Meanwhile, Elsewhere

Some reading to get you thinking, from other places.

Your Theological System Should Tell You How to Exegete - Kevin DeYoung
DeYoung (with some help form Moises Silva) very succinctly shows why exegesis and systematic theology need to go together, demonstrating why the 'insistence on making the path between exegesis and theology a one way street is untenable and unwise.'

An Open Letter to Praise Bands - James K.A. Smith
'So please receive this little missive in the spirit it is meant: as an encouragement to reflect on the practice of "leading worship." It seems to me that you are often simply co-opted into a practice without being encouraged to reflect on its rationale, its "reason why." In other words, it seems to me that you are often recruited to "lead worship" without much opportunity to pause and reflect on the nature of "worship" and what it would mean to "lead."'

Always Mardi Gras and Never Easter - Russell Moore
'Do many Catholics follow their appetites and “sin that grace may abound,” hoping that confession and the last rites will even it all out before God? Sure. And do many Evangelicals do the same, hoping that a repeated prayer or an altar-call response will deliver them in the Day of Judgment? Yes. Both paths lead to the same place: to hell.'

Atonement – keeping legal and familial together - Glen Scrivener
A good reminder that PSA (penal substitutionary atonement), though of foundational importance, doesn't stand alone. 'The penal self-substitution of Christ (which is very clearly taught in the Scriptures) only makes sense with a strong doctrine of the Trinity and of union with Christ. Only if the Crucified One is God Himself intercepting His own judgement, and only if I am crucified with Him does it hang together.'