"An Uncommon Christian" and "Of Intense Brightness" now available as e-books

As of today (January 3, 2014), Uncommon Christian Ministries is pleased to announce that both An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor [1801-1829], Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, December 2007, 255 pages, Foreword by John F. Thornbury) and the edited anthology companion volume Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (University Press of America, June 2008, 168 pages, Foreword by James M. Houston, Epilogue by Peter Adam) are now available on Kindle and Nook.

The e-books are currently 39-45% off the books' retail price, with the Kindle edition offering the "text-to-speech" feature.

To purchase an e-book edition, see here (Kindle) or here (Nook) for An Uncommon Christian, and here (Kindle) or here (Nook) for Of Intense Brightness. "Sneak preview" sample pages of each book are provided on the online retailers' website.

NOTE: The paper and e-book edition of UCM's third book--Uncommon Christian Evangelism with James Brainerd Taylor (or, God's Co-Worker: 21st-century Evangelism with Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor)--is planned for publication in 2015 or 2016. Stay tuned.

Celebrating the Gospel this Easter . . . Gospel defined . . . James Brainerd Taylor, Gospel-centered uncommon Christian

From Jerusalem, Israel, Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes you a blessed Easter/Resurrection Sunday.

For the sake of those who are still spiritually "dead in [their] transgressions and sins" and are thus "by nature objects of [God's] wrath" (Ephesians 2:1-3), please join me in praying that the Gospel be preached in churches and street corners throughout the world as God's people celebrate the life, death/crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). May many people repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ this Easter season and thereby advance God's global and eternal kingdom.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written [Habakkuk 2:4]: "The righteous will live by faith."
Romans 1:16-17

Relatedly, I am excited to learn of and wholeheartedly recommend two American Evangelical Christian entities that the Lord has raised up recently to unashamedly defend and proclaim the Gospel.

Led by D.A. Carson and Tim Keller, The Gospel Coalition (est. 2005) exists to equip "the next generation for Gospel-faithful ministry and promote church reform and culture transformation." The Coalition does this by

+ providing Gospel-centered online resources;

+ posting blog entries by various theologians and pastors;

+ hosting national and regional conferences (the next national conference is April 12-14, 2011 in Chicago);

+ publishing Themelios: An International [Online] Journal for Pastors and Students of Theological and Religious Studies; and

+ helping like-minded, Gospel-centered Christian individuals and churches encourage each other--both in-person and online--via the The Gospel Coalition Network.

For the "Foundational Documents" of The Gospel Coalition--"The Gospel for All of Life, Confessional Statement and Vision for Ministry"--and a list of its members, click here.

The other Gospel-centered entity is Together for the Gospel (est. 2006). Led by friends Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C. J. Mahaney and Albert Mohler, T4G hosts a conference every two years to encourage Christians, and especially pastors and church leaders, to stand "together for the Gospel." The next conference is this month (April 13-15, 2010) in Louisville, Kentucky.

T4G is "convinced that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented, misunderstood, and marginalized in many churches and among those who proclaim the name of Christ. Compromise of the Gospel has led to the preaching of false gospels, the seduction of many minds and movements, and the weakening of the church’s Gospel witness. The goal of [T4G's] friendships, conferences, [blog] and networks is therefore to reaffirm this central doctrine of the Christian faith and to encourage local churches to do the same."

T4G provides a nice summary of the Gospel when they state,

The Gospel is the joyous declaration that God is redeeming the world through Christ (Matt 1:21; Luke 1:68; Eph 1:7; Col 1:20), and that he calls everyone everywhere to repent from sin and trust Jesus Christ for salvation (Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38, 17:30).
Each of us has sinned against God (Rom 3:23), breaking his law and rebelling against his rule, and the penalty for our sin is death and hell (Rom 6:23). But because he loves us, God sent his Son Jesus (John 3:16; Eph 2:4; 1 John 4:10) to live for his people’s sake the perfect, obedient life God requires (Rom 8:4; 1 Cor 1:30; Heb 4:15) and to die in their place for their sin (Isa 53:5; Matt 20:28, 26:28; Mark 10:45, 14:24; Luke 22:20; John 11:50-51; Rom 3:24-25, 4:25; 1 Cor 15:3; 2 Cor 5:21; Eph 5:2; Heb 10:14; 1 Pet 3:18). On the third day, He rose bodily from the grave (Matt 28:6) and now reigns in heaven (Luke 22:69, 24:51; Heb 8:1), offering forgiveness (Eph 1:7), righteousness (Rom 5:19), resurrection (Rom 8:11), and eternal blessedness in God’s presence (Rev 22:4) to everyone who repents of sin and trusts solely in Him for salvation.

