4 New Videos on The Unbelievable Gospel

Posted on January 5, 2015

Here’s a string of new videos to go with my book The Unbelievable Gospel, which won “Book of the Year” in the Evangelism/Apologetics category in the Christianity Today awards. Feel free to use them in teaching, posting on your blog, or however they might be helpful.

What is Re-evangelization? from Jonathan Dodson on Vimeo.

Does Anything Need to Change in Personal Evangelism? from Jonathan Dodson on Vimeo.

Why Do People Find the Gospel Unbelievable? from Jonathan Dodson on Vimeo.

What is a Multi-Dimensional Gospel? – Jonathan Dodson from Jonathan Dodson on Vimeo.

10 Stirring Quotes on the Church

Posted on December 27, 2014

I’m reading through Kevin Vanhoozer’s Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine, and there’s a tweet on every page. So, instead of loading up people’s twitter feeds, I thought it would be more merciful to list out some quotes here.

A brief set up. Vanhoozer is helping us see how doctrine must be done, which is good for the ivory tower preachers, theologians, & bookish types. When Jesus said  to “observe all I have commanded,” he was saying more than “take notes” (xiii). And yet, desire for God, without doctrine, is blind (xiv). Doctrine gives direction for bearing faithful witness, for speaking understanding” (1). How, then, does doctrine speak? Through the church, of course, for good or for ill, depending on you.

Here are a string of quotes that articulate the church’s glorious responsibility to live our doctrine as a theatre of the gospel in and for the world:

The church is ultimately a triune production, a theater of the gospel wherein we begin to see how God in Christ is “reconciling the world to himself.”

 

The church is not only the “people of the book” but also “the (lived) interpretation of the book.”

 

Doctrine serves as a finishing school for disciples by helping them to view their lives as Christ did his, as caught up in the area drama of redemption.

 

The church is the place where Christ rules by his word, which dwells in disciples’ hearts.

 

The church is not an empty space but a peopled place where God exhibits his gospel.

 

The church is the public revelation of the mystery of salvation.

 

The evangelical church finds itself in danger of being indoctrinated by culture rather than by Scripture.

 

The argument in the present book is that the church is a theater of the gospel in which disciples stage previews of the coming kingdom of God.

 

Imagination is biblical reasoning in its Sunday best, lost in wonder at the creativity of the Creator.

 

There is nothing more authentic that being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, the prototype of true humanity.

 

 

Favorite Albums of 2014

Posted on December 24, 2014

Here are my favorite albums from 2014. Midlake’s Antiphon is #1 on purpose.

1. Midlake, Antiphon – This is my most played album of 2014. Favorite tracks: The Old & the Young, Aurora Gone, This Weight

2. Tacks, the Boy Disaster, Treasure Hunters – my favorite “undiscovered” band: http://www.tackstheboydisaster.com.

3. War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream – Bob Dylan meets Fleetwood Mac. Everyone seems to love this band.

4. Broken Bells, After the Disco – Every song is good, again.

5. David Ramirez, All

*Honorable mention to David Gray’s Mutineers, where he made it almost full circle back to White Ladder.

**Miranda Dodson, Merry Christmas Time

Some Favorite Books from 2014

Posted on December 22, 2014

Here are a few books I enjoyed most during 2014. They weren’t necessarily published in 2014, but I sure did like them!

13566654

A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural

Eminent sociologist, Peter Berger, coined the term “signals of transcendence,” referring to the latent signs of divinity in the human experience. Among those signs he includes: order, play, & laughter. A Rumor of Angels is on the shorter side and is a great intro to Berger’s writings.

 

 

 

 

 

9781596388987

On the Brink: Grace for Burned Out Pastor

I’ve said a lot about On the Brink in former posts. It’s choc full of insights, not only for the pastor but for the congregation. It’s theologically rich, pastorally sensitive, challenging where it needs to be, and soaked in grace. If you want to give a pastor a gift, whether they struggle with burnout or not, this is a great book for every pastor to read.

 

 

 

 

UnknownA Moveable Feast

The book is a memoir of reflections from Hemingway’s time in Paris, where he lived with his wife and son in the twenties. If you’ve seen Midnight in Paris, you’ll recall all the artists and literary figures that lived there in this period. Hemingway was right in the mix, living in poverty, betting on horses, spilling ink in cafes, drinking lots of wine, and sizing up the likes of Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald.

 

 

 

 

 

51JW3SR41gL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Called to be Saints: An Invitation to Christian Maturity

I really enjoy the balance, clarity, and pull of Gordon Smith’s writing. His book, Transforming Conversion, was great. Here he argues maturity is a vital dimension of the church’s teaching that often goes neglected. He writes: “Congregations that do not pursue with passion and vigor a dynamic maturity in Christ are surely as fraudulent as a hospital that is not passionate and vigorous in its pursuit of healing and holiness.”

 

 

 

51eS-JT1QAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_Unbroken

Powerful story, great writing, and stirring account of Laura Hildebrand.

Unknown-2Sabbath as Resistance: Saying NO to the CULTURE OF NOW

Americans can’t read and reflect enough on the sabbath. Once a cultural fixation, the sabbath has largely left the Christian field of view. Bruggeman argues that it is “the most difficult and most important” of the Ten Commandments. The Preface is worth the book, where he makes a distinction between the Adamic man–who creates through work, and the Mosaic man–who cultivates reflection and worship through inaction and devotion.