Tyndale Bulletin Online (Free!)

One of you (our “blog friends”) may have pointed this link out to us awhile back (sorry if it is old news!); we just want to pass it along for our readers as well.  Tyndale House has made their Tyndale Bulletin available online for free.  Go here to read and download articles from 1956-2007.  Scholars/authors include Kevin Vanhoozer, J. A. Motyer, F.F. Bruce, F.D. Kidner,  K.A. Kitchen, D.J.A. Clines, R.T. France, Henri Blocher, Joyce Baldwin, Richard Bauckham, Richard Hess, and more.  Enjoy – and thanks to Tyndale for this great resource!

the management

The Bible and Foundationalism

Foundationalism is a philosophical term for describing how the modern Western world theorizes/ed.  Basically, it means that we form a body of theories from which all bias, falsities, and prejudice has been eliminated, and this forms the foundation of certitude from which we can think.  In Wolterstorff’s terms, “the foundationalist sees the house of genuine science as firmly based on a foundation of certitudes which can be known non-inferentially.”  That is, the foundation upon which we build our knowledge is a foundation that is solid because it is built on certainty.  A scientist believes x theory because x theory is justified by his foundational propositions.  Of course there are different sorts of foundationalistm – soft, hard, etc. – but this has been the dominate way of theorizing in the Western world.

Wolterstorff and others have questioned the legitimacy of foundationalism.  He uses the example of a desk that is brown.  It is not brown to everyone – say the colorblind or those under the influence.  Also, what if the desk comes under a different sort of light that makes it blue?   “Perception does not yield a rock-firm base for our theories.”    Wolterstorff goes on to say that better than certainty for foundational truths is probability.  We can believe that this desk is brown without knowing all the laws that would make the desk seem to be blue.  We can have true knowledge without a body of indubitable foundations, but Wolterstorff says theorizing will have to be nonfoundationalist theorizing.

Can the Bible Save foundationalism?  Wolterstorff says no.  “The Bible…does not provide us with a foundation for theorizing.  Reading and interpreting the Bible is not a procedure for arriving at propositions knowable non-inferentially and indubitably to be true.”  One example he gives: “neither Bohr’s theory of the atom nor its denial can be derived from the Scriptures.”  It may sound pretty radical, but Wolterstorff is simply saying, “Our reading and interpreting of Scripture does not provide us with a body of indubitably known propositions by reference to which we can govern all our acceptance and nonacceptance of theories.”  I think this is a good path to trod in light of postmodernity.  There is a Christian way besides foundationalism that is not equal to postmodernity.

If this kind of thing interests you, I highly recommend Christianity and the Postmodern Turn, which Myron Penner edited.  It is a collection of essays that presents six views on modernity, postmodernity, foundationalism, and non-foundationalism.  I appreciate Vanhoozer’s chapters in it, along with his Drama of Doctrine and Is There a Meaning in This Text? which also interact with foundationalism in a way similar to Wolterstorff.  You may also like the work Vanhoozer edited, The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology.

Above quotes taken from Wolterstorff’s Reason within the Bounds of Religion (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1976).

shane lems

sunnyside wa

For Your Christian Imagination

I enjoy C.S. Lewis, but have read only about 40% of the stuff he’s written.  I do remember him and others like him emphasizing the importance of reading and the imagination in the Christian life.  Actually, I either read somewhere or heard someone say that all preachers should either read the Narnia series or the Lord of the Rings as a way to hone preaching skills.  I agree, and would add that the hearers of sermons can benefit from these books as well to hone the art of listening!  This post is about such a book: one that will massage your right brain by way of imagery, allegory, and word-picture.

The Wordsmith, the Kid, and the Electrolux (Waterford: Capstone Fiction, 2008) by Cliff Leigh is a dance through a new world where things first don’t make sense, then they finally start making sense by words and pictures.  The book is about a young boy (around 10-13 years old give or take) who gets stuck in the “kingdom of his own happiness:” his desires trap him in a downward spiral of folly (p. 3).  Leigh gives us a great window into the mind of this boy (Corian Griffin).  For example, when Corian would steal to fill his desires, “a faint tingling…began to grow just beneath the surface” of his clothing.  He “shifted his body and flexed his muscles to alleviate the sensation but to no avail” (p. 28).  Basically, this is his conscience bothering him; though he wouldn’t call it that, he would call it a terribly uncomfortable sensation.

