Flotsam and jetsam (5/15)

May 15, 2010 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

For your Saturday reading pleasure:


Writing tips

May 15, 2010 in Writing with 0 Comments

Jesus Creed posted a short list of writing tips from George Orwell that I thought you might find helpful. They’re pretty standard tips, but it’s always worth a quick reminder.

  • Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
  • Never use a long word where a short one will do.
  • If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
  • Never use the passive where you can use the active.
  • Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
  • Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

There’s a hole in your book

May 14, 2010 in Reviews with 2 Comments

I’ve been doing a fair amount of reading and thinking lately on the Gospel. That is partly because we have had an intense faculty discussion this year on what it means to be a seminary focused on Gospel-Centered Transformation. In the process, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect deeply on what I think the Gospel is and where I’m dissatisfied with many of the Gospel presentations that I hear. Along the way, I’ve also had the opportunity to read a number of books on the Gospel. So, I thought that now might be a good time to begin a series of reviews on books that are specifically about the Gospel.

I’m going to begin today with a review of Richard Stearns’ The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of us? The answer that changed my life and might just change the world (Thomas Nelson, 2009). Since the book comes with no less that twenty-seven endorsements from people as diverse as Madeleine Albright, Bono, and Eugene Peterson, apparently lots of people liked it. That must mean that I’m in the minority.

If you’re looking for a book that will lay out the full scope of the various humanitarian crises facing the world, as well as the inadequacy of the western church’s response, this book is well worth reading. As president of World Vision, U.S., Stearns is very aware of a wide range of global issues, and he presents these issues in vibrant color with lots of stories. So, on this level, the book is fascinating, engaging, and compelling.

But, the book is fundamentally lacking in at least three ways. The first comes from the book’s prominent claim to be about the Gospel. The central assertion of the book is that there is a hole in our Gospel—i.e. the Gospel as we usually hear it is incomplete. That in itself is not an unusual claim. Lots of people are saying that these days. But, Stearns completely fails to explain what he thinks the Gospel actually is. Lacking more than a cursory statement about the Gospel, we are left without any basis for evaluating his claim that our Gospel is missing something.

Second, when Stearns actually gets around to saying something about the Gospel, it’s often problematic. Take this statement for instance. Trying to explain “The Bible for Dummies,” Stearns claims that the basic message of the Bible is “Love God. Love your neighbor. That’s it” (p. 66). Really? If that’s the essence of the Gospel, we’re all in trouble. Because, of course, we can’t. That’s the whole point. Now, I’m sure Stearns fully recognizes that the Gospel probably should say something about Jesus, but he rarely doe so. Indeed, he says remarkably little in the book about Jesus beyond the example that he set for us in his kingdom preaching. To be fair, he is probably assuming that we know that part of the story and will simply make the connection ourselves. But, if you’re going to claim that this is a book about what’s lacking in other people’s Gospel messages, don’t make the problem worse by leaving a gaping hole in the middle of your own. Without a clear statement on the centrality of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ as providing the only adequate basis and framework for Christian life, the book flirts with becoming a moralistic treatise on the need for Christians to do more.

And, third, what could have been the best part of the book—an emphasis on the Kingdom as essential for understanding the Gospel—falls far short. Stearns sounds almost postmillennial in places:

“his was not intended to be a far-off and distant kingdom to be experienced only in the afterlife; no, Christ’s proclamation of the ‘kingdom of heaven’ was a call for a redeemed world order populated by redeemed people—now” (p. 16).

While I would strongly affirm that the Gospel is transformative and that this transformation involves the creation of a new Kingdom community (the Church) that stands as a witness to Kingdom realities and the coming realization of all God’s purposes, that is a far cry from saying that our task is to produce the Kingdom now through our own efforts.

