"If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." Abraham Kuyper Common Grace 1.1.
If intention is the key to Pullman's error, then I guess we should also discourage Christians from reading Milton's polemically anti-Trinitarian, anti-orthodox Paradise Lost. And Pascal's anti-Protestant Pensees. And Gibbon's anti-Christian Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And Swift's anti-theological Gulliver's Travels. Etc. etc.etc. And what about the Manicheeism of William Blake? Better scratch The Songs of Innocence and Experience. Come on, guys, face it -- Lewis was a decent children's novelist with terrible theology; Pullman is a passable children's novelist with terrible atheology. If you can't read them without being led astray, don't read them; but a good fantasy story is a good fantasy story.
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Harry is Director of the Dooyeweerd Centre for Christian Philosophy based at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario and Professor Emeritus in History. He studied under H Evan Runner and M C Smit (1911-1981). 
There are number of video versions of S M Lockridge's famous refrain 'My King' I make no apologies for posting another - it blesses me everytime I hear it. Lockridge was a pastor at Calvery Baptist Church, San Diego CA from 1953-1993. He died in 2000.Powered by ScribeFire.
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I’ve often said that Macintoshes and Windows PCs are good for different things, and you need to use the right tool for the job. The photo below demonstrates exactly what I’m talking about.
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1 - A - Ascending up to God offering
2 - B - Bow to God in tribute offering
3 - C - Come and eat in peace offering
4 - D - Danger over in sin offering
5 - E - Ending guilt in trespass offering
6 - F - Further detailed rules for offerings
7 - G - Going on with rules for offerings
8 - H - How to become a priest
9 - I - Inaugurate the tabernacle system
10 - J - Judgment on Aaron’s sons
11 - K - Kosher foodBecome a holy nation: 17-27
12 - L - Little ‘uns – cleaning up after them
13 - M - Mouldy bodies and clothes
14 - N - New start from leprosy, but what about your house?
15 - O - Outflows and overflows
16 - P - Purification Day
17 - Q - Quit remote sacrifices and don’t eat blood
18 - R - Ruinous practices, forbidden sex
19 - S - Special people, special life
20 - T - Taking chapter 18 further
21 - U - Unclean priestly actions, unfit priestly bodies
22 - V - Valid holy eating, void animal offering
23 - W - Wahay! Festivals!
24 - X - Execute blasphemer (+ lamp, bread, and eye for eye)
25 - Y - Years – Sabbath and Jubilee
26 - Z - Zones of blessing, zones of curse
27 - Redemption of vows
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…usually in an advisory capacity.Seen scrawled on the side of a vacant building in Berkeley, CA [HT Henry Schaeffer III]
We are doing things a little differently than the past 4 years...Instead of having a separate Volume 10 CD, I decided to put all 10 volumes into one package.(we will no longer offer TJL 6, 7, 8 & 9 separately)
And I've devised what I hope is an equitable way for everyone to get caught up.
Here's the way the upgrade thing will work.The list price for the complete package is $400.Since there are 10 volumes in the package, that's $40 per volume.So, your cost of upgrading is $40 X the number of volumes you are behind.
For example:you have TJL 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 - then your upgrade price is only $40.you have TJL 5, 6 and 7 - you pay $120 (for 8, 9 and 10 content)you have TJL 5 only - you pay $200 (for 6-10 content)
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2006. The philosophy of D. H. Th. Vollenhoven (1892-1978), with special reference to his historiography of philosophy. Tydskrif vir Christelike Wetenskap 42 (1-2): 35-39.
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SHAPING THE DREAMS OF THIS GENERATION
One-day Training Conferences for all Christian youth and children’s leaders
Young people dream.
Caught up as consumers in a secular society poisoned by a toxic mix of materialism and greed they have few positive influences to help shape their dreams.
That's where you come in...
During the training conferences we will help you to:
Be envisioned to help young people see how the story of God can help re-shape their dreams.
Main speaker: We are delighted that Mark Roques (resident tutor at the West Yorkshire School of Christian Studies) is joining us at each venue.