For the Affirmations and Denials document of T4G (in both English and German), click here.

James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), Gospel-centered uncommon Christian

Interestingly--and unlike Christmas, Independence Day (4th of July) and New Year's--the uncommon Christian and American evangelist James Brainerd Taylor never mentions Good Friday or Easter in his (extant) letters and journal entries. Nonetheless, we know that Taylor loved to preach "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 2:14) by which repentant and Christ-believing sinners "are saved" (1 Corinthians 15:2).

+ I have longed to live and preach the Gospel. (Letter from Princeton University. February 13, 1825.)

+ That I have a call of God, besides, to preach the Gospel, I have no more doubt than of my existence. . . . It did not become mine but through strong cries, and many tears and wrestlings, when I was in college. . . . It is a blessing of great worth to any one who attempts to preach the Gospel to feel that he has a commission from God. I now feel as I have felt: "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:16). (Letter from Trumbull, Connecticut. May 3, 1827.)

+ Never, perhaps, did any one more intensely desire to preach the Gospel than did James B. Taylor. (Memoir compilers John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice.)

 + A preacher of the Gospel. (Inscribed on Taylor's gravestone, located in the Hampden-Sydney College Church cemetery, Prince Edward County, Virginia.)

Excerpts (pages 273, 364 and 112, respectively) are from the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition (New York: American Tract Society, 1833). Available online via Google Books--click here.

Israel update, May 2009 - February 2010 . . . uncommon Christian sabbatical + pilgrimage + ministry

Shalom from Uncommon Christian Ministries in Jerusalem, Israel!

It has been an amazing 9 months so far, with 5–16 months to go of my sabbatical, spiritual pilgrimage and ministry trip. This is my second trip to Israel, with the first being for 10 days in December 2005/January 2006. Below is a summary of the happenings so far. (Click here to view my June 23, 2009 blog entry on my initial update from Israel.)

Sabbatical. It has been very relaxing to not have any deadlines to meet or a regular schedule to keep. It has been an exciting but sometimes hectic 18 years since my conversion to Christ (1992), with a rest now needed during this major transitional time of life. I am currently seeking the Lord for direction for my near and distant future (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Though a self-imposed and self-funded sabbatical, and in exchange for free room and board, I am working 40 hours per week as a volunteer receptionist at Christ Church Guest House in Jerusalem’s Old City. With only 23 guest rooms, my job is relatively easy compared to other jobs I have had in the tourism industry. From 1991–2001, I worked seasonally in the hotel-restaurant industry in 3 U.S. national parks (Glacier in Montana, Big Bend in Texas and Olympic in Washington State). Plus, the job is fun as I interact with guests from within Israel and around the world. The guest house is adjacent to Christ Church (built 1849), the oldest Protestant church (Anglican) in the Middle East.

Pilgrimage. I have visited most all major Jewish (Old Testament) and Christian (New Testament) sites in Israel, and some sites in the West Bank/Palestine. Some Muslim sites have also been visited.

For 5 months, I had the unexpected luxury of an inexpensive use of a car (1992 Daihatsu Charade). With Israel being only the size of New Jersey, it does not take long to travel the entire country. Israel is a beautiful and geologically diverse country, with the Negev Desert, Galilee and Golan Heights rural areas being my favorite.

--> NOTE: For the original inspiration to make pilgrimage to The Holy Land, click here to read my August 29, 2009 blog entry about my reading of Halley's Bible Handbook in 1989 or 1990.

