Announcing The Collected Works of John Frame, Vol. 1, Theology

Reform Your Electronic Library According to the Scriptures

Pastors, missionaries, Bible college and seminary students, home schooling families, and laymen studying theology should take note of this powerful new tool for studying the theological works of a preeminent Evangelical theologian of our times, Dr. John Frame.

Dr. Frame writes in a highly readable style, making his works accessible to beginners. And at the same time Frame’s profundity, breadth, and creativity will challenge advanced theologians. Most importantly, Dr. Frame is fully committed to teaching theology as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ with sincere faithfulness to the Holy Scriptures at every point.

The following books and resources are included in this new collection:

• The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (1987)
• The Doctrine of God (2002), winner of the 2003 ECPA Gold Medallion Award for Theology and Doctrine
• Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (2006)
• No Other God: A Response to Open Theism (2001)
• The Amsterdam Philosophy (1972)
• Shorter Theological Writings-over 1,500 pages of academic journal articles, book reviews, etc., on a variety of theological topics.

The electronic library of Frame’s collected works is not only a wonderful value (i.e. the amount of material included on one DVD is amazing considering how much it would cost to purchase the printed versions), but also a powerful research tool, facilitating advanced topical and Scripture reference searching, more accurate indexing, cross referencing the whole library, note taking, and other research tools only possible with electronic libraries. In a word, this product facilitates faster and more productive study.

Related Elsewhere

Where to Purchase

• BEST PRICE: Bits & Bytes official product listing for Frame’s Collected Works, Vol. 1
• BEST PRICE: WTS Books.

Where to Learn More about the Product

• P&R/Bits&Bytes Press release (5pp.; .PDF; ~100KB): explains the contents and features of this new software.
• Logos Library Official product listing for Frame’s Collected Works, Vol. 1
• P&R’s official product listing for Frame’s Collected Works, Vol. 1
• Reformed Theological Seminary news release about Dr. Frame’s new software

User Reviews

• Joseph Nally, editor of Reformed Perspectives eZine, provides a thorough review.
• Blogger Blake White briefly reviews Frames Collected Works.
• Pastor James Grant blogs about the new software.
• Blogger Philip Gons comments about Frames Collected Works twice, and he also writes about Frame’s Collected Works Vol. 1 on the official Logos blog.
• The theological editor for Third Millennium Ministries discusses Frames Collected Works in a forum.

Luke’s LXX Allusion to Jacob and Esau in the Prodigal Son Parable Affirmed

Summary

Luke’s LXX Allusion to Jacob and Esau (Genesis 33:4) in the Prodigal Son Parable (Luke 15:20) Affirmed (10 pages; .PDF format; ~190KB) examines the Greek texts of Genesis 33:4 and Luke 15:20 to demonstrate the striking linguistic parallels in these texts and to suggest that Luke employs an allusion to the former in the latter.

Additional evidence is explored to strengthen this affirmation, including:

1. LXX quotations and allusions by Luke in his other NT writings, and
2. modern commentators who affirm an allusion in Luke 15:20 to Genesis 33:4 and other scenes in the Genesis narratives.

Finally, a handful of implications for Christian interpreters arising from this affirmation are discussed.

(The fresco of Luke is by Cappella Tornabuoni (1486-90, Santa Maria Novella, Florence). See the Web Gallery of Art for further details.)

“Still learning” - Rutherford Thursdays No. 14

To Lady Kenmure - Ill Scholars in Christ’s School

Madam,

Grace, mercy and peace be to you. I received your Ladyship’s letter. It refreshed me in my heaviness. The blessing and prayer of a prisoner of Christ come upon you.

Nothing grieveth me but that I eat my feasts my lone, and that I cannot edify His saints. My silence eats me up, but He has told me He thanketh me no less than if I were preaching daily.

Your Ladyship wrote to me that ye are yet an ill scholar. Madam, ye must go in at heaven’s gates, and your book in your hand, still learning. You have had your own large share of troubles, and a double portion; but it saith your Father counteth you not a bastard; full-begotten bairns are nurtured (Heb. 12.8).

