Countercult Apologetics

The Countercult Apologetics blog is pleased to announce a forthcoming book by Stephen J. Nichols titled For Us and for Our Salvation: The Doctrine of Christ in the Early Church (Crossway, August 2007; ISBN#: 9781581348675), 176p.

Here is the description:
The belief that Christ is the God-man is definitive of Christian orthodoxy and imperative to a right understanding of the gospel. By the middle of the fifth century, the church had wrestled with many challenges to the biblical portrayal of Christ and, in response to those challenges, had formulated the doctrine of Christ that remains the standard to this day. This look to the past helps as Christians contend with present-day challenges and seek to answer Christ’s question—“Who do people say that I am?”—for those living in the twenty-first century.

For Us and for Our Salvation tells the very human story of the formation of the doctrine of Christ in those early centuries of the church. A glossary, numerous charts and timelines, and some helpful appendices make the book accessible and user-friendly. Primary source materials from key theologians and councils complement the engaging narrative.
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Along with being a former professor of mine (like this means something), Stephen Nichols has written numerous books including The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World (Crossway, 2007), Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between (Crossway, 2006), Pages from Church History: A Guided Tour of Christian Classics (P&R, 2006), J. Gresham Machen: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought among others.

I would encourage you to become familar with Steve’s work. You can even become acquinted with Anne Bradstreet through Heidi Nichols (Steve’s wife) in her book Anne Bradstreet: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Poet (Crossway, 2006).

Another book to look for in the Fall:

Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ. Robert Bowman, Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski (Kregal, September 2007; ISBN#: 978-0-8254-2983-5).

Description
The central theological distinctive of Christianity—that Jesus is God incarnate— has repeatedly come under fire from adherents to other religions and scholars who interpret Jesus as a prophet, angel, or guru. Putting Jesus in His Place is designed to introduce Christians to the wealth of biblical teaching on the deity of Christ. Using evidence from the New Testament, this book helps readers appreciate the significance of Christ’s deity in a personal relationship with Him, and gives them the confidence to share the truth about Jesus with others.

There is a Website tied to the book here. And here is a sampling of endorsements:

Bowman and Komoszewski do a splendid job of showing that the divine identity of Jesus is not confined to a few key texts, but presented throughout the New Testament in a wide variety of ways. Their arguments are fully based on the best of recent scholarship, and explained in a way that all serious readers of the New Testament will appreciate.

Richard Bauckham
Professor of New Testament Studies and Bishop Wardlaw Professor
St. Mary’s College, University of St Andrews

This book gathers up admirably the results of a number of recent studies that combine to show how remarkably early Jesus was reverenced as somehow bearing a divine status, and how this reverence was exhibited overtly in a whole range of confessional terms and devotional actions. Whether or not one shares the authors’ own particular stance on some matters, they have provided a readable and well-informed summary of a large body of scholarly work showing a very early and very “high” view of Jesus, not as something emerging by slow evolution, but as an explosively quick and remarkable phenomenon.

Larry W. Hurtado
Professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology
University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Finally, here is a book that lays out the case for the deity of Christ in clear, compelling, memorable language. Putting Jesus in His Place fills a huge gap by converting the best of biblical scholarship on the subject into language that anyone can understand. This book is a feast for the mind; the endnotes give the reader a glimpse of the meticulous work the authors went through to make the reading so palatable. The acronym HANDS is an ingenious memory device to help any Christian know the basic teaching about Jesus’ deity. When you learn what it means, you’ll never forget what the New Testament affirms about the divinity of our Lord. I thank God that Bowman and Komoszewski have combined their talents on this supremely important topic and well-written book. The church of the 21st century is in their debt.

Daniel B. Wallace, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

And many other well respected scholars.

Here are more books (includes the ones already posted). If interested, please leave a comment or Email me. If you can’t tell what something is, please let me know (you can always copy photo into MicroSoft Word and increase the size of photo to see titles):

Check out this awesome deal I got the other day, all for $2.50. From left to right:

Leon Morris on the Gospel of John.
Paul and Jesus Herman Ridderbos.
Ridderbos on Galatians.
F.W. Grosheide on 1 Corinthians and
Norval Geldenhuys on The Gospel of Luke

The above books are for sale. I am only selling them as one unit though. You make an offer. Leave a comment if you are interested and I’ll contact you by Email.

The item to your left is Frank Beckwith’s MA Thesis titled Baha’ism: A Presentation and Critique of its Theological Tenets and Apologetic Use of the Christian Scriptures. The item to your (top) right is a journal dealing with John Shelby Spong.

If you can not tell what other items are, please let me know. Go here for a large picture.

Remember that Black Sabbath song “I’m going through changes”? Ozzie Osborn, singing a ballad!

Well, I’m going through changes…many of them, but two of them I want to write about. One of them being my Email address. I will no longer (well, probably for another month I will) use my jeff [at] rctr [dot] org address. My new address is jeff [dot] countercult [at] gmail [dot] com. So, if you need to get a hold of me, please use that address.

Second, in today’s mail I receive an exam I complete a few weeks ago. I am currently taking some classes from Moody Bible Institute to finish up my BA so that I can begin seminary in the Fall. This is embarrasing, but I actually failed the exam. Thankfully the exam is only 15% of my grade and I’m going to do whatever I can to make up that percentage.

I knew eventually I would have to cut back (I even mentioned it a few weeks ago) on my blogging when I began seminary…actually when we moved (next month), since I will not have as much internet access. Failing an exam at this point is totally unaccepatable! So, at this point, I need to cut out any unnessarary “things” keeping me from spending the majority of my time on my studies.

So, you’re not going to see much from me on this blog. Again, my wife will keep the family blog updated (as much as she can). At this point, I’m going to lay low for quite some time (perhaps four or more years). The only blogging I may do is over at AOMin.org, which won’t be much.

Please do change your Email address books to my current address. Please to keep in touch! Please pray for us, and if you want us to pray for you, Email me.

A couple of weeks ago, Matt Slick had Steve (a Mormon) in the studio to discuss Latter-day Saint doctrine. I posted on that here.

Well, if you enjoyed that discussion, here is part 2.

2 John 10-11

10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. (ESV)

In today’s context, is this a violation of 2 John 10-11?

Your thoughts?

Also, read Keith Walker’s account of an event that took place in 2005 involving the same Church.

For those who enjoy listening to Walter Martin, here are some video clips:

The Maze of Mormonism.

I believe these next two are right after Martin’s debate with Van Hale on the Mormonism:
Baptism of Boldness (Part 1)

Baptism of Boldness (Part 2).

The above DVDs (and others) can be purchased through Walter Martin Religious InfoNet.

Here is an (new) article online by Michael Brown titled Jewish Apologetics: Christianity’s Ongoing and Unique Challenge.

The paper was presented at the 2006 International Society of Christian Apologetics Conference.

Other works by Michael Brown include his (currently) four Vol. Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus.