Poetry

I had the opportunity to teach a Sunday school session on the subject of Christian poetry recently. Here is the audio. We looked at four poems, from the likes of T.S. Eliot, John Donne, and George Herbert.

Also, I led one section in our Ethics class on "The Law and the Sermon on the Mount." Hopefully nothing too radical.

College slogans

I'm back...but I can't promise to be consistent. I know this is necessary for truly worthwhile blogs, but time is "more than money" as Switchfoot says.

Anyhow, for fun and also for academic purposes I've compiled a list of Christian college slogans. You might ask what the purpose of such a collection is. I think at the very least they show that colleges, just like any business corporation, have to encapsulate their "image" in a statement that reveals something about itself. Also in many ways these slogans portray the "vocational shift" that higher education in general is taking. Here they are: what do you think?

His World. Your Calling.

No Greater Task: hearts and minds renewing God’s world.

Find your place in God’s world.

Catch the Spirit.

The Opportunity Place--God's Special Place for You

Firmly grounded, fully engaged.

Momentum for Life.

Engaging the culture, changing the world.

A Matter of Mind and Spirit.

A Global Center for Christian Thought and Spiritual Renewal.

For Christ and Scripture.

Challenge your mind...build your faith.

For Christ and for liberty.

A Better Paradigm. A Higher Education.

Blog Vacation

This blog will be on vacation for one month, because the blogger will as the British say, "be on holiday." I'm not an avid enough of a blogger to get a replacement while I take a break, like superstar evangelical blogger Justin Taylor. So until next time, keep it real.

Stop footnoting yourself

Joe Kazinski has written a book about wiffleball.[1] In it he basically argues that one of the main problems with wiffleball playing these days is that people treat it like baseball, when it is not. This is partially true, but altogether obvious. In my previous work, I have argued a more compelling case that wiffleball is more like tee-ball.[2] For the fact of the matter is, as I have maintained in subsequent works,[3] wiffleball is performed within the rubric of the nascent state of ball and bat, so that the child-like re-enactment of one’s repression is figuratively displayed in the aggression of pitching and hitting. Reviewers of my work lauded its genius.[4] Kazinski’s work leaves much to be desired, but mine does not (see for example my recent Wiffleball Nation and For the Love of Wiffleball). It is clear that the outstanding expert on this subject is the present writer.
[1] “Why I am the best at wiffleball”
[2] “Why I know more about wiffleball than anyone else” – published by me, written by me, edited by me.
[3] “The Wiffleball Bible” – by me.
[4] It must be said that one of the reviewers was my cousin, and the other was a student of mine. But they nonetheless displayed the scholarly objectivity and detachment necessary in academic reviews.

I read a book review recently that was basically like the mock-review above: instead of being an explanation, appreciation, and criticism of the book under consideration it ended up being a discussion of the merits of the reviewer's own work. This straight up ticked me off as a selfish and amateurish piece. What's more, I cannot believe that the journal (which is semi-reputable) allowed this to be published! Perhaps the only thing worse than a review of this sort is a book of this sort - where the author interacts with no one but himself and his previous works. If you are going to think of yourself as the world-expert on any given subject, start a blog. But don't actually publish something with such presumption!

Ayn Rand U.

Just what we need: a college dedicated to reviving the philosophy of Ayn Rand. It's called Founders and of course its website looks attractive.

Dead Sea Scrolls Introductory Works

Note: I am not an expert in the history and text of the Dead Sea Scrolls: this is the reason I decided to read these introductory books for amateurs. Given that I am planning on seeing the exhibit of the DSS in San Diego soon, I wanted to be a semi-informed observer. Here are my brief thoughts on each resource:

1. The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction by Timothy Lim (OUP, 2005)

Lim offers a great overview of the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as a summary of the scholarship on the scrolls. He also includes an entertaining chapter of some of the political and academic drama surrounding the issues of ownership and accessibility of the scrolls since their discovery. Particularly helpful is his discussion of how the DSS contribute to our understanding of the history of the OT text - he points out the major areas in which they have filled in certain gaps in the textual transmission process. His account of the Qumran community is engaging, although he does not do justice to alternative theories that place the origin of the manuscripts outside the Essene community. However, he also does well to place the Essenes in their original context of second temple Judaism. In my estimation, even if the scrolls weren't produced at Qumran, it still helps to know about the time and place in which they first existed, and Lim does provide us with a good glimpse of the original context.

2. What are the Dead Sea Scrolls and Why do they Matter? by David Noel Freedman (Eerdmans, 2007)

Freedman is a formidable scholar of the OT, Early Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, this book is very accessible. Written in a question and answer format, the book covers all the introductory questions like "How were they discovered?" "What were the distinctive beliefs of the Qumran community?" and "How do the DSS relate to Early Christianity?" His discussion of the eschatology of the Essenes fills in a gap that was uncovered by Lim's book: so if you aren't up to date on the terms "children of light, wicked high priest, and son of light" this book is a good place to turn. Also, Freedman is clearly an expert on OT textual criticism, but he is also able to explain the differences and similarities between the DSS, the LXX, and the Masoretic text in a way that is easily understandable. The book also has a helpful glossary of terms related to the DSS. This is the first book I would read if I was completely unfamiliar with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

3. The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity by James C. VanderKam (Harper, 2004)

For those interested in a more in-depth introduction, this is the place to look. It is an update of his 1994 work "The Dead Sea Scrolls Today." Unlike Freedman and Lim's work, VanderKam gives several example translations of various passages from the scrolls and places them each in their theological, communal, and historical context, while addressing its relation to the Hebrew Bible, etc. He also devotes more space (which is good!) explaining the alternative theories of the scrolls' origins, although in the end he comes down siding with the traditional Essene community hypothesis. Since it's a larger introductory work, it contains pictures, graphs, and manuscript charts that might aid the visually inclined. He also includes some more technical discussion on the method of dating, and the technology used to study the manuscripts. Of course no book about the DSS would be complete without at least some writing about the scandals and controversies associated with their preservation and editing, and VanderKam does well to present this section in an equally scholarly tone as the rest of the work.