Mark is a writer and storyteller who has spent many years in education. For eleven years he taught Philosophy & Religious Studies at Prior Park College in Bath where he developed a unique Christian worldview course that combined film, music, story-telling and subversive role plays.
Mark is the author of Curriculum Unmasked: Towards a Christian Understanding of education, The Good, The Bad and The Misled: True Stories Reflecting Different World Views for Use in Secondary Religious Education and Fields of God: Football and the Kingdom of God.
Information:
These events are open to anyone aged 16 or over who works with any age group from 8 upwards.
Registered Energize groups receive three free places as part of their subscription, and thereafter the cost is £10 per person. All other leaders pay £15. The fee includes light refreshments throughout the day and a comprehensive workbook.
Each training conference will run from 10:00am to 4:30pm.
Our venues are carefully chosen churches and Christian centres with good conference facilities, easy access from major routes and parking on-site or very close by. Venue details will be sent with each booking confirmation, and are also available on request.
A wide range of books, videos and other resources for youth and children’s leaders will be on sale at each venue, many at heavily discounted prices.
Refreshments will be provided free throughout the day, but you will need to bring a packed lunch.
Dates and venues for Autumn 2007:
Nov 3 - Belfast
Nov 10 - Colwyn Bay
Nov 17 - Cardiff
Nov 24 - Bristol
Booking information:
Please click HERE to download a Booking Form in PDF format
Please click HERE to download a brochure in PDF format (1 MB)
FOR DETAILS OF THE 2008 TRAINING CONFERENCES CLICK HERE
If you want to get involved in adding and editing material let me know.
1983. The consistent problem-historical method of philosophical historiography. Anakainosis 5 (2 and 3): 1-23 [pdf]
2000. 'Culture, worldview and religion' Cultures and Christianity AD 2000: International Symposium of the Association for Reformational Philosophy Aug 2000. [pdf]
Dr Rowan Williams responded to critics of religion by arguing that atheists had missed the point and failed to understand what Christians really believe in.
In a fierce attack on the Oxford professor and other leading atheists, he said: "There are specific areas of mismatch between what Richard Dawkins may write about and what religious people think they are doing."
He added: "There are few things more annoying than people saying 'I know what you mean'." Dr Williams described Prof Dawkins as a "lively and attractive writer" but said his arguments were not fully engaging with religion.
He suggested that Prof Dawkins, the author of the best-selling The God Delusion and a leading Darwinist, was a good scientist but a poor philosopher.
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Bavinck’s works are “timeless” because he always wrote in concert with Scripture. This is not to suggest that Bavinck was infallible, but he was a man thoroughly conversant with the Word of God and his writings reflect a solid acquaintance with the Bible. It should come as no surprise that many of the theological situations of Bavinck’s day (Moralism, Existentialism, Relativism, Mysticism, Subjectivism) are alive and well today. In each paragraph Bavinck provides his reader with an historical examination of the subject, thorough biblical exegesis, and a plain exposition of the matter under discussion. Many theologians today fail to recognize old heresies in their new garb. Therefore, mastery of the contents of Scripture, thoroughly acquaintance with a number of Reformed/Presbyterian confessions, and reading such a rock solid man as Herman Bavinck can only serve to benefit the Christian.
The website of Mathew Sleeth - the author of Serve God and Save the Planet and new director of A Rocha USA - it is replete with some excellent suggestions to live more lightly on the earth.
Here is my review from Science and Christian Belief 19 (1) (2007) pp 93-94 of Roy's excellent Myth book:
Reviews can also be found here:
by Kenn Hermann (from Christian Scholar's Review) also here
In my judgment, this edition will stand as the best, most complete, introduction to Herman Dooyeweerd’s thought in the English language for many years to come.by James Skillen All theory is grounded
There is also a review by Michael De Moor in Religious Studies Review 33 (1) (Jan 2007) 50–51
Here's a comparison of the table of contents of the first and second edition.
