A Reflection on Pen, Parchment, and Professors Dear Reader, I have a question for you: How many college and seminary graduates can say that they recognize the signatures on their diploma and that they’re known by those who signed it? Second question: Do you know the people in your classes and do they know you? […]
On Friday, May 17, Bethlehem College and Seminary held our fifteenth annual commencement exercises. This service of Godward celebration featured stirring testimonies from three graduating students, an address from Chancellor John Piper, and a charge from Pastor Steven Lee. By God’s grace, we conferred degrees on fifty Bethlehem graduates who will, we pray, make […]
“Visual Exegesis” is the process of drawing out (“exegeting”) the meaning of a text through a visual medium. It differs from other visual arts in that its goal is explicitly didactic—even “apocalyptic.” As with the verbal exegesis of a sermon, visual exegesis seeks to unveil and proclaim the authorial intent of its textual source. In […]
At Bethlehem College we study “Great Books” (i.e., excellent works of literature, history, philosophy, and theology) in light of the Greatest Book (i.e., the Bible). An example of how we do this can be seen in exploring the question: Are justice and mercy compatible? The Bible is our authority and most trusted guide for answering […]
My mentor Don Carson told me a story about a time he counseled a husband and wife who were wrestling with whether the Bible teaches complementarianism or egalitarianism. They finally said something like this: “We concede that the Bible teaches complementarianism, but we still don’t like it.” They believed it only grudgingly. Carson replied something […]
The Gospels provide scant details about Jesus Christ’s appearance, his education, his childhood in Nazareth, and various other matters. The Evangelists give representative, yet selective examples of his teaching and mighty works. Yet Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each devote extended attention to the final days of Jesus’s ministry, which we often call “Holy Week.” […]
Next month, we look forward to celebrating the end of another academic year at Bethlehem College and Seminary with our commencement. As a professor, there are few better ways to wrap up the year than with the encouragement of seeing our students receive the reward for their hard work. Watching them walk across the finish […]
We are eager to share stories of how Bethlehem students are being salt and light in this urban setting. This Bethlehem Seminary Apprentice recently shared an expanded version of this message during a monthly meeting of the staff and faculty. Richard Baxter, a seventeenth-century Puritan pastor, once said, “preach as a dying man to […]
A dear and generous friend of Bethlehem College and Seminary approached me last week and inquired of The Million Dollar+ Challenge. “It seems to be just sitting there,” she observed with genuine concern. I reassured her. “Oh, God’s work is never ‘just sitting there,’” I said. To be sure there is a need that must […]
It was yet again a blessing to return to Vietnam to teach pastors in March 2025, my eighth trip over there, this time with my Bethlehem Seminary student, Joshua Wilks. As always, this was under the auspices of ACTS International, whose mission statement reads: “ACTS International seeks to plant churches among the unreached peoples of […]