Enns, Sparks, Arnold, and Chapman on the OT: Part 2 (RJS)

Last updated on: November 27, 2010 at 7:14 pm By RJS

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A couple of months ago Peter Enns posted on his blog part one of a review and discussion of Kenton Sparks’ recent book God’s Word in Human Words (GWHW). Although in writing part one Enns expressed hoped that part two would soon follow, that hope proved vain. Two months of anticipation followed. Yesterday however the long awaited post appeared – so today I would like to renew discussion of Sparks book.

God’s Word in Human Words is a rather blunt no holds barred discussion of the problems of evangelical biblical scholarship and the need to embrace what is good and true in critical biblical scholarship without fear (no this is not everything – but it is a large fraction). I read this book within a few days last summer. It is well written and held my interest the whole way.

Kenton Sparks starts with a discussion of epistemology and hermeneutics and then puts before the reader a good selection of the issues and questions raised by both historical and biblical criticism. I found these chapters fascinating, but it is not my area of expertise, so I am interested to see how scholars, evangelical or otherwise, might respond to his points.

The remainder of the book describes the problem with traditional evangelical responses to Biblical criticism and lays forth a proposal for a constructive use of scholarship in the context of faith. Sparks uses the issue of women in ministry to help flesh out some of the details of his approach (Ch. 10 pp. 339-356). One of the keys to the approach advocated by Sparks is “accommodation.” Read the book – it is a good read, and I expect that we will come back to many of the issues that he raises in future posts. You can also find audio of a series of lectures given by Sparks at Taylor University in Canada in 2007 here (scroll down the page to find all four lectures).

The key question of Sparks book is a good one for us to ponder.

What use should evangelical scholars make of critical biblical scholarship – and how should it filter down to the church?

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A Book That Cannot Be Ignored: T. Scott Womble

Last updated on: April 22, 2009 at 12:04 am By Scot McKnight

Some books don’t get to the top shelf or to the front of the table because they’re not very good. Other books don’t get to the top or the front for no good reasons, and I’ve recently been through a book about women in ministry that deserves to be on the top shelf. Why? One reason: it’s a complete case.

In the debate about women in ministry, what are the most decisive biblical texts for you? How important of an issue is this? Do you think this will ever be settled one way or the other?

That book is by T. Scott Womble and is called BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT

.The subtitle is “95 Theses Which dispute the Church’s Conviction against Women.” The book is shaped in the form of a legal argument against the complementarian view (the conviction against women in ministry), and the book argues the case for women in ministry in reasonable, cogent, and compelling ways. Nothing strident in this book and Womble basically challenges the Church to re-examine its case against women by asking if it has considered all the evidence.

Yes, there are 95 sections to the book. No, the book does not read long. It deals with hermeneutical issues (focusing nicely on giftedness and godliness), cross-examines problems with the complementarian approach, and then presents evidence for the egalitarian case. The notes are shoved into the back, and it’s got a very good bibliography.

“I Believe!” (by PW)

Last updated on: April 13, 2009 at 7:36 am By Scot McKnight

Some days a pastor’s spouse is given privileged access to the faith of God’s people. I take seriously the mystery of walking among God’s people.

One Easter, during the commotion of people entering and leaving the church, picking up their children, chatting with their acquaintances, etc., I greeted and met the eyes of someone. I could tell she wanted to tell me something. She didn’t wait for the normal pleasantries of saying hello. She walked up to me and said, “I believe!” There was fire in her soul. There was unmistakable meaning in every syllable. Easter clicked for her.

I thought about what I was witnessed to hear: this must have been some of what it was like for the women to quietly approach the tomb and be shocked with belief, knowledge, truth and mystery all at once. To be the first one to know of someone’s belief has been one of those true moments of privilege.

Have there been moments like that for you? What have you heard or seen that probably no one else but you have shared because you are the ministry spouse?

To whom can they go? (by PW)

Last updated on: April 6, 2009 at 12:18 am By Scot McKnight

This is a series by a pastor’s wife (spouse) who cares deeply about the particular struggle that many pastor’s spouses feel and experience. His her reflection from a recent pastor’s wives retreat.

I was with a number of pastors wives on a retreat recently. I realized there are some serious issues PWs can’t discuss (sorry ministry husbands, it was a women’s event). Issues we discussed included the unusual way some found their current ministry location (the whole confusing search process) and the unjust way many are dismissed from ministry. As always, these PWs were deeply concerned about their family.

For some, this opportunity to be together afforded them a time to minister to and pray for each other. However, it seemed that many of these PWs needed more care and one issue came to the fore that I’d like your feedback on: many PWs have some serious issues, but where can they go for a listening ear? For a supportive spiritual companion or coach? Even if you are not a ministry person or a PW, do you know where your pastor or their spouse would receive support or care if needed?

Education, Discipleship, and the Future 1 (RJS)

Last updated on: November 27, 2010 at 7:16 pm By RJS

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Scot has been presenting a series of related posts pondering the future of evangelicalism and the importance of youth ministry – something that may cover anyone from 12 to 30 or so these days. There are many aspects to this problem – and different folks will have different issues and priorities – but I would like us to discuss one issue that I find particularly troubling: the anti-intellectualism, or almost worse, pseudo-intellectualism that plagues much of our church, particularly with respect to ministry among College and University students and young professionals (20-30 year-olds).

Consider this point 5 in the post from Internet Monk (actually his guest):

5. Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism.

One statistic that really jumped out at me when going through the ARIS data was the statistics on Education. In the general population, 27% of those of the age twenty-five and older were college graduates. In Baptist churches the figure was 16%, and in Pentecostal churches the figure was 13%. I am seeing more and more of the Western world viewing Evangelicals as ignorant and uneducated and not worthy or participating fully in the public square. Unfortunately the education numbers seem to support their thesis. Are there Evangelicals who are going to rise to this challenge?

