Here I am reading Stan Grenz, The Social God and the Relational Self, in the garden at our villa. To the pictures left were hills and hills of olive trees. Every evening we sat out here, had our cup of tea, and did some reading. Then we waited until the restaurants would open (7:30pm at the earliest). Great fun. Read more
St Francis made a guest appearance for Kris and me, and he was willing to permit his picture to be taken. Whenever anyone tossed some euros in his little bucket, he bent over, and rang his little bell. He drew a crowd. He never appeared at the Basilica, in which picture you can see Pax and the Tau cross of St. Francis. Read more
I’m trying to download (or upload, don’t know the name) a picture from Rome. Directly behind my head is the Palatine hill. Below me is just off the Forum. Read more
Al Mohler, President at Southern Seminary in Louisville, has now undertaken to write a series on the emergent movement. The piece shows awareness only of DA Carson’s book, about which I posted a number of things a while back, beginning here. Sadly, Mohler simply repeats Carson’s points and shows no independent awareness of emergent thinkers, leaders, pastors, or any one else. Which means he is back to the McLaren=Emergent Church thinking. I await part 2 in his study. Read more
In 1907, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, said, “We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.” There you have a quintessentially view of a Pharisee, someone who both believes in the Torah and who believes its meaning is determined by its interpretive tradition. On the other hand, a Sadducee would simply say, to use Chief Hughes’ terms, “We are under a Constitution.” We don’t need an interpretive tradition for we need only to... Read more
Today I got in the mail the UK edition, published by Continuum, of The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others. I’ve not seen it yet on the UK Amazon site, but a spankin’ new copy was sent to me today. Hoping we can get some UK churches to think about the Christian life in terms of its telos (goal) instead of the means. Read more
In a previous post on Lesslie Newbigin, I reflected on his now out of print book, Foolishness to the Greeks. In this blog I’d like to put together the powerful influences that converge in his updating of Foolishness in his newer book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. I see three major influences that converge in this book that give rise to the challenge Newbigin offers to the Church and to local churches. Overall I will say this about Newbigin’s... Read more
Not that I think we need to use “Pharisee” for anyone. But, if some insist on finding contemporary counterparts to the 1st Century Pharisees, here are more suggestions: First, use it only for those who are committed to the Torah as a comprehensive explanation for the will of God. (In this sense, it is pretty hard to use for any Christian.) Second, use it only for those who through the abuse of their teaching authority are leading people astray. (In... Read more
Check out the review by Elissa Elliott of Sean Wilsey’s, Oh the Glory of it All, in Books & Culture. Read more
This the fourth post on the Pharisees, provoked as it was by comments I’m hearing about so-and-so being a “Pharisee,” will look at the meaning of “hypocrite” in Matthew 23. Five observations, leading to a summary definition of what Matthew (Jesus) meant by “hypocrisy.” Hypocrisy is… 1. Inconsistency between what one teaches and what one does (23:3-4)2. Desire for prestige and power and congratulation (23:5-12)3. Abuse of teaching authority through both false teachings and false practices (23:13, 15, 16-22, 23-24,... Read more
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