Weekly Meanderings, 12 July 2014

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

Portland art work. Roger Olson proposes a method for a local church in discerning the same sex debate. How foreigners detect Americans. (Kris and I are in Oxford and we shall both do our best to avoid detection, great idea don’t you think?!!!) Tight state, loose state? But why do these different outlooks exist, and correspond so closely to different regions? In a paper recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (and discussed more here), psychologists Jesse R. Harrington and Michele J. Gelfand... Read more

A Declaration for Teachers

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

By Jennifer Barnett, and at the link you can read the rest: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all teachers are valuable, and that they are endowed by their skill and expertise with a certain inalienable right to lead. That within this right to leadership lies possibility, progress, and the pursuit of a profession which students deserve. Educational systems must be designed to serve students, deriving their power from the consent of teachers. Whenever any school or system... Read more

The Old Rugged Words (John Frye)

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

The Old Rugged Words, by John Frye. We cannot separate the old rugged cross from Jesus’ old rugged words found in Matthew 5:38-42. “Let the word be as rugged as it really is; its ruggedness carries its rhetorical power to call his disciples into the kingdom where retaliation will end” (129). What are those rugged words? “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.” We are reviewing chapter 9 of The Story of God Bible Commentary: The Sermon... Read more

Evangelicals and Catholics Together: But are they?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

From Sarah Pulliam Bailey: I appreciate this discussion over the years; I especially like Matthew Levering’s observation below; but what disturbs is that what unites these two groups is the shared battles found in politics, not the gospel. There is a gospel grounding for much greater cooperation. The next generation might find a message of hope in this, and that’s good, but until the Pope and principal authorities (are there any?) of evangelicalism can sit down and talk principal doctrines,... Read more

Women and the “Silence” of Listening

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

From CBE’s Arise newsletter, by Aida Besancon Spencer: This is an excerpt from Aída Besançon Spencer’s talk on “El Silencio, las Mujeres y la Iglesia” (“Silence, Women and the Church”) given at the CBE meeting in Colombia. Some basic aspects of Bible interpretation are: 1. Look at its literary context: the written context of the whole letter/book. 2. Look at the historical/cultural context: the situation of the writer and the situation of the readers then. Let’s apply these two crucial... Read more

Pulpit Integrity

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

Sarah Pulliam Bailey, with Greg Horton: (RNS) Thou shalt not steal another pastor’s sermon? Recent cases of high-profile pastors who have been accused of lifting others’ material are raising questions about whether pulpit plagiarism is on the rise — and whether it has become a more forgivable sin…. Sermons can be ephemeral things, in one ear of many parishioners and out the other. If the sermon is not written down or posted online, an unattributed quote can be easy to... Read more

Let Creation Rejoice (RJS)

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By RJS

A couple of months ago I received a copy of the new book Let Creation Rejoice: Biblical Hope and Ecological Crisis by Jonathan Moo and Robert White courtesy of the publisher, IVP Academic. With other books in progress, this is the first chance I’ve had to dig into it. I’ve been looking for a book that would help us make a foray into the area of environmental crisis and global warming. Here we have a start. Let Creation Rejoice looks... Read more

Theologians and their Moral Life (by Roger Olson)

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

What impact does a theologian’s moral life have on whether you read or are influenced by him or her? Roger Olson’s proposal is about to the degree it influences his or her theology. The sad fact is that many, many great heroes of Christian history and theology had sides to their personal lives that we cannot be proud of. To what extent should those affect how we regard their theological contributions and contributions to church reform and renewal? Luther, of... Read more

Archbishop, Synod Lay Members, Parliament …

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

Will there be women bishops in the Church of England? There is — to use the English word — a row over this one. The confusion is that there to be three church polities bouncing into one another: Constantinian governmental power, episcopal authority embodied in the Archbishop, and congregational voting and representation. Perhaps a bit of a balancing of powers, but the first voice has already made it clear where things will go. Not a bright day for church governance,... Read more

GOP Catholics

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:48 pm By Scot McKnight

Sarah Pulliam Bailey has been hitting home runs of late in her coverage for RNS: (RNS) How many voters know that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is a Roman Catholic? Or that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is a Southern Baptist, not a Latino Catholic? Or that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio worships at both a Catholic parish and an evangelical church? More importantly, does it matter? Actually, it does in today’s Republican Party, where a number of factors have forged a new... Read more