Beyond the Abyss 5

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 at 9:10 pm By Scot McKnight

In Sharon Baker’s world, “violence” is bad. That’s fine, but it sure would help if she defined the term for us. Frankly, I can’t figure out what she means by the term “violence.” What I can see in her book, Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You've Been Taught About God's Wrath and Judgment, is that judgment is violence, eternal punishment is violence, hell is violence, war is violence, and it sure seems to be that any kind of retributive justice is violence. Whence such a definition of “violence”? And because she doesn’t define violence, she can label things as violent and make them inherently problematic. Both Jacques Derrida and Hans Boersma have studies of violence, but Boersma shows that elective love – the sort of thing we do every day in choosing those with whom we are intimate or friends – can be seen as a form of violence. So her chp 5, “Rethinking the Violence of God,” is riddled with the problem of a lack of definition. So far as I can tell, the entire book is built upon her perception of “violence” and her lack of defining the term makes it difficult to make her case. Here’s my big question: Is judgment by God “violent”? Read more

The Next Christians 2

Last updated on: October 6, 2010 at 9:40 am By Scot McKnight

Gabe Lyons is proposing that there is a “Next Christian” and that next set of Christians he calls “Restorers.” We all want to ask two questions: Who are they? What do they look like? If you answer the second question, you can figure out the first one. The book is called The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America, and in my estimation this book sketches what I also find to be central and defining attributes of followers of Jesus today who both have grown tired of old ways and know there is a better way. What are the major characteristics of followers of Jesus today who are both faithful to the past but proposing fresh ventures into how to live out the gospel today? Who do you see that represents this movement? Gabe provides six characteristics of the Restorers: Read more

George Fox Evangelical Seminary

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 at 8:06 pm By Scot McKnight

One of the highlights of my Fall thus far was the recent invitation to speak to a group of leaders at George Fox Evangelical Seminary. I had never been to George Fox, have heard about it for years, and have a few friends connected to it … so it was an exciting opportunity. And all the details for such an event worked out fabulously, thanks to many people and I know Jean Miller had lots to do with it. I... Read more

Being Human After Darwin 2 (RJS)

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 at 5:40 am By RJS

I posted last week on the first part of an essay by Francisco Ayala on Being Human After Darwin. I am going to discuss the second part of this essay today, but first I would like to point to an issue of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, the journal of the American Scientific Affiliation (The ASA is a network of Christians in the sciences). The recent issue of PSCF (v. 62 no. 3 2010) is a theme issue: Reading Genesis: The Historicity of Adam and Eve, Genomics, and Evolutionary Science. According to the website the print version is sold out; but several of the articles are available for download on the ASA PSCF Discussion blog. The topics here mesh very well with the book I am currently blogging through "Theology After Darwin (available from of Abebooks.com search on author = Berry and title = Theology After Darwin). I am going to intersperse discussion of the essays in the book and discussion of the articles in the Journal. Read more

Spiritual Disciplines … for a Church 6

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 at 5:42 am By Scot McKnight

Spiritual disciplines have been given plenty of attention in the last decade, but “church” spiritual disciplines need some serious discussion. In James Bryan Smith’s new book, The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love (The Apprentice Series), we get a sketch of the disciplines that can characterize — not just an individual — but a community of faith. The sixth characteristic is “encouraging.” The theme of the chp though is not just “here’s how to encourage me... Read more

Lisa Baumert: “Spiritual Covering”

Last updated on: October 4, 2010 at 11:23 am By Scot McKnight

This post, from CBE’s Arise newsletter, deals with the topic of “spiritual coverings.” That is, with the claimed need that women need to be covered spiritually by a male in order to lead and teach. Lisa Baumert, former theological intern at Christians for Biblical Equality, is a graduate of Wheaton College and is currently pursuing a Masters of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary. * * * * * Jesus taught that structures of human power often do not reflect the... Read more

Beyond the Abyss 4

Last updated on: September 30, 2010 at 7:19 pm By Scot McKnight

Admittedly, this is not the typical way to start off a Monday morning, but we are going through Sharon Baker’s book, and the topic she deals with — the justifiability or unjustifiability of hell — is a serious topic and one worthy of our best thinking. In chp 3 of Sharon Baker’s Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You’ve Been Taught About God’s Wrath and Judgment, examines the sense of justice in the Bible. She takes aim first at Deuteronomy 28, the... Read more

Theology and Extraterrestrials (David Opderbeck)

Last updated on: September 30, 2010 at 6:07 pm By Scot McKnight

David Opderbeck writes this post... Christian Theology and Life on Other Planets How would your theology change if scientists discover life on other planets? Astronomers have made remarkable progress in recent years in identifying exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. Now, it seems that scientists have identified an exoplanet that might be capable of supporting carbon and water based life. This conclusion is based on the planet’s mass and its distance from its star. In short, the planet appears to be “just right” for carbon and water based life, much like Earth. This discovery, of course, does not mean there actually is life on this particular planet, much less intelligent life. However, as one of the scientists involved in the discovery stated, “The fact that we found one so close and so early on in the search suggests there’s a lot of these things.” It seems reasonable to suggest that if there are many potentially habitable exoplanets, and if the chemical basis of life is as dynamic as scientists believe, life has arisen on at least some other planets. Given that most galaxies contain hundreds of billions of stars, and that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe, it seems inevitable that there is life elsewhere in the universe. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb: Read more

On Public Prayers

Last updated on: October 2, 2010 at 8:11 pm By Scot McKnight

From CT: (I’ve clipped three; more responses can be found at the link.) What do you think should be done in public prayer? Use “in Jesus’ name” or not? The North Carolina General Assembly is reviewing its policies on guest chaplains after Winston-Salem pastor Ron Baity was told he could not pray in Jesus’ name. Meanwhile, the group Atheists of Florida is suing the City of Lakeland over its opening invocations “in Jesus’ name.” Several governmental bodies around the country... Read more

God is in the Manger

Last updated on: October 1, 2010 at 12:10 pm By Scot McKnight

I’m not into the early Christmas stuff, but there is one thing that many of us do when it comes to Christmas, and we do it early: we begin to think of what to read during Advent. Many of you are wondering, in down moments, what you will preach about or teach about or even do during Advent this year. Knowing that pastors and church leaders plot their Advent services well in advance, I want to call to your attention... Read more