Archive for 2009
Christianity, Church, Church History, Church Year, Eastern Orthodoxy, Ministry, Religion, Theology
In Uncategorized on December 9, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I love Advent and Christmas! It’s the one time of the year when Christians remember the importance of liturgy, symbolism, ceremonies, feasting, sharing with the poor, and aesthetics in the home. I suppose dour Puritans just sit through the season, frowning at all the joviality, but for the rest of us, it’s a reminder of what really matters. Deep down, we know that high and important holidays call for a high liturgy. I dare say even the most contemporary, seeker-sensitive church does something different in their worship service to mark this time of year. And even though we loath the self-centered commercialism of it all, deep down we know that birth of a King should be honored with ceremonies, feasting, and decorations, and gift-giving. We know this at weddings, we know this at Christmas and Easter, but we forget it for the rest of the year.
As Douglas Wilson says about much of American worship these days: ”The problem with contemporary worship music is not the kind of music it is, but rather the kind of occasion everyone seems to think the service is,” (Mother Kirk, pg. 130). We realize that Christmas and Easter are really holy-days, and so we treat them differently. But, the rest of the year, Sunday is just a time when we come to church to be entertained, to socialize, to hear an inspiring sermon, and get our spiritual “fix” for the week.
Now, to the main point. Caleb Roberts (check out the promising new blog he contributes to) asks: “I am fortunate enough to attend a PCA church that embraces the use of the colors but doesn’t seem to draw them in and establish them in the life and heartbeat, if you will, of the church. I am still learning, but is there not some significance to the assignment of various colors to the different periods of the Church Year? If so, what was the historical way in which the colors were woven into the fabric of the liturgy?”
For starters, The Voice has a good summary of how liturgical colors are used (both in the past, and currently). And this is a good place to make my main point–there is no fixed pattern for liturgical color use. There are general patterns, which have become standardized over time (just as there is no one liturgy that Christians have always followed, but there are liturgical patterns that have become standardized over time). We should be wary of adopting any color scheme, thinking that we are somehow returning to the practice of the ancient and universal church. It just ain’t so. This is, however, a useful area to explore, because it forces us to consider some deeper questions.
Read the rest of this entry »
Books, Christianity, Church, Ministry, Missions, Modern Culture, Pastoral Ministry, Religion, Theology
In Books, Missions on December 4, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a convicting book. Having recently returned from a trip to India, I’ve seen the immense poverty and hardship in that country. A huge percentage of the world’s population lives far below the standards we enjoy in the U.S. Yohannan is director of Gospel for Asia, and their primary goal is to support native missionaries in Asia. For many reasons, natives can minister more effectively than Westerners in most Asian countries. God is doing an amazing work in the Third World. The Church is exploding in growth! What is humbling is how much native missionaries do with so little. If we had to live in their circumstances, we would quickly crumble and start questioning the goodness of God. They are an incredible testimony to us, and should motivate us to get off our fat American rear-ends and throw ourselves into supporting their work!
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Books, Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy
In Books, Liturgy on December 1, 2009 at 8:34 pm
The Eucharist Sacrament of the Kingdom: Sacrament of the Kingdom by Alexander Schmemann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Although Alexander Schmemann did not live to polish this last of his works, it is still a major contribution to liturgical theology. Schmemann writes with his usual piety, knowledge, and practical insight. The work is devotional and pastoral, rather than academic and polemical. Schmemann points out many areas in which Eastern Orthodox practice has fallen away from its own rich history and legacy. He is not afraid to criticize his own tradition, and I admire him for that. At the same time, I believe we Western Protestants have much to learn from Orthodoxy. Many of the theological “problems” that we obsess over simply aren’t that big a deal for Orthodoxy. They have refreshing, and complementary, perspectives on liturgy, the eucharist, and even the meaning of salvation.
