Book Review: Five Festal Garments

Of all the many series Apollos/IVP have published in recent years, the one that I've valued most highly have been the 'New Studies in Biblical Theology' edited by Don Carson. I'm slowly working my way through the series, and Five Festal Garments by Barry Cooper was among the very best. The book springs from Cooper's two greatest passions - biblical theology and the exposition of the Old Testament as Holy Scripture. They combine wonderfully in the book.

The Five Festal Garments of the title refers to the Old Testament books of Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther. In the introduction, Cooper explains the festal garments through the customary Jewish usage of these books. Recognising that they were always canonical, the problem arose as to how to 'wear' the Scrolls. The solution comes in their use in the Jewish lectionary as readings for the five major festivals. But 'no consensus has emerged about their proper use, or about how they can be the word of God for us today' as Christians. Rather, they appear to be the most neglected books in the scriptures.

These Christian reflections on the books are a great little introduction to each, with their structure and content setting the tone for each chapter. The outline he follows for each asks the key questions - (i) a reading of the text to discover its structure; (ii) the relationship of the book to the wider Old Testament; (iii) how the book connects to the New Testament gospel through 'promise and fulfillment.'

The Song of Songs is the 'Garment of Love', even as it raises the question of who is speaking to whom and what do they mean; and how are we to see it as part of the Bible? His starting point is that it is love poetry, 'but it is neither a philosophical treatise... nor a sex manual.' With the different settings and voices, some may think that it's a compilation of love songs, like a greatest hits album, but Cooper argues that it's one single love poem. With its links to Solomon, the wider context points to the wisdom of Solomon and the themes of love found in Proverbs 31 and elsewhere. The theological context emphasises three important ideas: affirmation of the body and sexual relationships (in its essential goodness with links to the original creation); it doesn't idealise singleness; and it celebrates sex as a one-flesh union. Connecting it to the New Testament, Cooper sees it pointing to the new heavens and the new earth with the implication that sex is good, but it is not the greatest good, with an even better joy in heaven where there is only one marriage, between Christ and his people.

Ruth is up next, the 'Garment of Kindness.' It's a gentle book, but with turbulence in the depths - 'kindness of a radical and controversial sort; a kindness that makes ripples.' While some may see it as a romantic comedy, Cooper finds an irresistable movement in the book, from death to life, barrenness to fruitfulness, emptiness to fullness, curse to blessing.' His obesrvations of the text are marvellous, linking in to the wider context of the judges and David's kingship, a micro-history of salvation as it impacts a household (with wider implications). The wider implications are drawn out in the final section, as kindness is shown to be the very character of God, as his kindness draws in the Gentiles through Jesus the ultimate kinsman redeemer.

Lamentations is the 'Garment of Suffering' used on the Ninth of Ab, the day of fasting for the destruction of the temple. As the name suggests, it's a dark shaft of tragic loss and acute anguish, but Cooper points out that it's also a closely worked 'ordered grief', with its acrostics and a common structure. The question of its setting was surprising for me - having thought it was naturally connected with Jeremiah, it appears that there are differences of opinion, whether it comes after the prophets, as part of the historical writings. The resonance with the rest of the Old Testament is in the confusion over the impregnability of Zion in some of the Psalms, compared to the experienced reality. Over all, it 'shows us God's wrath as a directly experienced reality.' Yet alongside the darkness, there are beams of light, with the hope that comes from God, even as he displays his wrath. This becomes even clearer as we trace those lines through to the New Testament, where 'The unfailing love and righteous wrath of which it speaks find their climactic meeting point in the cross.'

Ecclesiastes is portrayed as the 'Garment of Vexation' - which is perhaps the most enigmatic book dealt with. With few footholds in the hebel (mist), there are as many opinions on the book as there are commentators! Yet there is some clarity as the structure is examined, with the narrator opening and closing the book, before coming to the Teacher's instruction. 'The positive conclusions drawn from the expose of human frailty and futility in the preceding observation complex is that human beings should fear God. And fearing God is tied, by implication, to attentiveness to his Torah.' Again, there's a link to the theme of creation in the Old Testament, but Paul sets the creation's frustration in the context of redemption in Romans 8.

Esther is the last book considered, the 'Garment of Deliverance.' In seeking to understand Esther, the first task is to try to catch her distinctive voice. 'What is of particular interest is the way that theme [deliverance] is developed here. How is deliverance in Esther different from deliverance in, say, the exodus, or Judges, or the Joseph narrative?' Here, we find 'history as story rather than history as chronicle.' Remarking on the 'absence' of God from the text of the book, Cooper urges that to use the book is 'to clothe ourselves with the truth that God is sovereign, and to be reminded that he is always with us, even when he seems most absent, and that nothing can ultimately thwart his purposes.'

I really enjoyed this book, giving an introduction to some of the lesser well known books of the Bible. His approach was very beneficial, opening out from the book itself to its OT context to its whole Bible context. There is plenty of gold in this book, for anyone wanting to get to know these books a bit better. It's also very useful for the pastor preparing to preach a series in the books - as I had previously done when preaching and leading Bible studies in Ruth. The whole series of the New Studies in Biblical Theology is great, but this might just be the crowning glory. Five Festal Garments is available from Amazon.

Book Review: The Resurrection of Christ

Every year I try to do some seasonal reading - an Easter type book around Holy Week and Easter, and an Advent/Christmas themed book in December. So back in the springtime, I read Michael Ramsey's 'The Resurrection of Christ', but the review is only appearing now (yes, that's how far behind my book reviews are running... the pressure's on to get them all cleared up by the end of this year!).

I didn't know terribly much about Michael Ramsey before I read the book, other than that he was the Archbishop of Canterbury at a time. It seems now that I know a bit more about him, but wouldn't agree with him on much, other than his basic premise, that Jesus rose from the dead. How he goes about trying to argue for it, though, left a lot to be desired. There are dodgy philosophical ramblings that seek to deny, not explain the necessity of a sin-bearing substitute, among other things. He seems to want to satisfy the academy, rather than base his belief on what the scriptures say.

It appeared that he was trying to be too highbrow, and that other books now available are better on the resurrection ('Lifted' by Sam Allberry or 'Raised with Christ' by Adrian Warnock). I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone, so don't bother with it!

Book Review: Jesus and the Logic of History

Have you ever had a book sitting on your shelf for ages and ages? You think you know what it's going to say, and so you leave it to descend in your reading priorities. And then you eventually get around to reading it and wonder why you left it so long? That's been my experience with this book - Jesus and the Logic of History by Paul Barnett.

