(By the way, in case you’re not aware, I’m not necessarily endorsing a post just because I link to it. I list posts that offer interesting perspectives on important issues. Whether I agree with them is something else entirely.)
You only have until tomorrow evening to enter for a chance to win Historical Jesus: 5 Views from IVP. I’ll post the winner tomorrow night at 8pm. So, if you haven’t already, make sure you enter the drawing.
It’s been one month since I redecorated the blog and moved it to its new location. And things seem to be running smoothly. Thanks everyone for being patient with any glitches we ran into along the way.
Here are our top posts from January. I excluded the two book giveaways, though you should check out the current giveaway if you haven’t already. Otherwise, the top five posts from the last month are:
This is a guest post by Todd Miles, Associate Professor of Theology at Western Seminary.
Keith E. Johnson, Rethinking the Trinity and Religious Pluralism: An Augustinian Assessment (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011), $30.00.
“Trinity” is the current buzzword of theology. That, along with its related words and phrases like “perichoresis,” “mutual-indwelling” and “social-Trinity,” function in de facto manner as the shibboleth of legitimate theological enterprise. Unless one sprinkles in some sort of Trinitarian reference every page or so, the project is not to be taken seriously. So the doctrine of the Trinity is used to bolster or justify theological proposals on a wide range of topics including gender, marriage, the church, social justice, and the environment. This “turn to the Trinity” has not gone unnoticed by Keith Johnson, national director of theological education for Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and an Augustine scholar. Of particular interest to Johnson are those proposals in the area of theology of religions that seek to justify, by appeal to the Trinity, either pluralism (many paths lead to God) and inclusivism (one is saved by Christ’s work alone, but one does not have to hear and believe the gospel in order to be saved on the basis of that work).
Every morning after tending to the dogs and getting my coffee, I sit down for some time alone with God and the Bible. I’ve done this more years than I can count. However, I’m finding the room increasingly crowded as the years go by.
That’s how Dan Bouchelle begins an excellent reflection on the many voices that shape how we read our Bibles. Some of those voices are helpful, others less so. But all of them form an inescapable part of who we are and how we read the text.
Part of the posts focuses on how distracting those voices can be and how it seems like they just distract us from the task of hearing the simple voice of God in Scripture. But Bouchelle strikes a more encouraging note at the end. Make sure you read the whole post, but here’s another quote from the conclusion:
My Bible is crowded and if I’ve learned anything through the years it is that I can never read the Bible alone. Even when I am alone, I read my Bible in community. My Bible was preserved by others, translated by others, printed by others, interpreted and taught to me by others, and incarnated in the lives of still others. The attempt to have an exclusive encounter with God’s words is more than naïve, it is downright arrogant. Can I still hear God in all these other voices? Yes I think I can.
Check it out and spend some time reflecting on how crowded your room is when you read the Bible, and why that’s a good thing.
HT Brian LePort
Our last Forced Choice asked you to vote on your favorite part of the NT. And I guess we shouldn’t be terribly surprised that the gospels won by a fair margin (48%). Paul made a respectable showing (33%), but couldn’t close the gap. And the rest of the NT barely got a nod. Apparently we really like Jesus around here.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a new Forced Choice, and this one comes as a special request from someone who would be interested in knowing what we think. Who is Paul talking about in Romans 7? If you don’t recall off the top of your head, this is the chapter where Paul is lamenting the power of sin in a person’s life, making them do things they don’t want to. People have long debated Paul’s meaning in this chapter and I’m sure I could include more options than these. But, for the sake of simplicity, these are your choices.
These are the prayerful words of Isaac the Syrian, recognized as a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and celebrated on January 28th. The first selection is a prayer and the second is more of a poem.
O my Hope, pour into my heart the inebriation that consists in the hope of you. O Jesus Christ, the resurrection and light of all worlds, place upon my soul’s head the crown of knowledge of you; open before me all of a sudden the door of mercies, cause the rays of your grace to shine out in my heart.
