Quote for the day

“Think of the church at large. What divisions! Think of the different bodies. Take the question of holiness, take the question of the cleansing blood, take the question of the baptism of the Spirit - what differences are caused among dear believers by such questions! That there are differences of opinion does not trouble me. We do not have the same constitution and temperament and mind. But how often hate, bitterness, contempt, separation, unlovingness are caused by the holiest truths of God’s Word! Our doctrines, our creeds, have been more important than love. We often think we are valiant for the truth and we forget God’s command to speak the truth in love. And it was so in the time of the Reformation between the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches. What bitterness there was than in regard to the Holy Supper, which was meant to be the bond of union among all believers! And so, down the ages, the very dearest truths of God have become mountains that have separated us.”—Andrew Murray in Absolute Surrender

It's still Winter

It snowed most of last night; just a light one, amounting to about 1.5 inches. But, it sure was beautiful. Andy took this picture of the front of the building this morning after he finished sweeping/shoveling the walk.

Quote for today

In a book I was reading over the weekend, the author made a comment about our conception of angels, especially the Valentine's day type. You know which ones I'm talking about; they have the little wings and diapers on. I thought his critique of the "Gerber baby" angels was too priceless not to post...

Those were not Gerber babies that sang around the manger the holy night Christ was born; those were mighty, warring heavenly beings singing in awe of the sacrifice of the great King.

Just once some Christmas I would like to see a real angel show up on top of the tree just as I plugged in the light—bam!—nuclear glory radiating, instantly frying the Christmas tree into a skeleton of smoldering sticks; everyone in the family slain spiritually, unable to move for hours under the weight of the angelic presence. A true "touched by an angel" episode and a Christmas to remember!—Francis Frangipane

Winter!

Finally, 2 months late, but I think it might be here. This morning was 8 degrees F; a nice crisp day. We were at Debbie's parents last night and came out to about an inch of fluffy snow on the car. When we went for our walk last night, the temperature was about 12 F, the sky was clear and the moon was reflecting off the snow. As we walked, the snow crunched under our feet. A few deer were feeding in the woods. What more could you ask for?

This morning on the way to work, there was ice on the lake, white snow on the ground, not too windy. A beautiful day for a walk. It's a good thing it didn't snow enough to go snowshoeing, or I would never have come in to work...time to bring out one of my favorite quotes (from Space for God).

"When rain turns to ice and snow I declare a holiday. I could as easily resist as stay at a desk with a parade going by in the street below. I cannot hide the delight that then possesses my heart. Only God could have surprised rain with such a change of dress as ice and cold...

"Most people love rain, water. Snow charms all young hearts. Only when you get older and bones begin to feel dampnesss, when snow becomes a traffic problem and a burden in the driveway, when wet means dirt--then the poetry takes flight and God's love play is not noted.

But I am still a child and have no desire to take on the ways of death. I shall continue to heed water's invitation, the call of the rain. We are in love and lovers are a little mad."

Quote for today

As [C.J.H.] Wright [Deuteronomy, NIBC, pp. 50-51] aptly notes,

the contrast is not between visible and invisible, or between spiritual and material, but between the visible and the audible. Idols have “form” but do not speak, Yahweh has no “form,” but he decisively speaks. Idols are visible but dumb. Yahweh is invisible but eloquent.

As we have seen, the words of Yahweh are the means by which his presence is manifest in Israel. So, making an image would be an attempt to actualize Yahweh’s presence in a manner that is, first of all, contrary to the means he desires. It would be an attempt to substitute the speaking Yahweh who confronts, rebukes, demands, and challenges. Attempting to represent Yahweh with a lifeless image would serve to ‘gag’ him.”—Vogt in Deuteronomic Theology and the Significance of Torah

Brief review of Bonhoeffer “Reflections on the Bible”

As you can see from the quote of the day for the last week or so, I have been reading Reflections on the Bible. It is a short little book, only 128 pages, of selections from many of the volumes in the Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Works series. The book was put together in celebration of Bonhoeffer’s one hundredth birthday in 2005; since the English translations for some of the Works aren’t done yet, the quotes are direct translations from the German edition.

I must say, I am ambivalent about the book. In many ways, it is a wonderful distillation of Bonhoeffer quotes. In other ways, it is far too short, and I would have chosen some other writings to include instead of what they chose. Of course, that is the nature of a short anthology–everyone has their own favorite passages and wants to see them included. Since I didn’t choose them, I will find something “better” that should have been included.