Lastly, for those interested in translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there's a few affordable ones out there:

1. "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation" by Michael Wise and Martin Abegg
2. "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English" by Geza Vermes

On Eliot

(From a paper I wrote on the transition from "existential to eschatological" in TS Eliot's poetry):

The view of the “self” for Eliot is closely tied with one’s view of history and time. When poetic characters reflect on the significance and meaning of history, they disclose their personal understanding of their relationship to time. The early poetry of Eliot treated history as something to be neglected, or as a troublesome conundrum. Prufrock did not explicitly wrestle with the issue of “history,” but his memory is short, and he is seemingly too distracted to reflect on it in any sort of meaningful way. “History” for him is too grand of a concern to engage. Gerontion’s description of history, as we recall, was more thoughtful: “history has many cunning passages, contrived corridors/and issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, guides us by vanities.” For him, history exercised an invisible influence on the present, such that individuals were left all but helpless in light of “her (history’s) supple confusions.” The only proper response to history was one of defeat. In “Ash Wednesday,” the reality of history can never be fully understood, as the present is the only “actuality:”

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are…
(Eliot 85)

The saint’s perspective is directed toward eternity, and thus the transience of life is a necessary contrast to the reward in the future. ‘Little Gidding’ introduces the most unified view of history in Eliot’s poetry, emphasizing the immanence of the past on the present, by suggesting that “history is a pattern of timeless moments.” The concept of “timeless moments” implies the significance of every moment in history, but more importantly signifies the divine presence in transient reality. Individuals participating in spiritual things experience “transcendence” over time. Thus, the moment of belief, of prayer, is the ultimate “timeless moment.” Following from an affirmation of both time and eternity, ‘Little Gidding’ provides a view of the promised future that is hopeful, giving us the sense that the present moment is not the end of the matter.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
(Eliot 208)

Pieces of poetry

At the first turning of the third stair
Was a slotted window bellied like the figs's fruit
And beyond the hawthorn blossom and a pasture scene
The broadbacked figure drest in blue and green
Enchanted the maytime with an antique flute.
Blown hair is sweet, brown hair over the mouth blown,
Lilac and brown hair;
Distraction, music of the flute, stops and steps of the mind over the third stair,
Fading, fading; strength beyond hope and despair
Climbing the third stair.

Lord, I am not worthy Lord, I am not worthy
but speak the word only.

From - TS Eliot, Ash Wednesday

Milton and Dostoyevsky

"Though different in so many ways, John Milton and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are one in their use of the biblical narrative of Christ's temptations in the wilderness at key moments in their works. Each address the problem of theodicy - seeking to justify the ways of God to men."

- Andrey Gorbunov, Literature and Theology 20.1 (2006)

Sayers

"The one thing I am here to say to you is this: that it is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality, unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. It is a lie to say that dogma does not matter; it matters enormously. It is fatal to let people suppose that Christianity is only a mode of feeling; it is virtually necessary to insist that it is first and foremost a rational explanation of the universe. It is hopeless to offer Christianity as a vaguely idealistic aspiration of a simple and consoling kind; it is, on the contrary, a hard, tough, exacting and complex doctrine, steeped in a drastic and uncompromising realism."

- Dorothy Sayers, "Creed or Chaos", p 28.

Law and Love

(A) shared view of the relationship between love and law between the Old and New Testaments represents a major instance of continuity with respect to love and law between the testaments. However, in addition, in this case continuity should not be thought of as perfect symmetry for the NT gives love the priority (cf Rom 13:8, Gal 5:13) while it may reasonably be said that because the OT puts the love of neighbor in a legal context, it gives the system of law the priority...

- Richard Allbee, JSOT, 31.2 (2006)

Prophetic

This is taken from a 1952 article by Tadakzu Uwoki in the "Japan Christian Quaterly" and has striking relevance for today's context, particularly in relation to America's foreign policy:

"Politically speaking, the Japanese dared to make a great leap after the war. Democracy is taken for granted in these days. The trouble is that people are not well trained in the democratic principles. On the contrary, some are making use of them for undemocratic purposes. In any sudden change of a social or political order, it is quite natural that superficial gestures are taken to be genuine action. A similar phenomenon occurred some eighty years ago, just after the Meiji Resotration. The character of a nation accustomed to feudal ideas for hundreds of years, would not very easily be made over. There were Chrsitna leaders who warend the people that the change in the form of government would not alter the national characteristics at one stroke. Constitutionally-minded people must be produced through a longer preocess of education. The most urgent necessity was the cultivation of a new spirit and character in the nation. This warning was well-founded. The feudalistic character of the people remained alive far into the constitutional era."

Psalms

Psalm 1 not only identifies devotion to Torah as "the way of the righteous" but its authorial voice also embodies attentiveness to Scripture through its dependence on and interpretation of other texts. In fact, Psalm 1 is a tapestry of the writings of ancient Israel. In its first three verses, Ps 1 alludes to Deut 6:6-9, Josh 1:8, Gen 39:3, 23; Jer 17:5-8; and Ezek 47:12. These five allusions serve a critical exegetical function by actually modeling the very devotion to Torah that the psalm extols and by interpreting reality in light of this reading.