I long to hear of the child. I write the blessings of Christ’s prisoner and the mercies of God to him.

Madam, it is not long since I did write to your Ladyship that Christ is keeping mercy for you; and I bide by it still, and now I write it under my hand. Love Him dearly. Win in to see Him; there is in Him that which you never saw. He is aye nigh; He is a tree of life, green and blossoming, both summer and winter. There is a nick in Christianity, to the which whosoever cometh, they see and feel more than others can do.

Now the blessing of our dearest Lord Jesus, and the blessing of him that is ’separate from his brethren’, come upon you.

Yours, at Aberdeen, the prisoner of Christ.

Aberdeen [no date]

Who is Lady Kenmure?

About “Rutherford Thursdays”

• See my introduction.
• Selection from His Letters is a public domain text hosted by CCEL. I have arranged and formatted Rutherford’s text and Hugh Martin’s editorial comments, added headings, paragraph separations, etc., for presentation on this blog.
• For a brief biographical sketch of Rutherford’s life, see Hugh Martin’s forward to Selections. And see Martin’s glossary for help with outdated vocabulary.
• Rutherford Resources:
  • Samuel Rutherford by Andrew Thompson. This book, now freely available via Google Books, presents two parts: First, a biography of Rutherford’s life; Second, a selection of Rutherford’s letters entitled “Honey from the Honeycomb.”
  • Fire and Ice index to S. R.
  • Samuel Rutherford: A New Biography of the Man & His Ministry. This biography by Kingsley G Rendell provides an excellent introduction to Rutherford’s life and work.

“I am a fool, and He is God” - Rutherford Thursdays No. 13

To Lady Kenmure - While Exiled at Aberdeen

My Very Honorable and Dear Lady,

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.

I cannot forget your Ladyship, and that sweet child. I desire to hear what the Lord is doing to you and him. To write to me were charity. I cannot but write to my friends, that Christ has trysted me in Aberdeen; and my adversaries have sent me here to be feasted with love banquets with my royal, high, high, and princely King Jesus.

Madam, why should I smother Christ’s honesty? I dare not conceal His goodness to my soul; He looked fremed and unco-like upon me when I came first here; but I believe Himself better than His looks. God forgive them that raise an ill report upon the sweet cross of Christ. It is but our weak and dim eyes, and our looking only to the black side that makes us mistake. Those who can take that crabbed tree handsomely upon their back, and fasten it on cannily, shall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird, or sails to a ship.

Madam, rue not of your having chosen the better part. Upon my salvation, this is Christ’s truth I now suffer for. If I found but cold comfort in my sufferings, I would not beguile others; I would have told you plainly. But the truth is, Christ’s crown, His sceptre, and the freedom of His kingdom, is that which is now called in question; because we will not allow that Christ should pay tribute and be a vassal to the shields of the earth, therefore the sons of our mother are angry at us. But it becometh not Christ to hold any man’s stirrup. It is little to see Christ in a book. They talk of Christ by the book and the tongue, and no more; but to come nigh Christ, and embrace Him, is another thing.

Madam, I write to your honor, for your encouragement in that honorable profession Christ has honored you with. Ye have gotten the sunny side of the bras, and the best of Christ’s good things; and howbeit you get strokes and sour looks from your Lord, yet believe His love more than your own feeling, for this world can take nothing from you that is truly yours, and death can do you no wrong. Your rock does not ebb and flow, but your sea. That which Christ has said, He will bide by it.

Madam, I find folks here kind to me; but in the night, and under their breath. My Master’s cause may not come to the crown of the causeway. Others are kind according to their fashion. Many think me a strange man, and my cause not good; but I care not much for man’s thoughts or approbation. I think no shame of the cross. The preachers of the town pretend great love, but the prelates have added to the rest this gentle cruelty (for so they think of it), to discharge me of the pulpits of this town. The people murmur and cry out against it; and to speak truly (howbeit) Christ is most indulgent to me otherwise), my silence on the Lord’s day keeps me from being exalted above measure, and from startling in the heat of my Lord’s love.

