Is Jesus the vine or the vineyard?

Caution: Technical discussion of Greek below; knowledge of Greek is required to understand the arguments!

I have been reading Caragounis’ The Development of Greek and the New Testament. In pages 247-261 he takes issue with the traditional rendering of AMPELOS as vine in John 15, noting (correctly) that the meaning of AMPELOS was changing from that of vine to vineyard and KLHMA from branch to vine, while AMPELWN, the Attic word for vineyard, fell into disuse. He cites evidence from the papyri, as well as Hellenistic authors, all of which contain occurrences that endorse his rendering. Further, there is the use of AMPELOS in Revelation 14:17-20, which he says should be translated vineyard, given that there is a winepress in it. He also examines the Church Fathers, who continued to use the older Attic meaning of vine, but, as he points out, they were classically trained and consciously writing Atticizing Greek. Further, he argues that Athanasius was trying to use the vine/branch simile as a Trinitarian argument; the later Fathers simply followed in his steps. So far, so good. He seems to have an airtight case—or does he?

As Caragounis himself points out, this section of John is modeled after Isaiah 5, the song of the vineyard (KEREM in Hebrew). What is conspicuous by its absence is any reference by him to the Septuagint. We know that the gospel writers were heavily dependent and strongly influenced by the Septuagint rendering of Hebrew words. So, how does the Septuagint render the Hebrew KEREM in Isaiah 5? Not by AMPELOS, but by the Classical word AMPELWN. That’s right, throughout the entire song of the vineyard, the Septuagint translates KEREM with AMPELWN.

Not content to just look at Isaiah 5, I consulted Hatch & Redpath’s Concordance to the Septuagint, to see what was listed as the Hebrew equivalent for KLHMA, AMPELOS, and AMPELWN. Here are the results:

KLHMA: never used to translate GEFEN (vine).
AMPELWN: KEREM, over 70 times; GEFEN, only once (Jer 5:17)
AMPELOS: KEREM, 4 times (twice in Leviticus, once each in Numbers and Song of Songs); GEFEN, over 50 times

Based on the Septuagint evidence, I would say that the traditional rendering of John 15 as vine/branch is correct. But, how should Revelation 14 be translated, then? Perhaps Caragounis is correct in wanting to translate it as vineyard, but I have two problems with that. First, it isn’t at all obvious from the text that the winepress is in the vineyard. In fact, it appears that the winepress is outside of it, since it says that the winepress was EXWQEN THS POLEWS, not EN AMPELWNI/AMPELWi. Second, I would still prefer to stick with the Septuagint evidence, and simply say it is synecdoche, the one vine representing the whole earth/vineyard.

As I read Caragounis, I have found that this is typical. At first glance, his ideas seem reasonable and an improvement on the traditional understanding. But, when I dig below the surface, I find that he is reading evidence in such a way so as to endorse his theory.

By the way, the book is huge (over 700 pages, with over 100 pages of bibliography). If you choose to read the book, a background in Classics would be helpful, and some experience with Byzantine wouldn’t hurt (I’m weak there). His command of the literature is immense, from Epic all the way through to Modern Greek. The conclusions he draws from that knowledge are frequently overstated, which is why it will take me another 3 months or so to finish it!

Another one of those quiz things...

Yep, I fell for another one. This one comes via Katagrapho.

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79% Neo orthodox 64% Emergent/Postmodern 64% Charismatic/Pentecostal 57% Reformed Evangelical 50% Fundamentalist 39% Roman Catholic 32% Classical Liberal 25% Modern Liberal 25% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Hey, that one is a no-brainer!

UPDATE: I had to cut the graphic, otherwise the text wouldn't fit the window. Poor John Wesley, his portrait is now missing :)

Blogging

<idle musing>
My co-worker, John, has allowed his blog to go fallow. I asked him about it the other day, and he told me that he was too busy. “Besides,” he said, “I’m not opinionated enough to write a blog.” Hmm. . .then I saw where Intervarsity Press has a blog for their editor, Andy Le Peau. He starts out his first post with this: “To write a blog, you need to have an interesting personality or provocative opinions. I have neither.” Of course, he goes on the say that he realized he has both.

So it goes. It seems that those of us who continue to blog have strong opinions, and aren’t afraid to state them. Or, maybe in some cases, such as Dilbert we have a ghost writer do it for us. Is it wrong to have strong opinions? I don’t think so. It just lays a heavier responsibility on us to make sure that our opinions are worth reading and considering.

Ah! Therein lies the rub. Because we are so opinionated, we think our opinions are automatically worth reading. A little humility might not hurt.

What do you think?
</idle musing>

Vocabulary

Guy Muse over at the The M Blog has a good excerpt from a book by Frank Viola about conversations and vocabulary. Definitely worth a read, especially if you have any cross denominational discussions. Here’s a brief excerpt:

Viola points out that we must seek to understand the semantic differences that Christians emply when describing spiritual experiences. ”Rather than hone in on the specific rhetoric that one employs, it is better to seek to hear and understand the reality of another's experience. And to realize that they may describe it in a way that is foreign (and sometimes irritating!) to our ears.”

In much of our work across denominational lines, we run up against this type of conflicting theological jargon. It becomes very easy to get caught up in the language others use to describe spiritual truths and experiences. Language then becomes a barrier between us. We end up judging one another on the basis of the kind of language we are using to basically describe the same kinds of things!

<idle musing>
Language. A wonderful tool, and a double-edged one, too. We know what we are trying to say; why don’t they get it? Communication is about trying to understand what the other person is saying before answering them. Easy to say, but hard to do. Maybe that’s why the New Testament says that love covers a multitude of sins.
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

“The cult of busynesss and activism that infects Christians today is one of the greatest barriers to the church becoming what it should be. If Christians were willing to be more with each other and God, they would find that though they do less they achieve more. This is open to us all. It is simply a matter of working out what is important and giving it the priority it deserves”—The Church Comes Home, page 87

<idle musing>
I remember reading that Luther once said he had so much to do that day that he had to spend at least 3 hours in prayer to make sure he got it done! Probably apocryphal, but it illustrates the point.

I know I frequently get caught up in doing and forget to just “be.” God wants us to be His, not be doing, just be. Too easy; I’d rather prove to God that I’m good at doing—right! When will I ever learn? Me without God = failure. Me, subservient to God = Peace (in the Shalom sense).
</idle musing>

New monthly sale

New month, new sale :) This month Eisenbrauns is running a 40-70% sale on Festschriften. Check it out on our website here.

If it looks like a duck...

There is a saying, “If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck.” The problem is, it doesn’t look like a duck, unless, of course you have painted a duck on your glasses.

By now you are probably wondering if I have finally lost it, or you are convinced I lost it and this confirms it. So, what am I talking about? I am talking about some of the accusations floating around about the emerging and house church movements. Dan Kimball addresses the issues here He has just listed his core beliefs, very orthodox ones and then he continues:

It feels like there are certain types of people [who] seem to love to focus their ministries and lives on pointing out things they don’t agree with. So when they have been making a big deal about something they disagree with, but only to find it is really not there if you look closely or talk to the person – they then start making even crazier accusations and start pulling from almost anything to make a case through association. Your name begins with a “D”, so you must be aligned with the “d”evil etc., is practically what happens with some of the things I read. I just hope they don’t keep crying out “wolf” so often, that then when a real wolf comes, no one will listen as they have lost their credibility. We do need to be watching for “wolves” as Jesus and Paul both warned the church about (Matt. 7:15; Acts 20:29), but I think we are crying wolf and attacking our own fellow sheep who happen to like experimenting in wearing their wool in different styles or like coloring their wool different colors, but they are not wolves - they are fellow sheep. But because they are not monotone white wooled all-the-same-look sheep, they get attacked as though they were a wolf.

<idle musing>
I wish what he says here were not true. A short time ago I saw a fundraising letter from a well-known preacher. He was claiming that the number one problem facing the church today was the emerging movement. He asked for donations to fight this heresy, emphasizing the urgency and requesting immediate funds. Call me cynical if you want, but I can’t help but think he needed a heresy to get his constituents to fund his ministry.

What ever happened to the faith-based ministries of the 1800’s where they never asked for funding from man, but from God alone? Sorry folks, if you need to ask for funding, there must be something wrong with your prayer-line. Last time I checked, God was still in the business of answering believing prayer. I suspect that the marketing department has more input into what some ministries say than the prayer department does.
</idle musing>

Keep up the Greek (and Hebrew) over the summer

Matt Harmon, New Testament professor at Grace Theological Seminary here in Winona Lake [and a friend, I might add—see, I have some :)], has just written a post on how to keep up your Greek over the summer in six easy steps.

6. Team up with someone else. Beyond providing accountability, it is more enjoyable for most people to work with at least one other person. When I was a Ph.D. student I met with my two pastors and another Ph.D. student to read Greek together most Friday mornings at a coffee shop. This was always one of the highlights of the week, and we often ended up having rich theological discussions based on what we were seeing in the Greek text. I was thrilled to find another group here in Winona Lake that meets every Thursday morning to read Greek one week and Hebrew the next. These times are an invaluable way to maintain and improve one's knowledge of the language.

<idle musing>
I can vouch for that. It is easy to fool yourself into thinking you “get it” when you are reading by yourself. The group reading times are a good way to test your knowledge—and have a good time reading as well. I don’t think we get into theological discussions as much as we share bibliography and grammatical insights. Of course, what do you expect when two of us work for Eisenbrauns?
</idle musing>

Church as we know it

Leighton over at The Heresy has an interesting, and all too true observation:

The sad reality is leaders give people what they want. Many of those who dare swim against the current find themselves looking for work in a hurry. The people currently known as the congregation want programs and sappy worship music and big churches. Many American christians want high production values and low committment thus megachurches are popular. Many Christians want to be part of the church with the best facilities and largest attendance in town. It makes us feel like we are somehow better. People like worship music that is essentially REO Speedwagon patched over to Jesus. We like participating in programs because most of us don't really know how to sacrificially love one another and we aren't willing to take the time to learn how. Let's not fool ourselves in to thinking the congregation isn't just as responsible as anyone else.

Of course, there is the other side of the coin, too. Sally Morgenthaler points that out at Out of Ur, discussing the CEO mentality so common among mega-church pastors:

Large-church leaders have been trained in the modern, command-and-control paradigm for thirty years. Here, organizations aren’t seen so much as gatherings of people with a common purpose but as machines. There is no irony here. Machine parts don’t have minds or muscles to flex. They don’t contribute to a process or innovate improvements. Machine parts simply do their job, which is, of course, to keep the machine functioning.

Ah, but what about the person who doesn’t follow in lockstep? She raises that issue:

Sheep have their own ideas of what, where, and when they want to eat. They may not want to lie down by quiet waters and go to sleep at eight. They just might want to check out the watercress down by the streambed. Or they might want to head out over the next ridge to see if there are any other flocks out there. Conveniently, machine parts don’t get ideas. They just get to work, and they work according to specification. . .

Pity the member who questions the machine and develops any significant influence. Sooner or later, that member will be disposed of—shunned, silenced, and quietly removed from any position of authority on staff, boards, worship teams, or within the most lowly of programs. Unwittingly, this member has run headlong into an industrial age anachronism: “the great man with the plan” methodology. And he or she has lost.

China's Millions

I received a copy of China's Millions from Eerdmans last Thursday, just before leaving for ARCE. The book is the story of the China Inland Mission from its founding until just after the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. It is not a hagiographic writing, but a serious history, probably the first real history of the CIM.

Anyway, I started it last Saturday after I finished Early Ancient Near Eastern Law. The book is quite thick, 500+ pages, but a fascinating read. Austin doesn't just record the history of the CIM, but also that of the many interconnecting tracks of the other early missionaries and societies. His emphasis is on the "footsoldiers" as he calls them, not on the leaders, although it is necessary to include the leaders, too.

If you are even remotely interested in 19th century British, Canadian and U.S. evangelical history, or China at that time, this book is a must read. And no, Eisenbrauns does not sell it, so this is not a plug to get more sales :)

Now all I have to do is get my "What I'm reading" and "Recently read books" caught up :(

Thought for the day

"We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work."—Oswald Chambers

<idle musing>
Isn't that the truth! I would never have chosen the path that God has laid out before me over the years, but then I would have missed all the blessings along the way.
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

Be not afraid when one becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
his glory will not go down after him.
Though, while he lives, he counts himself happy,
and though a man gets praise when he does well for himself,
he will go to the generation of his fathers,
who will never more see the light.
Man cannot abide in his pomp,
he is like the beasts that perish.
Psalm 49:16-20, RSV

How I spent my weekend, continued

One nice thing about smaller conferences is that most people are there for the sessions. That means that, as a bookseller, you can also attend them. Well, I freely admit that Egyptology is not my thing, so I didn't attend any. But, instead I used the time to read.

So, what does a bookseller read in his spare time? Well, I can't speak for all, but here is what I read:

Early Ancient Near Eastern Law
A History of Its Beginnings: The Early Dynastic and Sargonic Periods
Second edition, with a 44-page addition/appendix
EIS - Eisenbrauns
by Claus Wilcke
Eisenbrauns, 2007
204 pages, English
Paper, 5.5 x 8.5 inches
ISBN: 1575061325
List Price: $26.00
Your Price: $23.40
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~WILEARLYA

It actually was a fun read, full of interesting details—of course, this is from someone who reads grammars for fun :) The book covers ancient "law," I mean ancient. A few texts are in Old Akkadian, but most are in Sumerian, which means we are talking 3rd millenium BCE. The reason I put law in scare quotes is because the book deals more with contracts, land deeds, bills of sale, etc., than what we would think of as law today.

I can tell you are breathlessly awaiting some of the interesting facts, so here are a few:
Land sales ended with a meal, paid for by the person purchasing the land. The seller, magistrate, and witnesses for both sides were invited.

It seems that the sale of land also was occasionally accompanied by a haircut! The person selling the land would receive a haircut to symbolically portray that they were "cutting" their claim to the land.

Women could buy and sell property, inherit property, engage in contracts, just as well as men.

Children and wives were frequently sold into slavery to pay off debts of the father/husband. In fact, this was so common that one tablet stands out as unusual in that the father states he would rather lose his land than sell his kids!

There were other interesting little details, but that should be enough to give you a feel for the book, which you will run right over the Eisenbrauns and purchase :)

ARCE convention

We got back from the ARCE (pronounced are-see) convention yesterday afternoon. It was a nice little convention, with about 350 attendees. This year it was in Toledo, Ohio, so we only had about a 2.5 hour drive.

Downtown Toledo is along the Maumee River, right before it joins Lake Erie. They have put a riverwalk in, and it is quite nice. Two nights we walked across the river on the bridge to a group of restaurants called "The Docks." The food was good and the walk was refreshing (about 3/4 of a mile). They are rebuilding the drawbridge, so half of the bridge doesn't exist. It looks a bit strange to see the lanes on one side just end, with a long plunge into the river if anyone were to go through the barricades.

The hotel we stayed at was recently bought by a new chain, so they are beginning a renovation. The result was that the restaurant in the hotel was short staffed. Imagine trying to feed 300+ people each morning with about half your normal staff :( Since there weren't any other choices for breakfast, you had to either get there around 7:00 AM or wait until after 8:30 to get a place to sit.

On Saturday night, they had Zahi Hawass come to speak. That was the night that one of the elevators decided to malfunction, with people in it. It was stuck for about 35-40 minutes. Once it opened, about 15-20 people came pouring out of it and ran into his talk, 1/2 hour late. I thought it was humorous, anyway.

Nice convention, but nice to be home again. Of course, because it was all weekend, that means I didn't get a weekend, so I didn't get caught up on my backlog of blog reading...

Where are we now?

Jim and I are at the ARCE convention in Toledo, Ohio. Here is what our display looks like.

Hidden Racism

There has been a huge uproar about the comments by some shock jock in the last 2 weeks. The uproar is justified, and there have been some excellent posts on it, such as here. But, I personally found this one and this one more interesting, since they were reacting, not to the event, but the cause of the event. I especially like this quote, from the first site:

Dalits (“Untouchables”) in India are required by Hindu law to be given one name, and it must be derogatory: Ugly, Stupid, Dung. Imagine the transformation when they discover that in Jesus, God came as a dalit (itself an extraordinary shock of rightly, if unexpectedly naming, God), and that he has the power to rename them: Chosen. Holy. Beloved.

Wow! But, that wasn’t where I was heading with this post, because at around the same time that the high profile misnaming was going on, a far less visible racism was uncovered. Apparently a book of skits for youth groups was published with an Asian-American character portrayed in a stereotypical way. This was pointed out to the publisher, who responded in a very significant and transformational way. The full story, from the publisher himself, is here.

we at youth specialties really screwed up. big time. i’m ashamed and embarrassed and horrified (and fairly angry, also), and i personally beg the forgiveness of our asian american christian brothers and sisters. i write as an individual christ-follower with responsibility for the systems in our organization which allowed for this offense; and i write as a spokesperson for youth specialties, apologizing on behalf of the whole organization.

You owe it to yourself to read the whole thing. This is an example of the body of Christ working together. One side speaking the truth in love; the other side humbly accepting the correction and repenting.

I pray God that I will respond with as much contriteness and humility whenever someone approaches me about a blind spot in my life!

Postal Service rate increase

Most of you probably don't pay much attention to what the Postal Service does when it comes to rate increases. I don't usually either, but this time I did a double take. The cost for shipping out our catalogs is going to increase over 133%! Now, I would simply chalk that up to an increase in the cost of doing business, swallow hard, and go on. But, when the details came to light earlier today, I felt it was important to let others know what is going on. The following is from an open letter, posted here

The new rates, which go into effect on July 15, were developed with no public involvement or congressional oversight, and the increased costs could damage hundreds, even thousands, of smaller publications, possibly putting many out of business...

What the Post Office is planning to do now, in the dark of night, is implement a rate structure that gives the best prices to the biggest publishers, hence letting them lock in their market position and lessen the threat of any new competition. The new rates could make it almost impossible to launch a new magazine, unless it is spawned by a huge conglomerate.

Not surprisingly, the new scheme was drafted by Time Warner, the largest magazine publisher in the nation. All evidence available suggests the bureaucrats responsible have never considered the implications of their draconian reforms for small and independent publishers, or for citizens who depend upon a free press.

I urge you to take a few minutes and sign the petition here. If it were just that Eisenbrauns had to pay higher postage, I would not even post this. But, this postage increase would tax the smaller publications, such as academic journals, and potentially drive them out of business, while rewarding the conglomerates. The deadline is April 23, so please don't delay.

Round and round we go

Once again, there are too many good things going on around the blogosphere! Here are a few things that jumped out at me this last week:

Ted, at The Jesus Community, talks about a message he heard about Dying to live. By the way, his dad died this weekend, please remember the family in prayer.

Alan, at The Assembling of the Church, has a good series on connecting the dots. Huh? Yep, connecting the dots. Scripture doesn’t fill in all the dots when it comes to life; we need help connecting the dots, filling in the holes. He has a series of posts on how that works (or doesn’t, in some cases).

Then, there is the post by Chris Heard about Religion as wish fulfillment. He was listening to Alister McGrath’s rejoinder to Dawkins God Delusion: “McGrath’s point—and I think it is a good one—is that a person’s desire for an claim to be true does not automatically render that claim false. McGrath offers the following analogy: suppose I am thirsty and want a drink of water. Does my desire for a drink of water render the bottled water in my refrigerator nonexistent? Of course not.” Good stuff; read the rest of it.

Out of Ur seems to be outdoing themselves of late. There was a post on Muscular Christianity recently. The summary paragraph:

All of these thoughts can be summarized as a commitment to weakness rather than strength. “Muscular Christianity” and “robust faith” are views that worked well in modernity’s concrete world, but the viability of Christian faith in the twenty-first century is not guaranteed by claims to power and declarations of strengths and doctrinal postures. This is not a slide into relativism but a commitment to nondogmatic specificity. We can tell the gospel story without resorting to competition, exclusivism, or elitism.

Ben Myers, at Faith and Theology, has a short post on doing theology in the second person, which ties in nicely with my readings in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, although he quotes from Augustine:

Although it’s necessary to practise theology in the third person – theology as academic reflection – we shouldn’t forget that theology is always most at home when it takes the form of second-person address. In the best theological work ever written – Augustine’s Confessions – theological reflection becomes indistinguishable from prayer; talk about God merges with talk to God.

And, lets not forget the publicity department : ) Jim West points us to a poll to rank the biblioblogs here. You have to log in to that river in Brazil in order to vote. But, I encourage you to buy your books from Eisenbrauns instead! But then, what did you expect me to say?

Eastern Orthodox

I just finished reading Eastern Orthodox Christianity this weekend. Don’t bother looking for it on the “What I am reading” sidebar; I’m way behind on that. But, it has been a very good read. I have always had a high regard for the church fathers, but tended to neglect the Eastern fathers after about 500. I find now that this has been to my detriment. I am going to begin repairing that by trying to obtain a copy of the Philokalia, which is a compendium of Orthodox thought from about the 4th century through the 17th. It runs about 5 volumes, of which 4 are available in English. I found them here, but have no idea when the fifth volume will appear.

Anyway, here is a marvelous quote from Maximus the Confessor (580-662):

If anything in these chapters should prove useful to the soul, it will be revealed to the reader by the grace of God, provided that he reads, not out of curiosity, but in the fear and love of God. If a man reads this or any other work not to gain spiritual benefit, but to track down matter with which to abuse the author, so that in his conceit he can show himself to be the more learned, nothing profitable will ever be revealed to him in anything.

<idle musing>
Well put, whatever tradition it comes from!
</idle musing>

New 10 day sale at Eisenbrauns

For the next 10 days, Eisenbrauns is offering selected language
tools for Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Coptic
at savings of 15-50% off retail price.
Details are here, but here's few goodies:

"A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi,
and the Midrashic Literature"
by Marcus Jastrow
Hendrickson Publishers, 2005. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 1565638603
List Price: $49.95 Your Price: $27.47

"A Concordance to the Septuagint: And the Other Greek Versions
of the Old Testament (Including the Apocryphal Books)"
by Edwin Hatch and Henry A. Redpath
Baker Academic, 1998. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0801021413
List Price: $175.00 Your Price: $87.50

"Biblia Sacra Utriusque Testamenti: Editio Hebraica et Graeca"
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart, 1994. Cloth. Greek and Hebrew.
ISBN: 3438052504
List Price: $139.99 Your Price: $76.99

Textual Criticism of Mark 16

Last Saturday there was a conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on the longer ending of Mark. Alan Knox blogged all the sessions; talk about dedication! Here are the links:
Session 1, but Dan Wallace
Session 2, by Maurice Robinson
Session 3, by Keith Elliott
Session 4, by David Alan Black
Session 5, by Darrell Block
The discussion session
There are some good arguments on both sides, although I think that Robinson’s Byzantine Priority is misplaced, and Black’s ideas are highly speculative. Of late, I have been confirmed in my Markan priority opinion by reading Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses and agree with Mark Goodacre that “Q” doesn’t exist (see Questioning Q for details), so the conference is right in noting that it is not just a text critical issue.

I’m not sure where I come down on the long ending, though. I do think that the “canonical, but not original” idea opens a can of worms in too many areas, and should be used with extreme caution until the ramifications are thoroughly explored. I have wavered between embracing the longer ending, to rejecting it. But, the opinion of Clayton Croy is intriguing: we have lost both the opening and closing of Mark (see The Mutilation of Mark's Gospel). There is no doubt that the long ending is ancient, just as there is no doubt that there is debate on whether or not it is original. I doubt we will ever solve it to everyone’s satisfaction this side of eternity.

Another good quote

Yesterday, while chasing a most discouraging link about marketing in the church, I ran across a link to Oswald Chambers online. Since I have always like Chambers, but never had the discipline to read a "daily devotional" book, I added the RSS feed. Today, here is what popped up:

Many servants set out to serve God with great courage and with the right motives. But with no intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, they are soon defeated. They do not know what to do with their burden, and it produces weariness in their lives...Commit to God whatever burden He has placed on you. Don’t just cast it aside, but put it over onto Him and place yourself there with it. You will see that your burden is then lightened by the sense of companionship.

Quote for today

“It is not the re-creation of the first-century church that is the goal. The desire is to recapture the spirit and the dynamics of early church life in ways that are appropriate to our own culture.” The Church Comes Home

Idle musings

The other day we were at some friends’ house and they were talking about their experience meeting the race horse John Henry. The horse is very famous and has many awards. But, he is mean. Not just mean, but mean. He will bite at you for no apparent reason. Besides, that, he is old, 32 years old, which is ancient for a horse. They told us that when he is in his stable, his head and ears hang down; he has drool coming out of his mouth; he looks old.

But, when they bring him out into the public for the Hall of Champions—what a change. His head comes up; his ears perk up; he comes alive. You would never know he was the same horse! But, he is still mean. As they were watching the show they noticed that his handler was being quite cautious. Once, she let her attention be diverted just a bit and John Henry noticed. He tried to take a bite out of her! She gave him a solid fist to the nose to bring him back into line.

Are you seeing any parallels here? If ever there were a picture of humanity, this has to be it. We hide in our corners, feeling sorry for ourselves and drooling all over everything. But, bring us out to the public, and —poof— we are a changed person. The façade goes up; the protective shield goes up; we become perfect people! Problems? Not us! Worries? Never! Cares? Not a chance!

But, we’re still mean! We are always looking for a chance to bite those around us, especially our handler, God. I’m glad he doesn’t use a solid hit to the nose, but he has his ways of getting our attention that are just as effective.

Quote for the day

Do you imagine plain words can precisely or truly or appropriately describe the love of the Lord…and assurance of the heart? Do you imagine that talk of such matters will mean anything to someone who has never experienced them? If you think so, then you will be like a man who with words and examples tries to convey the sweetness of honey to people who have never tasted it. He talks uselessly. Indeed I would say he is simply prattling.—John Climacus (579-649)

Apologetics?

I greatly appreciate reading The Assembling of the Church by Alan Knox. He is a prolific blogger and has some excellent insights. I just wish I could keep up with him during the week; I have to rely on my weekends to catch up.

Last week he had an interesting post on “Making our case,” a look at I Peter 3 and what apologetics meant in that epistle. Here is an excerpt:

This believer is not debating an atheist in order to prove the atheist wrong. The believer is being persecuted by the atheist and has hope in spite of the persecution. The believer is not presenting an argument in favor of Christianity to an unbeliever, he is living a life that demonstrates that "Christ is Lord" in spite of the suffering that he is enduring. The one causing the believer to suffer notices the difference. The believer has become light in the darkness.

So, why has apologetics become writing and debating in order to prove that we are right? Why has apologetics been reduced to arguments, positions, logic, and presuppositions? What happened to letting our conduct reveal the God who has changed us and is working to redeem the world?

Perhaps, the next time an unbeliever denies the existence of God or the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, we should attempt to prove our doctrines by loving that unbeliever and living a life that shows that we have died to ourselves and God is living through us by his Spirit. Then again, it does seem easier to just argue with that person.

<idle musing>
Yes, arguing is easier than living a life of love. Is it perhaps because we are so good at presenting our own case and so poor at listening to God? I know that the natural reaction for me is to defend to the death my opinions, actions and thoughts—even when I know they are wrong—simply because they are mine. What heresy! Jesus calls us to die to self and live to him. But, far more importantly, he supplies the necessary grace to do so!
</idle musing>

Are we the problem?

At Vintage Faith, Dan Kimball is recounting his experiences while shooting a video to go with his upcoming book. Very insightful comments, of which I will cherry-pick a few:

The consistent observation shared was that Christians generally don't want to listen to other viewpoints than their own, and they basically abandon the person if they aren't ready to "receive the gospel" and the Christian then moves on to someone else. This was shared that it feels like (and actually is) showing that as a person, those outside the church aren't really cared about or respected and valued as a human being other then as an evangelistic target or as someone to prove them wrong, and the Christian right.

<idle musing>
Jesus calls us to love. This doesn’t sound like love, does it? Mind you, I’ve been guilty of it too.
</idle musing>

What I am hearing is that people are not stumbling at the cross (yes, the gospel and cross is a stumbling block) but they don't reach that point, they are stumbling over the Christians and the church and the bad experiences and perceptions.

<idle musing>
Yes. The cross should be the stumbling block, not the messenger! Problem is that the messenger frequently hasn’t gotten to the cross themselves. The person being talked to is seen as a “target” so there can be another notch on their gospel belt.

This was brought home to me a few weeks ago in a conversation with someone. To him the conversation was only valuable insofar as it would bring me on board his “gospel initiative.” When it became obvious that I wasn’t going to agree with where he was going, he lost interest in me. How sad. I was interested in how we could learn from each other and become more genuine disciples of Jesus. He thought he had it together; all the gospel was about was “bringing others to Christ.” I never did figure out what happened after that in his mind. The cross wasn’t a strong point in his life or presentation.

“And he said to all, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” Luke 9:23-25 RSV
</idle musing>

Sunday

Up from the grave he arose
With a mighty triumph over his foes!
He arose a victor from the dark domain.
And he lives forever with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Saturday

"Low in the grave he lay,
Jesus my Savior;
Waiting the coming day,
Jesus my Lord..."

Pancakes, anyone?

I've been meaning to upload these pictures for almost a week now. Last Friday, we had a pancake breakfast at Eisenbrauns. Dave was the chef, adding your choice of raisins, blueberries, or walnuts to the pancakes, made from whole wheat flour.

In typical "grandma" fashion, he wouldn't take no for an answer. "Do you want another pancake?"

"No, Dave, I've had enough."

"Oh, come on now, just one more!"

What shapes our decisions?

I would like to think that the decisions I make are informed by, and directed by, my understanding of who I am in Christ and what he would like to do through me. I hope that is how most Christians think. Imagine my dismay then at reading this.

“Literal interpretation of the Bible and frequent religious practice push AfrAms toward the Democrats and whites toward the Republicans” (72). Read that twice and think about it. It boggles.

Now here it is put even more potently: “the Gospel [sic, gospel] does correlate with political orientation: the direction of correlation depends on believers’ social contexts, which in this case means their differing racial ancestries” (72). Is this suggesting that folks vote on the basis of income/economic status, regardless of their faith, or that their faith supports their perceived income needs, or that one of these groups is consistent and the other one not?

<idle musing>
Ouch!!
</idle musing>

Not another one of those quiz things!

Ok, I'm a sucker for them, I admit it:

You’re St. Jerome! You’re a passionate Christian, fiercely devoted to Jesus Christ and his Church. You are willing to labor long hours in the Lord’s vineyard, and you have little patience with those who are less willing or able to work as you do. Your passions often carry you into temptation zones of wrath, lust, and pride. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

As long as it is his linguistic abilities, and not his dreams or interpersonal skills, I don't mind!
HT: Kevin at Biblicalia
Hmmm...seems the graphic doesn't show up...

More free books!

Yep, I'm doing it again! Eisenbrauns will be giving away more free books in the next 7-10 days. All you have to do is sign up for one or more of our RSS feeds and follow the instructions when the Free Books post arrives. These are new, recently published books, selected from over 25 different titles (we do the selection).

