If you’ve not heard of William Stuntz before, I encourage you to get to know him. Stuntz, 52, is an accomplished, highly regarded professor at Harvard Law School. He is also a Christian (he attends Park Street Church) who speaks very honestly and winsomely about his Christian faith.
And one other thing about Stuntz: he is dying from cancer.
His reflections on death are poignant, thoughtful, and hope-filled (here’s one interview at Patheos; here’s an abbreviated version at WSJ; and here’s his testimony given at Park Street).
There’s a lot that can be said about Stuntz, but I was struck by “one of his famous phrases” as reported in a recent article about him. The phrase is this: “I hadn’t though of that.” One of Stuntz’s former students reflects on the power of these simple words: “Think of how much he accomplishes with that one phrase in the classroom…Somehow, his students managed to come out of of every conversation with him feeling like we were tenured Harvard professors, or could be, someday.”
I can’t recall when I’ve come across a more practical and challenging account of humility. Here’s a celebrated Harvard professor unafraid to admit to his young, inexperienced, less knowledgeable students that they could think of ideas he hadn’t thought of before. Count me convicted. How easily I can allow my congregation or my elders or my pastoral interns or my wife or my kids to keep on assuming that my knowledge of the Bible, of theology, of the Christian life in general is beyond tracing out.
Of course, they don’t really assume that. But any pastor or leader knows what I’m talking about. When you have a position of prestige or gifts of intellect, people make a habit of defaulting to your area of learning. And how comfortable we are to play the expert.
But if we’re honest (and why wouldn’t we be except for pride?), we don’t know it all. We aren’t models of everything. Even our youngest pupils will see things we haven’t seen before. So why not admit it?
What beautiful humility to utter that simple phrase: “I hadn’t thought of that.” It encourages others, may even inspire others, while also demonstrating a proper sense of our own finitude.
I’m grateful for William Stuntz, for his Christian faith, his vocation, and today, for his example of humility. I have much to learn and am glad to learn from others farther ahead in the race. I want to say “I hadn’t thought of that” more often, because, well, there are billions of things I’ve never thought of before. No sense in hiding the obvious. There’s only one Know-It-All in the universe, and he will not share his glory with another.
Kevin DeYoung
thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
An Interview with Eric Metaxas on Bonhoeffer
Below are three questions I recently asked Eric Metaxas, author of the new major biography on Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor-theologian in Germany who was hanged for conspiring to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer’s popular works like Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship continue to be widely read, but few know the full story of his courageous, fascinating life. Metaxas tells the story and tells it well.
What drew you to write on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and what effect did this research have on your own life?
There seems to me to be absolutely no one like Bonhoeffer. He seems extremely modern somehow. Greg Thornbury at Union University has called him a “Church Father for the Post-Modern Era.” Somehow that captures it for me. I think of him as a hero in the faith we desperately need to hear about right now, at this time in history. He shows us how to be Christians, with courage, in a unique way.
But this story is very personal for me, too. My mother grew up in Germany, and she lost her father at age nine during the war. I see Bonhoeffer as a voice for those who couldn’t speak out. First for the Jews, of course, but also for the Germans like my grandfather, who knew that Hitler was evil. My research into Bonhoeffer somehow connected me to my own family history and to German history in a way that has changed me forever. This is my history and my family’s history.
Do you think Bonhoeffer was justified in conspiring to kill Hitler?
In a word: yes. Bonhoeffer knew what was going on with the Jews. His family was well-connected, and he knew the worst stories of what was happening. He saw it as the plain duty of a Christian to protect the weak and the innocent. To sit back while this was going on, while he knew it was going on, was simply unthinkable. It would have been nothing less than cowardice. He felt that God Himself was calling him to act boldly, in faith. To step out and act. It was what his faith and his theology led him to do. That’s very important to understand, and if I’ve finally clarified that somewhat in my book I think I’ve done something very valuable.
Bonhoeffer once famously advocated “religionless Christianity.” What did he mean by that?
What he meant by that is completely and shockingly different from what people have said he meant! This is another reason I’m so excited about people reading my book. For decades this has been misunderstood, and it’s muddied his legacy. What Bonhoeffer meant was that the German church had failed. Hitler’s rise and the horrors that attended that rise—especially in the Holocaust—were proof of that. Bonhoeffer was saying that the Church must really be the Church, must be a bold and uncompromising witness to Jesus. But what they had mainly been up to that point was merely “religious” in the negative sense. The difference between the dead religion of the German churches and the “religionless Christianity” of real faith in Jesus Christ is the difference between fig leaves (“dead religion”) and the Blood of Jesus Christ. One was a sham that did nothing. It certainly didn’t fool God. The other was the only thing that could stand against evil. “Religionless Christianity” was true faith and obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every sphere—not just some circumscribed “religious” sphere, but in every sphere of life. People have gotten this so wrong it’s staggering. I hope that will change once and for all when they read my book.
You’ve written a major biography on Wilberforce, and now one on Bonhoeffer. Who’s next for you?
Merv Griffin. Just kidding! I have so much else I want to do, but writing another biography is not one of them. This book took so much out of me I simply cannot think about doing another one. But I know the Lord will use it to His glory for His purposes. And He’ll show me what to do next.
From Justin Taylor, thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/04/26
What drew you to write on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and what effect did this research have on your own life?
There seems to me to be absolutely no one like Bonhoeffer. He seems extremely modern somehow. Greg Thornbury at Union University has called him a “Church Father for the Post-Modern Era.” Somehow that captures it for me. I think of him as a hero in the faith we desperately need to hear about right now, at this time in history. He shows us how to be Christians, with courage, in a unique way.
