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Archives for 2011

Rob Bell on Hell

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Justin Taylor and Denny Burk point out a new video from Rob Bell about his forthcoming book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

Here’s the publisher’s description:

Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing that a loving God would never sentence human souls to eternal suffering. With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly optimistic—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.

Hear it in Bell’s own words:

Scary stuff.

[Read more…] about Rob Bell on Hell

Announcing the Best Book of 2011

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I haven’t gotten my copy of The Christian Faith yet, but I’m pretty confident that it’s great based on the feedback it’s getting.

However, it seems a tad premature to announce it as the best book of 2011 not even two months into the year, does it not?

Monergism Announced The Christian Faith As the 2011 Book of Year

It’s kind of like announcing the winner of the Super Bowl after the first touchdown.

Proclaim: New Church Presentation Software

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Logos Bible Software, the company I work for, is getting ready to enter into the church presentation software market with a product called Proclaim.

What Sets Proclaim Apart?

Proclaim takes a new approach to presentation software by pushing the data to the cloud and allowing multiple people to collaborate on the same project without needing to email files or pass around CDs or USB thumb drives. Being cloud based and multi-platform makes it possible to deliver a consistent look on everyone’s computer—removing last minute surprises.

Proclaim also breaks new ground by integrating with mobile devices in some really cool ways, allowing for real-time interaction between the presenter and the congregation and allowing you to control your presentation remotely. Finally, it will work well with Logos Bible Software 4, making the transition from preparation to presentation easier than ever.

[Read more…] about Proclaim: New Church Presentation Software

Bonhoeffer Buzz

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Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, SpyDietrich Bonhoeffer has been the subject of some interesting discussion recently. If you missed it, here’s a quick overview.

  1. It started with the publication of Eric Metaxas’s “groundbreaking biography” Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Amazon | WTS Books).
  2. Its publication has been largely met with rave reviews, awards, and lots of secular press.
  3. Bonhoeffer scholars Richard Weikart and Clifford Green called Metaxas’s reading of Bonhoeffer into question.
  4. Blogger Tim Challies highlighted these critiques in a recent post.
  5. Church historian Carl Trueman weighed in with some wise insight.

[Read more…] about Bonhoeffer Buzz

Michael Horton’s New Systematic Theology

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Michael Horton’s long-awaited systematic theology, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Amazon | WTS Books), is due out very soon. Zondervan’s website says it’s “coming January 2011.” Amazon says “January 25, 2011.” WTS Books says “February 2011.”

Systematic theologies are one of my favorite categories of books, so I’m really looking forward to picking this one up and adding it to my library.

The Christian Faith

Details

The Christian Faith runs 1,052 pages (which is the last numbered page according to Zondervan’s “Browse Inside” feature).1 It has a list price of $49.99, but the Westminster Bookstore has will be selling it for $30.99, and Amazon has it available for pre-order for $31.17 (or $30.99 for Kindle).

[Read more…] about Michael Horton’s New Systematic Theology

  1. WTS Books incorrectly lists 960 pages, and Zondervan and Amazon say 1056, perhaps including ads or blank pages at the end. [↩]

Doug Wilson on the Morality of Technology

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Doug Wilson has some good, balanced reflections on technology in a post entitled “Calvinism, Eschatology, and the New Media.”

He opens this way:

Jesus is the Lord of history, and this is why we don’t need to be afraid of Twitter. Or Facebook. Or teenagers typing with their thumbs. Jesus is the Lord of history, which is why we don’t need to worry about Google making us stupid.

Here’s a key paragraph:

And so here is my central thesis: technology in all its forms is a type of wealth. The Bible contains no warnings about technology as such, but is crammed with warnings about the bias of wealth. Which way does wealth set us up? The Bible says that the wealthy are tempted to hubris, self-sufficiency, lack of concern for the poor, oppression, and the rest of that sorry lot. Wealth is a good thing, but it brings temptations. A lot of wealth is a lot of a good thing, but it brings with it a lot of temptations.

Here’s his concluding paragraph:

The constant and ever present temptation in the Church is the gnostic temptation of locating sin in the stuff, sin in the matter, sin in the wealth, sin in the technology . . . instead of locating it where it belongs, in the heart of man.

Read the whole post.

HT: Andy Naselli via Google Reader