Saturday Links

The Return of the Pastor-Theologian (HT: Owen Strachan)

“Pastors should stick to writing pop theology and Christian living stuff.” God forbid! Expounding God’s Word and reflecting on the nature of the atonement, etc., needs to be brought back into the domain of the church. We need a return to the days when pastors wrote theology that was richly theological, deeply biblical, historically informed, culturally aware, prophetic, and intelligent–not so it would be accepted by the academy, but so it would renew the church.

Peter Mead agrees: Pastors are Theologians.

A Tim Keller interview on poverty and inner-city ministry.

Grudem: The Lord’s Supper is more than a symbol. I believe the same about baptism.

Bill Kinnon rants. Dan MacDonald responds.

Kevin DeYoung on the cultural mandate – part one and part two

The danger of plans, programs, vision statements:

I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry” (D.A. Carson)