The excitement of a new chapter in life was palpable as Mark crammed his backpack on the tile floor between his chair and the next. He sat spellbound among nearly 100 other eager freshmen philosophy students as the department chairman opened the semester. The bearded professor lowered his black-rimmed glasses and began the lecture with…
Don’t Just Stand There: Say Something The Sin of Silence in a Time of Trouble Alumni Memorial Chapel August 20, 2013 The history and purpose of the academic convocation is explicitly Christian. There will be many institutions across this land and beyond that will hold a convocation ceremony such as this, but what will…
Evangelical Christians have been especially attentive to worship in recent years sparking a renaissance of thought and conversation about what worship really is and how it should be done. Even if this renewed interest has resulted in what some have called the “worship wars” in some churches, it seems that what A.W. Tozer once called…
I remember where I was in our home in Missouri when my wife looked at me in frustration and said, “Do you realize what’s at stake?” I had just finished directing and leading the music and worship activities of a large church through a busy Christmas season. Her comment was directed to my lack of…
Worship is the purpose for which we were made — and only the redeemed can worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
EDITOR’S NOTE: In what follows, four pastors answer questions about preaching and leading a church in the digital age. Each of the participating pastors are also on faculty at Southern Seminary. What technology have you found helpful for sermon preparation? Denny Burk: The two programs that I use the most are Bible study software. I…
The digital age is upon us. In the span of less than three decades, we have redefined the way humans communicate, entertain, inform, research, create and connect — and what we know now is only a hint of what is to come. However, the greatest concern of the church is not a technological imperative, but…
Today, one cannot truly follow the happenings of the Southern Seminary community without keeping an eye on the school’s various social media outlets. Both professors and students develop their own personal social webs. The community uses social media to make announcements, praise friends, entreat prayers, recommend articles or sermons and provide simple updates about life…
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the following, Russell D. Moore writes about one of the most pressing implications of parenting in the digital age. Moore is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Here’s what I just don’t understand: the trend among professing Christian families to give unrestricted Internet access to their pre-teen children through iPhones…
Opening Convocation – John 9:1-7 The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary August 26, 2003 Alumni Memorial Chapel The convocation ceremony and service is now very much a part of American academic life. This is an inheritance from the medieval era, when in the day of the rise of the university, Christian scholars gathered together faculty and…
The 1993 Convocation Address delivered by R. Albert Mohler, Jr, President The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
We have all seen it. The father, surrounded by t-shirted kids clamoring for his attention, lost in the alternate universe of his iPhone. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” they shout, little arms straight up in the air, as if they can physically pull his attention back to them. It’s enough to make a casual bystander want…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Below, Heath Lambert talks with SSM contributor Josh Hayes about Counseling the Hard Cases, a book Lambert co-edited with Southern Seminary’s Stuart Scott. Lambert is assistant professor of pastoral theology at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of Southern. JH:What trends in the counseling world compelled you to put together Counseling the Hard Cases?…
(B&H Academic 2012, $32.99), Stuart Scott and Heath lambert, eds. “The Bible isn’t a scientific text book, right?” Such a statement carries the commonly held notion that because the Bible speaks primarily to theological and spiritual matters — in pre-modern, non-scientific language — it does not provide the church with resources sufficient to handle the…
Retailers have no choice but to go where consumers are. The Wall Street Journal recently looked at a typical American family, the Ulitcans of Columbus, Ohio. The 50-something parents have four children, ranging in age from 10 to 27. The parents do their shopping in local stores and shopping malls. Their children do not follow…
In the gospels, the biblical storyline moves from the Old Testament promise of a messianic kingdom to the presence of the messianic King
EDITOR’S NOTE: In what follows, Southern Seminary Magazine writer Craig Sanders talks with Gregg Allison, professor of Christian theology at Southern Seminary, about his new book, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church (Crossway 2012). CS: Of all the topics in systematic theology, what made you want to write about ecclesiology? Gregg Allison (GA):…
(crossway 2012, $40) Gregg R. Allison Gifted theologians offer much guidance in areas like biblical theology, Christology and ethics, but resources that set forth ecclesiology are rarer, particularly from a robust Baptist perspective. Gregg R. Allison, professor of Christian theology at Southern Seminary, fills that void with his latest book, Sojourners and Strangers. “The church…
