AAR/SBL booth done!

Andy again narrates our new display for AAR/SBL here.

And the Designer stepped back, and said he was done. And tMD said it was Cool. And Marti the Great declared it to be Sharp. And then they took the whole thing apart and stuffed it into boxes.

And the Designer found that somehow anticlimactic.

<idle musing>
The truck arrives today to take it all to D.C. Me, I'm in Oconomowoc, WI helping my in-laws pack. They are moving to Indiana at the end of this week...
</idle musing>

AAR/SBL booth saga continues

Andy continues his interesting analogy on creating our skyline display this year. You can read all of it here.

On the third day, the Designer began to call forth continen... fragments, by name, calling them Ancient Near East, Biblical Studies, Archaeology, and Ancient Languages, and behold, each of them were 23.65 inches at their widest point, for lo, that was the widest one could print on a 24-inch printer.

And the Marketing Director looked over the firmament, and said, "Let there be shelves!"

Shelves? How many shelves?

And the Marketing director spake, and said, "Let there be four shelves, so that we may lay proof sets on them, that the masses may see the Good Books that we are bringing forth."

And the Designer did blanch, for he saw only two places fit for shelving. The Designer asked the Marketing Director, "Did Jim really say that we must have four shelves?" And tMD (as he shall be abbreviated from hereon out) said, "let us ask the Boss about this," and the two sojourned forth unto the Office of Jim...

<idle musing>
tMD. Hmm, I've never been called that before...

You definitely should read the rest.
</idle musing>

If you had only $300...

Joe Cathey e-mailed this to both Jim West and me:

As I don’t blog anymore currently I was posed a topic the other day which I just had to share with both of you. You two are bibliophiles as I and I think you will have some fun with this. Yesterday, a student of mine came up and asked if I were going to SBL which I affirmed. He then asked me if I only had $300 what books would I buy and why. I have been giving this some very serious thought and then it struck me that it would make an excellent blog topic. Mores the pity that I don’t currently blog or this would definitely be on the menu for today. I would be curious to see what you two would buy for this sum.

<idle musing>
I think a lot depends on what your interests are. I'm primarily a philologist, so that would be reflected in my choices, because my money would land squarely on language reference works... I miss my Denniston, Greek Particle and von Soden's Akkadische Handwoerterbuch—even though I don't read Akkadian anymore, I like his comparative Semitic references (of course that is over $300 by itself...). Louw & Nida's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains would be nice...

OK, stop! We have to assume he has none of the basics that I own. So, BDAG is essential, as is Smyth's Greek Grammar, to say nothing of Liddell & Scott, the big one. That's Greek. For Hebrew I would need Introductory Biblical Hebrew Syntax (there's the Eisenbrauns plug!), GKC, HALOT Study Edition, BDB, even though it is dated, it is still good.

If he were an archaeologist, he would need Sterns, The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land - 4 Volume Set...
</idle musing>

So, what would you recommend?

Ethics for November 2

“The disciples of Jesus cannot accomplish what Judas Iscariot accomplishes. In this case, their service of God’s cause proves to be weaker in advancing God’s cause than hostility against God. God moves along God’s own path, which cuts across human good and evil. God proves to be the one who alone seeks to do the good and to whose wrath and grace every action must be surrendered.

“Does this mean negating the distinction between good and evil? No, but it means that human beings cannot justify themselves by doing good since it is God alone who does the good. The power of the divine guidance of history leaves human beings dependent on God’s grace.” —Bonhoeffer Ethics, page 227

AAR/SBL preparations

It is winding down to the final days of preparation; the truck will arrive on Monday to haul our stuff to Washington, D.C. I'm still waiting for about 100 Kg. of books from Germany, but other than that we are almost ready.

We are changing the background of the booth this year. Andy came up with a great design based on the scroll theme we used on our EAP catalog. He is documenting the process on his blog, here and here . He is likening the process to the seven days of creation in Genesis...

