A Prayer for Sunday (John Milton)

November 4, 2012 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

The English poet John Milton is almost certainly best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. And that alone would probably have earned him the reputation as one of the greatest English authors of all time. But, as one of the leading Puritan writers during the English civil war, Milton was also famous for his political writings and his many other poems. Despite having a number of somewhat less orthodox theological positions, Milton’s Paradise Lost has had a tremendous impact on the Christian imagination in the English-speaking world.

Milton died on November 8, 1674. So this week’s prayer is in his memory. It comes from Book V of Paradise Lost and is part of Adam and Eve’s prayer of praise to God when he created them.

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Why and How to Study Theology

November 2, 2012 in Reviews with 3 Comments

Theology is a weird word. Think about it. The “logy” part means that it’s the discipline of studying something, and the “theo” part means that what you’re trying to study is God himself. Oh, is that all? I hope you have a pretty good microscope.

Just talking about “theology” raises all kinds of questions. How exactly do you go about studying the almighty God of the universe? Is that even possible? If you tried to understand even a small portion of his infinite being, wouldn’t your eyes start bleeding right before your brain exploded?

Yet all Christians are theologians. Or, said differently, all Christians have beliefs about God that they (should) try to understand better as they grow in their faith. To some extent, then, all Christians need to know something about what theology is, why it’s important, and how to do it well. So a short introduction answering those questions would be a great resource.

And that’s precisely what Kelly Kapic does in A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology (IVP 2012), a book that Kapic hopes will serve as a kind of update to Helmut Thielicke’s 1959 classic A Little Exercise for Young Theologians. Thielicke’s book is still a great read, but Kapic has given us another outstanding resource for introducing people to the nature and task of theology. And it’s one that I highly recommend for any Christian.

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October’s Top Posts

November 2, 2012 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

five best, top posts

October has already begun fading into the fog of memory as we speed our way into the holiday season. And it was a busy month at Western Seminary as we hosted a regional accreditation visit (which went very well!). And we managed to have some fun around here with a couple more posts in the image of God series, an interesting look at people who drink too much coffee (like me), and a couple of random posts on the brain and metaphorical language. Sounds like a good mix to me. Enjoy!

The Top 5 Posts in October

Flotsam and jetsam (11/2)

November 2, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 0 Comments

star wars, han solo, chewbacca, movie quotes

Good Reads

  • Why Zombies Matter: Zombies are horrifying not simply because they’re mean and aggressive. They are horrifying because they represent what ought to repulse us: the rotting decay of death. But they still walk. And, beyond that, they still crave. In their search for human brains, they are driven along by their appetites, though always under the sway of a slavemaster’s will. That’s our story.
  • Technology Is Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say: There is a widespread belief among teachers that students’ constant use of digital technology is hampering their attention spans and ability to persevere in the face of challenging tasks, according to two surveys of teachers being released on Thursday.
  • 9 Lies the Media Likes to Tell about Evangelicals: So while there are certainly exceptions, I’ve identified nine common lies perpetuated by people in the media. Granted, there are enough vocal evangelicals to bolster each of these stereotypes, so the media isn’t completely responsible. But nuance is necessary here. Thus this post.

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Existential Thoughts on Halloween from Henri the Cat

October 31, 2012 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

Henri the Existential Cat shares some sobering thoughts on Halloween. Today of all days it must be tough being a depressed, black, French cat.

Flotsam and jetsam (10/31)

October 31, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 1 Comment

Good Reads

  • 9.5 Theses on Martin Luther Against the Self-Indulgences of the Modern Church: So, in honour of the good Doctor and in the cause of saving him from the domesticated historiography of the Beautiful Young Things, here are a series of theses about  the Wittenberger, the cumulative force of which is to prove that in today’s evangelical world he would have made a most excellent taxi driver.
  • A Zombie Is a Slave Forever: Most people think of them as the walking dead, a being without a soul or someone with no free will. This is true. But the zombie is not an alien enemy who’s been CGI-ed by Hollywood. He is a New World phenomenon that arose from the mixture of old African religious beliefs and the pain of slavery, especially the notoriously merciless and coldblooded slavery of French-run, pre-independence Haiti. In Africa, a dying person’s soul might be stolen and stoppered up in a ritual bottle for later use. But the full-blown zombie was a very logical offspring of New World slavery.

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9 Reasons We Need the Gospels

October 30, 2012 in Biblical Studies with 2 Comments

Some Christians downplay the Gospels. We don’t do it on purpose, of course. After all, those are the books about Jesus, so they must be important. But we still have a tendency to prefer the letters to the Gospels. Stories are interesting, but they’re also a bit messy and complicated. So it seems easier, faster, and clearer to skip past the stories and just hear Paul tell us what we’re supposed to believe.

In Reading the Gospels Wisely, Jonathan Pennington offers nine excellent reasons that we should not do this. Beyond some nifty stories and fascinating parables, the Gospels have a lot to offer. And we’re missing out on a lot as Christians when we don’t allow us ourselves to soak in these life-changing narratives.

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Flotsam and jetsam (10/29)

October 29, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 0 Comments

humor, movie summary, wizard of oz

best movie summary ever

Good Reads

  • The Famous Battle That Changed History: There aren’t many battles that changed history, and making this sort of claim for any battle may seem pretty melodramatic. But the events of October 28, 312 were melodramatic. On that day the Roman emperor Constantine defeated his rival emperor Maxentius, and in doing so found proof that he had made the right decision a few months earlier. That decision was to become a Christian.
  • My year of biblical womanhood: Last year, I determined that I would live biblically as a woman. That is not news.  I determined to do that every year of my life when I was converted at the age of 20.  It has been uphill and downhill, depending on the year.

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How to Break through Your Creative Blocks

October 29, 2012 in Uncategorized, Writing with 1 Comment

It happens to everyone. Maybe you’re working on a sermon, a research paper, a poem, or anything else that requires you to come up with some new ideas and express them in unique ways. Whatever it is, you run into the dreaded “block,” that state of being that seems to keep you from coming up with anything more interesting than what you ate for lunch. And, when that happens, it can be pretty frustrating.

A new book takes a unique approach to tackling that problem. Breakthrough!: Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination offers tips and suggestions from 90 people from different walks of life on how to break through creative blocks. And the suggestions themselves are often rather creative. (One of my favorites is to check into an expensive hotel for a couple of days. The thought of how much money you’re spending just to be there will motivate you to keep working!)

Much of the advice, though, boiled down to two somewhat contrary-sounding ideas:

  • Creativity is hard work and sometimes you just have to push through.
  • When you’re stuck, you often need to take a break and come back fresh.

And the book offer some great suggestions for how to do both of these. But it still leaves you with a pretty fundamental problem: How do you know when you should push through and when you need to take a break?

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A Little Philosophy Humor: Why It’s Impossible to Read Zeno’s Paradox

October 28, 2012 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I am teaching a class on philosophy and theology this semester, so maybe that’s why I enjoyed this cartoon so much. Unfortunately, like a lot of philosophy humor, you may need to brush up on a few things.

  • Zeno’s paradox is the famous question of whether you can continue dividing something in half forever, ending up with infinitely smaller pieces.
  • And Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is his way of explaining how this world is just a shadow of the real world of the Forms.

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