The big idea behind the book is that we can get to know that the gospel accounts are accurate through the incidental details recorded in the New Testament letters. Just think for a moment. Within the letters, which were written before the gospels, there are details about the person and character and life of Jesus which were already part of the eyewitness testimony. The fact that they are already written down before we get to the gospel accounts must mean that the gospels themselves are authentic and accurate records of the life of Jesus. That's the summary of the book. To discover a bit more, read on!

Barnett introduces his book with the reminder that 'Christianity is a historical religion in at least two senses' - that it is a part of world history, but also because 'Jesus was a real man.' That means that 'the origins of Christianity are not mythical in character.' Yet many scholars are attempting to redefine Jesus historically, casting him in some other light, such as a sage, or prophet, or cynic, or whatever. 'There are as many Jesus as there are people who write about him' - each of them seeing their own type of hero in him. Contrasting with this, 'It is the argument of this book that the 'logic' of history demands a Jesus who is definable and about whom a practical consensus can be reached. By this logic it is argued that the Christ of the early church's faith and proclamation must have borne a close relationship to Jesus the historical figure.'

There is a good discussion of the historical approach to events and facts and the changes in society. This helps us to think through the sources used, and presents a challenge to the 'Jesus Questers' who only use fragments of gospels, rather than the fullsome source material present from the earliest days of the Christian movement. This even more so when they tend to rely heavily on discredited late sources such as the Gospel of Thomas.

From this base, he moves on to examine the references to Jesus in secular histories, again adding testimony to the fact that Jesus must have been (at least) a remarkable man who caused such an amazing influence on so many so quickly. This impact is developed in the third chapter, looking at Jesus in the proclamation and tradition. Given that Paul's letters to Corinth and Thessalonians come soon after his first visit to the cities when churches were planted, the details of Jesus' life found within are illuminating. The churches already know about Jesus, the references are merely mentioned in passing, illustrating doctrine and life. This is then expanded to the other apostolic writings of Peter and John, each of whom make mention of the life of Jesus throughout.

Placing Jesus in his historical context is the task of chapter four. Here, the relationship of Jesus to the other major figures found in Luke 3 is considered - John the Baptist, Herod Antipas, Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas. Each of them are known from extra-biblical sources, so there can be no doubt of their existence.

Jesus in the gospels furthers the idea that any reconstruction of Jesus must contend with the details given by the very earliest churches - in continuation from his ministry. Yet most reconstructions refuse to deal with the 'deity dimension' - a belief which is highly noticeable in the earliest churches. These churches already existed before the conversion of Paul - which can be seen in what he writes to the Galatians (because he was persecuting those self-same churches) and the tradition of Jesus' resurrection which had been handed on to him and which he reminds the Corinthians he had passed on to them (1 Cor 15).

The remaining chapters are at pains to show that the gospels and Acts are reliable testimony and not something mythic or made up. His arguments are convincing, because the logic of the history is so clear. Contained within is a discussion of the process of producing the gospels - from witnesses to publication. Each gospel is seen to come from an author who was either an apostle themselves or else was connected to the apostles - Matthew himself; Mark through Peter; Luke through eye witnesses and associated with Paul; John himself. These weren't late documents produced several hundred years later (as claimed by the Da Vinci Code et al) but within the lifetime of the apostles.

This really is an excellent book. It takes a different angle and approach to the New Testament text, but is logical and encouraging. By looking at the letters in a fresh way, the history contained within is unearthed, confirming the reliability of the gospels, and all because Jesus, the Son of God really did live, die and rise. This will be a great book for anyone seeking to engage in defence and confirmation of the gospel through apologetics, or those seeking greater confirmation of the historical roots of the Christian faith. I'm just sorry it took so long to read it!

Jesus and the Logic of History is available from Amazon.

Book Review: Jesus the Son of God

Readers of this blog will know that I always appreciate Don Carson's writing. One of his more recent works, Jesus the Son of God, is published with the intention to 'foster clear thinking' on the subject. With Carson's name on it, you can be assured that the intention has been fulfilled.

In his thorough way, Carson first tackles the Son of God as a Christological Title. Highlighting all the references to 'son of God' which are concerned with Adam, Israel, Solomon, Israelites, peacemakers, and angels, he then focuses on Jesus as the Son of God. The discussion is set within the context of recent controversy regarding sonship in Trinitarian theology, some specialist volumes on particular texts, and within discussions on egalitarianism v complementarianism and reaching Muslim contexts. Within the 'Son of God' references to Jesus, he identifies various categories: 1. a catchall term; 2. as Davidic king; 3. the true Israel; 4. pre-existence of Jesus.

The second chapter then focuses in on some of these select passages - Hebrews 1 and John 5. This chapter provides a case study in Bible study, as he shows his working out of the issues raised in Hebrews 1 through consideration of Psalm 2 and 2 Samuel 7. It is a delight to follow the logic, and to discover something which is blatantly obvious once he has shown you it! Hebrews is the culmination of the trajectory of anticipatory passages looking forward to the identity of the Son of God kingship of David's son. He then turns to John 5, finding the exegetical roots of the Trinity as Jesus explains how he is God and like God.

Chapter Three provides the outworking of the theology, as Jesus the Son of God is considered in Christian and Muslim contexts. For Christians, there is much to consider regarding the understanding of the various 'son of God' texts. Carson urges the reader to not fall for unjustified reductionism (in only seeing son of God as meaning one little perspective of the full range of meanings), nor of reading the full range of meanings into every instance. The call comes clearly to be careful in Bible study, which will issue in evangelism and worship.

In the Muslim context, there is a discussion of the different forms of Christian communities found in Muslim countries, specifically concentrating on the 'Insider Movement.' I don't think I had heard of it before, nor really considered the issue. Carson provides a series of points relating to Bible translation and evangelism for those working in Muslim contexts. These are helpful, as they show the dangers of translation into any language, and how ideas travel from one culture to another. The final point is the clincher, though, with the argument that new translations (devoid of Jesus being the Son of God and instead described as Messiah or some such other substituted word) amputate converts from the classic creeds and councils of the church; with the need for translators, missionaries and pastors working together for the transmission of the good news in every culture.

With a particular focus on a single issue, this book will be mainly helpful for pastors, missionaries and Bible translators as they seek to communicate what is meant by Jesus being the Son of God. A relatively short book, there is much to consider long after the reading has stopped. Carson's passion for Jesus and the truth about him is clearly seen, and will live with the reader in subsequent Bible study.

Jesus the Son of God can be found on Amazonand Kindle.

Book Review: What's So Great About the Doctrines of Grace?

As I've previously noted, I've been trying to read lots of books on grace. So when I spotted this book on special offer for the Kindle, I loaded it up and took it on holidays. However, it wasn't quite what I had expected. Instead of dealing specifically with grace, it turns out that the book is a point-by-point defence of the five points of Calvinism. So what's the problem, I hear you ask. Aren't you a Calvinist? While I do hold the doctrines of the Church of Ireland on election, predestination and all that, I didn't really enjoy the book.

Richard D Phillips states that he has two purposes in the book. 'The first is to explain the doctrines of grace, also known as the "Five Points of Calvinism" through the exposition of Scripture... The second purpose is... to help believers feel the power of these precious truths in their lives. In other words, I aim not merely to teach the doctrines of grace, but to show what is so great about them.'

There are five points of Calvinism, but six chapters. The opening one deals with the theme of God's sovereignty as standing over and above the rest of the doctrine. It's a helpful chapter, which then focuses on Isaiah's vision of God, with the four hallmarks of response to the sovereign God: 1. A readiness to serve - which he claims only comes after the vision. But surely this fails to take account of the fact that the vision comes in chapter 6. Isaiah has already been a prophet. 2. Humble, trusting obedience. 3. Holy boldness. 4. Reliance on sovereign, saving grace.

It's here in this subsection that I really didn't like the book. He describes the dithering King Ahaz, who refuses to ask for a sign in Isaiah 7:

This is seen in the sign Isaiah gave to King Ahaz. Isaiah urged this sign on Ahaz to enliven his faith. It was a sign that was foolish in the eyes of the world, but glorious in the eyes of God: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." In the presence of Ahaz's apostate unbelief, Isaiah laid his hand on the greatest sign of sovereign grace of which he could think: the virgin who would be with child.

As he continues, he makes it clear that he's jumping immediately to Jesus, without thought of original context, or of what that might have meant for Ahaz in the first place. Instead, the scripture becomes flat with no context or contours. I'm afraid, coming so early in the book, it didn't make me want to go much further, if this was the way he was going to handle the scriptures.

But I persisted. The remaining chapters cover the five points of Calvinism, with fairly standard defences of total depravity (How bad am I really? Much, much worse than you have dared to think.); unconditional election (which promotes humility and not pride); limited atonement (we find solid ground for our assurance of salvation); irresistible grace (it glorifies the saving work of the Holy Spirit and demonstrates the saving power of God's Word; and perseverance of the saints (we look not to ourselves, but to the faithful God's sovereign, preserving grace).

All in all, I liked much of the book, but at times was concerned with his handling of the text. I'm not sure it would be overly convincing to those who were enquiring, but for those who are convinced Calvinists, there will be something to help ground you more surely in the doctrines of grace.

What's so Great about the Doctrines of Grace? is available from Amazonand for the Kindle.

Book Review: A Quick Introduction To the New Testament

Another little Kindle freebie from a while ago, I picked up this Quick Introduction to the New Testament because it was by Don Carson and Douglas Moo. The title page tells me that it's an excerpt from An Introduction to the New Testament, just a little section of a much bigger book (which may well also be on my bookshelf, but hasn't been read yet).

To be honest, I was slightly disappointed with this book. I had imagined and expected that it would be an introduction to each of the books of the New Testament, a little sampler to whet the appetite and help the reader to learn more about the books that make it up. That's not what the book is, though. Rather, it's more an introduction to the academic study of the New Testament:

'This introduction provides little more than a surface history of a selection of the people, movements, issues, and approaches that have shaped the study of the New Testament.'

Along the way, there is a brief discussion on how we got the New Testament written down and passed along, including the textual evidence for the authenticity of what we hold in our hands today:

'There are about five thousand manuscripts or parts of manuscripts (some of them mere fragments) of all or part of the Greek New Testament, and about eight thousand manuscripts or parts of manuscripts of versions.' This, the authors note, means that 'of all the works that have come down to us from the ancient world, the New Testament is the most amply attested in textual evidence' - compared to the Annals by Tacitus or the works of Euripides.

From there, the authors move on to textual criticism, as scholars seek to discern and decide between the variants that have inevitably arisen through hand written copies of the text. Yet we should not be worried: 'The overwhelming majority of the text of the Greek New Testament is firmly established. Where uncertainties remain, it is important to recognize that in no case is any doctrinal matter at issue.'

Another major section focuses on longstanding interpretive traditions. This presents 'a highly selective summary of a handful of important people and movements that proved influential in the interpretation of the New Testament and some small indication of the impact of the New Testament documents in history.' These people include Ireneaus, Walter Bauer, the Jesus Seminar, the schools of Alexandria and Antioch, Athanasius and Chrysostom, Augustine, Anslem, Abelard, and many others. This then leads to the rise of biblical theology, with lots of interesting details and discussions. From there, the focus shifts to historical criticism, literary tools and the impact of postmodernism.

AS I've said, it wasn't the book I thought I was getting to read, but I'm glad I did read it. This is a good summary of the flow of thought about the New Testament over the past two millenia and as such will help theological students to put the pieces and names together to get the full picture. It's primary audience is the student, but many other interested readers may also benefit from the work of Carson and Moo.

I'm terribly sorry if you're interested in reading this - it's now no longer available on the Amazon Kindle store. The fuller work it's taken from, though, is still available from Amazon.

Book Review: Christ, our Righteousness

My downstairs study contains a lot of books - roughly 800. My upstairs overflow library contains about the same. In consequence, there are lots of books that have sat on my shelves for a long time and have never managed to be read. Slowly, gradually, I'm getting round to reading through some of them at least - and perhaps some day will complete them all! Within the 'big' theology section there's a series of books under the IVP / Apollos logo entitled 'Studies in Biblical Theology' and from that, this book by Mark Seifrid make it onto my reading list.

'Christ, our Righteousness: Paul's Theology of Justification' is a study of what Paul means when he writes about justification in the pages of the New Testament. Within the cultural background of the so-called New Perspective on Paul, Seifrid is eager to return to the scriptures to understand Paul properly.

He begins by examining Paul's conversion, and how Paul describes his experience of moving from Judaism to Christianity. 'He does not mince his words concerning the revaluation of his values.' You see, we need to understand Paul's Judaism to see what he means by justification - and why Christ was needed to achieve that result. While there was an unresolved tension between the election of Israel and the demands of the law; 'in Christ the demand of the law and the fulfillment of promise meet.' It is because Christ justifies the ungodly that Paul finds hope and purpose - because his works and his background were fallen flesh and unrighteous.

