Reformation Conference with D.A. Carson and Joel Beeke

17th Annual ADBC Reformation Celebration October 30 - November 1, 2009

D.A. Carson and Joel Beeke will be speaking at Audubon Drive Bible Church's annual Reformation Celebration. Details below.

Oct 30 (Friday) 7:00pm - Don Carson: The Parable of the Bags of Gold (Matt 25:14-30) 8:00pm - Joel Beeke: Practical Lessons from John Calvin's Life

Oct 31 (Saturday) 9:00am - Joel Beeke: Calvin on Intimate Prayer 10:00am - Don Carson: Calvin as Bible Commentator and Systematic Theologian 11:00am - Joel Beeke: Calvin on Evangelism and Missions 12:00pm (women's luncheon) - Joel Beeke: Practical Lessons from Idelette Calvin's Life 12:30pm (high school & college students) - Don Carson: The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) 2:30-3:30pm - Q&A with Don & Joel 6:30pm (men, young men and boys) - Don Carson: The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

Nov 1 (Sunday) 9:15am - Don Carson: The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matt 25:31-46) 10:30am - Joel Beeke: Cherishing the Church (Matthew 16:18)

There is no charge for the conference!

Refreshments and some meals provided

For more information call the church at 601-649-8570 or email us at churchoffice@audubonchurch.org.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Reflections on Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism

Union University has earned a reputation of providing the venue for important conversations in Southern Baptist life.  Previous conferences have focused on important issues of Southern Baptist identity and this year's conference on Southern Baptist, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism may well prove to be another significant marker in the current developments in the Southern Baptist Convention. There was a diversity of speakers from a various backgrounds speaking on different topics, but I believe a unified message emerged from this important gathering.  Southern Baptists and Evangelicals share common beliefs and characteristics, but they have a distinct identity.  We must be willing to collaborate with Evangelicals in those areas in which we agree, while maintaining our Baptist distinctives.  The future of the Southern Baptist Convention depends on maintaining a balance between confessional uniformity on one hand, and methodological diversity on the other.  The speakers were not optimistic based on the current state of things, but were hopeful based upon the goodness of God.  The future of the Southern Baptist Convention will be determined by this next generation who must become committed to their local churches and must believe that the Convention is the best means of fulfilling the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you can't listen to all of the presentations and if you're interested in this topic, listen to the following five presentations:  Ed Stetzer, Danny Akin, David Dockery, Nathan Finn, and Albert Mohler.  These lectures provide helpful perspective and suggestions for the current opportunity in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Other excellent presentations were those by Timothy George (on "The Faith, My Faith, and the Church's Faith") and Ray Van Neste (on "The Oversight of Souls: Pastoral Ministry in Southern Baptist and Evangelical Life").  The other lectures were also helpful in their place, but these were the highlights for me personally.

Some of the best application of the themes sounded in this conference were made appropriately on the last day of the conference by Nathan Finn (see my summary of Finn's presentation here) and Albert Mohler.  They issued independent, but eerily similar calls for the rising generation of Southern Baptists.  Finn argued that Southern Baptists must pass on the faith through catechesis (teaching the doctrines) and through telling the story of our Baptist heroes.  Mohler gave an impassioned plea to the conference attendees, but especially to the young university audience to rise up and take the responsibility for the future of the Southern Baptist Convention.  If Southern Baptists hear and heed these calls the future for the Southern Baptist Convention may be bright indeed.  As David Dockery concluded his presentation, "Let us begin moving from handwringing to hopefulness. Let's work together to advance the gospel, to trust God to bring forth fruit from our labors resulting in renewal to the churches, enabling new partnerships with networks and structures, creating a faithfulness to our denominations, our denominational heritage, and our denominational entities, all for the good of the churches, the extension of God's kingdom on earth, and for the eternal glory of our great God."

Resources

Conference Audio

My Summaries

Trevin Wax's Summaries

Doug Baker of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger on "Stetzer's Warrior Children"

Jim Smith of the Florida Baptist Witness on Danny Akin's Presentation

Tim Ellsworth's Article on David Dockery's Address

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Warfield, his greatness as a theologian

Reading Fred Zaspel’s tremendous doctoral thesis on B.B. Warfield and I agree fully with him that it says much that the sesquicentennial of Warfield’s birth—2001—passed virtually unnoticed.  I would agree with Fred that Warfield was the greatest theologian of the twentieth century—much more important in the cause of God than that darling of wayward Evangelicals, Karl Barth!

Love this remark by Gresham Machen about Warfield, who was his mentor: “With all his glaring faults he was the greatest man I have known.”

