Sometime in the past decade, I lost the ability to plan for and keep up with regular, personal, spiritual retreats. A legitimate excuse might be that, when I worked a manual-labor job with set hours, vacation days, holidays, etc., it was easier to schedule a time to go to the park and be alone with the Ever-Present One for several hours. Now that I live the life of a missionary-teacher, I'm either reading the Bible, reading about the Bible or teaching the Bible. I'm getting much more spiritual input than when I was making photocopies of psychology dissertations at Biola's Duplicating Center. But that's a bad excuse because I still need the silence and solitude that my current shared office and child-filled home don't afford.
Well, feeling the weight of the absence, I took a "personal day" last week. Man, did I need it. One of the things that I did was to pray through a spiritual classic, which also used to be part of my former regime. It's uniquely refreshing to let someone much more experienced and mature than you guide you in your thoughts about and conversations with God. Since I didn't have a lot of time I wanted to pick something that I could work all the way through in the amount of time I had. So I picked Brother Lawrence's, The Practice of the Presence of God. What a kickpuncher! There's nothing like a 17th century monk to shake your modern (or postmodern) mindset and get you thinkin' new thoughts!
Aside from recommending that you spend some time with a spiritual classic (click here and here for some good collections), I want to offer a few of the thoughts I found most powerful (or shocking, or encouraging, or challenging, etc.) this time 'round with Larry. (The quotes that begin with "Brother Lawrence told me ..." are from conversations that M. Beaufort had with him.)
1. "[Brother Lawrence told me] that we should establish ourselves in a sense of God's presence by continually conversing with Him."
2. "I engaged in a religious life only for the love of God, and I have endeavored to act only for Him; whatever becomes of me, whether I be lost or saved, I will always continue to act purely for the love of God. I shall have this good at least, that till death I shall have done all that is in me to love Him."
3. "[Brother Lawrence told me] that all bodily mortifications and other exercises are useless, except as they serve to arrive at the union with the love of God."
4. "[Brother Lawrence told me] that is was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to be different from other times; that we are as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of action as by prayer in the season of prayer."
5. "[Brother Lawrence told me] that we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed."
6. "[Brother Lawrence told me] that all things are possible to him who believes; that they are less difficult to him who hopes; that they are more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of all three virtues."
7. "Sometimes I consider myself there [in set hours of prayer] as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue; presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to form His perfect image in my soul, and make me entirely like Himself."
8. "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. ... It is not pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise; but let us do it from a principle of love, and because God would have us."
9. "I wish you could convince yourself that God is often (in some sense) nearer to us, and more effectually present with us, in sickness than in health."
10. "Let all our employment be to know God; the more one knows Him, the more one desires to know Him. And as knowledge is commonly the measure of love, the deeper and more extensive our knowledge shall be, the greater will be our love; and if our love of God were great, we should love Him equally in pains and pleasures."
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
At Long Last
If you're proud of your alma mater, you probably like to see your former profs publish good books and write good articles (or the appropriate equivalent in whatever field you studied) so that more people than just you can enjoy the fruit of their labors. I definitely feel that way about Talbot School of Theology and think that many more people should be familiar with her faculty than actually are.
Now it's much easier with the launch of a Talbot blog — The Good Book Blog. Not all profs are posting there; I think it's a little less than half. But that's better than none and there are already some great posts to digest (see Dr. Ken Berding's posts on prayer and the family here and here) (also check out Dr. Ken Way's story of how he chose where to earn his Ph.D.). Check it out as often as possible, stretch your mind and enrich your soul.
Now it's much easier with the launch of a Talbot blog — The Good Book Blog. Not all profs are posting there; I think it's a little less than half. But that's better than none and there are already some great posts to digest (see Dr. Ken Berding's posts on prayer and the family here and here) (also check out Dr. Ken Way's story of how he chose where to earn his Ph.D.). Check it out as often as possible, stretch your mind and enrich your soul.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Tribute to Oksana (Photos by Sergei)
If you get our newsletter then you've seen this picture of my philosophy students from the class in November.
I'm obviously not in the photo because I'm taking the picture. However, there's one more person who should be in the picture but isn't. Her name is Oksana and, although I taught the class in Russian, things would have been a whole lot worse without her help. Here's just a few of the things she did:
-She went through my notes (which had been translated by someone else previously and contained mistakes due to the fact that I didn't have any live contact with that person during the translation process) and made extremely thorough revisions.
-She translated 2 new sets of lecture notes that I hadn't finished for the previous semester's class.
-She sat through the whole class and, whenever I didn't know a word/phrase or sufficiently slaughtered a word/phrase, she informed me of what I really should be saying.
-She helped me grade the assignments that were written Ukrainian, a language which is still way out of my reach.
So, as you can see, my pedagogical success (if you want to call it that — my students probably don't), is due in large part to Oksana's able and effective service.
Well, last Monday was her birthday and, in typical KTS fashion, she made a cake and brought it to the office. When the available seminary personnel gathered around to sing and congratulate her, we all partook of the goodies. Present at the shindig was Sergei Tarasenko, KTS librarian, TST-KE student and budding photographer. He graciously offered to give me the pictures that he took of me at the occasion and, in a rare moment of blogging forethought, I asked him for a number of other pictures so that I could post a tribute to Oksana for her wonderful work in my class. So, I present to you a few photos of Oksana and her office party, courtesy of Sergei.
Oksana, the marvelous translator
The food
Eric messin' up Sergei's shot
Eric doing some serious eating
Igor and Sergei (no, not photographer Sergei) doing some serious eating
Thanks again for all the help, Oksana, and happy birthday!
I'm obviously not in the photo because I'm taking the picture. However, there's one more person who should be in the picture but isn't. Her name is Oksana and, although I taught the class in Russian, things would have been a whole lot worse without her help. Here's just a few of the things she did:
-She went through my notes (which had been translated by someone else previously and contained mistakes due to the fact that I didn't have any live contact with that person during the translation process) and made extremely thorough revisions.
-She translated 2 new sets of lecture notes that I hadn't finished for the previous semester's class.
-She sat through the whole class and, whenever I didn't know a word/phrase or sufficiently slaughtered a word/phrase, she informed me of what I really should be saying.
-She helped me grade the assignments that were written Ukrainian, a language which is still way out of my reach.
So, as you can see, my pedagogical success (if you want to call it that — my students probably don't), is due in large part to Oksana's able and effective service.
Well, last Monday was her birthday and, in typical KTS fashion, she made a cake and brought it to the office. When the available seminary personnel gathered around to sing and congratulate her, we all partook of the goodies. Present at the shindig was Sergei Tarasenko, KTS librarian, TST-KE student and budding photographer. He graciously offered to give me the pictures that he took of me at the occasion and, in a rare moment of blogging forethought, I asked him for a number of other pictures so that I could post a tribute to Oksana for her wonderful work in my class. So, I present to you a few photos of Oksana and her office party, courtesy of Sergei.
Oksana, the marvelous translator
The food
Eric messin' up Sergei's shot
Eric doing some serious eating
Igor and Sergei (no, not photographer Sergei) doing some serious eating
Thanks again for all the help, Oksana, and happy birthday!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Join the Debate
I stumbled upon an amazing site while searching iTunes for some good theology/philosophy/apologetics podcasts. It's DebateGod.org and it's got an amazing amount of material for those who love to listen to debates and discussions on the major topics in the philosophy of religion. They claim to have over 500 debates available and, so far, I don't think they're foolin'. Go there, find something that interests you and indulge, for free.
But this recommendation comes with 2 cautions. First, in case you are easily offended, the site is not administered and moderated by a Christian. He's an agnostic and he's not afraid to use expletives. I learned this after I posted a comment on a debate that I had listened to and was responded to in a manner not suitable for all audiences. The comment was not personally directed at me but it was an introduction to what can be found on the site. Reader beware.