No purchase necessary, no forms to fill out, yada, yada, yada, ....

Baptism and its implications

Ted Gossard over at The Community of Jesus has a couple of posts starting with “Living out the truth.” Here’s a snippet from the baptism one:

I believe we're called to live out the reality of our baptism. Romans 6 I take, along with most of the church past and present, to refer to water baptism. The rich symbollism there speaks of a reality we enter into in Christ by faith. When baptized we're baptized into Christ which means being baptized into his death and resurrection. Our old self ("in Adam", not in this passage) is taken under the water (whether by immersion, pouring or sprinkling) and a new self ("in Christ") emerges. It is not enough for us just to get help. We need an entirely new "us". And this is true in Christ and through baptism (some take baptism in this passage to refer to Spirit baptism).

This passage, however, makes it plain that we must live out this dynamic. In Christ we can. But I think it is clear that this is not automatic. On the basis of this baptism into Christ's death and resurrection we're to count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ. And because of that, we're to refuse sin's reign in our lives, no longer offering ourselves in slavery to sin and unrighteousness which results in death. But we're to offer ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And offer every part of ourselves as slaves to righteousness and obedience. This results in holiness and eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therefore, while I need to keep working through the dynamics given us in Scripture, and this will sometimes include a real struggle in a sin area, I need to do this from the standpoint of the new identity I have in Christ and in his death and resurrection. We are a resurrection people here and now. And this is to directly impact how we live. It is a new you in Christ that is alive. We need to reckon on that and live on the basis of that, by faith.

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching! Rather than starting with the attitude of defeat, which virtually guarantees defeat, we must begin with the attitude of what we already have and are in Christ. Not presumptuously, but by faith, realizing that it is all from, of, by, and for God. Not us, but Christ through the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father.
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

What do you think? Which has the stronger influence over you, five- or ten-minute prayers, or the whole day spent on worldly desires? Do not be surprised if your prayers are not answered. The reason may easily be that your life and your prayer clash with each other: your heart concentrates more on living than on praying. Learn this great lesson: My prayer must rule my whole life. What I request from God in prayer is not decided in five or ten minutes. I must learn to say: “I have prayed with my whole heart.” What I desire from God must really fill my heart the whole day; then the way opens for a certain answer.—Andrew Murray

Wikipedia

I have stayed out of the Wikipedia wars. I will continue to avoid them, but I think people should be aware of this new alternative described here

This week, Sanger takes the wraps off a Wikipedia alternative, Citizendium. His goal is to capture Wikipedia’s bustle but this time, avoid the vandalism and inconsistency that are its pitfalls.

Like Wikipedia, Citizendium will be nonprofit, devoid of ads and free to read and edit. Unlike Wikipedia, Citizendium’s volunteer contributors will be expected to provide their real names. Experts in given fields will be asked to check articles for accuracy.

“If there’s going to be a free encyclopedia, I’d like there to be a better free encyclopedia,” says Sanger, 38, who has a doctorate in philosophy and speaks slowly, as if cautiously choosing every word. “It has bothered me that I helped to get a project started, Wikipedia, that people are misusing in this way, and yet the project itself has little chance of radically improving.”

Citizendium is hardly the first Wikipedia alternative. But this is different — not only because of Sanger, but because of the questions at its core: Would Wikipedia be better if its contributors fully identified themselves? Would Wikipedia be better if it solicited guidance from academics and other specialists?

May it live long and prosper!

Special BookNews available

Be sure to check out Eisenbrauns web site for the latest offerings from Winged Bull Press

And here is our annual BookNews announcement of their latest:

BookNews from Eisenbrauns

News:
=================================================================
Eisenbrauns Announces Alternative Payment Plans:

In the interest of making it easier for their valued customers to obtain the books they need, Eisenbrauns has announced that effective immediately they will begin accepting gold bullion as payment. "It only makes sense, given the international scope of our business, that we should be flexible in our payment plans," noted Marketing director James Spinti. Marti Dahlquist, customer service manager, adds: "Some of our customers don't have access to credit cards, others are fearful of identity theft. Accepting gold bullion allows us to serve them better." Other alternative payment plans have been discussed, such as crude oil, an efficient method of transport has yet to be acquired. Spinti also opined that if this venture proved successful that payments in coffee might be added next.

For all the news, and the latest titles, please follow this link:
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~~~04012007
=================================================================
New and Noteworthy from Winged Bull Press, fuller descriptions available at our website:

"DIY Ossuary Kit"
Winged Bull Press, 2007. LImestone. English.
List Price: $950.00 Your Price: $883.50
Get in on the action! Building your own ossuary is the easy way to fame and fortune!

Kit includes book of Bible names, measured plans, hammer, chisels, and 1 large block of genuine Indiana limestone, rough-shaped and ready for your inscriptions. Specify color when ordering. Standard size is 22 x 14 x 12"; custom sizing is available.

Bones not included. We suggest contacting your local teaching hospital for legally-obtained, gently-used cadavers.

N.B.: Due to the weight of this item, extra shipping charges will apply. This type of limestone weighs approximately 1 pound per cubic inch.

"First Compendious Near Eastern Grammar, Vol. 2: The Unknown Languages"
by H.J. Shem
Edited by A.P. Ril
Winged Bull Press, 2007. Cloth. English.
List Price: $900.00 Your Price: $720.00
Building on the phenomenal success of the first supplemental volume, this followup volume is a must have!

"Obadiah verse 1"
by A.N. Onymous
Major Commentaries on Minor Biblical Books - MCOMBB 1
Winged Bull Press, 2007. Cloth. English.
List Price: $75.00 Your Price: $63.75
For too long biblical scholars have poured all their attention into the major books of the Bible. We feel it is time to pay more attention to the shorter books of the biblical corpus. To further this end, we are introducing a major new commentary series, Major Studies on Minor Biblical Books. The introductory volume, available now, is the biblical book of Obadiah, verse 1. This 500 page volume, lavishly illustrated with extensive charts and full color plates, concentrates on the overlooked importance of verse 1 in the canonical process and its implications for the entire biblical corpus, indeed for all theological undertakings. U. Will B. Bore, ed. for the series, expresses the purpose of the series very clearly, "We feel that in an age of inclusiveness and pluralism, it is only fair to examine the importance of these frequently overlooked biblical books. We are delighted that Eisenbrauns has agreed to publish this milestone in biblical studies."

To what extent Genesis 3?

<idle musing>
Strange title for a post, isn't it? For those of you who aren't immediately familiar with the reference, Genesis 3 describes the temptation and fall of humanity in the garden of Eden.

We have some bird feeders. Actually we have 3 finch feeders, 2 suet feeders, a large bird feeder filled with mixed seeds, and a sunflower seed bird feeder, which now stands empty (see below). We also spread corn for the squirrels during the day, and corn still on the cob for the deer at night.

Last weekend I was watching the finch feeders. There is room for 18 finches on the 3 feeders, provided they each are content to only have one perch. Therein lies the rub! I have never seen more than 8-10 finches at the feeders at one time, so you would think all would be well. Nope! Once there are more than about 3 finches to a feeder, they start fighting and chasing each other away. It's not like there is a shortage of seed; we keep them full. It is more a case of "protecting the resources"—for themselves, of course. Sound familiar?

It's not limited to the finches either, the squirrels are subject to it also. The sunflower seed feeder was their favorite destination. Even though there was an abundance of corn on the ground, and lots of seed falls from the feeders, they wanted to get to the source. So, they would climb, jump, risk their necks, etc., to get onto the sunflower seed feeder, driving the birds away.