--> NOTE: Christianity Today magazine's April 2009 issue included a cover story on Christian pilgrimage. Two of the articles were "He Talked to Us on the Road: The surprising rewards of Christian travel" (for the online version, click here) and "Pilgrim's Regress: Classic places where Christians have gone for centuries" (click here).

Ministry. My home church is a Reformed Baptist church just outside the walls of the Old City. When time allows, I assist the British-Israeli pastor with substitute Bible study teaching, outreaches to the refugees in Tel Aviv and students at Hebrew University, and with baptism classes. In January, the pastor and I baptized a Hebrew University student who was on a study abroad semester with Massachusetts’ Smith College.

In May and October, I attended a university student conference for believers. Also, I have visited many Jewish- and Arab-background congregations throughout the land (Beersheba, Eilat, Haifa, Jerusalem, Kiryat Gat, Nazareth Illit, Tel Aviv). Moreover, twice a month I attend a young adult Bible study, and every month I attend a Jerusalem-based Men In Ministry gathering.

Other highlights. Since arriving in May 2009, some other highlights have included the following:

+ three weeks volunteering with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)-related Sar-El (called Volunteers For Israel in the U.S.);

+ in partnership with the Jewish National Fund, planting trees in a forest in the Judean Mountains near Jerusalem and the John F. Kennedy Memorial--click here to read my November 23, 2009 blog entry;

+ participating in the Temple Mount Sifting Project (archaeology)--click here to read my December 19, 2009 blog entry;

+ attending professional Israeli/Euroleague basketball games (Hapoel Jerusalem team);

+ attending various concerts, festivals and lectures;

+ participating in the 7th annual International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem--click here to read my October 1, 2009 blog entry;

+ experiencing some of the major Jewish feasts and holidays, including Hanukkah (Festival of Lights), Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), Shavuot (Pentecost), Succott (Feast of Tabernacles), Tisha B'av (Ninth of Av), Tu B'Shvat (New Year for the trees), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and the weekly Shabbat from Friday sun down to Saturday sun down;

+ experiencing some of the major Muslim feasts and holidays, including Ramadan;

+ experiencing the major Christian celebrations of the liturgical Eastern and Western churches, including Pentecost, and Advent and Christmas;

+ visiting art, holocaust and Israeli cultural, military and political history museums (Israel has more museums per capita than any other country);

+ hiking in Israel’s beautiful national parks and nature reserves (purchased a one-year membership), 7 of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites and include the ancient Nabatean Incense and Spice Route;

+ viewing some of the movies offered during the 11th annual Jewish Film Festival (took place during the week of Hanukkah);

+ touring the Knesett, home of the Israeli parliament;

+ riding in the boat Faith with the Sea of Galilee Worship Boats;

+ attending a Paul Wilbur outdoor concert in Ein Gedi along the Dead Sea, part of the 30th annual Feast of Tabernacles (Succot) celebration sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem--click here to read my October 1, 2009 blog entry;

+ making several trips to the West Bank/Palestine, including to Bethlehem Bible College and Mount Gerizim near Nablus;

+ enjoying the festivities of the 100th anniversary of the city of Tel Aviv and Israel's oldest kibbutz, Degania Alef;

+ and swimming in the Red Sea in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city and popular resort town on the border of Egypt and Jordan.

Germany. I am set to make my first-ever visit to Germany and continental Europe this month. Some Martin Luther (1483-1546) sites and meeting some distant relatives near Regensburg are on the itinerary. My beloved paternal grandmother was born in Kofering in 1905. When 17-years-old in 1922, Marie Gangl immigrated to the U.S. via Hamburg and New York City's Ellis Island. She died in 1992 in Connecticut.

John Calvin, 500th birthday + Calvinism and evangelist James Brainerd Taylor + thanks to John Reisinger and Dan Green

July 10, 2009, was the 500th anniversary of the birth of the influential French theologian and pastor, John Calvin. Conferences throughout the world are being held this year in honor of the Geneva, Switzerland-based Protestant reformer. Included among the conferences was a major, multi-day one at Geneva's St. Pierre Cathedral ("Calvin 500: A Quincentenary"). If I was not in Israel this year, I would have attended this July conference.

