Thank you to everyone who visited reformedforum.org/donate throughout the year. We are tremendously grateful for your generous support. Be assured that we’re setting the stage for another big year as our board continues to think and pray about our next steps.

We’re looking forward to another full year of Christ the Center. January 25 marked our 10th anniversary. Jeff, Jim, and I recorded that first episode during my first year in seminary—three homes and three children ago. Things have changed over the years, but our goal has stayed the same. Our mission is to present every person mature in Christ (Col. 1:28).

Episodes

• 524 — Marcus Mininger, Uncovering the Theme of Revelation in Romans 1:16–3:26
• 533 — Michael Kruger, How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church
• 540 — The Nature of Apostasy in Hebrews 6
• 542 — Bill Dennison, Karl Marx
• 551 — The Impeccability of Jesus Christ
• 555 — Darryl Hart, Still Protesting
• 556 — The Deeper Protestant Conception
• 566 — Glen Clary, The Liturgies of Bucer, Calvin, and Knox
• 570 — Danny Olinger, Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian
• 571 — Cory Brock and Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, Bavinck’s Philosophy of Revelation

Participants: Adam York, Bill Dennison, Camden Bucey, Cory Brock, Dan Ragusa, Danny Olinger, Darryl G. Hart, Glen Clary, Jared Oliphint, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton, Marcus Mininger, Michael Kruger, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

Michael J. Kruger joins us to speak about his book, Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church in which he examines how Christianity took root in the second century, how it battled to stay true to the vision of the apostles, and how it developed in ways that would shape both the church and Western culture over the next two thousand years. Dr. Kruger is President and Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the author of several books including, Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Crossway, 2012), The Early Text of the New Testament (Oxford, 2012; edited with Charles Hill), and The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jared Oliphint, Michael Kruger

Episodes

• 425 — David VanDrunen, God’s Glory Alone
• 428 — Vern Poythress, The Miracles of Jesus
• 441 — John Galbraith and Danny Olinger on John Galbraith’s Life and Ministry
• 443 — Alan Strange, Charles Hodge and the Spirituality of the Church
• 444 — Iain Murray, J. C. Ryle
• 445 — Lane Tipton, Trinity, Processions, and Missions: The Pactum Salutis
• 449 — Rob McKenzie and Bob Tarullo, Dispensationalism
• 452 — Michael Kruger, A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament
• 453 — Dennis Johnson, Walking withe Jesus through His Word
• 455 — Richard Gaffin, Jr., Calvin and the Sabbath
• 461 — Gregg Allison and Chris Castaldo, The Unfinished Reformation
• 464 — Mark Vanderhart and Cornelis Venema, The Reformed Church in Latvia
• 467 — Patricia Clawson and Diane Olinger, Choosing the Good Portion: Women of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Participants: Adam York, Alan Strange, Camden Bucey, Chris Castaldo, Cornelis Venema, Danny Olinger, David VanDrunen, Dennis Johnson, Diane Olinger, Glen Clary, Gregg Allison, Iain Murray, Jared Oliphint, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, John Galbraith, Lane G. Tipton, Mark Vander Hart, Michael Kruger, Patricia Clawson, Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo, Vern Poythress

Dr. Michael J. Kruger speaks with us about A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament. This volume introduces each New Testament book in the context of the whole canon of Scripture, helping a wide range of readers with a rich, redemptive-historical guide to each book. Dr. Kruger is President and Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. He received his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his M.Div. from Westminster Seminary California, and his Ph.D. from New College, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the author of three books on the issue of canon, Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Crossway, 2012), The Early Text of the New Testament (Oxford, 2012; edited with Charles Hill), and The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate. In addition to his faculty duties, he currently serves part-time as the Pastor of Teaching at Uptown Christ Covenant Church in downtown Charlotte. Dr. Kruger has spoken on Christ the Center episodes 217 and 283, and his wife, Melissa Kruger, has spoken on episodes 276, 297, and 301.