The second caution is in regard to "interaction addiction" to the site. I listened to a podcast of a debate between Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath. I wanted to make a comment in the forum that they create for some debates. You have to be a member to participate. I became a member and posted my comment. The moderator responded immediately and in a manner that enticed me to respond again. I started to receive emails every time something new was posted on the site (yes, that function can be turned off). A topic appeared that is extremely interesting to me. I spent an hour just a bit ago posting in the forum. And, on top of all that, they give you "activity points" every time you participate, which flips a little switch in your brain and makes you want to "play." As you can see, it can be addicting and I'm hooked. If you are prone to addiction, beware.
And now for the shameless plugging. Here are links to the forums that I've posted in, in case you are interested:
My comments on the Hitchens/McGrath debate
My posts in the Science & Faith forum
Join if you dare, read if you want, but, by all means, listen until your ears bleed. Nothing gets the the wheels turning like a good debate.
But this recommendation comes with 2 cautions. First, in case you are easily offended, the site is not administered and moderated by a Christian. He's an agnostic and he's not afraid to use expletives. I learned this after I posted a comment on a debate that I had listened to and was responded to in a manner not suitable for all audiences. The comment was not personally directed at me but it was an introduction to what can be found on the site. Reader beware.
The second caution is in regard to "interaction addiction" to the site. I listened to a podcast of a debate between Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath. I wanted to make a comment in the forum that they create for some debates. You have to be a member to participate. I became a member and posted my comment. The moderator responded immediately and in a manner that enticed me to respond again. I started to receive emails every time something new was posted on the site (yes, that function can be turned off). A topic appeared that is extremely interesting to me. I spent an hour just a bit ago posting in the forum. And, on top of all that, they give you "activity points" every time you participate, which flips a little switch in your brain and makes you want to "play." As you can see, it can be addicting and I'm hooked. If you are prone to addiction, beware.
And now for the shameless plugging. Here are links to the forums that I've posted in, in case you are interested:
My comments on the Hitchens/McGrath debate
My posts in the Science & Faith forum
Join if you dare, read if you want, but, by all means, listen until your ears bleed. Nothing gets the the wheels turning like a good debate.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Christmas/New Year's Book Bonanza
Our Christmas/New Year's traditions have developed into a cool East-West hybrid that spreads the celebrating out for much longer than we're used to in the States. Let me explain.
Our local Church, Light of the Gospel, has services and youth performances on and around the 25th of December and, as a family, we do stockings and one family gift on that day. Most of the people around us don't acknowledge that date as anything special, so we keep it low-key and focus on the family and faith aspects of it.
The big day for Ukrainian gift giving is January 1. Of course, everyone is up late celebrating the New Year and boy, do I mean late. Not-quite-professional-but-highly-impressive fireworks get going at midnight all over the city and go strong until about 1:00AM. Then, after decreasing in frequency just a bit, they continue until 4:00 or 5:00AM. This year featured a bunch of youngsters misfiring a sky rocket that flew a few feet off the ground (horizontally instead of vertically) and exploded into the side of a car about 150 feet from us. I was torn between anger over such irresponsibility and curiosity over what would have happened if it exploded under the car, all the while thanking the Good Lord that we weren't any closer to the incident than we were. Mishaps and lateness notwithstanding, fireworks everywhere you turn is a great way to bring in the New Year.
So, the drawback to combining gift giving with New Year's is the sleep deprivation that accompanies all activities on January 1. But the pluses outweigh the minuses. First, all of the materialism that accompanies the gift giving is clearly shifted away from the celebration of the Incarnation. Second, nothing happens on January 1 so you have all day to lounge around and put together all of the stuff that a 4-year-old receives at this time of year. Third, no matter how hard they try, my parents' Christmas box never arrives before the 25th. This year it arrived on Thursday, which would have been late if we were counting on it for Christmas. But since we do presents on New Year's — blammo — presents on time!
