Timothy George to Give Scholar-in-Residence Lectures at Union University on "Christian Witness in Nazi Germany"

Timothy George, founding dean of Beeson Divinity School, will be speaking about the Christian witness in Nazi Germany at the Scholar-in-Residence Lecture Series at Union University March 20-27.

The dates, times, and lecture topics are as follows:

"The Road to Barmen" - March 20, 7:00PM

"Doing Theology as Though Nothing Has Happened: The Witness of Barth and Bonhoeffer," March 22, 3:00PM

"No One Left for Me: The Lonely Courage of Martin Niemoller," March 25, 7:00PM

"Giving Thanks in Hitler's Reich: Paul Schneider as Pastor and Martyr," March 27, 7:00PM

The lectures will be held in the Carl Grant Events Center and are free and open to the public.

Van Neste on "The Psalms as an Entryway to the Scriptures"

If you weren't able to make it to the Ryan Center Conference at Union University back in April, I encourage you to listen to Ray Van Neste's excellent theme interpretation on "Read, Pray, Sing: The Psalms as an Entryway to the Scriptures."

The audio can be found here.

And check out the book on the Psalms edited by Van Neste and Richard Wells, Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Christian Worship, which can be found here.

Salt and Light in the Public Square

For those of you in and around West Tennessee, Union University will be hosting a conference this weekend (Thursday-Saturday) to honor the legacy and vision of Chuck Colson entitled Salt and Light in the Public Square. Keynote speakers include Robert George, Timothy George, Garland Hunt, and Russell Moore.

For more details, click here. 

Robert Smith in Jackson This Weekend

For those of you in and around Jackson, Tennessee, I wanted to make you aware of a few events and opportunities to hear Robert Smith, Jr.  Dr. Smith will be preaching twice and leading a workshop for preachers here this weekend.   He will be preaching in chapel at Union University and in the morning worship at First Baptist Church, Jackson.   

I encourage you to go and hear one of the Church's most gifted preachers alive today.  Below are the dates, times, and places.      




Preaching in Chapel at Union University
Friday, September 7
10:00 AM
G.M. Savage Chapel

Preaching Workshop
Friday, September 7
2:00-4:30 PM
Grant Center at Union University
Free Event (please email churchrelations@uu.edu to let them know you're going) 

• 2:00 PM - Christ-Centered Preaching
• 3:00 PM - Doctrinal Preaching
• 4:00 PM - Q&A / Time of Prayer

Preaching at First Baptist Church, Jackson
Sunday, September 9
9:00 AM

A New Journal from Union University

Union University has recently published the first issue of a brand new journal, Renewing Minds: A Journal of Christian Thought. Proud to have four of our church members serving on the editorial board: Ben Mitchell is one of the senior editors; Mike Garrett is the reviews editor; and both Cynthia Jayne and Carla Sanderson are advisory editors.

To read more about the journal, click here.

To see the contents of the first issue and/or to subscribe, click here.  

Excited by History

Peter Leithart, from the "Quodlibet" section of the March/April issue of Touchstone, on being delighted in well told history:

History is a bore to many, but history well told is as exciting as an absorbing fiction. It's like handling the gizmos of science fiction or meeting the beasts of fantasy. It's a world of delights all the more delicious because it is my world, younger.

By the way, for those of you in and around Jackson, Tennessee, Leithart will be lecturing at Union University tonight and tomorrow night at 7pm, and he will be in chapel on Wednesday at 10am. All three addresses are free and open to the public. For more information, click here.

KJV400: Legacy and Impact

The Ryan Center for Biblical Studies at Union University will be hosting KJV400: Legacy and Impact this Thursday-Saturday (Sept. 15-17), a festival celebrating the broad cultural impact of the King James Version of the Bible in honor of its 400th anniversary.

Plenary addresses will be delivered by three prominent scholars: Timothy George, Leland Ryken, and John Woodbridge. Breakout sessions will be led by Union faculty from a variety of disciplines, and there will be celebrations of music, film, art, Shakespearean play, and dramatic reading.

