James K. A. Smith's Desiring the Kingdom, is a very thought provoking work. The main message of the book is that our philosophical anthropology, especially post-Enlightenment, is too reductionistic, focusing our educational efforts on informing the mind while neglecting the more foundational work of forming the heart and affections. Contra Cartesian thought, we are more than just thinkers. And, contra Augustinian thought, we are more than mere believers. Smith argues with needed repetition that we are, at the most fundamental level, lovers who are pulled through life (rather than pushed) by our imaginative affections (rather than our minds) toward the telos of the good life. While this book is more philosophically than biblically referenced, I appreciate Smith's recognition that we are more than just minds in a body. Humans are so much more than thinkers...we are first and foremost worshipers.
I wanted so much to like reading The Trustworthiness of God: Perspectives on the Nature of Scripture, edited by Carl Trueman and Paul Helm. But I found it to be far more academic than the title let on. It should rather have been entitled something like The Trustworthiness of God: Authority Preserved Despite Historical and Biblical Criticisms of the Last Half Century. With all due respect for the authors and contributors, this book is not for the layperson. It is a compilation of articles by seminary professors and theologians whose goal is to confront and correct the critics of the nature and authority of Scripture. Don't get me wrong, this is a much needed and very informative book. It is better suited however, for the seminary syllabus than the Amazon Wish List.
Miscellaneous
This is a very insightful article by Carl Trueman entitled Is the Reformation Nearly Over? In it Trueman reminds us that the Reformation was not just about theology, but also about ecclesiology. Communities under the dominion of Medieval Catholicism were plagued with pastoral absence as well as ministerial fetishism. Ironically, the priests, bishops and popes, while highly neglectful of their pastoral duties, where, by the very people they neglected, worshipped. Dr. Trueman points out that modern evangelicalism, with its praise of and tendency toward the multi-site mega church model, is falling into the same deadly patterns. The pastors of these churches are, for the most part and for most people, absent. The shepherds, while highly esteemed, don't know their flocks. Because they are celebrities, they are untouchable - and this is antithetical to how things should be.
This article discusses the gospel-centered truth that Christ paid for our sins and how this protects and guards us from desiring that the people we love (namely, our spouses) pay for their own.
Here is a must read for both men and women about backward porn addiction. It discusses the temptation that women have to "capture the gaze of men." The question at the end of the article should stick with us all while we shop and chose clothing to wear.
Music
Here is Lecrae's testimony on I Am Second. This is well done.
Cool Stuff
Google makes the Dead Sea Scrolls available online. I don't think I can ever forgive myself for not visiting the DSS exhibit that came to Mobile. But now, thanks to Google, I can view the documents in high digital resolution on the web.
Take a look at these phenomenal pictures of eyes. While you look, think "random molecular activity" and "by chance" and "without design." After those thoughts strike you as absurd, worship the Creator, Jesus Christ for His excellency and wonderful creation.
Good Quote
Nothing makes a man more unpopular in the controversies of the present day than an insistence upon definition of terms. J. Gresham Machen
Ranting
Can I just vent for a second? I hate - yes, hate - front loader washing machines! For some reason all of the clothes decide while they are being washed that they want to tangle themselves together. Then! when I go to pull them out, about four or five articles of wet clothing fall on the ground (doesn't this defeat the purpose?)! This may be no big deal to those of you who are shorter than 6'9", but when I have to constantly bend down and pick up clothes off of the floor, I feel more like I'm doing squats for Sean T than laundry for my home!
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