Who Tells Your Stories?

One of the latest books I’ve picked up is Island at the Center of the World. It’s the story of Manhatten Island and the founding of New York City from 1600 to roughly 1664 when the English took it over. Many modern histories mention the Dutch only briefly and quickly move on to the English period that followed, treating the story of Manhatten as if the Dutch had just swindled the Indians into selling them the land and then quickly losing it to the English. That, at least, is what I was taught in school.

Author Russell Shorto has a different perspective on this. After working documents that have recently been translated from the Dutch colonial period, the influence of the Dutch settlers on what was to become New York city was fairly substantial. In many ways, the English simply let the Dutch system continue to flourish, and this is what Shorto credits with creating the remarkable city of New York.

Why has this period of Dutch influence of America been overlooked for so long? Shorto asserts that English historians have drowned out any alternative histories. The English, who were at war with the Dutch off and on in the 1600’s often depicted the Dutch colony on Manhatten as bumbling, inefficient, and comical. While some accusations were true, the Dutch also had a lot going for them. It is the latter that Shorto hopes to highlight.

Though I am not sure if I will take the time to wade through all of the material in this book, it has once again brought up the importance of multiple voices and perspectives. Who knows what other parts of our history have been suppressed because diversity was not embraced. In addition, who knows what blind spots exist in Christian theology since it has been dominated by the West for so long.

Easter Vacation

I have quite a back log of material in my moleskine to post here, but it will have to wait until after Easter vacation. I hope to begin rewriting some chapters and to continue posting articles and books of interest to my "postmodernism and Christianity" project.  Of course publication is still on the horizon and moving ahead slowly. I’ll post an update soon once I get some solid deadlines in place. Hopefully then I can begin to post more material here from the book proper and start generating some conversation. ’til then, happy Easter.

One of the Best Blog Posts Ever

Andrew Jones has put together one of the best blog posts ever about the emerging church and new media. It is filled with relevant links and playful interaction with the importance of the web and blogging today. In particular, he provides analysis of how society has changed since the time of Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death and the contours that currently exist with the web. A lively discussion is taking place in the comment section as well. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: emerging church, amusing ourselves to death

Losing My Fundamentalism

While at the Northshire Bookstore yesterday I picked up Bart Ehrman’s book, Misquoting Jesus. If anything, this book is a monumental achievement. Ehrman has boldly gone where no theologian thought possible to traverse: he has written a popular level book on textual criticism. Textual criticism is not for the faint of heart. It’s a painstaking discipline that involves analysis of ancient documents, some of which are falling apart or torn, ancient cultures, geography, and who knows what else. You could say that textual criticism is like playing “he said, she said” with ancient documents. The scholar must study conflicting sources and then decide which one is most valid or closer to the original.

A quick glance at a Hebrew Bible (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartentsia) or Greek Bible (Nestle Alland or UBS 4) will reveal a host of foot notes revealing the disputed sources for particular passages. You almost cannot find a page without such footers. The Bible quite simply was not passed down to us in its completed form. There are disagreements and discrepancies amidst the various manuscripts we possess. The sooner we get used to that, the better.

It’s not surprising then to read the Ehrman was a conservative evangelical Christian, but this was shattered by his study of the Biblical manuscripts. Though my reading of his introduction in Misquoting Jesus cannot do justice to his views, it seems that his discovery of errors and mistakes in the passing down of the Bible throughout the centuries has deeply wounded his view of scripture. At one point he commented that if God cannot preserve his words while being passed through the church, then the words must not have come from him in the first place. He does make some vague statements about God being involved in the process, but it’s not enough to figure where he still stands. Nevertheless, he makes no attempt to hide his assertion that the Bible is a very human document, downplaying the divine role in it.

Without having read further, it’s hard to say what I think of Ehrmann at this point. I agree that the Bible is a very human book, but I would simultaneously uphold a significant divine role in the inspiration of the documents. I certainly am enticed to read on and find out what he has to say about the Bible. It would seem to me that his faith has been shipwrecked by our overreliance on the Bible as the foundation for our faith and inerrancy as the end all, be all of scripture.

