Links from the last few days:

***

According to Dr Scaer, the most common way people join the Church is that someone invited them. Guess what? If church sucks, people don’t invite others. They don’t think “Man, my friends have got to be here for this!” They think “Well, I might as well keep going here.” So here’s a fun list that can work for all denominations!

Read the Fearsome Pirate’s church growth tips here. He also gives a Lutheran perspective in outlining some of the things that he dislikes about the PCA worship that he has experienced.

***An interesting post from Leithart here. He observes the way in which we are shaped by popular culture, beginning with a series of tests to see how easily we identify with certain popular slogans, characters and advertisements from our culture and then how easily we identify with Christian counterparts to these. I think that I got a near perfect mark on every part except for the advertising slogans, which probably has something to do with living in the UK. However, I admit that the references to popular culture were generally more familiar than the references to the traditional hymns and references from classic literature. I could probably quote near-verbatim the lyrics from a few dozen rock albums, but I probably know no more than a score of psalms by heart. I have a troublingly vast quantity of pointless pop trivia in my head, so Leithart’s post was a good one for me to read.

Leithart argues that the way that Christians often characterize our struggle with the world is deficient. We tend to think primarily in terms of a struggle of ideas. However, the battle is, more often than not, a struggle of desire. As René Girard has argued desire is mimetic, and the world is consistently tempting us to model our desires after its pattern.

This is where the church comes in. If the battle we face in the wider culture were merely a matter of ideas and thoughts, then we might be able to withstand the onslaught of bad ideas on our own. We might be able to fill our minds with good thoughts and ideas through reading and studying, and when a bad idea came up, we’d pounce. If we are cultural beings, whose habits and practices and desires are shaped by the habits and practices and desires of others around us – and we are – then we can’t really stand up to the cultural temptations in isolation, by ourselves. We cannot resist on our own. We need to be part of a resistant community, a resistant community that recognizes the way the world seeks to shape us into its image, and self-consciously resists the world.

And we can’t resist something with nothing. To the world’s desire-shaping, formative practices, Christians need to oppose a different set of desire-shaping practices. We can’t say: I won’t desire what the world wants me to desire. We have to have positive, godly desires in place of the world’s desires. And these desires and habits need to be nurtured, cultivated, shaped and formed in a particular community. The church has a culture, and must be a culture, if it is going to resist the forces that would conform you to worldly culture.

Leithart also has a post on consumerism that I found interesting.

***Following on from his earlier post on Dawkins and Lacan, Macht observes the importance of un-clarity in argument if we are to truly communicate:

Being “unclear” in one’s writing, then, can perhaps be a way to get the reader to NOT translate what they are reading into familiar terms. A writer want the reader to think in ways they’ve never thought before and that may require unfamiliar terms. This will of course require more work on the part of the reader and may lead to misunderstandings, but that might be the price a writer needs to pay in order to get his point across.

This, I suspect, is one of the reasons why misunderstanding so often attends theological discourse. In theology our terms are generally given to us by Scripture. Our overfamiliarity with these terms can lead to misunderstanding when we read people like Barth and Wright, who use familiar terms in unfamiliar ways. It takes quite a conscious effort on our part to overcome the familiarity that we have with the terms and begin to appreciate the ‘otherness’ of the theology of such men, and not merely interpret them on our own terms.

John Milbank has also observed the importance of ‘making strange’: developing new language to replace overfamiliar terms, in order that the peculiarity and distinctive character of the Christian position might become more apparent. This, I suggest, is one argument in favour of those who are wary of a theological discourse that works almost entirely in terms of biblical terminology. Such a discourse is helpful among those who understand the positions being advanced, but it can provide an impediment to those who have not yet grasped them.

***Joel Garver begins to articulate some of his concerns with the recent PCA report on the FV/NPP.
***Paul Helm on biblical versus systematic theology. I believe that the way that we do systematic theology is overdue for a complete overhaul. I don’t believe that biblical theology is the answer to everything, but I would not be sad to witness the demise of the discipline of systematic theology as it is often currently practiced (something that I have commented on in the past). Much systematic theology is ‘timeless’ in a deeply unhealthy fashion. It tends to treat its subject matter as if it were timeless and it also teaches in a manner that abstracts the learner from the time-bound narrative.

Systematic theology often seems to aim to present us with a panoptic perspective on the biblical narrative. We look at the narrative from a great height, from without rather than from within. This ‘timeless’ perspective is very dangerous, I believe. A reform of systematic theology would reject this way of approaching the discipline and would approach its subject matter in a slightly different manner. We study theology from within time, as participants in God’s drama. Neither the subject matter nor the student of theology should be abstracted from time. Rather than dealing with ‘timeless’ truths, we should deal with truths that are ‘constant’ through time.

Peter Leithart has suggested that ideally systematic theology would play a role analogous to the role that a book entitled An Anthropology of Middle Earth would play relative to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Such a book would help the reader to understand the constant features of the narratives. However, its subject matter would never be detached from the narrative nor could it ever be substituted for the narrative itself. The narrative always retains the primacy.

***Michael Bird writes [HT: Chris Tilling] on the importance of the study of NT Theology and Christian Origins. Here is a taster:

…when students (esp. evangelical students) talk about the message of the New Testament, they usually mean Paul. And when they mean Paul, what they mean is Romans and Galatians. Their understanding (or sometimes lack of undestanding) of these two epistles often becomes the centre of not only Paul, but of the entire New Testament. Hebrews, Matthew, Revelation, and Luke-Acts are all forced into a Pauline framework.

How is this corrected? First, Christian Origins shows us the real diversity of the early church. You only have to compare the Johannine literature, Luke-Acts, and Paul to see that the saving significance of Jesus was expressed in different (I did not say contradictory) concepts, categories, and terms. Approaches to the law were diverse and pluriform as Christians struggled (in every sense of the word) to understand how the law-covenant was to be understood and followed in light of the coming Jesus/faith (cf. Gal. 3.23). A study of Christian Origins opens our eyes to the reality and goodness of diversity, so that Christians can learn to differentiate between convictions and commands, and discern between the major and the minor doctrines of Christian belief. I would also add that, despite this theological breadth to the early church, there was still unity within diversity, a unity apparent in the common kerygma of the early church. While there was diversity and complexity in the early church, it was never a free for all, and the desire to discern between true and false expressions of belief were part of the Christian movement from the very beginning. That leads us to New Testament Theology and rather than priviledging Paul to supra-canonical status (and Romans and Galatians and hyper-canonical), we should listen to each corpra on its own terms and to the issues to which they speak. A study of this kind will indicate where the theological (and dare I say) spiritual centre of gravity lies in the New Testament.

The evangelical and Reformed tendency to force the whole of the NT into a Pauline framework is something that is becoming increasingly apparent to me. Over the last few weeks I have been studying the doctrine of atonement, for instance, in the NT. I have been struck by how muted the theme of penal substitution is in much of the extra-Pauline literature (or even, for that matter, in a number of the ’secondary’ Pauline epistles). If our ‘canon within the canon’ consisted of the Johannine literature or of Matthew and James, rather than Romans and Galatians, evangelical and Reformed theology would probably take a radically different form. Recogizing this fact has made me far more sympathetic to a number of traditions whose theology differs sharply from Reformed theology, largely because they operate in terms of a very different ‘canon within the canon’. Paul is only part of the picture and his voice is not necessarily any more important than others within the NT canon.

I suspect that a number of significant theological advances could be made if we were only to put our favourite sections of Romans and Galatians to one side for a while. For instance, we might begin to see the continuing role that the commandments of the Torah performed in shaping the life of the Church. We might begin to have a clearer sense of just how Jewish the thinking of the early Church was. An overemphasis on Paul’s more antithetical and abstract ways of formulating the relationship between the Law and the Gospel can blind us to how Paul and other NT authors generally continue to take the particularities of the Torah as normative for the life of the NT people of God. The way that the Torah operates has changed, but it is still operational in many respects as the Torah of the Spirit and the Torah of liberty.

