I'm excited to announce a new component just added to next week's "Baptists and the Cross" conference at Southern Seminary. Dr. David Bebbington and Dr. Michael Haykin have agreed to an open discussion to be held at the LifeWay campus store immediately following the last session of the conference. The discussion between Dr. Haykin and Dr. Bebbington will begin at 4 pm and last approximately 30 minutes. The conversation will be followed by a booksigning of the most recent release by each man. Dr. Bebbington will be signing his Baptists through the Centuries: A History of a Global People and Dr. Haykin will be signing his The Empire of the Holy Spirit. If you haven't already registered for the conference, sign up today! There will be free books and other materials given to all registrants. Don't miss this great opportunity to sit under some of the best Baptist scholars alive today! Plenary Speakers include: Tom Schreiner, Stephen Wellum, Maurice Dowling, David Bebbington, Glendon Thompson, James Fuller, and Danny Akin. To find out more about the conference, please visit the conference webpage.
True Christianity thoroughly communal
I am increasingly nonplussed by a Christianity—albeit Reformed in doctrine—that is as hermetically sealed as any of the individualistic ideologies of contemporary North American culture. We do church Sunday morn and eve, and then retreat to our separate worlds and our paths rarely cross with our fellow worshippers till Wednesday prayer meeting or the Lord’s Day following. What kind of Christianity is this? What kind of Christianity is it that does not create communities of friends? I have never gotten over the communitarian spirit of those far-off days of the 1960s when some of us were given a vision of community that the spirit of that era could not achieve. The solidarity of the Marxist International sparked by reading Che and Marcuse turned out to be nothing but a bad dream. And the communes of peace and love espoused by the hippie culture disappeared into the rigidity of the political correct communities and their watchdogs of the 1980s and 1990s.
But when we became Christians we knew we had found the real thing. Forty years on, I have no doubts at all that friendship with the Lord Jesus is the vision we glimpsed from afar in those heady days of the sixties. He is the only One with the words of eternal life. He is the only One who has a plan for community that is sweetly satisfying to the human soul and truly liberating to the human person.
And I admit it, reading such books as Augustine's City of God and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together spoiled me for anything less! And so I know the pain of those in our day who have been hurt by the Church and see that she is not what she should be. May God give me grace that I never give up on the Church, the beloved of my Beloved. But I wonder: what will it take for us to realize the hollowness of affirming we are a community of the Crucified One and yet know nothing of the pain and joy of walking with one another, our Lord's brothers and sisters, in daily life? And don't tell me, such is the way of life in the twenty-first century.
True Christianity thoroughly political
To desire an apolitical Christianity is to ask for a will o’the wisp. Christianity is heavily political: by becoming Christians we are declaring that the kingdoms of this world are not Ultimate and cannot be the focus of worship despite the ravenous hunger of statist politicians since the days of Babel. When we declare that Jesus of Nazareth, the Man now in the glory, is the True King and that one day he will return and the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of the Lord’s Messiah, we are making a deeply political affirmation. Yes, and when that happens, politics will never be the same again. The members of the Confessing Church, blessings be upon the memory of those brethren, knew this so well when they stated as much in the Barmen Declaration: “Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death. We reject the false doctrine, as though the church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God’s revelation.”
What we as Baptists reject is the confusion of church and state as in the days following Constantine. But make no mistake about it: to say Jesus is Lord is to make a political statement. The martyrs of the Confessing Church who died under Hitler cannot be understood without recognizing this truth.
Audio Lectures on Early Church History
Dr. Haykin recently taught a week long Summer term "Introduction to Christian History, 1" course at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. A student, Andrew Wencl, recorded the lectures and has posted them online at his website. Enjoy!
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
Research Tips for Unfamiliar Topics
I recently posted the following on my personal blog. Dr. Haykin has asked that I post it here, as well.
From time to time, students are called upon to write upon topics upon which they have little knowledge of the primary and/or secondary literature. The following are some suggestions on how to begin researching unfamiliar topics.
- Search the online databases of the closest research library (associated with a university or seminary, mine is Boyce Library at SBTS) for key words or terms related to your topic. If you don't know where the closest research library is or you want to search multiple libraries at the same time, try WorldCat.org. A search on this database will bring up a list of books, when you click on a title you will have the option of inputing your zip code and libraries containing the book will be listed in order of their proximity to your location.
- Look at the books generated from your search above. Look at their footnotes/endnotes and/or bibliographies to find more books on the topic. Track their sources (going back to Worldcat.org if necessary) to find their sources, to find their sources, ad infinitum.
- Another source for bibliographies listing works related to your topic can be general resources such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and survey works (such as Church Histories and Systematic theologies in my field). These will sometimes contain specific articles related to your topics written by specialists in the field. Their bibliographies can be a goldmine for finding the most recent and best resources on a topic. The general survey works, though probably not useful as a source themselves, will provide listing of more specialized works that will be useful for your research. Again, track down their sources (going back to Worldcat.org if necessary) to find their sources, to find their sources, ad infinitum.
- Search for articles on the topic or related topics using keywords in library databases or online at databases such as Google Scholar. Check their footnotes/bibliography. Then, track down their sources (going back to Worldcat.org if necessary) to find their sources, to find their sources, ad infinitum.
- Another good source for bibliographies for further research are scholarly dissertations (which can be found at University/Seminary or through online databases, usually only accessible at research libraries) which have huge bibliographies. In dissertations, as well as the other resources mentioned above, the newer a resource is the better chance that its author has consulted the most resources and therefore would have the most up-to-date bibliography (this is not always the case with shoddy scholarship, so be careful here).
Tolle lege!
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin
Free Books for "Baptists and the Cross" Registrants
I am pleased to announce some of the free books that will be given away at this year's conference. Once again we are grateful this year to have received some great books from generous publishers. The following books will given to conference registrants at this year's conference held on August 30-31 at Southern Seminary. For more information about the conference and to register, please visit events.sbts.edu/andrewfuller.
Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, eds. Thomas R. Schreiner & Shawn D. Wright (B&H Academic)
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin
Podcast Interview with Dr. Stephen Wellum
It is our pleasure to have Dr. Stephen Wellum as one of the speakers at this year's Andrew Fuller Conference. Dr. Wellum is scheduled to address the conference in the second plenary session on the theme “Baptism and Crucicentrism.” Recently, Dr. Michael Haykin had the opportunity to interview Dr. Wellum about his conference topic. This podcast is the result.
This interview is the third podcast of the Andrew Fuller Center. You can subscribe to this podcast in iTunes using this feed.
You can still register for the conference here. Discounts available for students.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin
New Site on the Works of Wilhelmus à Brakel
I would like to alert you to an excellent new website devoted to the study of The Christian's Reasonable Service by Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635-1711). This site is an excellent introduction to à Brakel and his magnum opus. The blog's administrator, Bartel Elshout, actually translated the four volumes from the original Dutch. I have been told by a friend that Dr. Joel Beeke has said that if he could take only one work with him to a deserted island, it would be The Christian's Reasonable Service. This is high praise indeed. To learn more about this important and helpful work, please visit this informative 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.
Attend Refo500 Conference, Earn Class Credit with Dr. Haykin
The following announcement was posted by Emily Griffin on the Towers website:
The effects of the Reformation remain with us to this day; in fact, the world has been shaped and formed in far-reaching ways by the legacy of the Reformation.
Southern Seminary will host the first North American conference for Refo500, a global project to direct attention toward 2017 and the quincentenary of the beginning of the Reformation. The conference, titled “Celebration Reformation: Challenges and Chances between Now and 2017,” will take place Sept. 27-28, on Southern Seminary’s campus. Featured speakers include R. Albert Mohler Jr., Timothy George, Joel Beeke, Peter Lillback, Herman Selderhuis, David Hall, and others. For more conference information, call 502-897-4072 or visit www.sbts.edu/events.
Southern Seminary students can earn course credit by attending Refo500. Students should register for course #27177: “Studies in Theology: Reformation Theology and Piety” with Michael Haykin. This course is an intensive study of the magisterial Reformation in Germany, Switzerland, France and England, its main events and figures, its theology and piety. Each student is expected to attend eight class lectures on Friday, Sept. 24, and Monday, Sept. 27, and the entirety of the Refo500 conference. Students will also be responsible for three post-course assignments.
