Things!

I spent the weekend getting caught up on older blog posts (actually I did other things, too, but that is another story). Here is a post that really caught my eye:

. . .We did not have time to stop and ask if this is truly what God wants from us, because we were so busy doing things.

We were so busy doing things...

And, that's just what they were... things. This is what I realized this morning while I was talking with my wife. We had been so busy doing things for so long that we had almost forgotten that God is not interesting in things. God is interested in us and other people... relationships.

Don't misunderstand me... I don't think these things were designed as things. But, they became things. Things to do. Things to prepare. Things to instruct. Things to follow. Things to believe. Things to support. Things to finance. Things...

We should teach other believers... but teaching can become a thing. We should preach the gospel... but preaching can become a thing. We should meet with other believers... but Sunday morning events (and Saturday evenings spent with friends) can become a thing.

Even quiet times... devotional times... prayer times... can become things. And things are not God.

<idle musing>
Martha and Mary in the Gospel of John. We live in a Martha centric society. Do this, do that, here’s the latest deadline, don’t miss it or you’re in trouble. Activity, everywhere you look. If you take time to stop and meditate, you feel guilty for not producing.

But how much of the activity is just hiding the emptiness inside? How much of the activity is a subtle form of works righteousness? How much of the activity is to keep us from confronting who we really are? If we just stay busy, we can collapse at the end of it and feel like we “did something,” thus keeping the conscience quiet.

A whirlwind of activity, but what is at the center of it? Self! And what does Christ call us to except death to self! As usual, we get it backwards. Christ calls us to die, that we might truly live. So we work like crazy, thinking we can truly find life that way. Ah, the folly of our ways. Genesis 3 permeates everything we do, think, and see. Would that we were to allow Romans 8 to have the same reign in our lives! What a transformation the world would see. Would that I John’s perfect love of God and neighbor were allowed to control our thoughts and actions. We would rapidly recover the reputation that the early church had among their neighbors! Instead we devise clever programs for “reaching the lost.” Things!
</idle musing>

Do no evil

This from BBC News

From next month, Google will no longer take adverts from companies which sell essays and dissertations - and the internet company has written to advertisers to tell them about the policy...

But one of the UK companies fearing that it will be prevented from advertising, Essaywriter.co.uk , is angry at the threat to its business - with 80% of its customers coming through Google.

Managing director Matthew Wilson says this will punish the legitimate, transparent companies, which sell essays, but which warn students that they must not be used dishonestly.

Mr Wilson says that such a bespoke service, selling tailor-made essays at short notice, with prices around £70 and upwards, can be used as a guide for students wanting extra assistance.

Overseas students are frequently customers, he says - but the firm makes clear that essays should not be passed off as being written by the student.

And he says that such a blanket ban will not stop the search engine from generating links to rogue essay selling companies, which have been accused of scamming customers by providing poor quality material.

<idle musing>
Right! They write and sell the essays, but warn people not to use them. Doesn't that sound a bit hypocritical?

But, the fact that Google is cutting them off is good news.
</idle musing>

Local church?

The ever-prolific and thought provoking Alan Knox asked a very good question on his blog about 10 days ago (that is how far behind I am in reading!) concerning the “local church:”

While location and distance are certainly important, I'm also concerned about how we see our connection to believers around us. If we drive even 5 minutes to meet with a group of believers, but never interact with the believers in our own neighborhood (because they belong to another local church), I think we have an invalid concept of local church.

I'm beginning to think of the "local church" as all believers with whom God allows me to interact. That includes the ones that I meet with regularly. But, it also includes my neighbors and co-workers who are believers. They are part of the local church for me, and we are responsible for one another just as the ones who share "membership".

<idle musing>
Barna raised this same question in The Revolution; his answer is that we have too narrowly defined church. Church is the body of believers, where ever and whenever they happen to meet. If there are two or more gathered, then it is Church. Pretty wide-open definition, but quite biblical!

Under that definition, Alan’s understanding is correct, and our parochialism is unbiblical. If I am talking with my neighbor, we are experiencing a bit of church. If co-workers are discussing biblical concepts, it is church. This definition is at once freeing and scary. Freeing because I don’t have to be concerned about putting on a “church face,” but scary because it makes the presence of God more immanent—everytime two or more are gathered! That’s pretty immanent.