We might also find ourselves called to more concrete forms of discipleship and begin to move towards a gospel that is more firmly rooted in praxis. We might also discover that the message of the gospel is not just concerned with the overcoming of sin and death, but also is about bringing humanity to the maturity that God had always intended for it. We might also find ourselves moving towards a more sacramental gospel.

***John Barach ponders the relationship between the Ten Commandments and the ten statements of Genesis 1.
***David Jones at la nouvelle théologie gives a list of links to material relevant to the recent Wilson-Hitchens debate on Christianity and atheism. There is also an interesting article in the Daily Mail, in which Peter Hitchens reviews his brother’s book [HT: Dawn Eden].
***Al Kimel’s blog, Pontifications, has a new home [HT: Michael Liccione]. The RSS feed also seems to be better on this one.
***June 2007 Wrightsaid list answers.
***As someone who believes that the inerrancy debates are largely unhelpful, I found this post by John H quite insightful. The Scriptures are exactly as God wanted us to have them and fulfil the purposes for which they were given. They are trustworthy. In the comments to the post, it is observed that the Church would have been far better off fighting for the ground of Scriptural efficacy, rather than Scriptural inerrancy. The Scriptures perfectly achieve the goals for which they were given. A position centred on Scriptural efficacy also serves to remind us that fundamentalism is itself a threat to a truly Christian doctrine of the Word of God, generally denying or downplaying the saving efficacy of God’s Word in preaching, the sacraments and the liturgy. Thinking in such terms might also help to move us away from the overly formal doctrine of Scripture generally adopted by conservative evangelicalism.
***Matthew gives some helpful clarifications in response to my comments on his recent post.
***The Baptized Body, Peter Leithart’s latest book is released today. Buy your copy now!
***David Peterson, from Oak Hill, gives an introduction to biblical theology in a series of audio lectures. I haven’t listened to these yet, but some of my readers might find them helpful.
***Ben Witherington on Billy Graham.
***R.P. Reeves on evangelicalism:

With Hochshild’s case, I was surprised to learn how bare-bones Wheaton’s doctrinal statement is, but as I’ve tried to think through the history of evangelicalism in a more comprehensive manner, I’m no longer surprised; rather, it’s exactly what I expect from evangelicalism. One of the characteristics of evangelicalism that I am working on developing is that it is first and foremost a renewalist, rather than ecclesiastical, movement. In 16th century Protestantism, the doctrinal heritage of the church (notably the ecumenical creeds) was explicitly reaffirmed, precisely because the Reformation sought to reform the church. By contrast, Evangelicalism seeks to renew the individual (and then, once a sufficient mass of individuals a renewed, this will renew the church, or society, or the state, etc.). Mixed with a primitivist suspicion of creeds and traditions, it’s not surprising that a basic affirmation of biblical inerrancy was believed to be sufficient boundary for evangelical theologians, nor is it surprising that this thin plank is proving to be a shaky foundation.

[HT: Paul Baxter]

***A PCA pastor: “We wouldn’t ordain John Murray”. Sadly, this is only what one should expect when theological factionalism takes holds of a denomination.
***Byron is right: this is a very good parable.
***‘Begging the Question’ [HT: Paul Baxter]
***From the evangelical outpost: How to Draw a Head and Assess your Brain Fitness.
***The cubicle warrior’s guide to office jargon
***The unveiling of the logo for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Seb Coe:

It will define the venues we build and the Games we hold and act as a reminder of our promise to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world.

Tony Blair:

When people see the new brand, we want them to be inspired to make a positive change in their life.

Tessa Jowell:

This is an iconic brand that sums up what London 2012 is all about - an inclusive, welcoming and diverse Games that involves the whole country.

It takes our values to the world beyond our shores, acting both as an invitation and an inspiration.

Ken Livingstone:

The new Olympic brand draws on what London has become - the world’s most forward-looking and international city.

And the brand itself:

***Finally, some Youtube videos:

The new Microsoft Surface:

Battle at Kruger:

I’m a Marvel … and I’m a DC:

New Skoda Ad:

I returned from a few days back in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday evening. My time back home was full of activity, but very enjoyable. As there was a wedding on, I had the opportunity to meet a lot more friends than I would have met on another weekend. During the few days back home, I watched Spiderman III for the second time (I far prefer Spiderman II) and Pirates of the Caribbean III (none of the later films in the trilogy have lived up to the original). I helped out at a kid’s club, with preparation for the wedding celebration and had to preach at very short notice (I mainly reworked material that I had written and blogged about recently). I also enjoyed following the cricket when I had a few minutes to spare. The West Indies may not be the strongest opponents, but convincingly winning a Test match does provide welcome relief after the mauling of the latest Ashes series and our failure to make much of an impact at the World Cup.

Over the last few days I have read a number of books. On my way down to Stoke-on-Trent on the train, I finished reading L. Charles Jackson’s Faith of our Fathers: A Study of the Nicene Creed. I had the privilege of meeting Charles a couple of months ago and have enjoyed reading his book. It is a very helpful introduction to the Christian faith, following the statements of the Nicene Creed. Each chapter is relatively short and followed by some review questions. It would be a useful book for a study class and also provides the sort of clear and straightforward (but not simplistic) introduction to Christian doctrine that might be of use to a thinking teenager (Ralph Smith’s Trinity and Reality is another work that I would recommend for this).

On the train journey back I finished reading Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. A friend recommended the book to me when it first came out a few years ago, but I have only just got around to reading it (I bought a secondhand copy of the book from my housemate John a few months ago). Martel is a very gifted storyteller and the book is quite engrossing. Whilst I strongly disagree with the underlying message of the book (about the character of faith and its loose relationship with fact), I greatly enjoyed the book and may well revisit it on some occasion in the future.

I have also been reading a number of other works, including Courtney Anderson’s To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson, which a friend lent to me, in preparation for my visit to Myanmar in September. I am also reading Steve Moyise’s The Old Testament in the New, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Children of Hurin and I have been dipping into the second volume of John Goldingay’s Old Testament Theology. On the commentary front, I have been using Goldingay’s recent work on Psalms 1-41 and Craig S. Keener’s commentary on John’s Gospel.

At the moment I am reading up on the subject of the atonement. I am particularly enjoying Hans Boersma’s work, Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition. I am also reading Where Wrath & Mercy Meet: Proclaiming the Atonement Today, edited by Oak Hill’s David Peterson (I am still waiting for my copy of Pierced for Our Transgressions to be delivered), Joel Green and Mark Baker’s Recovering the Scandal of the Cross and revisiting Colin Gunton’s The Actuality of Atonement.

Since returning to St. Andrews I have done very little. I spent much of yesterday playing Half-Life 2 (which I am revisiting after a few years) and reading. Today I expect that I will be a little more productive.

The following are some of the sites, stories, posts and videos that have caught my eye over the last few days.

Matt Colvin has an interesting post on ‘Headcoverings as Visible Eschatology’. Within it he argues that Paul’s teaching on the matter in 1 Corinthians 11 was not culturally determined, but informed by redemptive history.

***James Jordan has posted a series on the Biblical Horizons website: ‘How To Do Reformed Theology Nowadays’. As usual, JBJ has many useful and provocative observations. Here is one extended quotation:

The second problem is that since the academy is separated from the world, it is inevitably a gnostic institution. It is a place of ideas, not of life. For that reason it tends to become a haven for homosexuals (as it was in Greece, as Rosenstock-Huessy again points out in his lectures on Greek Philosophy). But apart from that problem, the separation of the academy from life means that the fundamental issues are seen as intellectual, which they in truth and fact are not. Clearly, conservative theological seminaries are not havens for homosexuals. But when what is protected is ideas and not women, then something is not right. Do academistic theologians protect the Bride of Christ, or do they protect a set of pet notions?