I don’t want to ruin the story, but Corian travels through a world where he meets all kinds of fascinating characters: army guys, other children with fascinating personalities, adults with odd traits, a life-or-death type of children’s game, a journey, and all sorts of other things which teach Corian about himself and about reality.  Here’s a little “sample.”  After a battle-that-wasn’t-really-a-battle in this new world, “the cheering of the silver city thundered like the ocean, harmonized by the gasp and epithets of the city of copper at the sight of their fallen hero.  The vast sea of humanity rolled and splashed with excitement and misery.  And now, as in the story of the boy who slew the giant, I expected the silver city to attack the coppers, but instead, the strangest thing occurred next (p. 52).”  You’ll have to read it to see what strange thing did happen.

To conclude, the book is a sort of allegory that highlights the main themes of Scripture.  Some allegories sort of jam the Bible into the reader, but this one is not that way.  The biblical references, for the most part, are neither forced nor brought to the front to make the story “cheesy” (for lack of better terms).  In the end, it does come together pretty clearly and an average reader won’t miss the biblical allusions.  (Side note: for you apologists out there in the presuppositionalist camp – you’ll especially enjoy the last part of the story).

There are a few illustrations throughout; they are spectacular.  It is clear that Leigh is an artist through and through.  The few illustrations in the book make the reader wish for a whole lot more.  I was longing for pictures of some things that Leigh took great pains to write about, though perhaps that would have taken away from the great word-pictures.  Either way, the illustrations are great and you’ll really want to see more.  One more thing: the book isn’t really for younger kids.  The content is kid friendly for the most part, but the writing style is at the level of high school and above.  This is not a critique, but an observation (in case you were wondering).

Anyway, long story short: if you like Lewis and Tolkien, you’ll enjoy this.

Cliff Leigh The Wordsmith, the Kid, and the Electrolux (Waterford: Capstone Fiction), 2008.

shane lems

sunnyside wa

The Green Bible

  Yep, you’re right, nothing should suprise us anymore: there is now a Green Bible. 

From their website:
The Green Bible is the definitive movement Bible that shows that God is green and how we can care for and protect God’s creation.

Features:

• Green-Letter Edition: Verses and passages that speak to God’s care for creation highlighted in green
• Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• Essays by Brian McLaren, Cal DeWitt, Barbara Brown Taylor, Pope John Paul II, Ellen Davis, N. T. Wright, Ellen Bernstein, Matthew Sleeth, James Jones, and Gordon Aeschliman
• Inspirational quotes from Christian teachings throughout the ages
• A green Bible topical index
• A personal green Bible trail study guide
• An appendix with information on further reading, how to get involved, and practical steps to take
• Recycled paper, using soy-based ink with a cotton/linen cover

—–

I wonder what color verses like Psalm 77.18, Psalm 97.4-5, 105.25-27,  Isaiah 24.20, 2 Peter 3.10-13, Revelation 8.7, etc., are written in? 

shane lems

sunnyside wa

Willimon On Barth

Here’s a unique and wonderfully interesting mix: Willimon writing a homiletics book with a purposeful Barthian bent.  If you’re a preacher, you’ll love this book but also probably hate it.  One page you’ll be underlining or highlighting whole paragraphs, the next you’ll probably write question marks beside every line.

Let me just throw out a few quotes.

“Barth cautioned that the Bible has little interest in most of the questions that people bring to their study of the Bible.  People have been conditioned to think that it is their task to approach the Bible with the pressing questions of the day, there seeking moral guidance.  Scripture, however, has the much greater calling of announcing the new world of God’s reign.  In various ways, and in many voices, scripture is about God’s glory and sovereignty.  The Bible is not about how we might climb up to God, Barth explained; scripture is always about how God has miraculously, triumphantly descended to us.  [Writing against Schleiermacher, Barth said] ‘And our fathers were right when they guarded warily against being drawn out upon the shaky scaffolding of religious self-expression.’”

“‘The church comes into being because God’s word is spoken.  The church does not constitute the Word but is constituted by the Word.’  Hence, her subservience to the Word, and the Word alone, gives the church a marvelous freedom from all earthly sources of revelation, including Adolf Hitler.  For our purposes let us note that Barth’s chief opposition to Hitler, and Barth’s main motivation in writing, was his insistence that the church must be free to preach what the church is told by God to preach.  Barth’s objections to the Nazis were first of all a matter of homiletics.”

