Theologian Trading Cards

My Amazon review of Theologian Trading Cards:


I really wanted to like this, if only for the novel idea of theologians in a fun card format, but there are just too many negative disappointments that I had to give this a one-star (which more than likely means not many helpful marks. Whatever.)


I could initially go into this with the approach of "well, it didn't have A, or B, or C" (and was my deck missing a Spurgeon card?) but the fact is the problem seems to go a lot further than that in that certain categories just, well, aren't broad enough. You could have had all 300 cards based just on the puritans alone, but instead it seems like all we get is a skimpy selection of different eras of the church, and an unfortunately large serving of Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholicism (selections it seemed aimed to be more focused on the favorable ones, with not as much attention on the torturing, killing and "comfy chair" variety of Roman Catholics from history - and how is it that Pope Benedict [the one who you'll recall granted plenary indulgences, you know, the unscriptural practice that would make most Reformers spin in their collective graves] manages to make the deck as a very modern figure, but we don't see any other equally important modern theologians of a protestant variety like R.C. Sproul or John Macarthur? What floored me even more was the inclusion of Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Marx. In a box labeled "Theologian Trading Cards". Keyword being "theologian". What the heck?


To me it feels like this entire presentation and packaging was a misnomer, and a more accurate label should have been something like, "Some theologians cherry-picked from a broad ecumenical swath, some of debatable significance, some of questionable orthodoxy, and some notably of distinctly anti-Christian bent Trading Cards". I'm surprised with some of these wonky characters in the box that he didn't include an Aimee Semple McPherson card or Fred Phelps. Who knows.


Additionally frustrating was the frequency of finding cards with no image. Give me a break!!! How often does that happen with sports cards? "Oooh, trade me for your card with NO PICTURE on it." That was frustrating enough alone to merit the one star and to have me considering returning the set to Amazon. If you can't find a picture for these guys from a Google image search, you do the next best thing: commission someone to do up a quick drawing based on what they think the guy likely looked like! For crying out loud, it doesn't have to be a Rembrandt portrait, just give us a best-guess sketch of the person. Blank images were a huge, huge disappointment.


A final gripe was the packaging, as each 'team' in the box was tightly bound in hard to remove plastic that I had to dig at with a knife to get open, and all along I'm wondering, what exactly was the reason for sealing this entire set, and then within the set itself, sealing up each team? Did that really matter? I don't collect sports cards, but is that how they do it when you buy them in box sets? Do they do that with Pokemon cards or something?


Again, I wanted to like this, but even if there had been some sticks of bubble gum included in the set, the content was just a little too skewed, imbalanced and not enough.

'Practice of the Presence of God' by Brother Lawrence

'Practice of the Presence of God' is a short and insightful work about walking closer with God written in a series of conversations and collected letters from Brother Lawrence, it serves to be both convicting and, at times, questionable. Lawrence's convictions are powerful and frequently humbling, and there is much to admire and emulate in seeking the constant, abiding communication with God (“a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him, or for His sake, and to love Him only.”) Lawrences passion of that communion is noble and something to strive to emulate. What I did find lacking, however, was a Christocentric approach to his description of communion with God, to the degree that at times reading this the communication described felt almost like a modalistic/unitarian exercise, and I found myself longing to hear Christ referenced just a little bit more anywhere (for instance, at one point Lawrence says “we know also that we can do all things...” and I was hoping he was going to lead into “...through Christ who strengthens us”, but instead he capped the thought as “...with the grace of GOD”, which is true, but the trinitiaran aspect of Lawrence's theology just seemed lacking in this work. I wanted more of the work and inter-mediation of Christ, and I wanted more of the powerful work of Holy Spirit's sanctification. As it stands, I believe Christ was mentioned twice and the Holy Spirit once. In any case, this is a short and lively read and what I'd describe as take what you can from it but tread carefully.

Studying Theology as a Servant of Jesus by John M. Frame

I received the booklet 'Studying Theology as a Servant of Jesus' by John M. Frame from RTS and thought it was excellent. I thought this part was especially note-worthy:

"If you try to minister to people without a solid knowledge of God’s Word and an ability to apply it to human needs, you are worse than a physician who treats people in medical ignorance. Worse, because the consequences can be eternal.

Thinking as such does not distort or deny the Word of God; sin does. The anti‑intellectual too often focuses on only part of the problem, the depravity of the intellect, minimizing the effects of sin in other areas of life. On the other hand, in doing so he overlooks significant God‑given tools of sanctification and thus loses the full impact of the Word upon him. But one with a fully biblical concept of theology will use all these means to apply the Word to God's people. We should use to the fullest all the tools of learning: linguistics, archaeology, reason, imagination, logic, and so on.

Through such theology we will become more obedient, and through obedience we will become better theologians. If theology is a confrontation with the living God in His Word, then we dare not bring before Him any less than our best. To do so is sinful complacency, arrogant pride."

131 Christians Everyone Should Know - Book Review

Review of 131 Christians Everyone Should Know that I just posted over at Amazon.