Tuesday at Union University

The conference, Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism, began Tuesday at Union University with two sessions which lay important frameworks for the sessions which are scheduled to follow. Dr. David Dockery, president of Union University, has put together an excellent program that matches well-qualified speakers with important topics. The two sessions on Tuesday night featured presentations by Dr. Ed Stetzer and Dr. James Patterson. Stetzer addressed the topic of “Denominationalism: Is There a Future?" and Patterson provided a survey of four hundred years of Baptist history. Both of these topics are obviously foundational. First, as Stetzer himself joked, if he answered “no” to his topics question, then we could all just go home and skip the rest of the conference. Patterson’s address provided a helpful summary of the history of Baptists that will allow the conference attendees to better assess where we are now as more specific topics are addressed throughout the remainder of the conference. Ed Stetzer answered “Yes” to the question in his session’s title regarding whether or not denominationalism has a future. The conference continues. Stetzer says that denominations have a future because they are inevitable if churches are going to cooperate together to fulfill the Great Commission. This is the only kind of future that he believes denominations should have. A future in which churches are cooperating together increasing to accomplish God’s mission in this world, the salvation of lost men and women. Denominations can become problematic if they become more self-focused than focused on the mission. This is a tendency of denominations as they grow with more staff and more ministries. We can become more interested in self-preservation than in the proclamation of the gospel to the lost. In order for denominations to be effective in the future, Stetzer believes that they must have a confessional basis that provides doctrinal uniformity in beliefs (as in the BFM), while at the same time allowing for methodological diversity in worship styles, etc. Some denominations pride themselves on their doctrinal diversity, while maintaining a methodological uniformity through a strict liturgy. Southern Baptists must do the opposite to survive in the future.

James Patterson provided a helpful (and humorous) summary of 400 years of Baptist history in about an hour. He began with a Baptist history rap which he does for his students. You must get the audio for this. Patterson began by acknowledging the importance of Nicene Theology and Chalcedonian Christology for Baptists. He also noted the contributions of the Anabaptists of the Radical Reformation and the Magisterial Reformers. The rest of the presentation was organized by the four centuries of Baptist life (beginning of course with the 17^th century). Patterson noted key developments and challenges in each century.  Patterson concludes with the following admonition:  In light of our messy past, we need humility in celebrating our heritage, as well as a recognition that we too will ultimately be judged.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Blogging from Jackson, TN this Week

I’m preparing to leave for Jackson, TN tomorrow for the conference “Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism” which is being hosted by Union University.  I will be blogging live from the conference.  I plan to post my immediate reactions to the sessions on my personal website, while posting my reflections on each day of the conference here on this website.  I will also be providing updates from the conference using my Twitter (@steveweaver) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/pastorsteveweaver)  accounts.  The conference hashtag for Twitter is #uuconf.

The schedule for the conference is as follows:

Tuesday, October 6

• 5:00 p.m. Ed Stetzer: Denominationalism: Is There a Future?
• 7:00 p.m. Jim Patterson: Reflections on 400 Years of the Baptist Movement: Who We Are. What We Believe.

Wednesday, October 7

• 8:30 a.m. Harry L. Poe: The Gospel and Its Meaning: Implications for Southern Baptists and Evangelicals
• 10:00 a.m. Timothy George: Baptists and Their Relations with Other Christians (G. M. Savage Chapel)
• Noon Luncheon Address – Duane Litfin: The Future of American Evangelicalism
• 2:00 p.m. Ray Van Neste: The Oversight of Souls: Pastoral Ministry in Southern Baptist and Evangelical Life
• 7:00 p.m. Corporate Worship: Robert Smith, preaching, (G. M. Savage Chapel)

Thursday, October 8

• 8:30 a.m. Mark DeVine: Emergent or Emerging: Questions for Southern Baptists and North American Evangelicals
• 10:00 a.m. Daniel Akin: The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention
• Noon Luncheon Address – Michael Lindsay: Denominationalism and the Changing Religious Landscape in North America
• 2:00 p.m. Jerry Tidwell: Missions and Evangelism: Awakenings and Their Influence on Southern Baptists and Evangelicals
• 6:00 p.m. Banquet
• 7:00 p.m. David S. Dockery: So Many Denominations: The Rise and Decline of Denominationalism and the Shaping of a Global Evangelicalism

Friday, October 9

• 8:30 a.m. Nathan Finn: Southern Baptists and Evangelicals: Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation
• 10:00 a.m. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism (G. M. Savage Chapel)

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

To blog or to tweet? That is the question...

