• “How do you define ‘Evangelical,’ in a way that distinguishes Evangelicals from other believing Christians? And has this definition changed over the last several decades?”
• “Has Evangelicalism matured since the 1950s, and if so in what ways?”
• “Has it lost anything in the process of maturing (if it did)?”
• “Are there any fundamental differences within the Evangelical movement today, and do you think they will deepen into permanent divisions, or even have already? How might they be healed?”
• “What does your movement, speaking generally, fail to see that it ought to see?”
• “What would you say to an Evangelical tempted to become Catholic or Orthodox?”
• “What has Evangelicalism to offer the wider world that it will find nowhere else?”
• “What else would you like to say?”

A potpourri of trivia and gems: first, a warning if you listen to Rick's advice to watch the meerkat saga! He should have told us of the emotional cost of investing sympathy for Mozart and her two sisters! In the space of 30 minutes all three had died! How was I to sleep after a sight of an emaciated Mozart's tail -- all that was left after a encounter with a jackal. Rick, how could you lead us into this heartrending tale without some warning?

My trusty sidekick, Nate, has alerted me to Ian Kern's short films based on the parables. I'm told there are accompanying lectures and study guides to go along with them. You can preview them here (though you will need to persevere to get these to play, but well worth it if you do).

Finally, Bruce Waltke's (with Charles Yu) new book An Old Testament Theology has just arrived. "Pure gold" according to J. I. Packer. Over a thousand pages and I'm looking forward to spending some time trawling through it.

New Testament scholar and Bible teacher Dan Doriani was here in Philadelphia this week for Westminster Seminary's annual preaching conference.  Dr. Doriani, who serves as Senior Minister at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, makes a major contribution to the Reformed Expository Commentary as New Testament Editor.

I was able to make it over for only of his lectures, but it was well worth it.  His thesis was that a quest for godliness will make someone a better interpreter of Scripture, that exegesis is a matter of the heart as well as the mind.

The talk included several memorable lines.  Dr. Doriani quoted R. L. Dabney to the effect that "Eloquence may dazzle and please, but holiness convinces."  He also observed that a preacher is like "a cardiologist with a heart murmur."  That is to say, the fallen condition that he helps to diagnose and treat in his ministry of the word also describes his own spiritual conditin. 

... the more I understand why I preach.  While there are many good and important motivations for preaching Christ which I keenly feel -- the salvation of the lost, the edification of God's people, the building-up of the Church -- none of them are really why I preach.  I preach because there was a man who lived about 2000 years ago, who lived and taught, gathered a small band of disciples, died on a cross and rose again from the dead.  He is uniquely exalted among all men who have ever lived in that He is God's true and unique Son.  All that He did was as the One true Redeemer for a lost world.  He is exalted in the heavens and reigns as Lord over all.  I preach because He is my own Savior and Lord, because I want His name to be known among men and women, and because His glory is the greatest and highest of all causes in this world.