The statistics on education are thought-provoking. But even more troubling is the original observation. Evangelical Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. This is an astounding indictment – and one, quite frankly, I find to be far too true. In too many cases evangelical Christian scholars at evangelical institutions do not engage the wider intellectual climate. They provide inbred wishy-washy pseudo-thinking and pass it off as “rigorous” – because the inbred circle agrees. And rigorous evangelical scholars at secular institutions are often regarded with disdain and distrust – from all sides. We have been warned about this by Mark Noll and David Wells.

But one surprising place where we see the impact of this anti-intellectualism or pseudo-intellectualism most

profoundly is in University Ministries … and I mean all of them, within my experience without exception.

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iGens 12

Last updated on: March 7, 2009 at 12:10 pm By Scot McKnight

What about sex? In her study, Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled–and More Miserable Than Ever Before), Jean Twenge examines generational shifts about sexual activity and attitudes.

What to do? What do you think really works in teaching sexual ethics? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the sexual liberation movement? How has this changed in pastoral ministry? In church contexts?

In the late 1960s, women had sexual intercourse first at age 18; in the late 1990s that age number was 15. iGens are twice as likely to have had multiple sexual partners than Boomers at age 18.

Part of this is the marrying age: in 1970, the average marrying age was 20.8; men was 23.2. It is now 24.5 and 27.2.

75% of iGens approve of sex before marriage. For women in the 1950s, 12% approved; today, it is about 80%.

88% of those who take abstinence pledges have sex before marriage; these teens wait an average of 1.5 yrs longer to have sex than those who do not take pledges. Even though many live together before marriage to make sure things will work out and not lead to divorce, the numbers reveal that those who live together have a higher chance for divorce than those who don’t. More than 11 million couples live together today (unmarried). From 1970 to 1990 that number increased 500% and from 1990 to 200 it increased 72%.

Hooking up is the big issue today: casual, unattached sex. This is sex as recreation. A 2001 study discovered that 60% of high school juniors had sex with someone they considered no more than a friend.

She discusses STDs and unwanted pregnancy as well.

NPC

Last updated on: February 23, 2009 at 5:00 pm By Scot McKnight

I’m a bit behind getting up a brief report on my time in San Diego at the National Pastor’s Convention. The NPC is a mix of young pastors and older pastors, a mix of concerns for both, and a whole lot of getting to see folks I love to see. And I thought I’d focus on the folks. Everyone I talked to really enjoyed this year’s NPC. Thanks to John Raymond, who has his finger on the pulse of the church as well as anyone I know.

But, first, a brief on my sessions:

I was asked to do a session on spiritual disciplines, and I chose to present the stronger side of my book on fasting (Fasting: The Ancient Practices

). The book presents fasting as “body talk” and so I look at each kind of fasting in the Bible and Church’s traditions through the image of the body talking: so I look at repentance from sin fasting as “body turning,” etc.. But one of my themes is that fasting has been lifted from its biblical themes and distorted. How so? It has become a means or instrument to get something, namely inner spirituality. My contention is that the Bible’s emphasis is not on fasting as an instrument (which becomes manipulative at times) but a response to a sacred moment. So, I focused on this point and pushed the theme hard to generate a conversation, and I was pleased with the responses and conversation. Well, then I did a session on women in ministry from The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
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And I was part of a panel with Brian McLaren, Don Golden, Efrem Smith, and Shane Claiborne on Christianity and empire. There was so much overlap with our views that there were no fireworks, and I tried to ask some questions that I thought would generate difference but, alas, we’re mostly on the same page. It was a great time.

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The Gospel Series

Last updated on: February 16, 2009 at 3:37 pm By Scot McKnight

I want to thanks some very kind folks who collated the Gospel series we did and here is the whole thing.

The Gospel
by Scot McKnight

We begin a new biblical study on the word “gospel” today. We will
start with some references in the Psalms and then tomorrow in Isaiah
before we turn to the New Testament.

What these texts reveal is that “good news” or “glad tidings” or
“gospel” are expressions for verbal declaration of the act of God.
Notice also what they declare:

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Friday is for Friends

Last updated on: December 12, 2008 at 12:30 am By Scot McKnight

The Third way knows the difference between essentials and non-essentials and lets the Way be shaped by the essentials. In the second chp of Adam Hamilton’s Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: Thoughts on Religion, Morality, and Politics we hear an appeal for Christians to focus on essentials.

To permit non-essentials to shape our concerns, our relations, and our reputations is, to use the words of Jesus, to “strain gnats.” Hamilton here speaks of Matthew 23:34: “You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” Whether we think of the Pope’s statement about non-RC churches being defective, the American Episcopal leaders forcing their own way, the neo-Fundamentalists elevating women in ministry to a central idea, and the neo-Reformed contending that only the Reformed are truly faithful … we could go on … each of these somehow makes non-essentials the essential thing and each makes the non-essential what divides Christians from Christians.

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What do Evangelicals do well?

Last updated on: November 13, 2008 at 12:20 am By Scot McKnight

I’m proud to be an evangelical. I think we do many things well. Some

will roll their eyes with those first two statements. Why? Criticizing
evangelicalism is fashionable and evangelicals have joined the fashion,
sometimes with apocalyptic fervor. I wonder if the relentless critique
of (sometimes hard-headed) evangelical pastors, theologians, and
authors – not to mention blogs and internet sites – is not the place we
ought to urge the beginnings of reform. I’m sure that most critics have
their heart in the right place: they want evangelicalism to be more
biblical and more robust. (I hope I do in my own critiques.) This is
what I mean:

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Who was the first Christian martyr?