Consider: A man might say that when the Bible says that the waters of the “Red Sea” stood as walls and that the Israelites passed through, this is an exaggeration. What really happened is that a wind dried up an area of the “Swamp of Reeds” and the Israelites passed through. Now, this is a typical gnostic academistic way of approaching the text. The physical aspect of the situation is discounted. What is important is the theological idea of passing between waters. Human beings, for the academic gnostic, are not affected and changed by physical forces sent by God, but are changed by notions and ideas only.

The Bible shows us God changing human beings, bringing Adam forward toward maturity, very often by means of striking physical actions, such as floods, plagues, overwhelming sounds, and also warfare. It’s not just a matter of theology, or of “redemptive history” as a series of notions.

Now, some modern academics have indeed devoted themselves to social and economic history, and have seen that human beings are changed by physical forces that are brought upon them (though without saying that the Triune God brings these things upon them). This outlook, however, has not as yet had much impact on the theological academy.

The fact is that God smacks us around and that’s what changes history. Ideas sometimes smack us around, true enough. But the problem of the academy is that it is (rightly) separated from the world of smackings. From the academistic viewpoint, the actions of God in the Bible, His smacking around of Israel to bring them to maturity, are just not terribly important. What matters are the ideas.

This means the chronology is not important, and the events as described can be questioned. Did God really do those plagues in Egypt, smacking around the human race to bring the race forward in maturity? Maybe not. Maybe the stories in Exodus are “mythic enhancements” of what really happened. It’s the stories that matter, not the events. Maybe the Nile became red with algae, not really turned to blood. The blood idea is to remind us of all the Hebrew babies thrown into the Nile eighty years before.

Think about this. For the academistic, it is the idea that is important. Human beings are changed by ideas. And ideas only. Of course, it should be obvious that turning all the water in Egypt to blood (not just the Nile, Exodus 7:19) is a way of bringing back the murder of the Hebrew infants and of calling up the Avenger of Blood, the Angel of Death, because blood cries for vengeance. They had to dig up new water (Ex. 7:24) because all the old water was dead and bloody. An event like this changes people. The theological ideas are important. But the shock and awe of having all the water of the nation turn to blood is also important. It forces people to change.

***Josh, the Fearsome Pirate, puts his finger on one of the reasons why I would find it hard to become a Lutheran and reminds me of one of the reasons I so appreciate the Reformed tradition: ‘The Bible & Lutheranism’.
***Peter Leithart blogs on a subject that has long interested me: the necessity of the Incarnation. The question of the necessity of the Incarnation might strike some as needlessly speculative. However, our answer to this question does have a lot of practical import, not least in our understanding of the relationship between creation and redemption and the manner in which Christ relates to the cosmos. It raises teleological questions very similar to those raised in supra-infra debates, but does so in a far more biblical manner (supra-infra debates that are not grounded in Christology do strike me as unhelpfully speculative).
***Leithart also blogs on the subject of Pentecost on the First Things blog, one of a number to do so over the last few days. NTW sermons on Ascension and Pentecost have also been posted on the N.T. Wright Page. Joel Garver also blogs on Pentecost here. Over the next few months I will be doing a lot of work on the subject of canonical background for the account of Acts 2 (something that I have blogged about in the past). I will probably blog on the subject in more detail in the future.
***There have been a number of engagements with popular atheism in the blogosphere recently, particularly by Doug Wilson. Wilson’s recent debates with Christopher Hitchens can be found on the Christianity Today website: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5. It is interesting to see how Hitchens consistently seems to fail to get Wilson’s point about warrant for moral obligation. Macht also has a helpful post in which he observes Richard Dawkins’ tendency to lightly dismiss positions (not just Christian ones) without ever taking the trouble to try to understand them first.
***Joel Garver summarizes the recent PCA report on the NPP/FV and posts a letter raising some questions and concerns on the subject.
***Ben posts an interesting list of recent and forthcoming must read theological books and Kim Fabricius loses all credibility.
***A recent convert to Roman Catholicism argues that FV theology leads Romeward. A recent convert to Eastern Orthodoxy argues that Peter Leithart was instrumental in his conversion. The first post prompted a very lively and rather heated discussion in the comments (which I participated in).

Frankly, while I do not agree with such moves and do not find the slippery slope argument — much beloved of FV critics — at all convincing, I am not surprised that a number of people make such moves and credit the FV with moving them some way towards their current ecclesiatical home. Unlike many movements within the Reformed world, the FV is heading in a (small ‘c’) catholic and principled ecumenical direction. The journey to Eastern Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism is far shorter from a catholic than a sectarian tradition. The FV is not generally given to overblown polemics against every theological tradition that differs from the Reformed and appreciates reading material produced by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans and Orthodox. It can open one’s eyes to the fact that there are actually some pretty fine Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theologians out there and that, despite a number of failings, they are often far better on certain issues than their Reformed counterparts. Differences remain, but they are put into a far more realistic perspective.

***John H on what lies beneath debates about Mary. He also raises the issue of the presence of the Eucharist in John’s gospel for discussion.
***The most blogged passages of Scripture [HT: The Evangelical Outpost].
***Christianity Today has its 2007 book awards.
***Encouraging signs from Dennis Hou’s blog.
***Edward Cook watches LOST with Hebrew subtitles.
***Best selling books of all time [HT: Kim Riddlebarger]
***118 ways to save money in college
Learn a new language with a podcast
Learn the 8 essential tie knots
***New music from The New Pornographers [HT: Macht]
***A third of bloggers risk the sack
***Life as a secret Christian convert
***Global Peace Index Rankings (if you are looking for the US it is down at 96 between Yemen and Iran)
***A wonderful new site where grandmothers share films of some of their favourite recipes.
***Boy kills a ‘monster pig’ [HT: Jon Barlow]
***Some Youtube videos.

George Lucas in Love

Five Hundred Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

Pete Doherty queues for an Oasis album. It is sad to see how messed up he has become since then.

Finally, from my fellow St. Andrews Divinity student, Jon Mackenzie, comes ‘The Barthman’s Deck-laration’

Believe it or not, I really meant it when I said (about a month and a half ago now) that I had no intention of reducing my input on this blog to that of posting long lists of links. I apologize for the continued lack of substantial posting. Hopefully this will change sometime soon. However, I won’t make any promises, as I have not the best track-record of keeping blogging promises. What do you, my reader, think of my link posts? Should I stop them or make them more occasional? Are they worth reading or would you prefer me to do something different with my blogging time? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The following are some of the things that have caught my eye online over the last couple of days:

Matt Colvin, whose Lenten reflection was posted on this blog yesterday, posts further thoughts on his blog on the Last Supper and on Gethsemane. He also has posted some posts that are relevant to the interminable FV debates: ‘Dead Orthodoxy’ and ‘Head on a Platter’.

***The Fearsome Pirate has returned! He kicks off with a post on Lutheranism. Josh, we’ve missed you.
***Leithart posts on the subject of the consumer revolution and gives us quite a Girardian insight from an eighteenth century writer.
***On the subject of René Girard, Edward Oakes posts on Girard over on the First Things blog.
***Macht links to audio from Calvin College’s Faith and Music weekend. It looks interesting: Sylia Keesmaat, Lauren Winner, and a number of other speakers.
***If any of you are feeling like engaging in some extreme penance, Ben Myers links to a meme that might suit you. He also posts Kim Fabricius’s ‘Ten Propositions on Political Theology’, which Josh and Joel discuss over on the BHT.
***Stephen at the Thinkery links to a post with a series of accounts of anti-LGBT encounters. Whilst I believe that lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and transgender behaviour is sinful, I have long maintained that homophobia is real and ought to be shown up in all of its ugliness by Christians. Some of the stories recounted should give us food for thought.
***There are few examples of homophobia as extreme as that of the Westboro Baptist Church. The following is the first part of the BBC2 documentary, in which Louis Theroux meets the Phelps:

The other parts of the show are also available on Youtube — part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7.

