Jonah Bibliography

Resources I Used for Jonah: A Reluctant Prophet and the Heart of God, preached at Central Baptist Church in Luling, TX in 2021.

Allen, Leslie C. The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. Edited by Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1976.

Alter, Robert. The Art of Biblical Narrative. Revised. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2011.

AP. “The Titanic Is Vanishing. An Expedition Will Monitor the Ship’s Decay ‘before It All Disappears.’” The Associated Press, July 2, 2021. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-decaying-expedition/.

Baker, David W., T. Desmond Alexander, and Bruce K. Waltke. Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. Edited by Donald J. Wiseman. Vol. 26. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL; Nottingham, England: InterVarsity Press, 1988.

Cary, Phillip. Jonah. Edited by R.R. Reno. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2008.

Clinton, J. Robert. The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development. 2nd ed. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2018.

Dever, Mark. “Crushed for Our Inquities: Isaiah 52:13–53:12.” In It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement, 49–63. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010.

Erickson, Milldar J. Introducing Christian Doctrine. Edited by L. Arnold Hustad. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.

Fraser, Doug. “‘I Was Completely inside’: Lobster Diver Swallowed by Humpback Whale off Provincetown.” Cape Cod Times, June 11, 2021. Accessed June 13, 2021. https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2021/06/11/humpback-whale-catches-michael-packard-lobster-driver-mouth-proviencetown-cape-cod/7653838002/.

Futato, Mark D. Interpreting the Psalms: An Exegetical Handbook. Handbooks for Old Testament Exegesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2007.

Kromminga, C.G. “Repentance.” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.

Lunde, J.M. “Repentance.” Edited by T. Desmond Alexander, Brian S. Rosner, D. A. Carson, and Graeme Goldsworthy. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity and Diversity of Scripture. Downers Grove, IL; Nottingham, England: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Peterson, Eugene H. Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992.

Timmer, Daniel C. A Gracious and Compassionate God: Mission, Salvation and Spirituality in the Book of Jonah. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Downers Grove, IL; Nottingham, England: InterVarsity; Apollos, 2011.

Watson, Thomas. The Doctrine of Repentance. Repr. 2009. Puritan Paperbacks. Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1668.

Wax, Trevin. “Expressive Individualism: What Is It?” The Gospel Coalition, October 16, 2018. Accessed July 24, 2021. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/expressive-individualism-what-is-it/.

Reading the Classics

Achilles

I took a mythology class in high school and made an A in Western Civ, but I haven’t read any of the classic literature of Western Civilization.

After considering the influence of classical education on the intellectual development of many of my theological heroes, I hope to rectify my ignorance with the time remaining in my life.

Here are a couple of reading lists I’ve found, but I’ll keep looking for better and more historic groupings.

Cornell Classics

Princeton Classics

Bede on Shepherds

Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 1.7 in Arthur A. Just, ed., Luke, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 42:

The shepherds did not keep silent about the hidden mysteries that they had come to know by divine influence. They told whomever they could. Spiritual shepherds in the church are appointed especially for this, that they may proclaim the mysteries of the Word of God and that they may show to their listeners that the marvels which they have learned in the Scriptures are to be marveled at.

Small Town

Bill Frisell is one of the most melodic guitarists of our time, but in this arrangement of an earlier piece of his he shines by laying an atmospheric backdrop for Gregoire Maret’s harmonica. This tune was originally written for the soundtrack to the documentary, Disfarmer.

Listen to Small Town on Spotify. Gregoire Maret · Song · 2020.

Islay Burns on Revivals and Preaching

2) “The people must be plied from day to day with plain, faithful, Scriptural preaching *to* them, and not merely *before* them.” (202)

3) This preaching is characterized by "simple, practical truth forcibly presented, illustrated, and applied.” (204)

— Brad Mills (@bradmillsa) October 6, 2020

Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

This Sunday, I’ll begin a series through the book of Daniel. I’ve been reading and preparing all summer, but only just stumbled on this issue of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology on “Preaching Christ from the Old Testament.” Faithful expositors know that all of Scripture is about Jesus (see Luke 24:27), but it’s not always clear how to “get to him” from a specific text. Helpfully, this issue of SBJT features three different approaches to Genesis 15:1–6 from Daniel Block, Elliott Johnson, and Vern Poythress and responses from 10 other scholars. I look forward to digging in!

The Appropriate Response to Prophecy

From John Goldingay, Daniel (WBC), p. 263:

“But the fact that God has spoken through the prophets does not mean that all the believer does is sit, newspaper in hand, awaiting the outcome. The appropriate response to prophecy is prayer.”

Eschatology in 2020

We know this will “turn out okay,” because God has unveiled his purpose for our world in Christ—the reconciliation of all things in Him—and is now accomplishing it despite the presence of malevolent spiritual forces, pestilence, and a humanity more opposed to Him at every turn.

