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conn’s third way: eternal and temporal
28 February 2008 — art
In some of the current debates regarding the place of social justice in the Christian life, there seem to be two polarized sides.
The first side sees the ultimate focus being ‘saving someone’s soul’ and, therefore, sees little need to give someone food, clothing, or health care. Those things are temporal, they say, and the poor will always be with us, so what’s the use? The thing that really matters is the person’s eternal destiny and that is what Christians are called to do: preach the Good News.
The second, opposite side is focused on faith in action. What good is giving someone a tract or preaching the gospel to them, proclaiming Christ’s love for them, if you yourself aren’t going to help them? There is no use Read the rest of this entry »
wednesdays with waltke: chapter 09
27 February 2008 — art
The ninth chapter of Waltke’s An Old Testament Theology is entitled “The Gift of the Bride” and focuses on “the Creator’s intention for the social relationship of man and woman as they together rule the earth” (232). The current debates surrounding the place of women in church leadership linger in the background and are definitely the aim of Waltke’s argumentation. Although Waltke upholds the traditional view of women in the church (i.e. women cannot be ordained), he also parts ways with many traditionalists in his views on the gifts which women are given by the Spirit, which I will point out later in the review.
Waltke argues that the creation “accounts present the man and woman as having equality in their beings and the husband as having leadership in government and a wife to help him in their heavenly mandate to subdue the earth and keep the garden” (233). The hermeneutical issues when reading the creation accounts are then Read the rest of this entry »
keller on social justice and the church
27 February 2008 — art
In conversation with some of the recent comments and posts, I’d like to quote a section of Tim Keller’s book Ministries of Mercy. This is a section that really hit me hard the first time I read it (which was at the behest of my cousin Amy, whose note was the topic of my last post, and her husband Meade, who comments on here often and needs to get a blog so I can link him!). I think this quote has implications for some of our current conversations surrounding social justice and politics:
“The ideology of the Left believes big government and social reform will solve social ills, while the Right believes big business and economic growth will do it. The Left expects a citizen to be held legally accountable for the use of his wealth, but totally autonomous in other areas, such as sexual morality. The Right Read the rest of this entry »
no politics at the dinner table
26 February 2008 — art
My cousin Amy recently wrote a very well written note on Facebook explaining why she, as a Christian, supports Barack Obama. It has gotten quite a bit of attention. Some people cannot understand how a Christian could support a candidate who is pro-choice, which is pretty much the issue that evangelical Christians rally around (that and gay marriage).
I agree with what Amy says in justifying a Christian supporting a pro-choice candidate. She, herself, is pro-life and makes that very clear. Although this is a sticking point for many evangelicals, Amy explains that “The Bible does not Read the rest of this entry »
mapping emergent (updated!)
25 February 2008 — art
If you haven’t seen this graphic yet, it was done by Michael Patton and much discussed on Jesus Creed. It was Patton’s attempt to visually represent where people usually associated with the emerging church would stand.
There are a few problems that I see with this graphical representation of where some of these theologians/pastors stand.
First, as has often been pointed out both by those within the emerging movement and those without, the emerging movement is not a monolithic movement. There are Read the rest of this entry »
midrash mondays 04
25 February 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 childhood of Moses after he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter and then raised by his family:
For two years the child rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter stayed with his parents and indred. They gave him various names. His father called him Heber, because it was for this child’s sake that he had been ‘reunited’ with his wife. His mother’s name for him was Jekuthiel, “because,” she said, “I set my hope upon God, and He gave him back to me.” To his sister Miriam he was Jered, because she had Read the rest of this entry »
cinema saturdays
23 February 2008 — artI thought this was a fun idea. The video didn’t turn out too well, but it’s my first try, so give me a break. Hopefully they will get better.
matthew’s use of the prophets: 05
21 February 2008 — art
Last time we looked at Matthew’s use of Isaiah 40.3 in Matthew 3.3. At the beginning of chapter 4 we find Matthew’s temptation narrative. There Jesus quotes three passages from Deuteronomy (8.3, 6.13, 16) to combat the temptations of the accuser. The narrative then follows something that should be familiar to the reader at this point: Matthew places Jesus in a geographical location and then explains the theological importance of that location with a quote from the Old Testament prophets.
In this instance, Jesus leaves Nazareth after hearing about John the Presbyterian’s arrest and makes him home in Capernaum (4.13). Matthew makes sure to mention that Capernaum is in the Read the rest of this entry »
wednesdays with waltke: chapter 08
20 February 2008 — art
Before I get to this week’s review, I’d like to mention that Dr. Waltke’s recent chapel message entitled “Why Bethlehem?” is available on iTunesU [clicking will take you to iTunes]. I’d encourage you to listen to the message. Dr. Waltke provides some interesting theological insight connecting Micah 5.2 and Matthew 2.6 to bring out the theological significance of Christ’s birthplace. Mark Futato’s message on Job is also worth listening to. [Thanks to Rick Bennett for pointing me to this!]
Dr. Waltke’s eight chapter is entitled “The Gift of ‘ADAM” and focuses on the creation of humankind (Waltke rightly uses the gender neutral term ‘humankind’ in his translation of Genesis 1.26). Dr. Waltke is not only concerned with the actual account of the creation of humankind, but also what implications that has for one’s own self-understanding. As he points out, “human misconceptions about what it means to be human have had catastrophic, deadly social consequences” (211). So Waltke is approaching Read the rest of this entry »
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