In Light of the Gospel

Justin Taylor has informed us of the audio from a recent conference at Desert Springs Church:

• An Apostolic Disputation - and Justification - D.A. Carson
• Panel Discussion A - D.A. Carson and Michael Horton
• Two Mothers, Two Mountains - Michael Horton
• Justification/Righteousness and the Cross of Christ - D.A. Carson
• Panel Discussion B, Pt. 1 - D.A. Carson and Michael Horton
• Panel Discussion B, Pt. 2 - D.A. Carson and Michael Horton
• The Promise-Driven Life - Michael Horton
• Panel Discussion C - Michael Horton
• “The Ironies of the Cross” - D.A. Carson

The Associated Press:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.

The justices released the 4-3 decision Thursday, saying that domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.

The cases were brought by the city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples, Equality California and another gay rights group in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco’s monthlong same-sex wedding march that took place at Mayor Gavin Newsom’s direction.

[HT: Denny Burk]

Douglas Knight:

Marriage and birth rates are falling dramatically, pensioners now outnumber teenagers, and more and more people are living alone, says the Institute for family policy in a survey of life in the 27 EU countries.

The report, ‘The evolution of the family in Europe in 2008’, was debated in parliament on Wednesday and describes the European birth rate as “critical”.

Urging national governments to set up a ministry for the family, it says, “Europe is now an elderly continent. Almost one in every five pregnancies ends in abortion. The marriage rate fell by 24 per cent between 1980 and 2006. Two out of three households have no children, and nearly 28 per cent of households contain only one person.”

It says the average marriage lasts about 13 years and the number of abortions in the EU every year is put at 1.2 million - equivalent to the population of Slovenia. That makes abortion the largest single cause of death in Europe.

It warns: “Europe is undergoing a demographic winter, and now, Europe is an elderly continent.”

See also the parliament.com

Mark Galli is senior managing editor of Christianity Today and author of Beyond Bells and Smells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy. I recently purchased the book and really like it. Galli has an article at Christianity Today titled, “A Deeper Relevance,” which is an adapted excerpt from his book. I would encourage everyone to read the article.

Galli explains that liturgy is not an attempt to target any age or cultural subgroup or to be relevant. He says, “It does not imagine, as we moderns and postmoderns are tempted to do, that this is the best of all possible ages, the most significant era of history.” Instead, liturgy draws us into the history of the church and connects us with those who have gone before us because its “earliest forms took shape in ancient Israel, and its subsequent development occurred in a variety of cultures and subcultures—Greco-Roman, North African, German, Frankish, Anglo-Saxon, and so on.”

What is the point of liturgy? It helps remind us of a different reality, a reality that is not our surrounding culture; it helps us to see this new reality. Galli says, “Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, we find our gaze directed away from ourselves and toward God and his kingdom. When we return to our homes, we are never the same.”

This week evangelicals released a statement called the An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment. Justin Taylor has a helpful summary here, as well as an interview with Os Guinness about the document. These evangelicals are attempting to clarify the identity of evangelicalism as well as articulate an understanding of public involvment from an evangelical perspective without politicizing the faith.

It is quite an interesting read, and several of the people who signed it caught my eye because it is not a typical evangelical list: Miroslav Volf, Justo Gonzalez, and Alvin Plantinga signed the document. Nevertheless, some critics are saying that it is too little and too late for evangelicals. For example, Jim West points to an article at Ethics Daily by Bob Allen that reflects this concern: “Centrist Baptists Challenge Group Denouncing ‘Politicization of Faith.‘”

Well, no posts today. I had a root canal this morning, and I do not feel like reading much right now. I will catch up on a few things tomorrow.

For the month of April, Tim Challies will be giving away three different prizes from Reformation Heritage Books. Three prizes will be awarded as follows:

• First prize: Reformation Heritage Books Selections: God with Us, Reformation Heroes, Meet the Puritans, plus all books in the 2nd and 3rd prize package.
• Second prize: Soli Deo Gloria Selections: Freedom of the Will, Excellency of a Gracious Spirit, Keeping the Heart, Parable of the Ten Virgins, plus all books in the 3rd prize package.
• Third Prize: Profiles in Reformed Spirituality: A Consuming Fire, A Sweet Flame, Dedicated to the Service of the Temple, Christ Is All.

Register for the free giveaway by clicking the link below:

I don’t often do a post like this, but I had a crazy week and I am behind on things that I wanted to post. [And things I need to do!] So this one will have several links from various items I have found helpful in an attempt to clear out planned posts [and make sure to click the last one!].

• Peter Leithart gives some thoughts about Pete Enns book Inspiration and Incarnation.
• Ron Paul’s book The Revolution: A Manifesto is #1 at Amazon.com [read the article by CNN]
• Shane Lems points out that Eerdmans is having a May sale for graduating seminary students [50% off commentaries]
• Joe Thorn is asking for suggestions on the best periodicals; help him out.
• Trevin Wax interviewed N. T. Wright about his recent book Surprised by Hope
• Christianity Today has an article on Obama’s break with his former pastor.
• Justin Taylor points us to a resource from SBTS for recently published journals
• Drew Goodmanson has some links from Michael Goheen’s talk on our cultural situation [see also the post on Goheen’s upcoming book]
• Michael Bird reflects on Mark Dever’s recent presentation on the gospel at the T4G conference
• And there is a continuing discussion on differing perspectives on the gospel: see Colin Hansen, “How Public is the Gospel?“
• Thabiti Anyabwile provides some links to Mark Noll’s recent lectures on race, religion, and American politics
• An interview on the importance of Geerhardus Vos with Danny Olinger [author of this anthology on Vos]
• A little wine with communion?
• Resurgence has posted Thomas Schreiner reviews William Webb’s book Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals
• Reel News on Prince Caspian
• My friend Tom Hicks responds to R. Scott Clark on the issue of being “Reformed”
• Andrée Seu “On Writing“
• Need to laugh? Try Tim Hawkins comedy…be sure to watch “Cletus Take the Reel.” I know this is a lot of links, but you have to reward yourself with this one!

The new 9Marks eJournal is online here [pdf], and it is about living together as the church. They have several helpful book reviews and they have a series of lessons from a short class on living together as a local church. The material looks very helpful. Here are the links and topics:

John Piper’s book, The Future of Justification, has prompted several discussions on the internet in regard to his critique of N. T. Wright. I recently noticed that Paul Helm plans to write a series of three posts that will continue to reflect on the issue of justification, and he has published his first one here. It is slightly long, but I think it would be worth your time to read it. Helm wants to make sure we notice one of the most important and significant methodological points that Piper makes: the distinction between being and doing. This is a helpful analysis and a wise reminder about the importance of theological distinctions. Read Helm’s whole post.

Justin Taylor:

David Instone-Brewer pointed me to a great resource I didn’t know about: IxTheo. This Tubingen service covers about 600 journals and a couple of hundred festschrift each year. Their free web access allows users to search their database by subject, author, or title.

John Frame, professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL, has been in the process of publishing a series of books entitled “A Theology of Lordship.” The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God and The Doctrine of God have already been published by P&R, and The Doctrine of the Christian Life will be out in June. You can read some sample pages at the Westminster Bookstore website.