***The audiobook of Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine is available for free download from Christian Audio this month [HT: Tim Challies]. Don’t miss out!
***Why PowerPoint presentations don’t work [HT: David Field]. I feel vindicated: I have long viewed PowerPoint presentations with a mistrust bordering on antipathy.
***

According to recent studies, Britain has 4.2million CCTV cameras - one for every 14 people in the country - and 20 per cent of all cameras globally.

It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily.

Read the whole article here [HT: David Field].

***Tearfund has a new report on churchgoing in the UK. There is some comment on the report on the BBC website. Graham Weeks posts some figures from the survey here.
***NTW’s Maundy Thursday sermon.
***The Placebo Diet [HT: The Evangelical Outpost]. I just need to know how to turn this finding in my favour.
***As usual the Evangelical Outpost has a number of other interesting links, which I thought that I would pass on:

100 aphorisms summarizing Calvin’s Institutes
Some classic insults
34 Reasons Why People Unsubscribe from your Blog (a quick scan confirms my suspicion that I have been guilty of the majority of these at some time or other)
The Internet weighs 2 ounces
***Some British teachers drop teaching the Holocaust and the Crsuades to avoid offending Muslims and other schools are challenged to change their teaching on the Arab-Israeli conflict by some theologically confused Christians [HT: Tim Challies]
***A skeptical ex-scientist describes the funding process for peer-reviewed research.
***Some more useful links from lifehacker:

How to Read a Scientific Research Paper
How to make yourself happier within the next hour
Google launches My Maps
Ditto: A useful Windows clipboard extension
***I am glad that I am not the only person who writes e-mails in this way:

Some of the other Youtube videos that have caught my attention over the last week include: LisaNova does 300!, Sand Castle Explosions Backwards v.1 and Sand Castle Explosions Backwards v.2.
***Jeffrey Overstreet asks whether movies are increasing our capacity to see, and whether the narrative of film distracts us too much from the visual dimension [HT: John Barach].
***And, on the topic of the poetry of cinema, I will conclude this links post with one of my favourite scenes from Spirited Away, which I watched yet again last night. It grows on me every time.

The FV discussion continues on unabated. Matt Colvin has some very good thoughts on the debate here (makes sure that you read the comments). Lane Keister suggests that ego is the main thing standing in the way of FV people repenting of their errors. The huge number of comments that follow his post make interesting reading. Meanwhile, the Presbyteer posts an overheard comment.

***Mark Goodacre and Dr Jim West continue to discuss the value of Wikipedia.
***Richard Mouw writes on Calvinism and sewage [HT: Prosthesis].
***Paul Duggan (who really needs to sort out his permalinks) puts forward the following statements for discussion:

1. Some Christians, because of their great faith or piety, are more effective than other Christians in begging God’s favors, say for healing the sick.

2. Since some Christians are of that sort, it is a good idea to ask them, in particular, to pray for you, say, if you are sick.

3. It is ok to think, in the back of your mind, “that man is righteous: his prayer will be partciularly effective for my sickness”

4. Doing so is not blasphemous, nor does it impinge upon the complete salvation we have in Christ.

***Mererdith Kline’s works online [HT: Ros Clarke].
***R.C. Sproul reviews N.T. Wright’s recent book, Evil and the Justice of God.
***The good bishop is also in the news again, responding to a BBC Radio 4 show with the ‘controversial cleric’ Jeffrey John, who claims that the doctrine of penal substitution “is repulsive as well as nonsensical” and “makes God sound like a psychopath.” The Sunday Telegraph reports:

Mr John argues that too many Christians go through their lives failing to realise that God is about “love and truth”, not “wrath and punishment”. He offers an alternative interpretation, suggesting that Christ was crucified so he could “share in the worst of grief and suffering that life can throw at us”.

Church figures have expressed dismay at his comments, which they condemn as a “deliberate perversion of the Bible”. The Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, accused Mr John of attacking the fundamental message of the Gospel.

“He is denying the way in which we understand Christ’s sacrifice. It is right to stress that he is a God of love but he is ignoring that this means he must also be angry at everything that distorts human life,” he said.

Bishop Wright criticised the BBC for allowing such a prominent slot to be given to such a provocative argument. “I’m fed up with the BBC for choosing to give privilege to these unfortunate views in Holy Week,” he said.

***From Vern Poythress’s ‘The Church as a Family’, which I had occasion to read a few days ago:

[M]any evangelical churches today are seen primarily as lecture halls or preaching stations. People identify the church with its building, in contrast to the Biblical emphasis that those united to Christ are the real church. Moreover, the building is viewed merely as a place for hearing a sermon or enjoying religious entertainment. Such a view impoverishes our communal life as Christians. Certainly monologue sermons are important, since they are one means of bringing God’s Word to bear on the church. But God intends the church to be much more…

But in too many evangelical churches, people have little experience of the Biblical practice of common family life. There may also be no regard for the necessity of church discipline. The church leaders are nothing more than gifted speakers or counselors (paid ministers), or else managers of church property and/or programs (whether these people are called trustees or elders or deacons). Such “leaders” are just people whose useful gifts have brought them into prominence. In such situations, it is understandable that some people may fail to see why appropriately qualified women may not exercise the key functions they associate with leadership. In fact, Christians will not fully understand the logic leading to male overseers until they come to grips with what the church should really be as God’s household.

***Steven Harris posts a Palm Sunday confession.
***Byron Smith on the chocolate Jesus controversy.
***The Pirate comments on the erotic character of much contemporary worship:

Let’s point out the obvious: replace the buxom blonde babes with stout matrons in their late 50’s, and the worship experience just plain doesn’t happen. Hire an older fellow that walks with a cane as your worship pastor instead of that handsome, young, energetic Cedarville graduate, and Sunday morning just won’t “work.” That should indicate something is wrong. This kind of “worship” isn’t anything new. Maybe fog machines, synthesizers, and colored lights are new, but sensuality and eroticism in worship aren’t. It’s just that in the olden-tymie days, you had to go to a pagan temple to get that. They [presumably the Church — Al] did a remarkably bad job of incorporating the pagan culture into their worship. A few things changed with the imperialization of the Church, but the damage had already been done. Christian worship was doomed to centuries of reverence, formality, seriousness, regularity, and deliberation until the 20th century brought Aphrodite back to her rightful place as the orchestrator of our worship.

***Doug Wilson posts 21 questions for a prospective wife. And, if you are reading Dad, I still do not intend to need to use these myself anytime in the foreseeable future…
***John blogs on slinkies.
***Louis Theroux meets the Phelpses.
***How to paint the Mona Lisa with MS Paint:

It has been quite some time since anything was posted on this blog. The pre-Holy Week guest posts have dried up (although hopefully my youngest brother will have sent me something before the weekend). I am presently enjoying my mid-semester break, although not a whole lot has been achieved so far. We have eaten a lot, entertained a number of people, caught up on some DVD watching and played far too much Settlers of Catan and Canasta. I have probably only read no more than one hundred and fifty pages or so of various books within the last couple of days.

Later today we are having more people over for a big meal, prior to a Desperate Housewives evening that my housemate Simon is organizing. I think that I will probably opt out of that (and not just because Desperate Housewives jumped the shark a while back). Tomorrow we have an all-day Lord of the Rings session, where we will be watching the three extended versions back-to-back. I will try and get some study done this evening to help me to justify a full day off. We have a 24-athon planned for next week, which should be even more intense. Hopefully, the LoTR day will help me to get in shape for that.

The following are some of the various things that have caught my attention online over the last few days.

I haven’t read either of them yet, but David Field has posted links to two Oak Hill dissertations, one on Romans 2:1-16 and another on Romans 8:13.