What do you think? Am I all wet here?
</idle musing>

New Testament Christianity?

Guy Muse has a bit of a rant about Christianity, or rather what it has become.

However as the Kingdom grew, so did the desire to control and monitor all that was happening. Around the year 300 A.D. the spontaneous expansion of the church led by the Holy Spirit was formalized into an institution largely governed by a professional clergy class. For 1700 years Institutional Christianity has shifted from being a priesthood of all believers to becoming one of the world's major religions.

God has certainly not ceased to work through His Church, but in a real sense, his divine methods and purposes have been substituted for man-made religion, programs, dogmas and a divided Body.

. . . We have turned Christianity into a religion. Complete with hierarchy in our churches, organizations and institutions. We have added rules, regulations, expectations, and interpretations which govern the simple commands of Christ and the apostles. Isn't this the same kind of stuff Jesus condemned the Pharisees?. . .

Today we get bogged down in a never-ending debate about who, what, when, and where, and how things can and should be done. Instead of just doing what Christ said to do, we now have formal written documents, clauses, guidelines, interpretations, and definitions for everything. Clutter.

<idle musing>
Yep.
</idle musing>

The helmet, a tough decision

I read an interesting study last week on helmet use and bicycling. Now, I ride between 2500 and 3000 miles a year on country roads, so the results of this study aren’t just an academic interest to me; they affect the way I live, since any decision I make can be life-threatening.

Walker attached ultrasonic sensors to his bike and rode around Bath, allowing 2,300 vehicles to overtake him while he was either helmeted or naked-headed. In the process, he was actually contacted by a truck and a bus, both while helmeted—though, miraculously, he did not fall off his bike either time.

His findings, published in the March 2007 issue of Accident Analysis & Prevention, state that when Walker wore a helmet drivers typically drove an average of 3.35 inches closer to his bike than when his noggin wasn't covered. But, if he wore a wig of long, brown locks—appearing to be a woman from behind—he was granted 2.2 inches more room to ride.

My experiences while living in Minneapolis confirm his findings. I didn’t tally it, and I certainly didn’t have ultra-sonic sensors! But, when I wore a helmet (which was usually), the traffic would give me less space; when I forgot my helmet, they would give me more space, or slow down until they could. It wasn’t something I consciously kept track of, but rather a general impression.

Another scary site I ran across the same day is cyclehelmets.org. I hadn’t seen these data before, but they certainly were enough to make me reconsider my stand on helmets. The fact that a helmet can actually lead to more brain damage because of torsion was especially scary.

Based on these sets of data, I have decided to begin, once again, to ride without a helmet. As I said, this is not something I do lightly and frivolously, since it can affect my life in a very real way on a daily basis, but I think the data lead to that conclusion. I am not going to become an “anti-helmet evangelist,” but if people ask why I no longer wear a helmet, I will tell them.

To cite, or not to cite

OK, the kerfuffle has reached crazy levels now. You can read about it here, here, here, here. I'm sure I'm missing some of them, but if you check those posts, it should link to the others.

The claims, counterclaims, personality cults, purpose of footnotes, etc., has been enlightening. But, through it all, one thing has bothered me. The people involved in this debate (if it is a debate) are all learned, knowing at least one, if not more, inflected language. Jim knows Greek, speaks a fluent German, yet he fails in English. I am not picking on Jim, the others involved have also overlooked a very basic error in the whole thing.

My Latin and Greek teaching background is crying out, and I can't hold it in any longer! The topic was entitled "Who to cite." Now, students, what basic rule of English does this violate?

What, you don't know? Please, students, what is the subject of the sentence? That is correct, it is not stated, but implied. Now, class, what is the object of the verb? Again, you are correct, but how can a subjective case pronoun be the object of a verb?

Exactly! It can't; so what is the correct form of the word?

Class...class...hello; anybody there? Yes, you, the old codger in the back of the room. That is correct, we need to resurrect the word "whom" in order to clarify that the object of the verb is the person being cited! So the correct title should be "Whom to cite."

While we are on the topic, there is a homonym for cite that has made an appearance in this debate by mistake; what would that be? That is correct; site, a homonym with a very different meaning. Don't you just love English?

I couldn't resist

Jim West has created quite a tempest (see here and here) with his latest broad brush claim. He says that Intervarsity Press is a fundamentalist press. Of course, the inference is that they only publish fundamentalist authors...