Here's a nice shot of "day 2"

Ethics for November 1

“No one has the responsibility of turning the world into the kingdom of God, but only of taking the next necessary step that corresponds to God’s becoming human in Christ. Responsible action is nourished not by an ideology but by reality, which is why one can only act within the boundaries of that reality. Responsibility is limited both in its scope and in its character, i.e.., both quantitatively and qualitatively. Every transgression of this boundary leads to catastrophe. The task is not to turn the world upside down but in a given place to do what, from the perspective of reality, is necessary objectively and to really carry it out. But even in a given place, responsible action cannot always immediately do what is ultimately right. It has to proceed step-by-step, ask what is possible, and entrust the ultimate step, and thus the ultimate responsibility, to another hand.

“God became human. That is why responsible action has to weigh, judge, and evaluate the matter within the human domain…However, because it was God who became human, responsible action, although conscious of the human character of its decision, must completely surrender to God both the judgment on this action and its consequences.”—Bonhoeffer Ethics, pages 224-225

Bad pun

From the book I'm reading right now:

They [the Egyptians] oppress the Israelites harshly in order to reduce their population. When their plan fails, they take more drastic measures, requiring midwives to kill babies during parturition. After this plan is aborted, the Egyptians order the liquidation of all Israelite male infants. —p.93

<idle musing>
Bad pun, or unintentional one? Either way, it fits the Exodus story: Egypt tries to thwart YHWH's plan, but Egypt itself is thwarted. Indeed the theme of the entire Hebrew bible is the thwarting of man's and satan's plans and the fulfillment of God's.
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

"Mercy! Good God! What manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and alas! many pastors are totally incapable and incompetent to teach."—Martin Luther

<idle musing>
Some things never change, do they?
</idle musing>

More from Ethics

“If we nevertheless must say that self-murder is reprehensible, we can do so not before the forum of morality or of humanity, but only before the forum of God. The self-murderer is guilty before God alone, the creator and lord of the person’s life. Because there is a living God, therefore self-murder is reprehensible: the sin of unbelief. Lack of faith, however, is not a moral fault; it can accompany motives and deeds that are both noble and mean. Unbelief does not reckon, in good things or bad, with the living God. That is its sin. Unbelief is the ground from which human beings reach out for their own justification and its ultimate possibility, serf-murder, because they do not believe in a divine justification. Unbelief hides from people in a disastrous way the fact that even self-murder does not deliver them out of the hand of God, who has prepared their destiny. Unbelief does not recognize, beyond the gift of bodily life, the Creator and Lord who alone has the right to dispose over creation. Here we come up against the fact that natural life has its right not in itself but in God. Freedom towards death, which is given in human natural life, is misused when it is not used in faith in God.

“The right to the end of life is reserved for God, because only God knows the goal toward which a life is being directed. God alone wishes to be the one who justifies or rejects a life. Before God, self-justification, and therefore self-murder, is the epitome of sin. There is no compelling reason for rejecting suicide as reprehensible other than that there is a God above us. Self-murder denies this fact.”

“…God gives people the freedom to risk their lives for something greater, but God does not will this freedom to be used arbitrarily against their own lives. As surely as one should offer one’s life as a sacrifice for others, so surely one should not turn one’s hand against oneself. A person should place earthly life utterly into the hand of God from which it came, even though it be a life of torment, and not try to be liberated from it by self-help. When dying, one only falls again into Gods hands, which had seemed too severe in life.”—Bonhoeffer, Ethics, pages 198-199, 200

A dad's bragging

We talked to our son, Ryan, last night. He's 22 and lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. He stayed there when we left Minnesota and came to Indiana 3 years ago. Anyway, as I've mentioned before, Ryan is on the leadership team for a ministry called God's Barn (as well as being the drummer for the worship band). OK, background out of the way, he called us last night all excited, because God's Barn had been written up in a regional paper. Here's some of what they said:

God’s Barn exists as a testimony to the promise of redemption, the hope of Christianity.

Like those the ministry would serve, the building’s beginning came near its end, and opposed all worldly wisdom, which with one glance screamed despair.

Swooning amidst 25 years of overgrowth, its broken windows, wet rotting wood floors, collapsing roof, back-arching walls and damaged support structure offered no promise of restoration or purpose.

But for Jim and Becky Leebens of Lakeville their years-felt desire to establish a ministry for at-risk youth centered on restoring the decrepit and battered barn, part of Becky’s family’s farm for generations.

“Everyone told us to just tear it down and build a pole barn,” said Jim.

But they say God was telling the couple to restore the old building, and they prayed for confirmation and clear direction...

God’s Barn opened without heat, electricity or insulation in January 2005 and was home to their (very cold) first small group.

Those first worshippers autographed the wall in marker, and since then, many more have written Bible verses on the wooden floor.

Greeting visitors entering the premises of God’s Barn is a statute of a lion of Judah; three crosses stand nearby the bright red barn’s front door.

Inside, at one end of the large space, microphones and band equipment stands ready; a much-utilized pizza oven is set up across the room and stacks of plastic chairs line a wall...

There are youth events throughout the year, although there is no formal advertising; teens arrive by word of mouth.

“It’s not like we have big events or big sports names out here,” said Fred. “We have simple bonfires; we talk and share our lives. If we share our life with them, we’ll share the Gospel.”

Too bad the picture from the print version isn't on the web. Jim and Fred refused to allow them to photograph them. Instead, they turned their backs to the camera and, wearing "God's Barn" jackets, pointed with raised arms to the barn that God had raised back up.

So, if you happen to be in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, run down I-35 South and see for yourself what God is doing.

For me this verse is more true each day: "No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that my children follow the truth." 3 John 4 (RSV)

Bonhoeffer yet again

“Individuals definitely may defend their natural rights. Whether, how, and when they should is another question to be decided later. Under all circumstances they must defend a right in such a way as to make it credible that God, not the individual, is standing up for the right.”—Bonhoeffer, Ethics, page 185

“Never may the killing of another’s life be one possibility among many, however well founded that possibility may be. Where there is even the smallest responsible possibility of allowing the other to stay alive, then the destruction of this life would be arbitrary killing—murder. Killing or sparing life are never equivalent alternatives in a decision. The preservation of life has an incomparable priority over destruction. Life may claim all grounds to validate itself, while for killing there is one single valid ground. Where this is not considered, one runs afoul of the Creator and Preserver of life. In supporting the right to euthanasia on several different grounds, one puts oneself in the wrong from the beginning, by admitting indirectly that there is no single absolutely compelling ground.”—Bonhoeffer, Ethics, pages 190-191

<idle musing>
If you want to read a very good argument against euthanasia (actually dysthanasia would be a better term), pages 185-196. Bonhoeffer’s argument wasn’t formed in an ivory tower; euthanasia was a living and active entity in Germany while he was writing.

I say dysthanasia, because the eu in euthanasia means “well, good” in Greek, whereas dys means “bad, evil.” Thanasia means death, so euthanasia literally means to die a good death. Talk about a misnomer!
</idle musing>

Complacency

There's a good post today over at The Heresy about complacency and the effectiveness of the evangelical church:

"...your average evangelical doesn't act differently than anyone else on a handful of major ethical issues, then the net impact of every evangelical ministry in America is almost nil. Every church, seminary, bible school and youth group is unsuccessful in facilitating the life transformation that would result in less racism, more generous giving or less broken families...

...It disturbs me that we are as comfortable as we are. More and more I struggle living in a world that assumes we are making a difference for the Kingdom of God while we remain largely safe, secure and comfortable collecting an income."

<idle musing>
I personally think it is because we settle for half the gospel. We are content to "accept Jesus" and go on our merry way expecting that we will make it into heaven at some point. We forget that we are "bought with a price." Repentance doesn't exist, you just feel sorry, but don't really repent.

I was just reading in I John this morning. Pretty harsh words in there about those who sin. We hang onto the soft words and ignore the strong ones. Selective reading, saying in effect, "Sure I believe the Bible, but only the parts that are comfortable and don't require me to die."

The scripture still stands, ominous and forbidding, but it stands nonetheless:
"He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:37-39 RSV

The master summons us to a life of death to self. And we sit in our comfortable chairs and change the station via the remote to something less challenging, more comforting, more in line with bread and circuses—yet we still expect to reach the promised land!

I submit to you that if you aren't desiring to be in God's presence now, you certainly won't be happy in heaven. After all, if you look at Revelation, heaven is all about worshiping the Creator and bowing before Him day and night.
<idle musing>

Still more Bonhoeffer

“It is a commission of immeasurable responsibility given to all who know about the coming of Jesus Christ. The hungry person needs bread, the homeless person needs shelter, the one deprived of rights needs justice, the lonely person needs community, the undisciplined one needs order, and the slave needs freedom. It would be blasphemy against God and our neighbor to leave the hungry unfed while saying that God is closest to those in deepest need. We break bread with the hungry and share our home with them for the sake of Christ’s love, which belongs to the hungry as much as it does to us. If the hungry do not come to faith, the guilt fall on those who denied them bread. To bring bread to the hungry is preparing the way for the coming of grace.

“What happens here is something penultimate. To give the hungry bread is not yet to proclaim to them the grace of God and justification and to have received bread does not yet mean to stand in faith. But for the one who does something penultimate for the sake of the ultimate, this penultimate thing is related to the ultimate. It is a pen-ultimate, before the last. The entry of grace is the ultimate.”—Bonhoeffer, Ethics, page 165

Some more goodies from Bonhoeffer's Ethics

“The whole of the past is embraced by the word ‘forgiveness’; the whole of the future is preserved in the faithfulness of God. Past sin has been sunk in the depths of God’s love in Jesus Christ and overcome; the future will be, without sin, a life born of God (I John 3:9). This life knows itself stretched and sustained from one eternal foundation to another, from its election before the time of the world toward eternal salvation to come. This life knows itself as a member of a church and of a creation that sings the praises of the triune God. All this happens when Christ comes to each person. In Christ all this is truth and reality. Precisely because it is not a dream, the life of a person who has encountered Christ’s presence is no longer lost, but has become justified, by grace alone.

“However, not only by grace, alone, but also by faith alone. So scripture and the Reformation teach. Not love or hope, but only faith justifies a life. It is faith alone that sets life on a new foundation, and only on this new foundation can I live justified before God. This foundation is the living, dying, and rising of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without this foundation a life before God is unjustified; it is surrendered to death and damnation. The justification of my life before God is to live because of and toward the living, dying, and rising of Jesus Christ. Faith means to find, hold to, and cast my anchor on this foundation and so to be held by it. Faith means to base life on a foundation outside myself, on an eternal and holy foundation, on Christ. Faith means to be captivated by the gaze of Jesus Christ; one sees nothing but him. Faith means to be torn out of imprisonment in one’s own ego, liberated by Jesus Christ. Faith is letting something happen and only therein is it an activity. Yet both words together cannot adequately express its mystery. Faith alone is certainty; everything outside of faith is subject to doubt. Jesus Christ alone is the certainty of faith. I believe the Lord Jesus Christ who tells me that my life is justified. So there is no way toward the justification of my life other than faith alone.”—Bonhoeffer, Ethics, pages 147-148.

What's going on around

Some real good stuff around the blogosphere right now...

Jim Martin over at A Place for the God-Hungry has 2 posts from St. John of the Cross, The Seven Sins of the Spiritual Life (Part 1) and (Part 2). I hope he keeps going with it. If you want to read the whole thing without waiting for him to post, you can head on over to CCEL.

Dan Kimball at Vintage Faith has a good post on pastors:

In a small church, the "pastor" is slave to the people and their opinions of how things should be done, does most of the chores and jobs around the church and is on call at any time day or night for the people.

In a large church, the "pastor" is king of the people, and comes out once a week on Sunday to give a mesmerizing speech which woos the people and then he disappears for another week.

And Scot McKnight has a nice series going on women in the church, specifically from the book by Sara Sumner. here is the one from yesterday, a short quote is in order:

Here’s 1 Cor 11:7 (TNIV):

A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.

Sumner observes that “he” is the “image” of God while she is the “glory of man.” This led Augustine to comment on the text with two major implications:

First, that only Adam is the image of God; Eve is “image” only when in union with Adam. This drives the woman to be married to the man/male in order to form a complete identity.

Second, the “image” of God is the “rational” part of humans (males); females are more concerned with lower things while males with higher things. Women can “bear” the image of God; a man “is” the image of God. Women cover their heads in worship to cover their lower-focused heads/minds; men don’t cover their heads because they are focused on higher things.

<idle musing>
I think she is right on the money here...I like Augustine in some things, but his view on women is not one of them.
</idle musing>

And Ted Gossard has some insights into why less is more:

I'd rather give a one page handout, getting us into Scripture with some questions to facilitate discussion, than give a handout with reams and reams of material, that likely neither they nor I am really going to "get" very well. In this case, less is more, and more is less.

New catalog!

Yep, another one. Hey, we've been busy :) This one just arrived today. We're pretty proud of it, being in color and all. You can pick it up at AAR/SBL or ASOR, if you want to wait that long. Or, being the impatient people that many of you are, you can download it here

Get thee hence!

If you are running on Windows, you should download the latest Firefox update here, it is now version 2.0. If you are still using Internet Explorer, you definitely need to change to Firefox!

Google's custom search

I told you I can't resist beta software :)

Google has a new custom search, and I just couldn't resist it. Take a look on the right hand side of the page. So far it searches these sites:

Eisenbrauns
NT Gateway
Jim West's resource page
Abzu
this site

Want to help? Supposedly you can, but I don't know how to tell you to do it... If somebody does, feel free to comment. Otherwise, add the links to the comment section. I know there are some more out there, didn't somebody have a good bibliography on text crititcism?

Update:
Ok, thanks to Jim West, here's how you can help:
Go to the Idle Musings search home page and click on the button that lets you volunteer to help. Take it from there and add links to sites with good ANE and biblical studies resources.

Quote for the day

"Bury yourself in a lexicon and arise in the presence of God."—Sir Edwyn Hoskyns

Wanderings around Warsaw/Winona Lake

As I was walking to work this morning, I thought maybe people would enjoy a few insights into life in the town, so whether you wish or not, here we go...

There have been a few chain saw carvings lately. One is a violin, the other a trombone. here is the violin:

Stolen from our webmaster and graphic artist, Andy's post

Here is the trombone:

Compliments of Heather, one of our customer service reps, who was trying out the night settings on her new camera. She also took one of Princess Winona.

As I was walking to work through the snow flurries, I saw a cement truck getting ready to pour a new sidewalk. Now that is not a job I would enjoy today! I did enjoy walking through the leaves, though. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Saturday, Debbie and I took a bike ride and the leaves were wonderful, all kinds of yellows and reds, some green still sprinkled in amongst them. Good thing we went Saturday, because Sunday was rainy and windy. Lots of the leaves are now on the ground for me to crunch through on the way to work :)

There is a new Christian bookstore about to open, taking the place of the one that closed last spring. This one is hoping to draw more people by having a coffee shop and fireplace. Fireplace sounds good to me on a day like today. You can find more details here, complete with a picture of the plaza.

In other meanderings, Andy asks Would you go? I hope he finishes all the AAR/SBL graphics before the does! He assured me he will.