***Kim Fabricius’ Ten Propositions on Being a Theologian
***Also on Faith and Theology, Ben links to reports of Kathryn Tanner’s Warfield lectures and talks about his top 20 theological influences (very interesting reading; I will have to try to put together such a list sometime).
***Peter Leithart’s recent Pro Ecclesia article, ‘Justification as Verdict and Deliverance’, is receiving positive press on a number of places on the blogosphere. Al Kimel (aka: The Pontificator) blogs about it here and ‘Martin Luther’ makes some — rather strange — remarks here.
***John H has some good remarks on faith and certainty:—

In other words, faith isn’t something we are to try to work up in ourselves. It isn’t some inner state of certainty to which we somehow attain. God, in his mercy towards us, does not require us to hold within our heads at one moment the whole truth of Christianity, and to assent to it. Rather, he comes to us with concrete, audible promises: “Your sins are forgiven”; “Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ”; “This is my body, given for you… this cup is the new testament in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins”. Faith is believing the promise we are hearing right now.

Read his whole post here.

***Pope Benedict XVI tries to remind people of the existence of hell.
***Islamic feminist theologians (I suppose that that, like lesbian Eskimo bishops, some have to exist somewhere…).
***Garrett questions the value of long sermons.
***Mark Goodacre writes in defence of Wikipedia. Dr Jim West disagrees strongly.
***‘John Lennon’s Born-Again Phase’ [via Dave Armstrong]
***As usual, there have been some great posts on Leithart’s blog over the last few days. In this post he talks about a type of hospitality that has largely been lost or forgotten in our world.

The church set up various institutional forms of hospitality, including hospitals for the rejected and marginalized sick and weak. But the early church fathers also said that individual believers were supposed to show the same hospitality. Christine Pohl writes of Chrysostom: “Even if the needy person could be fed from common funds, Chrysostom asked, ‘Can that benefit you? If another man prays, does it follow that you are not bound to pray?’ He urged his parishioners to make a guest chamber in their own houses, a place set apart for Christ — a place within which to welcome ‘the maimed, the beggars, and the homeless.’”

It is quite easy to be charitable from a distance. The effort necessary to slow the frenetic pace of our lives down to be able to extend personal care and hospitality to people in need, rather than merely donating money is considerable. I have been very blessed by the example of my parents in this respect. Over the years we have taken many needy people into our home to live with us, for periods of time varying from a few days to a number of months. We have taken in itinerants, homeless people, students, recovering drug addicts and many others. Whilst our hospitality has been abused on more than one occasion, the experience of sharing your life with people in need is such a valuable and eye-opening one that I don’t think that we have any major regrets, even though we might do things slightly differently in the future. Quite apart from anything else, you learn a lot about yourself and your own weaknesses and failings.

Leithart also has some great posts on Jane Austen: ‘Keeping us Reading’, ‘Austen and Prejudice’ and ‘Communal Judgment, Communal Argument’.

***Tim Challies writes on the subject of discernment in the gray areas.
***Paleojudaica, Dr Jim Davila’s blog, turned 4 over the weekend. A belated ‘Happy Birthday!’.
***In my last links post, I linked to a post on speed-reading. Since then Matt has linked to this tool (I’m not sure that I find it particularly helpful, though) and the Evangelical Outpost links to this post on how to read a lot of books in a short time. John Barach speaks up on behalf of slow reading. It surprises some people when I tell them, but I slow-read most books, principally because I am of the conviction that the quality of one’s reading is more important than the quantity. The best books are to be savoured. I also slow read many of the worst books, as I feel duty bound to ensure that I understand someone very well before I strongly disagree with them. I also write lots of comments in the margins of my books and underline many sections, which slows down the reading process considerably.
***John Piper and Ligon Duncan speak on the subject of ‘The Challenge of the New Perspective to Biblical Justification’ on the Albert Mohler Radio Program.
***Some facts about the top 1000 books found in libraries [HT: Tim Challies].
***Josh, the fearsome Lutheran pirate, writes in defence of women’s ordination (don’t worry, he is not seriously advocating the position).
***Mark Whittinghill alerts us to a new posthumous Tolkien book. It should be released in under a month.
***Michael Spencer links to a list of D.A. Carson MP3s.
***Lifehacker tells us how to cure hiccups with sugar and gives a guide to power-napping.
***There is a new Youtube channel dedicated to material about the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first video contains the archbishop’s reflections on the slave pits in Zanzibar.
***Also in the world of Youtube, the Youtube Video Awards have been announced.
***Why models don’t smile and 101 great posting ideas [HT: The Evangelical Outpost].

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The last few days have been very busy, so I haven’t posted any guest posts. They will recommence later this afternoon. A belated happy St. Patrick’s day to all of my readers!

The following are some of the things that have caught my eye recently.

Al Mohler’s ‘Is Your Baby Gay?’ post sparks controversy. It has been discussed by a number of people on the blogosphere (here on the Evangelical Outpost, for example). Mohler has since written a clarifying post. Mark and Macht are both critical of Mohler’s claim that certain forms of eugenics would be justified in the case of an unborn child who would most likely have a ‘homosexual orientation’. Apart from this issue, on which I am agreed with Mark and Macht, I am encouraged to see a rather more nuanced and balanced treatment of the issues of homosexuality from a leading evangelical than we have come to expect. As Lauren Winner has commented, if the Church were to speak about such issues better, we could then speak about them less. That would be a blessing indeed.

***Mark Goodacre continues to blog on the subject of the Jesus family tomb: ‘Discovery Website Adjusts Tomb Claims’ and ‘Talpiot Tomb Statistics Update’. Richard Bauckham guest posts on Chris Tilling’s blog: ‘Ossuaries and Prosopography’.
***Stephen over at Hypotyposeis blogs some thoughts on Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, which Chris Tilling continues to review on his blog (it shouldn’t be much long until the review is longer than the book itself).
***Leithart blogs on the Christian roots of Europe.
***Ros Clarke blogs some quotations from JBJ’s ‘Apologia on Reading the Bible’.
***Edward Cook suggests that the genealogy of Luke 3 was most probably originally in Hebrew [HT: Dr Jim Davila].
***David Field posts notes for a talk that he gave, entitled ‘New Perspectives on Romans’.
***Chris Tilling writes a Bultmann poem.
***Tim Gallant links to a video raising questions about the scientific basis of global warming claims. I have no firsthand knowledge about the issues relevant to the global warming debate, but I do know a thing or two about how gifted the media is at draining complex debates of all nuance and presenting the public with grossly simplified and distorted pictures. I also know about the appeal of the unorthodox line of argument and the pull of the conspiracy theory. We all like to believe that we have privileged insight that others do not possess. A little selective knowledge can be a very dangerous thing. There are a lot of people who feel duty-bound to have a strong opinion on everything, even things that they don’t know have a clue about. The media happily fuels such people with prepackaged prejudices.

On the other hand, I am also well aware of the problems that attend the politicization of specialist debates. Most people bluff to some extent to hide their levels of ignorance on certain subjects; the temptation to bluff is greatest for politicians. On top of this, nuance does not go over well in the world of politics, where people are prone to move into polarized camps. Once an issue like global warming becomes politicized, it becomes increasingly difficult to raise critical questions about the scientific claims that are being made.

I also wonder sometimes whether we are inclined to overstate the impact that human beings have on the environment, wanting to flatter ourselves that we have more of an effect on and control over the world than we really do. The idea of a massive problem that we have created is more welcome than the idea of a huge climate shift that results from powers beyond our control. Man does not like to be reminded of his own impotence and the fact that his destiny is in many respects determined by greater forces than his own. All of these things lead me to retain a measure of skepticism towards the various claims being made in the global warming debates.