You'd think that it's all over and done with, right? Well, given that this is an Orthodox country and thus follows the Orthodox calendar, Christmas is officially celebrated after New Year's on January 7. So, instead of being out of school from December 27-31, Dietrich will be out of school from January 3-7. Thus, more rest and recreation is ahead of us a family. Also, more celebrating is ahead of us as our Church takes advantage of the holiday to focus on Jesus' birth with a more evangelistic thrust the second time around, hoping to present the Gospel compellingly to any nominal Church-goers who may be simply trying to do their "religious duty" on that day.
The above, apart from explaining how we celebrate the holiday season, is mostly just a set up for why I'm bragging about my gifts on New Year's and not on Christmas. I always ask for books at the holidays — I take 'em any way I can get 'em — but this year I really scored. 10 books total and I want to read all of them right now! Realistically, I should make it through 4, maybe 5 of them in the next year so, if you want to know what I think, check back next year at this time. Here they are, in no particular order. If you've read any of them and have any thoughts, please comment.
Michael F. Bird & James Crossley, How Did Christianity Begin? A Believer and Non-believer Examine the Evidence (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008).
This book was advertised in First Things and caught my attention. I'm already about 20 pages into it. The fact that the "non-believer," Crossley, believes a lot things that non-believers are not supposed to believe should make the debate a lot more interesting.
John Mark Reynolds, When Athens Met Jerusalem: In Introduction to Classical and Christian Thought (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2009).
John Mark Reynolds is a dynamic and deep thinker and delivers a great lecture. It's probably safe to say that he delivers too many a great lecture given the time it took him to complete this book (I remember talking to him about it at least 10 years ago). In any case, this book should bring clarity to the often misunderstood relationship between Christianity and ancient thought. If I teach philosophy again in the fall, this book is definitely on my summer reading list.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers from Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 8 (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010).
Obviously, Bonhoeffer is respected in this house, but I've always been embarrassed that I've never read this key collection of his final thoughts. By the time I knew that I should read it, the English translation of his complete works was already in process and I wanted to wait for it in that series. Now that it's out and I have it, I will consume it forthwith.
Peter Kreeft, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven but Never Dreamed of Asking (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1990).
I'm teaching a course in March/April that includes eschatology and I don't have a lot of books on Heaven (mostly because there aren't a lot of specifically theological books on the topic) for preparation. Kreeft is an excellent writer and has another book on the existential case for Heaven that is awesome so, I assume this one will be too.
Michael Rydelnik, The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic? NAC Studies in Bible and Theology, Vol. 9 (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2010).
The NAC Studies in Bible & Theology series is awesome! I read Jason Meyers' The End of the Law, also from that series, and am still adjusting my worldview in light of it. I'm collecting all of the books from the series so, there isn't a specific reason why I asked for Rydelnik's book other than that I didn't have it yet. But I'm always glad to be forced to spend serious time with the Old Testament, which this book will do. And how can it not be beneficial to wrestle with Its promises of a Messiah that are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus?
Keith Ward, The Big Questions in Science & Religion (Conshohocken, PA: Templetom Press, 2008).
If I have an academic hobby (as opposed to a specialization), it's digging deep into the science-religion debate. While poking around on Amazon.com a few years ago, I came across this book and it promises to be a fresh look at some of the major questions that come up in that debate. Who knows when I'll get to this but I can't wait 'til I do. (The page for this book at Templeton Press says that the book is in Russian. If so, I may be reading it sooner than later. That's exciting.)
Thomas Flint, Divine Providence: The Molinist Account, Cornell Studies in Science & Religion (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998).
Molinism is the major view of divine providence in Talbot School of Theology's Philosophy of Religion and Ethics program and I need to know more about it than I do. William Lane Craig has a good introductory text on the view; Flint's seems to be the more scholarly and philosophical counterpart to Craig's book. Explaining how God can be sovereign while man can be free is not an easy task. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Molinist account compares to the standard Calvinist and Arminian/Wesleyan accounts.
D.A. Carson, Divine Sovereignty & Human Responsibility: Biblical Perspectives in Tension (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2002).
