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Knowledge of the Holy

“We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God’s power and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine. Only the Spirit of the Holy One can impart to the human spirit the knowledge of the holy.”

(A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy , 104)

Vanhoozer on Reading Culture

Susan Wunderink interviews Kevin Vanhoozer about the recent book he edited, Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends (Cultural Exegesis).

Everyday Theology is a collection of essays that present a Christian way of analyzing culture. Ranging from "The Gospel According to Safeway" (see excerpt) to "Between City and Steeple: Looking at Megachurch Architecture," each chapter dissects an aspect of North American culture through a biblical lens.
Related articles and links

Kevin Vanhoozer, the chief editor of the book, has been teaching a class called Cultural Hermeneutics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School since 2001. Everyday Theology emerged out of those classes.
Vanhoozer spoke with CT about the book and his exegetical approach to culture.

Entitled Reading the World, the interview poses the following questions to Vanhoozer:

1. Can you explain what this collection of essays is about?
2. How would you define cultural exegesis?
3. So why do you think people need this book, Everyday Theology?
4. You mention theology often when you write about cultural exegesis. Do you understand theology to be broader than understanding God?
5. Would understanding culture shed light on the nature of God?
6. In the introduction, you asked, "How does one evangelize cultures that have already received the gospel only to revise or reject it?" I suppose you're talking about Western cultures?
7. What resources do people need to analyze their culture?

Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends (Cultural Exegesis)

Beyond “Beyondism”

Beyond "Beyondism" (Joseph Bottum, First Things)

I think it was David Brooks who coined, years ago, the term “beyondist.” A beyondist is someone who urges us to get beyond left/right distinctions, beyond partisan politics, beyond the stymied options of the day. Jim Wallis is a good example, as the title of his book God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It plainly shows.

Who can’t feel the call of beyondism? When Wallis writes, “Don’t be a liberal, don’t be a conservative, be a man or woman of faith. Don’t turn right, don’t turn left, go deeper,” the response has to be: Amen, brother—but stop preaching to the choir. Your heart gives that weird, despairing thunk of hopelessness the umpteenth time you hear a set of Democratic party talking points, Republican party rejoinders, liberal reposts, conservative retorts, leftist agitations, and righty fulminations. To be bound entirely by the political options of the day is to be lost in the perpetual quotidian—swept down the narrowest of channels, banging from side to side and scraping off your skin as you go.

And yet it’s one thing for people to get beyond left/right distinctions, and something different to demand that people get beyond left/right distinctions. That demand to get beyond politics itself exists in a political context—and its proposals always end up breaking for one camp or the other: The way to get beyond the liberal/conservative divide is for all of you on the other side to agree with me. It seems to be a rule that every beyondist is actually doing a little bait and switch—like the tire store that advertises discounted radials they just happen to be out of, though they’re happy to sell you these more expensive whitewalls instead. (read more)

Gordon Fee's Pauline Christology

Gordon Fee's new book, Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study is now available (at least through the Regent Bookstore). Matthew Montonini has sample pages from the book available at his blog. Seeing that there is no time in the foreseeable future that I'll be able to read this, I'm anxious to hear the conversations and reviews. For everything else Gordon Fee you can imagine (including tons of great audio resources), checkout Gordon Fee Online.

Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study

Paul Helm on Karl Barth and the Visibility of God

For those that haven't guessed, the reason my blog has been on life support for the past many months is that I'm finally in the writing stage of my thesis.

If you're at all curious what I've been immersing myself in, or, more importantly, curious to deepen your understanding of Barth's theology, you can read a draft chapter on Barth's doctrine of election and the visibility of God that Paul Helm has graciously made available on his blog. The chapter is part of a forthcoming book from Apollos, Karl Barth’s Theology: Collected Critical Perspectives, edd. David Gibson and Daniel Strange.

Helm's chapter provides a great analysis of Barth's critique of Reformed theology as well as a critique (which I share) of Barth's own problem of God's visibility in his renovation of the classic doctrine of election.

(HT: JT)

Technorati Tags: KarlBarth

Graeme Goldsworthy Interview

Justin Buzzard interviews Graeme Goldsworthy on his blog. Graeme Goldsworthy has had a tremendous influence on the development of my own theology-- particularly through his books According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible and Preaching the Whole Bible As Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching.

I would commend all of his books to you, and if you're not already familiar with him, Justin's interview is a great place to get started. Read the interview here.

(I was able to pick up the UK edition of Goldsworthy's new book, Gospel-centered Hermeneutics, but haven't had a chance to read a page of it yet.)

Crossway re-publishes Chosen For Life

Crossway has just re-published Sam Storms' book, Chosen for Life: The Case for Divine Election. This is not only the first book on election that I read, but it is one of the first theological books I ever read-- and the impact of this book on my life could scarcely be over-stated (which, I realize, for someone given to over-statement, this is a bold claim).

The new book, according to Sam, is

...a revised and greatly expanded version of the earlier work. This edition of Chosen is approximately two-thirds longer than the first one, with new material on James Arminius, the nature of Arminianism (specifically, prevenient grace, the nature of God’s will, and its view of Romans 9), more extensive analysis of the relevant biblical texts (especially John 10, John 17, Ephesians 1, and Romans 9), together with new insights from Calvin, Edwards (on both election and total depravity), and Spurgeon, among others. There is also a completely new chapter addressing the question of why didn’t God choose everyone to be saved, as well as two new Appendices on praying for the lost and the order of the divine decrees.

See the Crossway Chosen for Life page (download the Introduction and Chapter 1)

Chosen for Life: The Case for Divine Election

(continue reading for endorsements)

Technorati Tags: Crossway, SamStorms

Karl Barth & American Evangelicals: Friends or Foes?

Conference Website @ Princeteon Center for Barth Studies

(My question is this: will this conference arrive before the publication of Sung Wook Chung's edited volume, Karl Barth and Evangelical Theology: Convergences and Divergences-- which has been scheduled to be published for what seems like as long as I have been studying Barth...)

[HT:JT]

Technorati Tags: KarlBarth

Ref21 & The Masculinity Problem

After having an extended discussion with a friend last week regarding the issue of gender roles and biblical interpretation, I have loved the opportunity to revisit many of the crucial questions regarding manhood & womanhood as well as to read the timely thread on the issue at reformation21 blog.

Below is a quote from Rick Phillips', Understandably Feminist along with links to the current posts in their series.

While I do not believe that patriarchy (biblically defined) is a sin, as Stackhouse claims, I do believe that many women have never experienced biblical patriarchy but only a mockery of it. In other words, however big the feminist problem is in America and in the church, I believe there is a masculinity problem that is just as big, if not bigger. Given the attitude of many men towards their wives and daughters, and given the actual behavior of many men (in and out of the church), it is no wonder that women fear male authority structures.

Ref21, Books & Culture, and the Feminist Slippery Slope
Familiarly Feminist
Understandably Feminist
The Sin of Manstealing
Servants and Slaves
Is Patriarchy the Best Term?
On Patriarchy

Technorati Tags: complimentarian, gender, masculinity, evangelical+feminism

Sufjan Headed to Rome?

The Catholic Herald Interviews Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan explains that a lot of his friends have recently converted. "I think there's a renaissance of people just wanting to be part of the greater universal Church and putting aside all their qualms about it."

So what stops him? "There's a fear that I have of the authority of Catholicism, the cardinals, the bishops, the pope. I feel that nobody should have that much control."
read the whole thing

This is one trend I hope Sufjan does not follow...

(HT: The Holy Pontiff Himself...Kniffin )

Technorati Tags: Catholicism, Sufjan