Brian Russell "Psalm 1 as an Interpreter of Scripture" IBQ, 26.4 (2005)

Summer reading

For the month of June, I am consciously avoiding any specific theological reading unless absolutely necessary (for Sunday school preparation, etc). This is because I want to actually feel like I'm having a summer break; although I enjoy reading theology, it has practically become part of my job and so I'm drawing the line of demarcation.

One was "The Professor and the Madman" by Simon Winchester. A very interesting account of two men who contributed much to the writing of the massive Oxford English Dictionary, a veritable tome and exhaustive treatment of the English language. The madman spent several decades from his place in the asylum writing and reading, in order to help with the citations of the OED. But the thing is, while he was clearly off his rocker in certain respects, in many other ways he was perfectly rational. It is a story worth reading. I enjoyed the chapter about Samuel Johnson's

dictionary too - he is one of my heroes.

The second was "Under the Banner of Heaven" by John Krakauer. It is basically a history of Mormonism mixed in with the story of a group of Mormon fundamentalists who believe in polygamy. Certainly Krakauer offers a "critical history" here, arguing for the persistent and uneasy tension between Mormonism and American culture. It's also includes disturbing accounts of murder. But all in all, I think it's a good digest of Mormon belief and history from an outsider's perspective.

I'm developing an interest of sorts in Mormonism - not out of sympathy, but out of curiosity. It is a very fast growing religion, and although Krakauer wants to place it as a religion at odds with American culture, I tend to think it shares several key characteristics with American life and thought. For one, Joseph Smith basically saw himself as an entrepeneur, and came up with a new "product" to match the tastes of his day. This was to be sure just one example where Christian religion and capitalist marketing have been mixed in the US. Mormonism is also heavily moralistic without a doctrinal center. This is not to say that they don't have doctrine - they do and much of it is flat out bizarre. But on the practical level the upstanding behavior of the community is held above "orthodoxy" and in many ways this reflects the pragmatic spirit of America from its beginnings.

Beckwith

Christianity Today recently interviewed Francis Beckwith, the former president of the Evangelical Theological Society who resigned because of his re-entrance into the Roman church. Here's a snippet of the interview: "The Catholic Church frames the Christian life as one in which you must exercise virtue—not because virtue saves you, but because that's the way God's grace gets manifested. As an evangelical, even when I talked about sanctification and wanted to practice it, it seemed as if I didn't have a good enough incentive to do so. Now there's a kind of theological framework, and it doesn't say my salvation depends on me, but it says my virtue counts for something."

This is disturbing to me on several levels. Firstly, I find it troubling that Beckwith's first mention of "grace" is in connection with "virtue" rather than "redemption." Protestants have traditionally had little problem with speaking of grace in connection with sanctification and conformity to Christ, but in our best moments we have clearly established that grace in this respect is impossible unless we are first clothed with the righteousness of Christ. In other words, before grace works "inside" it comes as a gift from the "outside" - that is, through Christ's life, death, and resurrection which doesn't just start the process of redemption but actually accomplishes it.

This leads to the second point, where Beckwith says that "as an evangelical, even when I talked about sanctification and wanted to practice it, it seemed as if I didn't have a good enough incentive to do so." My response: does the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone not provide enough incentive to pursue holiness, that we have to substitute it with another gospel of faith plus works? Put simply, what about the incentive of "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" or "We were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life?" It is extremely vexing to me why one would want to exchange the death and resurrection as our incentive for sanctification for something else, which is inevitably a form of self-justification.

Which takes us to the last point, where Beckwith says "Now there's a kind of theological fraemwork, and it doesn't say my salvation depends on me, but it says my virtue counts for something." It seems to me that the underlying text here is, "Now I can finally contribute something to my salvation." In the Protestant scheme, our virtue does indeed count for something: it "adorns the doctrine of God our Savior" (Titus 2:10). What our virtue does not do is "count" before God as earned credit with the heavenly bank. We have two choices when all is said and done: the righteousness that is from the Law or righteousness that is by faith in Christ (Phil 3:9) -seeking my righteousness or receiving the righteousness of another.

Hopefully the fact that the president of the ETS has run away from the true apostolic and catholic Church does not mean others will follow.

Chronicles

The Chronicler's adherence to a 'theology of immediate retribution' provides his dominant compositional technique, particularly formative in his reshaping of the history of Judah after the schism. 'Retribution theology' refers to the author's apparent conviction that reward and punishment are not deferred, but rather follow on the heels of the precipitating events. For the Chronicler sin always brings judgment and disaster, while obedience and righteousness yield the fruit of peace and prosperity.

- R. Dillard "Reward and Punishment in Chronicles" WTJ 46

FV

Doug Wilson is indeed a prolific blogger. I must say I am impressed with the sheer amount of coherent words he is able to string together on a daily basis, covering all sorts of topics. If he was a writer in ancient Israel they would had to fell half the trees in Lebanon to provide enough paper for his writing.