The other thing is the price; at a list price of $9.95 for 128 pages it seems overpriced. But, when the alternative is to buy all 17 volumes of Bonhoeffer’s Works ( or Werke since some are still only in German), and then find the time to read them–and mark the best passages…Well, $9.95 suddenly doesn’t seem too bad.

Although I enjoyed reading it, I probably won’t keep the volume in my library, but will pass it on. After all, why should I have the short one when I have the English volumes of Works already (and bookshelf space is at a premium in our house)?

<cheap plug>
So, watch for it to appear on the Used Books section at Eisenbrauns in the next few days—which reminds me, you definitely should subscribe to our RSS feeds : )
</cheap plug>

Quote for the day

God said—and we know it from the Bible—”See, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). This is what God made come true at Easter. Would not this message appear even more impossible, strange, bizarre than the whole story of King David, which is almost harmless by comparison?

The only thing left is the decision whether we are willing to trust the word of the Bible or not, whether we are willing to let ourselves be held by it, as by no other word in life or in death. And, I believe, we can find true joy and peace only when we have made this decision…—Bonheoffer in Reflections on the Bible

<idle musing>
Hmm...we not only accept Easter, but say our faith hangs on the empty tomb. But, David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, etc., didn't really exist? Doesn't there seem to be a disconnect here?

Jesus said "And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” Matthew 22:31-32 (RSV)

So does that mean that:
a. Jesus didn't know what he was talking about?
b. God is a liar?
c. We know better, because we live in the 21st century?
d. Bultmann was right, after all?
e. none of the above
f. all of the above
g. ???
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

If I am the one who gets to decide where God will be found, then I will always find a god there, a god who some way or other is the kind of god I am looking for, a god I like, a god appropriate to my own nature and personality. But if God is the One who says where he will be Found, then this will very likely be the place that at first does not at all fit my own nature and character, a place I probably will not like at all. This place is the cross of Jesus. And those who want to find God there must take their place under the cross, as demanded by the Sermon on the Mount. This does not at all correspond to our nature; it is exactly contrary to it. But this is the message of the Bible, not only in the New Testament but also in the Old Testament (Isaiah 53!). in any case this was the understanding of both Jesus and Paul: in the cross of Jesus the Scripture, that is, the Old Testament, is fulfilled. Thus the whole Bible is permeated by the divine intention of being that word in which God wants to be found by us. No place that seems pleasant to us, or that at first even seems reasonable to us, but a place in every way strange to us, totally alien to us. Precisely there is the place God has chosen to meet us.—Bonheoffer in Reflections on the Bible

Instant Greek?

There is a very interesting post at Better Bibles Blog about "Sunday School Greek."

The premise, put forward by Hank of Think Wink, and warmly received by the ESV Bible blog is that eve[r]yone in the church could learn Greek and Hebrew in Sunday School. And then people could decide for themselves all the sticky translation issues. The democratization of exegesis! We might wake up one day and find out that the world really is flat.

<idle musing>
Right! On the basis of how much Greek and Hebrew? I am all in favor of people learning the languages, after all, I was a Greek and Latin teacher, but let's be realistic about expectations here. One of the hardest things already about a language is managing expectations. A person outside of a consistent, almost daily, classroom setting has to be very highly motivated to learn a language, any language.

Furthermore, you can't do exegesis well with only 1-2 years of Greek or Hebrew, let alone judge translational issues. Not infrequently there are textual issues, as well as language issues. How many second year Greek or Hebrew students use the critical apparatus and understand what it means?

I have seen some of the translations that first and second year students come up with! Phooey, I remember some of my own!

By all means, learn the languages, at least enough to understand how to use the tools. But, don't assume that because you know a little of the language you can correct the translators. More accurately, you begin to understand the semantic domain of a word in the Greek/Hebrew and understand why the translations might disagree on the exact English word or phrase chosen.
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

Or—I might as well go ahead and ask myself now—am I perhaps already living so much within the framework of my own principles that I might not even notice if one day God should withdraw his living word from me? Perhaps I would just continue living by my own rules, but God’s command would no longer be with me. God’s command is God’s personal word to me for this day for my life here and now; it is, to be sure, not today one thing and something else tomorrow that God wants of me. In itself, God’s command is one. But the decisive difference is whether I obey God or live by my own principles. If I am satisfied to live by my own principles, then I cannot understand the psalmist’s prayer [Psalm 119:19]. But if I allow God himself to direct my way, then I am totally dependent on the grace that reveals itself to me or withholds itself from me, then I tremble at every word I receive from the mouth of God, tremble at the prospect of the next word and whether I will be maintained in grace. Then I am bound by grace in all my ways and decisions, and no false certainty can lead me astray from this living communion with God.—Bonhoeffer in Reflections on the Bible