Thank you Jim. I was wondering what to put on sale for the next 10 days; now I know. I'm putting 15 books from the Intervarsity Press Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series on sale! Of course, you had better be careful, these books (culled from over 1000 years of church tradition) could be dangerous—after all, they are published by a "fundamentalist" publisher, which means they are fundamentalist themselves and therefore have no value, except to steal your brain away :)

You can see all the dangerous titles here.

Prepublication offer

Eisenbrauns is pleased to announce that we will be reprinting Simo Parpola's classic work, Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal.

"Part I: Texts" appeared originally in 1970 as AOAT 5/1; "Part II: Commentary and Appendices" originally appeared in 1983 as AOAT 5/2. We will soon go to press with the reprint, which will be in the usual quality Eisenbrauns hard cover printing and binding; and we want to make a special offer for those who are willing to preorder the books.

Through July 31, 2007, special pricing is available on (to individuals and libraries): order now, and we will send you the set for $120.00, shipping included (free--via UPS inside the U.S.; via DHL worldwide). If you use a credit card to pay, we will not charge your credit card until the books are shipped in late June/early July. After July 31, normal pricing will apply to all orders. This special prepublication price will not be available after the prepublication offer closes. Sorry: the prepublication offer is good only on set purchases! (You may, of course, order either volume at the regular price, if you need it to complete your set.)

Normal prices will be:
Set: ISBN 978-1-57506-139-9. $169.00
Volume 1: ISBN 978-1-57506-137-5. Pp. xx + 341. $85.00
Volume 2: ISBN 978-1-57506-138-2. Pp. xxxiv + 542. $110.00

What I'm reading

I need to take the time to catch up my sidebar. Last week I read The First Christian; a short little book that started out well, but ended rather disappointingly. The first 60-70 pages are a very nice, concise overview of the first, second, and third quest for the historical Jesus. Granted, the title doesn't give you a clue that the book is about the historical quest—poor marketing :)

Anyway, his central thesis is that the first quest ran aground when it hit the realization that Jesus was an eschatological figure and not the rational 19th century man they were looking for—see Schweitzer's book. The second quest was started in 1953 and continued until the summer of 1968 when student unrest on the campuses and "ban the bomb" took over everyone's interest. Zahl claims that the second quest didn't die because it hit a logical wall, but because interests turned elsewhere. Since most of the questers had lived through the eschatological experience of WW II, they didn't have a problem with Jesus as an eschatological figure. Enter the third quest. According to Zahl, the third quest is a reaction to the Holocaust on the part of Christians. The Jesus they are looking for, and finding, is continuous with Second Temple Judaism. So continuous, in fact, that one is tempted to say "What's the problem? Why did Jesus get crucified?"

If Jesus is continuous with Second Temple Judaism, then Christianity must have been a creation of his followers, or more precisely, Paul. According to Zahl, this cheapens not just Christianity, but also Judaism. There has to be a difference, and he claims that Jesus was the first Christian (hence the title of the book), and that he was not continuous with Second Temple Judaism, but in stark opposition to it. Here he calls in the testimony of Flusser. Now, I must admit that the reason I even read the book is because I noticed he referred to Flusser a lot, so I enjoyed his appeal to Flusser.

Based on his reading of Flusser, Zahl is calling for a fourth quest, as a resurrection of the second, unfulfilled quest. This is where the book got boring. He paints the third quest far too broadly, ignoring the subtle distinctions within the various questers involved in the third quest. To see the nuances of the third quest, I recommend reading Mark Goodacre's recent summary (which I can't find right now).

In summary, Zahl has some good points, but he tends to oversimplify a bit. But, at 134 pages, it is worth a quick read. He has some good insights, having studied under Dunn, Kaesemann, and other luminaries of both the second and third quest. Being a pastor, he brings in some good pastoral perspective to the various quests also.

Canoe

I have always wanted a canoe, but everywhere we have lived is too small for a 16 or 17 foot canoe. Besides, I would prefer a 12 foot one. Well, Debbie brought me back a canoe from Minnesota, but it wasn't a 12 foot one:



Too bad there isn't a hand in the picture to show the size better, but it is about 6 inches long. Hey, she was thinking of me :)

Holiness

In Christianity Today this month there is a great little article on holiness. It became available on line. Here's a bit to whet your appetite, but do read the whole thing. By the way, the full title of the article is Holy to the Core: We're tempted by moralism because we've forgotten what God wants at the center.