Anyhow, I was surprised to see that Wilson is responding to every chapter of every book that engages in a critical analysis of the Federal Vision. So he is currently responding to By Faith Alone edited by Gary Johnson, and he recently finished Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry edited by Dr. Scott Clark. The responses by Wilson can be found here. One consistent reservation that Wilson registers is the idea of the republication of the covenant of works at Sinai. He thinks that this is setting up God's people for inevitable confusion, because if the COW was republished at Sinai, it would mean there were two principle operating at the same time in redemptive history: the Covenant of works and the Covenant of Grace. If this is the case, then Wilson argues that we somehow have to distinguish between which parts of this era relate to works and which relate to grace - something that would be unnecessarily tedious. I don't want to get into it in detail here, but I think one problem is that Wilson does not seem to understand the typological aspect of the covenant of works in the Mosaic economy. Here I would simply recommend an interesting article by TL Donaldson called the "The Curse of the Law and the Inclusion of the Gentiles" (in New Testament Studies, 32 - 1986- pgs. 94-112). Here is a great paragraph from the article that relates to the subject at hand:

"Israel serves as a 'representative sample' for the whole of humankind. Within Israel's experience, the nature of the universal human plight - bondage to sin and to the powers of this age - is thrown into sharp relief through the functioning of the law. The law, therefore, cannot accomplish the promise; but by creating a representative sample in which the human plight is clarified and concentrated, it sets the stage for redemption. Christ identifies (with) not only the human situation in general (Gal 4:4), but also with Israel in particular, thereby becoming the representative individual of the representative people" (pg. 105-106).

Islam

Here is the first paragraph of a paper I did for a "Witness to Muslims" class:

Malise Ruthven states decisively, “If there is a single word that can be taken to represent the primary impulse of Islam, be it theological, political, or sociological, it is tawhid – making one, unicity…”[1] The Muslim doctrine of God (Allah) underlies this noticeably strong emphasis on the oneness of Islam: it forms the very first part of the Islamic creed – “there is no god but Allah…” All subsets of Muslim belief and practice including the authority structure, the law, and the community subserve the aim of submitting to the one will of the one God Allah. Ruthven further asserts that “the overwhelming stress on God’s uniqueness reflects the polemical context in which early Islam was forged. Tawhid simultaneously challenges Arabian paganism, Zoroastrian dualism, and the Christian doctrine of divine incarnation.”[2] Indeed, one of the first visible acts of Muhammad was his destruction of all the pagan idols set up in Mecca, save one: Allah. Perhaps metaphorically this is how adherents of Islam might like to conceive of its status: a force that has dispersed all competitors and established itself as the supreme religion above all others. For fourteen centuries Islam, despite all its internal turmoils, has sought to remain committed to tawhid, zealously guarding it against pagan polytheism and Christian Trinitarianism.
[1] Malise Ruthven, Islam: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: OUP, 1997), 49.
[2] Ibid, 50.

Music

A diversity of friends means a diversity of musical tastes, and I rather like that. So here (without consulting them) are some friendly favorites:

My friend Peter likes Orishas, a Cuban rap group that is really quite musically diverse.

My friend Stephen likes Carla Bruni, a French jazzy-type singer with great song-writing skills.

My friend Scott likes Christian Forshaw, a great saxophonist who integrates choral works with his creative instrumentation.

My friends Justin and Erika like Regina Spektor, a great lyricist with a unique voice: the song "Samson" is worth pondering.

My friend Ellis likes (or at least used to) Blessid Union of Souls, a band with clever (if sometimes depressing) lyrical rock ballads.

My sister Tami likes the Magnetic Fields, an old-school sounding band with very melodic and memorable tunes.

Prolegomena

So I've been reading Provan/Long/Longman's book A Biblical History of Israel which on the whole is very well written and a great overview of ancient Israel. One thing I have noticed though is that while the book is some 300 pages (with small print), a full third of the book is dedicated to historiographic concerns - essentially a justification for writing a history of Israel using the biblical text as a primary source. While it's a helpful discussion, I wonder if these authors have gotten caught in today's almost obsessive preoccupation with prolegomena, seen especially in Christian theology and philosophy.

One of my professors has said that prolegomena is like clearing the throat before one speaks. What is funny is that if we take this analogy to our present context, then there are many scholars and writers today who seem to spend the majority of their time clearing their throats and then finally getting around to saying something worthwhile (if they ever get there!) I think one of the unforunate aspects of the contemporary academic landscape - call it "postmodern" if you like - is that many feel like they have to spend a good deal of labor and book space with preliminary issues and philosophical questions, and then end up doing less with their actual object of study. Thus, a scientist in a Christian university has to come up with a "Christian philosophy of science" before he ever looks at something under the microscope. Bavinck, a theologian who himself wrote a very lengthy Prolegomena to his dogmatic theology, wisely comments right at the beginning that in going through introductory matters like the authority of Scripture and the place of the church and tradition in theological formulation, one is already doing theology! This seems like a wise insight - and it warns us not to draw a map before we've actually hit the trail.

Christology

"To summarize, it is not via kenotic Christologies but via a theology of divine accomomodation that we are able to uphold the two natures of Christ in one person. Not only in the incarnation but throughout the history of God's covenant with his people God remains God while entering into solidarity with human beings and creation more generally. God is "haveable" because he has given himself, and yet he remains "other:" free from as well as for the world. By uniting himself to our flesh, the Son executes in time the redemptive determination in eternity. The incarnation is therefore the culmination of covenantal accommodation. We have indeed met a stranger, but is hs also flesh of our flesh, a mediator "who in every respect has been tested as we are, and yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). In this event, God is haveable without being fully possessed; given without being enclosed; brought into the most intimate solidarity with humanity without any loss to the deity that would place redemption beyond reach. As in all analogical revelation, so too here - even in the univocal core that is Jesus Christ - there is more to God than meets the eye."

- Michael Horton, Lord and Servant, pg. 177

Sanctification

"Our conformity is rather to Jesus Christ in the mundane experience of his historical existence, an existence marked by fears and trails, faith and hope, continually strengthened, comforted and inspired by the Spirit of God through suffering and temptation as he sought in loving obedience to accomplish the will of the Father. Our destiny is not that we might be made divine but rather that we might at last become truly human."