The Bible is important in that it points us toward the Father, Son, and Spirit. Too often it seems that our faith is in the Bible itself, as if our Christian faith rested on the Bible itself. We cannot forget that while the Bible is essential in teaching us about God, Christianity existed for centuries in populations who were generally illiterate and who did not have access to books anyway. And if Christianity has the Bible, not Jesus himself, as its foundation, then you could say that inerrancy is the gate keeper, protecting the “faith.”

Taking the Bible as an essential source and gujide to God does not demand perfection in every element, only trustworthiness and truthfulness. Differing accounts, inaccurate numbers, etc. can be permitted so long as the story of salvation recorded is reliable. In this sense the Bible can be a human book with a heavy divine influence. Of course God is behind the writing of the Bible, but even God does not require exact perfection of human authors. Nevertheless, if the Bible is the source of our faith, then it’s accuracy becomes far more essential. Any blows to this conception will shatter the faith of any honest believer. This is the trap that I believe Ehrmann fell into. When the Bible itself becomes more important than God, our faith cannot endure any doubts cast on the book itself. But if Jesus himself is the author, finisher, and foundation of our faith, nothing can shake us.

Technorati Tags: inerrancy, misquoting jesus

My way of reading

My way of reading books is probably not the most efficient, but at least I have fun. While I just finished What Saint Paul Really Said, I have a number of other books waiting in the wings to be picked up. I’m about half way through the Last Word by Wright and have stalled on Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Peterson. I hope to finish them by the end of the month. Yesterday I mentioned that I have just picked up Ministry in the Image of God, which I hope to pick up by May. But for fun, I think I will try to dabble in Frank Viola’s classic: Rethinking the Wine Skin.

Frank writes a ton of stuff on Next WaveNext Wave and other house church sites, as well as publishing more than his fair share of books. This book sets out his thoughts on what some refer to as a reconstructionist view of the emerging church. In other words, not only is Frank sensitive to context/culture, he is also interested in changing the structure of the church to meet to meet the challenges of today. But even more than this, I believe he is hearing from God. God is at work in many established churches, but he is very much involved outside the church planting new house churches and alternative worship gatherings. Frank’s voice is very much needed in the church today.

Ministry in the Image of God

As a member of the IVP Book Club, I get little notes in the mail about their latest offerings. I just picked up a used copy of Ministry in the Image of God by Stephen Seamands. It was an impulse buy of sorts, but I could not pass up a chance to check out this book. Based on the back cover, it seems to be a very promising book.

If we hold to a trinitarian theology, then it should have implications for how we do ministry. The Holy Spirit typically gets the short end of the stick in Evangelical circles. We’re just not sure what to do with this third member of the trinity who kind of hovers around and helps us. The Spirit must be given a place in our ministries as part of the trinity.  Here’s a review from Amazon:

 

      Book Description
  "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 

Those
of us called to Christian ministry are commissioned and sent by Jesus,
just as he himself was called and sent by the Father. Thus we naturally
pattern our ministries after Christ’s example. But distinctively
Christian service involves the Spirit as well, just as Jesus himself
accomplished his ministry in the power of the Spirit. Thus the whole
Trinity–Father, Son and Holy Spirit–gives shape to truly authentic
Christian ministry.

Though as Christians we all affirm the
doctrine of the Trinity, many of us might struggle to explain how
understanding the Trinity could actually shape our ministry. Stephen
Seamands demonstrates how a fully orbed theology of the Trinity
transforms our perception and practice of vocational ministry.
Theological concepts like relationality and perichoresis have direct
relevance to pastoral life and work, especially in unfolding a
trinitarian approach to relationships, service and mission. A
thoroughly trinitarian outlook provides the fuel for our ministry "of
Jesus Christ, to the Father, through the Holy Spirit, on behalf of the
church and the world."

