Jon Jordan » Life

January: The Top Three Posts

Jon — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:15:52 +0000

Quick thoughts from my Justification paper

Jon — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 03:54:58 +0000

I am still working on the Baptism and the Nicene Creed article, there has been too much good reading to pass up! Just wanted to share a quick thought from the paper I just wrote on Justification and New Perspectives on Paul:

The main banner of the New Perspectives has been reading Paul the way he intended to be read. At various times throughout the twentieth century, that meant ensuring that Paul was read in his Jewish context. Perhaps in the twenty-first century it means protecting against the overcorrection towards which the Church is often so prone to bend.

New plan for the Blog

Jon — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:49:50 +0000

Last week I had a chance to meet with Geoff Ashley, the Discipleship Resources Pastor at The Village Church who, among other things, writes the blog Merely Theological. It was a great chance to sit down with someone who is doing what I love to do, and he shared some great advice about study, researching and blogging.

When I started to blog, I had a few goals in mind:

First, I wanted to provide well thought out posts on a variety of issues from a Theological perspective. The goal was to write in such a way that whether or not you are reading from a Christian perspective the posts would make sense and every reader would have something to think through.

Second, I wanted to share valuable resources, whether it be an iPhone app, a post on another website or a new book. As I discover great resources, I wanted to share them.

Third, I wanted to try to post somewhat regularly. This was great when I was trying to share resources or point you to other blogs, but not so great when I have tried to quickly develop and share a post on a current issue from a Theological perspective.

After thinking through these three goals and meeting with Geoff, here is my new plan for this blog:

First, I want the primary purpose to be providing well researched articles on a variety of issues from a Theological perspective. These take longer to research and write, so they will not be very frequent. My initial goal is to work towards posting these every other week or so. When these are posted, they will also appear on the “Articles” page.

The topics will vary quite a bit. Some of them will stem from conversations with students and friends, others will come from an ever growing list I keep of topic I want to explore personally. If there is a topic you would like to see here, feel free to drop me a line!

Second, I want to continue to share resources. These will be shorter, more frequent posts.

Third, I have really valued the interaction on several of the more interesting posts. To keep this going, I plan to give previews of upcoming articles for feedback. Keep the comments coming…

Thanks for reading, it has been great to see interest grow!

Great reminder of the privilege of seminary study

Jon — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:05:22 +0000

Just received this great reminder in an email from Michael Milton, the Chancellor of RTS:

“As we finish up our work this semester and prepare for Christmas break, I want to challenge you to think about one thing: you are doing what most Christians will never have the opportunity to do. Most believers will be equipped by their pastors and Sunday school teachers or missionaries over a lifetime of learning. They will hear the Word preached to them week in and week out over the years. Yet you, our students, were chosen by God for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to sit under pastor-scholars for an intensive time of study, vocational and spiritual formation, and preparation in Word and prayer, with added practical experiences at your church internships or counseling centers or other ministry sites, and with the added blessings of seminary collegiality.”

November: What you might have missed

Jon — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:57:23 +0000

In case you forgot about the internet last month, here is what you might have missed:

Most read posts and topics in November:

On the right to vote…
On the new NIV…
Tim Keller on Pastors and Study…
On Veterans Day and Suicide…
On 7 years (dating + marriage) with Vivien…

Interesting Google searches that brought visitors here:

“tyson guthrie twitter”
“doctors and pastors”
“why the church is important”

Want to make sure you don’t miss anything? You can receive email updates or subscribe to the RSS feed here!

It might just cost you something

Jon — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:51:02 +0000

Yesterday I came across this article in the Boston Globe which mentioned that several public school districts in the Boston area are considering removing religious holidays (Good Friday, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana) from their calendar, opting instead to hold classes on those days.

This would be great for at least two reasons:

Many Christians who oppose this change would realize that they rarely actually do anything religious from 7:30am-2:30pm on Good Friday. I’m all for extra days off from school, but don’t pretend that your reasons for wanting those days off are noble.
Christians who do observe Good Friday during the day, and require time away from school in order to do so will have to count the cost of taking an unexcused day off.

Anything that exposes hypocrisy in our hearts and causes us to pay a price for our convictions is for our good and our eventual joy.

Thoughts?

Tim Keller to Pastors: Study Well for your People

Jon — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:01:25 +0000

In reading through Dr. Tim Keller’s White Paper on Creation, Evolution and Christian Laypeople (available free here) I came across this quote from the introduction. What a great reminder to Pastors to study well for their people:

In short, if I as a pastor want to help both believers and inquirers to relate science and faith coherently, I must read the works of scientists, exegetes, philosophers, and theologians and then interpret them for my people. Someone might counter that this is too great a burden to put on pastors, that instead they should simply refer their laypeople to the works of scholars. But if pastors are not ‘up to the job’ of distilling and understanding the writings of scholars in various disciplines, how will our laypeople do it?

How much of a Pastor’s time should be spent studying and reading scholarly works?

Seven years and counting with this Fox!

Jon — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:02:18 +0000

My sweet wife and I started dating seven years ago today. And I guess you could say…

We’ve still got it!

Theology in Africa on the Rise?

Jon — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:58:40 +0000

Interesting thoughts on the future of Theological thought over the next few decades from one of my professors at RTS:

“…most of the good stuff will be coming from Africa and Asia”

I shared that thought briefly on Facebook and had some interesting (and funny) responses:

What do you think?

Also, I really want to check out the Africa Bible Commentary, written by over 70 African Scholars and released this past September. Any one picked up a copy yet and have any thoughts?