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Showing posts with label Pilgrim's Progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pilgrim's Progress. Show all posts

Thursday, 10 April 2014

A collection of snippets from the interweb

Here are several posts, articles and videos that seem worth a moment of your time:

Schreiner on the New Perspective on Paul - "the Reformers were fundamentally right. What Luther and Calvin said in their day was a right understanding of Paul. They had a good and right understanding of the gospel."

The Church needs Philosophy which, likewise, needs the Church - "if history teaches us anything, it is that we are fickle. We are too easily tossed to and fro by the winds of popular culture, base appetites, and short memories. We need to take the long view, and now, because of the influence of prominent Christian philosophers such as Dallas Willard, Alvin Plantinga, and William Lane Craig it is a good time to remind the church of the usefulness, indeed the necessity, of philosophy in service to Christ."

When is Christian saved in Pilgrim's Progress? - One of my favourite books, through which I was saved. A must read for all Christians (and, preferably, unbelievers too). Nonetheless, a problem has plagued many, including Spurgeon, in that Christian's burden only rolls away at the foot of the cross despite having already entered the wicket gate. So, was Christian saved at the gate or the cross? Spurgeon said of Bunyan: "“If he meant to show what usually happens, he was right; but if he meant to show what ought to have happened, he was wrong.” Was Spurgeon right or had Bunyan something else in mind?

Why moralism is not the gospel - Al Mohler talks through the difference between moralism and the gospel message. "We are justified by faith alone, saved by grace alone, and redeemed from our sin by Christ alone. Moralism produces sinners who are (potentially) better behaved. The Gospel of Christ transforms sinners into the adopted sons and daughters of God."

Thursday, 26 September 2013

Do you know "Talkative"?




In light of my last post - The Guardian's 100 best novels: No 1 - The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan (1678) - I thought I would share this.

'Do you know "talkative"?' details an excerpt from The Pilgrims Progress in which Faithful and Christian encounter Talkative.

It is an interesting little article worth a moment of your time.

Monday, 23 September 2013

The Guardian's 100 best novels: No 1 - The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan (1678)


I was delighted to see this in today's Guardian. Delighted for two reasons: (1) It is an absolutely magnificent book; a classic in the truest sense, and; (2) It is about the only piece of fiction that has genuinely changed my life; through it I became a Christian.

True to form, the Guardian insist on seeing the book as "an allegory of state repression" without paying heed to the patently obvious allegory actually intended by Bunyan.

Nevertheless, I'm so pleased the Guardian counted it amongst their 100 best novels - placing it at No. 1 no less - and always think on it with fondness. If you only ever read one "classic" in your lifetime, make it this one.