Links

• Romans Bible study video series

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jared Oliphint, Michael Kruger

• Episode 318 — Michael Kruger, The Question of Canon
• Episode 322 — James Anderson on worldviews
• Episode 326 — Matt Perman on gospel-driven productivity
• Episode 329 — Randall Pederson on the Puritan family resemblance
• Episode 331 — Lane Tipton on the Tree of Life and the goal of eschatology
• Episode 335 —Shai Linne on hip-hop, the gospel, and cultural contextualization
• Episode 345 — Marcus Peter Johnson on union with Christ and the incarnation
• Episode 351 — Charles Hill on the New Testament, the early church and Bart Ehrman’s book How Jesus Became God
• Episode 357 — Glen Clary on Zwingli, church tradition, and Reformed worship

Participants: Camden Bucey, Charles Hill, Glen Clary, James Anderson, Jared Oliphint, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton, Marcus Johnson, Matt Perman, Michael Kruger, Randall Pederson, Shai Linne

Drs. Michael J. Kruger and Charles E. Hill speak about a book to which Dr. Hill contributed, How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature, a response to Bart D. Ehrman’s How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. The thesis of Dr. Ehrman’s book is that the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity was an early accretion onto the original truth of Jesus identity – neither Jesus nor Jesus’ disciples believed he was divine. How God Became Jesus is the first book-length response to Ehrman’s latest, and includes a contribution by Dr. Chuck Hill. Their thesis is that Jesus and his disciples rightly believed him to be divine, and that the later formulations of this doctrine reflected that early and accurate tradition. Dr. Charles Hill is John R. Richardson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida. His most recent publications include Who Chose the Gospels? Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy (Oxford University Press, 2010) and The Early Text of the New Testament (Oxford University Press, 2012), edited with Dr. Kruger. He contributed to How God Became Jesus, which also features contributions by Michael Bird, Craig Evans, Simon Gathercole, and Chris Tilling. Dr. Michael Kruger is President and Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. He received his Ph.D. from New College, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the author of Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Crossway, 2012), The Early Text of the New Testament (Oxford, 2012; edited with Dr. Hill), and The Question of Canon (Intervarsity, 2013). Dr. Kruger has spoken on Christ the Center episodes 217 and 283 and 318.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Charles Hill, Jared Oliphint, Michael Kruger

Dr. Michael J. Kruger speaks with Christ the Center about his recent book, The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate. The book deals not with why we have the books we do in the canon but with the question of the very definition of “canon” and the origin of the idea. Contemporary biblical scholars insist that the idea of canon was a late development in the construction of the New Testament, which imbued with authority texts whose authors did not think of them as authoritative. Dr. Kruger insists that the concept of a set of authoritative books for the New Covenant era of redemptive-history existed from a very early date in the ancient church. Dr. Michael Kruger is President and Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. He received his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in California, and his Ph.D. from New College, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the author of three books on the issue of canon, Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Crossway, 2012), The Early Text of the New Testament (Oxford, 2012; edited with Charles Hill), and now, The Question of Canon.  In addition to his faculty duties, he currently serves part-time as the Pastor of Discipleship Training at Uptown Christ Covenant Church in downtown Charlotte. Dr. Kruger has spoken on Christ the Center episodes 217 and 283, and his wife, Melissa Kruger, has spoken on episodes 276, 297, and 301.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jared Oliphint, Michael Kruger, Nick Batzig

Today we welcome Dr. Michael J. Kruger to speak about New Testament textual criticism and the early text of the New Testament. Dr. Kruger has co-edited an excellent book with Dr. Charles E. Hill, titled The Early Text of the New Testament and published by Oxford University Press. The book aims to examine and assess from our earliest extant sources the most primitive state of the New Testament text now known. What sort of changes did scribes make to the text? What is the quality of the text now at our disposal? What can we learn about the nature of textual transmission in the earliest centuries? In addition to exploring the textual and scribal culture of early Christianity, this volume explores the textual evidence for all the sections of the New Testament. It also examines the evidence from the earliest translations of New Testament writings and the citations or allusions to New Testament texts in other early Christian writers.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jared Oliphint, Michael Kruger, Nick Batzig

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jared Oliphint, Michael Kruger