Christ & His Preparation for Cosmic Life Ralph Blair When Paul wrote to Colossians, he began with a thankful prayer. He then inserted an early Christian hymn in celebration of Christ’s supremacy over all. Scholars say its insertion here “can be taken as a deft, preliminary counter-blow against a heretical demotion of Christ” (Robert Gundry),…
Christ & His Propitiation for Cosmic Liberty Ralph Blair The Christ hymn that Paul passed on to Colossians affirms that, in Christ, everything in the heavens and on earth was brought into being. Then, there’s this striking parallel: in Christ, everything on earth and in the heavens was brought into reconciliation with God. From heaven…
CHRIST & the Cosmos CHRIST & the Cosmos is the text of the teachings Dr. Ralph Blair presented at the 2014 Evangelicals Concerned Fall Festival in Ocean Grove, NJ, October 3-5, 2014. On the first evening, he presented biographical background on five Christians honored: The 300th Anniversaries of Matthew Henry, James Hervey, William Romaine and…
Christ & His Purpose for Cosmic Love Ralph Blair Aside from details in today’s troubling headlines, they’d not surprise the Roman historian, Livy. And he died when Jesus was still a carpenter in Nazareth. Livy gave voice to his world-weary sighs: “We can neither endure our vices nor their remedies.” And, Livy, neither can we….
(PDF version available here.) Dietrich Bonhoeffer was gay!? It’s suggested in Strange Glory, Charles Marsh’s new biography of the heroic theologian killed by the Nazis. A University of Virginia religious studies professor, Marsh zeroes in on the unusually close relationship Bonhoeffer had with his student, Eberhard Bethge. ++One response is histrionics from an ex-Religious Right…
The Bible’s YES to Same-Sex Marriage: An Evangelical’s Change of Heart by Mark Achtemeier (WJK, 2014), 137 pp; A Letter to My Congregation by Ken Wilson (Read the Spirit, 2014), 196 pp; “Five Questions For Christians Who Believe the Bible Supports Gay Marriage” by Kevin DeYoung, The Gospel Coalition, 2014. (PDF version available here.) We’ve…
Self-Centered to Serve: From Selfish Self-Centeredness to Self-Centeredly Informed Service for Others Ralph Blair’s Keynote for connECtion2014 At the time, it was called the “greatest single event in human history”. That was in 1964. Guess what it was! If you were born in 1964 – that wasn’t it. Since it was only 50 years ago,…
PDF version is available here The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism by Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh is the latest volume (2013) in the IVP series, “History of Evangelicalism”. The subtitle is “The Age of Billy Graham and John Stott”. ++In fewer than six pages (of 283), he looks at…
Romans 1-7 For You by Timothy Keller (The Good Book Company, 2014) 201 pp “5 Ways to Debate Same-sex Marriage” by Jim Denison, Denison Forum, February 28, 2014 “Polarizing President” by Joel Belz; “For Better, For Worse” by Joel Belz “From Gay to Joyous” by Marvin Olasky, World, February 8, 2014 “Pattern of Deception” by…
PDF version is available here The 72nd summer connECtion of Evangelicals Concerned will be held May 30 – June 1, 2014 at Kirkridge in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. Our keynoters will be Amy Plantinga Pauw, Professor of Doctrinal Theology at Louisville Theological Seminary, Jim Rayburn III, author, speaker, jewelry designer and son of Young…