Asst. Prof. Systematic Theology, Church History, Philosophy @MBTS | Substack: substack.com/@samuelparkison | Books: rb.gy/jg5zmm
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You didn't ask for it, but here are some (mostly friendly, inquiring) thoughts on @CTmagazine's podcast "The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill"
cc. @MikeCosper
samuelparkison.wordpress.com…
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I've seen and heard Christians calling other believers to dampen the celebratory fervor surrounding the reversal of Roe v. Wade as an effort to empathize with our neighbors who are hurting. In light of that, I'm wondering if we're ready to recognize @joe_rigney's vindication yet?
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Here’s the cover for my forthcoming book with @ivpacademic on the beatific vision: To Gaze Upon God.
Keep an eye out for it later this year!
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Checking in to see if we can say to Christians, "However you DO vote, you cannot vote for this party" yet. We there?
If not, I'm struggling to think of what a party has to do before it disqualifies itself as being in any way an option for a Christian vote.
BREAKING: The House has passed a bill that requires doctors provide medical care to babies that survive an attempted abortion.
Every Republican voted Yes.
Every Democrat voted No except two, one of whom voted present.
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Cover reveal!
Coming soon. The first volume of the “Contemplating God” series with @crossway.
I’m so excited to edit this series with @MattMBarrett
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Here's a recent piece I wrote for @TGC on piety and the role of a theologian. Is "he was a great theologian and an adulterer" even intelligible? I try to answer here.
In a world of Karl Barths, be a Gregory of Nazianzus.
thegospelcoalition.org/artic…
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I recently finished reading this outstanding book by @gavinortlund and I say this without a hint of hyperbole: it is one of the most important books I’ve read in the past decade. I cannot commend it highly enough.
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At the international church I attend in Abu Dhabi (whose membership represents 46 nationalities) one of our Ethiopian elders prayed this morning in his pastoral prayer for “American churches who are experiencing persecution after the reversal of the abortion ruling.” Perspective.
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I’m very excited to announce that I’ve just signed a contract with @ivpacademic to write a book on the beatific vision. This will be a work of evangelical retrieval, as well as theological construction.
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It’s official. I’ve joined the ranks of girl-dads, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
Allow me introduce child #4 in our clan: Eden Rose. 🌹
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I can't think of a starker example of what "empathy run amuck" looks like. Sadness over the loss of the right to kill your kids is not a sadness that calls for empathy. Love of *that neighbor* looks like NOT empathizing, but defining love biblically (i.e. "This is good for you!")
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Fellow complementarians: DON'T root gender roles within the ad intra life of the Trinity. Husbands are not like the Father and wives are not like the Son. You can get authority and submission from nature, doctrine of creation, and redemption. Hands off the Trinity
*more to come
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Me, wondering if @crossway will ever release an edition of the ESV with the OT in the order of the Tanakh…
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True or False:
A pastor can disqualify himself for ministry, per NT character qualifications, solely based on his behavior on social media, regardless of how kind, generous, thoughtful, etc he might be in person and with his own congregation.
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One highlight from #ETS2021 was this: I got the chance to meet a significant theological hero of mine, @JohnPiper. It was a brief conversation on an escalator, and I’m sure one he’s had countless times, but he was gracious and gave me his full attention for a minute.
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🧵 This is the best investment I’ve made so far this year. Daily liturgies assembled by Jonathan Gibson (@crossway).
Here’s a snapshot of some of the features:
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This book was incredible. It’s a game changer and will certainly impact my presentation of soteriology this semester. Thanks @FredFredSanders.
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The gospel creates a "bookish" and literary people. When the gospel reaches an oral culture, very often an alphabet and Bible translation follow (this is the story of behind the Armenian language). What an amazing thought.
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PSA: this is your reminder to go ahead and start listening to @AndrewPeterson’s Resurrection Letters Anthology from now until Easter.