If you have questions on course #27177, please contact Academic Records at 502-897-4209 or academicrecords@sbts.edu.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
Dr. Haykin Reviews a New Edition of the 1689 London Confession of Faith
Over at the Sola Scriptura blog, Dr. Haykin has reviewed a new edition of the 1689 London Confession of Faith which was edited by 17th Century Baptist Scholar James Renihan.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
British rockers playing the blues with Howlin' Wolf
Today I bought a tremendous blues album, The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions recorded in 1970 with Chester A Bennett (Chess, a.k.a. Howlin’ Wolf) and backup by Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts (of the Stones), and a bonus with Ringo Starr playing the drums on one track. Chess was dubious about whether the Brits could ever help him make a blues album. But when it was all over, his doubts were proved wrong and the Brits had played the blues. Like other musical media, blues makes a serious reflection on the human condition: without Christ, the human state is melancholy indeed. I suppose my Celtic melancholic temperament is what finds the blues so appealing, much more than jazz and when played by rockers like the ones on this album utterly awesome—though Clapton and the others were actually going back to their roots when they played blues with Howlin’ Wolf.
New Book by Dr. Haykin: The Empire of the Holy Spirit
Dr. Haykin's newest release, The Empire of the Holy Spirit, is soon to be released from Borderstone Press. This book can be ordered directly from the publisher by contacting Roger Duke at rogerdduke@borderstonepress.com. Combining both keen historical reflection and rich biblical insight, Michael Haykin has pulled from his expertise in both church history and biblical spirituality in the writing of this volume.
The book has already received high praise from several individuals who have endorsed the book. Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes:
Michael Haykin's The Empire of the Holy Spirit is not just a book about the Holy Spirit. This is a book written, obviously, by one who knows the Person (not just the topic) of which he writes.
This book will prompt you to think. You'll want to scratch down notes, and talk about insights over coffee with friends. But, more than that, this book will prompt you to get on your knees, through the Spirit of God, and cry out "Abba Father!"
Dr. Donald Whitney, author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, has also endorsed the book:
Besides Michael Haykin, few people, to my knowledge, could have written such a book as this with the same credibility.
The richness of the combination of history, theology, spirituality, and practicality in this volume could come only from someone who has the expertise of a professor of church history and spirituality, the insight of a biblical scholar, the wisdom of an experienced church elder, and the authenticity of a sincere personal piety.
Dr. Joel Beeke, President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, has written:
Haykin's Empire of the Spirit covers a rich cluster of subjects on the Holy Spirit from various biblical, historical, and theological perspectives. Whether speaking about the Spirit's role in sanctification, in revival, in the Great Commission, in the exercise of genuine success, or in promoting Christian unity, Haykin's thoughts, tethered to Scripture, offer an exciting read.
This book needs to be pondered over and yet it is a page-turner. I pray that it may promote a deepening interest in and appreciation for the Spirit's indispensable, variegated ministry in the lives of believers.
Other endorsers include Dr. Steven Lawson, Dr. Carl Trueman, and several others. I will post some of their endorsements in future posts.
If you would like to listen to the author's own thoughts on the book, you can download this podcast in which I interview Dr. Haykin about his most recent book.
You can subscribe to this podcast in iTunes using this feed.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
Early Registration Ends July 31st
The fourth annual conference of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies is scheduled for August 30-31, 2010. The theme is: Baptists and the Cross: Contemporary and Historical Reflections. The conference will feature speakers such as Danny Akin (president, SEBTS), David Bebbington (professor, University of Stirling), Maurice Dowling (professor,Irish Baptist College), James Fuller (professor, University of Indianapolis), Tom Schreiner (professor, SBTS), Glendon Thompson (president, TBS and pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church), and Stephen Wellum (professor, SBTS). For full bios of the speakers, see here.
Discounted registration rates are now available for the conference (through July 31) and there is a special rate for students. Students may receive a discounted rate by using the code: “8051974″. For more information on the conference visithttp://events.sbts.edu/andrewfuller.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
"I wish to be a man of the Church"
“I wish to be a man of the Church, not the founder of heresy; I want to be named with Christ’s name and bear the name which is blessed on earth. It is also my desire to do this in deed as well as in Spirit.” Some of you reading this might be surprised to learn that Origen, nicknamed Adamantius, “Man of Steel,”[1] said this. See his Homily on Luke 16. I think it grievous that later generations have judged Origen so harshly. I have never regarded him as a heretic as some have done. He was a Christian theologian who made some theological errors, yes. But a heretic never! We need to ever recall with figures as complex as Origen the way Robert Murray McCheyne spoke after hearing of the death of Edward Irving, the preaching wonder of the 1820s: for McCheyne, Irving was “a holy man in spite of all his delusions and errors.”[2]
Dying with Christ like Isaac
All who follow the Lord Jesus will experience the pain of the cross.