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Books
In Books on November 24, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Christianity, Church, Ministry, Missions, Reformed, Religion, Theology
In Ministry, Missions on November 8, 2009 at 3:09 pm
From the chairman of the Slavic Reformation Society:
“Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ! As chairman of the Board of the Slavic Reformation Society, I wanted to give you a year-end update on our ministry in Russia. In September, ten pastors from Russia, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan attended our pastors’ training session in St. Petersburg. Another six ministers applied for this two-week intensive course but for one of the first times we had to turn qualified men away because we were unable to pay their travel/living expenses.
Currently, we have 18 pastors applying for our March 2010 session! This as an encouraging endorsement of our teaching and mentoring. The American professor who taught in September reported that these men were the most mature men he had witnessed in his fifteen years of ministry in Russia. The pastors we are mentoring represent more than 1,000 congregants, so your investment in the ministry multiplies 100 times. As you may know, Blake Purcell is in Texas this year and is visiting churches and supporters with a goal of raising our ongoing monthly support. But, we have a special need to raise $25,000 by the end of this year to meet our short term budget requirements.
This amount will cover our operating costs in St. Petersburg and meet our obligations to the Purcells. Additionally, it will provide the foundation to expand the March 2010 intensive course to include the 18 pastors desiring to attend. Help SRS see the Word of the Lord multiply and prevail in the Russian-speaking world by giving a special end-of-year gift of $100 to $1,000 or more.
You may mail your tax-deductible contributions to SRS PO Box 794 Louisville, MS 39339 or contribute via PayPal on our website.
If you have any questions or would like to have Blake share the ministry with your congregation, you may call him at 940.613.9611 or write blakepurcell2000@yahoo.com.
Yours in Christ, Mike Forster, Chairman Slavic Reformation Society
Christianity, Church, Counseling, Holiness, Ministry, Parenting, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Sex, Sin, Theology
In Ministry, Parenting, Practical Theology on November 6, 2009 at 12:54 am
Blogging, Ministry, Parenting, Practical Theology. Theology
In Ministry, Parenting, Practical Theology on November 4, 2009 at 2:36 pm
The last few paragraphs of this article by Carl Trueman summarize some of the reasons I don’t blog more (besides the sheer lack of time!). I find that the more time I put into real people (my wife, my children, my students, fellow church members), the less time I have to blog. That might just be my limitations, but read Trueman’s arguments for yourself …
Child Slavery, Christianity, Church, Crime, Culture, Homeschooling, Human Trafficking, Military, Ministry, Missions, Parenting, Pastoral Ministry, Politics, Pornography, Practical Theology. Theology, Reformed, Religion, Sex, Sin, Teaching, Theology
In Culture, Ministry on October 12, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Stop Child Trafficking Now! – Slavery still exists. Sexual exploitation of children is rampant throughout the world. Each year, thousands of enslaved and sexually exploited children are brought into the USA! Virtually no one in the US has been convicted of child trafficking in the last 10 years. Get involved–your salvation may depend on it (Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 20:11-13).
Books, Pastoral Ministry, Reformed, Theology
In Books, Ministry, Practical Theology on October 12, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Mother Kirk: Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology by Douglas Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I may be biased (since Wilson was my teacher at New St. Andrews College, as well as my pastor during those four years), but this was my second time through this book, and I still found it incredibly helpful.
Yes, all the theological insights were great, and the writing was typically witty and humorous. But, what was most striking was how Wilson addresses huge theological and Biblical topics with a consistently practical and pastoral approach. The sub-title says it well: “Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology.” This is not a book for armchair theologians. Wilson is controversial at times, but he is also writing to real problems in the modern, American evangelical church. Even if you don’t agree with him, he is a great debating partner! He will challenge you to defend (from the Bible!) your fundamental notions of God, His Word, and what His Church should be doing.
I can also say, because I have some background knowledge of the actual circumstances that led to the writing of some chapters, that Wilson is writing out his own pastoral experience. He has been able, by he grace of God, to lead a large congregation through many major changes in how they understand the Bible, how they worship, how they educate their children, and most importantly, how they live as Christians every day and every hour of the week.
Many things have been said about Douglas Wilson, and many are untrue, or only half-true. Jesus said something helpful: “By your fruits you shall know them.” God has grown some remarkable fruit through Wilson’s ministry. I think many people read him, and are offended by his biting wit and sarcasm. I read him differently because I hear his chuckle in between the lines, and I see the huge grin he would always have when he was saying the most unsettling things. I would encourage other readers to keep that image in mind!
