In Germany, and in some parts of Great Britain and America, it requires great independence of mind and carefully maintained devoutness, in order to stand firm against—not the arguments, but—the cool assumptions, that all ‘traditional’ views of the Bible are antiquated, and that the orthodox are weak and ignorant.

J. A. B. cited in Archibald Thomas Robertson, Life and Letters of John Albert Broadus (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1910), 383.

It is true that according to Warfield and the other Princetonians the doctrine of inerrancy has to be nuanced and finessed in various ways. But then why does this, in I. Howard Marshall’s phrase, quoted by McGowan, present the danger of the death of the doctrine ‘‘by a thousand qualifications’’? If it does, then why  may  not  finely  nuanced  accounts  of,  for  example,  the  Incarnation,
designed to avoid various heretical alternatives, Nestorianism, Apollinarianism, and so forth, result in the death of the doctrine of the Incarnation? The clarification of a doctrine does not result in its death so long as a substantial doctrinal thesis remains.

Paul Helm, “B. B. Warfield’s Path to Inerrancy: An Attempt to Correct Some Serious Misunderstandings.” Westminster Theological Journal 72 (2010): 39.

Reformation Heritage books is offering a sale on Whitaker’s A Disputation on Holy Scripture. An old, but very useful book on bibliology. Highly recommended.

It’s also available for free from Google Books.

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in evangelical quarters regarding patristic theology. In the hands of Thomas C. Oden, this has led to a resurgence of interest both in patristic biblical commentary and devotion, placed, one might add, in the service of an evangelicalism with a simple, ecumenical aesthetic which bears comparison, say, with the mere Christianity that has been such a part of the evangelical heritage.  Oden’s work is a treasure trove of theology; but the tendency of the project overall to relativize that which comes later, not least the great Protestant truths of justification by grace through faith, and personal assurance of God’s favor, render the overall project, in my opinion, less than Protestant. In the hands of others—most notably the recent work of Craig Allert—the patristic testimony has been placed in the service of contemporary critiques of established evangelical positions, such (in the case of Allert) as that on the inspiration and authority of scripture.  Of the two movements, that symbolized by the life and work of Oden is arguably constructive and helpful even to those, like myself, who wish to maintain a more elaborate doctrinal confession; the latter is rather an iconoclastic phenomenon, less easy to assimilate to orthodox, creedal Protestantism.
I would suggest that sound orthodox theology of today, however, can find a third way to do theology which both respects the insights of patristic theology while yet avoiding both the tendency to downplay later confessional developments and the desire to set the ancient church against the modern. It is that represented by the approach of such as Owen in the seventeenth century. Owen had an acute sense of the fact that there are a limitations to patristic theology, yet his Protestantism, far from making him dismissive of patristic theology, requires that he take patristic writers seriously. A commitment to scriptural perspicuity means that he examines in detail the history of exegesis relative to any passage of scripture he addresses. A commitment to the church as God’s means of transmitting the gospel from age to age means that he takes very seriously what the church has said about scripture and about God throughout the ages. A realization that there are a set of archetypal heresies, particularly focused on God, Christology, and grace, means that the early church provides him with much fuel for contemporary debate. A commitment to the fact that the church’s theological traditions, especially as expressed in her creeds, provides both resources, parameters and, at times, unavoidable conceptual problems for doctrinal formulations in the present drives him again and again to look at traditions of theological discussion from the early church onwards. Further, a belief that theology is talk about God, and not just communal reflection upon the psychology of the church in particular context, means that Owen regards it as having universal, referential significance; and thus he sees those who have worked in formulating doctrine over the years as having a significance which transcends their own time and geographical locale. In this context, he also understands that each solution to a doctrinal problem generates new problems of its own, and thus to understand why the church thinks as she does, one needs to understand how the church has come to think as she does (e.g., the anhypostatic nature of Christ’s humanity, a point likely to be incomprehensible to biblical theologians and/or no-creed-but-the-Bible types, but surely central to a sound understanding of incarnation in the post-Chalcedonian era). Each of these makes interaction with patristic authors necessary as Owen and others in his tradition work to ensure that the gospel is not reinvented anew every Sunday but, rather, is faithfully communicated from generation to generation.

Trueman, Carl. “Patristics and Reformed Orthodoxy: Some Brief Notes and Proposals.” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 12, no. 2 (Summer 2008): 58-59.