Some people affect me, for the which cause, I hear the preachers here purpose to have my confinement changed to another place; so cold is northern love; but Christ and I will bear it. I have wrestled long with this sad silence. I said, what aileth Christ at my service? And my soul has been at a pleading with Christ, and at yea and nay. But I will yield to Him, providing my suffering may preach more than my tongue did; for I give not Christ an inch but for twice as good again. In a word, I am a fool, and He is God. I will hold my peace hereafter.

Let me hear from your Ladyship, and your dear child. Pray for the prisoner of Christ, who is mindful of your ladyship.

Aberdeen, Nov. 22, 1636

Who is Lady Kenmure?

About “Rutherford Thursdays”

• See my introduction.
• Selection from His Letters is a public domain text hosted by CCEL. I have arranged and formatted Rutherford’s text and Hugh Martin’s editorial comments, added headings, paragraph separations, etc., for presentation on this blog.
• For a brief biographical sketch of Rutherford’s life, see Hugh Martin’s forward to Selections. And see Martin’s glossary for help with outdated vocabulary.
• Rutherford Resources:
  • Samuel Rutherford by Andrew Thompson. This book, now freely available via Google Books, presents two parts: First, a biography of Rutherford’s life; Second, a selection of Rutherford’s letters entitled “Honey from the Honeycomb.”
  • Fire and Ice index to S. R.
  • Samuel Rutherford: A New Biography of the Man & His Ministry. This biography by Kingsley G Rendell provides an excellent introduction to Rutherford’s life and work.

Fitna and Faith: Pursuing A Christian Response - Part 5 - Where to Start

In this fifth and final post on a Christian response to Geert Wilder’s Fitna film (see parts 1, 2, 3, and 4), I argue that the most basic starting point in our response is to ask ourselves the underlying theological question: Do I treat Muslims like images of God?

Cutting Through the Political Noise

Due to the constant political propaganda and jaundiced media coverage surrounding Islam’s so-called “clash with the West,” American Christians (especially those who, ironically, have never made a Muslim acquaintance) are constantly tempted to classify “Islam” and “Muslims” in broad-brush, propagandized terms: “All Muslims are terrorists” and “All Mosques are halls of hatred” are, sadly, common sentiments found not only in the media but also on the lips and in the hearts of Christ’s bride. Brothers and sisters, this ought not be.

Asking the Underlying Question

For Christians, fearing an unknown “other” leaves us in ironic bondage to our own fears and removes our gaze from our only proper fear: God Himself. However, Christians’ attitudes toward Muslims in our “post 9-11″ and “post 7-7″ days are more heinous than simply fearing an unknown other; for, by fearing our own caricature of the “other” we deprive him or her of the most fundamental connection we have with all others, the imago Dei. When we fail to see “the other” as a fully dignified human being created in God’s image, our vision becomes darkened like Cain’s, and we allow the most heinous de-humanizing sins to crouch at our doors.

The underlying question for Christians, then, in thinking through our response to Fitna is primarily theological, not political (but not without political implications): Are Muslims images of God, just as Christians and all other people? If yes (and yes is how the Sacred Scriptures answer, i.e., Genesis 1 and 2), then our response must be lived out in the fear of God, the giver of all human dignity.

Listening to Muslims Themselves

One way to treat Muslims with God-given human dignity and to cut through the political noise is listen to Muslims who themselves are debating questions about their own fundamental identity, such as:

• What is Islam?
• Are Muslims doing enough to combat Muslim-based terrorism?
• What does it mean to be a Muslim in America today (and here)?
• What is the future of Shari’a in a secular state?