For the bulk of the book, Seifrid guides the reader through the argument of Paul's letter to the Romans, as the various sections and developments occur. The unrighteousness and injustice of idolatry is exposed, which rightly and justly brings the wrath of God. God is therefore entirely just and righteous to punish wickedness. Yet, as he continues, the cross is the means by which God is seen to be both just and the justifier of the ungodly. The exposition of the letter and the themes arising is first class, and warms the heart - just as good theology should do!

From there, the reader is treated to an exploration of the themes of justification by faith in Paul's other letters, as well as the relationship between the righteousness of God and the law of God. Another very helpful chapter was on the justification of ungodly Israel and the nations. Here, Seifrid argues against what appears to be an all too common approach to 'those' chapters of Romans 9-11, the bit which most people don't know what to do with... He demonstrates that, far from an ellipsis, certainly not a random topic wedged into the middle of the letter, these chapters are a continuation of the very point and heart and message of the letter. This was helpful to think through and see demonstrated by his argument.

The closing chapter is therefore a call to preach this gospel of justification by faith to a needy world. He applies his conclusions to the dialogue between Protestants and Roman Catholics, suggesting that there is still a vast difference between what is meant by the two groupings.

All in all, this is a great book which helps to clarify (biblically) what Paul means by justification, and what the believer gives praise and glory to Jesus, who is our justification and our righteousness. Christ, our Righteousness is available from IVP.

Book Review: Connected

If there was one doctrine of the Christian faith that would be the hardest to understand and explain, what would you think it was? Having dealt with the resurrection in his first book, Sam Allberry is back with his second, Connected, on the Trinity. As with his first, so with his second - it's a great book, and essential reading to help get to grips with an important part of our faith - who God is in himself, and what that means for us. As he acknowledges, 'Writing on the Trinity has been both an enormous joy and an enormous struggle.' It was well worth the struggle, as you'll discover when you read and profit from the book.

One again, Allberry writes in a very accessible and easy to follow style, with lots of illustrations and humour, which help to communicate the message. While dealing with some complicated stuff, his explanations and illustrations provide insight.

In the introduction, he declares that the Trinity used to be filed in the 'Things that all good Christians believe' file, without any exploration of what it meant. However, as he read the Bible, he discovered the Trinity is there, for example in Jesus' farewell discourse in John's gospel. 'Understanding the Trinity helps us make sense of what we hold dear,' because, as he goes on to point out, 'very few passage are 'about' the Trinity... Most of the time when it comes up, the Trinity is an essential background to the main point.'

The rest of the book is divided into two main parts: The Trinity and God; and The Trinity and Us. In a number of chapters, the Bible is explored and explained.

Part one focuses in on God, who is one, a divine integrity, three in one, and the party that never ends. In contrast to the polytheism all around, the foundation of the whole Bible is that God is one. It's declared in the Old Testament and affirmed in the New, especially as Jesus is asked which the most important commandment is. Rather than launching directly into a command, he gives the full quotation: 'Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one...' As Allberry comments, 'Doctrine comes before ethics; confession before commandment.' The fact that God is one applies in may ways, of which two are: 1. God deserves our total devotion. 2. There is one God for all, idols are nothing, so mission is vital.

In the divine integrity chapter, he helpfully makes the point that there is more to God than we realise. He is undivided, so you can't have one 'person' without the others (e.g. a Jesus church or a Father movement or a Spirit obsession), nor can you play one off against the others (e.g. as you might with your mum or dad when you were looking something). This is applied to the cross - that it's neither a reluctant Father who is won round by the Son; nor an unwilling Jesus forced to go to the cross.

The One who is Three looks at the Bible in a bit more depth, tracing some of the occasions where the Trinity is in view through creation, the visitors coming to Abraham, and various other incidents. The humanity and divinity of Jesus is also examined, before a useful reminder of some of the things the Trinity is not.

The last chapter in this section explores the Party That Never Ends - the internal relationship of the Trinity, with the reminder that God is love because love has always been a part of the giving and receiving of the Trinity. Therefore, God is not dependent on us - we were not made because God was lonely, but rather, God invites us in to share with him.

Part Two shifts from God to people, and explores what the Trinity means to us and for us. In 'You: an introduction' he explores the notion of going on a gap year to 'find yourself', because 'we are easily confused about who we are.' The simple truth is that 'God made us to image him: the more we understand him, the better we will understand who he has made us to be.' This leads to a reflection on being made in God's image of relationships, serving, and in marriage, where the 'one' flesh is the same word as the Lord your God, the Lord is 'one' - unity in difference, not sameness.

It's based on the Trinity that Allberry (whose same sex attraction has been well documented on his blog) affirms that marriage is only between one man and one woman - 'Sex is for marriage. Jesus makes this clear in other places where he lists among other sins that of 'secual immorality.' It is a catch-all term for any sexual activity outside of marriage: pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex and all same-sex sexual activity. While none of these is named specifically, they are all covered by the general term Jesus uses. To suggest Jesus did not teach on these matters, as some claim today, is simply untrue. Jesus upholds the biblical ethic that the only moral context for sexual activity is marriage... We need to keep coming back to our Creator's design for us. The kind of union that finds its fullest human expression in marriage is itself a reflection of what we see in God's own eternal nature: unity in complementary difference.'

From there, the next chapter explores gender and the potentially controversial topic of male headship. With a great illustration of how McDonald's ensures that all their fries are always all the same, whereas God is 'unity not in sameness but in difference' he points to the musical theology of Islam and Christianity. Islam's monotone call to prayer is a musical pointer to their unitary God; whereas Bach's polyphony illustrates (in what I think is a brilliant phrase) 'Theological harmony.' On gender, while it may be controversial, he asks which you would rather be out of step with - culture or God? Learning from the Father and the Son being equally God but distinctive, he points the way ahead for the gender war, as we follow the persons of our God who are 'equal in divinity; submissive in role.'

God's three-in-one diversity is also reflected in the life of the church, with a variety of people and gifts and experiences, all coming together and building each other up as the body of Christ.

In what was perhaps the best chapter, Allberry explores the role of the Trinity in prayer. 'Scripture doesn't do technique, but theology.'
He goes on to say that 'Prayer takes its cue not so much from what we do, but from who God is' as he spells out the role of the Spirit as he helps us pray through the Son to the Father. 'Prayer is essentially evangelical: as we pray, we are re-enacting the gospel to ourselves.'

