jesus had a bullhorn

31 January 2008 — art

I’m going to be a bit lazy today and post another video. I’m busy packing because I’m moving tomorrow. I won’t have internet access until I get back to classes, which begin for me on Monday. I have a bunch of books that I will review next week, including A High View of Scripture by Craig Allert, Israelite Religions by Richard Hess, How To Read the Bible by James Kugel, Evangelicals and Tradition by D.H. Williams, and Prophecy and Hermeneutics by Christopher Seitz.

I saw this video a while ago and before I viewed it I was mad. I wasn’t mad because Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Emerging Movement, Rob Bell. Tags: , , , . 7 Comments »

and a wee little man was he

30 January 2008 — art

This is a clip of Matt Chandler, pastor of Village Church in Highland Village, Texas, speaking on the text and context of Scripture and how to preach it authoritatively. Matt is one of the speakers at next month’s Resurgence Conference, Text and Context, which I wish I was going to. Mark Driscoll, John Piper, and Matt Chandler are three of the main speakers. These are three men to whom I listen every week on their podcasts (click their names to be directed to their podcasts). I would recommend their sermons to anyone with an iPod (which, at this point in history, is just about everyone).

Posted in Mark Driscoll, The Loop, Urban Ministry. Tags: , , , , , . 5 Comments »

wednesdays with waltke: chapter 06

30 January 2008 — art

The sixth chapter of Bruce Waltke’s Old Testament Theology is the final chapter of Part I: Introduction and is entitled “The Bible’s Center: An Overview of an Old Testament Theology.” Within this chapter, Dr. Waltke puts forth the thesis that the center of OT theology has to do with the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. Dr. Waltke defines this center: “the center of the Old Testament, the message that accommodates all its themes, is that Israel’s sublime God, whose attributes hold in tension his holiness and mercy, glorifies himself by establishing his universal rule over his volitional creatures on earth through Jesus Christ and his covenant people” (144).

To be completely honest, Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Book Review, Bruce Waltke, Old Testament. 3 Comments »

by your picketing, all men will know you are my disciples

29 January 2008 — art

Fred Phelps is the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church and the author of, arguably, the most unchristian website in the world. I have written about Phelps before, and regret having to write about him again…but it appears that he and his church have threatened to picket the funeral of Heath Ledger. Why? Good question. Apparently because Heath Ledger once portrayed a gay man in a movie. Was Heath gay? I’m sure we can ask his grieving wife if we can get through the picket line at the funeral.

Why in the world would someone who claims the name of Christ picket a funeral? I wonder what would have happened if Christ had picketed Lazarus’ funeral. Instead of bringing him back to life, what if Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Critical Rants, People St Paul Would Punch in the Face. Tags: , , . 45 Comments »

midrash mondays 02

28 January 2008 — art

Every Monday there will be a midrashic fable posted from Louis Ginzberg’s classic collection Legends of the Jews. This week the midrash is concerning the noticeable enmity between the cat and the mouse. Because all things were created by God, even such behavior as the enmity between a cat and a mouse has a divine origin. This is from a midrash on the sixth day of creation:

Though every species in the animal world was created during the last two days of the six of creation, yet many characteristics of certain animals appeared later. Cats and mice, foes now, were friends originally. Their later enmity had a Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in midrash mondays. Leave a Comment »

demonizing: the leading tactic in christian debate

27 January 2008 — art

“The line between good and evil runs through every human heart.
~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

There are a lot of debates going on within the different realms of Christianity. There are issues surrounding the New Perspective(s) on Paul, the emerging church, postmodernity, the Federal Vision, and whether or not Peter Enns is the antichrist (for the record, I still maintain that the antichrist is either Pat Robertson or Tyra Banks). There are also the older issues such as ecclesiology, Calvinism vs. Arminianism, paedobaptism vs. credobaptism, Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Critical Rants, Emerging Movement, Pipes Cigars and Alcohol (PCA), WTS. Tags: , , , . 22 Comments »

there is no a god by anthony flew

26 January 2008 — art

Anthony Flew was one of the most prominent atheist philosophers of the 20th century. As you might have heard, he has recanted of his atheism and turned towards theism. His book There is No A God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind is a recounting of his journey.

The first part of his book is entitled “My Denial of the Divine.” In it, Flew recounts his early life experiences and how they shaped him towards both his profession as a philosopher and his belief system as an atheist. From an early point in his life Flew decided to follow the dictum placed in the mouth of Socrates in Plato’s Republic: “Follow the evidence, wherever it leads.” Recounting his many published works, debates, and lectures, Flew guides Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Book Review. Tags: , , , , , . 10 Comments »

christopher hitchens loves jesus

25 January 2008 — art

Obviously the title of this post is a joke. One thing that is clear from Hitchens’ new book: he does not love Jesus. Christopher Hitchens’ book god is not Great, is one book within a wave of recent ardent atheists who make up, what is called, “The New Atheism.” Other authors that have been associated with “The New Atheism” are Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Lewis Wolpert, Sam Harris, and Victor Stenger. Of them I have only read Hitchens, Dawkins, and Harris…and I can honestly say that I am not impressed enough to continue reading their books. They make some good points, but these points have been oft refuted by Christian apologists for decades, since the fall of logical positivism (which was, ironically, spearheaded by Anthony Flew, whose new book, There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind will be reviewed tomorrow).

Dawkin’s book, The God Delusion, was the first book I read Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Book Review. Tags: , , , , , . 17 Comments »

we jamming…

24 January 2008 — art

I used to be a music snob. If someone liked a band or artist that was too “mainstream” then I figured that person was a sell out just like the band or artist that they considered their favorite.

I’m over that now, thanks to some help from Mother God. Probably because I’ve come to care about things like the Bible, the church, and theology much more than music. I still love music, but I’m not a music-nazi-jihadist like I used to be.

Anyway, I thought that I’d list some of my favorite music. They aren’t listed in any particular order, since I’m not sure I could choose between these bands and/or artists if I was forced to. I love them all.

So, without further ado, here are my favorite Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Oh Life. 6 Comments »

wednesdays with waltke: chapter 05

23 January 2008 — art

The fifth chapter of Bruce Waltke’s Old Testament Theology is the third and final part of “The Method of Biblical Theology” and is concerned with “Poetics and Intertextuality.” This chapter flows nicely from the previous chapter which was focused on “Narrative Theology.”

Dr. Waltke defines poetics as “the study of literary devices an author uses to construct his composition” (113). He then quotes Adele Berlin, who wrote, “We don’t know what a text means until we know how it means” (Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 15). To study the poetics of a text is, therefore, to read the text closely and attempt to understand the sometimes nuanced and subtle way the author is conveying his message. Later in the Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Book Review, Bruce Waltke, Old Testament. 1 Comment »
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