In other words, if your primary knowledge of Islam comes from the media’s nightly newscasts, then you are woefully ill-equipped to engage Muslims in meaningful relationships. For, how would we Christians like it if Muslims started saying all Christians are like the wacky televangelists who spew their money mongering and cheap spiritual trickery all over the airwaves? Should we not extend the same courtesy to Muslims that we would expect of them in their understanding of Christianity?

Learning from Thoughtful Christians

The Protestant world is slowly awakening to its ignorance of the Muslim world. So, not many Christians are writing and speaking thoughtfully on Islam or Muslim evangelism. And, sadly, some of the ones who are speaking on Islam treat the subject more from a political than theological standpoint. These speakers usually end up proffering propagandized fear mongering than proclaiming the Gospel’s power to change lives. So, as a Christian you’ve got to be discerning when you listen to self-proclaimed Christian “experts” on Islam.

Perhaps one of the best places to start learning from Protestant leaders is former Muslims who converted to Christianity. These authors have first-hand, intimate knowledge of their former religion, and this experience allows them to cut through the noise easier than second-hand “experts.” Former Muslims who are providing thoughtful and loving engagement with Muslims include:

• Anees Zaka (author and professor)
• Patrick Sookhdeo, directory of the Barnabas Fund (interviewed about his new book, Faith, Power and Territory)
• Ergun Canner, president of Liberty Seminary (watch Ergun’s testimony).
• Sam Solomon (White Horse Inn interview; Pilcrow Press)

Where to Start Cutting, Asking, Listening, and Learning

Christian friend, do you know any Muslims by name? If not, you have just found your beginning: Instead of buying a book or starting a “research project,” visit a local Mosque, and make a Muslim friend. (The former things will only make sense in the context of the latter, and your experience will propel your studies.) Or, if you pay attention to who is living in your own neighborhood, you might not even have to visit a Mosque.

Constantine’s Sword: Is Carroll’s Movie A “Catholic Fitna“?

As the world is busy inquiring about violence surrounding Islam’s Crescent, James Carroll turns attention to the dark side of the Roman Catholic Cross. The movie is based on Carroll’s controversial book, Constantine’s Sword, which accuses the Roman Church of propagating antisemitism. Is Carroll’s movie, then, a “Catholic Fitna“?

Carroll’s Summary of the Film

Constantine’s Sword is the story of James Carroll; a former Catholic priest on a journey to confront his past and uncover the roots of religiously inspired violence and war. His search also reveals a growing scandal involving religious infiltration of the U.S. military and the terrible consequences of religion’s influence on America’s foreign policy.

Carroll focuses on Christian antisemitism as the model for all religious hatred, exposing the cross as a symbol of a long history of violence against Jews (and, most recently, Moslems). The film brings the history of religious intolerance to life, tracing it as a source of the fanaticism that threatens the world today. At its core, Constantine’s Sword is a compelling personal narrative — a kind of detective story — as one man uncovers the dark areas of his own past, searching for a better future (source).

from Constantine’s Sword.com

Related Elsewhere

• The Offical Constantine’s Sword Website
• ABC News interview with James Carroll and Oren Jacoby
• Carroll’s book by the same title as the movie, Constantine’s Sword
• In depth movie review with many links to interviews and further reviews at GreenCine
• Brief movie review at the New York Post
• Christianity Today reviews the book and movie

“Welcome, Welcome, Sweet, Sweet and Glorious Cross of Christ” - Rutherford Thursdays No. 12

To Lady Kenmure On the Eve of Banishment to Aberdeen

Noble and Elect Lady,

That honor that I have prayed for these sixteen years, with submission to my Lord’s will, my kind Lord has now bestowed upon me, even to suffer for my royal and princely King Jesus, and for His kingly crown, and the freedom of His kingdom that His Father has given Him. The forbidden lords have sentenced me with deprivation, and confinement within the town of Aberdeen. I am charged in the King’s name to enter against the 20th day of August next, and there to remain during the Kings pleasure, as they have given it out.