One of the major contenders for a Calvinist explanation of the divine sovereignty/human freedom problem is compatiblism, which Carson contends for in this book. Carson is an amazingly sharp thinker and I expect to read a very well-argued and very biblical case for the view when I get around to tackling this book. I'll try my best to read Flint and Carson back to back, if I can.
Christopher Morgan & Robert Peterson, eds., Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004).
This book is also to prep for my upcoming eschatology class. The bummer is that it is the second time I've had to buy the book. I don't have a good system for keeping track of books that I lend out (call it irresponsibility or communalism). So, at some point in the last few years, I let someone borrow the book and never got it back. I've asked everyone I can think of if they have it and, with no positive results, my poor wife had to buy me a book that we'd already spent money on in the past. The good thing is that its a great collection of powerful essays that argue for a biblically faithful view of hell so, if the person who has it reads it, they'll be really well informed about where not to go when you die.
Bruce A. Ware, ed., Perspectives in the Doctrine of God: 4 Views (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2008).
I love the multiview book series by all 3 major publishers (B&H's Perspectives series, IVP's Spectrum Multiview series and Zondervan's Counterpoint series and here and here). This format forces the authors to succinctly state their view and to interact with others who share a view different, often radically different, from their own. This particular book would be good to read before I read Flint and Carson, as it would give the Arminian and Open Theist perspectives on the relationship between divine sovereignty and human freedom, as well. Maybe the summer of 2012 will be dedicated to that research project.
I hope you had a merry Christmas and as happy a New Year's as I did.
Our local Church, Light of the Gospel, has services and youth performances on and around the 25th of December and, as a family, we do stockings and one family gift on that day. Most of the people around us don't acknowledge that date as anything special, so we keep it low-key and focus on the family and faith aspects of it.
The big day for Ukrainian gift giving is January 1. Of course, everyone is up late celebrating the New Year and boy, do I mean late. Not-quite-professional-but-highly-impressive fireworks get going at midnight all over the city and go strong until about 1:00AM. Then, after decreasing in frequency just a bit, they continue until 4:00 or 5:00AM. This year featured a bunch of youngsters misfiring a sky rocket that flew a few feet off the ground (horizontally instead of vertically) and exploded into the side of a car about 150 feet from us. I was torn between anger over such irresponsibility and curiosity over what would have happened if it exploded under the car, all the while thanking the Good Lord that we weren't any closer to the incident than we were. Mishaps and lateness notwithstanding, fireworks everywhere you turn is a great way to bring in the New Year.
So, the drawback to combining gift giving with New Year's is the sleep deprivation that accompanies all activities on January 1. But the pluses outweigh the minuses. First, all of the materialism that accompanies the gift giving is clearly shifted away from the celebration of the Incarnation. Second, nothing happens on January 1 so you have all day to lounge around and put together all of the stuff that a 4-year-old receives at this time of year. Third, no matter how hard they try, my parents' Christmas box never arrives before the 25th. This year it arrived on Thursday, which would have been late if we were counting on it for Christmas. But since we do presents on New Year's — blammo — presents on time!
You'd think that it's all over and done with, right? Well, given that this is an Orthodox country and thus follows the Orthodox calendar, Christmas is officially celebrated after New Year's on January 7. So, instead of being out of school from December 27-31, Dietrich will be out of school from January 3-7. Thus, more rest and recreation is ahead of us a family. Also, more celebrating is ahead of us as our Church takes advantage of the holiday to focus on Jesus' birth with a more evangelistic thrust the second time around, hoping to present the Gospel compellingly to any nominal Church-goers who may be simply trying to do their "religious duty" on that day.
The above, apart from explaining how we celebrate the holiday season, is mostly just a set up for why I'm bragging about my gifts on New Year's and not on Christmas. I always ask for books at the holidays — I take 'em any way I can get 'em — but this year I really scored. 10 books total and I want to read all of them right now! Realistically, I should make it through 4, maybe 5 of them in the next year so, if you want to know what I think, check back next year at this time. Here they are, in no particular order. If you've read any of them and have any thoughts, please comment.