Stearns is at his best when he’s arguing that a Gospel transformed life should be evidenced now. And he makes it very clear that there are crying needs in the world that need to be addressed by anyone claiming to live a Gospel-transformed life. Indeed, he seems to suggest that the “hole” he has in mind is a tendency to so other-worldly focused that we forget to live out the power of the Gospel in this world (p. 17). That’s fine and important. But, too often his argument becomes a mere call for action without a solid grounding in the Gospel realities that would make that action a meaningful response to the grace of the Gospel.

In short, there is a Gospel-shaped hole in the The Hole in Our Gospel.

Recent posts on preparing for PhD studies

May 14, 2010 in Th.M. Program with 0 Comments

There have been a few posts and discussions lately about advice on preparing for Ph.D. studies. We’ve already noted Allen Yeh’s advice on pursuing doctoral programs, and my comments. And, of course, just today Ben Johnson gave us his thoughts on what it’s like to transition from a Th.M. to a Ph.D. in the UK.  And, he noted a couple of other helpful posts by Ben Blackwell and Nijay Gupta.

Near Emmaus has posted a couple of other good sources of advice on this subject that I thought might interest you:

  • Daniel Kirk argues for the M.DIV as the best pre-Ph.D degree for seminarians here.
  • Kevin Chen, who has recently completed his Ph.D, describes several things he would have done different/things of which current seminarians need to be aware before doing a Ph.D here.

What’s it like to go from a ThM to a PhD in the UK?

May 14, 2010 in Th.M. Program with 2 Comments

(Ben Johnson is a former Th.M. student who is now studying with Walter Moberly at the University of Durham. I asked him to offer some perspective on what that transition was like. If there are others out there who have made similar transitions (particularly to US programs), we’d love to hear from you as well. And, I’m sure Ben would be happy to interact with us in the comments if you have any questions for him.)

Marc recently asked me to comment on the transition from a ThM to a PhD and what it’s like to do a UK PhD. Since the only PhD experience that I have is in the UK system I thought I would combine both of these into a single post. This is basically an extended reflection on my journey from Western’s ThM program to the PhD program here at the University of Durham. Hopefully, some will find it useful.

The ThM program helps prepare you for a UK PhD in two different ways. Taking advantage of these two aspects is, in my opinion, key. First, the ThM program allows you to take more classes in addition to whatever graduate studies you have already undertaken. The UK PhD is research based so there is not a lot of class time. Most UK PhD programs allow PhD students to audit Masters and Bachelors level classes if they want, but the pressures of the thesis mean that you will not be sitting in on many classes in your PhD. At most you will probably audit one or two classes a year. This means that taking advantage of the coursework provided by the ThM is extremely helpful. One thing I did in my ThM was to audit several classes that I did not need for my degree but I wanted to have some introduction to. Obviously this wouldn’t work for language classes but it works very well for others, and it allows you to digest some of the material of the class without feeling the pressure to do everything. It may not be worth it for everyone, but it was for me. I felt that it was important to feel that I had an abundance of coursework before I started the PhD.

Second, the ThM gives you a great beginning experience with research. Whether you opt for the option with two research projects or the thesis (I did the thesis) you get a taste for what awaits in a research PhD. The UK PhD is solely research based so the only technical requirement is the completion of an 80,000-100,000 word thesis that is an original contribution to knowledge. Therefore, some experience with research is essential in PhD work. Furthermore, I have found that self direction and motivation are crucial to success in a UK PhD program. While you have an advisor (and some are more hands on than others) you are essentially responsible for taking the initiative and “getting on with it” as my advisor says. For this, doing the research that a ThM thesis requires is an excellent preparation (I assume that the two research projects option would be helpful as well but to a lesser degree). Some people take advantage of writing a ThM thesis that will build into their PhD thesis. I have academic A.D.D. so by the time I finished my thesis at Western I was ready for another topic.