Quote for the day

We have been getting together with Debbie's parents every Sunday evening to read from The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, a classic from 1875. We have been reading from 1-4 chapters each time and discussing them. There were some real gems last night, but here is one of them:

The standard of practical holy living has been so low among Christians that the least degree of real devotedness of life and walk is looked upon with surprise, and often even with disapprobation, by a large portion of the Church. And, for the most part, the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ are satisfied with a life so conformed to the world and so like it in almost every respect, that, to a casual observer, no difference is discernible.

Emerging

Out of Ur has an excellent article by Scot McKnight about the emerging church. Definitely worth the read.

Here are his main points, but take the time to read the whole thing. Don’t let the stereotypes you are hearing blind you to what God is doing amongst the emerging.

Following are five themes that characterize the emerging movement. I see them as streams flowing into the emerging lake. No one says the emerging movement is the only group of Christians doing these things, but together they crystallize into the emerging movement.

Prophetic (or at least provocative)
One of the streams flowing into the emerging lake is prophetic rhetoric. The emerging movement is consciously and deliberately provocative. Emerging Christians believe the church needs to change, and they are beginning to live as if that change had already occurred. Since I swim in the emerging lake, I can self-critically admit that we sometimes exaggerate.

Postmodern
Mark Twain said the mistake God made was in not forbidding Adam to eat the serpent. Had God forbidden the serpent, Adam would certainly have eaten him. When the evangelical world prohibited postmodernity, as if it were fruit from the forbidden tree, the postmodern "fallen" among us—like F. LeRon Shults, Jamie Smith, Kevin Vanhoozer, John Franke, and Peter Rollins—chose to eat it to see what it might taste like. We found that it tasted good, even if at times we found ourselves spitting out hard chunks of nonsense. A second stream of emerging water is postmodernism.

Praxis-oriented
The emerging movement's connection to postmodernity may grab attention and garner criticism, but what most characterizes emerging is the stream best called praxis—how the faith is lived out. At its core, the emerging movement is an attempt to fashion a new ecclesiology (doctrine of the church). Its distinctive emphases can be seen in its worship, its concern with orthopraxy, and its missional orientation.

Post-evangelical
A fourth stream flowing into the emerging lake is characterized by the term post-evangelical. The emerging movement is a protest against much of evangelicalism as currently practiced. It is post-evangelical in the way that neo-evangelicalism (in the 1950s) was post-fundamentalist. It would not be unfair to call it postmodern evangelicalism. This stream flows from the conviction that the church must always be reforming itself.

Political
A final stream flowing into the emerging lake is politics. Tony Jones is regularly told that the emerging movement is a latte-drinking, backpack-lugging, Birkenstock-wearing group of 21st-century, left-wing, hippie wannabes. Put directly, they are Democrats. And that spells "post" for conservative-evangelical-politics-as-usual.

The reformation

<idle musing>
Over the last year or so, I have been reading in different books that the reformation is over. There are various reasons advanced for it, such as postmodernism, or the "new" perspective on Paul, or this or that. Let me advance a slightly different reason.

I think the reformation is over for Evangelicals because they are just as much an administratively top heavy church, complete with their own "popes" as the Roman church is.

When I was in college we had a speaker in chapel once who talked of the "papacy of the popular paperback." That stuck with me, not just because of the alliteration, but because he spoke the truth. Well, I can say we have moved beyond that. Yep, it is no longer the papacy of the popular paperback, it is now the hegemony of the hottest hardback (I should copyright that!). As evangelicals, we have advanced to hardcovers! Isn't that a stride forward for the kingdom!

I would say the semper reformandum is no longer the cry of the Evangelical, or protestant for that matter, church. It is now "protect the status quo!" Let me keep my powerbase and extend it—all for the kingdom of God, of course! Is it not interesting that the very things that the late pre-reformation popes were accused of (loose sex, ostentatious living, building earthly kingdoms) are the very things that are now engulfing the big names in Evangelicalism? God is not mocked.

