A Matter of Tone and Approach (RJS)

Last updated on: September 14, 2010 at 5:39 am By RJS

I (almost) always add an e-mail address to my posts, an opportunity for readers to make more specific (or lengthy) comments or ask questions off-line. I received a several interesting messages last week - and would like to put forth for discussion a composite idea emerging from these disparate sources and from Justin's post last Friday on doubt. One of the letters from a reader noted (used with permission, edited for anonymity): (3) The main point of writing: one enormous obstacle is the general tone of public figures who hold to theistic evolution. Most of my evangelical friends can't fathom how evolution could be compatible with faith. What's needed is patient, quiet discussion. What worries me about [some] is the lack of winsome tone and approach (that's not uniform btw; Falk's book was excellent, and there's no problem with the main body of Collins's Language of God; Waltke, Keller, etc. are gems). I'm wondering how someone like you could use your platform to articulate this problem. In my opinion that is a bigger problem than the [fundamentalist] approach at Southern Seminary. The latter we can overcome via the web, books, etc.; but if the voices available to communicate about science and evolution are not winsome and helpful, but combative and derisive, where does that leave us? (4) Second main point: ... how does Keller's argument strike you ... that we need theistic evolutionists who can work well with others on the spectrum between fundamentalism and atheistic science? If Keller is correct, this would mean that (say) Gilberson's tone is actually unhelpful and likely to do more harm than good; it may help him get a hearing in the secular sphere, but will be a problem as he tries to communicate to evangelicals. Read more

Almost Christian 7

Last updated on: September 14, 2010 at 5:28 am By Scot McKnight

This will be our last post on the fine book by Kenda Dean, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church. I want to have a conversation today about the most significant element in the development of faith among young adults: parents. The best thing to do to get young adults more serious about their faith is to have more faith-serious parents. (Which is not to blame parents or to shift total responsibility onto parents, but it is to put the gravity where it needs to be.) One of her themes is "translation" -- that is translating the faith from the church to the youth, with the focal point being the family (as Luther famously made clear). What are the guidelines for this translation? Here are her four points and I'd like to hear your responses: Read more

What have we learned since 9/11?

Last updated on: September 12, 2010 at 11:29 am By Scot McKnight

Tim Dalrymple, at Patheos, has a post asking the question “What have we learned?” and I hope you can read it. Here’s a good observation and then a potent concluding clip: We stand before the ninth anniversary of a day in which three thousand Americans were slain by a hateful and bloodthirsty terrorist organization — an organization that still exists and still seeks our destruction, and that has inspired countless attacks around the world, including several successful small-scale attacks within... Read more

Apologetics in a Postmodern World 1

Last updated on: September 15, 2010 at 5:37 pm By Scot McKnight

A friend of mine was working on some apologetic topics and told me what they were. My observation, which I only mentioned in passing, was that what he was most concerned about was not what bugged my students. That is, apologetics shifts and that means that each generation, and perhaps more than once during a generation, brings forth new issues that Christian apologetics needs to address. By common consent we live in postmodernity and above all that means that "truth is stranger than it used to be." That means that knowledge and truth have shifted from an empirical basis toward a more subjective orientation. The shift means there is less attention to the object and more on the subject. This series will examine a new book edited by Dallas Willard, and we need sometimes to remember that he is a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California. The book is called: A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions. The book is a collection of lectures from the Veritas Forum that have been held in universities across the nation. It is really a splendid collection of topics, lecturers and lectures. This series will take up their topics, summarize some of what the lecturers said, and then sometimes take issue with them in order to foster some conversation here about the topic itself. Read more

A Question for The Gospel Coalition

Last updated on: September 13, 2010 at 6:11 am By Scot McKnight

There is an articulate, irenic post on the complementarian-egalitarian divide by Dan Springer, and this set of questions at the bottom of the post brings it to a head. I'm keen on hearing from Gospel Coalition folks and we promise civility. There is a trend today that concerns me: the incursion of non-gospel items into gospel essentials, and I'd like this post by Dan to springboard into that discussion in general. The issue is simple: How close to the gospel is complementarianism? And I think it turns around too: How close is the gospel to egalitarianism? Read more

Cell Phone Guidelines

Last updated on: September 12, 2010 at 4:17 pm By Scot McKnight

I sometimes commute to North Park University on the train. On the morning ride into the City, the train is quiet and everyone abides by the “keep it quiet” rule. On the ride home in the late afternoon, the guideline changes: You can talk. With one exception: There are some cars that manage themselves as quiet. The “ssssssssshhhhhhhhh” can be heard if you even try to chat on a cell phone. (I don’t know what would happen if you didn’t... Read more

Our History, Our Weakness

Last updated on: September 12, 2010 at 9:48 am By Scot McKnight

The average Christian knows next to nothing about the history of Christian theology. The average pastor learned the stuff in seminary but does little with it in the busy life of parish ministry. I could be wrong in those two points, or slightly exaggerated, but there is nothing I’ve read or experienced that counters those two points. What can be done about this “black hole” of our history? How can we resurrect memory? What are you doing or what do... Read more

Preparing for Eucharist

Last updated on: September 12, 2010 at 7:09 am By Scot McKnight

In Alister McGrath’s newest book, The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind, four themes connected to eucharist are explored briefly, and I want to reflect on each one over the next four weeks. Today is our second theme. Anticipation. One of the more remarkable features of the two earliest Lord’s supper accounts is anticipation. Both in Jesus’ own last supper words, where Jesus promised he would not drink of the cup until he drank anew with... Read more

Prayer for the Week

Last updated on: September 12, 2010 at 2:57 am By Scot McKnight

O God, because without you we are not able to please you mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more