Our baptism as believers speaks of this, does it not? Crucified with Christ. No cause ever for Baptists to be triumphalistic. The only triumph is being crucified with Christ and it hurts!
We will know the pain of rejection and of laughter as we plead with sinners to repent and believe. These are stabs to the vitals, especially when those we plead with are loved ones.
Blessed is the church that knows how to comfort those suffering for Jesus’ sake: places where discipleship is really understood.
But sometimes, I fear, our churches are adept at turning a blind eye than a helping hand. We, like the rest of humanity, really do not want to suffer. And we have no desire to suffer with others. Or no idea of what to say.
This too is being crucified with Christ: realizing how powerless we really are. Where is free will and human power now? This is the crux of the matter: we cannot die with Christ—the Spirit of the Crucified Christ must take us to the cross.
May we go like Isaac: in wonder and awe and come away with reverent fear.
Glorying in the Cross with T.T. Shields and Anne Steele
Glorying in the cross of Christ lies at the very heart of what it means to be a biblical Christian.(1) In the 1920s, during the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy, it was this glorying that was central to the difference between Fundamentalists and Modernists. The latter liked to think and talk of Christ’s death as chiefly an example of the Father’s love and Christ’s dying as that of a glorious martyr.(2) But it was men like Dr. T. T. Shields (1873-1955), the Toronto Baptist, who insisted that the death of the Lord Jesus had far richer meaning. The real significance of the suffering and death of the Lord Christ, he insisted, lay in the fact it was for sinners. He suffered and died in their stead. For sinners’ eternal good his sinless soul bore the wrath they justly deserved. And the salvation he consequently secured by his death is full and complete and lacks nothing. Glory—glory indeed!
(1) Thus Philip E. Hughes and Frank Colquhoun, “Introduction” to Leon Morris, Glory in the Cross. A Study in the Atonement (1966 ed; repr. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979), 6.
It is well known, though, that Roman Catholicism has also focused on the sufferings and death of Christ. Where does it differ then from the Evangelical witness to and glorying in the cross? Mel Gibson’s lavishly produced The Passion of the Christ with its intense concentration on the physical sufferings of the Lord Jesus well reveals the stance of traditional Catholicism. Yet it fails to enunciate clearly why Christ died and the importance of his spiritual sufferings. And here is seen the crucial difference between the Evangelical and Roman Catholic approaches to the cross.
Historically, Evangelical glorying in the cross has also meant an emphasis on a certain type of living. To truly glory in the cross is to no longer live for self and one’s ambitions and plans. It means to give all for Jesus and his glory. The eighteenth-century Baptist hymnwriter Anne Steele (1717-1778) put this truth in this way:
Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell
In thy atoning blood!
By this are sinners snatch’d from hell,
And rebels brought to God.
Jesus, my soul, adoring bends
To love so full, so free;
And may I hope that love extends
Its sacred power to me?
What glad return can I impart,
For favours so divine?
O take my all, this worthless heart...
(1) Thus Philip E. Hughes and Frank Colquhoun, “Introduction” to Leon Morris, Glory in the Cross. A Study in the Atonement (1966 ed; repr. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979), 6.
(2) See, for example, L.H. Marshall’s view of Christ’s death as cited by W. J. H. Brown, [“Modernism”] (Unpublished ms., W. Gordon Brown Papers, McMaster Divinity College Archives, McMaster University, Ontario), [p.4].
Toronto Baptist Conference
For more information, visit www.tbs.edu.
Anne Steele, "The Savior calls"
One of the very few of Anne Steele’s hymns that are still sung today was originally entitled “The Savior’s Invitation,” and was based on Jesus’ words in John 7:37, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (KJV). The Saviour calls—let every Ear Attend the heavenly Sound; Ye doubting Souls, dismiss your Fear, Hope smiles reviving round.
For every thirsty, longing Heart, Here Streams of Bounty flow, And Life, and Health, and Bliss impart, To banish mortal Woe.
Here, Springs of sacred Pleasure rise To ease your every Pain, (Immortal Fountain! full Supplies!) Nor shall you thirst in vain.
Ye Sinners come, ‘tis Mercy’s Voice, The gracious Call obey; Mercy invites to heavenly Joys,— And can you yet delay?