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Fwiw, I think it’s pretty uncharitable to @jamesrwoodtheo1 to reduce his article to merely saying something like, “Keller is too nice. What we need more of is harshness.”
firstthings.com/web-exclusiv…
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Remember to have yourself a Chalcedonian Christmas 🎄.
Here’s a helpful checklist for pastors:
✅Didn’t preach a Nestorian Christ
✅Didn’t preach an Apollinarian Christ
✅Didn’t preach kenoticism
✅Didn’t preach eutychianism
✅Didn’t preach monothelitism or Monophysitism
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To empathize in *that* situation is to grant a point that we must deny: that mothers have actually lost something by Dobbs and its consequences in conservative states. No, abortion has *never* benefited a single person, and no one could be genuinely harmed by its being outlawed.
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"I'm *personally* happy about abortion, but I empathize with my angry neighbor" makes zero sense here IF the ontological and moral issue is kept in view: is abortion the cruel and inhumane mass-murder of society's most vulnerable? If so, to NOT celebrate a blow against it is sin.
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PERSONAL NEWS:
I just signed a contract with @Christian_Focus for a new book! The working title is “Irresistible Beauty: Beholding Triune Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ.”
This will be in their excellent REDS series edited by @MattMBarrett and @jvfesko
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Some personal news I'm pretty excited about!
ANNOUNCEMENT: Samuel Parkison to serve as the Director of Publishing at Credo and Editor of a new Crossway series. @samuel_parkison @crossway
credomag.com/2024/07/samuel-…
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Still planning to read the book. But on this point, I think your longer clip still supports Gavin’s objection here, Megan. “Irresponsible posture” ≠ “disagreeing with consensus”
“Irresponsible posture” = “shooting from the hip” I.e., disagreeing w/o due diligence.
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Understandably, there's been a flurry of posts in response to @RevKevDeYoung's article from Moscow. In this piece, I take up KDY's defense regarding one such response written by a thinker I greatly respect, @joe_rigney.
samuelparkison.wordpress.com…
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But this kind of reasoning (👆) is not possible with the kind of "unrestrained empathy" Joe and others have warned against; the kind that says, "I see tears! I MUST comfort and affirm at all costs!" Empathy CAN actually be sinful.
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"My first order of business as the Theology Professor here is to switch our primary textbook to Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics."
Some reflections my first class this fall at GTS.
samuelparkison.wordpress.com…
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I’m thrilled to get to share the official cover for my forthcoming with @Christian_Focus
Irresistible Beauty: Beholding Triune Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ
Keep an eye for it this November.
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If this doesn’t cleanse your timeline, you cant be helped. My daughter’s first church outfit:
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It’s not that this piece is off in its content, it’s not. What it affirms should be axiomatically affirmed by Christians. But it’s ethos is, in my estimation, tone-deaf to the moral and spiritual magnitude of this moment.
thegospelcoalition.org/artic…
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Here’s the point: being “winsome” isn’t the problem. Assuming that conveniently positioning yourself between two controversial opinions MAKES you winsome is. Some issues actually are black and white.
I THINK that was James’s point.
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Did you know that my book, To Gaze Upon God, is now available?!
This is the most enjoyable and rewarding writing project I’ve yet undertaken. I pray it’s as edifying to read as it was to write!
a.co/d/7hM0I3X
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The culture of death is so committed to infanticide it has enshrined that atrocity in law, and the U.S. president has expressed his intention of setting up baby death-camps in pro-life states. And we should reject a culture war mentality? I don’t think so.
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🧵 A modest list of suggestions for evangelical pastors and churches wanting to enhance their weekly worship with theology and practice from the Great Tradition (all evangelicals can, in principle, include these):
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NEWS:
If you didn’t catch it earlier, @CredoMagazine is teaming up with @crossway on the “Contemplating God” series. Short, essay-style, beautiful reflections on classical theology for the lay reader (w/ @MattMBarrett and I as co-editors). The first volume is on divine aseity!
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A couple chapters into this outstanding book by @DrJimHamilton, and really enjoying it!
Thank you for your labors, Dr. Hamilton.