Give your whole mind to whatever work you are doing.  If
it  is merely adding rows of figures, or copying reports, try every
time to get it exactly right, without a single mistake.  And never
turn over your work till you have carefully examined it, to see if
there is the slightest mistake.  Make it  a matter of ambition, of
official fidelity and honor, to do your work well.

Advice of JAB to nephew in A. T. Robertson, Life and Letters of John A. Broadus (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1901), 318.

Men have learned in books, that God is the chief Good, and only
the enjoyment of him in heaven will make us happy ;  but their hearts do not unfeignedly take him to be so.   Most men take the present contentments of the flesh, consisting in pleasures, profits, and honours, to be their happiness indeed.  This hath their very hearts, while God hath the tongue and knee ; this  is seriously sought after, while God is hypocritically complimented with ;   heaven is  heartlesslv commended, while the world is  eagerly pursued ; Christ is called Master, while this flesh bears all the sway :    only because they cannot choose but know that the world will shortly leave them in the grave, and this flesh, which is so cherished, must lie rotting in the dust ;   therefore, they will allow God the leavings of the world, and Christ shall have all that the flesh can spare; so far they will be religious and godly, lest they should be thrust into hell ; and they look for heaven as a reserve, when they can keep their worldly happiness no longer. This is  the self-deluding religion of thousands.

Richard Baxter, The Saints Everlasting Rest, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, vol. 22 (London: Duncan, 1830), 20-21

Since both of my readers also subscribe to Mark’s blog, they’ve probably already read about the lectures Duncan Johnson will deliver next Saturday.

If not, here’s the information:

 

Saturday, April 3, 9:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m. Computer Classroom, Mack Library

Turning in quality seminary projects is hard work, and technological challenges don’t make it any easier. The Mack Library is offering three workshop labs for undergrad Religion majors, Seminary students and faculty. These sessions will explain and demonstrate key technologies necessary for seminary research, including Greek and Hebrew fonts, a Turabian template for Microsoft Word and Zotero (the premier tool for research organization and citation). All sessions will occur in the Mack Library Classroom (the former Testing Center, next to the e-mail stations) Saturday, April 3 and are free of charge. Register at the LibGuide for the Seminary Survival Labs. Drop-ins will also be welcome.

• 9 a.m. Greek/Hebrew fonts – Demonstrates the two ways to use biblical language text in your documents, the BibleWorks fonts and Unicode.

• 10:30 a.m. Turabian – Demonstrates the Turabian Wizard, with some time for individual practice.

• 1 p.m. Zotero – Demonstrates using Zotero to organize your research and insert footnotes into your papers.

The LibGuide will soon include how-to videos demonstrating the techniques explained during the sessions.

I acknowledge and bewail before thee, O thou living and all-seeing God, my sinful dullness, and backwardness to the duties of thy holy service. When I should delight in the law or God, and serve thee with gladness, and make it my meat and drink to do the will of my heavenly Father, O how cold and listless am I in the performance or that which is best for me, and which most nearly and eternally concerns me! I am alive to the world, and very apt to be transported with the objects of sense: but O how heavy and dead in those offices or attendance on my Lord, which are the joy and glory of all the hosts of heaven: my soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word: according to thy precept, which commands us to be spiritually-minded, and to be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And quicken me, O my God, according to the word or thy promise, that sin shall not have dominion over thy servants, and that thou wilt perfect that which concerneth them. Dear Lord! be thou pleased to perfect that which concerns my soul, and engage the love of my heart to thy service. Let it be my delight to do thy will, O God, and with an enlarged heart to run the way of thy commands. O help me to put forth myself with vigour and activity in thy holy ways: and to apply myself to the performance of thy blessed will, not only because I must, but because it is the desire of my soul, and the joy of my heart, to be so engaged: let nothing in the world give me so much pleasure and satisfaction as to approve my heart unto thee, my God, and to have all my works acceptable in thy sight, through Jesus Christ, my only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

Benjamin Jenks, Prayers and Offices for Devotion, altered and improved by Charles Simeon (New York: Stanford and Sword, 1850), 162.

Our era imagines social policy to be determinative for a people’s future: if disaster strikes, policy is how we address it. However, the social act that leads any policy in Israel to succeed is obeying YHWH’s voice. No other change—political reform, economic development, social revolution, not even the many policies in Duet. 12-26—can counter the covenant’s curses on rebels; only repentance and restoration to fruitful obedience can accomplish it.

Telford Work, Deuteronomy, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible, ed. R. R. Reno (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2009), 246.