We finally gave up and put corn in it, moving it further away from the bird feeders. The squirrels still loved the illicit seed better than the freely offered corn, even the corn in the feeder. It gets even better. We store our birdseed and corn in steel trash cans (plastic can be eaten through by sharp-teethed little animals) inside our shed. The shed is somewhat animal proof, but not totally. Now, bear in mind that there is an abundance of seed and corn lying around on the ground and in the feeders. There is no way that any squirrel is going to go hungry. But, at any given time, when the temperature gets warm enough, as it did last weekend, the smell of the corn in the cans wafts out of the shed. Then the squirrels go crazy. They run along the top of the shed, smell around the door, try to get in from underneath. It is amusing.

Why? There is an over abundance of food available. We have shown over the course of the winter that we will keep the feeders full and the corn scattered on the ground. We even gave them a separate feeder full of corn!

Hence my question, "To what extent Genesis 3?"

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now... Romans 8:19-22 RSV

</idle musing>

Transformation?

Dave Johnson, pastor of Church of the Open Door in the Minneapolis area, has a good post at Out of Ur

So here’s my question: “What’s up with that?” In all his years in church and in “the Word”, Ray never became a different kind of person. He never changed. He never became more loving, gentle, peaceful, or patient. Indeed, he only seemed to become more angry and rigid as time went on. He became harder to be around. What’s more, no one seemed to be bothered by that, as though something were out of the ordinary. No one wondered if maybe Ray had somehow missed the point.

In other words, not only did Ray never change but no one seemed to expect him to. Ray was just being Ray. He prayed the prayer, he believed the right stuff about Jesus, he was irritated with people who didn’t, and he went to heaven when he died. So again the question: “What’s up with that?”

<idle musing>
Indeed! What is up with that? I'm more bothered by the fact that no one seemed to think it unusual that he didn't change. Have we become so used to intellectual assent christianity that we don't think there is any other kind? Have we changed our theology to expect this, instead of letting our theology be driven by scripture and our lives challenged and transformed by the abiding presence of the risen Christ?

When I read the New Testament, I see lives being transformed. Further, I find that such transformation was to be the norm. Anything less was deemed abnormal and earned a stiff rebuke from the writers of the various epistles.

Mind you, the transformation was always the result of the working of God in the form of the Holy Spirit in a person's life. It wasn't the works of the individual—that also would earn a stiff rebuke, see Galatians 3!—but it was a transformation of the individual; a miracle happening before the eyes of all who knew the person.

Perhaps the moral of the story is that no one can ever become better, they just become worse and more rigid. There is only one way of deliverance, and that is death. Not physical death, although I suppose that works too in a warped sort of way, but death to self. Romans 6, buried in baptism; Galatians 2, I am dead; the list goes on. Apprehend it by faith, the only way...otherwise be prepared to take another lap around the wilderness.
</idle musing>

Which agenda?

I was wandering the blogosphere yesterday, and chanced upon this gem from David Alan Black:

Evangelical culture warriors are in the news again in a big way. It reminds me of the so-called “space race.” All the money, all the effort to “reach for the moon.” In the church, we have a similar set of misplaced priorities, I think. We aim at the stars (societal change) while the greatest of all objectives is ignored – preaching the Gospel to every creature. Some of us are so obsessed with lesser goals that we fall short of the main accomplishment. Again, I point the finger at no one other than myself. If you are reading less and less about politics at DBO it’s not because I have become less concerned about statism in America. I haven't! I have simply chosen a higher goal – one that the apostle Paul said was in fact unattainable in its entirety – to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection through the fellowship of His sufferings (so I take the Greek). Paul did not lecture on homosexuality in Philippi or on abortion in Ephesus. But when his hearers became Christians they no longer practiced evil. It’s not our main business to denounce organized iniquity in the public square, although that has its place. The best way to expose the unfruitful works of darkness is by producing the kind of Christians who will have no fellowship with them – and who will love those who practice them still. Can I get a witness?

I had stopped reading his blog quite some time ago because of the heavy political agenda, now I probably will stop by again–too bad there isn’t an RSS feed…

Ea$ter

I just got this in a marketing e-mail, and it makes me sick.

Consumers to spend $14 billion for Easter.
According to the National Retail Federation’s 2007 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, 79.5% of shoppers are planning to celebrate Easter and are expected to spend an average of $135.07, up 11% from last year’s $121.72 per person. Total holiday spending is estimated to reach $14.37 billion.

Is this what Easter is all about? Babylon!

Free Books!

Yep, that's right. Eisenbrauns will be giving away new books for free.

What's the catch? Simple, subscribe to any one or more of the RSS feeds here; watch for the "free books" posting; follow the directions.

No forms to fill out, no purchase necessary, etc...

The plural of index

Being the former Latin teacher that I am, I have a hard time with Anglicized plurals of Latin words. For me the plural of index is indices, not indexes.

Well, however you want to spell it, Eisenbrauns now has the indices of all Eisenbrauns books published since 2001 on the web in PDF form. That's right, if you are wondering whether or not a certain topic is covered in a book, and how thoroughly, you can download the PDF of the index/indices of that book and search it.

By the way, what is the plural of syllabus?

I don't know how to title this...

My son, Ryan, sent me this link yesterday. It is about a researcher who is doing CT scans on people praying to see what happens inside their brains. [note to my cessationist friends: I love you, but you're wrong :)] Here is an interesting snippet:

In earlier studies, he looked at what happens in the brains of Buddhist monks meditating and Franciscan nuns praying. The results were quite different from what happens in the brains of people speaking in tongues, whose brains, he found, went quiet in the frontal lobe — the part of the brain right behind the forehead that's considered the brain's control center.

"When they are actually engaged in this whole very intense spiritual practice … their frontal lobes tend to go down in activity. … It is very consistent with the kind of experience they have, because they say that they're not in charge. [They say] it's the voice of God, it's the spirit of God that is moving through them," said Newberg.

What does it prove? Absolutely nothing, actually, which is what the researcher himself admits. But, it does point to someone other than the person doing the praying being in control... OK, put away the aliens are in control nonsense! and look at I Corinthians 14:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. I Corinthians 14:14-15 RSV

Confession

Scot McKnight has a very good post on confession of sin.

[Tippens in Pilgrim Heart] begins with the obvious: for many of us (I’m in this group) confession is not a group or verbal activity with another Christian. It is solo-solo: only between the person and God. One reason is this: “the Christian community’s demand for respectability often increases the dishonesty” of not confessing.

<idle musing>
Bonhoeffer has a very good section in his Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible about confession. He firmly believed that every Christian should be actively doing it. But, in good Protestant fashion, he didn't believe it needed to be a priest, but could be any believer. In fact, he was against having only one person hear everyone's confessions because of the dangers inherent for the person hearing all the confessions.

Part of Wesley's class meetings was the confession of sins to one another. I think this is one of the reasons the Wesleyan revival lasted so long. I remember when I first started reading his journal that one of the recurring themes that stood out to me was the confession of sins and honesty before God and man. This from the person most associated with the holiness movement!

Perhaps part of the problem is that we try to jump over confession of sin directly into holiness? Or, perhaps we really don't have a true conception of sin. We think that it is something we do, instead of something we are (apart from Christ). If someone doesn't see themself as a sinner, but just as a good person who occasionally sins, then they don't see a real need for repentance. Which, of course, results in half converted, anemic christians who substitute good works for true holiness of heart and life...

Am I off base here?
</idle musing>

Tsumura's Creation and Destruction

I recently finished Tsumura’s Creation and Destruction. I don’t think I have seen that much Akkadian and Ugaritic, along with Sumerian, in a book in a good while! The book is basically an expansion of his 1989 book on Genesis 1 & 2, now including several Psalms and Habakkuk in his evaluation.

I found his arguments for Genesis convincing, but once he moved into the other realms, less so. His arguments are solid, almost watertight. But, I was reminded of a paper I did in Ugaritic for Dennis Pardee; I was looking for concrete borrowings in the mythological writings of Ugarit, the Hittites (including the Kumarbi cycle), and Akkadian. I was unable to find anything concrete that I could hang a strong argument on. But, as Dennis told me after reading the paper, there is no doubt something was going on. That’s how I felt after reading the book. Direct borrowing? Probably not. But there was “something going on” there. To Tsumura’s credit, he acknowledges that there are some borrowed motifs, but I wonder if maybe he hasn’t minimized them in his attempt to slay the Chaoskampf monster.