In addition to the addresses, breakout sessions, and artistic expressions, there will be a one-of-a-kind historic Bible display - one of the best in all of North America. This display will be open to the public for free on Thursday afternoon and Saturday afternoon.

For more information, click here.

Don Whitney on "Learning to Pray Scripture"

For those of you in and around Jackson, TN, Don Whitney (author of the classic, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life) will be leading a seminar titled "Learning to Pray Scripture" on Thursday, April 8, at Union University (1:00-3:00pm at Luther Hall). It is free and open to the public. If you have the opportunity to go, I would highly recommend it. I think you'll find Dr. Whitney to be an extremely helpful teacher on this extremely important subject, and I think you'll find this to be time well spent.

For more information about this event, check out Ray Van Neste's blog.

Mark Dever at Union University

For those of you in and around Jackson, Tennessee, Dr. Mark Dever will be preaching in chapel at Union University this Friday (tomorrow) morning at 10:00a.m.

Dever is an extremely gifted expositor of God's Word and a great example of faithful pastoral ministry.

350 Pounds of Books

Ray Van Neste posted a statement just released from the Ryan Center for Biblical Studies at Union University. It is a call to help provide books for a new library/reading room in Ethiopia for pastors and students interested in reading English works.

See the statement here.

Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism

Trevin Wax did a little live-blogging during the conference last week at Union University. Below are the links to his posts, which give a summary, a brief outline, and some memorable quotes from each address. For those of you wanting a helpful wrap-up and overview of the conference, this would be the place to begin.

For audio of all the addresses, click here.

1. Ed Stetzer: “Denominationalism – Is There a Future?”
2. Jim Patterson: “Reflections on 400 Years of Baptist Movement”
3. Hal Poe: “The Gospel and Its Meaning”
4. Timothy George: “The Faith, My Faith, The Church’s Faith”
5. Duane Litfin: “The Future of American Evangelicalism”
6. Ray Van Neste: “Pastoral Ministry in SBC Life”
7. Robert Smith: “The Church’s One Foundation”
8. Mark DeVine: “Emergent or Emerging”
9. Danny Akin: “The Future of the SBC”
10. Michael Lindsay: “Denominationalism in a Changing America”
11. Jerry Tidwell: “Missions and Evangelism”
12. David Dockery: “So Many Denominations…”
13. Panel Discussion
14. Nathan Finn: “Passing On the Faith”
15. Albert Mohler: “Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism”

Reminder: Gerald Bray at Union University

Just a reminder to those of you in and around Jackson, TN:

Gerald Bray, who is serving as the Scholar in Residence at Union University this Fall, will begin his series of four lectures on the love of God this week.

See my post from a few weeks ago for the details and for more information about Dr. Bray.

Gerald Bray at Union University

One of my primary professors from seminary, Dr. Gerald Bray, will be the Scholar in Residence this Fall at Union University. He will be giving four lectures related to his forthcoming systematic theology, God Is Love. Dr. Bray is one of the brightest and most respected scholars in the evangelical world, and it was a true privilege for me to study under him and to serve as his research assistant during my seminary years.

Here is the schedule for the four lectures he will be giving:

Tuesday, September 29 at 12:15 - God's Love for Himself
Thursday, October 1 at 12:15 - God's Love for His Creation
Friday, October 2 at 12:00 - The Rejection of God's Love
Monday, October 5 at 12:00 - God's Response to the Rejection of His Love

The lectures are all free, 40 minutes in length, and will be held in the Coburn Dining Room located in the Barefoot Student Union Building at Union University. For those in and around Jackson, TN, you will certainly want to take advantage of this opportunity to hear Dr. Bray.