Also, many newspaper, magazine and journal articles and blog posts about Calvin and the resurgent Calvinistic theology in the U.S., Canada and abroad are being published and posted in 2009, including "Calvin's theology still shapes churches" (Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky., July 10, 2009).

In Time magazine's "What's Next 2009: 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now," "The New Calvinism" ranked third. A good resource regarding "The New Calvinism" is Colin Hansen's Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists (Crossway, 2008).

Though there is no evidence that James Brainerd Taylor read Calvin's popular Institutes of the Christian Religion or his other works, the American evangelist Taylor (1801-1829) was a Calvinist of the Jonathan Edwards variety. I argue this in chapter two my first book An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, Jan. 2008). Comments such as this reveal Taylor's Calvinistic theology:

Surely I am a miracle of grace--a sinner saved by grace, free grace, sovereign grace, almighty grace.

Regarding Calvin's impact upon my own life and theology, I thank the Reformed Baptist theologian-pastor-evangelist John G. Reisinger (Sound of Grace ministries) for introducing me to Calvinism's TULIP theology soon after my conversion to Christ in October 1992. It was in the Port Angeles, Washington home of my late friend and mentor Daniel "Danny" R. Green (1947-2006) that I viewed Reisinger's excellent and instructive videos on TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, Perseverance of the Saints).

Other key theologians, pastors and authors--both dead and alive--whom the Lord has used to instruct me in the doctrinal truths of Calvinism/Sovereign Grace/The Doctrines of Grace have been the 16th and 17th-century Puritans, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), George Whitefield (1714-1770), Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), A. W. Pink (1886-1952), James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000), Elder D. J. Ward (died 2008, obituary), Richard Belcher, J. I. Packer, John Piper, R. C. Sproul and Mark Webb.

The Calvinism-based Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) have been especially instructive in teaching me that the "only true God" of the Bible (John 17:3) is a sovereign God who extends His free grace to undeserving sinners.

James Brainerd Taylor on the radio . . . book presentations

The two recent James Brainerd Taylor books--An Uncommon Christian and Of Intense Brightness (University Press of America, 2008)--were the topic of discussion during a portion of the March 26 "Todd Ortloff Show" on the Port Angeles, Washington-based KONP News Radio. To listen to the 17-minute interview, click here and go to "Archived Programs--Todd Ortloff Show--3/26/09--Local Biographer." NOTE: the downloadable interview begins at 17:44 and ends at 38:02. Or contact UCM and request the free MP3 audio file.

Sponsored by Uncommon Christian Ministries, 2 upcoming book presenations and signings include the following:

Sunday, April 5, 2009

6:00 p.m.

First United Methodist Church, Port Angeles, Wash.

Wednseday, April 15, 2009

Noon

ASC Conference Room, Peninsula College, Port Angeles, Wash.

--> Co-sponsored by Peninsula College Christian Student Fellowship

These two book presentations and signings are in addition to the 7 presentations or book-related sermons done already:

+ 3/7/09 -- Evangelical Theological Society, Northwestern Regional Annual Meeting, George Fox Evangelical Seminary, Portland, Ore.

+ 1/25/09 -- Quilcene Bible Church, Quilcene, Wash.

+ 11/20/08 -- Evangelical Theological Society, 60th Annual National Meeting, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, R.I.

+ 8/10/08 -- Lusk Alliance Church, Lusk, Wyo.

+ 7/6/08 -- Calvary Grace Church, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

+ 3/15/08 -- Evangelical Theological Society, Northwestern Regional Annual Meeting, Western Seminary, Portland, Ore.

+ 3/14/08 -- Worldview Center: Institute for International Christian Communication, Portland, Ore.

NOTE: Today (March 29, 2009) marks the 180th anniversary of J. B. Taylor's death.

James Brainerd Taylor in "The Ivy League Christian Observer"

"An Uncommon Christian Is Remembered: New Books Chronicle the Life of Evangelist James Brainerd Taylor" is the title of Eileen Scott's article in the winter 2009 (vol. 8, no. 1) issue (pages 35-36) of The Ivy League Christian Observer. Scott is the Senior Writer for the national quarterly magazine that is published by the campus ministry "Christian Union: Advancing the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the Ivy League."