Jon uses this video as a springboard from which to discuss conspiracy theories and the need for orthodoxy to engage with heresy, if it is to arrive at a fuller knowledge of the truth. Jon observes something that I have commented on in the past: there are telltale signs of conspiracy theories and much of the thought in our circles as conservative Christians manifests all the classic symptoms. Young earth creationism is a perfect example (as is anti-Roman Catholicism). The truth or falsity of the claims of young earth creationists is beside the point here; the issue is that their approach to the issues is all too often the approach of conspiracy theorists. Conspiracy theories have a noxious effect on society and its public discourse. For this reason, if I were to have children I would prefer to have them educated by an atheistic evolutionist who would train them to think critically and engage with the best that science has to offer, than a conservative evangelical who would teach them conspiracy theories about science and discourage them from truly engaging with those with whom they disagree (I hope that I will never be called to make such a choice).

***Jon also has a helpful post on the subject of Richard Gaffin’s interaction with Rich Lusk (see here for further comment).
***Preparing tomorrow’s soldier [HT: Jon Barlow]
***The world’s oldest living man (116) puts his long life down to the fact that he has never been married.
***Ireland sends Pakistan home in the cricket World Cup. Makes up for the heartbreak of the rugby, I guess. Sadly, the joy of Ireland’s victory has since been overshadowed by the tragic death of Bob Woolmer.
***Herschelle Gibbs scores six sixes in a row, a first for one day cricket. The minnows in the World Cup have really suffered this year; four of the five highest margins of victory in the World Cup (by runs) have been recorded in the last week.
***Tony Blair meets Catherine Tate. Catchphrase comedy generally annoys me greatly, but I grinned at a few points in the last minute of this sketch, despite myself.
***Weird Al parodies Dylan (not anywhere near as funny as ‘White and Nerdy’, but funny nonetheless) and (a fairly good imitator of) Dylan sings Seuss [HT: Mark Traphagen].

Update: NTW lecture, ‘Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?’ [HT: Richard]. Be warned, it is a huge file (90MB).

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As I am very bad at keeping up to date with e-mail correspondence with my friends and family, from time to time I will post news updates on this blog. The last few weeks have been relatively uneventful. Last week I started studying Latin with my housemate John, which has been quite an enjoyable experience so far and makes something of a change from the things that we usually do. Last week I also received the DVDs of season 1 of Prison Break, which John and I have been watching compulsively ever since.

Since my Chinese teacher from last semester returned to China I have been unable to find a replacement. I know of a few places where I might possibly find one, but haven’t had any success yet. I have been studying theological German this semester instead (with Jon and a couple of others), which is another first for me. The German is nowhere near as intense as the Chinese was last year and so I have a lot more free time in which to read, play Settlers of Catan, card games, Civilization IV and other such things. I am taking modules in John’s gospel and Hebrew praise and lament this semester. Both have been stimulating so far, particularly the John’s gospel module, for which we have Markus Bockmuehl, who is quite brilliant and a privilege to study under.

This morning I received a copy of Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry in the mail. I have only read the first chapter, which does not augur well for my enjoyment of the rest of the book. I fear that my blood pressure might be raised next week, in which I plan to finish reading it. Fortunately I am reading a number of other enjoyable books at the moment, which should help in this respect. Yves Congar’s I Believe in the Holy Spirit is a good read, as are Richard Bauckham’s The Bible in Politics and Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. I also plan to read Jean-Luc Marion’s God Without Being (no, I really haven’t read it yet!) and reread Oliver O’Donovan’s The Desire of the Nations within the next couple of weeks.

At present I am hoping that I will be able to complete my Lenten blogging project. However, I am running dangerously short of posts at the moment. If you want to take part, please send me something as soon as you can.

I will conclude this post will a short list of links fron the last day or two:

***Leithart blogs a thought on turning the cheek as a form of resistance.
***Mark Goodacre blogs some assorted thoughts on the Talpiot tomb. Dr Jim Davila posts some thoughts from Dr Alexander Panayotov.
***Baudrillard is dead. AKMA links to some thoughts on Baudrillard and his work here.
***FV and their critics two sides of the same coin? I suspect that both parties in the present debate will strongly disagree with the way that they are represented here.
***David Field reflects on Galatians 3:12 and Leviticus 18:5 (here and here). I can’t say that I am convinced, but have yet to make up my mind on that passage (the use of Leviticus 18:5 in Romans 10:5 seems to make more sense to me). Tim Gallant had some interesting thoughts on this a while back (see under section 5).
***I have just lifted the following Rowan Williams quotation from Ben Myers’ blog.

Scripture and tradition require to be read in a way that brings out their strangeness, their non-obvious and non-contemporary qualities, in order that they may be read both freshly and truthfully from one generation to another. They need to be made more difficult before we can accurately grasp their simplicities…. And this ‘making difficult’, this confession that what the gospel says in Scripture and tradition does not instantly and effortlessly make sense, is perhaps one of the most fundamental tasks for theology.

Sounds quite right to me.

***Lots of Rich Lusk stuff.
***Movements towards incest. I saw this one coming quite some way off. The sort of arguments being raised against it by people in our society is perhaps one of the most depressing things of this whole matter.
***The Presbyteer observes something about the way that we all tend to read Scripture.
***Kim Riddlebarger comments on the danger of self-appointed theological experts online.
***On a not unrelated subject, Ross Leckie explains how easy it is to bluff knowledge of a book that you have never read. I suspect that many theologians are gifted practitioners of such methods when it comes to the biblical text.
***Danny Foulkes reacts to John MacArthur’s claim that every self-respecting Calvinist is a premillennialist.
***My brother Mark gives a video lesson in constructing an origami star.
***Speed Painting with Ketchup and French Fries
***Hack GoogleMaps to enable you to zoom in further.
***Calvinix tablets: highly recommended for any Arminian readers! Also, denominational Swiss Army knives [HT: Michael Spencer of BHT].

This post gives a mathematician’s perspective on the question. It turns out that the 1:600 statistic doesn’t make anywhere near as impressive a claim as the media would generally suggest it does.

Quelle surprise!

Update: Mark Goodacre follows up with some further comments.

The following are some of the enjoyable and insightful posts, articles and talks that I have read or listened to in the last couple of days:—

Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy [HT: matthew henry john bartlett]

***Ben Witherington - The Jesus Tomb? ‘Titanic’ Talpiot Tomb Theory Sunk from the Start
***The full series of T.F. Torrance audio lectures
***Lauren F. Winner - Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity
***Cynthia Nielsen continues blogging on Jean-Luc Marion
***Mark Horne proclaims the ‘hastening death’ of the theological journal. Frankly, I find the idea that the future of theological writing might lie in the works of dilettante bloggers like me little short of terrifying. Let’s hope that the theological journals reinvent themselves quickly (First Things is a good example of one that seems to be getting it just about right).
***On a related note to the previous item, Mark Goodacre comments on the way that the biblioblogosphere shapes the way that scholarship engages with such news stories as that of the Jesus tomb
***Leithart: Predestination and Logic and Eschatological Meaning
***My brother Mark posts videos of himself making origami models: an elephant and a rose
***Perhaps the most useful resource that I have encountered for weeks [HT: Tim Challies] — search every Calvin and Hobbes cartoon by keywords. Ever wondered how many times the word ‘boogers’ appears in the Calvin and Hobbes corpus? You need wonder no longer!

There are still a number of days available for those who want to guest post over Lent, (the instructions for entries can be found here). If you are interested, please respond as soon as possible. Remember, a contribution doesn’t have to be written reflections. You could post a video, an MP3 of yourself talking or singing a song, or a picture that you have drawn. As long as it is within the guidelines set out within the linked post above, it will be very much appreciated.

