Life and Books and Everything

Relevant Christianity doesn’t stay relevant for long.

In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions on the decline of the mainline church.

In this freewheeling conversation, Kevin talks to Jonny Gibson about his life, his books, and some of everything. Gibson, an Old Testament professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, opens up about the loss of his daughter in 2016, why he believes in 24-hour creation days, and the need for old forms and old prayers to help us in our daily devotions.

Timestamps:

Intro, sponsor, and guest [0:00-4:46]

The State of the UK Church(es) [4:47-15:34]

Edited Series on the Five Points [15:34-20:28]

More Biography [20:29-22:32]

An Apologetic for Discourse Analysis [22:33-29:22]

Creation: Literal Days or Literary Framework? [29:23-40:57]

God's Goodness in the Loss of a Child [40:58-54:10]

Be Thou My Vision and Private Worship [54:11-1:01:03]

Thomas Witherow and Essential Non-essentials [1:01:04-1:12:17]

In this bonus episode, Kevin talks with historian and WTS president, Peter Lillback, about the life and ministry of John Witherspoon. In particular, they discuss Witherspoon’s treatises on justification and regeneration, a new (old) book being published by Westminster Seminary Press. Listen in as Kevin and Pete talk about their shared love of history and old books.

The fundamental story of the world is not the story of good guys and bad guys, or of oppressors and the oppressed, but of sinners and a Savior.

In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions for Holy Week, examining how we are all sinners in need of a Savior.

In this wide-ranging discussion, Kevin sits down (actually, they were both standing up) with his RTS colleague, John Fesko, to talk about covenant theology. In addition to doing a deep dive on the covenant of redemption and the covenant of works, Kevin and John talk about life and ministry and writing more broadly. They finish their time by talking about a never-before-translated-into-English volume of Vos’s lectures on natural theology. Want to know more about biblical theology, systematic theology, historical theology, exegetical theology? This episode has a little bit of something for everyone.

Timestamps:

Intro and Sponsor [0:00-1:34]Guest Intro: John Fesko [1:35-7:12]Pursuing Ministry or Academia? [7:13-15:44]Why Write 1,500+ Pages on Covenant Theology? [15:45-21:37]The Research and Writing Process [21:38-29:54]Is the Covenant of Redemption Biblical? [29:55-38:56]Is There More than One Divine Will? [38:57-44:15]Is the Covenant of Works Biblical? [44:16-55:29]Is Republication Biblical? [55:30-1:03:12]Geerhardus Vos' Natural Theology [1:03:13-1:13:37]

I know, it’s complicated. But don’t worry, the less you think about it the more it will make sense.

In this bonus episode, Kevin talks with the brilliant artist, Don Clark, Kevin’s co-collaborator on The Biggest Story and on (their new book) The Biggest Story Bible Storybook. In this fascinating conversation, Don talks about the joys and challenges of working on such a massive project and how he goes about the artistic process.

The historic liturgy of the Christian church did not originate in evangelicalism, or in the Reformation, or in Europe. It grew out of Old Testament (and then New Testament) assumptions about what it meant for God’s people to gather and renew the covenant.

The band gets back together to talk about lessons learned from the two biggest events of the past two years: Covid and the war in Ukraine. Without pretending to be experts in infectious diseases or in international affairs, the three amigos explore what we can learn about humility, evil, tradeoffs, and prayer. The episode concludes with an update on what everyone has been reading over the past couple months.

Timestamps:

Intro and Sponsor [0:00-3:13]

Lessons After (?) the Pandemic [3:14-22:58]

Lessons (So Far?) From Ukraine [22:59-36:28)

Lessons (Right Now) From Books We're Reading [36:27-47:51]

In an age where digital immediacy can be confused for personal intimacy, we often forget that public communication will not have all the features of private communication.