Those are the two most obvious ways that the ThM program helps you to transition into a UK PhD. One thing that you must think about in transitioning from the ThM to the PhD that the ThM program doesn’t necessarily help you with is research languages. Since the PhD is original and fairly exhaustive research that means that all those sources in German or French that you didn’t cite in your ThM thesis, you have to cite and interact with in your PhD thesis. For me, learning German and French is essential. The languages won’t be the same for everyone, but if you’re in the area of theology or biblical studies it’s a good bet that you will need to learn German. That doesn’t mean that you need to be fluent but you need to be able to get through a journal article or find what you need in a book with the aid of a grammar and a dictionary. I didn’t really do any research language work before I began and I really wish I would have.

Another thing that a ThM, especially a ThM from Western, helps with in the transition to a UK PhD is a good grounding in and balance between academic rigor and Christian faith. If you are heading to do a PhD in the UK the chances are you will be working in a technically secular environment and there are no promises that your advisor(s) will share your religious beliefs. For myself, I am lucky enough to have a committed Christian as my primary supervisor but my secondary supervisor is an atheist. This means that you will be stepping into an academic environment that expects you to be there for the academics and not for Christian faith per se. I look back on my time at Western and my conversations with professors and fellow students and it reminds me why I am over here doing a PhD. We are not doing this purely for the academics but to better equip ourselves to serve the church. For me, the academic rigor and research orientation of the UK PhD were the best option for me, but it helps to have the grounding in faith based coursework that I had from Western. The kind of Christian academic environment that you find in doing a ThM at Western Seminary is not to be taken for granted. For me, it was a crucial part of my preparation to transition to my place now in a UK PhD program. I hope it will serve you as it has served me. And if you’re thinking about pursuing a PhD, good luck, so far I have found it quite challenging but also quite rewarding.

Finally, in taking the steps towards a UK PhD you cannot do better than to check out these two blogs that are excellent resources. One is by a friend of mine, Ben Blackwell, who just finished his PhD here at Durham. The other is another Durham alumn, and a soon to be professor at SPU, Nijay Gupta. They have a wealth of information and advice for those who are looking to do PhD studies on this side of the pond. Their blogs helped me out a lot.

As they say here, Cheers!

Ben Johnson

Western Alum ’09

Flotsam and jetsam (5/14)

May 14, 2010 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

What could be better on a sunny Friday morning in Portland (or, wherever you are) than a Grease-themed video tribute to Wayne Grudem! I think I’ll need counseling after this one.

  • If you haven’t been following the many discussions taking place around the blogosphere on James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World, CT has a nice series of posts that should help you get caught up. Chuck Colson, Andy Crouch, and Christopher Benson all off their perspectives.
  • The T&T Clark blog has a guest post by Riemer Roukema introducing his book Jesus, Gnosis, and Dogma. I can’t say that the summary sounds like anything groundbreaking, but for those interested in historical Jesus studies, it might be worth a look.
  • Anyone interested in a $189,000 iPad should check here.
  • Per crucem ad lucem offers a brief summary of key reasons that people think images of Jesus are idolatrous, including a very nice summary of Barth and Calvin on the subject, before arguing that the visual arts can be a powerful, though potentially risky, theological resource. This is a good follow up piece for Andreas’ paper on icons and iconoclams in the theology of St. John of Damascus.
  • Kevin DeYoung offers some thoughts on why confession of sin is important in the life of the believer and the believing community.

On the importance of taking theological sabbaths

May 13, 2010 in Theology with 0 Comments

In a recent post, Kyle Strobel offers an important reminder of three critical dangers that face anyone who pursues theology as a vocation. And, as a bonus, he uses John Cusack’s High Fidelity to do it. Although he says it quite well and I’d encourage you to read his post for yourself, I wanted to echo some of his thoughts here.

The first danger that Kyle mentions, and the one that undergirds the whole post, is that of adopting a ‘works’ approach to theology. All too easily we can get lost in the never-ending pursuit of more knowledge, more publications, more ‘stature’, etc. If we’re not careful, we can easily delude ourselves into thinking that we’re actually working our way closer to God with our academic prowess. As much as I want to affirm the importance of academic excellence, we must always keep it in perspective. At its heart, theology is doxological. If it does not result in worship in response to grace, we’re doing something desperately wrong.