As I've said, the Trinity may not be an easy subject to think about, but Sam Allberry presents the doctrine from Scripture in a clear and engaging way. It could be a useful book for pastors and teachers as they seek to communicate the Trinity (with a mine of helpful illustrations which will be recycled!). But it's not just for pastors. Ordinary Christians will also find it a good introduction to the Trinity, and to thinking about the way God has revealed himself to us. It might even be good for non=Christians exploring Christianity to see who God is in himself. Connected(Amazon) can also be downloaded as an ebook from IVP.

Book Review: Jesus and his World

A test of a good book is whether it is unputdownable. On receiving the volume under review, having taken it out of the envelope, I was through the introduction and into the main body of the text before I had realised. The writing style is informative and helpful, and the material so fascinating that this was a book most definitely enjoyed which will be profitable for Bible context throughout the rest of my ministry.

In Jesus and his World, Craig Evans seeks to open the specialised field of Biblical archaeology to the wider world. After an excellent non-technical introduction to the theory and practice of Biblical archaeology, providing clarification of details we find in the text through discoveries and digs, Evans lays out the ‘solid evidence from the first century’ for the existence of Jesus contra the minimalists.

The five main chapters lay out the findings of archaeologists in relation to the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth: the town of Sepphoris near Nazareth; the synagogue; reading, writing and literacy; ruling priests and the temple; and finally Jewish burial traditions. The overall impact of the chapters provides a vivid depiction of what life was like in the experience of Jesus, his disciples and contemporaries.

Each of the chapters is well researched, and presents the material in a simple and straightforward way. There are plenty of photographs to help illustrate the findings, as well as text boxes summarising the key points, which give the complete picture to the reader. The interested reader who wishes to explore further is also guided to additional resources and publications.

The book gently corrects some of the myths and false assumptions we’ve probably all heard or even used in preaching and teaching over the years. For example, ‘Recent excavations in and around Nazareth... suggest that the village in the time of Jesus may not have been a sleepy, isolated place, as many have imagined it.’

There are also useful allusions to the text, illustrative of the setting of some of Jesus’ utterances: ‘The smallness of the private dwellings, along with small windows, is probably presupposed in a saying like this: ‘What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.’’

As Evans declares: ‘The chapters of this book have attempted to place Jesus and the Gospel narratives into a more detailed context, in the light of archaeological excavations and the material culture these have uncovered.’ He has certainly achieved his aim. My only complaint was that it ended too quickly. I would have preferred a little bit more in each of the chapters, such was the quality of the writing, and the appreciation of his insights.

Having enjoyed this book, it’s definitely one that I would warmly recommend for all those wishing to discover more of setting and context of Jesus’ life and ministry. Evans is a good guide, in this well-written and easy to follow book. Biblical archaeology has certainly been made more accessible through his work.

This review was written for publication in SEARCH, the Journal of the Church of Ireland, with the book provided by them.

Book Review: How (Not) To Speak of God

On coming to review this book by Pete Rollins, I'm discovering just how hard it is to try to work out what he's actually saying, and what the point of it all is. Rather than 'difficult and dangerous', it's just confusing. So many times, it's as if Rollins wants his cake and to eat it, living in a world of contradictions and complexities, demonstrating the postmodern mindset to the nth degree. Early on, he indicates that 'The book as a whole is aimed at either those already involved in what has been called 'the emerging conversation' or those who would like to understand it in a deeper way.'

Further, he declares that 'the movement is not so much developing a distinct religious tradition within Christianity, but rather is re-introducing ideas that help to both revitalize already existing religious traditions and build bridges between them. It is not then a revolution that is in the process of creating something new but rather one that is returning to something very old.'

Part one of the book reflects on the struggle of academic theology according to the postmodern theory - wherein 'the argument is made that naming God is never really naming God but only naming our understanding of God.' and thus to introduce the idolatry of our concepts as divine. Rollins proposes that his way is to avoid the binary of 'right belief' or 'wrong belief' - and particularly the Northern Irish preoccupation with right belief by instead focusing on 'believing in the right way.' At times, it seems as if he just plays with words, making them slippery for his own purposes, and this was certainly one of those times.

It appears that Rollins may helpfully point out that there is still a future tense to our salvation: 'that we are becoming Christian, becoming Church and being saved,' but he emphasizes this to the neglect of the past tense parts of the faith and salvation, seen throughout the New Testament. Following (or perhaps preceding) Rob Bell, he declares that 'we need to be evangelized as much, if not more, than those around us.'

Returning to the idolatry of our attempts at speaking of God, and with emphasis on the Western idolatry of theology, he tries to make the point that 'God cannot be revealed through human logos.' But what if God has spoken and revealed himself in human logos? On this point Don Carson's 'Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church' is untouchable. Further, if God is incapable of being understood, then how can Pete himself seek to be understood and communicate ideas?

There are further bizarre ideas in the rest of the first section, but I really can't bring myself to seek to present them. The second part presents a series of meetings from Ikon in Belfast, Rollins' postmodern church community, with strange liturgies and scripts that leave you wondering what they are trying to achieve. In most, it appears to be the subversion of the truth, in an ironic (and almost hipster) postmodern way.

For those seeking to understand postmodern theology, I would definitely recommend Don Carson's work rather than Peter Rollins'. While he claims to be part of Christianity, and uses the language, it's hard to see in reality how it is Christian.

Book Review: Precious Blood

The blood of Christ and his atoning work are at the very centre of the Christian faith. Books that help us to think again about that precious blood are very important, none more so than this volume. Having read this in the run up to Easter (yet only getting around to reviewing it now), there was much to savour and enjoy.

Emerging from the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology of 2008, Precious Blood isn't just a book of conference addresses. Rather, it's a wonderful set of chapters which deal with the biblical and theological importance of the blood of the Lord Jesus. Split into two main parts, the first considers the atonement in biblical revelation; while the second explores the atonement in Christian thought through various theologians and periods of Church history. I personally found the biblical material better, but it was good to see how the theology of the atonement has been received and taught in the last two thousand years.