Here’s Willimon doing a bit of a side bar on story/history: Barth criticized Strauss (reconstructing the life of the ‘real’ Jesus): Strauss “gave us a Jesus reduced in stature and hammered into shape, perhaps, a Jesus who is perhaps a trifle groomed, domesticated, and made practicable when compared with all the strange things which are said of him in the texts. …Though some of the Jesus Seminar think of themselves as ‘progressive Christians,’ they are really reactionary in their rendition of the new California, upper-middle-class accommodationist Jesus.”

I’ll probably return to this book from time to time here on our blog, but for now let me just say that though I certainly disagree with some major aspects of Barth’s theology, I deeply appreciate this and other similar books.  Read it!

Quotes taken from William Willimon, Conversations with Barth on Preaching (Nashville: Abingdon, 2006), 15, 21, and 37.

shane lems

sunnyside wa

New Beale! Update: Two new ones by Beale

G. K. Beale’s new one is coming out next month!  Can’t wait!

From the IVP website: “Employing Isaiah 6 as his interpretive lens, Beale demonstrates that this understanding of idolatry permeates the whole canon, from Genesis to Revelation. Beale concludes with an application of the biblical notion of idolatry to the challenges of contemporary life.”

Here’s what Waltke wrote about it (click the pic for more reviews):

“We Become What We Worship is biblical theology at its best, weaving together Old and New Testament texts into a unified message. Beale’s work is original yet traditional, profound yet simple, exegetical yet ‘hyperexegetical,’ sometimes provocative yet always profitable, for the scholar yet for every serious Christian. His message that we resemble what we revere, either for ruin or for restoration, is convincing and convicting.”

—Bruce Waltke, professor of Old Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary

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Also, be sure to check this one out (Update):

From the website: “Due to recent popular challenges to evangelical doctrine, biblical inerrancy is a topic receiving an increasing amount of attention among theologians and other scholars. Here G. K. Beale attempts vigorously and even-handedly to examine the writings of one leading postmodernist, Peter Enns, whose writings challenge biblical authority. In support of inerrancy, Beale presents his own set of challenges to the postmodern suppositions of Enns and others.”

Enjoy!

shane lems

sunnyside wa

Who Needs Seminary?

I understand that books like these are attempting to help the average Christian, but the titles just have to be changed.

The worst part is that most of these books are under under 70 pages.  Two hours, 64 pages, a Coke and - bang - you understand biblical prophecy.  Those hours of seminary lectures, reading and re-reading of Beale, Ridderbos, Carson, Owen, Moo, etc. are superfluous.  Can you imagine what the Puritans would say to these titles?

shane lems

sunnyside wa

Preachers & Teachers: Do Not Master the Text

Hopefully that title gets some attention! What I mean by it is that we preachers and Bible teachers should never have the idea or give the impression that we’ve mastered the text we are studying/preaching. We should never act as if we’ve completely exhausted the meaning out of the text, as if it is an orange for juice.

Barth can say it better: “We should not try to master the text. The Bible will become more and more mysterious to real exegetes. They will see all the depths and distances. They will constantly run up against the mystery before which theology is like trying to drain the ocean with a spoon. The true exegete will face the text like an astonished child in a wonderful garden, not like an advocate of God who has seen all his files” (Homiletics, p.128).

Luther says it better still: “We should allow Scripture to rule and master us, and we ourselves should not be the masters, according to our mad heads, setting ourselves above Scripture.”

This “astonished child mastered by Scripture” should be a homiletic attitude and shape our pulpit/lectern presence! The preacher/teacher is standing under Scripture, even in the pulpit.

shane lems

sunnyside, wa

Storm Imagery in the Bible

 

In The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, the authors do a fine job of summarizing the storm imagery in the OT and NT.  Here is just a summary of a summary — you’ll have to pick up the dictionary to read the details.  It is well worth it!

“Storms provide many varied biblical images….  The storm is a danger and a necessity.  It gives life through its water but death through its violence…it is both a tool of judgment in the hand of God and an evil threat to God’s people, an agent of chaos against God’s ordered world.”

The storm in Scripture sometime represents pagan deities, sometimes God’s attendant, sometimes God’s agent of judgment, sometimes God’s enemy, sometimes suffering, sometimes uncreation, and sometimes it is the means of polemicism against the Canaanite Baal myth.  Sometimes it is even a picture of redemptive-judgment — salvation for some, condemnation for others.

The above is taken from pages 817-819 of Dictionary of Biblical Imagery ed. Leland Ryken, James Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998).  For more details on the storm theme, see also Paul J. Achtemeier, “Person and Deed: Jesus and the Storm-Tossed Sea” Interpretation 16 (1962), 169-176.

shane

sunnyside wa