Deus Misereatur

  An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the Twenty-First Century George Marsden IVP Academic www.ivpress.com ISBN: 9781514006627; 176 pages; June 2023; $26.00   A few years ago, I was invited to a Christian school to do a class on Jonathan Edwards’s notable sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” It was an intriguing class, interacting with teenagers who were trying to get their heads around Edwards’s perspective and position. After what I thought was a fairly successful class, I was saddened that the only thing these teens would likely remember Edwards for is that sermon. And then recently I have seen him receive another black eye from some, because he owned African slaves. Rarely do most people know that Edwards was a very compassionate man and preached with a view to the compassion of God. And rarely do most recall that he actually addressed the underlying racism in American slavery and laid some of the groundwork what would later turn sl...

  One crucial aspect of the Christian faith that makes Christianity Christianity, is the resurrection of men, women, girls and boys. Unlike so many other "afterlife" paradigms, Christianity uniquely touts that just as Jesus rose from the dead, body, blood, bones, toenails and hair, so his followers will also rise, body and soul, and permanently shake of mortality and misery. M. Jeff Brannon, professor of biblical studies and chair of the biblical studies and Christian ministries department at Belhaven University in Jackson Mississippi, has compiled a beautifully helpful manual to show how the biblical teaching on the resurrection is an essential and central doctrine in Scripture, and it is closely tied to all other creation and redemption themes of the Bible. His work is compiled in a 200-page paperback, "The Hope of Life After Death: A Biblical Theology of Resurrection". This volume is another installment in IVP Academic's "Essential Studies in Biblical Th...

  (This was from my letter to my congregation this week - 28 June 2023) You probably know one or two people, or more, who are in some serious difficulties right now. I know of several who are either in dire straits or facing dark miseries. Parents grieving over their kids (younger ones and adults). Relationship plights that are sucking hope out of some souls. Hearts breaking. Tears flowing. Bleak futures that are empty of direction. Therefore, my attention was freshly caught this morning in my Bible reading and prayer time by Psalm 102 and it gave me focus in prayer for these I know. The inscription of the Psalm tells it all: “ A Prayer for One Afflicted, When He Is Faint and Pours Out His Complaint before the LORD .” This is the how my prayer looked this morning:   “Thank you for providing this Psalm and making it part of your Sacred Scriptures and giving us words to say! There are some I know right now who are afflicted and faint, some aggrieved by heartbreaking troubles...