"131 Christians..." really proved to be something of a hit or miss title for me.  I started to incorporate it as part of our family worship, but ultimately abandoned it entirely for a number of reasons.  First is that most of these biographies, far from being captivating insights into these people's lives, actually reads like a droll, static textbook from a secular college.  Even otherwise exciting accounts of people like Hudson Taylor and David Livingston are here presented as somewhat cold and factual, without some of the more exciting episodes or accounts of the miraculous (Taylor in particular, whom I've read a number of biographies of, has some thrilling accounts of God's miraculous provisions, but the 'Christian History' editors decided to leave those out, which is a little bit telling of the ambiguity of their genuine Christian perspective.

The thing I realized is that this isn't "131 Vibrant, Faithful Christians of a Solid, Biblical Testimony", but rather a breezy overview of 131 folks, some stupendous (Calvin), some not so (Finney), that these editors somehow thought worth of writing dull biographies of.  The flavor seems cold on Calvinism, mild on the historic misdeeds of Roman Catholicism, and at times leans favorably towards mystical flavor - which today appeals more to the new agey crowd (and shoppers at Lifeway stores) but not necessarily to me.

Notably missing, much to the detriment of this book, were Christians like John Owen, Richard Baxter, J. Gresham Manchen, Martyn-Lloyd Jones, Cornelius Van Til, or even missionaries like Amy Carmichael or George Mueller, and yet the book included T.S. Elliot and Billy Sunday?

Most troubling is the inclusion of Henry VIII, who's section the editors ridiculous titled as "Defender of the Faith" (a title given to Henry by a Pope, mind you.)  Henry was a murderous adulterer, with an awful track record and hardly what I'd consider a "Christian" that I "must know".  I'm surprised the authors of the book didn't give "Bloody Mary" a chapter with another Papal-approved title such as, "Mary, Darling of Roman Catholicism".  The lack of genuine Christian history is really showing here as the authors completely overlooked Lady Jane Grey, Henry VIII's martyred daugher who had a powerful testimony of faithfulness during her short life, and would truly belong in a book about Christians that you should know.  This book is genuinely about "Man for All Seasons" bad theological history going on here.

One star simply because this serves as a mediocre overview of some historical figures throughout church history, but there have been far better biographies written.  In fact, much more highly recommended would be John Piper's Christian Biographies at Desiring God.  These are far more energetic, emotional and edifying, unlike what the Christian History editors have presented here.  In fact, some comments from Piper on Erasmus really seem to fit the spirit of how the writers presented this "131 Christians" book.  These Christian History edits, as with Erasmus, seem to have a "touch of irony, a superior ambiguity", as if "to be dogmatic about the full theology of Christ was to be distasteful, below the best, elite humanist heights."  I think Piper nailed it with Erasmus, and the glove fits this stale title as well.

Skip it, and check out Piper's bios instead.

Biblical Genres

• Legal
• Narrative
• Poetry (songs, praise, laments, stanzas of Hebrew thought)
• Wisdom literature (Proverbial wisdom)
• Gospels - both doctrine and narrative.
• Logical Discourse - the epistles.  Books like Romans.
• Prophetic - future prophecy.  Vast have already happened.

The epistles are primarily Paul.

• Expository - expounding various turths and doctrines
• Hortatory - "Go out and do" (indicative vs. imperative)

Structural analysis - every writing has a structure that can be observed.

What is a "Confessional" Church?

I recently found a website for a Reformed church that listed it as a "Confessional" one, and I honestly wasn't sure what this meant, so I did a little research.  Initially, I thought that "confessional" merely referred to a church that followed the teaching of the Westminster Divines, but it's actually more than that.  A confessional church is one that adheres to the divines (with larger and shorter catechisms), but also to the Three Forms of Unity as well, which is composed of the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dordrecht and the Ecumenical Creeds (Apostles and Nicene creeds, etc.).  All good and sound doctrines - in fact we've been using the Heidelberg catechism as part of our family worship, and, notwithstanding the errors about infant baptism, it's a solid overview of the tenants of the Christian faith.)

Got Questions?

When I've got theology questions about the Bible, I'll usually run them past my Dad, or the pastor, etc, but every now and then I'll pass an obscure question to GotQuestions.org, where in a day or two I'll get an informative reply via email. I've been impressed by the depth of some of the responses that I've received.

Also, simply googling for answers to theology questions is just a little too hit-or-miss for me. In my own experience, sometimes this works, and sometimes it just shoots you off into strange and unhelpful directions. Navigating all of the information on the web to me is akin to drowning.

Anyhow, if you have some Bible questions you'd like answered, GotQuestions? worth checking out.

The Westminster Confession of Faith

Here's a link to the The Westminster Confession of Faith online.

The musings of Ludosomnus

Bellicus Ludosomnus, the little-known faux-reformer and an obscure sub-plot character from my webcomic .  Largely forgotten by history, his name and teachings were maintained by numerous (albeit quiet) followers through the ages, the Ludosomnitarians.  This blog is dedicated to him and his theological musings.  Or at the very least, it's the only available blogspot name I could find.


Actually, the fact is, there are a number of things theological I'd like to blog about: namely, books I'm reading, sermons I've listened to, and even sermon notes that I'd like to record and comment about online.  That's that this blog is for.  This content doesn't fit over at the normal webcomic site , so I'll cover it here.