Each chapter comes from a different author's pen, which presents the need to quickly adapt from one writer's style to another, but each of the contributions is helpful. Joel Beeke kicks off with an analysis of Exodus 12 and the Passover in his chapter on Necessary Blood. Robert Godfrey continues by explaining Redeeming Blood from Psalm 49, which wasn't one of the 'purple passages' I would have expected in such a book. Philip Graham Ryken comes next with his chapter on Atoning Blood from Romans 3, followed by Richard D Phillips (the editor of the book) on Cleansing Blood from Hebrews 9. Offensive Blood is the subject of Robert Godfrey's next contribution, in a study of Philippians 3, before RC Sproul concludes the first section with the Precious Blood of 1 Peter 1.

The second section considers the atonement in the Early Church (Derek Thomas), Anselm (Philip Graham Ryken), the Reformation (Robert Godfrey), the Puritans (Joel Beeke), developments since the Reformation (Carl R Trueman), and the 'non-violent' critics of penal substitutionary atonement (Richard D Phillips).

This would be a good book for someone who has a grasp of the basics and wishes to explore the doctrine in greater depth. The range of angles is useful, and I'll certainly be returning to the book to use some of the illustrations and ideas for sermons in the future. All in all, it's a great book I would be happy to recommend. The only place I've seen it online is: Precious Blood.

Book Review: The Books The Church Suppressed

On the blog, we're getting into the swing of book reviews, but the books that I'm reading aren't always the latest books to be found in the bookshops. As I've written previously, I enjoy hunting through secondhand bookshops because you never know what you might find. On a recent visit, I came across the book with this intriguing title - 'The Books The Church Suppressed: Fiction and Truth in The Da Vinci Code' from Dr Michael Green.

Now obviously The Da Vinci Code has been out for a few years now, and this response to it has also been around for about five years, but it was a very useful book in setting out the key issues clearly and concisely. Green identifies the issues at hand in the claims of The Da Vinci code's narrator and characters - that Jesus was only thought of as divine after 325 at the Council of Nicaea, and that in the same year, the pagan emperor Constantine commissioned a new Bible for political motives, which is secondary and later than the Coptic Gnostic gospels from Nag Hammadi and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Green, in refuting these ridiculous ideas, takes us on a whirlwind tour of Church History, back to the formation of the Canon of Scripture (where the Church recognised the authority of the apostolic writings, rather than giving them authority), and the beginnings of the Gnostic heresies. Or in Green's words: 'The church did not impose some list of books for the faithful to regard as authoritative. They recognised one!'

He expertly exposes the roots of Gnosticism, and how it is a completely different religious system to Christianity: 'Two different worlds, are they not? One rooted in human potential, the other rooted in the person and work of the divine Jesus.' Indeed, perhaps the strongest part of the book is where Green asks why it all matters, and then exposes the current trend towards Gnosticism in The Episcopal Church in the USA, and in liberal denominations in general. I don't think that I've read a better analysis of the mess we're in than his paragraphs on modern day Gnostics in the Church.

Thus far it's all been good, but in his comparison of Gnostic thought and Christianity, there was one weak point. In seeking to oppose the individualistic and superiority complex of the Gnostic elect, Green says this: 'Authentic Christianity... relies not on the salvation of those randomly predestined, but on the sheer generosity of God, whose free gift is eternal life for all who repent and believe.'

I understand that the book is perhaps aimed mostly for interested sceptics, those who will be drawn in by the title, and that Green wishes to greet them with the gospel as they think through the issues involved - but surely predestination is an important element of the gospel. To me, it seems that the biblical doctrine of predestination is being ignored, to emphasise the free offer to all. Perhaps there would have been a better way of phrasing it.

All in all, though, the book is excellent. It's a clear, concise defence of the truth, which acts as a good introduction to the early Church, its history and the Bible's authority. Christians wishing to engage in apologetics and learn more of Church History will benefit, but equally will non-Christians wishing to examine the truth claims of Dan Brown's writings. As I've said, this book's best contribution may well be as an exposition and refutation of Gnosticism, both ancient and modern.

Philip Pullman - A Modern Cerinthus?

The writer of Ecclesiastes declared that there is nothing new under the sun. While this is true in all of life, no more so than in the realm of theology. Last month, Philip Pullman published his latest book, 'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ', and as I was reading Michael Green's book 'The Books The Church Suppressed', itself refuting the heresies promoted in Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code', I discovered that Pullman seems to be propogating an old Gnostic heresy, that of Cerinthus:

Cerinthus sought to sever the man Jesus from the heavenly Christ: born as the child of Joseph and Mary, the divine Christ came upon Jesus at his baptism and left him before Calvary. To which John, the eyewitness and apostle, replies that Jesus Christ is one person, that he is God's Son, and that he passed through both baptism and death, water and blood. Cerinthus' morals were highly suspect ... and John has to rebut his immorality.

While the clothing and style may change, the same old heresies keep coming back. It's why we need to be sure of what we believe, holding firm to the faith once delivered to the saints, and watching for false teaching within and without the church. Otherwise, we'll be swallowing poison in our honey.

Book Review: Fern-seed and Elephants

CS Lewis is best known as the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, and as the Christian apologist author of Mere Christianity. However, his entire writing career notched up many smaller essays, addresses and sermons, some of which have been published in collections. One such collection goes under the title of Fern-seed and Elephants, taken from a scathing attack on the problems of modern Biblical scholarship, in which the scholars

'ask me to believe they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read (in any sense worth discussing) the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can't see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight.'

We'll return later to the conclusions from that particular address, but first we'll review the other essays in the collection. 'Membership', ahead of its time, decries the insistence that 'religion belongs to our private life', while private, solitary time is effectively denied by the wireless! How much more today, with broadband internet, mp3s, satellite and digital TV, and other modern technology! Lewis' point in the essay is that membership in a society or club is very different from membership in the church, in the body of Christ. In a club, all members are equal. and equal rights is key. In reality, though, membership in the church means that all are different, but together make up the body. The key difference is that

'we are summoned from the outset to combine as creatures with our Creator, as mortals with immortal, as redeemed sinners with sinless Redeemer.'

'Learning in War Time' was primarily addressed to students in Oxford during the Second World War, who were concerned with whether they should be studying in the midst of wartime. However, to ask that question is to miss the more pressing question than war:

'Is it right, or even psychologically possible, for creatures who are every moment advancing either to heaven or hell, to spend any fraction of the little time allowed them in this world on such comparative trivialities as literature or art, mathematics or biology. If human culture can stand up to that, it can stand up to anything.'

The solution for Lewis is that becoming a Christian doesn't mean that we stop doing the normal everyday things we did before, but rather that we offer them up to God, doing everything for his glory.

