Dennis Johnson on the (Corporate) Purpose of Christian Preaching

In his monumental book on homiletics (and hermeneutics), Dennis E. Johnson devotes an entire chapter to Col 1.24-2.7, a passage he describes as “encapsulat[ing] in brief compass much of the Bible’s teaching on the purpose of preaching” (pg. 63).  From this passage, he extracts/unpacks the following seven themes “that conveniently summarize the apostle’s theology of …

The Role of the OT Tabernacle and Temple in NT Worship

A comment Richard made sent me down a thought-tangent which ended by reminding me of a conversation I had a few years back with a friend about art in worship. My friend was reminding me of how excellent and beautiful was the craftsmanship that went into the materials of the tabernacle and temple.  In light …

Short but Sweet: Stellman on Liturgy

How many times have we heard evangelicals (especially of the Jesus-people variety) claim that they don't get caught up in the "religiosity" of "churchianity" as expressed in things like "liturgy"?  While the simplistic notion that a church doesn't have a liturgy is easy enough to refute, Jason J. Stellman puts it succinctly: All churches have …

Willimon on the Busy Church

While I'm studying/reading about the church and culture, let me share this jewel by William Willimon & Robert Wilson.  It is found in their Preaching and Worship in the Small Church (Nashville: Abingdon, 1980), 39-40.  To set the context, Willimon and Wilson lament the way so many churches have taken the spotlight off Sunday, the day …

#1 Selling Beer, Rock Concerts, and Your Neighborhood McMegachurch

Now that I'm done with this book, I'm convinced that all Reformed pastors should at least skim through it - especially church planters in suburbia! As I mentioned in the earlier two posts on this book, Twitchell, who does not claim to be a Christian (he's an "apatheist" in his own words) went to loads …