Even with that caveat, the book is worth the read, just be ready to wade through a good bit of Hebrew, Ugaritic, Akkadian, as well as a bit of Sumerian if you want to critique his arguments in detail.

Hmm, I donated this book as a prize for an undergraduate paper on Genesis! Maybe it is a bit too much for an undergrad? What do you think?

Creation and Destruction
A Reappraisal of the Chaoskampf Theory in the Old Testament

by David Toshio Tsumura
Eisenbrauns, 2005
xviii + 214 pages, English
Cloth
ISBN: 1575061066
List Price: $35.00
Your Price: $31.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~TSUCREATI

Talking head preaching

<idle musing>
I love that title! No, it’s not mine, although I wish it were. It actually comes from House Church Blog. He starts with a wonderful quote from A.W. Tozer and then proceeds to say:

There are no shortcuts to actually grasping hold of the things of God. We can hear the messages, and even be emotionally charged and thrilled by them, but transformation that leads to more deeply knowing God comes only by our own time spent in pursuit of him.

The problem with the talking-head preaching/teaching, even the really good stuff, is that we highlight it so much that we perpetuate the concept that hearing these messages are at the core of transformation. This is simply not true. Simply hearing others share their deep insights into God does not bring us to deeper places.

He goes on to argue that the place where actual transformation can happen is in small participatory church gatherings. He’s right, as far as he goes. But, there is more to it than that; we have to be willing to die to self.

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but this seems to be the single most neglected command in scripture. We don’t want to face the fact that Jesus called us to come and die. We want a comfortable Jesus who pampers us and says, “There, there, everything will be alright. I died so you don’t have to. I took care of sin so you can live in it.”

What a blasphemous attitude! Yet, if you scratch below the surface of much that passes for theology today, that is just exactly what you will find. Whether it is the “name it, claim it, stomp on it and frame it” gospel, or the “seeker-friendly” gospel, or the mega-church-build-a-mega-buck-building for mega-buck suburbanites gospel, they all boil down to a self-serving christianity which makes God a Santa Claus god.

As long as we wallow in sin and self, there is no hope for a transformation in our lives, let alone our culture. It is only as we take Jesus seriously and allow Him to transform us, believing, in faith, what scripture says we already are—saints—that we will begin to see the faint glimmering of awakening in our churches, be they house churches or mega-churches.

I love where Brueggemann in Theology of the Old Testament highlights the choice Israel had in the exile. They could look at the circumstances: captives in Babylon, temple in ruins, kingship destroyed, no hope for restoration. Pretty grim, don’t you agree? Or, they could believe the promises of restoration found in the prophets. Rationally, that is insane!

Not a whole lot has changed in 2500 years, has it? God still calls us to believe the unbelievable: that we are “seated in the heavenlies with Christ,” that we “are more than conquerors,” that “Christ is our life.” I could go on and on, but none of them make sense outside of a faith perspective. God calls us today, just as he did the Israelites. Whom are we going to listen to? Culture or God? Self or God?
</idle musing>

Catalogs

<idle musing>
Today I received a catalog from one of Eisenbrauns competitors; I'm sure you would recognize them. Anyway, I looked in vain for something in the catalog that could pass for a Biblical Studies title. Finally, on page 28 of the catalog Biblical Studies began and continued for a phenomenal 4 pages! Then the movies started.

Obviously, Eisenbrauns is in the wrong business. Our most recent catalog, Scholar's Source 27.1, was 40 pages of titles, all ancient Near East or Biblical Studies. Not a single movie or popular paperback; not a single novel, historical or romantic. How in the world can we expect to sell anything? We must be crazy, expecting people to actually think when they read our books :)
</idle musing>

Prophets or profits

<idle musing>
When I was in high school, I made a poster and hung it in my bedroom that said “Men love Profits, not Prophets.” Over the years, I have found that to be true. You rarely find a prophetic person on the staff of a church; they’re too dangerous.

Well, it appears I am not the only one to notice this, because the Christianity Today blog, Out of Ur, has a very nice post asking Where have all the prophets gone? He has three points—he must have gone to seminary :) Here’s the second one:

Church structures are unsafe for prophets:
A prophet by definition is going to disturb the status quo, make people uncomfortable, and rock the boat. But when a pastor with a prophetic function is completely dependant upon the congregation for his/her livelihood it creates a conflict of interests

Why? Because the prophet may tell them that their method of obtaining profits is wrong! Nobody likes to be told they are wrong, it is part of that whole Genesis 3 thing. People especially don’t like to be told they are wrong by someone whom they are paying. After all, we are paying them; shouldn’t we be able to dictate what we are hearing? (I just had this flashback to the scene in the movie Pollyanna, where the woman sends Pollyanna with a message to the preacher about what to preach that coming Sunday).

Of course, this is nothing new; Timothy was warned about it way back in the New Testament.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:1-5 RSV

The other two points are also well worth considering:

1. Seminaries are not training prophets
I question whether a prophet can be trained, after all it appears to be a gift of the Holy Spirit, but nonetheless, seminary training should contain classes that show people how to question the status quo

3. Ministries evaluate size not depth
This is one of my big soap box items, but I’ll not expound on it this time!
</idle musing>

Conference

Friday and Saturday I was at the regional Evangelical Theological Society meeting here in Warsaw. We don’t do many regional conferences; we are too small a company with too narrow a focus to make them profitable. But, when they come to us, we like to make a statement :) Because we were the “locals,” the conference organizers gave us pride of place, right inside the front door. Here are a few pictures of our book exhibit for you to drool over. I took them Friday morning before the conference started.

Sermon on the Mount

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Yesterday I posted a link to Ted Gossard’s series on Christians and War. But, that really is an offshoot of the Sermon on the Mount. Personally, I think the Sermon on the Mount is the heart of Christianity, the standard by which Christ expects us to live—not that we can by our own strength! There is only one way we can live it, and that is by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. But, that presence can and does enable us to live it, if we will allow the Holy Spirit to rule our lives.

On that note, there are a few really good resources on the sermon that I have found stimulating. There is, of course, Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship, a wonderful work that every Christian should read at least once. Another good book is by E. Stanley Jones The Christ of the Mount, which is out of print : ( This book grew out of his work in India with people of the Hindu persuasion. If you can get your hands on a copy, read it.

I naively thought I took the Sermon on the Mount seriously, that is, until I started reading John Wesley’s series of 13 sermons on the Sermon on the Mount a few years ago. These are readily available online here in sermons 21-33. I was suddenly confronted with the stark reality of how much I rationalized my disobedience! Again, every Christian owes it to him/herself to read these, ponder them, and pray through them.
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The citizenship of Christians

Ted Gossard over at The Community of Jesus has been running a series entitled “Christians and War.” Here is a quote from part 3

We in Jesus must be countercultural in many ways. We're not to live as this world does. This may seem problematical. Is war and killing intrinsically evil? After all, there were certainly physical battles sanctioned by God in the Old Testament. But we see that even David, the man after God's own heart, was not allowed to build the temple, since he had fought in so much warfare. War may not be intrinsically wrong in itself, though no war fought here and now is without wrong being done on both sides.

But Jesus brings in, understand it all or not (and we don't) a new way to be Israel. That will not render to Caesar what does not belong to him. Since their identity is those whose Lord is Jesus. Not any Caesar. Because of that, I take it, they will not go into battles for nations. Because as the one holy nation, scattered throughout the world, their ethic is redemptive, in Christ. They are part of the mission to bring God's salvation and reconciliation, through the good news of his kingdom, in Christ, to all.

Unappreciated workers

Update: This is indeed an urban legend. Thanks to Neal for the legwork.