Howbeit Christ’s green cross, newly laid upon me, be somewhat heavy, while I call to mind the many fair days sweet and comfortable to my soul and to the souls of many others, and how young ones in Christ are plucked from the breast, and the inheritance of God laid waste; yet that cross of Christ is accompanied with sweet refreshments, with the joy of the Holy Ghost, with faith that the Lord hears the sighing of a prisoner, with undoubted hope (as sure as my Lord liveth) after this night to see daylight, and Christ’s sky to clear up again upon me, and His poor kirk; and that in a strange land, among strange faces, He will give favor in the eyes of men to His poor oppressed servant, who dow not but love that lovely One, that princely One, Jesus, the Comforter of his soul.

All would be well, if I were free of old challenges for guiltiness, and for neglect in my calling, and for speaking too little for my Well-beloved’s crown, honor, and kingdom. This is my only exercise, that I fear I have done little good in my ministry.

I apprehend no less than a judgment upon Galloway, and that the Lord shall visit this whole nation for the quarrel of the Covenant. But what can be laid upon me, or any the like of me, is too light for Christ. Christ dow bear more, and would bear death and burning quick, in His quick servants, even for this honorable cause that I now suffer for. Yet for all my complaints (and He knoweth that I dare not now dissemble), He was never sweeter and kinder than He is now.

My dear worthy Lady, I give it to your Ladyship, under my own hand, my heart writing as well as my hand welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet and glorious cross of Christ; welcome, sweet Jesus, with Thy light cross. Thou hast now gained and gotten all my love from me; keep what Thou hast gotten! Only woe, woe is me, for my bereft flock, for the lambs of Jesus, that I fear shall be fed with dry breasts. But I spare now.

Madam, I dare not promise to see your Ladyship, because of the little time I have allotted me; and I purpose to obey the King, who has power of my body; and rebellion to kings is unbeseeming Christ’s ministers. Madam, bind me more (if more can be) to your Ladyship; and write thanks to your brother, my Lord of Lorn, for what he has done for me, a poor and unknown stranger to his Lordship. I shall pray for him and his house, while I live. Now, Madam, commending your Ladyship, and the sweet child, to the tender mercies of the Lord Jesus, and His good-will who dwelt in the Bush.

Edinburgh, July 28, 1636

Who is Lady Kenmure?

About “Rutherford Thursdays”

• See my introduction.
• Selection from His Letters is a public domain text hosted by CCEL. I have arranged and formatted Rutherford’s text and Hugh Martin’s editorial comments, added headings, paragraph separations, etc., for presentation on this blog.
• For a brief biographical sketch of Rutherford’s life, see Hugh Martin’s forward to Selections. And see Martin’s glossary for help with outdated vocabulary.
• Rutherford Resources:
  • Samuel Rutherford by Andrew Thompson. This book, now freely available via Google Books, presents two parts: First, a biography of Rutherford’s life; Second, a selection of Rutherford’s letters entitled “Honey from the Honeycomb.”
  • Fire and Ice index to S. R.
  • Samuel Rutherford: A New Biography of the Man & His Ministry. This biography by Kingsley G Rendell provides an excellent introduction to Rutherford’s life and work.

The Exclusive and Extravagant Brotherhood of Christ - A Sermon on Romans 12:10

Summary: I presented this sermon to my preaching lab 3 class this afternoon. My assigned topic is “brotherly love,” and the text I chose is Romans 12:10.

Listen

download MP3s

Feedback

As a student who is very much still learning how to preach, I’d love your feedback. If you listen, I’d like to know:

• What do you think is the “big idea” of the sermon?
• Was the sermon easy to follow, or did I fail to keep your attention?
• Did the sermon lead you to consider your relationship to Christ and His Gospel?
• Did you come away with a clear sense of how to respond in obedience?

Fitna and Faith: Pursuing A Christian Response - Part 4 - Protestant Laity’s Ambivalent Attitude

So far my attempt to think through a faith Christian response to Fitna has (1) introduced Geert Wilder’s film, (2) surveyed its political repercussions, and (3) examined how the Christian world is officially responding to Fitna. In the final two parts I will (4) fill out the Protestant picture by exploring the laity’s response and (5) suggest a theological trajectory for living out your own Christian response.