- Alan Spence, "Christ's Humanity and Ours" in Persons, Divine and Human, pg. 97

NNPP

A new acronymn we should coin: "Not the New Perspective on Paul" - taken from a lecture given by Francis Watson, a talk which is a model of British academic wit and exegetical acumen. What's interesting about Watson is that he's actually a former NPP proponent who has turned from his old assumptions and now become a tremendous critic of his former school of thought. I always think it's a rarity when academics not only change their mind, but are willing to actually admit it in such a public manner. In this respect, Watson mirrors the one he has dedicated his scholarly life to studying: the Apostle Paul.

Prayer books

I heard a stirring sermon this morning from a fellow student on the subject of prayer, from Colossians 4:2-4. He concentrated on the importance of "being watchful in prayer" and what that entails.

I realize that reading about prayer should certainly not replace prayer itself, but the following three books have helped me to think about prayer more biblically, and I commend them to you if you are interested in the subject:

Lord, Teach Us How to Pray by Alexander Whyte
The Soul of Prayer by P.T. Forsyth
The Method of Prayer by Matthew Henry

Barth and Trinity

"As for how we are to conceive of the three members of the Trinity, Barth holds that God can have only one personality, for if Jesus Christ were a personality different from the Father, He would not be the Father's self-revelation. He therefore suggests abandoning the term 'person' to refer to the members of the Trinity, because that word inevitably implies 'personality' which would amount to tritheism. Barth prefers the Cappadocian terminology of three mutually related modes or ways of being of the one God. He connects God's personhood or subjectivity with the divine substance or 'ousia' rather than with the three 'hypostases.'"

- Metzler, Norman, Concordia Theological Quarterly 67.3-4, pg. 273.

Pannenberg

"Pannenberg's understanding of the nature of the theological task gives rise to a theology oriented toward two intertwined focal points - reason and hope. The significance of the term 'reason' is obvious...theology is a rational undertaking. The term 'hope' capsulizes the thoroughgoing eschatological orientation of his program. Since his entire systematic theology focuses on the eschaton we may characterize it as a theology of hope. Foundational to the whole of Pannenberg's theology is the concept of the kingdom of God understood as the glory of the Trinity demonstrated in God's rulership over creation."
- Olson and Grenz, 20th Cent. Theology, pg. 190.

Sort of sounds like they're describing Vos, aye?

Christology

"It is here usual to enquire, whether Christ as Mediator is inferior to the Father, and subordinate to him. But this controvery, it seems, may be easily settled among the orthodox: if the Mediator be considered in the state of humiliation, and the form of a servant, he is certainly inferior to the Father and subordinate to him; see John 14:28 "The Father is greater than I." Nay, we may look upon the very mediatorial office in itself as importing a certain economical inferiority, or subordination; as being to be laid down, when all things shall be perfectly finished, and God himself shall be all in all , I Cor 15:28."

Herman Witisus, The Economy of the Covenants between God and Man, pg. 184.

New Exodus and Gal 5:18

Studying Galatians 5 has sort of been a pet project of mine throughout my time in seminary, so I'm excited when scholars produce helpful and insightful exegesis of this passage, particularly when they are sensitive to the redemptive-historical motifs that run through Paul's writings. So I was delighted when I happened upon this review about a book entitled "Echoes of the Exodus Narrative in the Context and Background of Gal. 5:18" by William Wilder. (Gal. 5:18 says, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law") Here is a snippet of the review:

"What Wilder observes is that - contrary to conventional interpretations of this verse - Paul has in mind a 'new exodus' typology in which the guiding Spirit corresponds to the exodus cloud and existence 'under the law' to the Israelites' bondage in Egypt...Wilder looks at the contexts of salvation history, exodus typology, and Paul's apocalyptic perspective before probing Ps. 143:2, 10 as the specific background for Gal 5:18."

Barak

"Perhaps more pertinent to our politics is the name Barack (sometimes spelled Barak) which presumably refers to the warrior who served under the direction of a strong willed woman executive named Deborah (see Judges 4). This has led practitioners of a peculiar style of biblical prognostication to conclude that the senator will accept the vice-presidential nomination on a ticket headed by a strong-willed woman of our time...."

Richard John Neuhaus, First Things March 2007, pg. 68

History and Faith

It seems to me inescapable...that anyone who chanced to read the pages of the NT for the first time would come away with one overwhelming impression - that here is a faith that 'does not understand itself to be the discovering and imparting of generally valid, timeless truths,' but that is firmly based on certain allegedly historical events - a faith which would be false and misleading if those events had not actually taken place, but which, if they did take place, is unique in its relevance and exlusive in its demands on our allegiance.

- Norman Anderson, Jesus Christ: The Witness of History, pg. 14.

Covenant seminary courses online

Covenant seminary is kindly offering many of their courses online for free. I think many of their instructors are great lecturers: I'm familiar mostly with David Calhoun and Dan Doriani, both of whom have courses on this site.

Qur'an and the Bible

Contrast the first statement by Reza Aslan, a Muslim theologian, to the second statement by Geerhardus Vos, a Christian theologian.

1. "The Quran is considered to be direct revelation, the actual words of God handed down through Muhammad, who was little more than a passive conduit. In purely literary terms, the Quran is God’s dramatic monologue. It does not recount God’s communion with humanity; it is God’s communion with humanity…"

2. "Because God desires to be known after this (covenantal) fashion, He has caused His revelation to take place in the milieu of the historical life of a people. The circle of revelation is not a school, but a covenant. To speak of revelation as an 'education' of humanity is a rationalistic and utterly unscriptural way of speaking. All that God has disclosed of Himself has come in response to the practical religious needs of His people as these emerged in the course of history...it (the Bible) has not completed itself in one exhaustive act, but unfolded itself in a long series of successive acts."

