By Living Waters

It is good and right to be pious, to be devoted to our Creator with an ultimate allegiance of heart, mind and will. And this pertains to matters of our hands, our feet, and our mouths — indeed, our entire beings. Of all the commandments of God, only one is the greatest: to love the Lord our God. He is our center, the One around whom we orbit.

But how our love is expressed sometimes is above and beyond our calling. We desire to ascribe to God superlatives that are ultra-superlatives, ascriptions that exceed even what he has revealed as most worthy to ascribe to him. Our motives may be honorable though our extrapolations unnecessary if not muddled and mired in thoughts that are not God’s thoughts.

Such excessive expressions may be found, I believe, in such ejaculations as, “God is all I need,” and “no creed but Christ,” and “no law but love.” Such a list could be extended by the length of bumper stickers lathered on the rears of the vehicles that God’s people own and operate. (more…)

During my M.A. studies I enjoyed a number of courses with Dr. Richard S. Hess, Professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary. I fondly remember the courses, the independent studies, and the innumerable conversations about this and that regarding Old Testament history, theology, archaeology, etc. I usually meet up with Rick during our summers back in Colorado. Well, he’s recently published a book that may interest you: Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey. The 350-page book breaks out into twelve chapters, including several excursuses (e.g., “The Documentary Hypothesis and Its Evaluation,” “Sacred Prostitution”), and a bibliography of over 1000 entries. Rick is an expert in many languages and has a facility with archaeological sites and artifacts that is stunning. Several other leaders in the field praise his work, though they also note they don’t necessarily share Rick’s high confidence in the Bible. This is an excellent contribution to a very large subject. Cheers!

Vis-a-vis projects in natural theology, Stanley Hauerwas correctively asserts:

“The Trinity is not a further specification of a more determinative reality called god, because there is no more determinative reality than the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” (With the Grain of the Universe: The Church’s Witness and Natural Theology, 15).

Are natural theology projects sub-Christian or quasi-Christian? Do they subvert the lordship of Christ, if they are engaged apart without regard to his lordship? Do projects in natural theology tend toward the elevation of human rumination over divine revelation? In the beginning was the word . . . of God or of man?

Dinesh D’Souza’s book, What’s So Great About Christianity, arrived in the post today. I’m not likely to be able to give it a decent read for a couple of weeks, what I did read was thought-provoking, giving me the impression that his work is sure to be worth reading. (more…)

I’ve already drawn some attention to Michael Bauman’s website (www.michaelbauman.com) where he provides us with many good and provocative articles. Some of those articles were taken from his book, Pilgrim Theology: Taking the Path of Theological Discovery. The good news is that this book is again in print, in a new edition. It has been published by Summit Ministries. You may purchase your copy at Summit Ministries’ online store. And, if you add the special limited coupon code, KJB10off, you’ll receive an additional 10% off the current sale price.

While at the British New Testament Conference I participated in a number of seminars focused on interpreting the New Testament in light of the literature of Second Temple Judaism. One presentation discussed positive and negative forms of “the golden rule”: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It was noted that most often the rule appears in a negative form: don’t to to others what you would not like them to do to you.

Some have proposed that the negative form is more limited since it merely discourages doing harm to others rather than doing service for them. As such, the negative version may lend itself to a more restrictive application (e.g., “hey, I didn’t hurt anyone”). Others have proposed that the two forms imply each other. I could see the positive formulation implying the negative, though the obverse is more difficult to manage (it seems to me). (more…)

This evening, during an open forum with students, we ventured into the topic of spiritual warfare (as is common during open forums). Our time was limited, though the timing was just right (as I’ll explain below) to illustrate an important Christian posture towards experiences in general, and our perceptions of spiritual warfare in particular. I began to explain…

You see, a few weeks ago, in an open forum in Tennessee, a certain student and I were enjoying a disagreement of sorts. It was a somewhat tedious discussion since this student admitted and exhibited his ignorance of Scripture. (This always limits our discussion.) Nevertheless, I decided to boil down the discussion to some fundamental observations. To do this, I decided to ask a few questions (questions be sentences that end with something that looks like a fishhook).

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I’ve begun to read Peter Leithart’s recently published book, The Baptized Body (Canon Press, 2007). Here I’d like to begin by providing a few excerpts that I deem worthy of consideration. Frankly, if the remainder of the volume is this insightful, then I cannot but highly recommend it!

Seas of ink have been poured out in debating whether there is any efficacy in the sacraments “in themselves.” The whole debate is worthless, because both sides begin from the false assumptions that 1) there is such a thing as a “sacrament in itself” and that 2) some things (though not sacraments) do have “efficacy in themselves.” Consider: Baptismal water is a sign authorized by Christ for His church. Validly administered, it is never simply water, but the authorized entry rite into the community of disciples (Mt. 28:18-20). We cannot, we dare not, think that this water is “mere water,” any more than we can think of the American flag as “just a piece of cloth.” Water is not a “thing in itself.” (3)

Nothing at all, other than the Triune God Himself, has efficacy “in itself.” (4)

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I’m rather looking forward to reading this book: The Baptized Body, by Peter Leithart. The table of contents is as follows:

Preface
1. Starting Before the Beginning
2. “Baptism” Is Baptism
3. The “Body of Christ” Is the Body of Christ
4. Apostasy Happens
5. A Tale of Three Servants
Appendix: The Sociology of Infant Baptism

The blurb at Canon Press reads as follows:

What does baptism do to the baptized? Nothing? Something? In this study, Peter Leithart examines this single question of baptismal efficacy. He challenges several common but false assumptions about God, man, the church, salvation, and more that confuse discussions about baptism. He aims to offer a careful and simple discussion of all the central biblical texts that speak to us about baptism, the nature of signs and rites, the character of the church as the body of Christ, and the possibility of apostasy. In the end, he urges us to face up to the wonderful conclusion that Scripture attributes an astonishing power to the initiation rite of baptism.

James B. Jordans’ most recent Biblical Horizons Newsletter series, “How To Do Reformed Theology Nowadays” (parts 1-6) is online now. Much food for thought here.
HT: Barb

One could profit even more by also reading the following two essays by Professor Michael Bauman (of Hillsdale College; also on the faculty of Summit Ministries):

Fortress Theology and the Mirage of Paradox

Peer Pressure, Confessionalism and the Corruption of Judgment: Why Theologians Can’t Think Straight