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We officially have a cover!
Coming January 2025
Shout out to @joel_whitson who gave me permission to use his amazing illustration, and to the team at @Christian_Focus who made it cover-ready.
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When I was a card-carrying Van Tilian, I was never told I misunderstood Van Til. As an MDiv student, I even co-wrote a paper on Van Tilian ethics that was chosen by blind review to be presented at a colloquium hosted by a well-known Van Tilian group. I had some bona fides! But…
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I’m a pretty simple dude. I see a new FRED FRED FRED drop and I stop whatever I’m doing and dive in.
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“Only begotten Son” > “only Son”
This is not insignificant
I recently wrote an article defending the translation "only begotten" in response to the ESV 2025 update. Ideally, our English versions should be in sync with the Nicene Creed. bulletin.kenwoodinstitute.or…ονογενής/
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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A Baptist and a Lutheran walk into a convention center…
@DrJordanBCooper and I moved our friendship from online to in-person.
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My new book, “The Fountain of Life,” is now available for pre-order at @crossway! This is the first release of series @MattMBarrett and I are editing, in conjunction with @CredoMagazine, called the “Contemplating God Series.” crossway.org/books/the-fount…
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Here is my response to @ostrachan re: Aquinas. I pray it’s helpful for the interested.
📰HOT OFF THE PRESS FROM THE LEDGER📰
"Disputatio: A Response to Owen Strachan" by @samuel_parkison
thelondonlyceum.com/disputat…
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Currently teaching Church History III (covering church history in the Global East from the 11th century to present) here in the Arabian Peninsula 🇦🇪, and getting a little help from @gavinortlund. Introducing my students to Abba Estifanos 🇪🇹
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It’s so gratifying to hold this book. I’m grateful to have co-written it with my dear friends @RonniKurtz, @MattMBarrett and Joseph Lanier. We pray it blesses pastors and, by extensions, their flocks, to the Triune God’s glory.
Grateful also to @BHAcademic for publishing it!
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"Driven by malevolence?" This is not good, Owen. I'm sure they would welcome serious engagement, if you wanted to respond to their works in kind, but this kind of presumption is undignified.
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Man, I'm so thankful for those of you who have purchased and read my book, To Gaze Upon God (@ivpacademic). I pray it continues to bear fruit in the Church!
You can find it here: a.co/d/b3oNy1S
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Theology I off with a bang. Tonight we:
- Discussed Gregory Nazianzus’s “Oration 27”
- Discussed chapters 1-2 of Bavinck’s WWG
- Contemplated the infinite self-happiness of God
- introduced the topic of theology and its principles
Pure worship.
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So grateful for @JoelBeeke. He and his wife Mary have been very generous with their time to serve our GTS students with a class on Puritan Preaching. It’s been a rich evening to top off a rich weekend!
Our second (and the largest) of four conferences in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, began yesterday with 1400 attendees hailing from 46 different countries around the globe. The main sanctuary was filled (photo 1), as were the two side halls where people received the addresses via screens. This is the first non-U.S. “The Puritan Conference” that David Woollin and I helped organize on behalf of Reformation Heritage Books with the assistance of the host church, The Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai. Pastor John Folmar and his team did a remarkable job with all the logistics of putting this conference together on the ground. I gave the opening address on “12 Reasons Why We Need the Puritans Today,” and Dr. John Piper gave the concluding (and profound) address in the evening on “Puritans on the Glory of God,” focusing especially on Edwards.
Between the addresses, there was a long book break. The hunger and excitement of the people was palpable as they surrounded a large rectangle set-up of book tables loaded with books in the church basement; they were 4 to 6 people deep with hundreds of people trying to buy books all at the same time. Books were gone in no time beyond anything I have ever seen. For example, the 40 copies of “Meet the Puritans” and 40 copies of “A Puritan Theology” that I had recommended from the pulpit were all sold within ten minutes before I could even get down to the tables. What joy it was to serve these hungry people (photo 2) and see them walk away with piles of spiritual treasures!