Lolita

The reader will regret to learn that soon after my return to civilization I had another bout with insanity (if to melancholia and a sense of insufferable oppression that cruel term must be applied). I owe my complete restoration to a discovery I made while being treated at that particular very expensive sanatorium. I discovered there was an endless source of robust enjoyment trifling with psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on, never letting them see that you know all the tricks of the trade; inventing for them elaborate dreams, pure classics in style (which make them, the dream extortionists, dream and wake up shrieking). By bribing a nurse I won access to some files I discovered with glee, cards calling me "potentially homosexual" and "totally impotent." The sport was so excellent - its results - in my case - so ruddy that I stayed on for a whole month after I was quite well (sleeping admirably and eating like a schoolgirl).
- Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, pg. 34.

So here's a question: Should Sabbatarians watch the Super Bowl this Sunday? Notice I did not say "Christians" because that would mean I would have to defend the practice of keeping the Lord's Day holy: something that has already been satisfactorily done by Joseph Pipa and even the pope. But assuming that you believe the Lord's Day should be sanctified along the lines of the 4th commandment and the summary of the commandment in WCF 21.8 and LC 116-121, then I will make what is perhaps a bold statement: watching the Super Bowl is inconsistent with biblical Sabbath keeping. The reason, in short: the 4th commandment states that "You are to do no work" and then goes on to state that one's family and animals are also under the purview of this injunction. What is more, "the stranger who is within your gates" is also forbidden from doing work. (As one of my professors has said, the Sabbath is not just about receiving rest, but also giving rest to others.) It seems to me that by willingly (even enthusiastically) participating in watching others work, we are not following the spirit of this law, which is to both rest ourselves and to give others rest as well.

The objection may arise (and I've heard it many a time): "refraining from watching is not going to prevent them from working, so it's not an issue." Firstly, the logic behind this seems like "Well, the stranger who is within my gates will work elsewhere unless I let him work here, so I better let him work here on the day of rest." Secondly, one must again question the assumption behind this statement. For the main concern is not whether one's watching is forcing someone to work or not, but whether one's participation is at the very least an implicit approval of others working, which Sabbatarians do not believe is appropriate on the Lord's day.

It seems to me that if we as Christians want to be "counter-cultural," then resting on the Lord's day is a good place to begin...

Christian Freudom

No, that's not a misspelling. It's a clever phrase Carl Trueman develops in a characteristically winsome manner in a recent article for Reformation21 online. He begins by discussing the complexity of human motivation, and that sometimes even in "serious" theological discourse we can see Freud's insights at work. For example, a person writing a very critical appraisal of dispensational eschatology might also be trying to free himself from the clutches of his fundamentalist upbringing by exposing the shaky doctrine he was taught as a child. Next, Trueman goes to point out that many young Reformed folk have adopted practices they consider "Christian freedom" but are in fact only strong reactions to a legalistic background. Drinking or smoking then becomes the classic expression of Christian liberty. Here's part of the conclusion (I recommend reading the rest for yourself!):

"In closing, it is perhaps worth mentioning the most famous foul-mouthed Christian beer drinker of them all: Martin Luther. It is a well-known fact that his language was rough and ready, frequently obscene, and that it became more extreme and offensive the longer he lived. Over the years, scholars have wrestled with the reasons for this, from his dysfunctional relationship with his father to his chronic constipation to his desire to present himself as a man of the common people. Certainly, the extremity of his vocabulary raises all manner of interesting psychological questions. But what is interesting is that – to my knowledge – Luther does not make his foul-mouth the test case of Christian freedom and maturity; and beer drinking is only the most trivial instance for him of such liberty. Indeed, Luther actually emphasizes rather different elements in his understanding of Christian freedom...."

Gaffin on Union

If, then, we ask, what is the ground of the justification that is mine in union with Christ, the basis of my being justified in him, then, it seems, there are just three conceivable options in reading Paul: (a) Christ's own righteousness, complete and finished in his obedience culminating on the cross, the righteousness that he now is and embodies in his exaltation; (b) the union itself, the fact of the relationship, the existence the uniting bond, as such; or (c) the righteousness and obedience being produced by the transforming work of the Spirit in those in union with Christ. In short, in union with Christ, the ground of justification is resident either in Christ as distinct from the believer, in the bond between Christ and the believer itself, or in the believer as distinct from Christ.

It appears that the current readiness to dispense with imputation stems from taking either of the latter two factors just mentioned, whether or not intentionally, as in effect, the ground of justification. But neither is sustainable. The relationship as such, no matter how real and intimate, in distinction from the persons in that relationship, cannot be the basis of my justification. Clearly in Paul it is not a relationship as an entity, the relational bond in itself, but a person that justifies and saves, specifically the person of "the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20). I suspect that position (b) above will inevitably gravitate to (c) in some form...

- Richard Gaffin, By Faith, Not by Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation, pg. 51

Alan Jacobs

One of my favorite writers these days (besides the aforementioned James Wood) is Alan Jacobs, a professor of English at Wheaton College. He has begun a new column over at Books and Culture Online entitled "Rumors of Glory," which is from a 1980 song by Bruce Cockburn. This is Jacobs describing the inspiration he received from the track, and hinting at what the column will involve in the future:

"In the song, perhaps his best (which is saying a lot), Cockburn sees the "tension" between what we were made to be and what we in fact are; he sees that human culture is produced by that tension, which generates "energy surging like a storm." At once attracted and repelled by that energy, "you plunge your hand in; you draw it back, scorched." And the hand that has been plunged truly into the human world is always marked by that plunging: it's "scorched", yes, but beneath the wound "something is shining like gold—but better." The truth of who we are, given the extremes of divine image and savage depravity, is hard to discern; perhaps we can only achieve it in brief moments; perhaps we only catch rumors of the glory that is, and is to be. But even those rumors can sustain us as we walk the pilgrim path."

