For some reason I can’t get the footnotes to appear in my post on my thesis proposal. For an idea of the works that I’m using, here is my bibliography. A huge thanks is due to Crawford Gribben for most of the Ussher resources! This bibliography has already grown and will continue to do so – especially in terms of primary sources from the Patristic and Post-Reformation periods.
Tentative Thesis Bibliography
2009/11/07
The Athanasius of Our Century: Thesis Proposal
2009/11/07I just found out today that my thesis proposal for the master of theology program at Toronto Baptist Seminary was accepted. I will defend it (DV) in either late March or early December. My supervisor is Michael Haykin and hopefully Crawford Gribben and Dennis Ngien will be readers. This is all very exciting!
“The Athanasius of Our Century”: An Evaluation of James Ussher’s Immanuel In Light of Patristic Christology
Though he is relatively unknown today, James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh was one of seventeenth-century Britain’s most influential figures. If in the twenty-first-century Ussher is known at all, it would largely be due to his famous chronology Annales veteris et novi testamenti (1650-1654), a work of immense learning for its day and still popular amongst young earth creationists for its dating of the world’s creation at 4004 BC. If Ussher is to be remembered only for this singular writing project and not for his other important contributions to the academy and the church, the annals of history have played him a bad card. Ussher was nothing short of a prodigious scholar and committed churchman and it is this reputation that should be retained.
Calgary Conference
2009/11/07Exciting news for those in Alberta. Calvary Grace Church in Calgary will be hosting their annual Calvary Grace Conference this January 29 and 30, 2010. Their guest speakers are Vishal Mangalwadi and Art Azurdia. Although I haven’t read or listened to anything by Azurdia, I am a big fan of Mangalwadi. His book on William Carey is excellent.
For more information about the conference check out the website.
{HT: Cowboyology}
New City Baptist Church – An Expose (John Bell)
2009/11/06This is the interview that John Bell did speaking about New City Baptist Church and his role with it:
New City Baptist Church – An Expose (Ian Clary)
2009/11/06This is an interview that I did last week speaking about New City Baptist Church and my role with it:
J. -P. Migne
2009/11/05Two extremely important resources for patristic studies are J. -P. Migne’s Patrologia Graeca and Patrologia Latinae. I must say that I am quite happy to find them online. {HT: PRDL}.
Post-Reformation Digital Library
2009/11/02The H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies (I have their mug) at Calvin College and Seminary host the Post-Reformation Digital Library. It is a collection of documents from every thinker in the Reformed and Lutheran tradition from the Magisterial Reformation to probably the mid-eighteenth century. This included works by the Reformed orthodox as well as heretical groups such as the Socinians and Unitarians. There is also a good selection of secondary source material and links to sites dealing with patristic and medieval literature. This is a great one-stop-place for everything related to the study of this tradition and era. Most of what they’ve amassed comes from Google Books, so not a lot of it is newly scanned material. But it is great to have it all in one place. Here’s the material by Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656):
- Armachani de Macedonum et Asianorum anno solari dissertatio (M. Flesher & prostant apud Cornelium Bee, 1648) PDF
- Missing first pages
- A Body of Divinity (London, 1841) PDF
- Britannicarum ecclesiarum antiquitates (Dublin: Societatis bibliopolarum, 1639) PDF
- A Discourse on the Religion Anciently Professed by the Irish and British (Dublin: John Jones, 1815 [orig. 1687]) PDF
- The Editio Princeps of the Epistle of Barnabas: As Printed at Oxford, A.D. 1642, and Preserved in an Imperfect Form in the Bodleian Library ; with a Dissertation on the Literary History of that Edition (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1883) PDF
- Eighteen Sermons Preached in Oxford (London, 1660) PDF
- Gotteschalci, et praedestinatianae controversiae ab eo motae, Historia (Hanoviae: Jacobi Lasche, 1662) PDF
- De Graeca Septuaginta interpretum versione Syntagma (Lipsiae: Johannis Caspari Meyeri, 1695) PDF
- Gravissimae quaestionis, de christianarum ecclesiarum, 2nd ed. (Havoniae, 1658) PDF
- Veterum epistolarum Hibernicarum sylloge (Paris, 1665) PDF
- The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, 17 vols. (Dublin: Hodges & Smith: 1847-1864)
Hitchens/Wilson on Imus
2009/10/30Christopher Hitchens and Doug Wilson discuss their new movie, Collision, on the Don Imus show {HT: Blog and Mablog}:
Evangel
2009/10/21There is a new blog at the First Things website called Evangel. It has quite a good list of contributors and the posts thus far are great.