Essential reading for pastors,
parachurch workers, counselors, missionaries, youth ministers and all
who are called to any vocation of Christian ministry.

      About the Author
Stephen Seamands (Ph.D.,
Drew University) is professor of Christian doctrine at Asbury
Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He also frequently speaks
and leads retreats and seminars on such issues as emotional healing and
spiritual renewal. His books include Christology and Transition in the
Theology of Edwin Lewis (University Press of America, 1987), Holiness
of Heart and Life (Abingdon, 1990), A Conversation with Jesus (Victor,
1994) and Wounds That Heal (IVP, 2003).

 

The Temple Scroll in Cleveland?

It’s kind of crazy to think that the first stop for one of the ancient dead sea scrolls is in Cleveland, OH, but alas truth is stranger than fiction. According to NPR:

 

For nearly 2,000 years the Dead Sea Scrolls sat undisturbed in tall, earthen jars hidden in a honeycomb of caves in the Judean desert. For the last 50 years, these ancient texts have been preserved in Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. Now one of the most important scrolls has left the Middle East and is making its first appearance in the United States, at a museum in Cleveland. The exhibit, which opens April 1 at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, includes many ancient treasures, including bronze and silver coins dating back two millennia.

Read the rest of the article

In my own studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls (which I viewed while in Israel thank you Cleveland, I will not need you), I have been amazed at the interpretive methods employed by Essenes, or whoever may have composed them. The interpretations typically follow immediately after a portion of scripture and follow a very typical formula. The wicked are always associated with the corrupt Pharisees and Sadduccees in the city, those with smooth tongues, while the righteous always include an unnamed teacher of righteousness and the Essene community.

It is assumed that bad eschatology led up to their eventual downfall, as the Essenes most likely wrapped up their scrolls for safe keeping while they went off to fight the Romans around AD 70. Thinking that the Messiah would come to save them, they were subsequently slaughtered, leaving their scrolls for us to discover in the 20th century. That’s more theory than anything else, but based on their Biblical interpretations, it is likely.   

On the Emerging Church and Blogs

From the Worldwide Faith News archives . . .

Here’s some good reading on the emerging church its use of blogs via TSK and Christian Pundits:

The Emergent Church is defined by Yearbook Editor, the Rev. Dr.
Eileen W. Lindner, as a "conversation" (some would say movement)
birthed in 20th century Protestantism and "characterized by a robust,
energetic and growing online and hardcopy literature" that attempts to
shape responses to contemporary culture.

Common attributes of the EC, Lindner believes, are an emulation of
the person and ministry of Jesus, a fondness for anecdotes and stories
as means of discovering truth, a focus on mission, and a stress on the
centrality of worship, even in experimental forms.

Scores of EC proponents are using blogs to advance these ideas and
stimulate dialogue. Lindner says it is not possible to generalize them
into a predictable demographic class, but she offers examples of
prominent EC bloggers: John O’Keefe, founder of www.ginkworld.net, "an
emerging/postmodern site exploring what it means to be a follower of
Jesus in today’s world;" Spencer Burke, former pastor, founder of http://theooze.com
Web site, "dedicated to the emerging Church culture;" Mark Driscoll,
founder of Mars Hill Church (www.marshillchurch.org) in Seattle; Mark
Pearson, founder of www.cityside.org.nz in Aukland, New Zealand; and
Karen Ward, founder and pastor of the Church of the Apostles,
www.apostlechurch.org, in Seattle.

Read the whole article.

Clashing of Cultures

I am currently listening to a book on tape called, Sea of Glory, that details the US exploration of the South Pacific and Antarctica from 1838-1842. While the story is full of human conflict, fear, and peril, I have also noticed the clash of European Enlightenment ideals  with native cultures on the islands.

The explorers thought of themselves as questing for knowledge. They were seeking to understand their world. Curiously, they also ran into a large number of  natives who caused them to question the values of their own culture. Were the natives simply savages who needed to be tamed, or were the explorers the true savages who were ruined through society and needed to get back to the natural world in habited by the people on these islands. In fact, while some members of the expedition longed to stay on the islands, some did just that and were not heard from until years later!