The Brothers Karamazov

...But Christ is not an idea. This is surely the only way to explain the intellectually nonsensical behavior of Dmitri, who, though innocent, is willing to be guilty for all and before all; or of Father Zosima's advice that we should ask forgiveness "even from the birds;" or of Alyosha's final words, which close the book, about how resurrection does indeed exist: "Certainly we shall rise, certainly we shall see, and gladly, joyfully tell one another all that has been!" Such notions have really fallen off the cliff of ideas and into the realm of illogical, beautiful, desperate exhortation. Belief has smothered knowledge. And this exchange - of the unreason of Christianity for the reason of atheism - means finally that there can be no "dialogism" in this novel, either of the kind Bakhtin proposed or of the kind that Dostoevsky so dearly desired. There is neither a circulation of ideas nor an "answering" of atheism by Christianity. For the answer - the unreason of Christian love - no longer belongs to the realm of worldly ideas, and thus no longer belongs to the novel itself. It exists in paradise, and in that other, finally unnovelistic book, the New Testament.

- James Wood, The Irresponsible Self, pg. 74.

Sophie Scholl

I recently saw a German film called Sophie Scholl: the Final Days. It was a dramatized historical documentary about Sophie and a small group of anti-Nazi campaigners known as the White Rose that distributed leaflets in the early 1940's suggesting the futility of fighting against the Allied Forces, and also describing the oppression of the German people under the fascist regime.
It was a well-done production, containing what so many Hollywood films lack: meaningful and thoughtful dialogue. Especially provocative is the exchange between Scholl and her interrogator, which is an ideological dialogue rather than the legal prosecution we might expect. In this discussion Sophie makes what is a most fitting criticism of Nazism: "No human, no matter what the circumstance, can exercise divine judgment."

I highly recommend it!

Christian liberty

Also worth noticing here is how far present-day notions of religious liberty are from those of historic Christianity. Some Christians feel that if they may not express their faith in public openly, they lack religious liberty. But if Christian freedom of the kind described by the Westminster divines is primarily a liberty to worship and serve God without fear of eternal condemnation, how is the liberty of American Christians restricted by not being able to pray in public schools, enjoy a creche in front of town hall, or appeal to the Bible in political debates? Or even if such Christian freedom involves liberty of conscience, so that a believer must have enough political liberty to worship in a way pleasing to God, when or where exactly have the secular authorities in the US attempted to regulate the worship services or private devotional exercises of Protestants and Roman Catholics?

- D.G. Hart, A Secular Faith, pg. 70

Monasticism and Poverty

In cities a body of men may hope to live on almsgiving, but even in a city it is not possible to live utterly without possessions. This raises a problem for anyone who wishes to be one of the poor. No one, and certainly no community, can for long be utterly poor. This is the paradox of poverty as an ideal: it is so easy to be poor by chance, so difficult by policy. The older monastic orders had solved the problem by adapting as their ideal individual poverty in the midst of corporate possessions. But it is evident that, in the face of real poverty, monastic poverty of this kind is only wealth under another name. On any ordinary interpretation of the phrase, long before the 13th cent., the claim made by monks and canons to be pauperes Christian pauperem sequentes, "the poor following Christ in poverty", had ceased to have any respectable meaning. It was a main part of the mission of St. Francis and his followers to give a new meaning to this well-worn phrase....

- R.W. Southern, The Middle Ages, pg. 288.

Atonement theology

The frequent representation met with today, as though a mere rehearsal of the bloody scene, a mere holding up of the martyred figure of the Savior, could have had the tremendous effects caused by the Gospel of the Cross, savors far more of modern sentimentality than it does of sound historical knowledge of the mentality of those to whom the evangel of the cross was first presented. Some theory must be put behind and into it (the cross), if its religious efficacy is to be made at all understandable. True history, worthy of the name, does not live without philosophy. Nor does Sacred History live without a fundamental theology incarnate to it.

- Geerhardus Vos, The Self-Disclosure of Jesus, pg. 274

Koine

Until the late 19th cent. some considered the Greek of the NT to be a unique, heavenly language. This was thought to be the case because the style of the NT was very different from that found in Greek philosophical texts or in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. So some concluded that the Greek of the NT was a special "Holy Spirit language" prepared by God to convey his word. This was a maintainable position (although still conjectural) until archeologists began unearthing documents written in a Greek style similar to the NT. And these documents were not concerned with anything official, nor were they meant for public consumption. Rather they were written by everyday, insignificant people about things that were never intended to be handed down through the ages, such as letters and contracts. Even in the language of the Bible, God demonstrates that (in Christ) "he is one of us."

- Peter Enns, Inspiration and Incarnation, pg. 19.

Medieval history

We have become so accustomed to thinking of Christendom as an ideal body detached from all ties of political loyalty that it is well to be reminded that from the time of Constantine religious unity had stemmed in the first place from political unity. Religious unity could scarcely be thought of apart from political unity, if only because religious unity depended on some ultimate power of coercion. Hence all future medieval plans for the reunification of Christendom are fundamentally plans for political integration. (But) After the end of the eighth century Christendom was not longer politically united even in the most shadowy way...

