Taking every thought captive

Here’s my online reading on preaching this month, as posted to my church Web site in the Preaching Resources section. These resources were posted on 26 September 2010:

• Kent Anderson, ‘Questions for Expositors’, by John D. Brand on Encouraging Expository Excellence, 22 Jun 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Cliff Boone, ‘Questions for Expositors’, by John D. Brand on Encouraging Expository Excellence, 13 Jul 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• ____, ‘Why I do not manuscript my sermons’, Alive2God, 7 Jan 2010.
  [added to Preaching Techniques Resources]
• Stuart Briscoe, ‘Questions for Expositors’, by John D. Brand on Encouraging Expository Excellence, 15 Jun 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Bryan Chapell, ‘Questions for Expositors’, by John D. Brand on Encouraging Expository Excellence, 10 Aug 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Andrew Compton, ‘A study regimen for preaching Zechariah’s night visions’, The Reformed Reader, 24 Aug 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Bible Books, Themes & Doctrines]
• Sinclair B. Ferguson, ‘What Then Shall We Preach on Hell?’ (9Marks eJournal, 7.4, Sep/Oct 2010, pp. 9–12) [HTML | PDF] (HT: Andy Naselli)
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Bible Books, Themes & Doctrines]
• Tim Keller & Ed Clowney, “Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World”, RTS DMin lectures. Andy Naselli has kindly posted a link to the audio and the course notes.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• David P. Murray, ‘Preaching without Notes’, Head Heart Hand, Part 1 (7 Sep 2010) & Part 2 (8 Sep 2010, with a sample of David’s sermon notes)
  [added to Preaching Techniques Resources]
• John Piper, ‘How Does John Piper Prepare a Sermon?’ by Tyler Kenney, Desiring God, 25 Jul 2010. HT: John Brand.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Charles Price, ‘Questions for Expositors’ (part 2), by John D. Brand on Encouraging Expository Excellence, 3-4 Jun 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• John Shearer, ‘Questions for Expositors’, by John D. Brand on Encouraging Expository Excellence, 21 Jul 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Wayne Sutton, ‘Questions for Expositors’, by John D. Brand on Encouraging Expository Excellence, 9 Jun 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Bruce Ware, ‘Questions for Expositors’, by John D. Brand on Encouraging Expository Excellence, 19 Aug 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]

(The links after “added to” will take you to the page on the church site where they are listed permanently, while other links are to the resources and reviews themselves.)

Alec Motyer has a delightful comment on Psalm 125:3 that I read this morning:

What, then, is the ‘evil’ to which we can be tempted to put our hands (verse 3)? For we have all experienced the ‘Why should I put up with this any longer?’ moment, and that’s the danger point. When patient enduance runs out, sinfulness comes running in; impatience and making golden calves have for a long time been a solidly married couple.\¹/

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References

1. Alec Motyer, Journey: Psalms for Pilgrim People (Nottingham: IVP, 2009): 65

I’ve just received my copy of The Shallows.\¹/ I’m looking forward to reading it, but not right now, as I’ve several other books on the go at the moment. I did, however, peek at the prologue where Carr mentions McLuhan (how could he not?), and the fact that the Internet is the latest medium to spur the debate on the impact of new media.

It struck me that while the Internet revolution may be as significant, or more significant than the Gutenburg revolution, there is an interesting difference. (Perhaps Carr will cover this in the book.) In the Internet Age we have the impact of visual representations (on television and in films [movies]) of what computer technology might be able to achieve. People in Gutenburg’s time experienced a revolution that unfolded over time, but we are in the middle of one that has been imagined ahead of time, and in considerable detail. That must surely have a major impact on how the revolution will play out, for reality is fast outpacing our earliest imaginings.