***Ben Myers posts the fourth installment of the Thomas Torrance audio lectures and reports a PR disaster for the Christian music industry.
***Gregg Strawbridge and Mark Horne respond to Guy Waters on Covenant Radio [HT: Barbara]
***Leithart reminds us of the sacramental piety of the Wesleys. It is interesting to observe how little press this dimension of the Wesleys’ beliefs and piety can receive. A few years ago I was reading an old book on early Methodism and came across a letter sent by John Wesley in 1745, written to his brother-in-law Westley Hall, a number of years after his evangelical conversion. It served as a reminder of how quickly some of our great evangelical heroes would be anathematized were they here to resist their own airbrushing. The following is an extract from Wesley’s letter:

You think, First, that, we undertake to defend some things, which are not defensible by the Word of God. You instance three: on each of which we will explain ourselves as clearly as we can.

1. ‘That, the validity of our ministry depends on a succession supposed to be from the Apostles, and a commission derived from the Pope of Rome, and his successors or dependents.’

We believe, it would not be right for us to administer, either Baptism or the Lord’s Supper, unless we had a commission so to do from those Bishops, whom we apprehend to be in a succession from the Apostles. And, yet, we allow, these Bishops are the successors of those, who are dependent on the Bishop of Rome. But, we would be glad to know, on what reasons you believe this to be inconsistent with the Word of God.

2. ‘That, there is an outward Priesthood, and consequently an outward Sacrifice, ordained and offered by the Bishop of Rome, and his successors or dependents, in the Church of England, as vicars and vicegerents of Christ.’

We believe there is and always was, in every Christian Church (whether dependent on the Bishop of Rome or not) an outward Priesthood ordained by Jesus Christ, and an outward Sacrifice offered therein, by men authorized to act, as Ambassadors of Christ, and Stewards of the mysteries of God. On what grounds do you believe, that, Christ has abolished that Priesthood or Sacrifice?

3. ‘That, this Papal Hierarchy and Prelacy, which still continues in the Church of England, is of Apostolical Institution, and authorized thereby; though not by the written Word.’

We believe, that, the threefold order of ministers, (which you seem to mean by Papal Hierarchy and Prelacy,) is not only authorized by its Apostolical Institution, but also by the written Word. Yet, we are willing to hear and weigh whatever reasons induce you to believe to the contrary.

My purpose here is not to defend Wesley’s sentiments. Rather, I am suggesting that perhaps evangelical faith need not be as inimical and alien to High Church Christianity as many evangelicals suppose it must.

***Cynthia Nielsen is blogging on Jean-Luc Marion (Part 1, Part 2)
***Byron Smith (whose blog you should be reading) is interviewed by Guy Davies.
***Leithart asks: ‘Who Defines “Reformed”?’
***A few N.T. Wright articles and blog posts (!!):

Simply Lewis: Reflections on a Master Apologist After 60 Years
God’s Power Does Not Excuse Human Despoiling
Sex Both Powerful and Potentially Dangerous
Base Criticism on Facts, Not Prejudice
I am not convinced that the blog is Wright’s best medium. Sometimes I wish that he would just cancel all his speaking engagements, popular book projects and the like and just get the big book on Paul finished.
***Whoever suggested this series of adverts deserves a hefty payrise.
***Jack Bauer: Pre-School Teaching Assistant
***A New Pope (first saw this one a few months back, but never got around to linking it)
***The editor of First Things, Joseph Bottum, has won at the Deity level in Civilization III. Kudos! This truly remarkable achievement was mentioned within this superb article on the series of games that have accounted for a disturbing percentage of the waking hours of my existence [HT: Mark Whittinghill of BHT].
***Catholics, Baptists and Pentecostals in conversation [HT: The Presbyteer].

***
And for any of you who might be concerned, despite recent indications to the contrary, my future input on this blog is not going to be reduced to posting long lists of links and comments on the latest Peter Leithart posts.

Macht agrees with Berek: he is not heterosexual either.

Leithart continues posting on ERH: Grammatical Sociology

Michael Shipma on what he has learned from the FV controversy [HT: Mark Horne].

Survey finds 300 million Chinese Christians [HT: Tim Challies].

David Field’s AAPC2007 lecture online. Looks like thought-provoking reading.

Jeff Meyers continues to respond to questions about his book The Lord’s Service: The Priesthood of All Believers (1, 2, 3, 4); But All of Life is Worship

The Pontificator is blogging through Romans — 1:1-6 (1, 2); 1:16-17 (1, 2, 3); 1:18-23; 1:18-2:1; 2:1-5; 2:1-16; 2:17-29; 3:9-20; 3:21-26; 3:21-31. As a Catholic thinker writing on the book of Romans and engaging with people like N.T. Wright along the way, I am sure that the Pontificator’s series will interest a number of readers of this blog. I don’t have time for detailed interaction with it at the moment, but the Pontificator’s blog is always worth reading, even when one disagrees with him.

The Top Ten Signs You Are A Fundamentalist Christian. Some of these are a bit unfair perhaps, but some do strike uncomfortably close to their target!

Ruth Gledhill talks with NTW.

Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us

Father Matthew Moretz vidblogs on Diversity in Faith. Has he been reading Girard?

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I am in an ugly mood this morning.

Writing on the subject of the whole Ted Haggard mess, Doug Wilson observes:

The second sign of trouble (evident long before the recent revelations) was the prevalent evangelical marketing of narcissism and celebrity as though it were a reasonable approximation of humility and ministerial service. What’s wrong with this picture? I remember, many years ago, long before the Jimmy Swaggart meltdown, talking to my wife about his record albums in a Christian bookstore. Album after album showed a close-up photo of his face, and nothing was more apparent than that something was seriously disordered about the whole operation. But that disorder was something that the evangelical market was more than willing to support and praise with their dollars. After it happens, the response among Christians was “how could this happen?” Are you serious? The real question should have been “how could it not?” Contemporary evangelicalism is nothing more than institutionalized narcissicism, and if the tree is rotten, it will continue to produce this kind of fruit.

Contemporary evangelicalism as ‘institutionalized narcissism’ is perhaps as good a description of the current state of affairs as any. It is something that I have drawn attention to in the past. For example,

Salvation opens us up to the Other. Only a Trinitarian and ecclesial understanding of salvation can do justice to this. The salvation paradigm of many within evangelicalism is akin to the romantic love paradigm of our society. It has little to say about the manner in which the Church is brought into a Trinitarian fellowship of love, focusing more upon the individual’s relationship with a god who is considered in largely Unitarian terms. You end up having two polarized parties and a love that closes in on itself.

Evangelicalism has little to say about our meeting of God in the commonality of our love for others. The Church as the community of the Spirit is that which frees to enjoy a non-narcissistic relationship with God. Evangelicalism’s failure to really recognize all of this has led, I believe, to its increasing self-obsession and introspectionism. Worship has become about self-stimulation rather than self-gift. There is also a tendency to project a domesticated god created in our own image, a god who reinforces our sense of self and never challenges us by His Otherness. When we worship such a god we are really worshipping ourselves. It should not surprise us that many contemporary worship songs focus more upon our act of worship than upon the object of our worship. The worship wars that rage through evangelicalism are not unrelated to this.

The collective narcissism of much modern evangelicalism (expressed in countless different ways) is perhaps, more than anything else, the thing that makes me want to get as far away from such forms of evangelicalism as I can. The soul of evangelicalism is afflicted by a disordered desire that will destroy it.

This disordered desire has innumerable manifestations. It can be seen in the way in which so many evangelical ministries operate without a regard to the rest of the Church, and particularly to the non-evangelical parts of the Church. It can be seen in the lack of interest in Church history. It can be seen in the insistence on singing modern hymns and choruses that conform to our personal tastes in music. In can be seen in the way that many evangelical churches are populated by clones.