We also enjoyed fellowship with the other two speakers who hope to speak tomorrow morning, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson and Dr. Kevin DeYoung (@RevKevDeYoung), over dinner and in the “Speaker’s Green Room” (photo 3: Mary snuck this picture of Sinclair ribbing me a bit about books, with Kevin in the background). We also enjoyed meeting an air pilot, Dave Harman, and his wife, who is a physician. His father (Allan Harman) is a retired pastor in Australia who is just finishing a decades-long project of a detailed and exhaustive 4-volume edited set of the “Complete Works of Matthew Henry” that Reformation Heritage Books hopes to publish in the near future. Remarkably, this son was the pilot on the very plane that Sinclair flew on from Scotland to Dubai yesterday—so here we are all together in photo 4!
Please pray for the six Puritan addresses scheduled for a full day tomorrow that the Spirit would rain down His benediction!
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Just arrived!
Thinking Christianly: Bringing Sundry Thoughts Captive Christ
New, with @HesedandEmet
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Welcome the newest addition to the R.E.D.S. series!
So grateful for to @Christian_Focus for publishing this work, and for @MattMBarrett and @CraigACarter1 who helped me tremendously while I wrote it. Also thankful for @jvfesko’s very helpful editorial counsel.
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Random Twitter compliment, just to push back the ever constant trend of ugliness here:
@gavinortlund is doing incredible work. His YouTube channel is the best. His posture is pious, convictional, and loving. Fitting for an Anselm scholar.
That’s all. Cheers.
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Yes, the implication of the claims of Classical Theists is that large swaths of Evangelicalism are, while perhaps not heretical, at the very least heterodox. That *is* what we're saying, which means the stakes are *that* high. So, no, we won't shut up or "get over it already."
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It’s beginning to look a lot like… Spring 2024 syllabus-writing-time!
Required reading for:
- Church History I (post apostolic-1054)
- Church History II (1054-present in Global West)
- Systematic Theology II (Christology, Creation & Providence, Angels, Humanity, Sin)
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Next month I’ll be taking my students through a large portion of this significant book by @MattMBarrett. Reviewing some relevant chapters, I’m reminded again of how crucial a contribution it is. It deserves the high praise from diverse disciplines and traditions it’s received.
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This was fantastic. Insightful biblical and literary work with sensitive attention to dogmatic and creedal categories. @DrJimHamilton’s concluding chapters on Christology and Trinity warmed this systematician’s heart!
I learned a lot.
A couple chapters into this outstanding book by @DrJimHamilton, and really enjoying it!
Thank you for your labors, Dr. Hamilton.
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Latest haul from @_swordandtrowel at @MBTS (a big thanks also to @MikeBrooks, who gave me a very generous gift card to this outstanding bookstore).
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The Parkisons are Abu Dhabi bound! The first quick leg of our journey went off without a hitch. Currently in Philly waiting to begin our long flight to Doha. Pray these little dudes get some rest.
Very excited to begin this new ministry venture.
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My prayer is that this accessible introduction to Classical Christology would be equal parts edifying and instructive.
You can pre-order it here: amazon.com/Unvarnished-Jesus…
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I wish tech-optimists would stop telling us to "make peace" with the fact that pastors and writers are outsourcing stuff they should be doing to generative A.I.
"Pastors are already using it. Accept it."
Nope. Sorry. Widespread, abominable malpractice is still just that.
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Cat's out of the bag!
I'm very excited about this project, and I am thrilled (and humbled) to be included in a series that is shaping up to be quite impressive already. Would you pray for me as I set out on this massive project?
News: @samuel_parkison will write the volume on ESCHATOLOGY for the Pillars in Christian Dogmatics series @BHAcademic. No typical eschatology, but will contrast modern w/ pre-modern outlook on history & final causality, trinity & beatific vision. Metaphysics meets eschatology.
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This book by @PastorPerks is incredibly niche, which means it *may get overlooked by many, but will be a prize among prizes for others. Count me in the latter group. Just look at this table! What a service Perkins offers to us in this book!!