Reviews of the first edition:
by Peter Bryne Religious Studies 31 (1) (March 1995) 142
This book argues for the conclusion that explaining and understanding the world is inevitably determined by our fundamental religious commitments. There is no religion-neutral way of understanding reality. Christian thinkers should return to what is claimed to be the Biblical view that religious belief should underlie and direct all knowledge and they should thus produce theories of reality, society and so on that reflect the underlying faith commitment that all things are created by God.
PETER BYRNE King's College London
by Montague Brown The Review of Metaphysics 46 (2) (Dec 1992)
Clouser claims that every theory is based on a religious presupposition, that is, on an idea of what is self-existent (divine). Since all such ultimate presuppositions are unjustifiable in principle, those who presuppose the biblical faith in God as creator are equally respectable intellectually as are those who presuppose any other theory of reality. In fact, the presupposition of a creating God results in superior interpretations of reality in all its many facets. This thesis is laid out in four parts: (1) "Religion," (2) "Theories," (3) "A Casebook," and (4) "Radically Biblical Theories."The book is very well written. It is clear and informative. There is excellent work on recognizing deficient theories in terms of logical inconsistency, self-referential incoherence, self-assumptive incoherence, and self-performative incoherence (pp. 68-73). His case studies point out clearly the unproven presuppositions behind many so-called "rationalist" theories about various aspects of reality. In addition, the "law framework theory" is impressive in its complexity and subtlety and well worth serious study.
--Montague Brown, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, N.H.
What does it mean to be a Christian in the world today? In Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, now in its second edition, Albert Wolters addresses this question through an exposition of a framework for understanding and living obediently to scripture. Along with others in the Reformed tradition, he calls this framework a 'worldview' (from the German Weltanschauung), meaning a structure of beliefs which act as a guide to life. Wolters sets forth what he sees as the elements of such a worldview informed by the Protestant Reformation and shaped by the Bible.
In the bulk of the book, the author expounds a framework for understanding the teaching of scripture through three key concepts: creation, fall, and redemption. He stresses the goodness of God's creation, the thoroughness of humanity's fall (which impinges on all of creation), and the equally thorough scope of redemption through Christ, which restores creation. Wolters emphasizes this last point, insisting that God's grace is not supra-creational or anti-creational, but restorative of the original goodness and intention of creation. Because of the expansive scope of God's redeeming work, Christians are called to participate in this work in all parts of the world (not merely the 'religious'). In this way, Wolters stresses that redemption is about all of life, and not merely the afterlife.
To expand his account, Wolters introduces two terms to explain the relationship of the three concepts of creation, fall, and redemption: structure and direction. Structure, he states, 'refers to the order of creation', the unchangeable and basic reality created by God, akin to the philosophical notions of 'substance' or 'nature' (p. 59). Direction, on the other hand, deals with the evil in the world (the fall) and its cure (redemption). Structure and direction together make up 'worldview', which differs from philosophy and theology by being pre-theoretical (p. 10). These two terms allow him to talk about how something might be given in the order of creation (structure), and then used for or against the reign of God (direction).
There is much here that is good, but the book left me with serious questions. Wolters spends a fair bit of time unpacking the idea of creation, which he specifies as 'the correlation of the sovereign activity of the Creator and the created order' (p. 14). He then explores the notion of God's acts constituting and upholding creation, searching for a term to designate these acts, eventually arriving at 'law'. 'Law' not only stands 'for the totality of God's ordaining acts toward the cosmos' (p. 15), but also focuses 'attention on God as sovereign, as absolute Lord and King' (ibid. italics original). For two reasons, though, I wonder if 'law' is really the best term he might have used. First, people's experience of 'law' is generally something faceless and impersonal, whether it is natural or statutory law, or the sorts of norms Wolters envisions as present in social reality. Laws in nature generally tend to involve brute, blind force; laws in society may protect the strong or promote injustice, rather than protecting the weak and promoting justice; norms in society are notoriously labile. Given that Wolters earlier quibbles with using the term 'creation' itself to designate God's acts toward the cosmos because of the drawbacks associated with its usage, I wonder why he did not similarly reject 'law' in favor of another less problematic term? Second, I wonder why Wolters here wishes to focus attention only on God as 'absolute Lord and King'. The narrative arc of the Christian story – particularly in Jesus Christ – reveals a much richer notion of who this God is than only 'Lord and King', full stop. Does not the love, service, and self-sacrifice seen in Jesus Christ elaborate on such sovereignty in crucial ways? How might a richer, more Trinitarian notion of God have led to a different account of God's relation to creation, not denying but importantly expanding on God as 'Lord and King'? It seems that this would substantially recast later sections of the book.