'Forgiveness' is a very short piece which was very challenging, in which Lewis admits that the forgiveness of sins is something that we affirm in the creeds, but which can be hard to believe. On God's part in forgiving sins, we find it difficult to believe for two reasons - we want to excuse our own sin rather than confess (with the problem that if wrongdoing did have mitigating circumstances, then it is not sin, and that God knows such circumstances better than we do, and so takes them into account anyway); and that we don't really believe that God will forgive our sins. When it comes to us forgiving the sin of others, it's another story. We accept our own excuses for sin too easily, but don't accept others' excuses easily enough. Forgiveness is defined by Lewis as 'killing every trace of resentment in your own heart - every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out.'

'Historicism' was an essay that I have to confess I didn't really 'get' - perhaps it was more relevant to the particular circumstances in which Lewis was writing, or for a particular audience. The main point appears to be that we can't claim to accept anyone's explaining historical events, because we can't fully know God's purpose, unless God reveals it. The only divinely sanctioned explanation of events is found in the Scriptures.

In 'The World's Last Night', Lewis examines the reality of Christ's return, and considers the question of how we would react if this was the world's last night. He hits a slight wobble when he gets sidetracked into discussing the claims that the end would come in the lifetime of the apostles, yet even through this hits on a useful point, that errors and ignorance make up the strongest proof that the New Testament is historically reliable. More positively, as he discusses the practical impossibility of predicting the time of Christ's return, he says that 'precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments.' Not that this should lead to perpetual fear, but perpetual remembering - is this an activity I want to be doing as Jesus returns? The return will bring judgement- which should be stripped of it's inherent modern association with punishment. Rather, judgement is the verdict: on what each of us is. Then punishment or reward will follow, with no errors made.

'Religion and Rocketry' is an interesting theological discussion concerning life on other planets, and how Christ would relate to them. Would they also have fallen? Would Jesus' death on the cross satisfy for them too? How would we relate to those other creatures and species?

'The Efficacy of Prayer' is another short article which begins by asking if prayer works, but is quickly turned around, because prayer and God cannot be subjected to laboratory experiments. Prayer is not something to be used for our benefit, to work for us; rather it is a relationship and a revelation of who God is, not what we can get. Indeed, answered prayer is not a sign of favourites with God, after all, the Lord Jesus' prayer in the Garden was refused, the cup was not taken away, and he went to the cross.

And so we return to 'Fern-seed and Elephants'. Speaking to ordinands who seemed to disbelieve the Bible but keep the public front of intellectual assent, Lewis is highly critical of this unbelief and sham. His final paragraph is worth repeating in full:

Such are the reactions of one bleating layman to Modern Theology. It is right that you hear them. You will not perhaps hear them very often again. Your parishioners will not often speak to you quite so frankly. Once the layman was anxious to hide the fact that he believed so much less than the vicar: he now tends to hide the fact that he believes so much more. Missionary to the priests of one's own church is an embarrassing role; though I have a horrid feeling that if such mission work is not soon undertaken the future history of the Church of England is likely to be short.

An excellent and thoughtful series of articles, although with some minor things I would disagree with. All in all, Lewis is worth reading, and especially in his less well known shorter collected writings.

CS Lewis on Democracy

In light of the recent expenses scandals, both at Westminster and Stormont, I came across this quotation from CS Lewis in an essay called 'Membership', included in the volume Fern-seed and Elephants.

I believe in political equality. But there are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth, and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows. That I believe to be the true ground of democracy.

On his view, we should expect that MPs, MLAs and politicians are as wicked as the rest of us, and need to be carefully monitored.

Book Review: Miracles

On approaching this book by CS Lewis, I was expecting a thorough discussion of the miracles in the Bible, perhaps even a devotional Bible study. Well, the book is thorough, but not quite in the way I was expecting. What Lewis does is write a book addressed to secular man, arguing deep philosophy to prepare him to examine the biblical accounts of the miracles themselves, rather than discussing them per se.

Given that the book was initially published in 1947, it is written for its time, with the philosophical and social circumstances of the post-war period, and the particular intellectual landscape of the era. As such, some of the arguments now seem to be redundant, or maybe just archaic. It was due to these deep arguments that I sometimes found the book hard going, difficult to read, and hard to keep up with. Maybe it's just that I'm very dense!

Despite this, it was still an interesting read with some great rhetorical flashes from the genius wit of the author of the Chronicles of Narnia. Arguing for the importance of getting the philosophical groundwork right, Lewis declares that 'what we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to experience.' As he initially raises the subject of miracles (with his definition: 'an interference with Nature by a supernatural power'), he introduces the two types of people in the world - Naturalists and Supernaturalists. Naturalists believe that Nature is all that exists, whereas Supernaturalists believe that there is something (or Someone) beyond Nature, outside Nature, existing of its own accord.

Through a long philosophical discussion, he eventually argues that Nature cannot be all that exists, because Reason (our minds) can influence Nature (our bodies), so therefore something supernatural exists beyond Nature. Our Reason cannot be said to have evolved from non-rational causes, because otherwise we could not reason, it just would not be entirely logical. Rather, our consciousness must have come from the great Supernatural One, God who is beyond Nature.

As he moves on to think more specifically about miracles, he raises a red herring sometimes promoted - that people in Bible times accepted the reports of miracles because they didn't know about the Laws of Nature. With great wit, he exposes this for the folly it is, by asking if Saint Joseph really didn't know how babies were produced. After all, this is exactly why he was going to 'repudiate her.'

In thinking further about the Laws of Nature, he helpfully points out that they don't cause events to happen; they only describe what the normal pattern is for events - such as the law of gravity etc. Miracles, while not fitting into the laws of nature, being themselves a disturbance of the laws, feed new events into the pattern which is then assumed and used by Nature herself. His final comment on Nature is particularly apt:

'only Supernaturalists really see Nature (for who she is, not our Creator and the whole show, but just a created being)... Offer her neither worship nor contempt... she, like ourselves, is to be redeemed.'

Finally coming on to his subject proper, Lewis asserts that other religions don't really do miracles in the way that Christianity depends on them. In protesting about a naturalistic reductionistic Christianity, he states that 'Christianity is precisely the story of a great Miracle. A naturalistic Christianity leaves out all that is specifically Christian.' This great Miracle, the Grand Miracle is, for Lewis, the incarnation, and 'every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.'

For Lewis, the miracles in the New Testament * are either lies, legends, or history, and it is up to the reader to decide. But if they are merely lies or legends, then the entire credibility of Christianity is at stake - 'Christianity is simply false.'