Michael F. Bird & James Crossley, How Did Christianity Begin? A Believer and Non-believer Examine the Evidence (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008).
This book was advertised in First Things and caught my attention. I'm already about 20 pages into it. The fact that the "non-believer," Crossley, believes a lot things that non-believers are not supposed to believe should make the debate a lot more interesting.
John Mark Reynolds, When Athens Met Jerusalem: In Introduction to Classical and Christian Thought (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2009).
John Mark Reynolds is a dynamic and deep thinker and delivers a great lecture. It's probably safe to say that he delivers too many a great lecture given the time it took him to complete this book (I remember talking to him about it at least 10 years ago). In any case, this book should bring clarity to the often misunderstood relationship between Christianity and ancient thought. If I teach philosophy again in the fall, this book is definitely on my summer reading list.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers from Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 8 (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010).
Obviously, Bonhoeffer is respected in this house, but I've always been embarrassed that I've never read this key collection of his final thoughts. By the time I knew that I should read it, the English translation of his complete works was already in process and I wanted to wait for it in that series. Now that it's out and I have it, I will consume it forthwith.
Peter Kreeft, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven but Never Dreamed of Asking (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1990).
I'm teaching a course in March/April that includes eschatology and I don't have a lot of books on Heaven (mostly because there aren't a lot of specifically theological books on the topic) for preparation. Kreeft is an excellent writer and has another book on the existential case for Heaven that is awesome so, I assume this one will be too.
Michael Rydelnik, The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic? NAC Studies in Bible and Theology, Vol. 9 (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2010).
The NAC Studies in Bible & Theology series is awesome! I read Jason Meyers' The End of the Law, also from that series, and am still adjusting my worldview in light of it. I'm collecting all of the books from the series so, there isn't a specific reason why I asked for Rydelnik's book other than that I didn't have it yet. But I'm always glad to be forced to spend serious time with the Old Testament, which this book will do. And how can it not be beneficial to wrestle with Its promises of a Messiah that are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus?
Keith Ward, The Big Questions in Science & Religion (Conshohocken, PA: Templetom Press, 2008).
If I have an academic hobby (as opposed to a specialization), it's digging deep into the science-religion debate. While poking around on Amazon.com a few years ago, I came across this book and it promises to be a fresh look at some of the major questions that come up in that debate. Who knows when I'll get to this but I can't wait 'til I do. (The page for this book at Templeton Press says that the book is in Russian. If so, I may be reading it sooner than later. That's exciting.)
Thomas Flint, Divine Providence: The Molinist Account, Cornell Studies in Science & Religion (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998).
Molinism is the major view of divine providence in Talbot School of Theology's Philosophy of Religion and Ethics program and I need to know more about it than I do. William Lane Craig has a good introductory text on the view; Flint's seems to be the more scholarly and philosophical counterpart to Craig's book. Explaining how God can be sovereign while man can be free is not an easy task. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Molinist account compares to the standard Calvinist and Arminian/Wesleyan accounts.
D.A. Carson, Divine Sovereignty & Human Responsibility: Biblical Perspectives in Tension (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2002).
One of the major contenders for a Calvinist explanation of the divine sovereignty/human freedom problem is compatiblism, which Carson contends for in this book. Carson is an amazingly sharp thinker and I expect to read a very well-argued and very biblical case for the view when I get around to tackling this book. I'll try my best to read Flint and Carson back to back, if I can.
Christopher Morgan & Robert Peterson, eds., Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004).
This book is also to prep for my upcoming eschatology class. The bummer is that it is the second time I've had to buy the book. I don't have a good system for keeping track of books that I lend out (call it irresponsibility or communalism). So, at some point in the last few years, I let someone borrow the book and never got it back. I've asked everyone I can think of if they have it and, with no positive results, my poor wife had to buy me a book that we'd already spent money on in the past. The good thing is that its a great collection of powerful essays that argue for a biblically faithful view of hell so, if the person who has it reads it, they'll be really well informed about where not to go when you die.