— Brad Mills (@bradmillsa) May 14, 2020

With this awareness in mind we are free from the distractions of those who invest minor details with major significance and are ready to hear Jesus say, “...the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt 24:12, 13).

— Brad Mills (@bradmillsa) May 14, 2020

Calvin on Psalm 127 and Politics

From Calvin’s Commentary on the Book of Psalms (ed. James Anderson, pp. 105–106):

Calvin on Psalm 127

Four Categories of Christ Centered Sermons

In Christ-Centered Preaching, Bryan Chapell identifies the four themes that Christ-Centered Sermons often address (301–302):

1. Grace despite our sin

2. Grace cancelling the guilt of sin

3. Grace defeating the power of sin

4. Grace compelling holiness

How slick and weasel-Like is Self-Pride

“But O how slick and weasel-like is self-pride! Our learnedness creeps into our sermons with a clever quotation which adds nothing to God’s glory, but a bit to our own…

…But humility rests upon a holy blindedness, like the blindness of him who looks steadily into the sun. For wherever he turns his eyes on earth, there he sees only the sun.” (Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, 39.)

5 Questions for Preaching

Chip Scanlan suggests five questions for writing stories:

1. Why does it matter?
2. What's the point?
3. Why is this story being told?
4. What does it say about life, about the world, about the times we live in?
​5. What is my story really about? In one word.

Could we modify them for preaching?

1. Why does it matter?
2. What's the point?
3. Why is this story sermon being told preached?
4. What does it say about life, about the world, about the times we live in, about Christ?
​5. What is my story sermon really about? In one word.

An Interview and Article on "the Opiate of the Theologians”

I stumbled onto the following interview and article with Michael McClymond, the author of the massive and definitive work on universal salvation, The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism (Baker, 2018).

• An Interview at Christianity Today, March 2019

• An Article at First Things, December 2019

The Best Commentaries on Exodus

I’ve just wrapped up a sermon series covering Exodus 1–15. During my study I found the following commentaries the most helpful.

• Durham, John I. Exodus. Vol. 3. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1987. — Like other volumes in the Word Commentary series, Durham’s work on Exodus offers technical discussion of the Hebrew text, including addressing relevant source-critical questions. (While Durham engages in discussion of redactors and JEDPH, he takes a largely canonical approach to the text). I found his comments and summaries to get to the heart of the text, especially as it functioned in the life of Israel.

• Pink, Arthur W. Gleanings in Exodus. Chicago: Moody Press, 1979. — Pink shines in his ability to draw out the theological and Christological implications of a given passage. For example, in his discussion of Exodus 7, “A Hardened Heart,” he notes three reasons why God allows suffering: “for the complete testing of human responsibility, the trying of the saints’ faith, and the manifestation of all the perfections and attributes of Deity” (53).

Other Resources Used:

• Stuart, Douglas K. Exodus. Vol. 2. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006.

• Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Delivered. “Be” Commentary Series. Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub., 1998.

• Meyer, F.B. Moses: Servant of God. New Kinsington, PA: Whitaker House, 2014.

Praying for Revival is Dangerous

“Many a church is praying for a revival that does not really desire a revival. They think they do, for to their minds a revival means an increase of membership, an increase of income, an increase of reputation among the churches, but if they knew what a real revival meant, what a searching of hearts on the part of professed Christians would be involved, what a radical transformation of individual, domestic and social life would be brought about, and many other things that would come to pass if the Spirit of God was poured out in reality and power; if all this were known, the real cry of the church would be:

’O God, keep us from having a revival.’”

R.A. Torrey, How to Pray, somewhere in chapter three (https://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Voice/How.to.Pray.html#CHAPTER%20III)

The Joys of the Elder's Chair

Mark Dever speaks to why endurance is such a necessary virtue for the Christian minister. In this talk, Dever aims to exhort pastors to not miss out on the joys of ministry, such as the joy of resting in the sufficiency of Scripture, the joy of hearing others preach better sermons than you, the joy of seeing others converted, and other joys.

Virtues in Affection

Walter Hilton in The Scale of Perfection (1.14):

There is many a man that has virtues, such as lowliness, patience, charity towards his fellow Christians and so on, only in his reason and will, but without any spiritual delight or love in them. Often he feels grudging, sad and bitter as he practices them, and nevertheless he does it, stirred only by reason and the fear of God. This man has virtues in his reason and will, but not love of them in affection. But when by the grace of Jesus and by spiritual and bodily exercise the reason is turned into light and the will into love, then he has virtues in affection, for he has so well gnawed the bitter bark of the nut that he has broken it and feeds upon the kernel.