What do we see, then, in the Protestant picture when we add the laity?

Filling in the Protestant Picture: “Unofficial”/lay response

In the conclusion to Part 3 I suggested that more must be added to the picture in order to see the whole Protestant landscape; That “more” is the laity. Although Protestant groups such as the WCC (World Council of Churches) and PCN (Protestant Church in the Netherlands) have stood with Muslims in strongly condemning Fitna as heinous political propaganda, Protestantism’s laity does not fully agree with her leaders. Some Protestant parishioners even support Fitna.

Painting with broad brushes, two basic attitudes have emerged among Protestant laity in response to Fitna.

Seeing Two Basic Lay Responses: Arrogant “Amen!” or “Nuance Needed”

Arrogant “Amen!”

First, one group of Protestants is saying a hearty “Amen!” to Wilders’ Fitna film and is thanking him for simply “showing the scriptural [Koranic] authority for a lot of the acts we see on the news today.” Apparently, such Protestants interpret Wilders’ film as an unbiased, fair representation of the truth about Islam. This “Amen” approach is seen, for example, in Jay Smith’s response to Fitna:

(Excursus: Speaking from my own experience visiting Mosques and attempting to forge friendships across the Cross and Crescent divide, the arrogance, ignorance, and odiousness of such “Amen!” responses from Protestants is appalling, especially to those of us who are actively engaging in Muslim evangelism. When Muslims themselves, Christian leaders, political leaders, and news media all admit that Fitna is obvious political propaganda, Christians who give a hearty “Amen!” to Fitna allow themselves to be used as vessels of political fear mongering and preachers of bigoted social exclusion. Such actions are directly contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which calls upon all Christians to love their neighbors, including their enemies. How shall we ever share the Gospel with Muslims if we do not love them enough to even listen to what they have to say about violence in their own religion, but instead paint them all as terrorists?)

“Nuance Needed”

Second, a contrary Protestant voice can also be heard by those who see Fitna not as an unbiased presentation, but rather as an obvious display of political propagandizing. For example, Australia’s Center for Public Christianity produced a Fitna response calling for a nuanced and loving Christian response which sees through the political smoke and mirrors without ignoring real difficulties:
video source

Comparing the Protestant Response to the Political

While surveying the international political responses to Fitna in part 2 I noticed two basic attitudes: derision or downplay. The common element is that both attitudes recognized Fitna’s genre to be political propaganda: One group saw the film and shrugged off the propaganda; the other condemned the propaganda; but, both groups saw the propaganda.

Although the Protestant response also reveals a basic twofold division (”amen” or “nuance needed”), the demarcation is different. On the one hand the “nuance needed” Protestants see Fitna’s genre clearly as political propaganda, and these Protestants condemn the film and/or call for a much more nuanced approach to Christian-Muslim relations. On the other hand the “Amen to Fitna!”portion of the Protestant church does not account for the film’s genre and thus praises Fitna for shining an unbiased light of truth. How could Protestants, then, be so divided especially when the film’s genre seems so obviously propaganda?

This important question leads us into our fifth and final post in which we will briefly sketch the underlying theological framework Christians need to live out their own faithful response to Fitna in their local churches and communities.

Islam: Monolithic or Multifarious? Ask a Muslim Mystic

As the world awakens to the growing Muslim population one of the new questions facing Christians is whether all Muslims are alike. While we Christians are no strangers to wide streams of diversity within our own religion, strangely we have had a hard time of allowing the possibility of diversity within Islam. Perhaps we should spend more time listening to Muslims themselves explain their own diversity, as is the goal of A Mystical Journey, a group of Sufi and other esoteric Muslims traveling across America to share their diverse expression of mystical Muslim traditions.

Watch the CNN video coverage of A Mystical Journey.