We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry – Book Review
by Daniel A. Webster The average American Christian is quick to dismiss a book about idolatry on the grounds that worshipping graven figurines is not a modern church practice. However, when one considers that over one-third of the world’s population claims to be Hindu, Buddhist, or Catholic—all of which implement statues or icons in their worship—the topic seems strikingly pertinent. Even still, for many American pastors, the topic of...
Does God Care About Justice?
Recently in the news, stories came out about two separate men (both now 93 years of age) who are being indicted for a combined 470,000 counts of accessory to murder in the Nazis’ Auschwitz death camp.[1] Elizabeth Kolbert writes in The New Yorker about a delay in some of the cases.[2] She writes that Germany’s central office for investigating Nazi crimes is looking to build cases against fifty former Auschwitz guards. Unfortunately,...
Does God Want Us to Fight about Worship?
Discussions about worship have produced more division among Protestant churches than anything else in the last 25 years.[1] Disagreements have mostly focused on musical questions, though the issues are broader, too. The debate has now reached a stalemate because worshippers have learned that if they don’t like their church’s services, there is always another service down the street. Such options reveal that the “worship wars” produced...
Culture & the Kingdom: An Interview with Dr. Timothy Tennent
As I sat at the 2011 Free Will Baptist Leadership Conference, I attentively listened to David Wells as he quoted extensively from Timothy Tennent’s provocative inaugural address at Asbury Theological Seminary. While I had little to no idea who Timothy Tennent was at the time, I knew that I had to read this address in its entirety for myself. That address has been formative in my life, and in many ways represents a great deal of what...
A Little Book for New Theologians (Kelly Kapic)
In 2012 I intended to write an essay commemorating the 50th anniversary of a useful little book that many young theologians don’t read anymore: Helmut Thielicke’s A Little Exercise for Young Theologians. Published originally in 1959, the English edition hit shelves in 1962. It quickly became a useful primer in helping students to reflect on the nature of theological study. A number of remarks from Thielicke still resonate today:...
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