The Matrix is one powerful representation, but I suspect that Star Trek is more powerful, for it is in Star Trek that (information) technology is presented as ubiquitous and almost totally benign. I don’t mean the original Star Trek series, but the more recent ones: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and even Enterprise. It is the great boon to society. Everything can be solved by means of technology, and usually instantaneously. Information is always somehow available. It is only in the face of unexplained interference or sabotage that the tense drama of being stranded in hostile terrain can be played out, but those scenarios are few and far between. (How is is that crew members can get stuck in turbolifts when site-to-site transport can be used in other emergencies?) More often, Star Trek captains command their chief engineers to solve impossible problems in unbelievably short timescales. And they always achieve the impossible. Mission Impossible happens in every episode to the nth degree. Kirk, Picard, Sisco and Janeway are not the real heroes, rather they are Scotty, Chief O’Brien, and B’Elana Torres.

And this presentation of technology affects many other more popular films and television series, so even those who have never seen Star Trek see the Star Trek Paradigm visualized regularly. Mobile [cell] phones may not be Star Trek communicators or tricorders, but they are the twenty-first century prototypes of twenty-fourth century fiction. We want the Internet to become what the Federation Database has become.

This advance visualization must have a massive impact on the Internet Revolution. The Internet already affects the way we speak: we no longer look things up, we google them. And it must surely be affecting the way we think. The Big Switch\²/ made a lot of sense of things for me, and I’m hoping Carr will do the same in The Shallows. But no matter the pressure of the instantaneous Internet, I will savour the deferred gratification of holding back starting until I can devote sufficient time to serious reading and reflection.

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References

1. Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember (London: Atlantic Books, 2010).

2. Nicholas Carr, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google (New York: W W Norton, 2008).

Tim Challies recently posted a series of articles on a topic dear to my heart that are well worth reading. I share his enthusiasm for books that he shared in ’5 Reasons Books Are Better Than E-Books’^\1/. I’m also with him on ’5 Reasons E-Books Are Better Than Books’^\2/. Yes, e-books do have some advantages, but they are still outweighed by the books’ advantages. Like Tim, I just can’t imagine having to move house. It would be three times worse for me than for him. One mitigating factor is that I tend to buy reference materials as e-books in preference to books, especially when they are considerably cheaper. Then I feel guilty when I make little use of them. Are e-books making me more covetous?

But it’s not just sufficient to pit the arguments against each other and take your pick. There is a need to think through the consequences, which Tim points out well in ‘Books & E-Books, Media & Messages’.^\3/ I agree wholeheartedly that convenience is not sufficient reason to abandon the book in favour of the e-Book. The medium has a definite impact on the message. E-media appear less permanent (Tim’s point about permanence notwithstanding), and paradoxically I suspect we give more credence to online, e-sources without sufficient critical appraisal. It’s similar to the appeal to “it was on television” as the ultimate “proof” of a fact. We can certainly read books uncritically, but the e-medium somehow seems to reduce our ability or willingness to engage critically with the content. McLuhan and Postman are definitely worth considering in this whole area. And Nicholas Carr is also onto something important in The Shallows^\4/, which I’m planning to read later in the year.

When we come to read our e-Bibles we are going to run into some problems. I just can’t study with an e-Bible because you can’t see enough of the text at once (not even on my 24 inch monitor), or mark it up the way you need to make the study worthwhile. I certainly value tools like Logos, especially to check my rusty Greek and Hebrew, but they are just that: tools, not replacements for the text.

I think we’ve already run into a similar problem in churches that rely on song projection instead of hymn books. Sung praise is becoming more like karaoke than sacred worship. The medium has made the shift possible, and the reason is most likely convenience. The congregation may sing more loudly because they no longer have their faces buried in a book, but I find I’ve forgotten the previous line or two very quickly after singing them, whereas with a hymn book I can understand better what I am singing, and comprehend the meaning much more easily. I can’t think I’m alone in that, advancing age and declining memory notwithstanding. What will be the impact of preaching to a congregation who only have an e-Bible? Shorter sermons that engage the text less critically?