Halfway through and learning a lot.
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I cannot imagine getting tired of teaching the Bible. It is astounding to me that I get to do this for a living.
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I’m just amazed by the prospect of talking this way from the pulpit on the Lord’s Day in the context of corporate worship. Even apart from the “I’m one of the best we got” comment, this seems weird.
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I can’t bring myself to leave #T4G22 in a gloomy way, I’m sorry. Notwithstanding the real fractures in evangelicalism (and particularly, with the reformed tribe of which I’m a part), this didn’t feel like a lament to me. I’m full from a week with friends and spiritual food.
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To put the matter starkly: a Harris presidency would be astronomically worse for the entire world than a Trump presidency would be.
Many people from around the world agree. I’ve heard of strangers approaching fellow Americans here and telling them they need to vote for Trump.
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Reading through R.C. Sproul’s, “Everyone’s a Theologian,” for the first time. He was truly a master teacher. The way he could distill rich theology in so clear and accessible a manner is truly remarkable. This is an under-appreciated skill, especially for young scholars
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Ok, just over 100 pages in and I can say so far this book deserves all the hype. It’s amazing. My only point of criticism so far can be summed up like this: Betz needs more Protestant friends.
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Students, don't forget the first & greatest commandment for book reviews: critique the book the book that was written (don't critique it for failing to be the book you wish it was)
If it falls short of achieving a goal it was never intended to meet, that is not a mark against it
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I've said it before and I'll say it again: complementarians don't need the social trinitarianism of EFS to define and defend their position. The Scripture is clear. Nature is clear. And the theological foundations are NOT Trinity, but are creation (Gen 1-2) and gospel (Eph 5).
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🧵 You may not be super familiar with the doctrine of the Beatific Vision, but you’re probably primed and ready for it. Here’s a checklist.
You are prepped to embrace the beatific vision if:
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Additionally, I think Christians in America tend to exaggerate how consequential their voting decisions are on their “witness.” I don’t think voting for Trump is nearly the genuine “evangelistic obstacle” we make it out to be. And I don’t think your vote is a sacrament.
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I could not be happier for my dear friend @RonniKurtz. This new appointment at @MBTS is well-chosen and well-deserved. Congrats, Ronni, so proud of you, brother!
We're thrilled to announce that Dr. Ronni Kurtz is coming back to Midwestern Seminary to serve as Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology!
Dr. Kurtz will equip our students to be theologians #ForTheChurch through his teaching and scholarship.
Read the full news story at bit.ly/4cANHUQ
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Just a couple’a docs.
Proud of @RonniKurtz on this occasion of his graduation. Ronni has been a great a friend these past 7 years. We’ve been through a lot together and now we’re both leaving KC to enter a new season of friendship. Exciting stuff.
Congrats, Dr. Kurtz!
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A while back, at the end of a conversation I had with @joe_rigney in which we stood opposite each other re: "the Moscow Mood," I said I have commended, and would continue to recommend, Joe's books. I'm happy to make good on that now: these two little resources are outstanding.
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My dear friend and GTS colleague, Ryan Currie, wrote an excellent book on theological aesthetics. I was delighted to write the forward, and this is how I conclude it. I commend it to you!
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There is a world of difference between saying, “This ‘middle way’ reasoning of Keller’s is not helpful in much of the public discourse right now” and saying, “Keller is too winsome and we need more hostility right now.”
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👀 seen in the wild in Dubai.
Have you read “The Unvarnished Jesus” or “To Gaze Upon”? If so, I would be grateful for a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads!
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1 down!
Muller is not the easiest guy to read. But the content is phenomenal and incredibly important. Looking forward to pressing on to volume 2.
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Always good to chat with @edromine. It's past his bedtime in Utah and late morning for me in Abu Dhabi, but Ed makes time for his friends 😁
Ed's doing great apologetic/evangelistic work in Utah. You should DM him and see how you can support him.
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