- R.W. Southern, The Middle Ages, pg. 61

the book of Revelation

Revelation has a unique place in the Christian canon of Scripture. It is the only work of Christian prophecy that forms part of the canon. Moreover, it is a work of Christian prophecy which understands itself to be the culmination of the whole biblical prophetic tradition. Its continuity with OT prophecy is deliberate and impressively comprehensive...John is steeped in (the OT), not just as the medium in which he thinks, but as the Word of God which he is interpreting afresh for an age in which God's eschatological purpose has begun to be fulfilled. He gathers up all those strands of OT expectation which he understood to point to the eschatological future and focuses them in a fresh vision of the way they are to be fulfilled.

- Richard Bauckham, The Theology of the book of Revelation, pg. 144.

The temple

The latter-day goal all along of the heavenly temple was that it descend to earth and permeate every part of it. That did not happen during the epoch of Israel because of the nation's disobedience. Until the time of Christ, God's special revelatory presence extended only to the borders of the holy of holies. Then Christ came and did what Adam should have done, and in so doing he began to expand the temple even during his earthly ministry. When he ascended into the heavenly temple, he then sent his Spirit to create God's people as a part of that extending heavenly temple. But since the church represents only a remnant of the earth's inhabitants who accept the gospel, God's unique presence does not spread throughout the world, so that the universal extent of the temple has not yet been achieved, and will not during this age. Only when Jesus Christ returns a final time will he destroy the old cosmos and create a new one, wherein God's presence will dwell completely.

- G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission, pg. 387.

The gospel of Mark

And so the radical newness brought by Jesus spells the end of Judaism - not just first century Judaism, with its various abuses, but the OT system of life set down by God's own law. The coming of the bridegroom abolished even God's own religion. The religion of the OT was an elaborate system that effectively taught that God kept his distance from sinners. Even though Israel rejoiced at the presence of God among them, that presence was paradoxically, at one and the same time, a reminder of God's distance. (For example, notice how the Shekinah, perhaps the supreme token of God's presence with Israel, also demonstrated that God dwelt in both 'unapproachable light' and 'deep darkness.') The coming of Jesus abolishes this distance, and so, in another of God's great paradoxes, the Messiah's fulfillment of the law means that OT religion is superceded.

- Peter Bolt, The Cross from a Distance: Atonement in Mark's Gospel, pg. 29.

Typology

Careful study of the individual passages reveals that the NT use of Scripture, whenever it is not directly literal, should be considered typological rather than allegorical. An allegory is a narrative that was composed originally for the single purpose of presenting certain higher truths than are found in the literal sense, or when facts are reported for that same reason. Allegorical interpretation, therefore, is not concerned with the truthfulness or factuality of the things described. For typological interpretation, however, the reality of the things described is indispensable. The typical meaning is not really a different or higher meaning, but a different or higher use of the same meaning that is comprehended in type and antitype.

- Leonhard Goppelt, Typos: The Typological Interpretation of the OT in the NT, pg. 13.

Paul

What is so remarkable about Paul's eschatology is that although he avails himself of all kinds of traditional terms and ideas, yet it is distinguished from all forms of the contemporaneous Jewish eschatological expectation and bears and completely independent character. Now this has its origin in the fact that Paul's eschatological is not determined by any traditional eschatological schema, but by the actual acting of God in Christ. This is the fundamental christological character of his eschatology.

Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of his Theology, pg. 52

Kinkade

My argument then is that Thomas Kinkade's attempt to sidestep modernity in behalf of nostalgia is a genuine attempt - however misguided - to return to a broader tradition of Western art, when art did not so much challenge as serve its public, when light itself, not yet dissected by Newton's prism, was holy. If it is true that light has become increasingly secularized, demystified, refracted into its parts in the Western tradition, we have yet a further explanation for Kinkade's fascination with the quality of pre- rather than post- modern light.

Luke Reinsma, "Thomas Kinkade's Paradise Lost" from Christian Scholars Review 34.2 (Winter 2005), pg. 243.

Reading notes

Modern discussions of the infralapsarian definition as less 'harsh' than the supralapsarian form often miss the point that the results of the two definitions are identical: the infralapsarian form does not argue that more human beings are brought into the kingdom, nor does it leave any opening for the human will in matters of salvation. It merely identifies the human objects of the eternal decree differently - as created and fallen rather than as creatable and liable.

- Richard Muller, "Beza's Tabula Praedestinationis" from Protestant Scholasticism, pg. 59.

Reading notes

A few months before (T.S.) Eliot's conversion, he defined what alone constitutes life for a poet: it is the struggle to 'transmute his personal and private agonies' into something universal and holy...as he said, "what every poet starts from is his own emotions, which may be his nostalgia, his bitter regrets for past happiness." These regrets might become, for a 'brave' poet, the basis of an attempt to "fabricate something permanent and holy out of his personal animal feelings - as in the Vita Nuova."

- Lyndall Gordon, Eliot's New Life, pg. 3

Reading notes

The fundamental change brought into religion by the Reformation was the abolition of the 'penitential cycle' - the rhythmic progress through sin, confession, absolution, penance, grace, and further sin - which was at the heart of late medieval pastoral theory. The spiritual 'core' of the Reformation was the change from a justification through a great sequence of little atonements, to a justification 'draped' over the believer in a single, once for all act of redemption.

- Euan Cameron, The European Reformation, pg. 306.

Reading notes

It was the order of the world that the shell should fall away and that I, the nub, the sleeping germ, should swell and expand. Say that water lapped over the gunwales, and I swelled and swelled into I burst Sylvie's coat. Say that the water and I bore the rowboat down to the bottom, and I, miraculously, monstrously, drank water into all my pores until the last black cranny of my brain was a trickle, a spillet.

- Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping, pg. 162