Second, Kyle cautions against forgetting that theology has to be rooted in ecclesial community. If we find ourselves tempted to slip away from church so that we can do something really interesting, we’ve lost sight of what theology is all about. The theologian can quickly become incurvatus in se without a strong basis in the church.

Finally, and most creatively, Kyle connects all of this to our need for regular sabbaths – not out of duty or law, but because he recognizes that the purpose of the sabbath in the first place was to remind us of our creatureliness and dependence.

Sabbath rest is a practical corollary to the Creator-creature distinction, where creatures submit to their Creator through a wholesale acceptance of creaturliness. Sabbath rest, therefore, as a call to embrace our creatureliness, follows the contours of created reality through an imitatio Dei. It is being like God as a creature, rather than, as the temptation of Eden reveals, being like God as God. The embrace of the fruit of Eden is the continual rejection of creatureliness which fuels much theological endeavour, not the least of which is the temptation to cure our theological ineptitudes and anxieties through brute force and will.

And, this is an excellent place to bring in the role of prayer in the life of the theologian as well. As Barth said, “The first and basic act of theological work is prayer” (Evangelical Theology, p. 160). Whenever we forget that, our theology  becomes self-glorifying, self-justifying, and self-defeating.

So, and I realize how hard this is for many of us, I’m issuing a call for everyone reading this to take a theological sabbath some time this week. Stop pursuing, stop performing, stop pontificating. Just rest. And pray.

Flotsam and jetsam

May 13, 2010 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I decided that I liked this title better than “around the water cooler” for random posts. And these are pretty random.

Tips for the ThM – Part 13 Writing the perfect resume(s)

May 13, 2010 in Th.M. Program with 3 Comments

Most of us will at some point need to find a job. Sad, but true. In academic circles, there is no doubt that the best way to land the right job is to know someone involved in the process. (That’s how I got mine.) Lacking that, you need a good resume. Actually, as this post points out, you’ll probably need a couple. The market for academic positions is so competitive that you really need to be able to present yourself as a viable candidate for various kinds of positions (i.e. don’t focus exclusively on positions for specialists on the book of 3 John). But, to do that effectively, you need to tailor your resume to highlight your qualifications for different kinds of positions.

Suppose that you’ve done extensive work in both Old and New Testament studies, but your preferred job would be in New Testament. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, unless you don’t mind waiting a while to find a job, you probably won’t want to exclude Old Testament positions (or multi-disciplinary positions) as well. However, you don’t want to distribute a resume focusing on your New Testament skills if the school is looking for an Old Testament professor. So, you will need different resumes that will highlight different areas of your background.

And, that’s what the author of the above post wants you to do. She argues that you need to balance the need for multiple resumes tailored to highlight the most important aspects for your academic (and ministerial) preparation with the limited amount of time you have available. So, she recommends that you approach the job hunt with at least two active resumes. If you try to create too many, you’ll burn yourself out. Approach the process with just one, and you’ll limit your opportunities.

But, to go back to what I said at the beginning, you are your best resume. If you are hoping to find a job at the end of your academic journey, get out there and meet people. Attend conferences, present papers, kiss babies, hand out candy, and buy advertising space on billboards in Times Square. Or, just make sure that you are networking effectively. The more people you know, the better your chances of finding the job at the end of the rainbow.

Virtual interview with virtual church guy (Douglas Estes)

May 13, 2010 in Ministry with 3 Comments

Brian has finished the third of three interviews with Douglas Estes on his book SimChurch. In this interview, Douglas discusses what he thinks about the emerging virtual church, the future of “iPastors”, the role of the virtual church in world missions, and the impact that the virtual church can/should have on seminary education. As with the other two interviews, this one’s worth checking out if you’re interested in ecclesiology and the role of technology in the church.

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