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In Theology on October 6, 2009 at 11:28 am
In Books, History on September 29, 2009 at 12:54 am
Speaking of Socrates and Plato, Joseph Heller captures the delightful irony in the philosophies of the two intellectual giants and the complexity of Plato’s relationship and portrayal of Socrates:
“[Socrates] was a dedicated philosopher who had no philosophy, an educator without curriculum or system of education, a teacher without pupils; a professor who professed to know nothing; a sage with faith that a knowledge of virtue exists unborn inside each of us and might, perhaps, be brought to life through persevering search.
“He did not like books, which should have nettled Plato, who wrote so many.
“He had low regard for people who read them.
“He mistrusted books, he said in the Phaedrus, because they could neither ask nor answer questions and were apt to be swallowed whole. He said that readers of books read much and learned nothing, that they appeared full of knowledge, but for the most part were without it, and had the show of wisdom without its reality.
“He said this in a book.
“The book, though, is by Plato, who denounced dramatic representations as spurious because the writer put into the mouths of characters imitating real people whatever the author wished them to say.
“Plato said this in a dramatic representation, in which he put into the mouth of Socrates and other real people exactly those things Plato wanted them to say”
(Joseph Heller, Picture This, 94). This novel is fantastic! That is, if you like history … It takes a painting by Rembrandt of Aristotle contemplating a bust of Homer as its starting point, and then ranges over the vast fields of Greek, Dutch, and modern history, drawing an astonishing number of connections and parallels between the eras. It’s rough going, if you don’t know much history, but it’s well worth it!
Books, Modern Culture, Tom Wolfe
In Books, Culture on September 29, 2009 at 12:25 am
“In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, old people in America had prayed, ‘Please God, don’t let me look poor.’ In the year 2000, they prayed, ‘Please God, don’t let me look old.’ Sexiness was equated with youth, and youth ruled. The most widespread age-related disease was not senility but juvenility” (Tom Wolfe, Hooking Up, 9).
Speaking of the literary philosophy Deconstructionism, Wolfe waxes brilliant: “They began with the hyperdilation of a pronouncement of Nietzsche’s to the effect that there can be no absolute truth, merely many ‘truths,’ which are the tools of various groups, classes, or forces. From this, the deconstructionists proceeded to the doctrine that language is the most insidious tool of all. The philosopher’s duty was to deconstruct the language, expose its hidden agendas, and help save the victims of the American ‘Establishment’: women, the poor, nonwhites, homosexuals, and hardwood trees.
“Oddly, when deconstructionists required appendectomies or bypass surgery or even a root-canal job, they never deconstructed medical or dental ‘truth,’ but went along with whatever their board-certified, profit-oriented surgeons proclaimed was the last word,” (Tom Wolfe, Hooking Up, 13).
Apologetics, Atheism, Books, Christianity, Classical Education, Culture, Education, Modern Culture, Religion, Sin, Theology
In Apologetics, Books on September 26, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I just started reading H.L. Mencken’s In Defense of Women. For those who don’t know, Mencken was a terribly witty journalist in the early 20th century. He was witty, and he was terrible. He was enamoured of Nietzshe’s philosophy and hated Christianity. Oddly enough, he could praise a theological stalwart like J. Gresham Machen because Machen was a stalwart. Mencken hated hypocrisy, but he respected a man who could defend what he believed, even if Mencken could not accept that defense. All that to say–Mencken was a clever pagan and a talented wordsmith. We who would defend Christianity can, and should, learn a lesson or two from him.
In the Introduction, Mencken writes, “in the United States, alone among the great nations of history, there is a right way to think and a wrong way to think in everything–not only in theology, or politics, or economics, but in the most trivial matters of everyday life” (xix).