Bruce A. Ware, ed., Perspectives in the Doctrine of God: 4 Views (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2008).
I love the multiview book series by all 3 major publishers (B&H's Perspectives series, IVP's Spectrum Multiview series and Zondervan's Counterpoint series and here and here). This format forces the authors to succinctly state their view and to interact with others who share a view different, often radically different, from their own. This particular book would be good to read before I read Flint and Carson, as it would give the Arminian and Open Theist perspectives on the relationship between divine sovereignty and human freedom, as well. Maybe the summer of 2012 will be dedicated to that research project.
I hope you had a merry Christmas and as happy a New Year's as I did.
Monday, November 29, 2010
A Different Way to Read a Book
I've referred to William Lane Craig's website a time or two before now. It's full of great stuff. It's possible that there is too much great stuff there, actually. I've still not looked at all of it because, when I think of going there, I usually decide that I don't have enough time to peruse it all.
The podcasts are a different story, however. Averaging about 20 minutes a piece, Craig and the host of the podcast, Kevin Harris, talk about a specific issue in theology, philosophy or apologetics, giving listeners a good general overview, often mentioning some key resources that contain more info for further investigation. Listen online, download or subscribe to the Reasonable Faith podcasts; they're super.
One of great things that Craig does from time to time is to review a recently released book of his and give a detailed overview of its contents. I find this extremely helpful in deciding whether or not I want to buy the book. 20 minutes is not a sufficient amount of time to discuss everything but it is certainly sufficient for determining whether the book is unique enough to add to my library. If the book is extremely lengthy or wide-ranging, Craig will sometimes do 2 podcasts on one book, giving even greater depth and detail.
Now to the point. In the fall of 2007, Craig did a 9-part review of the 3rd edition of his apologetic standard, Reasonable Faith (which came out in 2008). Yes, that's right, a 9-part review. Oddly, the podcast discussion sometimes veers from the contents of the book and addresses other apologetic topics. For example, part 7 of the podcast is about the historical reliability of the NT, while that chapter was dropped altogether from the 3rd edition of the book. Similarly, part 9 of the podcast is all about the New Atheism (a topic not addressed in the 3rd edition of the book) while the resurrection of Jesus (the subject of chapter 8 of the book) is not discussed in the podcasts at all. Oddities notwithstanding, when you are done listening to these 9 podcasts, which takes about 3.5 hours, you will have basically consumed the contents of Reasonable Faith, the book. You may not get as many details as you would have from actually reading the book, but you wouldn't remember all of the details if you had anyway. So, especially for those short on time, I recommend this new approach to "reading" Craig's book. And, in a world where "postmodernism" — both the term and the sociological ethos — is ubiquitous, I especially recommend giving your attention to part 6. Craig emphasizes the inconsistencies and absurdities of postmodernism, as well as the fact that philosophy, the hard sciences and historical studies are all more or less rejecting postmodernism in the academy. This will take time to trickle down to the masses. In the meantime, instead of directing all of our intellectual and ministerial resources toward accommodating and compromising the truth for the sake of reaching a supposedly postmodern culture, we should be taking a firm and convincing yet engaging and relevant stand for the truth.
Below are links to each individual podcast with the corresponding chapter title from the book, or else a description of the contents of the podcast when there is no correspondence with the book.
Part 1 — Chapter 1 — How Do I Know Christianity Is True? (Faith & Reason)
Part 2 — Chapter 2 — The Absurdity of Life without God
Part 3 — Chapter 3 — The Existence of God (1) (Cosmological Arguments: Contingency & Kalam)
Part 4 — Chapter 4 — The Existence of God (2) (Design, Moral & Ontological Arguments)
Part 5 — Chapter 6 — The Problem of Miracles
Part 6 — Chapter 5 — The Problem of Historical Knowledge (Skepticism, Relativism & Postmodernism)
Part 7 — The Historical Reliability of the NT
Part 8 — Chapter 7 — The Self-Understanding of Jesus
Part 9 — The New Atheism
Happy "reading."
