Gardening in Indiana

Debbie bought me a neat book the other day: Month-By-Month Gardening in Indiana. I had gardened in Minnesota for years, and Kentucky before that, but my knowledge wasn't always transferring very well. This book will definitely help!

I remember when we first moved here, calling up and looking to pick raspberries at the end of July—that's the common time in Minnesota. The woman laughed and said they had been over with for weeks. How was I to know that July 1 is the beginning of raspberries? Oh well, I am enjoying reading the book. Just don't expect many quotes from it, though :)

Thought for today

We need leadership to make sure we don’t accept everything as truth and to make sure we don’t spin our wheels thinking there is no truth. There are things, some are Christian doctrines like the atonement and bodily resurrection and the trinity—and others are Christian practices like nonviolence and enemy love and compassion for the poor and hospitality to the stranger—these are things we cannot lose or else we lose the essence of Christianity. Christianity is not just a set of doctrines nor is it just a set of practices but it is these actions and practices that ensure we remember the Story, and that we remember Jesus, literally so that we continue to embody the Spirit of Jesus, and to be the fragrance of Christ in the world, so that folks come to know God’s saving grace."—Shane Claiborne in Follow Me to Freedom: Leading as an Ordinary Radical, forthcoming from Regal.

A new blog

Steve Wiggens, former editor at Gorgias, has started a new blog. I like the title: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World: Topics on the Old Testament and religion and culture of the ancient Near East. He has 4 real post so far, reflecting his interest in Ugarit, especially.

Add him to your blogrolls and RSS feeds if you are interested in the ancient Near East.

Though for today

"We need to sift through the dirt of history to find the gems, no matter what tradition we come from. Part of my frustration with the Methodist tradition that I was raised in was that I began to read John Wesley and I began to fall in love with his life, writing and teaching… and it put me at odds with many of the things I saw in Methodism today. I mean it had a fiery beginning, that’s why there is fire wrapped around the cross in the Methodist symbol – fire and cross – if we’re not careful the only place the fire will remain is on the cover of the hymnal and the pages of the past. We can’t forget our histories and the men and women who made it. I’m not talking about war heroes, but church heroes, heroes of the cross. Talk about John Wesley – there’s a radical leader. We cannot forget these folks from the past. Methodists need to read Wesley again. We need to take the best that our little part of Church history has. We need the fire of the Pentecostals. We need the roots of the Catholics and Orthodox. We need the sharp thinking of the Episcopalians and mainliners. We need the politics of the Anabaptists, the grace of the Quakers. And we need to confess the dark sides of church history, where our denominations justified slavery with the bible, where we baptized the crusades and militaries, where we killed each other over theology. True leaders are able to see the good and the bad… to confess the bad and try not to repeat it, and to celebrate the good and try to reproduce it."—Shane Claiborne in Follow Me to Freedom: Leading as an Ordinary Radical, forthcoming from Regal.

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching!
</idle musing>

Garden goodness

Last night, after a nice bike ride, I went to the garden. I expected to find a few green beans ready to pick, some raspberries, and some lettuce. Boy, was I wrong!

I had checked the beans on Tuesday; there were some that looked like they would be ready on Thursday. I couldn't check them on Wednesday because it rained—just enough to get the leaves wet. In case you don't know, you don't want to touch bean plants when the leaves are wet; it causes leaf wilt.

Anyway, I ended up filling to overflowing a dish pan full of green beans. If I had known there were that many, I would have skipped the bike ride; that extra hour sure would have come in handy last night. Instead, I snapped them, blanched them, and froze them. I did get to use the new Seal-a-meal™ that Debbie's parents gave me last fall. Sweet little machine; I certainly wouldn't have bought it, but I like using it :)

We just got a notice that the blueberries are ready for picking this weekend, so tomorrow I plan on picking about 30 pounds. More freezing—and I get to use the sealer again!

Final reflections

Just a few thoughts on Walton's The Lost World of Genesis One.

I like his presupposition that the Genesis creation account is functional, not material. But, I don't think he adequately defends it. I am told that the forthcoming book from us at Eisenbrauns will remedy this. But, until I read that, I must say that he leaves too many hanging arguments. I am attracted to it, but not thoroughly convinced.

I am convinced that his argument that we have pushed God to the margins by making him a “god of the gaps” is very true. He is not the only person arguing this, but he does a good job of highlighting why and how it happened.

I also think that his reservations about concordist readings of the Bible are correct. You can't take an ancient text—any ancient text—and read it on modern terms. You have to read it as an ancient text, knowing that you will have to stretch to get into the mind of the author, knowing that his/her world view is significantly different than your worldview.

<idle musing>
Of course, for that matter, communication between people here and now is subject to the same caveat! We all come to every situation with presuppositions and emotional baggage that make clear communication difficult. Communication is work! Or at least clear communication is—all the result of the fall. Genesis 3 is behind everything if you look.
</idle musing>

New sale at Eisenbrauns

Jim was at the RAI this week (I hope you had a chance to see him if you were there), and it put me in a Mesopotamian kind of mind, which was reflected in the last sale. This week, I continue along the same lines by offering you the chance to save 50-70% on selected Nuzi and Ebla titles.

Here's the list of titles, which you can order by going here:

"In Honor of Ernest R. Lacheman on His Seventy-fifth Birthday, April 29, 1981"
Edited by Martha A. Morrison and David I. Owen
Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians - SCCNH 1
Eisenbrauns, 1981. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464080
List Price: $69.50 Your Price: $27.80

"General Studies and Excavations at Nuzi 9/1"
Edited by David I. Owen and Martha A. Morrison
Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians - SCCNH 2
Eisenbrauns, 1987. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464374
List Price: $79.50 Your Price: $31.80

"Joint Expedition with the Iraq Museum at Nuzi VII: Miscellaneous Texts"
Edited by Ernest R. Lacheman and Maynard P. Maidman
Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians - SCCNH 3
Eisenbrauns, 1989. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464455
List Price: $59.50 Your Price: $23.80

"The Eastern Archives of Nuzi and Excavations at Nuzi 9/2"
Edited by Ernest R. Lacheman, Martha A. Morrison, and David I. Owen
Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians - SCCNH 4
Eisenbrauns, 1993. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464641
List Price: $79.50 Your Price: $31.80

"General Studies and Excavations at Nuzi 9/3"
Edited by David I. Owen and Ernest R. Lacheman
Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians - SCCNH 5
Eisenbrauns, 1995. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464676
List Price: $79.50 Your Price: $31.80

"Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language, Volume 1"
Edited by Cyrus H. Gordon, Gary A. Rendsburg, and Nathan H. Winter
Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and the Eblaite Language - EEEAEL 1
Eisenbrauns, 1987. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 093146434X
List Price: $45.00 Your Price: $22.50

"Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language, Volume 2"
Edited by Cyrus H. Gordon and Gary A. Rendsburg
Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and the Eblaite Language - EEEAEL 2
Eisenbrauns, 1990. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464498
List Price: $45.00 Your Price: $22.50

"Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language, Volume 3"
Edited by Cyrus H. Gordon and Gary A. Rendsburg
Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and the Eblaite Language - EEEAEL 3
Eisenbrauns, 1992. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464773
List Price: $45.00 Your Price: $22.50

"Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language, Volume 4"
Edited by Cyrus H. Gordon and Gary A. Rendsburg
Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and the Eblaite Language - EEEAEL 4
Eisenbrauns, 2002. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 1575060604
List Price: $49.50 Your Price: $24.75

Five Influential Primary Sources

Updated
Nick tagged me on a strange meme. Here are the rules:

1. List the 5 primary sources that have most affected your scholarship, thoughts about antiquity, and/or understanding of the NT/OT.
2. Books from the Bible are off limits unless you really want to list one, I certainly will not chastise you for it.
3. Finally, choose individual works if you can. This will be more interesting than listing the entire corpus of Cicero as one of your choices.

That's a tough one, so I have been mulling it around in my mind for a few days—I bet Nick thought I was ignoring him :) So, here's my best guess on influential primary sources:

1. The Toothache incantation in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. I remember the first time I read it; I couldn't fathom why the incantation went all the way back to creation. But, it helped me understand (I think!) how the ancient mind worked.

2. The Kumarbi Cycle in Hittite. A fascinating Hurrian creation myth that almost certainly influence Hesiod, and therefore the Greek world.

3. The plague prayers of Mursili. The concept of guilt and repentance because of a plague brought back from Egypt is (at least to my knowledge) unique in the non-Israelite world.

4. The Aeneid, especially the underworld scene. In order for Aeneas to enter the underworld, his pilot has to die. The concept of substitutionary death found there led me to look for it in other places, as well.

5. Not sure what to put here, there are several that fight for the spot, but I would have to say the Didache wins. I remember reading it for the first time in a Baker reprint of the Lightfoot translation. Then, I remember reading it in Greek the first time. The other day, I sat down and read it again in Greek just for the fun of it...

OK, whom to tag...Nick already tagged some I would have, but here we go:
Jim West (just because I know he hates memes), Charles Halton, Duane our abnormally interesting friend, John Hobbins, and how about Jay at mu-pad3-da. If anyone else wants to participate, please do so and leave a comment letting me know.

The true meaning of the text

I missed this as I was extracting citations from Walton's The Lost World of Genesis One:

The truest meaning of a text is found in what the author and hearers would have thought.—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 43

<idle musing>
I would say that this sentence is the underlying foundation of exegesis. We are interested in what the text meant, so that we can apply it to today—without distorting what it is saying. Allegorical and analogical interpretations do violence to the text—but now we enter the realm of philosophical presuppositions and metaphysics :)

But, for a different take on this, see Kevin Edgecomb's post:

Firstly, what is the result of finding the primary and only valid meaning of a text in the distant past, through whatever means? Does it not render all other readings “invalid” or “inaccurate”? Does this not also immediately render the text itself dead, and no longer to speak with a living voice to any community? Secondly, doesn’t such an approach itself also come to be deadened by this methodology? Finding no living voice in opposition to its theoretical constructions of meaning, it is unimpeded in its approach to the text, and finds only deadness reflected back upon it, because it will find nothing else. There is no living interaction. The results of the experiment are predetermined by the experiment. In this case, the approach, partaking as it does of a number of presuppositions, is limited in its conclusions.

Hmmm...what do you think? I think we are on the same page, just different emphases; I said the primary meaning, but not only meaning. Kevin emphasizes the ongoing interaction with the text throughout history. But, am I right?
</idle musing>

The sum of it all

“It is important that we teach empirical science and that we teach it well. But empirical science is not an education unto itself that can serve all the needs of society or that can serve as the sum of one's education. The physical sciences are only one branch of education, and we dare not isolate them from the humanities or elevate as self-contained”—The Lost World of Genesis One, pages 160-161

<idle musing>
This is most emphatically not what we see in education today! There is a strong emphasis on the physical sciences at the expense of the humanities. Every time I read C.S. Lewis' Abolition of Man, I am amazed at his prophetic vision of society.

We need to rediscover the humanities. We need to teach people that there is more than the physical; that materialism isn't the only philosophical system. Humanity was made for a higher calling than to become a consumer!
</idle musing>

Free! I'm free at last!

I just looked at my student loan balance:

Past due amount: $0.00
Late fee(s): N/A
Other charges: N/A
Present amount due: $0.00
Pay this amount: $0.00

In fact, they owe me $1.54.

Outstanding principal balance: $-1.54
Accrued interest: $0.00
Total amount outstanding: $-1.54

The original loan was consolidated in early 1989, to be paid back by 2019. Ten years early! Praise God for his faithfulness in allowing us to pay it off 10 years early.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

The sinlessness of Jesus

I just received four new books from Paternoster and was glancing through them. This little snippet from Tempted for Us caught my eye. From the conclusion:

I have argued that the humanness of Jesus’ sinlessness makes him richly relevant for us. Jesus’ reliance on empowering grace is more plausible than relying on inherent deity because this explanation fits the New Testament accounts of his temptations and his practical value as the reasonable pattern for others (with his full, credible empathy). Because Jesus has redeemed his people from slavery to sin and sent them the Holy Spirit, believers stand in nearly the same relation to temptation as Jesus had with the same empowering grace available to enable their faithful obedience to God. Thus, the empowering grace that was effective for his victories over temptation seems to be the same help of the Holy Spirit that is promised for believers. The Holy Spirit’s role in the hypostatic union enabled God the Son to enter temptation as a man because he was kept from knowing for certain he was immune to sin. God’s provision of aid for Jesus allowed him to experience temptation in a way that constituted him empathetic for others who must struggle in the same human terms that he did. The model of his life for others is as a peer, not merely as the ideal because he limited himself to the resources that God likewise makes available to Jesus’ followers. His empathy is credible because the transcendent security of his sinlessness was inevitable but not automatic. Jesus had to fight sin on the same basis that we do.—page 315

<idle musing>
The empowering presence of God via the Holy Spirit. Amazing, isn't it? We sell God so short and don't allow him to do all he wants in our lives.
</idle musing>

Humanity's role in the world

Yesterday I quoted from The Lost World of Genesis One about God's role in the world. Today, let's look at humanity's role:

In the ancient Near East people were created as slaves to the gods. The world was created by the gods for the gods, and people met the needs of the gods. In the Bible God has no needs, and his cosmic temple has been created for people whom he desires to be in relationship with him. In modern materialism people are nothing but physical forms having no function other than to survive. The theology of Genesis 1 is crucial to a right understanding of our identity and our place in the world.—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 149

<idle musing>
Our theology has a direct effect on how we live. Actually, our theology dictates how we live. I'm not talking about our espoused theology, but our actual one. People can talk a nice theology, but looking at their lives will show you what their actual theology is. As a theology professor once said, “Everyone has a theology. The only choice is between a good theology and a bad theology.”

Personally, I want to live a theology that reflects a belief in a transcendent God who is also intimate, loving, caring, and life transforming. I believe that is also a biblical theology.
</idle musing>

Programs, etc.

From Alan Knox's blog

Many groups of believers today are more dependent upon leadership, training, programs, buildings, finances, etc. than they are dependent upon the work of God through the Holy Spirit. Many believers today are more dependent on good business practices than they are dependent on the Holy Spirit.

If removing leadership or programs or buildings or finances or anything else would cause believers to stop meeting together, stop disciplining one another, stop growing spiritually, then that group of believers is not depending on God.

He then quotes from A.W. Tozer:

We in the churches seem unable to rise above the fiscal philosophy which rules the business world; so we introduce into our church finances the psychology of the great secular institutions so familiar to us all and judge a church by its financial report much as we judge a bank or a department store.

A look into history will quickly convince any interested person that the true church has almost always suffered more from prosperity than from poverty. Her times of greatest spiritual power have usually coincided with her periods of indigence and rejection; with wealth came weakness and backsliding. If this cannot be explained, neither apparently can it be escaped.

<idle musing>
Sad, isn't it? We need to live in such a way that if the Holy Spirit were to withdraw his presence, the whole thing would collapse. He doesn't need structures, programs, committees; he just needs a willing and open heart.
</idle musing>

You gotta be kidding me...

I just saw this:

"Three Amazon inventors set out to correct what they felt was a real problem: that 'out-of-print or rare books ... typically do not include advertisements ... the content is fixed and, therefore, has not been adapted to modern marketing.' Their solution is spelled out in newly-disclosed Amazon patent applications for On-Demand Generating E-Book Content with Advertising and Incorporating Advertising in On-Demand Generated Content."

<idle musing>
That is just plain crazy! As if we aren't subjected to enough marketing already! Greed, greed, greed! Let's call it what it is: SIN.
</idle musing>

God's role in the world

“Our scientific worldview has gradually worked God out of the practical ways in which we think about our world. When science can offer explanation for so much of what we see and experience, it is easy for our awareness of God's role to drift to the periphery. It is not that we believe any less that he is active, it is just that we are not as conscious of his role. The result is a practical (if not philosophical) deism in which God is removed from the arena of operations.

“In contrast, when God's work is fully integrated with our scientific worldview and science is seen to give definition to what God is doing and how he is doing it, we regain a more biblical perspective of the work—a perspective that is theologically healthier.”—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 143

<idle musing>
I am convinced that most christians are practicing atheists; they don't believe that God can do anything in their daily lives. Walton pinpoints one of the reasons here; science explains it, so we don't need a god. Blasphemy! God's role in creation is intimate and moment-by-moment; as Paul says in Acts, “In him we live and move and have our being.” And, as it says in Hebrews, “He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power” (Heb rews1:3 RSV), just to name two references in scripture. God is not part of creation, but he is intimately involved in it—and in our lives.
</idle musing>

Yogurt, Rhubarb sauce and jam

What do all three of these have in common? Only that I made them this weekend.

Renee gave me a good yogurt recipe over a year ago, but it is a bit thin for my liking. Theoretically, European yogurt is thinner than U.S. yougurt, but I'm not so sure. When I was in the Netherlands, the place I stayed in Leiden had wonderful yogurt for breakfast every morning; it was nice and thick—anybody know the truth to that rumor? Anyway, I digress. A while ago a friend of ours (that's you, Jim), mentioned that he had seen a recipe for yogurt that was thicker and used powdered milk. Once upon a time, I had such a recipe, but it got lost in all of our moves. So, I tried it last weekend. Still too thin, and too sour (in all fairness, I didn't follow his recipe exactly). So, Saturday I doubled the powdered milk and halved the starter. To add to the fun, I labeled the three jars 4, 5, and 6. The numbers are the time I let them incubate; I wondered if the time incubating would affect the flavor.

Yesterday I tried them. The texture was nice and thick; the flavor of all three of them was great. I added a bit of strawberry jam—perfect snack! Want the recipe? Too bad, you're going to get it anyway :)
1 quart milk (I use 2%)
2/3 cup powdered milk
2 Tablespoons starter (I use Dannon™, but that was about 6 months ago, now I just use a bit of the old yogurt)

Scald the milk, add the powdered dry milk, stir. Lower the temperature of the mixture in a cold water bath until it is about 120-125 degrees. Add 1/4 cup of the mixture to the 2 T of starter, mix thoroughly and add back to the main mixture. Decant into 3 pint jars; put the lids on.

Place the jars in a small cooler, pour 125 degree water over them until they are about 1/2-2/3 covered. Close the lid and let them incubate for 4-6 hours. Remove the jars, cool and eat. The yogurt cultures stay active for about 3 weeks, so you can keep using a bit of them as starter for the next batch.

What about the rhubarb? I had never made rhubarb jam before; my mom's mom used to, but that was when I was a kid. We have rhubarb in our garden, so I figured I would give it a try. First I made rhubarb sauce (just water and diced rhubarb; simmer until it disintegrates, add sugar to taste), about 3 quarts worth. I put 2 quarts in jars and will eat it as sauce. The third quart I made jam out of, very easy. Add sugar to taste—I like mine tarter than most, so I only added about 1.5 cups for the 3 quarts. Add the no-sugar dry pectin and stir. Decant into half-pint jars. It makes about 7 jars. I gave some to Debbie (she doesn't normally like rhubarb), and she decided it was good enough to eat. Now I just have to make more to last the winter...

The lesson of Job

"God in his wisdom has done things in the way that he has. We cannot stand in judgment of that, and we cannot expect to understand it all. We can still explore the what and the how questions, but the why will always lie beyond our understanding and beyond our models. Relative to God, as humans we are by definition simplistic. We must also remember some of the key lessons of Scripture. In our weakness he is strong. He can use suffering to strengthen our character. He can use evil to accomplish good (precisely the nature of the discussion in the book of Habakkuk). God's sovereignty is demonstrated in that whatever personal or nonpersonal agents do, God takes it and turns it to his purpose."—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 134 (italics his).

<idle musing>
This is not a cop-out; it is a statement of fact. We are created, finite beings. God is infinite and uncreated. All of our models are missing something, simply because we are finite. Why then, are we surprised when our models fail? We can't even predict the weather accurately an hour in advance; how can we expect to explain creation?
</idle musing>

Monthly sale at Eisenbrauns

How about a new sale? New month, new sale...Here's what we have to offer this month, ripped directly from BookNews:

BookNews from Eisenbrauns

Every few years we get permission from Ugarit Verlag to run a 40%
sale on some of their titles. This is the year, and July is the
month. For the entire month, you can save 40% on 25 AOAT titles
and 5 AVO titles. Titles are sorted by AOAT volume number, with
AVO titles following, also by number.

As always, all sales on this web sale are final; no returns will be
permitted. Offer good only on orders placed at www.eisenbrauns.com
through July 31, 2009.

To easily access all the sale items, please visit:
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/pages/SPECIAL
================================================================
"Religion und Gesellschaft, Volume 1: Studien zu ihrer Wechselbeziehung
in den Kulturen des Antiken Vorderen Orients"
Edited by Rainer Albertz
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 248
Ugarit-Verlag, 1997. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120545
List Price: $45.50 Your Price: $27.30

""Und Mose Schrieb dieses Lied auf": Studien zum Alten Testament
and zum Alten Orient: Festschrift fur Oswald Loretz (70)"
Edited by Manfried Dietrich and Ingo Kottsieper
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 250
Ugarit-Verlag, 1998. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 392712060X
List Price: $117.00 Your Price: $70.20

"Sima milka: Induktion und Reception der mittelbabylonischen
Dichtung von Ugarit, Emar und Tell el-Amarna"
by Thomas R. Kammerer
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 251
Ugarit-Verlag, 1998. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120472
List Price: $62.50 Your Price: $37.50

"Assyriologica et Semitica: Festschrift fur Joachim Oelsner
anlasslich seines 65, Geburtstages am 18 Februar 1997"
Edited by Joachim Marzahn and H. Neumann
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 252
Ugarit-Verlag, 2000. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120626
List Price: $105.00 Your Price: $63.00

"Der Tempelzehnt in Babylonien vom siebenten
bis zum dritten Jahrhundert v. Chr."
by Michael Jursa
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 254
Ugarit-Verlag, 1998. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120596
List Price: $43.50 Your Price: $26.10

"Die kasuistische Rechtssammlung im Bundesbuch (Ex 21:2-11; 18-22:16):
und ihr literarischer Kontext im Licht altorientalischer Parallelen"
by R. Rothenbusch
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 259
Ugarit-Verlag, 2000. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120677
List Price: $98.00 Your Price: $58.80

"A Syntactical Study of Verbal Forms Affixed by -n(n) Endings in
Classical Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, El-Amarna, Akkadian and Ugaritic"
by Tamar Zewi
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 260
Ugarit-Verlag, 1999. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 3927120715
List Price: $49.50 Your Price: $29.70

"Die Bildersprache der akkadischen Epik"
by Michael P. Streck
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 264
Ugarit-Verlag, 1999. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120774
List Price: $63.50 Your Price: $38.10

"Der Fernhandel des assyrischen Reiches
zwischen dem 14. und 11. Jh v. Chr."
by Betina Faist
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 265
Ugarit-Verlag, 2001. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120790
List Price: $71.00 Your Price: $42.60

"Ein assyrisches Bildexperiment nach agyptischem Vorbild:
Zu Planung und Ausfuhrung der Schlacht am Ulai"
by Oskar Kaelin
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 266
Ugarit-Verlag, 1999. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120804
List Price: $50.50 Your Price: $30.30

"Munuscula Mesopotamica: Festschrift fur Johannes Renger"
Edited by Barbara Bock, E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, and Thomas Richter
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 267
Ugarit-Verlag, 1999. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120812
List Price: $128.50 Your Price: $77.10

"Studien zu den ugaritischen Texten, volume 1: Mythos und
Ritual in KTU 1.12, 1.24, 1.96, 1.100 und 1.114"
by Manfried Dietrich and Oswald Loretz
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 269/1
Ugarit-Verlag, 2000. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120847
List Price: $82.00 Your Price: $49.20

"Variatio Delectat: Iran und der Westen
Gedenkschrift fur Peter Calmeyer"
Edited by Reinhard Dittmann
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 272
Ugarit-Verlag, 2000. Cloth. German, French, and English.
ISBN: 3927120898
List Price: $112.00 Your Price: $67.20

"Hymnen und Klagelieder in sumerischer Sprache"
by W.H.Ph. Roemer
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 276
Ugarit-Verlag, 2001. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120944
List Price: $65.00 Your Price: $39.00

"Polygynie in Mesopotamien und Israel: Sozialgeschichtliche
Analyse polygamer Beziehungen anhand rechtlicher Texte aus
dem 2. und 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr."
by Corinna Friedl
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 277
Ugarit-Verlag, 2000. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120952
List Price: $61.00 Your Price: $36.60

"Tempora in altbabylonischen literarischen Texten"
by Kai Alexander Metzler
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 279
Ugarit-Verlag, 2002. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628036
List Price: $107.00 Your Price: $64.20

"Prophetie und Psalmen: Festchrift fur Klaus Seybold zum 65"
Edited by Beat Huwyler, H.-P. Mathys, and B. Weber
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 280
Ugarit-Verlag, 2001. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 9783934628014
List Price: $69.00 Your Price: $41.40

"Bildhafte Herrschaftsreprasentation im eisenzeitlichen Israel"
by Rudiger Schmitt
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 283
Ugarit-Verlag, 2001. . German.
ISBN: 3934628052
List Price: $59.00 Your Price: $35.40

"Die Palastwirtschaft in Altsyrien nach den spataltbabylonischen
Getreidelieferlisten aus Alalah (Schicht VII)"
by Frank Zeeb
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 282
Ugarit-Verlag, 2001. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628060
List Price: $98.00 Your Price: $58.80

"Sources for Ugaritic Ritual and Sacrifice, Volume 1:
Ugaritic and Ugarit Akkadian Texts"
by David M. Clemens
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 284
Ugarit-Verlag, 2001. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 3934628079
List Price: $126.00 Your Price: $75.60

"Kult, Konflikt und Versoehnung: Beitrage zur kultischen
Suhne in religiosen, sozialen und politischen
Auseinandersetzungen des antiken Mittelmeerraumes"
by Rainer Albertz
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 285
Ugarit-Verlag, 2001. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628087
List Price: $69.00 Your Price: $41.40

"Die Fortfuhrung des Imperativs im Biblischen Hebraisch"
by Johannes Diehl
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 286
Ugarit-Verlag, 2004. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628192
List Price: $101.00 Your Price: $60.60

"Gotter - Ahnen - Konige als gerechte Richter: Der "Rechsfall"
des Menschen vor Gott nach altorientalischen und biblischen Texten"
by Oswald Loretz
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 290
Ugarit-Verlag, 2003. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628184
List Price: $153.00 Your Price: $91.80

"Textarbeit: Studien zu Texten und ihrer Rezeption aus dem Alten
Testament und der Umwelt Israels: Festschrift fur Peter Weimar
zur Vollendung seines 60. Lebensjahres mit Beitragen
von Freunden, Schulern und Kollegen"
Edited by Klaus Kiesow and Thomas Meurer
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 294
Ugarit-Verlag, 2003. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628230
List Price: $140.00 Your Price: $84.00

"Die Omnipotenz Assurs: Entwicklungen in der Assur-Theologie unter
den Sargoniden Sargon II., Sanherib und Asarhaddon"
by Galo W. Vera Chamaza
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 295
Ugarit-Verlag, 2002. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628249
List Price: $97.00 Your Price: $58.20

"Beschreiben & Deuten in der Archaologie des Alten Orients: Festschrift
fur Ruth Mayer-Opificius mit Beitragen von Freunden und Schulern"
Edited by Manfried Dietrich and Oswald Loretz
Altertumskunde des Vorderen Orients - AVO 4
Ugarit-Verlag, 1994. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120189
List Price: $61.00 Your Price: $36.60

"Figurlich verzierte Metallgefasse aus Nordund Nordwestiran"
by Ulrike Low
Altertumskunde des Vorderen Orients - AVO 6
Ugarit-Verlag, 1998. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120340
List Price: $135.00 Your Price: $81.00

"Keramik der Fruhbronzezeit in Anatoline mit 'syrischen Affinitaten'"
by Estaf Abay
Altertumskunde des Vorderen Orients - AVO 8
Ugarit-Verlag, 1997. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120588
List Price: $120.00 Your Price: $72.00

"Die Siedlungsarchitektur auf der Halbinsel Oman vom 3.
bis zur Mitte des 1. Jahrtausends v. Chr."
by Jurgen Schreiber
Altertumskunde des Vorderen Orients - AVO 9
Ugarit-Verlag, 1998. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120618
List Price: $55.00 Your Price: $33.00

"Die Entstehung regionaler staatlicher Siedlungsstrukturen
im Bereich des prahistorischen Zagros-Gebirges: Eine Analyse
von Siedlungsverteilungen in der Susiana und im Kur-Flussbecken"
by Christian Grewe
Altertumskunde des Vorderen Orients - AVO 11
Ugarit-Verlag, 2002. Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628044
List Price: $142.00 Your Price: $85.20

Insight for the day

"The ancients were not inclined to distinguish between primary and secondary causation, and everything was attributed to deity."The Lost World of Genesis One, page 115

<idle musing>
Yep. Whenever I explain this to people, it seems a light bulb goes on inside their heads. Things make sense that didn't before.
</idle musing>

A sad CD

Peter Kirk tells us of a CD with lyrics to songs as they are too commonly practiced:

More thoughts on Genesis 1

"Concordist approaches, day-age readings, literary or theological interpretation all struggle with the same basic problem. They are still working with the premise that Genesis 1 is an account of material origins for an audience that has a material ontology. Modern inability to think in any other way has resulted in recourse to all of this variety of attempts to make the text tolerable to our scientific naturalism and materialism."—The Lost World of Genesis One, pages 106-107

"...This book has proposed, instead, that Genesis 1 was never intended to offer an account of material origins and that the original author and audience did not view it that way. In fact, the material cosmos was of little significance to them when it came to questions of origins. In this view, science cannot offer an unbiblical view of material origins, because there is no biblical view of material origins aside from the very general idea that whatever happened, whenever it happened, and however it happened, God did it."—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 113

<idle musing>
The key to the whole book: "whatever happened, whenever it happened, and however it happened, God did it" Amen to that!
</idle musing>

Is this for real?

I just received an advertisement that I couldn't believe. This is only the middle section of the web page; seems they put it into multiple images. Follow the link to see it in all it's glory:



What? Does that strike anyone else as bad theology? "No Trespassing"?! You've gotta be kidding...

Of course, there is a disclaimer:

The Developer, manufacturer,designer and seller of the BELIEVER SIGN neither confirms or denies that this sign will offer any form of protection from theft, fire damage, water damage or any other damage. The intent of the sign is for decorative purposes. The seller, designer, developer and manufacturer is not responsible for any bodily harm that may take place for improper use of the sign.

Science and the Bible?

"The problem with concordist approaches [a concordist approach intentionally attempts to read an ancient text in modern terms (from p. 104)] is that while they take the text seriously, they give no respect to the human author. The combination of 'scientific truth' and 'divine intention' is fragile, volatile and methodologically questionable.We are fully aware that what we call 'scientific truth' one day may be different the next day. Divine intention must not be held hostage to the ebb and flow of scientific theory. Scientific theory cannot serve as the basis for determining divine intention."—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 105.

<idle musing>
I remember reading in an A.W. Tozer book once where he was saying essentially the same thing. His remark was that if the Bible describes some scientific discovery, why isn't it noticed by anyone until after the discovery. A very valid question.

To try holding the Bible hostage to science is to defeat its very purpose. It was written to point us to God. It is not God; it is only a book. Actually, as I am fond of saying, it is only a block of wood thinly sliced, unless enlivened by the Holy Spirit.
</idle musing>

New 10 day sale

I have been amiss here about announcing Eisenbrauns sales. I wonder if anybody notices...

I just posted a new 10-day sale that those who love the ANE will like. This is the lowest price ever on Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (not that it is cheap, but it is a good deal!). Here's all the glorious details:

"Born in Heaven, Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East"
Edited by Michael B. Dick
Eisenbrauns, 1999. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 1575060248
List Price: $49.50 Your Price: $29.70

"Temple in Society"
Edited by Michael V. Fox
Eisenbrauns, 1988. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464382
List Price: $37.50 Your Price: $18.75

"House Most High: The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia"
by A. R. George
Mesopotamian Civilizations - MC 5
Eisenbrauns, 1993. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464803
List Price: $45.00 Your Price: $27.00

"The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East"
by Alberto R. W. Green
Biblical and Judaic Studies from the University of California, San Diego - BJSUCSD 8
Eisenbrauns, 2003. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 1575060698
List Price: $49.50 Your Price: $29.70

"Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood, with the Sumerian Flood Story"
by W. G. Lambert, Alan R. Millard, and M. Civil
Eisenbrauns, 1999. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 1575060396
List Price: $35.00 Your Price: $24.50

"Babylonian Wisdom Literature"
by W. G. Lambert
Eisenbrauns, 1996. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0931464943
List Price: $75.00 Your Price: $45.00

"Babylonian Oracle Questions"
by W. G. Lambert
Mesopotamian Civilizations - MC 13
Eisenbrauns, 2007. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 9781575061368
List Price: $55.00 Your Price: $38.50

"Mystical and Mythological Explanatory Works of Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars"
by Alasdair Livingstone
Eisenbrauns, 2007. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 1575061333
List Price: $44.50 Your Price: $26.70

"Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal"
by Simo Parpola
Eisenbrauns, 2007. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 9781575061399
List Price: $169.00 Your Price: $118.30

"Ritual in Narrative: The Dynamics of Feasting, Mourning, and Retaliation Rites in the Ugaritic Tale of Aqhat"
by David P. Wright
Eisenbrauns, 2000. Cloth. English.
ISBN: 1575060469
List Price: $45.00 Your Price: $22.50

More on Genesis 1

Viewing Genesis 1 as an account of functional origins of the cosmos as temple does not in any way suggest or imply that God was uninvolved in material origins—it only contends that Genesis 1 is not that story. To the author and audience of Genesis, material origins were simply not a priority. To that audience, however, it would likewise have been unthinkable that God was somehow uninvolved in the material origins of creation."—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 96 (italics original)

<idle musing>
We keep insisting on putting our preconceptions on the biblical text...must be part of the fall. After all, it's all about me!
</idle musing>

The role of the temple

"The role of the temple in the ancient world is not primarily a place for people to gather in worship like modern churches. It is a place for the deity—sacred space. It is his home, but more importantly, his headquarters—the control room. When the deity rests in the temple it means that he is taking command, that he is mounting to his throne to assume his rightful place and his proper role."—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 75.

<idle musing>
And, we are the temples of the living God...radical, isn't it!
</idle musing>

Dust

"An individual named Adam is not the only human being made of the dust of the earth, for as Genesis 3:19 indicates, 'Dust you are and to dust you will return.' This is true of all humans, men and women. It is an archetypal feature that describes us all. It is not a statement of chemical composition nor is it describing a material process by which each and every human being is made. The dust is an archetypal feature and therefore cannot be viewed as a material ingredient. It is indicative of human destiny and mortality, and therefore is a functional comment, not a material one."—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 70

<idle musing>
Without the surrounding context, that statement might sound unsupportable, but the rest of the chapter does support it. Walton is arguing for a functional understanding of creation, not a material one (primarily). He argues that the cosmos is God's temple; more tomorrow...
</idle musing>

Why is it...

I rarely post on current events, but this is an
<idle musing> that came to me today:

I first ran across it in-person while I was an undergraduate in college—which I managed to cram into 8 years, by the way. We were in married student housing, and one of our neighbors had come back to school after working for several years to get a degree in art; he wanted to teach high school. He was an excellent potter and a good artist. He was in his final year, less than 4 months from graduation when he moved out on his wife and young child. He had met a woman at the jean factory where he worked part-time and decided he wanted to move in with her. Because it was a Christian college, he dropped out and threw away those years in school. Last I heard, he was still working at the jean factory.

Later, I ran across it at a place I worked. The sales manager had a female employee that should have been let go, but...well, you know. His (and my) boss told him to "think with his head, not his dick" and fire her. Mind you, at this same time that boss was having an affair with a customer service person—while his wife was pregnant with their third kid.

Since then, I have seen it over and over. Men (and women) throw away everything for a fling. They know it is wrong; that the results won't be worth the moment, but they do it anyway. As that country song puts it: "What part of no don't you understand."

To me, this is proof of our total inability to do any good without the grace of God. Without the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, we know what to do, but we can't. It is only by the transforming, empowering presence of God that anyone can live the Christian life. The latest collapse by a "moral leader" is but further proof of it.
</idle musing>

The focus of creation is...

"It has already been mentioned that whereas in the rest of the ancient world creation was set up to serve the gods, a theocentric view, in Genesis, creation is not set up for the benefit of God but for the benefit of humanity—an anthropocentric view. Thus we can say that humanity is the climax of the creation account. Another contrast between Genesis and the rest of the ancient Near East is that in the ancient Near East people are created to serve the gods by supplying their needs. That is, the role of people is to bring all of creation to deity—the focus is from insde creation out to the gods. In Genesis people represent God to the rest of creation. So the focus moves from the divine realm, through people, to the world around them."—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 69

The measure of a manager

I've been reading a good bit of continuous improvement stuff of late. This little gem was in Reflections from the Society for organizational learning.

A true measure of a manager is said to be when he hands over duties to a subordinate. If performance stays on track after the hand off, the manager has done his job correctly. If performance falls, the manager is viewed by everyone as having done a poor job in terms of employee development.

<idle musing>
I remember the first seminar I ever attended on management, over 20 years ago now. After the first break, the presenter asked how many had called to check in on the office over the break. When over half of the people raised their hands, expecting a congratulation for caring, the presenter proceeded to tell us that if we felt the need to check in with our people, we had failed. I've never forgotten that reprimand...

The true measure of your success is not whether things run smoothly while you are present, but whether they run smoothly when you are absent. This is true of just about every part of life, not just work.
</idle musing>

Translation

"We must never forget that translation is the most basic act of interpretation. One cannot convey words meaningfully from a source language to a target language without first determining what they think the text means to say."—The Lost World of Genesis One, page 49

<idle musing>
There is an Italian saying, "Traduttore, Traditore!" which translates roughly as the translator is a traitor. There is no direct one-to-one correspondence between languages; there is more a cloud of meaning that overlaps to a greater or lesser degree with the target language.

Communication is hard enough in your native language between two people; it is even more difficult between languages. And, just to make it even better, take away all native speakers. Now, add a few thousand years in, just for good measure! No wonder we have problems with the Hebrew text.
</idle musing>

What constitutes creation?

“Unless people (or gods) are there to benefit from functions, existence is not achieved. Unless something is integrated into a working, ordered system, it does not exist. Consequently, the actual crative act is to assign something its functioning role in the ordered system. That is what brings it into existence. Of course something must have physical properties before it can be given its function, but the critical question is, what stage is defined as 'creation.'

“In the ancient world they were not ignorant of the senses and the level at which objects could be perceived by the senses. They wold have no difficulty understanding the physical nature of objects. The question here concerns not what they perceived but what they gave significance to...our ontology focuses on what we believe to be most significant. In the ancient world, what was most crucial and significant to their understanding of existence was the way that parts of the cosmos functioned, not their material status.”John Walton in —The Lost World of Genesis One, 27-28

<idle musing>
He is arguing in the book that Genesis 1 is not an account of material creation, but of functional creation. We'll see as the book goes on. So far, I find some of his statements need support—which is what his book with us is supposed to do...
</idle musing>

ATLA Day 2

Seems they roll up the streets in downtown St. Louis after 9:00 PM on a weeknight. By the time I got ready to go to dinner, there weren't many choices within walking distance. I ended up just going to the hotel's eatery. I ordered a reuben, asking for extra kraut—triple the kraut actually. Most restaurants just run a few strings of kraut over their reubens, but a reuben needs kraut to be any good. When the waitress brought out the sandwich, she told me she hadn't just asked for extra kraut, but had made the cook put some more on the side. I dissected the sandwich and added the extra kraut. Finally, a reuben with enough kraut on it!

I take back what I said about the food being all sugar on the breaks. The morning break had orange juice, apple juice, V-8™, granola bars, apples, bananas, and oranges. No milk, but better than sugar and grease. I had some more good conversations with people, showing them our wares. As always, people appreciated our reasonable prices in comparison to some publishers.

After the final break and drawing, it was time to tear down, pack up and head home. I had forgotten to bring our portable 2-wheeler, so it was a one box at a time trek to the car. Hauling boxes in 90 degree heat is not my idea of fun.

The drive home was hot, but the sky was beautiful with storm clouds all around. I managed to stay ahead of the storm until Indianapolis, where I turned north. The lightning was lighting up the sky with long fingers and I knew it was just a matter of time before the rain hit. Sure enough, about an hour from home it started raining hard. By then it was dark, too, so 45 MPH was the maximum speed, but I got home safely.

ATLA-Day one

I just got back from working out; the work-out room was full this morning at 6:00 AM. As some of you know, I judge a hotel by its work-out area. You know if a hotel is good by how they treat the equipment there. I would say it is OK. The equipment is second tier, but it works—except for the heart rate monitor. It kept saying my heart rate was 124; I took a quick check and it was in the 150s, which is normal. I know, 220-53=167 max heart rate times 80% for target range is 130s. Guess what? My maximum heart rate is not normal for my age...

Anyway, as I was saying...the workout room was full at 6:00 this morning, so I didn't get my normal workout. I sure could tell. I couldn't remember the Edzard was the author of Sumerian Grammar, I said Hans Dieter Betz! For those who don't know, Betz is a New Testament scholar, not a Sumerologist. Later I couldn't remember the name of Johnson Speaks to Us—and I was talking to the librarian from Pittsburgh Seminary where he taught. Oops! So, I definitely need a workout to get my brain rolling on conference mornings.

I like the ATLA conference. It is one of my favorites. It used to be my favorite, but since Tim left the break food has become sugar and fat. It used to be fresh fruit, yogurt, milk, granola bars—along with sugary stuff. But the last two years it has only been sugary stuff, although this morning they did have yogurt and bananas, which was nice. Don't get me wrong, they run a super nice conference, I just miss that one aspect. This Minnesota/Wisconsin bred boy needs his half-gallon of milk a day to function right, and all they offered was corn-syrupy sodas...I drank a lot of water :)

OK, enough of the bad stuff! I have had great conversations with people, lots of compliments on our books, probably some new customers. All the stuff that makes a conference worth attending. But, I still miss my milk...I am going out to eat now—I hope there is a place with lots of milk and cheese :)

Here is our display. I think we need to go with a darker banner; the Qumran scroll is just too light for most venues.



Bobby, I know you read this blog, so this is for you. I took a picture of the Hendrickson table. I loaned you the bookstands for the back books, but was short 2. It looks better in person than it does in the picture.

Cheap Grace?

Nice post over at Grace Roots about the affect that understanding grace has on a life. Here's snippet, but please do yourself a favor and read the whole thing.

...not only are we saved by grace, but that God's love and grace is the essence of the Christian life. I've consistently shared that our "work" is to rest and believe, and that that's how God works in and through us. Restful trust. Trustful rest. Waiting, abiding, believing. It's not our job to produce fruit, but as we abide in the Vine, the life of the Vine flows through us naturally and produces God's own fruit. We are invited by God Himself to participate in His divine nature, but the work is His, not ours.

Objections arise, of course. I can't tell you the number of times over the years that I've been accused of and/or warned about preaching licentiousness, lawlessness, "cheap grace," "greasy grace," "sloppy agape," and other such idiotic things. People have told me in various sorts of ways that I'm teaching others to sin and to not be true followers/disciples of Jesus. They've told me that demons can "rest" and "believe," and that I shouldn't use those words without adding something about "responsibility" and "effort" on our part to work the works of God. They've told me I need to "balance" grace with rules, works and principles for Christian living. They've said I'm causing harm to the body of Christ...

Let me tell you something about those who have been gripped by God's love and grace, and who don't have a focus on performance, but on a loving relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All the objections listed above (and more) are not true of them! Nowhere close. Grace, to them, is not cheap. It's Power. It's Life. It's God's strength in their weakness. If God's Agape is sloppy, it's only because He lavishes it around so wastefully! God's love and grace, to them, is not a license to sin. That's not even what crosses their minds!

<idle musing>
Why is it that people think they can help out God by works? Finney bemoaned the presence of works sanctification in the early 1800's; things haven't gotten any better since then. I am convinced that most people are afraid of the gospel; it is too powerful. We need to chain it in, otherwise it might affect our lives more than we want...What? Let God live in and through me? Too radical!

Instead we settle for imitation when God calls us to participation. Of course, then we wonder why we fall and are joyless and see christianity as a painful life with the hope of heaven at the end. Lord, deliver your church from works!
</idle musing>

Thought for a Wednesday as I leave for a conference

From The Chronicle of Higher Education, on University Presses using Twitter:
"The embrace of microbloggery by university presses is mildly disturbing at first, given that Twitter seems like the next step towards a future in which reading a whole footnote will count as a feat of concentration."
<idle musing>
OK, I thought it was funny, anyway...
</idle musing>

Tacit

Been a bit quiet here on the blogging front...I'm getting ready for the ATLA conference in St. Louis. I leave tomorrow...

If you are in the St. Louis area and want to be admitted to the book exhibit, I have some free passes. Just leave a comment letting me know, along with your e-mail address, and I will get back to you.

Is this church?

Something to make you think over at The Heresy (gotta love that name!). Here's an excerpt:

In church many things aren’t really what we say they are

· We sit in rows all facing the same direction listening to the same person and we call that community.

· We chit chat about superficial things for 10 minutes with a coffee in our hands and we call that fellowship.

· We listen to messages that most of us promptly forget 10 minutes after leaving the building and we call that discipleship.

· We spend most of our money for people and programs to serve ourselves while telling ourselves we are building God’s Kingdom.

· We feel terribly isolated despite being surrounded by people because we are afraid to be ourselves. We stay so we can be accountable.

<idle musing>
Sadly, he has pegged what many people think of as "church." Looks pretty pale next to the book of Acts, doesn't it? By all means read the rest of the post; he makes a good observation about the "Jesus +" attitude.
</idle musing>

Strawberries!

Over the weekend, I picked strawberries—50 pounds of them! We like strawberries :)

It took me about 3 hours to pick them, then we had to process them. We make them into freezer jam and use it on our bread and in our home made yogurt. The yogurt is especially good.

Just so you know, 50 pounds of strawberries—after you subtract the amount we ate and turned into mashed strawberries for putting on things this week—makes about 50 pints of jam. If you are interested, and you're probably not, that equals 17 packages of pectin and 30 cups of sugar. It also equals about 5 hours of work for Debbie and me (for a total of 10 person-hours). But, it sure is good! Now all we need to do is limit ourselves to one pint a week and we will have enough until next year—yah, right! Like that will happen...

Drip envy

We installed drip irrigation in the garden this year. We are sharing the garden with Jim and Shannon, and they generously supplied the parts. Jim and I installed it last Tuesday; the pictures are from Friday. I actually have used it once so far; it has been a quite wet spring. If you click on the pictures you can see the t-tape along the rows. There is an emitter every 8 inches and it is supposed to water a 12 inch diameter area. Seems to...

A close-up of the connection of the t-tape to the feeder


The tomatoes


The beans


The onions and raspberries. To the right you can see the herb garden with the mint

New baby!

Yep, a week early, too. Madelynn Louise joined the world on Friday night at 8:11 CDT.



Cute, isn't she?

You can see more pictures here. Joel's parents are there and Steve has posted several times, see here and here and here

Language and culture

"When people want to study the Bible seriously, one of he steps they take is to learn the language. As I teach language students, I am still always faced with the challenge of persuading them that they will not succeed simply by learning enough of the language to engage in translation. Truly learning the language requires leaving English behind, entering the world of the text and understanding the language in its Hebrew context without creating English words in their minds. They mus understand the Hebrew as Hebrew text. This is the same with culture. We must make every attempt to set our English categories aside, to leave our cultural ideas behind, and try our best (as limited as the attempt might be) to understand the material in its cultural context without translating it."—John Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One, page 11

<idle musing>
Yes! Language learning that stops at decoding is not language learning; the same is true of culture. We cannot simply bring our presuppositions into our reading of the biblical text; we must accept the biblical text on its own terms, as difficult as that is.
</idle musing>

Tea

I love tea—all different kinds of it. Recently, Jim West was discussing a new tea that he had gotten, vanilla jasmine. I especially love jasmine tea, so I asked him if he would bring some to SBL in November. Being the kind soul that he is (and a fellow tea-drinker), he generously sent me a couple of bags—along with a selection of other teas. It arrived yesterday.

This morning, as part of my normal ritual, I made a cup of tea, using the vanilla jasmine. The tea bag had a faint vanilla smell, so I was looking forward to the aroma of the cup of tea. Disappointing! There was no aroma. I wondered if the taste would also be flat... No, there was a nice, faint vanilla flavor to the jasmine. Very nice, just what I would have expected from Jim. He and I have a long standing dispute about how strong a flavor a cup of tea should have. I prefer mine to shout at me; he prefers his "minimalist," as he calls it. But, I must admit that the minimalist flavor fits this tea very nicely. I think I will have another cup...

The "Word of God"

Great post over at Jesus Creed about the Bible. Here's a snippet to whet your appetite:

We err when we make scripture the foundation of our faith.  Our foundation is God alone, the rock on which we stand is God alone - and his work in this world, including the atoning work of Christ. The authority of scripture is a shorthand for the authority of God - revealed by the Spirit. Scripture illuminates God, his nature and his interaction with his creation - it tells his story, and it does so reliably. But it does so in a fashion that may tell important theological truths in mythic form.

<idle musing>
The early church fathers were always careful to make sure that when they said “word of God” you knew they meant Jesus. Earlier in the post the statement is made that John 1:1 doesn't say the word was written down, but that it became flesh! That, my friends, is an important, but oft forgotten, point. Our God is a relational God.
</idle musing>

What does it matter?

"You have wearied the LORD with your words.
'How have we wearied him?' you ask.
By saying, 'All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them' or 'Where is the God of justice?'"—Malachi 2:17 TNIV

<idle musing>
Hmmm...sounds suspiciously like some theology I have heard; even Paul had to fight against it, "Should we sin that grace may increase?" MH GENOITO! μη γενοιτο!

But, we hear it all the time. It is almost like God is pissed at everyone who sins, until they become Christians. Then they can sin all they want! What? "How can we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?" (Petra, but straight from Paul in Romans)

Am I preaching works righteousness now? MH GENOITO! μη γενοιτο! Of course not! It is only by God's empowering presence in the form of the Holy Spirit that can make it possible. And we sell that presence way short of what can happen. I John 3:9 goes so far as to say "No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God." (RSV) Pretty strong language, scary in fact. But, if we are to take it seriously, our lives might have to change. Now that is a truly scary thought! I might have to take up my cross and die to myself—can't have that, now can we?
</idle musing>

Thought for today

"When I was young I admired clever people. Now that I am old I admire kind people."—Abraham Joshua Heschel

Flow

...it's possible to spend years trying to achieve perfect stability without moving to higher levels of flow and pull. Experience suggest that this will lead to cycles of stability: dropping back to instability, reattaining stability, and on and on. The reason is that there is no motivation to sustain the higher levels of capability because the system is not tightened to require the improved level. In a large batch operation without flow, a high level of stability is actually not needed and thus the only motivation to continue using disciplined processes is to keep 'lean managers' off your back.—The Toyota Way Fieldbook, page 59

<idle musing>
I'm reading this book for work, but the parallels jumped out at me. It sounds like some people's Christianity, doesn't it? Just substitute spirituality for stability and you describe where they are; they jump on the treadmill and work like crazy to attain “spiritual maturity,” only to fall off again.

Now substitute Holy Spirit for flow, and we see why this happens. With the Holy Spirit in charge of one's life, high levels of spirituality are automatic; there is no falling of the spiritual wagon—he keeps you there. It is no longer work, but a natural out-flowing of God himself living in and through you. No works, just a new life—no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20)
</idle musing>

You gotta watch that fertility rate...

in Late Bronze age women, that is; it might just have skyrocketed.

Huh? OK, here's the deal:

Until someone can demonstrate that Canaanite women in the Late Bronze/Iron Age transition experienced increased fertility or that the infant morality rate shifted drastically, we must still credit Iron Age I population increases to migration.&mdash: Steven Ortiz in Critical Issues in Early Israelite History, page 201

<idle musing>
Yep; you gotta watch that fertility rate, it could just skyrocket for no reason. That has to be it; to credit the biblical explanation takes far too much faith! After all, if the Exodus happened, then God might actually be the cause of something; if that is true, then he might have a claim on your life. Can't have that now, can we?
</idle musing>

Garden shots

As promised some time ago, pictures of the garden.

Looking west, from the road. The herb garden is in front, with wire mesh over the dill, basil, and parsley until they get tall enough to discourage cat-rolling. The bushes are raspberries; you can see where the garden used to end on the left and right ends of the rows.



The main garden; the rhubarb is in the two boxes in front.



The plot on the left is the watermelon patch. Originally it wasn't fenced, but a dog decided it made a nice toilet one day, so we fenced it in. Notice the asparagus patch attached to the main garden and covered with wire mesh:



A bonus picture. Looking toward the creek, with the firepit in the foreground:

Final from Why Priests

This is the final extract from Why Priests. I hope you have enjoyed the little snippets.

How does the apostolic ideal image of a Church leader look, as lived by Paul? Paul enjoyed an amazing authority and influence in his churches, which stemmed from his human abilities, but above all from the apostolic mandate given him. He never hesitated to bring his authority powerfully into play. But it is characteristic of the Spirit of Christ which moved Paul that the apostle does not expand or develop his authority or give it the form of a sacral juridical relationship. On the contrary, he repeatedly limited his authority voluntarily because he was convinced that his churches do not belong to him but to the Lord and are therefore free in the Spirit: called to freedom and not slaves to men. Paul sees very clearly that his churches are immature in many ways and that they make mistakes. In spite of this, he never behaves toward them as if he, the prudent teacher, must first educate them to freedom. On the contrary, he takes this freedom for granted as a given; he respects it, fights for it, so that his congregations will follow him not out of compulsion but in freedom. Of course, where there is question of abandoning Christ and his gospel for another gospel, he must threaten to curse and excommunicate. He actually carried this out in the case of an individual—a temporary exclusion from the congregation aimed at achieving an improvement—but never did it to a congregation, even when the infidelities were very serious. He is as restrained as possible in the use of his authority: instead of a command a personal appeal, instead of a prohibition an appeal to one's own good judgment and sense of responsibility, instead of compulsion an effort to win over, instead of the imperative the hortative, instead of the you form the we form, instead of punishment the word of forgiveness, instead of suppressing freedom the invitation to freedom.

And so Paul never misused his power to establish the domination of men over men. On the contrary, in matters of Church discipline he refrains from making an authoritative decision where he could very well have done so. In moral questions too, where the Lord and his word are not at stake, he prefers to leave his congregations their freedom and not put any pressure on them. And even in cases where the decision is obvious to him, he avoids unilateral measures and gets the congregation involved. He holds back even where he clearly has received authority to intervene vigorously; he expressly begs his congregation that he not have to make use of it. Even where he has a right, he does not want to exercise it.

Paul thus never confronts his congregations as lord, nor as priest. It is not the apostle who is the lord. Jesus is the Lord, and this Lord sets the norm for his churches and for Paul himself. He can never treat his Christians simply as children but always as “brothers,” whom he serves in patience, frankness and love. His desire to be faithful to the Lord in his ministry—and not a mere concern with etiquette or human civility—is the reason why he is always ready to refrain from using his authority. It is precisely in this way that he uses it not to tear down but to build up.

Nor did Paul want to be a superman. He was well aware of his humanity and fragility and made no claim to infallibility. It is equally important that his counterpart in the New Testament too, Peter, is always described as on who errs, makes mistakes, fails. And it looks almost scandalous the way each of the three classical texts for the preeminence of Peter is accompanied by an extraordinarily sharp counterpoint: to the three lofty promises correspond three profound lapses. All of this served as both warning and encouragement alike to today's Church leader.—Why Priests?, pages 110-111

And then there were four :(

We have lost all but one of the kittens. One died about 2 weeks ago; it couldn't adjust to solid food. But, yesterday two of the remaining three were killed by a tomcat who managed to get into the barn while the mother cat was outside. He cornered two of them on opposite sides of the barn and dispatched them by breaking their necks.

So, the mortality rate for kittens is 80% for this litter, down from 100% from the first litter. The other female, Cally (for Calico), has a better rate—only 66%. On the whole, it seems safer to be a human than a cat around here...

Activism

The responsibility of the congregation leader is thus also a responsibility for society in general. This is not to say that in the spirit of clericalism he interferes in everything, even where he is not at all competent; but that he does involve himself and his community in those important questions of society where the Christian message itself, not partisanship of any kind, unambiguously requires it. This is less frequently the case than those people think who, following their (right or left) party line, want to bring the Church into the debate on the day's social and political questions, turn the Church itself into a political party and offer a specifically Christian “answer” to everything that comes up. But it is the case much more often than is supposed by those who would prefer to see the Church and its leaders once again confined to the sacristy, cult, private devotion and the realm of the subjective. The Church then, for all its inward unity, is not an encapsulated cult organization, screened off from the world. It is an open Church, aware of its obligations to the public at large and the other Christian churches—but also to the unchurched Christians, to the church of those who profess no church, to mankind generally. And it is the congregational leader who has the public responsibility—although it is shared by all especially in this matter—for seeing that the Church is and remains such a community of committed love.—Why Priests?, pages 106-107

Thought for today

"Let us treat men and women well: treat them as if they were real: perhaps they are."--Ralph Waldo Emerson, Experience

Church leader as bureaucrat? No way!

On the basis of the constants which, according to the New Testament message, must be preserved amid all the variables, the Church's ministry of leadership can be described as follows. No matter what kind of congregation he has, the congregational leader must, in virtue of a personal vocation—which, however, is subject to examination—permanently lead the Christian congregation (which always shares in the responsibility for this) in the spirit of the Christian message. He does this by stimulating, coordinating and integrating the manifold gifts and activities of his congregation in various ways according to time and place, exercising his own ministry as one ministry in the midst of others.

...Nothing would be more mistaken than to regard the Church leader as a kind of functionary, a bureaucrat and manager of the Church, however much office work and management may be linked with Church leadership in modern society and the Church. These can only be auxiliary functions...—Why Priests?, page 102

<idle musing>
If you can get past all the modifiers, this is an excellent observation. Unfortunately, many pastors end up as CEOs instead of "stimulating, coordinating and integrating the manifold gifts and activities of his congregation." Of course, I would quibble with "his" congregation—it had better be God's! And, I still think it is a bit too hierarchical (not heretical!).
</idle musing>

The Sermon

A while back I posted a series of quotes from To Preach or Not to Preach. His basic premise was/is that preaching to the saved is a waste of time.

Over the weekend (I'm way behind) I read Ben Myers blog from April 30, when he ran a guest post entitled On sermons: a rant. Here's a nice little excerpt:

...I’ve heard the sermon in nearly all its forms: a 15 minute homily is far too long, while a 45 minute “message” is plainly unanointed. A lifetime pulpit pounding and sanctified lecturing has led me to one obvious conclusion:

There should be a moratorium on the sermon. Let’s go straight from the Gospel to the Creed and cut the drivel in between. I may have heard fourteen sermons a week in Bible college, but I don’t remember the one I heard last week.

Preaching puts me to sleep which, by my definition, is the last thing preaching should do. The sermon should be revelatory – generating ambiguity, disrupting expectation. (Okay, so I stole this from Rowan “Ray-of-Darkness” Williams, but since this rant is about sermons, stealing someone else’s ideas is acceptable.) But, in fact, we already know exactly what to expect – fifteen minutes of nothing. Edward Schillebeeckx says the service of the word should be like the “roaring of the lion” – it is more like the yawning of a sloth.

Amen!

Ironically, most preachers genuinely believe they are above-average public speakers. (They can’t all be right, can they?) And as Gabriel Moran notes, most preachers also believe that all theology is homiletically-centered. Demurring, he says: “Probably only a clergyman could believe that preaching is a good model, let alone the best model, for understanding the religious life of mankind. It would be a near impossibility to find any non-clergymen who think of preaching and sermonizing as significant at all. Most people who give a thought to it conclude that preaching is an anachronism which is allowed existence because it bothers no one. However, if one’s professional life is centered on any activity, it is possible to view the whole world in light of that endeavor.”

Definitely read the whole thing...

Frost!

We planted our garden on Saturday, once the rain stopped. It was a cold weekend, with a strong wind from the north both days. But, that didn't stop us from planting. We also put out the flowers in the window boxes.

This year we expanded the garden; it is now 43 x 24, plus an 8 x 8 herb garden and an 8 x 8 annex for the watermelon. I also added a 2 x 4 section of asparagus and 2-2 x 4 sections for rhubarb on the outside of the fence. We had already planted lettuce and onions a few weeks ago; they can withstand a frost well. So, this weekend we planted the rest: beets, carrots, spinach, wax beans, green beans, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, plum tomatoes, cucumbers, chili peppers, and green peppers—and the watermelon.

Sunday afternoon I added a fence around the watermelon; a dog had decided to use it as a latrine :( Oh, and I added a mess screen over the top of the dill, parsley, and basil until it gets taller; one of the cats decided it made a good dust wallow. As long as I was doing that, I put one over the asparagus as well. Maybe I can remember to take pictures and post them.

Of course, doing all that was the surest way possible to guarantee a frost :( I'm not sure if it affected the plants or not. When I left for work this morning, it appeared that they were fine, but I will find out when I get home tonight. It only got to about 31, so we should be ok.

Blind obedience?

The supreme norm for the exercise of authority in Christ's Church must be the New Testament message against the horizon of each new individual and social situation. If a particular minster in a particular case quite clearly does not serve according to this norm, then he cannot expect submission on this occasion, but instead needs criticism and in serious cases, resistance. Blind obedience is incompatible with the dignity and freedom of a rational man and a Christian. Blind obedience can, as the recent past ha made drastically evident, lead to crime. God alone can expect absolute obedience, ecclesiastical authority never more than conditional obedience—and even that only when it corresponds in its precepts to the will of God expressed in the Christian message.—Why Priests?, pages 97-98

<idle musing>
"God alone can expect absolute obedience"—Amen!
</idle musing>

A Calling is the requirement

Any ministry of leadership in Christ's Church, ordained or not, thus presupposes at the deepest level a calling by the Spirit of God and of Jesus Christ, who breathes where he will and calls whom he will and whose willing instruments both senders and sent are permitted to be.—Why Priests?, page 86

...it must be said that charism in the strict sense, i.e., a calling from God in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, stands by itself and does not flow from the institution. It is a free calling to a free ministry in the Church, which the Church leadership can suppress or even worse extinguish only at its own expense. A thoroughgoing direct or indirect “bureaucratizing” of a charism contradicts the New Testament. As the New Testament shows, a charism has no need at all of prior legitimation by a Church institution. On the contrary, there are in fact institutions and representations of institutions who have nothing charismatic about them: for instance, ordained Church functionaries who carry out their ministry mechanically and show no sign of a genuine calling of of the Spirit of Christ.—Why Priests?, page 87

<idle musing>
The sad part is that he is correct about the last part; too many are doing things they are not called to do—and not just in the "ordained" ministry. Have you ever been guilted into doing something "for the Lord"? If so, you are probably a victim of what he is talking about.
</idle musing>