To blog or to tweet? That is the question with which I have been debating for about a week or two now. Some would say, do both, and I wish I had the time to be able to indulge, but I really do not. Now that I have begun to see that I cannot adequately do both, I have decided to focus on blogging, which is a lot more personally satisfying (arguments can be developed and points made at length, etc ), while much in the world of Twitter still seems to me to be very juvenile.

I shall still keep my Twitter open but enter Tweets from my computer when I have time.

Sola scriptura and following the Puritans

Why do I love the Puritans? Well, it is because of their robust soteriology that is faithful to the Word of God, their awesome biblical piety, and their keen ecclesiology. And after all, my seventeenth-century Baptist forebears were Puritans. But, and this is why we study history, they and their age are not the standard by which we measure biblical fidelity. That belongs to one source: the very one that they loved and sought to uphold—Holy Scripture. It alone is the canon and rule of faith. So, there are some things in which I do not hesitate not to follow the Puritans. In the big picture, they are small things, but they illustrate that for me Scripture alone can bind my conscience. I wear a wedding ring on my left hand’s ring finger—the Puritans rejected the use of such because of the pagan origins of wedding rings. I do not dispute the historicity of those origins. But it is more important for me to bear witness to the permanence and desirability of marriage in our neo-pagan environment than protest against Norse paganism!

Or with regard to the keeping of days, I find it odd that in a world that is increasingly out of sync with the Gospel story and is utterly ignorant of some of the key events of that story that some of our churches, who would regard themselves as modelling Puritanism for the twenty-first century, fail to take advantage of the traditional church year that recalls Advent, Palm Sunday, Pentecost or Trinity Sunday. Would I re-introduce these days of remembrance into Baptist life? Yes, I would, for they help to remind us of critical aspects of the Gospel. Trinity Sunday, for example, would be an excellent antidote to Baptist churches in which the Trinity is never the subject of a sermon, year in, year out. And Pentecost would help some Baptists overcome their fear of the Holy Spirit!

100-year-old Publishes Book on Abraham Booth

Baptist Press has posted a story about a new book by Dr. Ray Coppenger, A Messenger of Grace: A Study of the Life and Thought of Abraham Booth, which was recently released by Joshua Press.  This book can be ordered on Amazon.com. In his day, and for many years after his death, Abraham Booth was regarded as one of the leading Baptist theologians and thinkers of the eighteenth century.  Relatively little, though, has been done, to explore his theological contribution to Baptist life and thought. This work by Dr. Ray Coppenger provides what amounts to a primer on Booth’s ministry and theology.

“Booth’s theological perspectives, particularly with regard to ecclesiology and soteriology, need to be studied afresh at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and I can think of no better place to begin the study of this mentor than this book by Dr. Coppenger.” Michael A.G. Haykin—Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Raymond Arthur Coppenger was born in 1909 near the small town of Tellico Plains in the mountains of East Tennessee. Sensing a call to ministry in his twenties, he went to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, from which he graduated with a Th.M. in 1936. After seminary, he served as associate pastor of First Baptist Church, Newport, Tennessee, and then as pastor of churches in Butler, Tennessee, and Pennington Gap, Virginia. After World War II, he went to Edinburgh, Scotland, for doctoral studies. He received his Ph.D. from Edinburgh University for his work on Abraham Booth in 1953. Subsequently, he taught philosophy and religion at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee, and Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. An emeritus professor since 1974, Coppenger continues to supply-preach and join in the ministry of his local church—and he does his best to keep up with his five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren!

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

The influence of the Banner of Truth on my life: a glimpse

In November of 1982 I submitted a book review of Ernest F. Kevan’s The Lord’s Supper for possible inclusion in an issue of The Banner of Truth magazine. It was one of the first book reviews I ever had published. The following February, 1983, the Banner of Truth Trust sent to me, on the recommendation of Iain H. Murray, his first volume of the biography of D.M. Lloyd-Jones.

What an exchange! A book review for such a book! I was moving in the direction of Reformed teaching—due to the reading of Arnold Dallimore’s two-vol. biography of George Whitefield and Banner books sent to me by Stanley Berry from Scotland (my wife’s uncle). But this first vol. of Lloyd-Jones’ life cemented my move in the Reformed direction. My whole world was turned upside down. May God be praised for his providences.

Petrarch on the pleasures and value of writing

"Nothing weighs less than a pen, nothing is more cheering." And to boot, Petrarch notes, writing will profit others, "sometimes even men of the future, thousands of years away." Thus he concluded: "of all earthly delights none is more noble than literature, none longer-lasting, sweeter, more constant..." He hoped that death would find him "reading or writing, or, if it be Christ's will, praying and weeping" (Letters on Familiar Matters 17.2).

Petrarch on the violation of copyright and the choice of authors

Of all the early Renaissance figures, Petrarch is the most interesting. A devotee of Cicero ["I loved Cicero" (Letters on Familiar Matters 22.10)], he also claimed to have read "Virgil, Horace, [and] Livy...a thousand times" (Letters on Familiar Matters 22.2). They became not only part of his memory, but the very marrow of his prose. He even regarded Cicero as his father and Virgil as his brother (Letters on Familiar Matters 22.10). But he wanted it to be known that he "refrained from intellectual thefts as from thefts of property" (ibid.). The modern concern with the violation of copyright has a noble pedigree!

It is also noteworthy that in his mid-forties he began to read "Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory" with passion--the four doctors of the Western Church (Letters on Familiar Matters 22.10). He would defend the Church Fathers from their detractors. One of the latter he quotes as saying "Augustine saw much, but he knew little" (Letters on Familiar Matters 5.2), a remark that says far more about the person uttering it than Augustine!

The Scriptural author Paul became his "philosopher" and David his "poet"--he would sleep with David's Psalms under his pillow at night and always at hand while awake so that he might the more easily consult it, and he hoped it would be by his side when he came to die (Letters on Familiar Matters 22.10).

Petrarch on time and multi-tasking

"The riches of time are the most uncertain, the most fleeting, of all possessions" (Letters on Familiar Matters 17.12). Petrarch knew this most keenly. As he once told Francesco Nelli, while he was being "shaved or having my hair cut I commonly read or write or listen to a reader or dictate to a scribe" (Letters on Familiar Matters 21.12). He would have loved the devices we have today to multitask!

"It fills me with alarm": Stonewall Jackson on humility and my reflections on doing history

Here is a great quote from Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863). He is speaking of the almost idolatrous way people elevate fellow human beings: "The manner in which the press, the army, and the people seem to lean upon certain persons is positively frightful. They are forgetting God in the instruments He has chosen. It fills me with alarm." [Stonewall Jackson's Book of Maxims, ed. James I. Robertson, Jr. (Nashville: Cumberland House, 2002), 85].

This is one reason a Christian historian cannot do history simply the way the secular historian does history. To be sure, he must use all of the methods of historical research faithfully and as accurately as he can. But the actions of men are never simply that and nothing more. While no contemporary historian is blessed with inspired insight, nevertheless, some judgement as to God's actions in the past needs to be made, lest we forget God in the instruments he uses.

Study Guide for Tim Keller's The Prodigal God

Dr. Haykin and Principal Kirk Wellum of Toronto Baptist Seminary have started a new reading group with Tim Keller's The Prodigal God (last year they lead a group through C.J. Mahaney's True Humility).  Dr. Haykin is writing study guide questions for discussion in this group and I will be posting them online as they make progress through this book.  Questions on the first two chapters have already been posted on this site's Study Guide page. It is hoped that this might be a service to others who might be working through the book in a similar way.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Papers Commemorating John Calvin's 500th Birthday

Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin recently spoke at Sola Scriptura's Toronto National Conference celebrating John Calvin's legacy on his 500th birthday.  Dr. Haykin's three papers focused on:

• Being Baptist and Calvinist
• John Calvin and Missions
• Calvinism and Revival

These papers are available in pdf format at the above links or on the Papers page of this website.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Great Conference Next Month at Union University

Next month, I (Steve) will be attending what promises to be a great conference in Jackson, TN on the campus of Union University.  According to the conference webpage, the conference promises to address "some of the most vital issues facing Southern Baptists and Evangelicals as we prepare to move into the second decade of the 21st Century."

The conference, which is being held in recognition of the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement, features an impressive lineup of Baptist theologians and historians.  Those slated to present at the conference are Duane Litfin, Michael Lindsay, Timothy George, Albert Mohler, Robert Smith, Danny Akin, Ed Stetzer, Steve Harmon, Mark Devine, Nathan Finn and Union University’s own David Dockery, Ray Van Neste, Jerry Tidwell, Hal Poe and Jim Patterson.

You can register online through September 30th, but I encourage you to register soon to ensure your spot at what promises to be a historic gathering.  Cost for the conference will be $85, which will include four meals and three continental breakfasts.

Previous conferences of this kind sponsored by Union have become touchstones for conversations in Baptist life and this one looks to be of a similar quality.  Papers from previous conferences have been published by Crossway Books in the volume Southern Baptist Identity: An Evangelical Denomination Faces the Future.  Don't miss the chance to be at this conference, if at all possible.