The podcasts are a different story, however. Averaging about 20 minutes a piece, Craig and the host of the podcast, Kevin Harris, talk about a specific issue in theology, philosophy or apologetics, giving listeners a good general overview, often mentioning some key resources that contain more info for further investigation. Listen online, download or subscribe to the Reasonable Faith podcasts; they're super.
One of great things that Craig does from time to time is to review a recently released book of his and give a detailed overview of its contents. I find this extremely helpful in deciding whether or not I want to buy the book. 20 minutes is not a sufficient amount of time to discuss everything but it is certainly sufficient for determining whether the book is unique enough to add to my library. If the book is extremely lengthy or wide-ranging, Craig will sometimes do 2 podcasts on one book, giving even greater depth and detail.
Now to the point. In the fall of 2007, Craig did a 9-part review of the 3rd edition of his apologetic standard, Reasonable Faith (which came out in 2008). Yes, that's right, a 9-part review. Oddly, the podcast discussion sometimes veers from the contents of the book and addresses other apologetic topics. For example, part 7 of the podcast is about the historical reliability of the NT, while that chapter was dropped altogether from the 3rd edition of the book. Similarly, part 9 of the podcast is all about the New Atheism (a topic not addressed in the 3rd edition of the book) while the resurrection of Jesus (the subject of chapter 8 of the book) is not discussed in the podcasts at all. Oddities notwithstanding, when you are done listening to these 9 podcasts, which takes about 3.5 hours, you will have basically consumed the contents of Reasonable Faith, the book. You may not get as many details as you would have from actually reading the book, but you wouldn't remember all of the details if you had anyway. So, especially for those short on time, I recommend this new approach to "reading" Craig's book. And, in a world where "postmodernism" — both the term and the sociological ethos — is ubiquitous, I especially recommend giving your attention to part 6. Craig emphasizes the inconsistencies and absurdities of postmodernism, as well as the fact that philosophy, the hard sciences and historical studies are all more or less rejecting postmodernism in the academy. This will take time to trickle down to the masses. In the meantime, instead of directing all of our intellectual and ministerial resources toward accommodating and compromising the truth for the sake of reaching a supposedly postmodern culture, we should be taking a firm and convincing yet engaging and relevant stand for the truth.
Below are links to each individual podcast with the corresponding chapter title from the book, or else a description of the contents of the podcast when there is no correspondence with the book.
Part 1 — Chapter 1 — How Do I Know Christianity Is True? (Faith & Reason)
Part 2 — Chapter 2 — The Absurdity of Life without God
Part 3 — Chapter 3 — The Existence of God (1) (Cosmological Arguments: Contingency & Kalam)
Part 4 — Chapter 4 — The Existence of God (2) (Design, Moral & Ontological Arguments)
Part 5 — Chapter 6 — The Problem of Miracles
Part 6 — Chapter 5 — The Problem of Historical Knowledge (Skepticism, Relativism & Postmodernism)
Part 7 — The Historical Reliability of the NT
Part 8 — Chapter 7 — The Self-Understanding of Jesus
Part 9 — The New Atheism
Happy "reading."
Saturday, October 16, 2010
When You're Stuck In the Scholarly Muck ...
...remember this:
"Elegant, academic discussions may appeal to us as an intellectual exercise. But the only thing that finally matters is truth."
If you're interested, you can read the rest of Archbishop Chaput's thoughts here. Unfortunately, you have to have a subscription to FT to access this particular article. If you don't have a subscription, you should get one. That, or you can come visit us in Ukraine and read my copy.
"Elegant, academic discussions may appeal to us as an intellectual exercise. But the only thing that finally matters is truth."
If you're interested, you can read the rest of Archbishop Chaput's thoughts here. Unfortunately, you have to have a subscription to FT to access this particular article. If you don't have a subscription, you should get one. That, or you can come visit us in Ukraine and read my copy.
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