The Liturgical Gangstas 3: The Authority/Dissent Issue

Welcome to IM’s popular new feature, “The Liturgical Gangstas,” a panel discussion among different liturgical traditions represented in the Internet Monk audience.

Who are the Gangstas?

Father Ernesto Obregon is an Eastern Orthodox priest.
Rev. Peter Vance Matthews is an Anglican priest and founding pastor of an AMIA congregation.
Dr. Wyman Richardson is a pastor of a First Baptist Church (SBC) and director of Walking Together Ministries, a resource on church discipline.
Alan Creech is a Roman Catholic with background in the Emerging church and spiritual direction. (Alan’s not a priest. If he is, his wife and kids need to know.)
Rev. Matthew Johnson is a United Methodist pastor.
Rev. William Cwirla is a Lutheran pastor (LCMS) and one of the hosts of The God Whisperers, which is a podcast nearly as good as Internet Monk Radio.

Here’s this week’s question: In an interview with Boston.com, the late Avery Cardinal Dulles answered a question with a crucial observation:

Q. What is the appropriate role of dissent in the church?

A. Dissent should be rare, respectful and reluctant. One’s first reaction as a Catholic is to agree with the official teaching of the church.

Thousands of IM readers ponder this question: If we cannot join our Catholic brothers and sisters in simply trusting the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic church, then what is the answer to the “authority” question for non-Catholic Christians?Continue reading “The Liturgical Gangstas 3: The Authority/Dissent Issue”

The Spencer Family Christmas Newsletter

For those of you who take an interest in our lives and pray for us, and for those of you who really, really don’t have much of a life, I’m posting the Spencer Family Christmas Newsletter.

If you read this site, you won’t learn much you don’t know, but maybe someone out there who has better things to do than read this page will actually be fascinated by the array of significant and insignificant detail on display in this year’s letter.

I am sorry there’s no Starbucks coupon on the back, but if you take this to White Castle, stand on a table and wave it really fast while yelling “Stop Shopping!!” you’ll be arrested. That could break up the monotony of your life.

Download the Spencer Family Christmas Newsletter. (A one page pdf. We’re down-sizing this year.)

“Additional Doctrines,” Baptist Style

In debates and discussions here at Internet Monk.com, a reader is likely to read that Catholics have “added doctrines” to Christianity. My reaction is not so much to challenge the statement- I believe it is a universal fact in Christian history- but to raise the issue of whether evangelicals really shouldn’t be somewhat more careful where they point that particular weapon. It could go off and hurt someone they know.

Just for example, I’ve thought back to my own upbringing in a Southern Baptist fundamentalist church in Western Kentucky. Did I encounter any “added doctrines?”

Let me be clear that I heard the Gospel in this church, was discipled intentionally, learned much about community and leadership and was encouraged and affirmed in my gifts and callings. I’m grateful for all the good the Holy Spirit did in me through that community.

But in this same context, I learned…Continue reading ““Additional Doctrines,” Baptist Style”

While We’re Talking About Interpreting the Bible

Oh. We’re not talking about interpreting the Bible? Well….I am, so deal.

I usually just don’t say anything when I hear Biblical interpretation leave the road and head for the ditches. But doggone it, there’s some fairly basic stuff here that could be very helpful to those of you who genuinely love the Bible.

So in no particular order.

1) Get a decent book on Biblical interpretation and read it. I don’t mean a Bible handbook or introduction. I mean a book on Biblical interpretation. So, even though you don’t need more books, I command you to purchase the following two volumes. (Used & Cheap. Fear not.)

Graham Goldsworthy, Gospel Centered Hermenuetics .Continue reading “While We’re Talking About Interpreting the Bible”

An Ideal Evangelicalism?


Somewhere in the previous orgy of comments I’ve had this week, someone asked me to write about “What do you see as the ideal evangelicalism?”

There is no ideal evangelicalism and there’s not going to be. It’s certainly not going to be ideal if I am the architect. So let’s not get out of hand here. I’m a blogger, which tells you about all you need to know on the subject of my credibility.