Mencken was writing in the 1930s, and so he is railing against “traditional morality,” but his words apply equally today–in the realm of political correctness and the holy dogmas of Tolerance. “For an American to question any of the articles of fundamental faith cherished by the majority is for him to run grave risks of social disaster” (xx). The difference now is which “articles of fundamental faith” the majority hold to. Back then it was the veneer of Christian morality–now it is the veneer of Toleration for every belief and moral practice … except for Intolerance and believing that one belief means that others are wrong!
And Mencken had no illusions about the redemptive value of democracy: “All such toyings with illicit ideas are construed as attentats against democracy, which, in a sense, perhaps they are. For democracy is grounded upon so childish a complex of fallacies that they must be protected by a rigid system of taboos, else even half-wits would argue it to pieces. Its first concern must thus be to penalize the free play of ideas” (xxi).
When was the last time we really had a debate in American politics, rather than slogan-tossing festival?
Mencken could sound like a Calvinist with no Cross and no Christ. That is, he understood human depravity, but did not have the hope of Resurrection: “In truth, I am very suspicious of all remedies for the major ills of life, and believe that most of them are incurable” (xxiv).
The book promises to entertain and infuriate. I’ll try to post his best observations here (mostly to help me study how he writes!).
Christianity, Church, Classical Education, Education, Ministry, Religion, Sin, Teaching, Theology
In Education, Ministry, Theology on September 23, 2009 at 11:55 am
Scot McKnight – “The Gospel for iGens” – “Sometimes I think we forget that no where in the pages of the New Testament do we find what many of us heard when we were gospeled: God loves us, we are sinners, God still loves us and sent his Son to die for our sins, and if we receive God’s plan we will spend eternity with him and be empowered by grace for a new life now. I believe every line in that gospel to be true, but no one said it quite that way in the New Testament.” (This article is very helpful for Christian teachers, as we struggle to communicate the gospel to the next generation.)
“Muslims Next Door” – An interview with Naeem Fazal
Books, Christianity, Church, Culture, New Testament, Religion, Theology
In Books, History, Theology on September 22, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth E. Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is amazing! Bailey lived for 60 years in the Middle East, and has literally lived through the Bible story. The book begins with a stunning study, which presents a convincing case that Jesus was actually born in a house (since many poor, Middle Eastern homes actually have mangers in the house!). I won’t give away the rest of his argument, but I did want to share another tid-bit that lept out at me.
Speaking of the Magi, and who they might have been, he writes: “In the 1920s a British scholar, E.F.F. Bishop, visited a Bedouin tribe in Jordan. This Muslim tribe bore the Arabic name al-Kokabani. The word kokab means “planet” and al-Kaokabani means “Those who study/follow the planets.” Bishop asked the elders of the tribe why they called themselves by such a name. They replied that it was because their ancestors followed the planets and traveled west to Palestine to show honor to the great prophet Jesus when he was born. This supports Justin’s [Justin Martyr - ca. 165 A.D.] second-century claim that the wise men were Arabs from Arabia,” (Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, 53).
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Children's Books, George MacDonald, Literature, Parenting
In Arts & Literature, Books, Ministry, Parenting on September 21, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I’m reading the The Princess & the Goblin to our boys in the evenings. It’s a bit over their heads, but it’s full of wonderful little theological insights:
The Princess’ Magical Grandmother (talking to the Princess when her friend Curdie can’t see the Magical Grandmother): “But in the meantime you must be content, I say, to be misunderstood for a while. We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be. But there is one thing much more necessary.”
Princess: “What is that, grandmother?”
Magical Grandmother: “To understand other people.”
Books, Christianity, Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Ministry, Religion, Theology
In Books, Catholicity, Theology on September 16, 2009 at 8:04 pm
The Eastern Orthodox concept of theosis is much maligned and mis-understood. I was startled to find no less an authority than Charles Spurgeon waxing eloquent on the topic, sounding like an Orthodox church father:
“Partakers of the divine nature.”—2 Peter 1:4.
