News Post: Bible Study/Church Plant in NW Washington State

Allow us to take one post to plug a Reformation Bible Study Southwest of Seattle and Northwest of Tacoma, WA.  There is a group of Christians meeting together for a Reformed/Presbyterian Bible study (possible church plant) in Gig Harbor, WA.  The blog is here: gigharborreformed.wordpress.com.  If you’re from the area or know someone from the area, be sure to tell them about this, especially those interested in learning more about the doctrines of grace: Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, and Soli Deo Gloria.

Back to the regular programing in our next post.

shane lems

sunnyside wa

Interesting Book by David Carr on Orality and Textuality

I just finished working through David Carr’s fairly new book, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature (Oxford, 2008).  What an interesting and amazing study!  I’m struck by how frequently we take for granted what the textualization of thoughts and/or oral traditions really entails and what kind of mindset textualization requires or goals textualization presupposes.  Carr notes that writing in antiquity wasn’t simply about solidifying data into a physical product, but was rather about acculturation.  By writing down books, teachers were providing an aid for students to use as they internalized the traditions contained in the text in order to be shaped by those texts.  Thus the text of a book (be it biblical or otherwise) is handed down in order to shape the reader and enable them to preserve the traditions of the community by becoming versed in the textual standards of that culture (whether Hebrew, Hellenistic, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, etc.).

While one may not be convinced by Carr’s lodging of the Bible’s textualization late into the Hellenistic period, the methodological points he raises about what writing the Bible actually entails are something to which biblical scholars must begin to pay better attention.  What is more, Carr does a great job of showing just how profound it is that a text is meant to be internalized – written on the heart – so that the values and culture of a given community might be better propagated and carried on by future generations.  I’ll try to interact with the book more by posting some quotes but for now I’ll limit myself to heartily recommending this book to any and all interested in the formation of biblical literature and the history of its use in the communities that received it.

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Andrew

A Beneficial Dialogue Between Two Excellent Scholars

Peter Enns has just posted the .pdf’s of a dialogue between himself and Bruce Waltke in the Spring 2009 issue of the Westminster Theological Journal.  This has been the most enjoyable exchange I’ve read to date regarding Inspiration and Incarnation.  It will no doubt lead to more thoughtful and intelligent comments than we’ve usually seen from both supporters and opponents of Enns’ writing.  Would that the professionalism and candor of the discussion be a model for us all as new approaches to interpreting scripture are explored, debated and discussed!

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Andrew

What is the Septuagint?

Since we just mentioned Everett Ferguson’s new book on baptism in the early church (the first 5 centuries), it may be helpful to mention his other work on the early historical context of the church: Backgrounds of Early Christianity. This is an awesome resource for NT studies – a 650 page treasure full of great info on the Roman, Greek, Christian, and Jewish government, society, religions, and traditions.  In the second section, Ferguson talks about (among tons of other things Jewish) Jewish literature, including the Septuagint.  Here’s a summary of his discussion of it.

The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the OT Hebrew.  The name Septuagint is Latin for “seventy;” hence the abbreviation of the roman numeral 70: LXX.   Ferguson talks about the legend that 70 (or 72) Jewish scholars translated the OT into Greek, resulting in the LXX.  However, he notes, there are some reasonable arguments against this legend.  Ferguson also discusses the different editions and recensions of the LXX, which the early Christian church used.  In fact, it was used so much, that “the number of manuscripts of the Septuagint, complete and fragmentary, reaches nearly 2,000, a total greater than for any other Greek work except the New Testament” (p. 434).

There are differences between the LXX and the Hebrew OT for the same reasons that there are differences between the NIV or ESV and the Hebrew OT, for example.  Some translation requires interpretation, some translation is a result of the socio-political concerns of the translators, some translation is nearly impossible because of the difficulty of the Hebrew.  Also, different translators of the LXX had different techniques of translation – literal, moderately literal, and also free rendition.  In other words, the LXX was translated by real people – brilliant scholars – but real people who were working in the context of their culture, scholarship, and personalities, which is why the LXX looks like it does.  It is a brilliant translation, but is not without its flaws and blemishes.

Here’s Ferguson’s take on the importance of the LXX (he advises that NT students get one!).

“The putting of Hebrew religious ideas into the Greek language was an important transitional step that prepared the way for Christian preaching.  Moreover, most of the NT citations of the OT follow the Septuagint.  The Bible of the early church, except for some Jewish believers and a few scholars, was the Greek OT.  The Septuagint was the most important literary event, perhaps the most important single development of any kind in the Hellenistic period, for the background of early Christianity” (p. 436).

For a great and in-depth study of the LXX, you need to get Invitation to the Septuagint by Karen Jobes and Moises Silva.  Enjoy!

shane lems

sunnyside wa

The Heart of Conflict

In The Peacemaking Pastor, Alfred Poirier gives pastors and church leaders a great resource for dealing with conflict in a church.  While Sande’s book The Peacemaker is aimed at personal conflict, Poirier’s is more for the pastor/elder to read as a guide for handling conflict when it arises (it is a great resource for training elders and deacons as well – we’ve used it in the church I pastor).  The two books overlap somewhat, but not too much to make one superfluous or unneeded.

Poirier gives the reader a great biblical and theological basis for all sorts of arbitration and reconciliation situations that come up in the church.  He repeatedly reminds the reader of the gospel of free grace, God’s amazing forgiveness, and how the church lives in light of this grace.  The following quote is one example of how Poirier talks theologically about the source of conflict in the church.

“We typically answer the why of conflict with a who.  ‘Why is there a conflict?’, we ask.  And immediately we point to a who – our children, our spouse, or another brother or sister in Christ.  We blame our boss, our pastor, or our colleague at work.”

“But James (4.1) says conflict starts not with him nor with her, but with us – me.  My desires cause conflict.  And my desires can break a marriage.  They are set over and against my wife’s desires, so I wage war with her to get what I want.  The source of conflict, then, is not something I lack or need but rather something I want – my desires.  We are not empty cups needing to be filled.  We are cups overflowing with pride, ambition, conceit, and selfish desires.  In the same way, our hearts are not empty and passive, but full and active, brimming over and spilling out.  In brief, conflicts erupt in our homes and in our marriages [and in our churches] because there are [sinful] desires in our hearts” (p. 51-2).

In other words, one of the first things to do when a conflict or possible conflict arises is get the log out (Matt 7.5).  We are so quick to blame others and justify ourselves that we cannot even see that many times we start the conflict because of our selfishness and pride.   As Poirier goes on to note, many times these sinful desires in our heart distort our perception of what is going on (p. 57).    Amen.  If we consider our own sinfulness before God’s perfect law, we would more quickly forgive others when they sin against us because we realize what deep gospel forgiveness really means: 70 times 7!  By God’s grace, this results in an atmosphere of peace and unity in a church.  Those who know they have sinned much will not only be forgiven much, but will forgive others much (Col. 3.13).

shane lems

sunnyside wa