Founded by Matt Bennett (B.S., M.B.A., Cornell) in 2002 and based in Princeton, New Jersey, CU's mission is, "by God's power and the help of other ministries . . . to change the world by bringing sweeping spiritual transformation to the Ivy League universities, thereby developing and mobilizing godly Christian leadership for all sectors of society."

Click here to read what has been said about CU in the media, including a May 22, 2005, front page article in The New York Times entitled, "On a Christian Mission to the Top: Evangelicals Set Their Sights on the Ivy League" (click here for article).

The 8 Ivy League Universities--all historically significant private institutions in the Northeastern U.S., most of which have a rich Christian heritage--are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania (UPenn), Princeton and Yale.

The Connecticut-born James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) was a graduate of Princeton University (Class of 1826). He died while a student at Yale Theological Seminary (now called Yale Divinity School). (Though he was not an enrolled student, Taylor died at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. At the time, UTS was located adjacent to Hampden-Sydney College [est. 1775], aptly named "The Princeton of the South.")

In addition to various Ivy League graduates, 5 people with direct ties to the Ivy League endorsed An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, 2008). Click here (UCM's page) or here (publisher's page) to read what the following said about An Uncommon Christian:

+ Matt Bennett

Founder and President, Christian Union: Advancing the Kingdom of Jesus Christian in the Ivy League

+ William (Bill) Boyce

Affiliated Chaplain and Director, Princeton Evangelical Fellowship

(est. 1931, the spiritual heir to the Philadelphian Society of Nassau Hall [1825-1930], J. B. Taylor, primary founder)

+ Jon Hinkson

Co-Founder, Rivendell Institute of Christian Thought and Learning at Yale University

+ Kelly Monroe Kullberg

Founder, The Veritas Forum (est. 1992 at Harvard University) . . . editor of the Boston Globe bestseller Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians . . . and author of Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas

+ Josh Moody (Ph.D., Cambridge)

Author . . . former member, Yale Religious Ministries . . . former Senior Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church (near Yale University campus, New Haven, Connecticut) . . . since January 2009, Senior Pastor, Wheaton College Church, Ill.

Also, click here (UCM's page) or here (publisher's page) to read what Princeton University student (Class of 2009) and former (2007) student-president of Princeton Evangelical Fellowship, Jonathan M. Keller, said about the edited anthology Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (University Press of America, 2008).

James Brainerd Taylor in "World" magazine

In the January 17, 2009 (vol. 24, no. 1), issue of the national and biweekly World magazine--and under "Title tell-alls" in the "The Buzz: Books" section (page 20)--editor-in-chief Marvin Olasky (B.A., Yale; Ph.D., Univ. of Michigan) writes,

"Biographies tend to have clear titles: You can guess from I. Francis Kyle III's An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, 2008) that Taylor doesn't even have a Wikipedia article--but he should."

You can view the online page here. NOTE: A Wikipedia article on James Brainerd Taylor will hopefully appear soon. It is in the process.

World is the Christian equivalent to Newsweek or Time newsmagazines. It currenty has about 120,000 subscribers, plus online readers. It is a member of the Associated Press news service. Founded by Joel Belz in 1986, World's mission is "To report, interpret, and illustrate the news in a timely, accurate, enjoyable, and arresting fashion from a perspective committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God." The newsmagazine's title is based on Psalm 24:1 (ESV): "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein." World has an excellent and highly recommended website and blog.

The effort at preserving and reintroducing--via in print, online, and word-of-mouth--the early 19th-century Princeton University and Yale Seminary student-evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) and, more importantly, his 5-pillared Uncommon Christianity, to the early 21st-century global church, seminary and university continues. Taylor defined an "uncommon Christian" as an "eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday" Christian.

James Brainerd Taylor memoirs available online . . . FREE viewing, download and searching

Just a reminder that both the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor (1833) and A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (1838) are available online. Both books--which are in the public domain (all pre-1923 books)--are fully searchable and can be viewed and downloaded for free via Google Book Search. Click here for the online Memoir and here for A New Tribute.

