Name: Mark D. Roberts
Why You Should Know Him: Roberts is one of the leading theologian-pastors in the blogosphere.
Position: Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California; Teaches classes in New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary; on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine.
Previous: Pastor of Education, First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood
Education:
A. B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University (1979)
M. A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University (1984)
Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. (Area: New Testament and Christian Origins) Harvard University (1992)
Books: Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty ( 2003); Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better (2002); After "I Believe": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living (2002); Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series (1993).
Assessment: In December of 2003, Mark D. Roberts, a sucessful pastor and popular author, quietly started a blog, posting reviews of the soon-to-be-released film, The Passion of the Christ and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. His insightful articles on these and other topics where Biblical theology and culture intersect soon caught the attention of other evangelical bloggers who quickly warmed to his keen intellect and good humor.
As a respected theologian-pastor, Roberts filled a need for in-depth, scholarly analysis within the blogosphere. Roberts will often spend several days or even weeks examining a topic from a Reformed perspective providing a compelling daily read and source material for bloggers to reference. As invaluable as his contributions are, though, his most significant impact may be the way he has provided a model for other theologians of his caliber who may soon begin using the new media forms.
(This is #28 in the Know Your Evangelicals series.)
1
Very nice!
I enjoyed his site, Joe. Thanks for pointing me there!
This series is great.
posted on 12.30.2004 5:53 PM2
Thanks Joe for calling attention to Mark Roberts! He is bright, thoughtful and many times even humorous. I appreciate that he goes into corners of issues that some never venture into.
posted on 12.30.2004 10:11 PM3
Thanks for the spotlight on Mark Roberts. I enjoy his site, nice to see him recognized.
posted on 12.30.2004 11:35 PM4
posting reviews of the soon-to-be-released film, The Passion of the Chris...
Hmm....I must've missed that one. Is it a Monty Python movie?
posted on 12.31.2004 12:26 AM5
posting reviews of the soon-to-be-released film, The Passion of the Chris...
Of all the typos I could make…sheesh. Thanks for catching that, Jason.
posted on 12.31.2004 12:54 AM6
Why does Mr. Roberts church seem to embrace postmodernism , new ageism under another name,and why does Mr. Roberts himself seems to have a problem calling a sin, such as homosexual acts, for what it is - sin.
posted on 12.31.2004 12:31 PM7
Thanks for introducing Mark D Roberts, I've just started reading about him from the links off of Hugh Hewitt's site. His article on Celebration in the midst of suffering was very good.
Other men I would add to your list of living evangelicals would be John MacArthur, RC Sproul, Allister Begg, Sinclair Ferguson, and JI Packer.
posted on 12.31.2004 7:19 PM8
James,
Read Roberts's series on Christian inclusiveness and homosexuality; it's quite clear that he regards homosexuality a sin.
posted on 01.01.2005 9:20 PM9
Matt,
I read it. Actions are louder than words. He believes in 'rights' for gay couples while making a very bad and illogical case for why he is against gay marriage. 'Rights', not God-given rights such as dignity, broader on the line of acceptance - acceptance of the sin. Ones true belief in whether an action is truly sin is reflected by the reaction that they have toward it. I am a sinner; I am a liar and just as guilty of sin as someone who has engaged in homosexual acts, although I try NOT to continously engage in lying. (If you try to seperate sins:lying,murder,lust,homosexual act, then don't go there. Sin is sin is sin) However, if I lie in court and convicted of prejury then what 'rights' am I given. If what Roberts is attempting to do is seperate Gods law from Mans law then he is on ground that he has no desire to be. How could Roberts formulate an opinion on treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. It was man's law!
posted on 01.06.2005 12:30 PM