“To be a partaker of the divine nature is not, of course, to become God. That cannot be. The essence of Deity is not to be participated in by the creature. Between the creature and the Creator there must ever be a gulf fixed in respect of essence; but as the first man Adam was made in the image of God, so we, by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, are in a yet diviner sense made in the image of the Most High, and are partakers of the divine nature. We are, by grace, made like God. “God is love”; we become love—”He that loveth is born of God.” God is truth; we become true, and we love that which is true: God is good, and He makes us good by His grace, so that we become the pure in heart who shall see God. Moreover, we become partakers of the divine nature in even a higher sense than this—in fact, in as lofty a sense as can be conceived, short of our being absolutely divine. Do we not become members of the body of the divine person of Christ? Yes, the same blood which flows in the head flows in the hand: and the same life which quickens Christ quickens His people, for “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Nay, as if this were not enough, we are married unto Christ. He hath betrothed us unto Himself in righteousness and in faithfulness, and he who is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Oh! marvellous mystery! we look into it, but who shall understand it? One with Jesus—so one with Him that the branch is not more one with the vine than we are a part of the Lord, our Saviour, and our Redeemer! While we rejoice in this, let us remember that those who are made partakers of the divine nature will manifest their high and holy relationship in their intercourse with others, and make it evident by their daily walk and conversation that they have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. O for more divine holiness of life!” (Charles Spurgeon, Morning By Morning)
A most apt way to describe what Orthodox Christians mean by theosis!
To learn more about what Orthodox Christians really believe about theosis, I would recommend Light from the Christian East (ch. 8), Eastern Orthodoxy Through Western Eyes (ch. 6), and Eastern Orthodoxy Christianity: A Western Perspective (ch. 6).
Books, Christianity, Church, Classics, Counseling, Holiness, Ministry, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Sin, Teaching, Theology
In Books, Ministry, Practical Theology, Theology on September 16, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Although John Owen’s treatise on The Mortificaiton of Sin can be tough going at times, it is a stirring call to battle our remaining lusts.
My favorite quote from today’s reading: “be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”
Books, Christianity, Church, Ministry, Old Testament, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Theology, Typology
In Books, Theology on September 15, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Through New Eyes by James B. Jordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my second time through this book. Every Christian should read it. We read the Biblical text with so many assumptions and preconceptions. Jordan helps us understand the deep symbolic flow of the Bible, showing how it all harmonizes into a glorious symphony! Symbols are not just literary decoration in the Bible–they are living metaphors that God has written into history and creation.
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Books, Christianity, Church, Church History, Eastern Orthodoxy, Religion, Theology
In Books, Catholicity, Sacraments, Theology on September 15, 2009 at 7:34 pm
The Eucharist and Ecumenism: Let us Keep the Feast by George Hunsinger
Hunsinger is amazing. Not only is he a top-knotch theologian who finds significant common ground between the Reformed, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodoxy, but he also manages to argue for women’s and gay ordination in a logical and level-headed way. I disagree stridently with him on women’s and gay ordination, but he is still a model for peaceful discussion. There is a time for calling down the wrath of God, but we must also demonstrate that we aren’t frothing-at-the-mouth fundamentalists.
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Christianity, Church, Classical Education, Culture, Education, Homeschooling, Ministry, Modern Culture, Parenting, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Teaching, Theology
In Culture, Education, Parenting on September 15, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Books, Christianity, Education, Homeschooling, Ministry, Old Testament, Religion, Theology
In Books, Education, Ministry, Parenting on August 26, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Paul House provides a succint summary of Deuteronomy’s priniciples for covenantal education. It is both inspiring, as well as humbling, as I consider my role as a teacher and a parent:
“Third, Yahweh commands the people to internalize the covenant and teach their children to do the same (6:6-9). Each new member of the holy community must be taught God’s ways. Faith does not occur automatically. It must be understood and owned (6:6), so each parent must teach his or her children, just as Moses has been teaching them. Instruction must be purposefule, even to the point of becoming public (6:9). The idea is to ‘impress, or inscribe’ truth on the heart, not simply to suggest it. Such careful teaching will help avoid forgetting Yahweh in prosperity (6:10-12), in new settings (6:13-19) or when new generations emerge, uncertain of what the old revelation means (6:20-25). Only scrupulous intergenerational teaching can keep exclusive love of Yahweh alive in a polytheistic culture” (Paul R. House, Old Testament Theology, 178).