What’s curious to me is that we see here the first chip into the European metanarrative. Until they arrived on the shores of these blissful islands, the explorers thought their world to be superior and their story to be adequate. Suddenly, they were in the midst of people with different stories and a different world. For years there would be a struggle to see who has the superior and/or true take on reality, but over time there has been a relaxing of the two sides and a new concept is introduced to Enlightenment philosophy: diversity.

Borders Reading List

As of my last visit to Borders I noticed that Eugene Peterson has released the latest in his series on spiritual theology, Eat This Book. It follows up on Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places and is an important exploration of how we read the Bible in a way that we can live it. I read the introduction and was hooked, though I have to admit that I find Peterson’s style of writing a bit hard to follow at times. He is very poetic and seems to take the long way in making his points. Regardless, I look forward to "snacking" on his latest offering.

From Publishers Weekly
Peterson is a retired pastor and
popular author best known for The Message, a paraphrasing of the Bible
into modern idiom. In this slender book, he invites Christian readers
to encounter the Bible anew. Drawing on language in Ezekiel and
Revelation, Peterson says that we ought not read the Bible the same way
we read a cookbook, a textbook, or even a great novel. Rather,
Christians are to absorb, imbibe, feed on and digest Scripture.
Peterson recommends a type of Bible-based prayer called lectio divina,
in which the person praying meditates on a short passage of Scripture
and listens for God to speak through the text. Peterson’s exposition of
lectio divina is one of the fullest to appear in recent years.
Throughout, he cautions that lectio is not a systematic way of reading,
but a "developed habit of living the text in Jesus’ name." The last
chapter, in which Peterson ruminates on his own experience translating
the Bible, will be fascinating to Peterson’s devotees, but is more
myopic than the rest of the book. However, this is a worthy sequel to
Peterson’s 2004 hit Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places.

Popular Postmodernism

I will not hide from the fact that some people are very vocal about the passing of philosophical postmodernism, some advocate a post-postmodernism, and some think it has yet to completely manifest itself.  Yet, wherever you fall on this issue, if you even care, there is still plenty of room for consensus on the effects of postmodernism on our popular culture.

What I mean is that society in a day-to-day sense embodies the values and features of postmodernism, even if the academy has moved on and hasn’t even arrived. I’m wondering what features comprise "popular postmodernism," and help us grasp the nature of our world and how we can communicate and live most effectively within it.

Postmodern  summary: The philosophical postmodern movement has put into words what lies behind the popular culture setting.

• Global  perspective, not as localized. TV and internet connect us with the world
       instantly. We can find out immediately what people in the Middle East think of US
       policy.
• Interaction is valued. Blogs, voting on TV shows, etc. Multiple perspectives and
       complexity are good signs. Even popular TV shows focus more on team work than on the star detective.
• Education  moving from lecture to discussion. Sermons may need to be modified in
       order to speak relevantly in certain settings.
• Multi-tasking in the work place and even at home.
• Technology  has created the hyper-real.
• Visual and image- based culture. Though print has its place, we often rely on picture
       galleries to tell us the news also.

This is not an exhaustive list. What am I missing here?

Technorati Tags: postmodernism, emerging church

Cooper Opts in To Heretics Guide

Jordon has posted on Spencer Burke’s new book: A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity. It’s kind of funny to see Spencer writing books. He’s incredibly bright and innovative, always looking ahead to what God has in store for the future. It would seem that books are too constraining for him, not enabling him to play with ideas, modify them, present them again, and then mold them yet again in light of the latest discussions.

I say all this not to discredit the book. I think that Spencer’s ideas here are very important. My thought is that Spencer is an easy guy to misunderstand. He doesn’t just present his ideas and leave them there. He is always tinkering, molding, and doing complete overhauls. He’s too creative to be satisfied with today’s design. His focus is on tommorrow. So if you should pick up a copy of his book, and I sincerely hope you will, read it with this in mind: books do not represent people well, and they especially do not represent the large heart and insightful mind of Spencer.