But that won’t stop me from answering the question in a slightly different form: “What would make for a much better evangelicalism?”

I promise the answers are going to be short.Continue reading “An Ideal Evangelicalism?”

Father Cantalamessa’s Second Sunday in Advent Sermon (Read it)

If I didn’t need written permission, I’d reprint this entire sermon here on the site because I want it in the archives. But I’ll be a good blogger and link it to its home at Zenit, the Catholic News Service. You can get it in various formats there.

A more Christocentric sermon you are not likely to hear. Would to God we in evangelicalism could dependably hear this much focus on Jesus as the PERSON in whom Christianity entirely consists. (And a similar prayer for all Christians.)

Fr. Cantalamessa is an impressive preacher. I have several of his sermon series and I recommend them, especially to those of you whose exposure to Catholic preaching has been unimpressive. Fr. Cantalamessa was at Asbury Seminary earlier this year to preach in their chapel (and those sermon audios are available in English on his web site.). You don’t see that much in evangelical circles. Trust me, there’s a reason. (Look at this little article on the doctrine of “Limbo.”)

In the middle of this sermon, the focus turns to the reformation and Protestant/Catholic relations. His point is dead on target: It’s largely irrelevant arguing about the details of the book of Romans while we live in a world that denies anyone needs to be saved because no one is a sinner.Continue reading “Father Cantalamessa’s Second Sunday in Advent Sermon (Read it)”

Internet Monk Radio Podcast #121

podcast_logo.gifMedia ignorance of the Bible. The “Incomplete” Merton. Aren’t Evangelicals All About “Self-Feeding?” (I think this was one of my best podcasts.)

Our sponsors are: New Reformation Press. Order your copy of the Treasury of Daily Prayer from NRP. And do it soon.

Zaccheus Press– Fine Catholic Books, including Priestblock 25487.

Amy Welborn on Merton
Carl Olson on Avery Dulles
Jared Wilson on Evangelicals and “Self-Feeding” There’s several posts on this. Look at them all.

Want to be an IM advertiser? Want almost 400,000+ unique visitors with close to 4.5 million page views so far this year to see your ad on the sidebar? IM has the most diverse readership in the blogosphere. Contact me if you are interested. Rates available on request.

Recommendation and Review: Faith and Culture Devotional by Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Lael Arrington

Yes, end of the year is book review time. I have several headed your way before December ends.

I generally do not review books that I don’t like. If I don’t like them, I won’t have much to say about them. If I like them, I’ll say so and tell you why.

My problem is what do I say when a book is really, really superlative? I don’t want to pile adjectives one on the other. I don’t want to sound like some teenager gushing over a band or like a geeky fanboy who just played a great video game.

Kelly Kullberg and Lael Arrington have presented me with this problem, because their Faith and Culture Devotional is simply delightful, insightful and exceptional. It’s must reading for any thoughtful Christian who wants to engage the world of ideas.Continue reading “Recommendation and Review: Faith and Culture Devotional by Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Lael Arrington”

Recommendation and Review: NLT Bible Study Guides, , Chronological Bible and “Live” Teen Bible (and a bit of venting about special packaging of the Bible for teenagers)

I’ve reviewed and endorsed the New Living Translation Study Bible, and I continue to use it with real appreciation. I’ve been a fan of the NLT ever since Noel Heikkinen convinced me to give the second revision of the translation a more serious look. I now use it a great deal in preaching and worship, and I appreciate its faithfulness to the meaning and literary intention of scripture. It is a fine translation for my many ESL students. My wife and I use it in family devotions.

Tyndale has given me the opportunity to review several other products featuring the NLT. I’d like to briefly describe each one, in the order of my own enthusiasm for the recommendation.

At the top of the list is the NLT Life Application Bible Studies series. (I reviewed John, James, Acts and Hebrews.) These are Bible study booklets that contain the NLT text of the book being studied, with cross references, the notes of the Life Application Study Bible and small group lesson and discussion material.Continue reading “Recommendation and Review: NLT Bible Study Guides, , Chronological Bible and “Live” Teen Bible (and a bit of venting about special packaging of the Bible for teenagers)”