I’m currently in the midst of what has turned out to be a “Farewell to Ontario” preaching tour. This past Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching at North Park Worship Centre in Brampton, Ontario, where my friend and former student Rev. Dr. Mark Lawrence is the Assistant Pastor. It was refreshing to preach in a context where people are disappointed if you don’t preach for forty minutes. (Although, preaching forty minute sermons at consecutive services did test my physical endurance!) It was also a great encouragement to be commissioned and prayed for by God’s people. Continue reading “Farewell to Ontario” Preaching Tour
The End of an Era
I recently wrapped up my final course at Tyndale Seminary. It was nice to have a smaller group (pictured above) for this last time through Systematic Theology I. Continue reading The End of an Era
“Livin’ on a Prayer”: A Prescription for Pastoral Ministry
This past Sunday (June 10, 2018) I had the great privilege of preaching at the ordination of my friend and former student Robyn Elliott at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto. The following is the text of my sermon. The Scripture readings were Isaiah 50:4-9 and 2 Timothy 1:3-14. Continue reading “Livin’ on a Prayer”: A Prescription for Pastoral Ministry
The Virtue of Baseball
The most recent book from Stanley Hauerwas, The Character of Virtue: Letters to a Godson, consists of letters that the theologian annually sent to his godson, Laurie Wells, over a fifteen year period marking the anniversary of Wells’s baptism. Each of the letters addresses a virtue that is important for the Christian life. As a result, the book can be read as an engaging entry point into and accessible distillation of Hauerwas’s forty plus years of prodigious scholarship and writing. The book, which seems ideally situated to become a classic, also contains an eloquent introduction by one of Hauerwas’s most insightful interpreters, who also happens to be the father of the recipient of the letters, the pastor-theologian Sam Wells. One of my favourite passages involves a discussion of the training in patience that is baseball. Continue reading The Virtue of Baseball
Salvation by Allegiance Alone – Chapter 3
This is the fourth in a series of posts engaging with Matthew Bates’s Salvation by Allegiance Alone. The earlier posts can be read here: first, second, third.
In chapter 3, “Jesus Proclaims the Gospel,” Bates turns to confronting a longstanding problem in modern Protestant Christianity: the reconciliation of the Letters of Paul with the Gospels.1 The writings of Paul have long been a haven for certain forms of Lutheranism and conservative evangelicalism espousing the centrality of a particular understanding of justification by faith. While the Gospels have often been the playground of some liberal forms of Christianity attempting to advance a social agenda based upon ethical principles. The irony is that in their readings of their respective canons-within-a-canon both groups have lost sight of the animating center of the canon as a whole, as well as Paul’s Letters and the Gospels in particular, namely the crucified and living Lord Jesus Christ. Continue reading Salvation by Allegiance Alone – Chapter 3
- Interestingly, Bonhoeffer felt the need to make a similar move in his famous treatise Discipleship. Although, Bonhoeffer began with the Synoptic Gospels before turning his attention to Paul. ↩
Forthcoming Issue of Didaskalia
The forthcoming issue of the Canadian theological journal Didaskalia, published by Providence Theological Seminary, includes both a gracious review of my book For the Life of the World: Jesus Christ and the Church in the Theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Stanley Hauerwas by Christopher Holmes and an essay of my own entitled, “A Matter of MIssion: Bonhoeffer, the Bible, and Ecclesial Formation.” Continue reading Forthcoming Issue of Didaskalia