And where is the new reformation? Same place it always is, among the unnoticed things, the simple things. Look at the emerging church and the house church movement. That is where the new reformation is happening. Sure, they are less than perfect, but so was the 16th century reformation, and every one before and after it. But, if attacks from the established powers are any indication, it stands in the same tradition. Mind you, in a generation or three, this reformation movement will become the establishment and will probably end up persecuting and attacking the next reformation.
</idle musing>

Quote for a Friday

God’s word is sown not in my intellect but in my heart. Not as something to be analyzed to death but as something kept alive in our hearts like the word of a beloved friend or member of the family that rests gently in our heart even when we are not consciously aware of it—this is the goal of the word that comes to us from the mouth of God. If I only keep God’s word in my intellect, then my thoughts will often be occupied with other matters, and what God has to say to me will miss its target. So we are never finished with God’s word when we merely read the Bible; it must penetrate deep within us, dwell in us like the Most Holy Place within the sanctuary, so that we do not go astray in our thoughts, words, and deeds. It is often better to read only a little in Scripture and wait until it has penetrated deep within us than to know a lot about God’s word but not ‘treasure it in our hearts.’”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Aghh!

I am trying to prepare the next Scholar's Source for press. Normally it is a pretty straight forward procedure, everything announced in the last 3-4 months gets included. Then it is just a matter of deciding which ones to feature, usually a pretty easy decision. But this time...

The first catalog of the year is always our software update, so I have to set aside space for all the software. And, we always have 7 pages of Eisenbrauns titles. All this is normal stuff, but this year there seems to have been more books than normal. I have reduced the featured books to a minimum, almost everything is line listings, and I am still 2 pages over–and that is without adding any software! And, with all those extra line listings, the index will take an extra page, too...

Maybe we should do like the Oxford English Dictionary does with the 2 volume edition, include a magnifying glass. Then I could reduce the type and get all the listings on fewer pages. What do you think? I didn't think you'd agree. Oh well, back to slicing and dicing...

The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings which are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Qohelet (Ecclesiastes) 12:11-14 (RSV)

(extended) Quote for the day

"We come unconsciously to recognize two sets of actions. The first are performed with a feeling of satisfaction and a firm assurance that they are pleasing to God. These are the sacred acts and they are usually thought to be prayer, Bible reading, hymn singing, church attendance and such other acts as spring directly from faith. They maybe known by the fact that they have no direct relation to this world, and would have no meaning whatever except as faith shows us another world, 'an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' (2Co_5:1)

"Over against these sacred acts are the secular ones.They include all of the ordinary activities of life which we share with the sons and daughters of Adam: eating, sleeping, working, looking after the needs of the body and performing our dull and prosaic duties here on earth. These we often do reluctantly and with many misgivings, often apologizing to God for what we consider a waste of time and strength. The upshot of this is that we are uneasy most of the time. We go about our common tasks with a feeling of deep frustration, telling ourselves pensively that there's a better day coming when we shall slough off this earthly shell and be bothered no more with the affairs of this world.

"This is the old sacred-secular antithesis. Most Christians are caught in its trap. They cannot get a satisfactory adjustment between the claims of the two worlds. They try to walk the tight rope between two kingdoms and they find no peace in either. Their strength is reduced, their outlook confused and their joy taken from them.
I believe this state of affairs to be wholly unnecessary. We have gotten ourselves on the horns of a dilemma, true enough, but the dilemma is not real. It is a creature of misunderstanding. The sacred-secular antithesis has no foundation in the New Testament."—A.W. Tozer in Pursuit of God

Bless your kids!

Debbie and I have great kids. We love them dearly and pray for them regularly. They both love Jesus and aren't afraid to say so. I'm sure those of you who have kids feel the same way about your kids.

Jim Martin has a great post (part 1) on how to bless your kids here.

2. Prepare them for the battleground, not the playground. Some parents constantly buy their children toys, gadgets, candy, McDonald’s, etc. The kids then get into their high school years and the pampering continues. Only now, the toys are much more expensive. What does that communicate to these children?


Meanwhile, other parents prepare their children for life on the battleground where a spiritual battle is taking place. These parents realize that children need more than toys. They need to be equipped for life so that they will survive the difficulties and trials they will face.


3. Deal with your issues. There are no perfect human beings. Yet, if you don’t deal with your own issues (your sins, your insecurities, your feelings of inadequacy, etc.) these can impact your children. They may end up having to deal with some of the very issues which you would never grapple with.

I look forward to the remaining 5.

