Leadership Training Part 3 - Theology 1

In an earlier post, I listed some of the articles that the men read on gospel foundations. In another post, I listed some resources that we use for understanding how the church ministers in its particular context in such a way that it is faithful to her biblical mission. In this post, I am listing some of the resources we use to understand sound theology. Of course, our primary text is Scripture, but God also has given the gift of teachers to the church. So, we use a variety of other biblically saturated resources as well. Here are a few:

1. The Westminster Confession of Faith (alone with the Larger and Shorter Catechism). Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America take a vow to “sincerely receive and adopt” these confessional documents “as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures.”

2. Concise Theology by J. I. Packer. The title says it all. This is a collection of short articles on a wide range of theological topics. It is easy to read and saturated with Scripture proofs.

3. "Why Use Creeds or Doctrinal Statements?" by John Frame. In this article (which I can't find on the web), Dr. Frame explains why it is not enough simply to say, "We believe the Bible." Creeds and doctrinal statements are helpful for clarity.

4. Here are a few articles related to our understanding of Scripture:
a. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
b. The Cambridge Declaration
What About Prophecy and Tongues Today? by Richard Gaffin
c. Ten Basic Facts about the New Testament Canon by Michael Kruger
1. “The New Testament Books are the Earliest Christian Writings We Possess”
2. “Apocryphal Writings Are All Written in the Second Century or Later”
3.“The New Testament Books Are Unique Because They Are Apostolic Books”
4."Some NT Writers Quote Other NT Writers as Scripture”
5.“The Four Gospels are Well Established by the End of the Second Century”
6.“At the End of the Second Century, the Muratorian Fragment lists 22 of Our 27 NT Books”
7.“Early Christians Often Used Non-Canonical Writings”
8.“The NT Canon Was Not Decided at Nicea—Nor Any Other Church Council”
9. “Christians Did Disagree about the Canonicity of Some NT Books”
10. “Early Christians Believed that Canonical Books Were Self-Authenticating”

5. Here is the PCA's position on the doctrine of creation. Related to this, here is an interesting article on science and faith.

I will continue this list of resources in future posts.