Globe Article on Theology Pubs
2009/10/17For the last year or so I’ve been going to the monthly gathering of theologues for a pint at Toronto’s “Theology Pub.” Apparently these pubs are bigger than I realised. Darryl Dash, who organises our Toronto gathering, is intereviewed in the Globe and Mail (here).
This month’s pub night is Monday and the topic for discussion is John Calvin, it being the 500th anniversary of his birth this year. Here’s the website for information – you’re more than welcome to come!
For the beer of Calvin’s choice, check out Calvinus!
Helm in the Guardian on Calvin
2009/10/05Paul Helm is doing a column on John Calvin in England’s The Guardian newspaper. His first is entitled, “On Calvin, Part 1: A World Figure.”
Preaching the Synoptics and John
2009/10/05There’s a question that’s been rumbling in my brain for quite some time now. It has to do with preaching from the gospels. Should preachers when they’re dealing with, say, Luke, go to Matthew in their sermon for a related theme and offer extended discussion of it?
Of course, evangelicals believe in the full inspiration of scriptures, the unity of the canon and the analogy of faith. So it would seem that answer should be “yes.” But my question has a further consideration that we don’t often think about: What about authorial intent and themes local to a particular gospel? If I’m preaching from Matthew and am aware both of Matthew’s consistent “kingdom emphasis” and his audience that is familiar with the Old Testament and then throw in a parallel from Luke that has different emphases am I not disregarding Matthew’s purpose in writing? Of course there are parallels between texts, but many times those parallels are located contextually within a gospel for a purpose that is different between authors.
The problem gets even muckier when we consider the gospel according to John. Not being one of the synoptic gospels John has themes and narrative that are not found in the other three gospels, or if they are, it is to a limited and often different degree. Is it hermeneutically sound to turn from John in a sermon, to Matthew to discuss the Lord’s Supper?
I tend to lean against hopping from gospel to gospel on one particular theme because I fear that I’m not doing justice to the gospel writer’s purpose in writing the way he did and situating it where he did. It’s not that it is wrong to point out harmony and differences between the gospels, but to develop meaning from one gospel to another on a given theme disrupts the flow of what the author is trying to communicate. It runs the possibility of bringing in brand new themes that the given gospel writer is not commenting on. It also runs the risk of confusing the hearers of the sermon.
This problem is not the same as comparing the letters of Paul with each other. Why? Because to compare Colossians with Philippians is to compare Paul with Paul. His emphases, his language, his style is often the same. Therefore, in probably all cases, his intentions are the same. It’s comparing apples with apples, whereas in the case of the gospels, it is comparing apples with oranges.
I’m interested in other perspectives on this. Are there any good homiletical books that deal with this subject from one view or another?
Athanasius, Arianism, Christ and the Spirit
2009/10/05This one’s for my old pal Mark (no, not you Nenadov!):
“From Athanasius we learn that the Arians believed Jesus to be dependent on the Holy Spirit for his own spirituality, growth in grace and consequent inhabitation of the Father…In contrast to the Arian position Athanasius believes that Christ’s divine being does not allow Jesus in his life among us to require or need the Holy Spirit either in his relation with his Father or in his public ministry. It is rather the divine Word who gives from himself to the Spirit and also dispenses the Spirit to us…Athanasius is not able to concede that Jesus in his own person and for his own good was in any way comforted, guided, empowered, enable, sanctified or encouraged by the Holy Spirit…Their [Arians] point is that in the Scriptures the Son’s high status is dependent on the Father’s pleasure rather than being a natural consequence of the Son’s essential divinity. If it is something he has been given then he clearly does not have it by nature, that is, from his being or essence.” [Alan Spence, Christology: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: T&T Clark, 2008), 29-30.]
