity.

• Speaking of Keller, I’m eagerly awaiting the audio and video to come out from the recent Dwell Conference at Redeemer. Like someone excited about their two best friends getting married, I’m always stoked to see the likes of missional church planting network, Acts 29, pair up with reformed Presbyterians like Keller. Mark Driscoll tantalizingly summarized the conference in a blog post at Acts 29: “The conference went very well and in my opinion was a gathering of pastors who are reformed by conviction and missional by contextualization. It seems to me that this tribe is growing as more and more young pastors in general, and church planters in particular, want to be both faithful to the text of Scripture and fruitful in the context of culture… I do believe that, with love and patience, more bridges of understanding and partnership are being built, which only benefits the cause of Jesus, especially through church planting.” *cue drooling from Brad* OK, I’m done dorking out now…