Both books were digitalized by Google from copies in the Harvard University Library. The 441-page second edition Memoir was digitalized on February 22, 2008 (Google erroneously states this is the 330-page first edition). The 440-page A New Tribute was digitalized on May 9, 2007. Southern Presbyterian pastors John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice compiled the Memoir, and Fitch W. Taylor, a younger brother of James, compiled A New Tribute.

This is perfect timing as the first books on Taylor since 1833 and 1838 were released in January and June 2008 (University Press of America): An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening and the edited anthology Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor. See Uncommon Christian Ministries' timeline on Taylor for other recent activity.

Relatedly, Harvard University Library's copy of the Sketches of The Religious Experience and Labors of A Layman: With An Appendix by Jeremiah Humphre Taylor was digitalized by Google on December 11, 2007. Written in 1860 by one of James Brainerd Taylor's two older brothers, the 171-page autobiographical account contains information about James's childhood in Middle Haddam, Connecticut, his leadership involvement with an African-American Sunday school in New York City, and his evangelistic efforts in various spiritual revivals.

Also, a copy of volume one and volume two of The Flagship; Or, A Voyage Round The World, and Visits to Various Foreign Countries, in the United States Frigate "Columbia"... by Fitch W. Taylor was digitalized by Google on May 3, 2007. The 1840, 1st edition volumes by James's U.S. Navy Chaplain brother are an eyewitness account of the first U.S. Navy ship to circumnavigate the globe. For the digitalization, Google used copies from the New York Public Library.

For more information on the history and current activity of Google Book Search (est. 2004), see here (wikipedia entry) and here (from Google). FYI: Google just signed a ground breaking legal agreement with U.S. authors and publishers, thus allowing Google Book Search to add even more books to their already 7,000,000-plus online books.

For more online resources on James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), see here.

Evangelical Theological Society meeting, Providence, R.I. (and Connecticut churches)

For those in the New England area, I will be presenting a paper/lecture on James Brainerd Taylor at the 60th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Providence, R.I., on Thursday, November 20, 2008. Under the category of "Historical Theology," the talk will be held in Room 555A at the Rhode Island Convention Center, 3:40 to 4:20 p.m. The talk is titled "James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening: Why He Is Needed Today."

The meeting itself is Wednesday to Friday, November 19-21. The plenary sessions are on the theme of "Text and Canon." In addition, about 400 elective papers/lectures will be presented. The elective category topics include Biblical Studies, Evangelism/Missions, Issues in Systematic Theology, American Christianity, Pastoral Theology, Old and New Testament Studies, Baptist Studies, and a host of others. Over 2,000 people are expected to attend.

Formed in 1949, the Evangelical Theological Society is "a professional society of Biblical scholars, teachers, pastors and others involved in evangelical scholarship in order to serve Christ and His Church." Its purpose is "to foster conservative Biblical scholarship by providing a medium for the oral exchange and written expression of thought and research in the general field of the theological disciplines as centered in the Scriptures." ETS publishes a quarterly journal called JETS. (JETS is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. See Pastor-Author John Piper's June 18, 2008, article "2 Birthdays and Biblical Inerrancy.") The society currently has over 4,500 members, with Old Testament scholar Dr. C. Hassell Bullock of Wheaton College (Ill.) serving as 2008 president.

ETS is one of six societies or associations I am a member of. Click here to view my other memberships.

FYI: While visiting family in Connecticut, and on the lone Sunday (Nov. 16) I'm in New England, I plan to worship at Trinity Baptist Church near Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Author and friend Josh Moody (B.A., Ph.D., Cambridge University) is senior pastor of Trinity (1999- ), and creator of the online GodCenteredLife.org. He is 1 of 22 international endorsers of An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, Jan. 2008). A highly recommended church to attend if in the New Haven area. NOTE: It was just announced that Pastor Josh has accepted the position of Senior Pastor at the historic Wheaton College Church (est. 1861) in Illinois. He succeeds long-time (1979-2006) College Church pastor-author Dr. R. Kent Hughes, and begins the new position January 1, 2009.