It’s not just the ‘E’s in our food* we need to be concerned about, it’s the ‘e-’s in our reading that will have a serious impact on our intellectual and spiritual understanding. Since Christians are people of The Book, this should be a serious concern to us. Convenience is not enough to switch to e-Bibles, just as pragmatism is never enough to make informed and safe moral judgments. I’m going to need more convincing before I make e-reading my staple biblical intake. Tim’s articles have confirmed that for me. Moderation and small doses will certainly be my practice for the forseeable future.

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References:

1. Tim Challies, ’5 Reasons Books Are Better Than E-Book’, challies.com, 17 Aug 2010, http://www.challies.com/articles/5-reasons-books-are-better-than-e-books (accessed 7 Sep 2010)

2. ——, ’5 Reasons E-Books Are Better Than Books’, challies.com, 18 Aug 2010, http://www.challies.com/articles/5-reasons-e-books-are-better-than-books (accessed 7 Sep 2010)

3. ——, ‘Books & E-Books, Media & Messages’, challies.com, 20 Aug 2010, http://www.challies.com/articles/books-e-books-media-messages (accessed 7 Sep 2010)

4. Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010). Carr blogs at Rough Type, http://www.roughtype.com/.

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Notes:

* Approved European food additives all have an ‘E’ prefixed to the universal reference number.

John Starke has interviewed Justin Taylor, Collin Hansen, Kevin DeYoung on the importance and practice of writing well. Clarity Seeking God’s Glory: A Discussion on Writing Well is worth listening to (just over 53 minutes), and there are some helpful resources listed from the discussion. I found it encouraging (I’d read some of those books/authors), and also challenging, since there is always something to learn.

I do a fair bit of reading on the topic of preaching. I usually post links to the best of my reading at my church Web site in the Preaching Resources section, along with any books I discover would be of interest to preachers. Where I can I try to post reviews of books I discover, since I haven’t read all of them. I thought it would be useful to cross-post the new entries here so that others might benefit from them. (The links after “added to” will take you to the page on the church site where they are listed permanently, while other links are to the resources and reviews themselves.)

Here’s the most recent batch of reading and research (added the site on 31 August).

• John D. Brand, ‘How long should a sermon be?‘ Encouraging Expository Excellence, 23 Jul 2010.
  [added to Preaching Techniques Resources]
• Mike Bullmore, interviewed by Collin Hansen, ‘The Greatest Challenge and Privilege of OT Preaching‘, The Gospel Coalition Blog, 20 Aug 2010.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Bible Books, Themes & Doctrines]
• Phillip D. Jensen & Paul Grimmond, The Archer and the Arrow (Matthia Media, 2010) [reviews: Tim Challies (24 Aug 2010)]
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Samuel Lamerson, English Grammar to Ace Biblical Greek (Zondervan, 2004). 112 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0310255345.
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Stephen W. Smith, Dying to Preach (Kregel, 2009). 175 pages. [reviews: The Gospel Coalition (David Murray, 17 Aug 2010)]
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Carl R. Trueman, “The Preacher as Prophet” (audio lecture, 28 Oct 2009), download link via Unashamed Workman (25 Aug 2010).
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]
• Miles V. Van Pelt, English Grammar to Ace Biblical Hebrew (Zondervan, 2010). 112 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0310318316. [reviews: Cross Focused Reviews (Bob Hayton, 9 Aug 2010)]
  [added to Resources for Preachers on Preaching]

Alec Motyer points up the priority of the Word in worship in a footnote to Psalm 122:

The NIV reverses the order of lines in verse 4b. ‘According to statute’ should come first, followed (more properly) by ‘to give thanks to the name’. The word of God must always be the primary reality, even in the place of worship. Worship concentrates on what the Lord has done, prompting thanksgiving, and keeps his name, the truth he has revealed about himself, right in the foreground.^\1/

Just Alec. Just right!

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References:

Alec Motyer, Journey: Psalms for Pilgrim People (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2009) 45, n. 12.