In Uncategorized on August 17, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm with the Proslogion by Anselm of Canterbury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’m not sure how to process all the prayers to saints (deep devotion, but screams “idolatry” to my Protestant scruples), but a wonderful example of true theology, which should lead to prayer and meditation. Ironic (or is it?) that the theologian who gave us the doctrine of the substitutionay atonement should have prayed so fervently to Mary and John the Baptist? Thanks God that he uses confused people like us to figure out the truth over long periods of time! Should make us more humble about what we think we know so clearly …
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Books, Christianity, Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Theology
In Books, Catholicity, Church History, Liturgy, Theology, Uncategorized on August 17, 2009 at 7:58 pm
The Primacy of Peter: Essays in Ecclesiology and the Early Church by John Meyendorff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Although this book is a collection of essays by Eastern Orthodox writers, it is useful for Protestants who are rediscovering their family history, namely the history of the Church. The Orthodox churches have preserved many ancient traditions. We should seek to understand them, at the least, and not dismiss them out of hand. There is also much valuable information for countering the claims of Roman Catholics. The Orthodox claim to be “catholic,” but not Roman. There is a plethora of misinformation about Romanc Catholicism, and the authors in this volume write in an irenic and sympathetic tone. They sincerely desire unity among all Christians, and not mere platitudes about “catholicity.” For some, “catholicity” seems to mean that we can all just affirm the Apostle’s Creed, and then go our separate ways. This is not what “catholicity” meant to the Church Fathers, nor do I believe the Apostles would be pleased with our reductionism. Lastly, for those of us in the CREC, I believe this book contains gems of insight into the importance of the “local church,” and how the primacy of the local church relates to “catholicity.” Highly recommended for the stout of heart!
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Books, Charismatic, Christianity, Church, Holiness, Pentecostal, Religion, Theology
In Books, Theology on May 11, 2009 at 3:39 pm
The Speaking In Tongues Controversy by Rick Walston
rating: 3 of 5 stars
Walston’s book is a basic introduction to this issue, but I respect his detailed examination of the NT evidence, especially in Acts. Walston was a pastor in Assemblies of God churches for 20 years, and so has intimate knowledge of his subject. But, he was willing to change his view, based on where the Bible led him.
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My review
Apologetics, Books, Christianity, Church, Church History, Classical Education, Classics, Culture, Education, History, Holiness, Homeschooling, Modern Culture, Parenting, Politics, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Sin, Teaching, Theology, Typology
In Books on May 2, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Books, Christianity, Church, Holiness, Parenting, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Theology
In Books, Ministry, Parenting, Practical Theology, Theology on April 30, 2009 at 12:45 pm
The Fruit Of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson
Very helpful! I read this in college, but it went over my head. Now, after being married for a few years, it’s immensely more meaningful. We know the Wilsons personally, and Nancy practices what she preaches.
Architecture, Books, Christianity, Church, Church History, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion
In Arts & Literature, Books, Church History on April 20, 2009 at 12:02 am
Wonderful quote from Dorotheus of Gaza, a mystic from the 6th century. As she imagined, “ the world as a circle on the ground at whose center was God, she wrote, ‘Leading from the edge to the center are a number of lines, representing ways of life. In their desire to draw near to God, the saints advance along these lines to the middle of the circle, so that the further they go, the nearer they approach one another as well as God. The closer they come to God, the closer they come to one another” (Judith Dupre, Churches, 156).
(I just finished Churches for a study I’m doing for our local church. It’s a great coffee-table book. It’s huge, and you can get it cheaply on Amazon. You need huge pictures to get some sense of what the magnificent churches of Christendom look, and feel, like!)
Books, Christianity, Classical Education, Culture, Holiness, Parenting, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Teaching, Theology
In Books, Culture, Education, History, Ministry, Parenting, Practical Theology, Theology on April 15, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Two bits from my reading diet caught my eye:
“Nevertheless we still experience sin and death within us, wrestle with them and fight against them. You may tie a hog ever so well, but you cannot prevent it from grunting. Thus is is with the sins in our flesh,” (Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 1, 247).