Also, on November 17, I plan to meet with Mark E. Given (M.Div., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), pastor of Christ Episcopal Church in Middle Haddam, Conn. Christ Church (est. 1785) was the childhood/home church (birth to age 15, 1801-1816) of James Brainerd Taylor. One of the 8 stained glass windows in the church is dedicated to Col. Jeremiah Taylor, James's father. Through James's instrumentality, it was during the spring 1822 revival that James's parents and some siblings were converted to Christ. Rev. Given (M.Div., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is 1 of 17 international endorsers of Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (University Press of America, 2008).

Seattle Times book announcements

Both An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening -and- Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor were announced by book review editor Michael Upchurch in the "New books by Washington authors, or of local interest" section of the October 30, 2008, edition of The Seattle Times. Click here for the online version. With a weekly readership of over 1.5 million (print and online), The Seattle Times is one of two major newspapers the University Press of America books were submitted to, the other being The Hartford Courant in Connecticut (the birthplace of J. B. Taylor).

"Uncommon" press releases sent to over 1,200 media outlets

A press release entitled "New Biographies on Forgotten 'Uncommon Christian' Evangelist James Brainerd Taylor" was sent to over 1,200 media outlets--secular and Christian radio, TV and print--by Religion Press Release Services, a division of the Religion News Service. Based in Washington, D.C., RNS is "the only secular news and photo service devoted to unbiased coverage of religion and ethics--exclusively."

Click here to read a similarly worded but slightly shorter (400-word) national press release sent by the Christian News Wire service. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Christian News Wire is "the most used and most recognized distributor of religious content press releases in the nation since 1989." Every press release sent by Christian News Wire goes to major media outlets nationwide, including all of the top daily newspapers; wire service bureaus; broadcast network bureaus; network affiliates, news-talk radio stations and weekly news magazines. Also, every press release transmitted is made available to millions of online users worldwide.

Library Purchases, Book #2 (Of Intense Brightness)

Released in June 2008 from University Press of America, some libraries that have purchased Book #2--Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor--include the university libraries at Baylor, Chicago, Colorado (Boulder), Drew, Fordham, Georgetown, Georgia, Haverford, Indiana (IUPUI), North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Notre Dame, Pennsylvania (UPenn), Texas Christian (TCU), Virginia Tech, and also Colby College, Duke University Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Lancaster Bible College, Princeton Theological Seminary, St. Paul School of Theology (Kansas City, Mo.), Trinity International University/Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and University of Toronto (Canada) and the Bavarian State Library (est. 1558, Munich, Germany). View all libraries at WorldCat.org, "the world's largest network of library content and services." (Relatedly, click here for a list of libraries that have purchased Book #1 so far.)

On another note . . . Book #1--An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, Jan. 2008)--had an entry in the May 2008 edition of Reference & Research Book News: The Bibliography of New Scholarly Books (Vol. 23, No. 2, page 35). Read here a digitalized version of the entry. Reference & Research Book News "focuses on reference and scholarly works in the social sciences and the humanities. Each quarterly issue carries over 3,000 titles (from several hundred publishers), arranged by subject (according to the Library of Congress classification scheme)." RRBN is an affiliate of Book News, Inc. (est. 1976), a company that "prepares concise, descriptive reviews of new books in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities—for librarians and other buyers of serious books."

Library Purchases, Book #1 (An Uncommon Christian)

Via the international WorldCat database--the world's largest network of library content and services--click here to view public, university, seminary and historical society libraries that have purchased An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening.

So far, and among others, the university libraries at Baylor, Chicago, Drew, Duke, Emory, Fordham, Furman, Georgetown, George Mason, Georgia, Haverford, Indiana, McMaster (Ontario, Canada), North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Notre Dame, Nova Southeastern (Florida), Pennsylvania (UPenn), Samford, Southern Methodist (SMU), Winthrop, and others . . . Andover-Newtown Theological Seminary, Calvin College and Theological Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Lancaster Bible College and Graduate School, The Master's Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School, Berlin State Library (est. 1661, Germany), Connecticut Historical Society, and New York Historical Society . . . have purchased the book.

Also, after it is released in June '08, patrons will be able to locate libraries that hold Book #2--Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor--via the WorldCat database. Click here.