Here is a little more information on Dr. Bray:

Gerald L. Bray
Research Professor of Samford University
B.A., McGill University
M.Litt., D. Litt, University of Paris-Sorbonne

Gerald Bray taught full-time at Beeson Divinity School in the areas of church history, historical theology, and Latin from 1993-2006. Prior to his work at Beeson, he served as lecturer in theology and philosophy at Oak Hill College in London. In 2006, he was named research professor, and is currently engaged in writing and speaking on a variety of theological issues. He still teaches specialized short courses for Beeson Divinity School. A prolific author, Bray has published many scholarly articles and books, including The Doctrine of God in the Contours of Christian Theology series (of which he is also the general editor) and Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present. He served as editor for The Anglican Canons 1529-1947 and Tudor Church Reform, which contains the Henrician Canons of 1535 and the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, and for three volumes in the Ancient Christian Commentary Series. His most recent books, We Believe in One God (editor) in the Ancient Christian Doctrine Series and Ambrosiaster's Commentaries on Romans and 1-2 Corinthians (translator and editor), were published by IVP Academic in 2009. Bray is an ordained minister in the Church of England.

Schedule Released for Upcoming Conference at Union University

You may remember my post from several weeks ago about a conference this fall at Union University on "Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism." Well, the schedule and each speaker's topic have now been released (thanks to Ray Van Neste for bringing this to my attention). To see the entire conference website, click here.

As I said before, this looks to be a very worthwhile few days focusing on a significant subject.

Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism

Union University just announced this week that they will be hosting what looks to be a very promising and considerably interesting conference in October - "Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism." The conference will feature Duane Litfin, Michael Lindsay, Timothy George, Al Mohler, Danny Akin, David Dockery, Ed Stetzer, Robert Smith, Steve Harmon, Mark Devine, Ray Van Neste, Hal Poe, Jim Patterson, and Jerry Tidwell.

For more details, click here.

Word Within the Word Conference

The audio is now available from the Word Within the Word Conference hosted by the Ryan Center for Biblical Studies at Union University. The three plenary sessions with D.A. Carson as well as all the breakout sessions have been posted on the Union University website.

Plenary Sessions with Carson

• Plenary 3: D.A. Carson - How The Book of Hebrews Makes Use of Old Testament Passages - Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 in Hebrews 7
• Plenary 2: D.A. Carson - How The Book of Hebrews Makes Use of Old Testament Passages - Psalm 95 in Hebrews 3-4
• Plenary 1: D.A. Carson - How The Book of Hebrews Makes Use of Old Testament Passages - Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14 in Hebrews 1

Breakout Sessions

• Breakout Session - Greg Spears - Paul's Worldview Apologetic in Acts 17
• Breakout Session - Richard Wells - Using the Psalms in Pastoral Prayer
• Breakout Session - Brad Green - Salvation and Works in the Old and New Testaments
• Breakout Session: George Guthrie - How to Do Biblical Word Studies
• Breakout Session - James Patterson - Church History and the Interpretation of Scripture
• Breakout Session: David Olford - Preaching an Old Covenant Text as a New Covenant Preacher
• Breakout Session - Terry Wilder - Paul's Use of the OT in Romans 15:1-13
• Breakout Session - Taylor Worley - Seeing the Psalms in the New Testament
• Breakout Session - Ray Clendenen - Theological Themes in the book of Malachi
• Breakout Session 3 - David and Sally Michael - Aiming for Application and Response in Teaching Children the Bible
• Breakout Session 2 - David and Sally Michael - Raising Bible-Saturated Children
• Breakout Session 1 - David and Sally Michael - God-Centered Bible Teaching for the Glory of God
• Breakout Session - Paul Jackson - Psalm 22 in the Words of Jesus
• Breakout Session - Ken Easley - From Promises to Reality: How Christianity Fulfills the Ancient Plan God Promised
• Breakout Session - Justin Barnard - Eschatology and Ethics: Envisioning the Christian Life Without a Bracelet
• Breakout Session - Gary Smith - The OT and NT Identification of the "Servant" in Isa 42:1-13