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Bev, one of our editors, just forwarded this to all Eisenbrauns employees:



I know that proofreading is one of the most thankless tasks in the world, but that's a bit ridiculous! I can assure you we would notice the lack of movement here at Eisenbrauns!

Good reflections on church

I have been blessed of late reading the site The Assembling of the Church. Alan raises many good issues about what it means to be church. He is a prolific blogger; I usually only have time to catch up on the weekends. Last week he was talking about leadership—very good stuff. Here is a snippet from Imitate God, a post on 3 John:

In 3 John 1:12 and following, John encourages his readers to follow Demetrius instead. How do the readers know that they should follow Demetrius? Because Demetrius "has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself". John adds his own recommendation as well.

Notice what John is saying here. There is one man who loves to be first - he loves being a leader. But, John says that his conduct is contrary to the ways of God. So, John does not want his readers to follow him. Instead, he points them to a man who is obediently following God. Everyone who knows him recognizes this. This is the "good" that John expects his readers to follow.

Do you want to know who [sic] to follow as a disciple? Then ask yourself these questions: Who has a good testimony? Who's [sic] conduct matches their theology? Who lives what they teach and speak? Follow those people.

But, think about these questions: Who loves to be first, noticed, recognized, important? Who is more concerned with their position than with their conduct? Who is more concerned with whether or not other people are obeying him than whether or not he is obeying God? Do not follow those people.

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One of these days I need to update my blogroll and add him to it; it is hopelessly out of date. Meantime, do yourself a favor and check out his postings.
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A Prayer

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Out of Ur has an interview with Brian McLaren. In it he mentions a wonderful prayer, which I had never seen before. It is entitled Prayer for your enemies. It starts like this:

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them. Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have. Friends have bound me to earth; enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.

Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world.

As one of my theology professors used to say, “You owe it to yourself to read this.”
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Good Theologians

There is a very timely post over at The Heresy about the poor theology we have in comtemporary church life.

Some people look down upon theologians as overly intellectual and unspiritual. After working with many I consider good friends I can see where people get that impression. Theologians trust their thinking more than their feeling and often distrust people who speak in terms of feelings, impressions or divine revelation. The disdain between the “thinkers” and the “feelers” is often mutual. The consequences of this disdain are dire. The charismatic movement has lost its theological and biblical moorings. The prosperity gospel seems to have infected most of the movement. Christian television is a theological wasteland. Among many conservative evangelicals we find an unnatural obsession with political power and a narrow set of social issues.

The people that could bring correction are too isolated from the local church. When they do speak they are one voice among many. If they aren’t a successful pastor or an author with market power their influence is limited. Many of our grounded theologians watch and perhaps shake their head but are not in a place where they feel they can make much of a difference.

<idle musing>
I couldn't say it better myself. Many are feeling that the link between theology and church life has been severed.

I know that my boss, Jim Eisenbraun, feels that way. The nice thing is that he is in a position to make a contribution, being a publisher. Consequently, Eisenbrauns is going to be publishing a journal entitled The Journal of Theological Interpretation whose goal is to try to reunite the two. Sound interesting? Then check out the sample issue.

I hope that doesn't sound like a shameless marketing blurb, because it isn't; it is a genuine concern which we are trying to address. It isn't easy trying to launch a new journal, especially with libraries cutting back on acquisitions. This journal grew out of dialog with theologians, not accountants :)
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Self-promotion

OK. I wasn't going to post this because it smacks too much of self-promotion, but I have had some people ask why I didn't. So, here it is:
Jim & Brandon chose to interview me as the Biblioblogger for March

So, if you are bored, or just want to find out a bit more about who I am, go visit the link. By the way, my daughter took the picture :)

New catalog

We just received our new Scholar's Source and it will be sent out in the mail over the next week or so. Can't wait? You can download it here

Enjoy!

2008 already?

No, but it might as well be...

There is a very good post over at Out of Ur about the whole "whom should a christian endorse" thing.

1. Can he/she give us a government that will recoup our reputation in the world as a generous and compassionate nation? And could he/she take more seriously the fact that a large part of this world now finds our country distasteful? And this goes for Christians in other lands also. (I’m embarrassed every time I go abroad.)

He has nine other ones, give them a read.

You did what?

Our house is relatively small, with an upstairs that is accessed via a ladder that pulls out from the wall. That is where my study is; that is also where our exercise area is. We have a NordicTrac ski machine (now 12 years old) and my old bicycle on a magnetic trainer by Cycleops.

Last night I was riding the trainer, and was about 12 minutes into the ride, when all of a sudden the pedaling got very easy. I thought maybe I had burned out the trainer, but no. I had managed to get a flat tire. Can you believe it? On a trainer! Debbie told me it was carpet tacks :)

That put a quick end to the bicycle workout, but I just went over to the ski machine and finished up my workout on it. But, now I have to fix the flat tire :(

Neo-Assyrian sales

Sales? Yes, plural.

Eisenbrauns is running a monthly sale on books in the State Archives of Assyria series. Charles over at Awilum mentioned it last week.

Now, double your pleasure, double your Akkadian, we are running a 10 day sale on books in the State Archives of Assyria Studies series, also at 20% off.

Just think, you can get books from both series for 20% off in the same order. Enjoy your Akkadian!

Tomb of Jesus?

Update: Seems I got the date wrong! I thought it was going to air on March 5, but it was the 4th. Oh well, instead of pizza, I made Swedish Rye bread and we went over to Debbie's parents and had a good time discussing Galatians 2:20

 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (RSV)

and what it means experientially in our lives.

I have been avoiding talking about this so far, but over the weekend two archaeologists have chimed in. Since some of you will probably watch or have watched the Discovery Channel spectacle, you should read these two articles:

Joe Zias' comments. Joe is a archaeologist who works for the Israel Antiquities Authority. His comments are well informed and authoritative.

Jodi Magness who is an archaeologist (and an Eisenbrauns author!) who has excavated extensively in Israel.

There are also numerous good posts around the blogosphere. Basically, choose any of the biblioblogs on my blogroll...

Me, I'm going to make pizza tonight and enjoy some Augustine in Latin. You can waste your time watching the thing, if you want :)

Speaking the truth...in love

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The other day I was discussing with someone else the ego stroking that sometimes (often?) goes on in the world. As we closed, this verse came to mind, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15, RSV).

I don’t know about you, but I know lots of people, including myself, who can do this, just not both at the same time. Either we speak the truth, out of frustration, or anger, or self-righteousness—not out of love—or, we speak in love, but veil the truth. Well, we think it is love, anyway. Maybe the problem is that we have defined love, and then gone to the Godhead and made our image of love shape our perception of who God is. Maybe we should go to the scripture and see what the text says love is and who God is, then take that definition and understanding to our life.

Hmm...that sounds dangerous. I might have to let God change the way I interact with people. I might have to get off the throne, stop acting sicut deus as Bonhoeffer puts it, and let God run my life. Now that is a scary thought, not be in control?
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Entertainment

As I mentioned, I’m a bit behind in my blog reading, but Alan Knox over at The Assembling of the Church has a good post on entertainment. Well, actually it is a quote from another post with his reaction to it. I heartily endorse his plea: give up entertainment and love Jesus instead.

About 6-7 years ago Debbie and I went to our daughter’s church. The pastor spoke about discipleship and one of the things he said has stuck with me. He said, “As a culture, we are addicted to entertainment.” I don’t remember anything else he said, but it opened my eyes to the severity of it. I have since mentioned the idea to others, and invariably they agree. The sad part is that most of them don’t think it is a bad thing.

The usual response is, “Well, God wants us to be happy, doesn’t he?” Hmm, that sure smells like it is straight out of the pit! God wants us to filled with him; full of love for him; dead to the world and alive in him. Entertainment is all about me: making me happy; making me feel good; making me laugh, usually at the expense of someone else or via deceit of some kind.

And he said to all, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.—Luke 9:23-26 RSV (see also Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34)