A Shameless Request: Help Me Buy More Books?

After realizing just how easy it was to lose access to the physical books that I own (now sequestered in my library carrel at Wheaton), on a bit of a whim I created a fundraiser to help my upgrade my Logos Bible Software library to either the Anglican Gold ($216) or Anglican Platinum ($582) libraries. Upgrading would help me in my preaching, teaching, and writing roles (as a pastor-theologian and as the Managing Editor of AnglicanCompass....

July 5, 2020 · 2 min · joshuapsteele

Following Christ as a Hermeneutical Problem?

I’m trying to puzzle out the meaning of the following paragraph from Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship (DBWE 4). Fundamentally eliminating simple obedience introduces a principle of scripture foreign to the Gospel.[19] According to it, in order to understand scripture, one first must have a key to interpreting it. But that key would not be the living Christ himself in judgment and grace, and using the key would not be according to the will of the living Holy Spirit alone....

October 18, 2019 · 6 min · joshuapsteele

What blogs are you reading?

Right now, I’m using the RSS readers Inoreader and Reeder to subscribe to the following blogs: Snakes and Ladders – by Alan Jacobs Farnam Street — A Collection of Signal in a World Full of Noise. Seth’s Blog Study Hacks – Decoding Patterns of Success – Cal Newport James Clear Barking Up The Wrong Tree – How to be awesome at life. The Appademic » Technology, productivity and workflows for academics, students and other nerds McSweeney’s Internet Tendency Lifehacker – Do everything better What are you reading?...

January 13, 2019 · 1 min · joshuapsteele

What I'm Reading this Fall

This upcoming semester, I’ll be taking a seminar on the Doctrine of Creation from my supervisor Marc Cortez. I’ll also be doing my “pedagogical experience” in a Christian Theology course—also with Marc Cortez. Anyways, in case you’re interested, I thought I’d share what I’ll be reading for each course. Have you read any of these works? If so, what did you think? What will you be reading this semester? Doctrine of Creation Colin Gunton, The Triune Creator: A Historical and Systematic Study....

August 16, 2018 · 2 min · joshuapsteele

8 Questions to Ask While Reading Theology

While reading Beth Felker Jones’ Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically, I came across the following list of extremely helpful questions to ask while reading theology (on page 29). What are the key Christian teachings being articulated? What is the author’s driving concern or main theme? What counts for the author as authoritative (Scripture, tradition, reason, experience…)? Is the author’s theological method implicit or explicit? How does the author deal with the witness of Scripture?...

August 16, 2018 · 2 min · joshuapsteele

This One Simple Trick Helps Me Read Faster as a Ph.D. Student

Reading is the closest thing that human beings have to a superpower. We can learn, from other minds, from other times, just by looking at symbols on a screen or a page. But, I mean, come on. Who has enough time to read? I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a stack of books a mile high that I’d like to work my way through. Now, there’s a bunch of good advice out there about finding more time to read (see this post from Farnam Street and this post from The Art of Manliness)....

March 5, 2018 · 2 min · joshuapsteele