But this story is very personal for me, too. My mother grew up in Germany, and she lost her father at age nine during the war. I see Bonhoeffer as a voice for those who couldn’t speak out. First for the Jews, of course, but also for the Germans like my grandfather, who knew that Hitler was evil. My research into Bonhoeffer somehow connected me to my own family history and to German history in a way that has changed me forever. This is my history and my family’s history.
Do you think Bonhoeffer was justified in conspiring to kill Hitler?
In a word: yes. Bonhoeffer knew what was going on with the Jews. His family was well-connected, and he knew the worst stories of what was happening. He saw it as the plain duty of a Christian to protect the weak and the innocent. To sit back while this was going on, while he knew it was going on, was simply unthinkable. It would have been nothing less than cowardice. He felt that God Himself was calling him to act boldly, in faith. To step out and act. It was what his faith and his theology led him to do. That’s very important to understand, and if I’ve finally clarified that somewhat in my book I think I’ve done something very valuable.
Bonhoeffer once famously advocated “religionless Christianity.” What did he mean by that?
What he meant by that is completely and shockingly different from what people have said he meant! This is another reason I’m so excited about people reading my book. For decades this has been misunderstood, and it’s muddied his legacy. What Bonhoeffer meant was that the German church had failed. Hitler’s rise and the horrors that attended that rise—especially in the Holocaust—were proof of that. Bonhoeffer was saying that the Church must really be the Church, must be a bold and uncompromising witness to Jesus. But what they had mainly been up to that point was merely “religious” in the negative sense. The difference between the dead religion of the German churches and the “religionless Christianity” of real faith in Jesus Christ is the difference between fig leaves (“dead religion”) and the Blood of Jesus Christ. One was a sham that did nothing. It certainly didn’t fool God. The other was the only thing that could stand against evil. “Religionless Christianity” was true faith and obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every sphere—not just some circumscribed “religious” sphere, but in every sphere of life. People have gotten this so wrong it’s staggering. I hope that will change once and for all when they read my book.
You’ve written a major biography on Wilberforce, and now one on Bonhoeffer. Who’s next for you?
Merv Griffin. Just kidding! I have so much else I want to do, but writing another biography is not one of them. This book took so much out of me I simply cannot think about doing another one. But I know the Lord will use it to His glory for His purposes. And He’ll show me what to do next.
From Justin Taylor, thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/04/26
Monday, April 19, 2010
The Blessings of Consecutive Expository Preaching by John Starke
Christopher Ash’s new The Priority of Preaching (Christian Focus) is a short and punchy book on the significance of the Word preached every Sunday. One of the highlights of this excellent book is the Appendix “Give God the Microphone.” Ash gives seven blessings of consecutive expository preaching. They are insightful and should encourage us to rely on the wisdom of God Sunday after Sunday. Here is the list:
1. Consecutive expository preaching safeguards God’s agenda against being hijacked by ours.
2. Consecutive expository preaching makes it harder for us to abuse the Bible by reading it out of context.
3. Consecutive expository preaching dilutes the selectivity of the preacher.
4. Consecutive expository preaching keeps the content of the sermon fresh and surprising.
5. Consecutive expository preaching makes for variety in the style of the sermon.
6. Consecutive expository preaching models good nourishing Bible reading for the ordinary Christian.
7. Consecutive expository preaching helps us preach the whole Christ from the whole of Scripture.
John Starke is the managing editor of TGC Reviews. He and his wife Jena live with their three children in Louisville, KY where John is a Master of Divinity student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They are members of Clifton Baptist Church. John blogs regularly at John Ploughman.
1. Consecutive expository preaching safeguards God’s agenda against being hijacked by ours.
2. Consecutive expository preaching makes it harder for us to abuse the Bible by reading it out of context.
3. Consecutive expository preaching dilutes the selectivity of the preacher.
4. Consecutive expository preaching keeps the content of the sermon fresh and surprising.
5. Consecutive expository preaching makes for variety in the style of the sermon.
6. Consecutive expository preaching models good nourishing Bible reading for the ordinary Christian.
7. Consecutive expository preaching helps us preach the whole Christ from the whole of Scripture.
John Starke is the managing editor of TGC Reviews. He and his wife Jena live with their three children in Louisville, KY where John is a Master of Divinity student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They are members of Clifton Baptist Church. John blogs regularly at John Ploughman.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Luther on John 14:6
'I am the way.' --John 14:6
Christ is not only the Way on which we must begin our journey, but He is also the right and the safe Way we must walk to the end. We dare not be deflected from this. . . . Here Christ wants to say: 'When you have apprehended Me in faith, you are on the right way, which is reliable and does not mislead you. But only see that you remain and continue on it.' . . . Christ wants to tear and turn our hearts from all trust in anything else and pin them to Himself alone.
--Martin Luther, sermon on John 14:6, in Luther's Works, 24:47, 48, 50
Luther is teaching me that the Christian life can easily be boiled down into two simple steps.
1. Trust in Christ
2. See #1
Dane Ortlund, dogmadoxa.blogspot.com/2010/04/luther-on-john-146.html
Christ is not only the Way on which we must begin our journey, but He is also the right and the safe Way we must walk to the end. We dare not be deflected from this. . . . Here Christ wants to say: 'When you have apprehended Me in faith, you are on the right way, which is reliable and does not mislead you. But only see that you remain and continue on it.' . . . Christ wants to tear and turn our hearts from all trust in anything else and pin them to Himself alone.
--Martin Luther, sermon on John 14:6, in Luther's Works, 24:47, 48, 50
Luther is teaching me that the Christian life can easily be boiled down into two simple steps.
1. Trust in Christ
2. See #1
Dane Ortlund, dogmadoxa.blogspot.com/2010/04/luther-on-john-146.html
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