Multicultural Ministry Matters

Princeton Theological Seminary has partnered with the Internet Archive to create the Theological Commons digital library . It provides free, online access to over 50,000 theology and religion books from the PTS Library. And don't forget the Christian Classics Ethereal Library , with thousands of documents from church history available on-line and downloadable in various formats for free.

Every ethic is connected with an assumed anthropology and worldview. We instinctively act out of a sense of who we are, and our place in the world. Our answers to the questions “ Who am I?” and “ What am I?” are intimately connected to the question of “ How ought I to be in the world?” In other words, theological anthropology can never be entirely descriptive. A description of human nature always both presumes and entails a prescription for human living. [ Marc Cortez, Theological Anthropology: A Guide for the Perplexed : 2-3, emphasis in original] Christian ethics are theological, evangelical and scriptural. As Christians, we conduct all of life coram Deo : God is the ultimate reality, the foundation and framework of the world we operate in, in whom all things hold together. We think of ourselves as beings created by God, beloved by him, and responsible to him. This God we worship is not distant and unknowable, but is God in Christ. The cosmos is Christ-powered; it does not o...

A couple of days ago I got asked whether polygamy is immoral. Here's some biblical ruminations on the topic. God created Adam and Even (Gen. 2), not Adam and Eve and Rachel and Charlotte and... In the OT, polygamy always caused problems. Abraham's son through Hagar was not the child of the promise; Isaac, his son through Sarah his wife, was (Gen 17:15-22). Jacob wound up marrying Leah and Rachel because of Laban's deceit, but he loved Rachel more than Leah, and that caused tension and competition between the women (Gen ch 29-30). Song of Songs portrays exclusive love. "My lover is mine and I am his" (SoS 2:16; 6:3). Jesus validates one-man one-woman in Matt 19:5-6 & Mark 10:7-8, where he quotes the "one flesh" reference in Genesis 2:24. Paul requires monogamy from church leaders: 1 Tim 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6. This cannot be reserved for church leaders alone because they are supposed to be examples to the rest of the people: 1 Tim 3:15. One way...

My new assistant minister, Damien Choi, will be graduating from the Presbyterian Theological Centre this week.

My church - the Presbyterian church in the suburb of St Mary's , near Penrith, in Sydney's outer west (I always have to give that long explanation because if I say "St Mary's Presbyterian Church" people think St Mary is the church's patron saint... which isn't very Protestant...) - has a new website , including my Sunday bible talks .