Master’s Tournament Winner Bubba Watson and His Faith

I had the opportunity to watch some of the Master’s Tournament this year. I love watching golf (and try to play my hand at it, albeit rather poorly). So I caught some of the Master’s on Saturday, and was able to watch the conclusion of it on Sunday.

I was impressed with Bubba Watson’s win, and was thoroughly amazed by his unbelievable shot out of the woods and hooking onto the green to capture the victory. But I was unaware of the fact that Watson is a Christian.

He seems to be a solid Christian who is vocal about his faith, and I just wanted to point my readers in the direction of a few articles that make this point clear. I love the name Bubba, and his personality sure is winsome. But knowing we share a common faith makes me respect him even more.

Here are some links for additional reading:

Mark Dever Interviews Greg Beale on Biblical Theology

I just listened to a fascinating interview where Mark Dever interviews Greg Beale. He focuses on Biblical Theology and begins the interview by asking Beale his opinion on Bible versions and then a litany of different works on Biblical Theology. They are basically in the Westminster Theological Seminary bookstore and talking about a host of different titles.

Then they go into Beale’s background and his studies and books. Very fascinating interview, especially if you’ve read some of Beale’s works. And like Dever would be expected to, he starts off by pointing out the irony that Beale now teaches at Westminster but studied at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Click here to listen to the interview from Nine Marks.

I’m still working my way through his A New Testament Biblical Theology, and finished his The Temple and the Church’s Mission last year – both are excellent books.

More Info on the Discovery of the 1st Century MSS Fragment of Mark

Recently, Dr. Dan Wallace made news about the discovery of what is possibly the earliest NT MSS fragment ever found. I gave details on the find here.

Well, Dr. Wallace was recently interviewed by Hugh Hewitt on his radio show about the discovery and gave additional details. We now know the MSS contains part of one papyrus leaf, written on both sides. From the sound of it, it is most of one leaf so several verses but not much more. It was also found in Egypt — all seven of these MSS finds were found there. Dr. Wallace will also be on of the authors of the book that will publish all seven papyri fragments in early 2013.

Wallace continues to consider this a truly monumental manuscript find, as the following snippet from the full interview makes clear:

HH: Wow. Now in terms of, for the lay audience, Professor Daniel Wallace, the significance of this work when it appears, how would you grade it, with an A being a Dead Sea Scroll sort of significance, and you know, flunking, it just doesn’t matter?

DW: I would grade it at least an A, maybe an A+.

HH: And will the rest of the scholarly world agree with you on that assessment, do you think?

DW: I think that when they understand the ramifications of the entire nature of this manuscript that I’m not at liberty to mention, yes. They’re going to understand. At least those that will accept that date. Since the manuscript doesn’t have a date stamp on it, it says it was done this year, there are always going to be dissenters. But to do the work of paleography takes thousands and thousands of hours of research to do one.

I’m not sure the discovery will prove to be the equal of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but I’m cautiously optimistic that it will prove to be very consequential.

I also got an update from Matthew Hamilton who I quoted in my earlier post on this. From his information and that of Wallace from this interview, the following looks to be the list of the 7 manuscripts. Many of these would be the earliest textual witness we have of that Biblical book, if the dates hold true.

  1. 2nd century homily (sermon) on Hebrews 11
  2. 2nd century frg. with I Corinthians 8-10
  3. 2nd century frg. with Matthew
  4. 2nd century frg. with Romans 9-10
  5. 2nd century frg. from Hebrews, one side contains 9:19-22
  6. 2nd century frg. with Luke
  7. 1st century frg. [part of one leaf] with Mark

For more details read the entire transcript of the Hewitt – Wallace interview, and keep an eye on the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog.

Dr. Kevin Bauder Interviewed on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism

My friend, Scott Oakland, recently interviewed Dr. Kevin Bauder who was a contributing author to Four Views on The Spectrum of Evangelicalism (Zondervan, 2011). You can download the interview from Scott’s ReformedCast.com. I’ll be listening to this interview this week. I really enjoyed the book and especially Dr. Bauder’s chapter.

Another Survey of Young Fundamentalists

Don’t have a lot of time to comment on this, but for those of you following trends in fundamentalism, this survey will be of interest. It includes responses from 20 seminary students or full-time servants in Christian ministry — all in their 20s and 30s (which qualifies you to be a “Young Fundamentalist” apparently).

Pastor Jeremy Sweat conducted the survey, and you can download the results, as a PDF, here. The survey was part of a workshop for the 2011 FBFI National Conference. The respondents represent a wide range of views, but are mostly positive of fundamentalism (compared to other surveys I’ve read).

Just wanted to make you aware of the survey. Interested in any feedback you might have. I may excerpt some from it in the upcoming days when I have more time.