Quote for the day

“…has it not again and again become terribly clear in all that we have said here to each other that we are no longer obedient to the Bible? We prefer our own ideas to those of the Bible. We no longer read the Bible seriously, no longer read it as against us but only as for us.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reflections on the Bible

<idle musing>
It is so much easier to read the biblical text and find what I want, rather than what God is trying to say to me through it. When Bonhoeffer says against us, he means against our flesh, against our ideas, against all that would exalt itself against God.

Proof texting is a dangerous game, in doing it, we remove a word from its context and re-form it into our word instead of a word from God. We take the Holy Spirit breath away from it and breath on it the breath of hell instead. That is what Bonhoeffer saw happening, the church ceased to stand against the wickedness of society and instead endorsed it—even Nazi theology. But, before we condemn the German church, let's look at ourselves. When was the last time we even stopped to think before indulging in something that society would say is "normal?" We need to stop and ask what God says is normal, taking our definition of normal from the scriptures, instead of from the scripts that society reads to us all day and night.
</idle musing>

ANE Thought and the OT, part 3

This is the third and final post concerning John Walton’s Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament and will discuss part 5: People. This is by far the longest section of the book, constituting over 1/3 of the book (over 100 pages). He divides it up into 6 chapters: 2 concerning how the ancients understood the past, with a good chapter on historiography; 3 concerning the present, including divination and omens, cities and kingship, and law and wisdom; and finally, one concerning the future.

The chapter on historiography is very good, nothing earth shattering, but a good overview. The chapter on divination and omens has two interesting “Comparative Explorations” which I will comment on.

The first one, on pages 257-258, takes Jeremiah 31:33 and re-examines it in light of ANE traditions. The metaphor of “writing on one’s heart” is well known from scripture and is usually interpreted as a metaphor for memory or intimate familiarity. The problem is that in Jeremiah 31, YHWH is the one doing the writing, not the individual. Walton claims that this should cause us to look at the divination texts for a context, since it was believed by the ancients that the deities wrote on the exta of animals. He argues that NTN and KTB as verbs, with a preposition and QEREB and LEB as the objects, reflects the same idea as the deities writing on the exta of animals. He is quick to point out that there are significant differences, but the point is that YHWH writes torah on the hearts of his people. “People with the law written on their heart become a medium of communication. Writing on the heart replaces not the law, but the teaching of the law. The law on stone had to be taught and could be ignored. The law on the heart represents a medium of modeling, in which case it is not being ignored.” (italics his). A provocative interpretation.

The second “Comparative Exploration” begins on page 262 and discusses Joshua 10:12-15, the sun and moon standing still. He says we should examine the text in light of the world of omens, instead of physics. To that end Walton refers to the Mesopotamian celestial omen texts and compares the verbs used there with the ones in Joshua. His conclusion is that it refers to a non-propitious day, with the sun and moon both at the horizons, although opposite ones. He refers to his article inFaith, Tradition, and Historyfor more details–an Eisenbrauns book I haven’t read!

In the chapter “Law and Wisdom,” he offers an alternative understanding of Job, based on the shurpu incantation series. Walton claims that what Job’s friends are trying to do is convince him that he should make a blanket confession, thus placating the deity and being returned to favor. Or, to put it another way, say you were wrong somewhere so that the god stops persecuting you and instead begins to bless you. Just exactly what the adversary was saying: Job serves god for the benefits only! Righteousness didn’t matter, just rewards, the classic do ut dar [I give that I might be given] as the Romans used to say. “This modification, rather than offering a revised theodicy, seeks to reinterpret the justice of God from something that may be debated to something that is a given.” (page 308)

The final chapter, on death and life after death, reviews the little that we know (outside of Egypt) about what the ancients thought about the afterlife. He concludes that the Israelite view was very similar to the Mesopotamian view, bleak.

He ends the book with a postscript and an appendix listing the major Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Canaanite gods. The bibliography runs about 10 pages and is quite thorough. A scripture, foreign words, modern author, ancient literature, and subject index are also included.

I found the book a delightful read and a good synthesis. I know (as does Walton) that many don’t believe we can make a synthesis of this type, but I disagree. It is better to try to create a synthesis, acknowledging how much we don’t know, than to wait until we have enough data—whatever that means—to attempt it at a later date.

Quote for today

"Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

"When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the 'and' lies our great woe. If we omit the 'and', we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing."—A.W. Tozer, Pursuit of God