# Evangelical Theology on Sale



## gkterry (Jun 2, 2015)

Michael Bird's Evangelical Theology is on sale today at Olive Tree and Amazon for $5.99.


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## DMcFadden (Jun 3, 2015)

I could not find it at that price. Where did you look?


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## Jimmy the Greek (Jun 3, 2015)

Me either. Sounds too good to be true, even if it were an e-book.


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## gkterry (Jun 4, 2015)

It was a one day sale on 6/2 only.


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## MW (Jun 4, 2015)

From what I've read, "Evangelical Theology on sale" might have been a good title for the book.


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## bookslover (Jun 4, 2015)

I've never heard of Michael Bird. Who is he?


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## MW (Jun 4, 2015)

bookslover said:


> I've never heard of Michael Bird. Who is he?



http://www.ridley.edu.au/about-ridley/ridley-people/faculty/mike-bird/

He has difficulty with the doctrine of imputed righteousness, and prefers to speak of incorporated righteousness.


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## Jimmy the Greek (Jun 4, 2015)

A Review of Bird's Evang. Theology may be found here. http://www.credomag.com/2014/01/13/matthew-barrett-reviews-birds-evangelical-theology/. The following is an excerpt:

"Bird places himself in the broad Reformed tradition. At first glance, this appears to be the case given his moderately high view of Scripture, strong emphasis on total depravity and divine monergism in salvation, and affinity for Reformed confessions. But the more one reads the more one begins to wonder whether the Reformed camp will welcome Bird’s peculiarities.

Bird rejects the active obedience of Christ and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness; his treatments of election and atonement are Amyraldian to the core; while he affirms penal substitutionary atonement, Christus victor is Calvary’s central image; he accuses the Reformers of smuggling in anthropocentric philosophy that resulted in the philosophical rationalism and autonomy of modern thought; his high roles for experience, culture, and tradition share more in common with the Wesleyan quadrilateral than the Reformer’s sola scriptura; and he categorizes aspects of covenant theology as Pelagian. All that to say, Bird’s systematic theology may sit comfortably with a broad evangelical audience, but I suspect those evangelicals in the Reformed tradition will cringe and grow frustrated the more they read."


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## DMcFadden (Jun 4, 2015)

Yech!


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## bookslover (Jun 15, 2015)

Now I'm glad I hadn't heard of him before!


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## psycheives (Jun 15, 2015)

Per Westminster Seminary California Professor Dr. David VanDrunen in "Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry," he describes the Finnish School on Luther (which he believes attacks the doctrine of justification by faith alone via Eastern Orthodoxy's theosis) and understands Michael Bird to hold a similar view. He wrote:



> In the 1970s, ecumenical discussions between Finnish Lutheran and Russian Orthodox theologians sparked a major theological project at the University of Helsinki, led by Tuomo Mannermaa.74 Mannermaa and his associates, reading Luther alongside Orthodox literature, claim to have discovered a long-neglected aspect of Luther’s theology, namely, his belief in believers’ union with Christ such that Christ is really present in salvation and the believer has real participation in him. The Finns contrast this reading of Luther with the idea of justification as purely forensic or legal and assert that the true Luther has more in common with the Eastern Orthodox idea of theōsis (deification) than with the soteriology of post-Luther Lutheranism, such as that represented in the Formula of Concord.
> 
> Mannermaa explains that this position contrasts with later Lutheranism, which understood justification as a “totally forensic matter” in that Luther “does not separate the person of Christ from his work. Rather, Christ himself, both his person and his work, is the ground of Christian righteousness.”76 [Note 76: Similar understandings of Christ’s work and justification are currently being promoted by some in evangelical circles. For a recent example, see Michael F. Bird, “Incorporated Righteousness: A Response to Recent Evangelical Discussion concerning the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness in Justification,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 47 (June 2004): 253–75.]


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## arapahoepark (Jun 15, 2015)

psycheives said:


> Per Westminster Seminary California Professor Dr. David VanDrunen in "Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry," he describes the Finnish School on Luther (which he believes attacks the doctrine of justification by faith alone via Eastern Orthodoxy's theosis) and understands Michael Bird to hold a similar view. He wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I read Bird (like many NT scholars venturing into historical debates in which they have no authority) as saying imputation is grounded in union. He acts like he is the first to figure that out though...


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## MW (Jun 15, 2015)

arap said:


> I read Bird (like many NT scholars venturing into historical debates in which they have no authority) as saying imputation is grounded in union. He acts like he is the first to figure that out though...



He classifies vicarious obedience to the law as "Pelagian." He rejects imputation.


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## arapahoepark (Jun 16, 2015)

MW said:


> arap said:
> 
> 
> > I read Bird (like many NT scholars venturing into historical debates in which they have no authority) as saying imputation is grounded in union. He acts like he is the first to figure that out though...
> ...



True....so not sure how he reconciles certain statements of his in his essay Incorporated Righteousness, he comes close to a reformed understanding. Emphasis on close to, not that it is the reformed understanding.


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## MW (Jun 16, 2015)

arap said:


> True....so not sure how he reconciles certain statements of his in his essay Incorporated Righteousness, he comes close to a reformed understanding. Emphasis on close to, not that it is the reformed understanding.



As much as he seeks to identify with reformed theology in name, I am sorry to say he is nowhere near a reformed understanding of this doctrine. He denies imputation of righteousness is taught in the New Testament, and he allows for the imputation of faith itself as righteousness. This makes the gospel a new law and turns faith into a work of the new law. There is no good news here!

Incorporation, as a part of union, is a blessed doctrine, but it cannot be the "grounds" of justifying a sinner before the righteous Lord. To incorporate a sinner (one still reckoned by law to be a sinner) into Christ would make Christ the minister of sin. There must be a grounding in justice for union and incorporation.


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## psycheives (Jun 17, 2015)

Noticed Mr. Bird just posted 3 books we should know about in 2015 - concerns me that they are all New Perspectives on Paul (NPP) authors and his descriptions look like endorsements with no warnings. Oh, just noticed he mentions 3 other authors at the end. Maybe NPP too?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2015/06/forthcoming-books-in-2015-you-should-know-about/


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## arapahoepark (Jun 18, 2015)

psycheives said:


> . Maybe NPP too?
> 
> http://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2015/06/forthcoming-books-in-2015-you-should-know-about/


I am unsure about Longenecker, aren't there two of them?? (Bruce and Richard? Maybe I am confusing names.) If I remember right one of them had a similar view of OT citations that Pete Enns had, who Beale also refuted. John Meier and the marginal Jew series is basicslly from his own words, aiming for a consensus on who the historical Jesus was if you put a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. In a room. He is a Roman Catholic scholar. I also know little about Barclay but, I don't think he has an affinity for the NPP even though he is at Durham.
Feel free to check, all this was off the top of my head and I could have messed up names.


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