“Precisely because the totality of the gift, the new being [the one justified by faith] knows that there is nothing to do to gain heaven. Thus the Christian is called to the tasks of daily life in this world, for the time being. Students, for instance, are sometimes very pious and idealistic about ‘doing something,’ and so get caught up in this or that movement ‘for good.’ It never seems to dawn on them that perhaps for the time being, at least, their calling is simply to be a good student! It is not particularly in acts of piety that we are sanctified, but in our call to live and act as Christians” (Gerald O. Forde, ”The Lutheran View” in Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification, ed. Donald L. Alexander, 31).
Books, Christianity, Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, History, Religion, Theology
In Books, Catholicity, Church History, Theology on April 13, 2009 at 5:13 pm
The Fathers quoted Scripture constantly. Bruce Metzger notes: “so extensive are these citations that if all other sources for our knowledge of the text of the New Testament were destroyed, they would be sufficient alone for the reconstruction of practically the entire New Testament.”
We might criticize some of the father for this or that doctrinal oddity, but we should respect their deep knowledge, and reverance for, the Scriptures.
Books, Christianity, Church, Holiness, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion
In Books, Practical Theology, Theology on April 13, 2009 at 11:40 am
Commenting on 1 Cor. 10:17, Martin Luther preached: “We eat the Lord by the faith of the Word which the soul consumes and enjoys. In this way my neighbor also eats me: I give him my goods, body and life and all that I have, and let him consume and use it in his want. Likewise, I also need my neighbor; I too am poor and afflicted, and suffer him to help and serve me in turn. Thus we are woven one into the other, helping one another even as Christ helped us. This is what it means spiritually to eat and drink one another” (Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 1, pg. 213.
Books, Christianity, Church, Holiness, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion, Theology
In Books, Practical Theology, Sacraments, Theology on April 10, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I love Luther. He’s so practical and pastoral! This is from a sermon entitled, “Confession and the Lord’s Supper”:
“But if you feel that you are unfit, weak and lacking in faith, where will you obtain strength but here [the Lord's Supper]? Do you mean to wait until you have grown pure and strong, then indeed you will never come and you will never obtain benefit from the holy communion” (207).
“It is our duty to let the benefit and fruit of the Lord’s Supper become manifest, and we ought to show that we have received it with profit … Now this is the fruit, that even as we have eaten and drunk the body and blood of Christ the Lord, we in turn permit ourselves to be eaten and drunk, and say the same words to our neighbor, Take, eat and drink; and this by no means in jest, but in all seriousness, meaning to offer yourself with all your life, even as Christ did with all that he had, in the sacramental words” (208).
“Therefore, when we have received the Lord’s Supper we must not allow ourselves to become indolent, but must be diligent and attentive to increase in love, aid our neighbor in distress, and lend him a helping hand when he suffers affliction and requires assitance. When you fail to do this you are not a Christian, or only a weak Christian, though you boast of having received the Lord and all that he is, in the Lord’s Supper” (210-11).