In a helpful discussion, he asks about the similarities between the 'Corn King' - the god of agriculture, and Jesus - dying and rising. Did Christianity simply take some earlier religious myths and symbols to create its own theology? Jesus 'is like the Corn-King because the Corn-King is derived from the facts of Nature, and the facts of Nature from her Creator; the Death and Rebirth pattern is in her because it was first in Him... The Hebrews throughout their history were being constantly headed off from the worship of Nature-gods; not because the Nature-gods were in all respects unlike the God of Nature but because, at best, they were merely like, and it was the destiny of that nation to be turned away from likenesses to the thing itself.'

In his closing section, on dealing with the miracles of the New Creation, he points forward to the joys of heaven, when things will be even more marvellous than we can now imagine, when all things are set right. In preparation, therefore, we must enjoy our bodies now, as the prelude to heaven's spiritual body where full enjoyment will last forever.

All in all, it's probably a helpful book to prepare the philosophical outsider to consider the miracle accounts in the Gospels, and has some great moments and memorable lines. I'm glad to have read it, but am not sure it would be one I would recommend to many people.



* In a footnote, CS Lewis suggests that the New Testament miracles are more historically viable, but cannot possibly comment on the Old Testament miraculous, such as Jonah and the whale, as it is beyond the scope of his book. I can't say I agree with him on this, and think he depends too much on the mythology which may or may not be historically accurate for his view of the Old Testament.

Theology at the Theatre 2

In our last posting in this mini-series, we looked at the opening of Les Miserables. Still within the prologue, we're given a glimpse of the twin concepts of grace and mercy. In the Cathedral we used to sing an old chorus which simply explains these foundational elements of Christianity:

Mercy is when God does not give us what we deserve
Mercy is when God does not give us what we deserve
He does it because he love us, He does it because he loves us
Mercy is when God does not give us what we deserve.

Grace is when God gives us the things we don't deserve
Grace is when God gives us the things we don't deserve
He does it because he loves us, He does it because he loves us
Grace is when God gives us the things we don't deserve.

Back to our old friend, Jean Valjean. Having fled with his freedom, he is mistreated by employers who only give him half the wages of the other workers, because of his criminal status. Destitute, desperate and down and out, he is on the streets when the local bishop takes him in. Given a decent meal and a bed for the night, Jean betrays the generosity of the bishop by stealing a silver dish and fleeing in the middle of the night. [Maybe Javert was right after all?]

Captured by the local army officers, he is returned to the house, where he maintains that the honest bishop gave him a gift of the silver. Surely not. He's a thief after all, that's what he does. But what does the bishop do? Not condemn him - which he surely could do. Instead, he shows him mercy, by not punishing him, and at the same time, shows him grace by giving him the silver candlesticks as well.

What amazing grace!

Theology at the Theatre 1

Les Miserables
Originally uploaded by Gary McMurray.

While we were in London, we managed to get to a couple of shows in the West End. The first one we saw was Les Miserables, which, I have now discovered isn't the name of a very sad man. Of course, it is a French title, we all knew that!

While this was more emotional / depressing / touching than the other show we saw (The Lion King - more on it at a future date), it seems to have affected me more, and the songs have been in my head ever since. It will only be a matter of time before I get the soundtrack cd, but in the meantime YouTube has been providing me with reminders of the songs.

There are so many theological insights and discussions that could be had, and I'm hoping to write a bit on some of these over the coming days. For now, here's the first.

Throughout the musical, we find a running battle between Jean Valjean and Javert. Jean Valjean is a prisoner in the opening scene, having been sentenced to a work squad as punishment for theft, and then trying to escape. Javert is the prison guard / army officer who takes a hard line on punishing criminals.

Indeed, such a hard line that he only ever refers to Jean as Prisoner 24601. He seeks to dehumanise Jean, referring to him only as a number. Jean, we learn, had stolen a loaf of bread to feed his sister's child.

Jean Valjean has been granted parole, a yellow ticket to leave the work squad. In Jean's eyes, he has his freedom, having served his time, yet for Javert, he will never have served his time - a criminal is a criminal and he cannot be trusted.

The question for us is - do we believe in the second chance? Are there those in our society whom we immediately write off because of their past? Thankfully God doesn't work this way - otherwise none of us would ever be saved. Imagine if God said, 'well, he's sinned before, he'll sin again, so he's just a sinner. We can't help him.'

What great words we find in Romans 5: 'God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' (Romans 5:8).

Here's a clip of the opening scene and first confrontation between Jean and Javert, not from the theatre, but from the 10th anniversary concert.

Related themes:

See also Peter's Denials and the Gospel Hope and Dying Thief Finds Life.

Encountering the miraculous

On Sunday morning as we returned to Dromara from the Easter services, there was a discussion on Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence. The question was whether miracles ever happened, and if they can still happen today. The reason I'm writing about it is because as I was thinking about it earlier, several threads came together in my brain.

The first was a discussion of Bultmann's hermeneutics in class today. Bultmann's approach to the Bible (greatly paraphrased, and maybe not strictly accurate), seems to me that he thought the truth contained within was lost within a mass of culturally-bound details. The message had to be reinterpreted for the modern generation, with all references to supernatural, or to the pre-modern worldview. So things like demon possession, angels and such like all had to go. So too, did miracles. They weren't compatible with modern life at all, according to Bultmann.

The second thread was a discussion I had with a few friends the other week. We were talking about driving and such like, when we came on to near misses. I'm not going to name names, but each of us had stories of times when, naturally speaking, we should have been gonners. Scary situations, yet our lives were preserved. God is obviously not finished with us yet. So for our tiny miracles, when humanly speaking, disaster should have happened, but God intervened in his mercy, we gave thanks and praised his glorious name!

Did miracles occur in Jesus' day? Yes, I absolutely affirm it. God showed his power to announce the kingdom, and to authenticate the message of his apostles. Do miracles happen now? Yes, in small, and sometimes even big ways, miracles happen. Should we always expect them? Maybe not - if we're out for the big miraculous thing all the time, our faith can fail - if we're looking for things that God has not promised. But God does break in on our world, and show his power in supernatural, amazing ways. I know it, or I wouldn't be sitting here right now, in Dublin, typing this blog posting!

Theological Worldview

Yet another one of those quizzes that float about the internet - have a go yourself and see how you fare!

You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical 93% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 82% Neo orthodox 79% Fundamentalist 71% Charismatic/Pentecostal 54% Emergent/Postmodern 39% Roman Catholic 36% Classical Liberal 11% Modern Liberal 7% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com