Also, Wolters wants to get beyond a certain kind of dualism which divides the world into 'religious' and 'secular' realms, and which relegates scripture and faith to 'private' concerns, away from 'public' affairs such as art, politics, science, or scholarship (p. 8). This is an admirable goal, but one which the author executes unevenly, and even undermines at points.
For example, Wolters focuses on the cognitive aspect of humanity as the means by which we come to live faithfully, hence the focus on 'worldview'. The implication seems to be that if we can rearrange or replace our mental furniture to more faithfully embody scripture, then our lives will reflect our minds and be renewed. Thus is revealed a one-way subordinate relationship between beliefs and practices, in which practices always follow on from beliefs. In this, a dualism lurks: a dualism of inner (beliefs) and outer (practices).
This becomes even clearer in his discussion of consecration versus sanctification (pp. 89–95). Here, he stresses the importance of renewal from the inside out (which he terms sanctification), instead of external, 'superficial' renewal (consecration). So on Wolters's account, we are first properly renewed within, including but not limited to working through the basic structures of our beliefs (worldview). What results from this internal work is a reorientation of our lives and practices in the world, including our reforming work in the various pursuits – labor, teaching, science, and so forth – which make up our lives. The problem is that this seems far too neat, and neglects how practices form people as much as beliefs form people. Moreover, as many of those versed in virtue ethics would point out, such 'external' formation can be genuine and legitimate, leading to a good life. It might be observed that people become who they are as much from the outside in as the inside out, and to neglect or deny these external factors and the roles they might play risks yielding a truncated or artificial account. Although Wolters attempts to get beyond a private–public dichotomy, by limiting renewal to an inner aspect of human life – and resisting any concept of external renewal which might be prior to or simultaneous with that inner renewal – he undermines his attempt finally to get beyond this binary distinction.
But alongside these concerns, there is much to appreciate here, as Wolters expounds what a Reformed Christian worldview looks like. Among his most helpful points must be noted his clear sense that a biblical worldview does not provide answers, especially of the ready-made variety, but rather provides a framework by which we might shape our questions.
This book was originally intended to serve as an introduction to a biblical, Reformed worldview, used for a particular class that Wolters taught at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. More specifically, Wolters meant for it to be an introduction to the Reformed philosophy of D. H. T. Vollenhoven and Herman Dooyeweerd (although as the present work stands, there is little explicit exposition of the work of these thinkers – indeed, there are few footnotes or [extra-biblical] references of any kind). In this new edition, along with a slight revision of the text itself, Mike Goheen, a former colleague of Wolters, coauthors a postscript which relates narrative and mission to worldview and draws on the work of Lesslie Newbigin, N. T. Wright, and others.
Creation Regained is an introductory-level work. It makes some demands of its readers, but resists highly technical discussions and thus remains generally accessible. The author seems to envision an audience of introductory-level undergraduates, particularly of evangelical and Reformed sympathies (for example, his discussion of the permissibility of dance, while not without merit, will be a nonstarter for many Christians of different stripes). Nevertheless, most general, nonspecialist readers might make good use of the work. Although those outside of evangelical or Reformed circles might not find the specific points set forth here to be entirely convincing, Wolters challenges his readers to consider what difference being a Christian makes to living in the world today: a laudable and worthwhile project.
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