- all from The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 1
In Books, Catholicity, Church History, Theology on April 9, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Interesting theology of sleep (as a typology of death) – A Treatise on the Soul, chap. 43:
If you receive your instruction from God, (you will find) that the fountain of the human race, Adam, had a taste of drowsiness before having a draught of repose; slept before he laboured, or even before he ate, nay, even before he spoke; in order that men may see that sleep is a natural feature and function, and one which has actually precedence over all the natural faculties. From this primary instance also we are led to trace even then the image of death in sleep. For as Adam was a figure of Christ, Adam’s sleep shadowed out the death of Christ, who was to sleep a mortal slumber, that from the wound inflicted on His side might, in like manner (as Eve was formed), be typified the church, the true mother of the living. This is why sleep is so salutary, so rational, and is actually formed into the model of that death which is general and common to the race of man. God, indeed, has willed (and it may be said in passing that He has, generally, in His dispensations brought nothing to pass without such types and shadows) to set before us, in a manner more fully and completely than Plato’s example, by daily recurrence the outlines of man’s state, especially concerning the beginning and the termination thereof; thus stretching out the hand to help our faith more readily by types and parables, not in words only, but also in things. He accordingly sets before your view the human body stricken by the friendly power of slumber, prostrated by the kindly necessity of repose immoveable in position, just as it lay previous to life, and just as it will lie after life is past: there it lies as an attestation of its form when first moulded, and of its condition when at last buried-awaiting the soul in both stages, in the former previous to its bestowal, in the latter after its recent withdrawal. Meanwhile the soul is circumstanced in such a manner as to seem to be elsewhere active, learning to bear future absence by a dissembling of its presence for the moment. We shall soon know the case of Hermotimus. But yet it dreams in the interval. Whence then its dreams? The fact is, it cannot rest or be idle altogether, nor does it confine to the still hours of sleep the nature of its immortality. It proves itself to possess a constant motion; it travels over land and sea, it trades, it is excited, it labours, it plays, it grieves, it rejoices, it follows pursuits lawful and unlawful; it shows what very great power it has even without the body, how well equipped it is with members of its own, although betraying at the same time the need it has of impressing on some body its activity again. Accordingly, when the body shakes off its slumber, it asserts before your eye the resurrection of the dead by its own resumption of its natural functions. Such, therefore, must be both the natural reason and the reasonable nature of sleep. If you only regard it as the image of death, you initiate faith, you nourish hope, you learn both how to die and how to live, you learn watchfulness, even while you sleep (emphasis added).[1]
Books, Christianity, History
In Books, History on April 9, 2009 at 1:56 pm
“It was a fearful irony that the nuclear bombs released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by a Christian nation destroyed the largest concentrations of Christians in Japan” (Edward Norman, The House of God: Church Architecture, Style and History, 300).
Adoption, Books, Christianity, Church, Holiness, Homeschooling, Parenting, Practical Theology. Theology, Sin, Teaching, Theology
In Biblical Studies, Books, Education, Ministry, Parenting, Practical Theology, Theology on January 17, 2009 at 6:33 pm
The Orthodox Study Bible repeatedly emphasizes the theology of adoption in its explanatory notes. This is laudable, since Protestants generally neglect this important way to understand our own salvation.
We know several adoptees personally, and it is good to meditate on the fact that we are all adopted sons and daughters of the King. In this regard, the Study Bible’s notes to Luke 3:23-38 (the geneology of Joseph and of Jesus) are particuarly moving: “Jesus was born to bring all mankind into adoption by the Father, and thus He affirms that a lineage of adoption is as binding and receives the same inheritance as a lineage of blood (Gal 4:4-7).”
(A good essay on this is C.N. Wilborn, “Adoption: A Historical Perspective with Evangelical Implications” in Sanctification: Growing in Grace, eds. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. & J. Andrew Wortman, 2001. Wilborn quotes Robert Smith Candlish: “The more I think of it, the more I am disposed to regret that the subject of adoption, or sonship of believers, has been so little made account of in our Reformation theology. It seems to me to be the appropriate crown of Calvinism…”)
Books, Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Religion, Typology
In Books, Catholicity, Ministry, Theology on January 17, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I’m reading through the Orthodox Study Bible this year. Each year I’m trying to read through a different translation/study Bible. After a few years of reading the KJV, I read through the ESV last year. Now, it’s a year in Orthodoxy! Part of the reason is a research project I’ve been working on. The other reason is that the Orthodox consider the Septuatgint to be the inspired and authoritative version of the OT. So, since I teach Greek, I’m trying to become more familiar with the Septuagint.
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Christianity, Church, Classical Education, Education, Practical Theology. Theology, Religion
In Ministry, Parenting, Practical Theology, Theology on January 17, 2009 at 6:18 pm
“Endevor to be patient in bearing with the defects and infirmities of others, of whatever sort they be; for you have many failings yourself which must be borne with by others. If you cannot make yourself such a one as you wish, how can you expect to have someone else conform to your likings? We would willingly have others perfect, and yet we do not amend our own faults.” (Thomas á Kempis, Imitation of Christ, XVI, 2.)