It can also be seen in evangelicalism’s twisted aesthetics. It should be recognized that disordered desire will lead to a disordered aesthetic. It is not an accident that the narcissism and disordered desire of homosexuality is often expressed in a disordered aesthetic (camp, kitsch, self-glorification, etc.). Narcissistic aesthetics can take many different forms. They can consist in a purely ironic posture towards reality, in a playfulness that has no desire for costly engagement in reality, in the production and obsession with art that seeks nothing more than self-expression, in sentimentalism and sickly nostalgia (which almost invariably involves a narcissistic projection onto the past, rather than a genuine reckoning with the alterity of the past), among other things. Narcissistic aesthetics are the aesthetics of decadence and stem from a failure to engage properly with otherness, and from a weakening of faith.

Our aesthetic sensibilities are not morally neutral; they are as depraved and as needful of redemption as any other aspect of our human make-up. The scandal of the evangelical mind is well-known; it is high time that the scandals of the evangelical imagination and of evangelical aesthetics received equal notoriety.

The problem of evangelical narcissism is so huge that I am surprised that it has such a low profile.

Read about it here. [HT: Dr. Davila]

Apparently.

I am surprised that such news could come as a surprise to anyone.

I find some of the new developments in science explored in this new exhibition quite troubling and even frightening on a number of levels. There are a number of questions that I would like to see addressed. For example, if a person’s creativity could be raised by the use of technology, to what extent would it still be their creativity? Why do human beings make art and music, write literature, play sports and do all such other activities in the first place? What is the chief telos of these endeavours? Does the use of technology to enhance mental powers subtly undermine this telos?

I sometimes wonder whether our society has forgotten the centrality of the building of character and expression of our humanity. The valuing of achievement, efficiency, power and the quantifiable over such things as character formation leads us to a society in which our humanity is increasingly compromised. The primary goals of many modern education systems are a good example here; future efficiency in the labour market (which can be measured in exams) is all too often valued over growth in virtue.

The development of technology that can manipulate and empower our brains isn’t going to help the situation. The drive for efficiency and achievement tends to lead us to forget the importance of the very virtues that enable us to be the masters of our technology, techniques and systems. As these virtues are lost our very humanity is eroded. Drug cheats in sport are a very good example of this. They have made the quantifiable sporting achievement their great goal and have lost sight of the importance of sport as a character-building activity. Important as victory in sport is, when it becomes the governing telos of the activity, sport has lost its soul. Frankly, I am not surprised that, given the professionalization of sport in our society (particularly among young children), drug cheating is such a big issue in many sports.

A number of writers have spoken of the intimizing of technology and the technologizing of intimacy. In this day and age so much of our existence and so many of our relationships are mediated by technology. Brain enhancement technologies would take this a whole step further. Our very thinking and creative process could become technologized.

Albert Borgmann has spoken of the ‘device paradigm’. He compares a ‘device’ to a ‘thing’. A fireplace is an example of a ‘thing’, something that is rooted in a particular context, demands complex engagement and a range of different skills and does not merely provide one commodity. A ‘device’, on the other hand, demands far less skill and engagement and is seen increasingly as merely a means to provide a particular commodity. The ‘device paradigm’ shapes us to increasingly regard engagement as an unwelcome means to an end, from which technology can save us. The ‘internal goods’ of ours practices of engagement are lost sight of. A microwave and convenience food may save us from the task of cooking, but cooking is far more than an inefficient technique to produce the commodity of a meal on the table. Cooking has many internal goods. Cooking is a realm of engagement where the senses are honed. It can be a form of artistic expression and self-giving.

What happens when the ‘device paradigm’ begins to shape our thinking about the human brain and other parts of our body? What happens when our brains are seen merely as devices to produce scientific formulae, works of art and the like? I fear that our humanity will suffer loss, through the increasing objectification of the subject and detachment of the human subject from the embodiment of human existence. We disidentify ourselves from our bodies. Our bodies are regarded as devices or instruments employed by the self, rather than as extensions of the self. The world becomes a realm of depersonalized objects to be acted upon by devices, rather than a realm of personal expression and giving of the self, where creation is regarded, not as impersonal object, but as personal gift and as something to be redeemed by love.

As I have argued elsewhere, the root problem here is one of imagination. The world in which we operate is not some pure reality ‘in itself’, but a collective representation of reality. Man is bewitched by his own seductive dreams and forgets himself. His prison of entranced slumber is largely of his own making. The progressive objectification of the human person is merely the gradual outworking of a poisonous way of imagining the world. That which is necessary at such a time is a reimagining of the world which attacks the paradigms and episteme in which we operate at their root and does not merely limit itself to attacking their rotten fruit. This need has seldom been more pressing.

I wonder how people within the British ninja community feel about this? Are British ninja masters expected to remove their masks when they train their students in the arts of combat? No one sees a ninja’s face and if he does, it is the last thing that he sees.

Of course, I doubt that anyone would have the guts to tell them.

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Lessons from the Amish — The Power of Pacifism

We are gradually being wiped out of Iraq. Our people are fleeing. Powerful men who claim to be fighting in the name of our Leader are not terribly interested in protecting us. These men say ‘peace, peace’, but there is no peace for us. They are paying little heed to our continued suffering.

I first mentioned this almost a year ago and the situation, if anything, seems to have gotten worse since then. Read all about it here. [HT: Dr. Jim West]

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Catholic experts are expected to advise Pope Benedict XVI that the traditional state of limbo - somewhere between heaven and hell - should be abolished.

This statement does read a bit strangely, almost making it sound as if limbo is a real place that the papacy created many years back and have finally decided to empty of its occupants, having no further use for the realm. Of course, limbo is nothing of the kind. It is just a speculative and unbiblical notion and we should be encouraged that Pope is possibly going to decisively reject it. Let’s hope that purgatory is next on the list.

So what might the rejection of limbo for unbaptized children mean for the Roman Catholic practice of infant Baptism? Hopefully it will encourage a popular movement towards a more biblical understanding of the place of infant Baptism. Kurt Stasiak, a Roman Catholic theologian, puts the issue well:

Our discussion here emphasizes that the primary motive for baptizing our infants should not be our fear of what might be denied them should they die unbaptized but, rather, our hope of whom through baptism they will become. Through baptism the sons and daughters of our flesh become sons and daughters of God and are brought into new life in Christ and his Church. We baptize our children because we hope that as the grace of their baptism unfolds, they will mature as adult sons and daughters of God, ever-learning how to walk according to the Spirit.

Baptism overcomes the power of original sin. The connection between infant baptism and original sin, however, is not theological speculation as to how God can receive an unbaptized infant. It is, rather, the challenge of how the Christian community can receive the infant in such a way so that he will learn from the beginning the community’s ways and means of overcoming the effects of original sin that linger stubbornly in the lives of all. Baptism is the pledge and promise that infants are delivered from original sin—not by slow trickles of water, but by the flood of grace which rushes forth as they are transformed and brought into the family of God and the Church. Infant baptism does not mean the child is “home free” because limbo is no longer a possibility. It means the child is brought into a home—into a Christian environment—in which the Word of God is proclaimed from the beginning. Children learn how to be part of the family by being part of the family. Infant baptism proclaims how an infant is to live and be formed. If there is a limbo that needs to be addressed in our baptismal catechesis, it is not a hypothetical limbo between earth and heaven but, rather, the spiritual limbo that still exists in quite tangible form in far too many homes today.

In his superb treatment of the subject of infant Baptism in his book Return to Grace, Stasiak observes that many Christians leave infants in a form of suspense, waiting for the time when they can come to a more explicit form of faith. The impression given is that God views the infant more as a potential adult and believer, rather than as one to be brought into His family and to be valued for what they already are as infants (I have dealt with some of these issues in an older post). Stasiak writes:

The “point” of infant baptism—it is the point of adoption, of taking the initiative on behalf of another—is that neither God, nor Church, nor parents, keep the child “in limbo” until some future time when the child is able or willing to respond to the love already present and presented. Parents love their infants because of who they are now, not because of who they might eventually become. And if the precautions many parents today take even as the child is being “knit together in the mother’s womb” is any indication, they love their child “before now”: before the child from their flesh becomes their child in the world.

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