We act as if holiness were either outdated or something that characterizes only a small (if important) part of our lives.

This is partly due to our quest for cultural relevance, which is defended in the name of winning others to Christ. If we talk about holiness with unbelievers, won't that present just another hurdle for them to overcome on their way to Christ? For this and other reasons, we are rapidly forsaking our historic commitment to holiness. Recent polls show that many self-described evangelicals march in moral lockstep with mainstream American culture in practices of divorce, spousal abuse, extramarital sex, pornography consumption, materialism, and racism, just to name a few. While we tip our cap to the importance of holiness, many in our culture don't view us as morally different in any meaningful way—except to see us as hypocrites.

I believe one crucial ingredient to healing our moral confusion is the recovery of the biblical idea of holiness, which includes private morality but so much more—the very life of God in us. Holiness is not just for advanced Christians but stands at the beginning and center of God's call on our lives: "Be holy, because I am holy" (Lev. 11:44; 1 Pet. 1:16).

<idle musting>
If you have read this blog very long, you know that one of my burning passions is to see scriptural holiness in the lives of Christians. This article is a good start to pointing out that it is all God's grace, power, and mercy; none of the strength, power, or accomplishment comes from me.

Along those lines, I just started Ken Collins' new book The Theology of John Wesley in which he does a good job of articulating the fact that it is all God's holy love that allows a Christian to live a holy life, but more on the book later as I get into it further.
</idle musting>

Bicycling

Debbie has been gone for over a week now, visiting our daughter, granddaughter, and grandson while Joel was in New Orleans helping rebuild some houses. She drove, so I have been without a car, but never fear! I bought a bicycle trailer this spring for just such an occasion.




It will carry 70 pounds, but so far I haven't had more than about 30 on it. I have been using it to go to the grocery store. I used it once without the bag to get gas for the lawnmower. I strapped the gas can to it with bungy cords and rode to the gas station. It must have looked pretty funny to people seeing it, but it worked.

Mega versus Organic

Wow! David Fitch is at it again over at Out of Ur. He is taking on the mega-church, claiming that it is more difficult to pastor a church of 100 than one of 1000+. I think he's correct.

It is more difficult to take 10 people and grow a body of Christ to 150 than it is to transplant 200 or 300 people and then grow that congregation to 5,000. A crowd draws a crowd. From day one if you have all the bells and whistles, 5 full time pastors, a youth program, and a charismatic speaker with spiked hair (a shot not aimed at anyone in particular) and you don't mind putting the smaller community churches out of business, it will be harder to stop attracting a big crowd...

It is more difficult to preach a sermon to 100 people than to 8,000 people. Of course, there are some of my emerging co-laborers who don't believe in preaching per se. I believe in proclamation of the new reality, the calling of truth into being, and my thoughts on expository preaching are already out there. My point here is that preaching to 100 people you actually know and live with is a lot harder than preaching to 8000 people, 99% of whom you don't know. It is not that it is harder to be vulnerable in a larger crowd. It is that in a space of 100 people you are more vulnerable when so many know you. You are naked.

That's just an excerpt. I'm sure he's going to get burned in the comments, but that doesn't mean he's wrong!

And another one

This must be the week for quizzes...this one is via Jesus Creed.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Northeast
The Midland
Philadelphia
The South
North Central
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Again, no surprise for someone who spent more than 35 years of their life in Wisconsin/Minnesota/Chicago...

One more

Yep, I fell for another one. Same source as last time: Katagrapho.

You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?' Anselm 73% John Calvin 67% Jonathan Edwards 67% Martin Luther 60% Karl Barth 60% Friedrich Schleiermacher 60% Jürgen Moltmann 47% Charles Finney 47% Paul Tillich 40% Augustine 27% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Hmmm...I have a harder time with this one. I never really thought of myself as agreeing with Anselm that much. The Calvin and Edwards is funny; me, the Wesleyan/Arminian. Oh well, they must not have considered classic Wesleyanism, but the modified free-will versus classic free-grace version.

Have fun finding out whom you agree with...

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…