If you are unable to attend, I will be providing summaries throughout the conference on this site, as well as on my personal blog.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

The Wirkungsgeschichte of the Patristic literature

What we also need is a study or better yet studies of the reception history (Wirkungsgeschichte) of the Patristic literature on the Puritans and Evangelicals of the 18th century. There have been a number of studies of the influence of Macarius-Symeon (that Augustinian-like shadowy figure) on John Wesley. But we need a lot more of this. The translation of the Letter to Diognetus into English, for example, sparked deep interest among the 18th century Calvinistic Baptists and I know of two translations by that community, one of them by John Sutcliff (1752-1814), the friend of Andrew Fuller.

Schedule and Call for Papers for 2010 AFCBS Conference

It’s not too early to make plans to come to next year’s conference.  The theme is “Baptists and the Cross:  Contemporary and Historical Perspectives” and will occur on August 30-31, 2010.  A tentative schedule is posted below:

Baptists and the Cross: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives August 30-31, 2010

Monday, August 30

• 9:00 am Plenary session 1: Tom Schreiner (SBTS): “Atonement in the Pastoral Epistles, the Petrine Epistles, and Hebrews”
• 10:25 am Plenary Session 2: Stephen Wellum (SBTS), “Baptism and Crucicentrism”
• 11:45 am Plenary Session 3: D.W. Bebbington (University of Stirling and Baylor Univeristy), “English Baptist Crucicentrism from the 18th Century Onwards”

1:00-2:30 pm Lunch break

2:30-4:00 pm Parallel Sessions

6:00 pm Dinner

• 8:00 pm Plenary Session 4: Glendon Thompson (Toronto Baptist Seminary),
• “Preaching the Cross”

Tuesday, August 31

• 8:30 am Plenary Session 5: Maurice Dowling (Irish Baptist College), “Spurgeon and the Cross”

10:00 am Chapel

• 11:30 am Plenary Session 6: James Fuller (University of Indianapolis), “19th Century Southern Baptists and the Atoning Work of Christ”

12:45-2:30 pm Lunch

• 2:30-3:40 pm Plenary Session 7: Danny Akin (SEBTS), “The Cross and Pastoral Ministry”

Make plans now to attend!  For those who desire to present papers on the conference them in the conference's parallel sessions, see the below Call for Papers.

We are currently accepting paper proposals for next year’s conference. We have a limited number of spaces (between a dozen and sixteen) available for the parallel sessions which should be about 5,000 words in length and able to be delivered in approximately 30 minutes. Potential speakers need to e-mail the Center (andrewfullercenter@sbts.edu) with a title and brief outline of their proposal as well as a brief resume before December 31, 2009. The topic of these papers must fall within the theme of the conference, namely, “Baptists and the Cross.” Submission of a proposal does not guarantee acceptance.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

My top twelve needed dissertations in the Greek Fathers

I was recently asked regarding what I saw as the top ten dissertations needed for the Greek Fathers. Well, here are twelve:

1. The theology of the Letter to Diognetus.

2. Trinitarian theology and biblical exegesis from Ignatius to Origen

3. The piety of the Odes of Solomon.

4. Slavery in the thought of the Cappadocian Fathers.

5. The relationship of Athanasius to Marcellus of Ancyra and Apollinarius.

6. The exegesis of the pastoral epistles in the Cappadocians.

7. The canon in the fourth-century Greek Fathers.

8. The exegetical basis for the Eucharistic theology of the Greek fathers in the fourth century.

9. The pneumatology of Irenaeus of Lyons.

10. The pneumatology of Theodore of Mopsuestia.

11. Prayer in the second- and third-century Greek Fathers.

12. Prayer in the fourth-century Greek Fathers.

Two Books on Jonathan Edwards Reviewed by Michael Haykin

Two new book reviews by Michael Haykin have been posted on the Book Review page.  Both of these books were written or edited by Doug Sweeney and focus on the theology of Jonathan Edwards.  The first book, Haykin says, "is without a doubt one of the best studies to appear on Edwards in recent years." It is Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word: A Model of Faith and Thought by Douglas A. Sweeney.  The second volume reviewed is a reader which highlights the writings of the heirs of Jonathan Edwards, the New Divinity school. Dr. Haykin believes that  The New England Theology: From Jonathan Edwards to Edwards Amasa Park (edited by Douglas A. Sweeney and Allen C. Guelzo) has great "potential for helping students of this era in American theological history appreciate the impact of the New Divinity men and their thought."