Aaron Menikoff, Politics and Piety: Baptist Social Reform in America, 1770-1860 (Pickwick 2014, $27) Review by S. Craig Sanders Despite the notion that early American Baptists were “so heavenly minded, they were of no earthly good,” their commitment to piety, evangelism, and activism demonstrated “that the transformation of society was a vital goal, an essential…
Among the many treasures held by the James P. Boyce Centennial Library and Archives, the oldest and possibly the most distinguished is a fragile medieval codex, originally acquired by Adolf Deissmann, professor of philology at the Humbolt University of Berlin. In the aftermath of World War I, Deissmann had campaigned vigorously to protect the ancient…
“I was long-haired, smoking pot, and in a heavy metal band all throughout high school,” he said. “I was miserable and didn’t know what to do with myself.” Jonathan T. Pennington, associate professor of New Testament interpretation at Southern Seminary, likes to joke that his conversion story would make an ideal support letter. “The before…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Before A.T. Roberson published the first edition of his monumental A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research in 1914, Southern Seminary faculty had already produced four influential works that would shape the character of the Southern Baptist Convention. Seminary historian Gregory A. Wills, dean of the School of…
EDITOR’S NOTE: A.T. Robertson’s A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research no longer appears as required reading in Elementary Greek or syntax courses. Nonetheless, his breathtaking scholarship has influenced those who are shaping the basics of New Testament Greek studies today, beyond the confines of Southern Seminary. Stanley E.…
A.T. Robertson’s magnum opus, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, first appeared in print in 1914. His comprehensive scholarship revolutionized the study of the New Testament, and his work belongs among the greatest ever produced by Southern Seminary faculty. To grasp the greatness of A.T. Robertson, we must…
Archibald Thomas Robertson was born Nov. 6, 1863, near Chatham, Virginia, where he spent the first 12 years of his life before moving to a farm in North Carolina. At the age of 12, he received Christ as his Lord and Savior and was baptized later that year. At the age of 16, he was…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Below, James M. Hamilton Jr., associate professor of biblical theology at Southern Seminary, discusses his new book, Exalting Jesus in Ezra and Nehemiah, with Towers editor S. Craig Sanders. CS: What is your process for turning a sermon series into a book? JH: I had been manuscripting my sermons to be published with…
As many know in our nation, on August 9, 2014, an African-American male from the small community of Ferguson, Missouri, once again became the star of another tragic American drama. Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year old African-American teenager, was shot six times by Darren Wilson, a white St. Louis County cop. The aftermath…
How do we go about articulating a Christian understanding of Islam? What are the distinctives of such an understanding as compared to other understandings? Given that Islam is not a monolithic faith, how do we go about distinguishing between all the variations of Islam current among Muslims themselves? What are the needs of Muslim peoples here…
Following Jesus’ example and teaching, the apostles interpreted the meaning, significance, and application of the entire Bible in light of Jesus’ person and work. Their preaching was the preeminent display of this hermeneutical commitment. When the apostle Paul declared, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified,” he…