I have been lucky enough to hang with Spencer at some ETREK classes. In the fall of 2004 I participated in a discussion about this very topic of eternity. He basically asked if it’s possible that God’s Kingdom is a matter of opting out instead of opting in. In other words, we all start in, but then choose to leave. Entering the Kingdom is a matter of restoring our place  with God. But Spencer doesn’t stop there. I quote from Jordon’s blog post:

"Not
some abstract theological matter, the question of who gets saved and
how has preoccupied Christians of every stripe for centuries, beginning
with the earliest apostles. Will God damn us to hell? What is hell?
What about God’s universal love? Is it really universal–or is it
limited? Is there only one way to be saved? In A Heretic’s Guide to
Eternity, Spencer Burke wrestles with all these questions and comes up
with some surprising answers, answers that are heretical but grounded
in sound theological thinking."

You should have seen the reaction of the Presbyterian fellows in our class when he let this stuff fly.  It smells of universalism, but Spencer is too smart to fall for that trap. He’s wrestling with issues he encounters on the street every day. He may be wrong, but he’s not too worried about that. He has bigger things on his agenda.

Recommended Reading

Steve McKoy has a list of recommended books from Tim Keller’s (Redeemer’s) church planting organization, The Movement: Global City Church Planting. 

McKoy has compiled the books into a list that is very useful:
Winter 2006: Missional Church
Fall 2005: Urban Anthropology
Summer 2005: Global Cities
December 2004: Evangelism
October 2004: Spiritual Life of a Church Planter
August 2004: Urban Theology
June 2004: Multi-Cultural Church Planting
April 2004: Effective Churches for Postmodern America

This is a tremendous resource for church planters who have a missions-minded perspective for ministry and church planting. Thanks Steve!

Technorati Tags: church planting, mission

Article by Alan Roxburgh

Emerging/Missional church leader Alan Roxburgh has published an article dealing with the movement of society and hence the church away from structure. (via) Here’s a little snippet:

"The shift over the last 20 years has been from structure to anti-structure.

Put it in different terms, there has been a rapidly growing conviction
that the individual does not need the structures and institutions of
modernity to legitimize one’s self. The reasons for this are complex,
but sources of the shift are the emergence of the technological and the
information age. These dual movements of late modernity have required
an increasingly educated population in which growing numbers recognize
they don’t need to be committed to structures and institutions in order
to thrive. "

Read the whole article.

Remembering Stan Grenz

I’m probably a few days off, but about a year ago from today, theologian Stan Grenz quietly passed away and joined his Lord. Grenz was very influential on many young theologians (and older ones too!) who were trying to make sense of theology in a postmodern context. He put into words what many of us felt. He provided categories, the very building blocks we have been using to form theology in today’s context.

The Princeton Theology Review has been accepting papers over the past few months related to Stan Grenz and his influence on the world of theology. I submitted my own paper yesterday. I’m not worrying about it being accepted. It was fun to write it. There may be a large number of excellent papers accepted by those with more experience who can pay Stan a better tribute than I. And so I’ll just cross my fingers and be thankful for either outcome.

As a little teaser, I thought that Iwould share my introduction paragraph to give an idea of where I took this paper. I’ll try to post a link to the issue with these papers when it is released. It should be a great read. Here’s a peek at my article:

Among the many mourners of Stanley Grenz’s
passing was a large, faceless group who rarely, if ever appeared in the news
headlines. Most did not attend the funeral, take a class with him, or even meet
him. Their names, if you can find them, are not recognizable to many in the
theological community and carry little authoritative weight when cited. And yet this faceless group that operates
under the radar was profoundly impacted by the work of Stanley Grenz and
carries on his legacy in a subtle, yet very real manner. This group is the
online community of Christian bloggers.