Upcoming NCB Related Events
2009/10/03The next little while will be busy for New City Baptist. Here’s a list of things we’ll have involvement in one way or another:
1) October 16, 2009 – John will be speaking at Grace Fellowship Church’s singles night. A time of fellowship will start at 7pm. Worship in song at 7:45pm and John will speak at 8pm. GFC is our “mother” church and we’re thrilled that John was invited to speak!
2) November 20, 2009 – The denomination that NCB is part of, the Sovereign Grace Fellowship, will be hosting their annual General Assembly at Trinity Baptist Church in Burlington. It was at last year’s GA that NCB was taken on as a plant. We’re extremely thankful to the churches who have supported us over the last year.
3) Once a month on Mondays – GFC and SGF co-sponsor the Toronto Pastor’s Fellowship. This is predominantly a gathering of pastors, though others are more than welcome, who come together for fellowship and a time of intellectual stimulation. The first meeting was this past Monday where David Robinson encouraged pastors to find their competence in God.
Theology Lookalikes: Burk and Rappaport
2009/10/02Over the last little while I keep getting the same thought: this theologian looks like that actor/singer/whatever. So it dawned on me, why not blog about it and see what others think? I know this is all pretty ridiculous, but hey, it’s my blog and I can do as I like with it.
The one lookalike that’s been in my head for a month or so now is Denny Burk and Michael Rapaport. This likely has to do with meeting Burk at Southern Seminary’s book room in August and recently watching Rapaport act in True Romance. So waddaya think?
Hebrew Vocab Pronunciation
2009/10/02
My good friend Mark Francois is a PhD student in Old Testament at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. He also teaches Hebrew at Toronto Baptist Seminary. Mark has a working knowledge of around eleven languages, both ancient and modern, and is only in his mid-twenties! Anyways, as an aide for TBS Hebrew students, he has posted mp3 files of Hebrew pronunciation at the seminary’s website {here}. He even sings a Hebrew alphabet song!
Updates About Ezra Vesapogu
2009/09/30
About two years ago I came into the acquaintance of Ezra Vesapogu, an Indian national who claimed to have a powerful ministry in India that saw the planting of hundreds of Reformed Baptist Churches. As things like this often do, it turned out that Ezra deceived myself and a host of others. Ezra lied about a number of things including his testimony, the nature of his ministry, the number of his ministry, etc. Sadly, many good people invested time and money into Ezra for nothing.
Yesterday I received a phone-call from Ezra requesting that I take my posts about him down from my blog. Instead of doing that, I left them up with an update briefly detailing the sad events. I also provided contact information for North Shore Baptist Church in New York – they were the ones who had supported Ezra the most and sadly were the worst effected by him.
Ezra claims to have been “restored” and that he made amends with everyone he hurt. I can personally attest to the reality that he did not do this. None of the people in New York have heard from him. He is now running a “ministry” called Share Ministries. If you hear from Ezra and are considering doing any work with him – please don’t! Contact North Shore first and find out the details of what happened. He also claims to be “Rev. Dr. Ezra Vesapogu.” When I knew Ezra he was in no doctoral program, so how he has a doctorate is beyond me.
(Ezra is the bald man with the mustache in the picture above)
Here are the links to the two posts that I updated about Ezra:
http://ianhughclary.com/2006/10/19/an-indian-great-awakening/
http://ianhughclary.com/2006/11/10/ezras-testimony/
Interview: Piper and Wilson Discuss Atheism
2009/09/28John Piper discusses the upcoming film Collision with Douglas Wilson. The film is a documentary directed by Darren Doane that follows Wilson and atheist Christopher Hitchens as they did a series of debates on the west coast last year. Check it out here.
Why You Should Learn Biblical Languages
2009/09/24Westminster Seminary professor Elizabeth Groves on why learning the biblical languages is so important:
