Serving the king

Nice thoughts by Ted Gossard yesterday about a Christian and wordly kingdoms. Here's a snippet to whet your appetite:

It's not just about Christian pacifism, or nonresistance. It's -more to the point- to what and to whom we belong. God is our King. And we in Jesus are part of the kingdom of God made known and spelled out in the good news/gospel of Jesus.

So it's an identity issue. And then the question comes just how much, or to what extent we can be identified with our various nations, as the new Israel scattered throughout the earth. That is not an easy question, and both individual Christians, as well as churches will vary on their answers, or practice, even within the peace churches.

<idle musing>
Well said. As Christians our first loyalty is always to the King of kings. He cites Bonhoeffer as a good example of that.
</idle musing>

Book or Kindle?

I found out about a fun little video series being done by a bookstore in San Francisco today. They are doing a ten-day Smackdown between the Kindle™ and the Book™. Today was day two, but you really should start with day one (each one is about 3 1/2 minutes long):

Bicycling violence

A co-worker forwarded this to me yesterday:

Police say firefighter Charles Diez was upset that a man was riding a bike with his 3-year-old son on a busy street so shot the cyclist in the head. The bullet embedded itself in the rider's helmet.

<idle musing>
There are other links to the story with more details, but the bottom line is that the assailant had a gun in his pocket and used it. So much for southern hospitality.

I have been chased off the road on my bike by vehicles, but at least no one has drawn a gun on me yet!
</idle musing>

The violence of religion, or not

I enjoy reading other publisher's blogs. Some are obviously official blogs and treated as such. Others are more informal and allow you to see a bit of what their lives are like. One of the blogs I enjoy is Andy Le Peau's from IVPress. Today, he had an interesting little factoid in his continuing quest to stamp out modern myths. This one was the myth that religion has caused more death and wars than anything else. He responds:

It's somewhere between 160 and 190 million--and almost all for political, not religious, reasons. Ideology in the twentieth century was a much more deadly force than religion ever was. Fascism, communism and racially motivated genocide all went on rampages of horrific proportions.

<idle musing>
Interesting, isn't it? I need to remember that for the future. This goes hand in hand with an article I was reading in Harper's about genocide in World War II Poland. Total Depravity, how true you are, and all pervasive, too.
</idle musing>

Apologetics?

Robin Parry has an interesting idea today when engaging in discussion with someone who disagrees with you:

The person who has an objection to your beliefs (your theology or to Christian faith itself) is a human being in God's image. God loves them and values them. They deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. They are not stupid. Their motives may be good (in part, at least). Their objection may have merit and it certainly deserves to be taken seriously. Even if sin is involved in the objection and in their inclination to hold it, let s/he who is without sin cast the first stone.

<idle musing>
Hmmm...treat people like humans? What a novel idea! Act like a Christian in daily life and not just on Sunday morning? Unheard of! The next thing you know people might actually be attracted to Christianity!
</idle musing>

Beer drinkers beware

OK, I said I wouldn't be quoting from the gardening book that Debbie gave me. I won't, but I will paraphrase a recurring statement.

Each month has specific sections; one is "Pests" which includes bugs, animals, and diseases. One of the recurring problems in the summer months is slugs. His recommendation: stale beer. Apparently there is something in beer that attracts them, but that's not the part that is interesting. He says you need to capture them early in the morning, "before they sober up and go home."

Remember that, all you drunkards out there! Especially if you are a slug :)

New books

Updated: fixed the title of the first book (thanks to Jim West for pointing it out)

I love my job! Today, three new books arrived that I personally found very interesting. Your mileage may vary :)

First, totally unexpected; in fact, the price isn't even set yet:

The Palace of King David
Excavations at the Summit of the City of David: Preliminary Report of Seasons 2005-2007
Shoham Academic Research and Publication, 2009
100 pages + numerous full color pictures,
Paper
ISBN: 9789659029952
Price not set
www.eisenbrauns.com/item/MAZPALACE

Finally arrived from Belgium:

A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint
This complete lexicon supercedes its two earlier editions (1993; 2002).
by T. Muraoka
Peeters Publishers, 2009
xl + 757 pages, English and Greek
Cloth
ISBN: 9789042922488
List Price: $138.00
Your Price: $128.34
www.eisenbrauns.com/item/MURLEXICO

And this one from SBL, a lot thicker than I thought it would be:

Letters from the Hittite Kingdom
Writings from the Ancient World Society of Biblical Literature - WAWSBL 15
by Harry A. Hoffner Jr.
Society of Biblical Literature, 2009
468 pages, English
Paper
ISBN: 9781589832121
List Price: $45.95
Your Price: $39.06
www.eisenbrauns.com/item/HOFLETTER

Theology and life

Alan Knox has a good comment on biblical theology:

Someone who does not offer grace and forgiveness to others does not understand the grace of God regardless of what they say or teach about God’s grace. A person who does not accept others as they are does not understand how God has accepted us in Christ, regardless of what they say about salvation by grace and not by works. Someone who does not share his or her life with other brothers and sisters in Christ in intimate fellowship and community does not understand discipleship, regardless of what they profess about the importance of the Great Commission. Our theology is demonstrated in the way we live our lives, not in what we say or write.

This distinction between theoretical theology and practical theology is a false distinction as far as Scripture is concerned. According to Scripture, it is impossible to know God (theology) without it affecting your life (practice). So, a biblical theology is a practical theology. A theoretical theology that does not affect a person’s life is not a biblical theology.

This is somewhat in line with something that Nick posted the other day:

I'm intrigued…by the way that Paul addresses the Corinthians as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus” (TNIV) when he knows the mess that they’re involved in and he knows that he’s about to rebuke them. It certainly makes me want to think twice before I utter something like, “so and so might be saved, but they aren’t sanctified.”

<idle musing>
Personally, I think the distinction is artificial; a creation for the sake of our compartmental minds that love to count "conversions." Numbers on a blackboard, but no changed life doesn't equal salvation as it is seen in the New Testament... go ahead, take aim and fire at me :)
</idle musing>

More Garden stuff

Renee asked in a comment if it was OK to have "godly envy." I doubt it, but the garden is doing very well. Tomatoes are starting to turn white before they turn red; I can't wait. Meanwhile, the cucumbers are going wild; the beans are prolific; the raspberries are bearing well for being a new patch.

I cut the last of the lettuce 2 weeks ago and planted more beans in their place. Japanese beetles were starting to attack the beans and raspberries (I don't use pesticides), so I got a pheromone based trap a week ago Saturday. I had to change the capture bag already on Monday—that's only 10 days! It was heavy with beetles. The new bag is already getting full, and the leaves on the beans and raspberries are no longer lace. Those things really work, and no poison involved.

Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment. Oh, and be sure to check out the profile picture on the blog, too. It isn't snow anymore :)

Looking Northeast; in the foreground is tomatoes and cucumbers. The raspberries are toward the back:



Looking North. The new row of beans is just starting to emerge on the right; note the drip irrigation tube:



The watermelon patch:



The herb garden. The dill is really doing well—and I've been using it :)

New Eisenbrauns sale

We have another 10 day sale going on. This one is for all of you Akkadian lovers (yes, all 2 of you!).

Here's your chance to get the five volumes in the State Archives
of Assyria Cuneiform Texts series at a 20% savings. To sweeten
the deal, I've thrown in 5 titles from the State Archives of
Assyria Studies series at 20% also.

As always, all sales on this web sale are final; no returns
will be permitted. Offer is good only on orders placed at
www.eisenbrauns.com through July 29, 2009.

To go directly to the weekly sale, click on this link:
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/pages/NEWSLIST
============================================================

"The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh"
by Simo Parpola
State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts - SAACT 1
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 1997. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9514577604
List Price: $44.00 Your Price: $35.20

"The Standard Babylonian Etana Epic: Cuneiform Text, Transliteration, Score, Glossary, Indices and Sign List"
by Jamie R. Novotny
State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts - SAACT 2
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 2001. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9514590473
List Price: $39.00 Your Price: $31.20

"The Standard Babylonian Epic of Anzu: Introduction, Cuneiform Text, Transliteration, Score, Glossary, Indices and Sign List"
by Amar Annus
State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts - SAACT 3
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 2001. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9514590511
List Price: $44.00 Your Price: $35.20

"The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth: Enuma Elish"
Edited by Philippe Talon
State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts - SAACT 4
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 2005. Paper.
English and French.
ISBN: 9521013281
List Price: $44.00 Your Price: $35.20

"Evil Demons: Canonical Utukku- Lemnu-tu Incantations"
by M. J. Geller
State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts - SAACT 5
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 2007. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9789521013317
List Price: $77.00 Your Price: $61.60

"The Use of Numbers and Quantifications in the Assyrian Royal Inscriptions"
by Marco de Odorico
State Archives of Assyria Studies - SAAS 3
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 1995. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9514571258
List Price: $64.00 Your Price: $51.20

"Nippur in Late Assyrian Times, c 755-612 B.C."
by Steven W. Cole
State Archives of Assyria Studies - SAAS 4
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 1996. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9514572866
List Price: $54.00 Your Price: $43.20

"References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources"
by Martti Nissinen
State Archives of Assyria Studies - SAAS 7
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 1998. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9514580796
List Price: $54.00 Your Price: $43.20

"Die Annalen des Jahres 711 v.Chr."
by Andreas Fuchs
State Archives of Assyria Studies - SAAS 8
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 1998. Paper. German.
ISBN: 9514584104
List Price: $49.00 Your Price: $39.20

"Grammatical Variation in Neo-Assyrian"
by M. Luukko
State Archives of Assyria Studies - SAAS 16
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 2004. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9514590597
List Price: $75.00 Your Price: $60.00

Is cyber-space real?

Nice thoughts on how “real” cyberspace is by Ben Myers.

If you want to insist that such an avatar could never be the “real you”, then you might consider how the “real” self is manifest in various day-to-day relationships. In our differing roles and relationships, we all deploy various personae or avatars: I have one persona at an academic conference, but quite another when I’m talking with my one-year-old son, and a different one again when I’m talking with a close friend, or with my employer. Which of these is the “real” self? Isn’t the self precisely an assemblage of such avatars, without the guarantee of any deep underlying essence?

and, a little later on:

At a 1964 Halloween concert in Carnegie Hall, Bob Dylan offered the humorous remark: “It’s Halloween. I have my Bob Dylan mask on. I’m masquerading.” Is not every self an assemblage of such masquerades? Do we need to imagine the self as some deep underlying essence? Is the self not rather simply the continual surfacing of one’s being into material relations with others?

<idle musing>
All I can say is that if this is the cuttings from the forthcoming talk, what he kept must be pretty good! By all means, read the whole thing; it isn't very long.
</idle musing>

Garden goodness

Over the weekend, I managed to get a good bit of gardening done. We froze green beans and some sweet corn; made dill pickles and pickled some chili peppers. I made some more rhubarb jam, modifying the recipe a bit. I'm still not satisfied with it, but another try might make it.

I pulled a beet that had gotten huge, boiled it, and ate it. The rest of the beets are still too small to make beet pickles out of yet. Maybe next weekend.

We continue to pick raspberries, but because the patch is new, there aren't enough to freeze or make jam out of.

Jim and Shannon picked wax beans and canned 12 quarts. Shannon also gave us a nice blueberry jam she had made. It was really good with homemade yogurt.

All in all, a very productive weekend. The tomatoes are still at least a week or two away. The green peppers are starting to be close to ready and my second planting of green beans is looking very healthy.

The end of church as we know it?

Nice look at how technology is changing the church over at The Jesus Creed. Here's a snippet to whet your appetite:

The virtually-connected church now has on-line access to the finest teaching and preaching imaginable, accessible at their convenience, 7 x 24 x 365. Of what value is physically proximate information (e.g., stage-centric pastor) when the average person can now access the best sermons, preaching, teaching, and cross-referenced commentary on-line?

Finding better information elsewhere, the virtually-connected community will restructure their physical gatherings to really connect and be present with each other - like they do on-line all week long. When this happens, pastors can step off the stage and be released to really pastor. Gifted teachers (who may or may not have pastoral gifts) can teach in smaller groups where true interactivity can take place. Intimate, organic F2F gathering becomes the central focus, not a mid-week breakout session.

<idle musing>
Wow! Imagine that! The church actually becoming a church again! Who would have believed it. OK, pardon the sarcasm. I certainly hope and pray that he is correct.
</idle musing>

Geek at heart

I guess I'm just a geek at heart. Today I received a link to the original Apollo 11 mission. They are playing back in real time the audio of the mission. Too cool! I have it running in the background.

I was 13 at the time of the original mission. That July I was in Farragut State Park in Idaho--along with 34,000 other Boy Scouts for the 1969 National Jamboree. Since Neil Armstrong was an eagle scout, there was a lot of excitement. I don't remember all the details, but I do remember that he sent along a radio greeting to us from the moon. I also remember seeing very grainy footage projected onto a huge screen one of the nights. This was long before Jumbotrons™, but it was thrilling to look above us at the moon and think that what we were seeing in front of us was actually going on above us.

Promise? Well, maybe...

When we first got married (over 30 years ago now), we had a nice poster with Isaiah 30:15 on it. It had a nice forest scene, designed to get you to relax. You probably know the verse: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."

Of course, the context tells a different story:

These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction. They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!" Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern." This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.' Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.' Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill."—Isaiah 30:9-17 (emphasis mine)

<idle musing>
Isn't it interesting how we pick and choose? The context is anything but promising! But, the verse (actually the snippet of a verse) is found on many plaques and posters. Now, if you read further, there is a promise of restoration—there almost always is—but it is based on repentance.

Things haven't changed much, have they? We still are looking for prophets of prosperity and wealth—just don't confront us with our sins, it isn't nice! God, on the other hand, is always trying to get us to face ourselves, but not to condemn us. His goal is to deliver us! He wants to set us free from our small-mindedness, our pre-occupation with ourselves, our worship of non-deities. May he succeed!
</idle musing>

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!