Dear Savior, draw reluctant Hearts, To Thee let Sinners fly; And take the Bliss Thy Love imparts, And drink, and never die.[1]
Based on Jesus’ open invitation to sinners to come to him and drink, that is, find eternal life, Steele urges “every Ear” to “attend” to Christ’s heavenly invitation. He calls all who are “thirsty” and “longing” to come to him, where they will find “Life, and Health, and Bliss,” in sum, “Springs of sacred Pleasure” that will ease every woe. This invitation is a command—“the gracious Call obey”—but Steele is also aware that “the thirsty, longing Heart” is not sufficient in itself to come to Christ. In the final analysis it is a “reluctant Heart,” filled with doubt and fear. Hence, she prays, “Dear Savior, draw reluctant hearts.”
Anne was an eighteenth-century woman, and much has changed since her day: fashion and food, technology and government. But the human heart has not changed and nor has Jesus—“the same yesterday and today and forever.” And so we pray the same for our family and friends and neigbours and those we have never seen.
[1] A Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship (3rd ed.; Bristol: W. Pine, 1778), Hymn 145.
Toronto violence, Scripture, and William Ward
There was violence this past weekend in the streets of Toronto, a city well-known to me and one that I love. In fact, the staging ground for the beginning of the protest marches against the G20 that led to the violence was the Allan Gardens, literally right next door to Toronto Baptist Seminary. Thankfully, I have been told that no damage was done to the seminary. But a lot of damage was done to downtown Toronto stores and businesses by anarchists intent on disrupting the G20. When that could not happen, they evidently became intent on doing as much damage as possible. There have been questions raised about police over-reaction to the rioting. Personally, I am very thankful that we had so many officers of the law on the scene who did a very credible job of containing the violence. We live in a democratic society—for which I thank God—and there are proper channels to voice disapproval of economic policies. And it strikes me as the height of hypocrisy to smash the windows of small stores and cause heartache and problems for small storeowners—all in the name of striking at big C capitalism and “corporate bosses.”
Biblically, Romans 13—though I know it is not the only text of the Bible that deals with our relationship to the state—has to be the Christian’s guideline here. Developing an attitude of submission to duly-constituted authorities is central to the development of Christian character. Of course, when the state seeks to shackle men and women in body and soul, Christians must obey God rather than man. But that is miles away from being the case here. The charges of statism against our government or any of those in the West is merely empty rhetoric. These protestors need to go to Saudi Arabia or Iran or North Korea and see what true statism looks like.
If you want to see what true radicalism looks like ponder the life of William Ward (1769-1823), who, as a printer during his younger years, had been involved in radical politics. It was the era of the French Revolution, and for some in the British Isles that historic event sparked thoughts of similar events in England. But then God got a hold of his life and he went out to India to serve as a missionary. His hardcore commitment to radical politics he put forever behind him when he went out to India, for he was invovled in a much radical exercise: ushering in the Kingdom of the Lord Christ. Of course, his Christian witness had political ramifications. One thinks of Ward's role in the ending of sati and his prayers for and rejoicing in the end of slavery. But there was so much more: there was the freeing of the human spirit and the reconciliation of sinners to a holy God.
H C G Moule on Hebrews 13:7 and the need for church history
Handley C.G. Moule (1841–1920) was a descendant of Caleb Evans (see previous post). In his Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews (London: Elliott Stock, 1909), chapter 12, he has this to say about the importance of church history: Hebrews 13:7 “consecrates the fidelity of the Christian memory. It assures us that to cherish the names, the words, the conduct, the holy lives, the blessed deaths, of our teachers of days long done is no mere indulgence of unfruitful sentiment. It is natural to the Gospel, which, just because it is the message of an unspeakably happy future, also sanctifies the past which is the living antecedent to it. Just because we look with the love of hope towards “our gathering together unto Him,” we are to turn with the love of memory towards all the gifts of God given to us through the holy ones with whom we look to be “gathered together.” “The exit of their walk of life” (ver. 7) is to be our study, our meditation. We are to “look it up and down” ([Greek: anatheorountes]) as we would some great monument of victory, and from that contemplation we are to go back into life, to “imitate their faith,” to do just what they did, treating (xi. 1) the unseen as visible, the hoped-for as present and within our embrace. Thank God for this authorization and hallowing of our recollections. Precious indeed is its assurance that the sweetness of them (for all its ineffable element of sadness, as eyes and ears are hungry for the faces and the voices gone, for the look and tone of the preacher, the teacher, through whom we first knew the Lord, or knew Him better) is no half-forbidden luxury of the soul but a means of victorious grace.”