Monthly Archives: September 2008
TBTM20080921
From the Old to the New
| NT Use of the OT — Test Your View! |
Fuller Meaning, Single Goal view
 You seem to be most closely aligned with the Fuller Meaning, Single Goal view, a view defended by Peter Enns in the book “Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament” (edited by Kenneth Berding and Jonathan Lunde, Nov. 2008). Since the NT writers held a single-minded conviction that the Scriptures point to and are fulfilled in Christ, this view suggests that the NT writers perceive this meaning in OT texts, even when their OT authors did not have that meaning in mind when they wrote. It should be noted, however, that advocates of this view are careful not to deny the importance of the grammatical-historical study of the OT text so as to understand the OT authors on their own terms. For more info, see the book, or attend a special session devoted to the topic at the ETS Annual Meeting in Providence, RI (Nov. 2008); Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Darrell L. Bock, and Peter Enns will all present their views. |
Fun quizzes, surveys & blog quizzes by  |
Very interesting quiz (h/t Peter Kirk)
Holy War
a) we are doing God’s will
b) let us pray that we are doing God’s will
Remarkable how the difference between those two is not understood from a secular perspective.
(H/T John Hobbins.)
Reasonable Atheism (27): An Apt Analogy
Scott Gray left this comment at James’ blog:
“sam doesn’t want god to be thought of in definable aspects. he wants the nature of god to be kept up in the air by the juggling of several models, or metaphors, at once. while it makes understanding the nature of god interesting, it doesn’t help with a definitive understanding. with the non-stop juggling of metaphors and models, there can be no ‘articulate, categorical thought.’ and sam likes it this way. from a physics perspective, he doesn’t want the ‘god’ wave-function to collapse to anything measurable. he refuses to open shroedinger’s box to see anything definitive about ‘god.’
this is the difference between theology and critical inquiry. in critical inquiry, we want to know the true nature of things. in theology, we are happy to juggle metaphors forever without any articulate, category-oriented thought.”
And I responded
“YES!!!!
That’s exactly right. I’ve been thinking about writing a post on this theme, and this is such a wonderful analogy. I think something is lost when a determinate understanding is sought – that’s what all the language about idolatry is all about, it’s really about cultivating intellectual humility, and radically embracing ‘I could be wrong’.
Thank you. For once I feel really understood :o)”
In due course I will unpack this.
TBTM20080920
Time for some campaignin’
(H/T Phil’s Treehouse)
I took over 80 photos this morning, some of which I was really pleased with, but I chose this one because, even though it’s not photographically ideal, it gives you a good idea of what I saw on leaving my front gate today! I generally now take more photos than I post on the blog – they get posted on my flickr account (link to the right), normally in a bundle about once a month. But I’ll post some more from this morning now.
Cyber loss
Various comments in the blogosphere about the passing of Tom Allen, better known as the Big Bulky Anglican – see here for the eulogy at his funeral. Not someone I’d ever met, but I read him regularly and feel that I had really got to know him (and I know he read this blog). It raises the question about on-line relationships. They’re remarkably real, even if they aren’t fleshly. A bit like heaven then?
V is for humour
One of my favourite books and films, and prescient too – but this is funny.
Some political confessions
I thought I’d throw up some bullet points on my political perspectives, because, although I would describe myself as a conservative, there are various ways in which that might be misleading, particularly in the US context.
- I was (with caveats) in favour of the invasion of Iraq, and on balance I still think it was the right decision
- I think the Bush administration has been culpably incompetent (and radically anti-conservative) and Bush and Cheney should be impeached
- I think the Bush administration has been actively evil in its support for torture and that Bush should be excommunicated from the church
- I firmly believe that the truth about 9/11 has not been told, though I am not persuaded that Bush was personally involved in that (I have only come to negative conclusions about this subject, not positive ones)
- I do believe that radical Islam poses an existential threat to Western Civilisation. I see the standard left-wing consensus – such as it is – as manifestly inadequate for defending western civilisation, and this is one of my main objections to Obama (for an example, see the treatment of Ayaan Hirsi Ali)
- By the way, in case it isn’t obvious, I believe very strongly in free speech
- I believe that the Bush administration, whether by active design or inadvertence, has laid the foundations for a new feudalism in the United States
- I think there is a non-trivial possibility of a far-right Christian fascist autocracy forming in the United States within the next ten years, and a similarly non-trivial possibility of Civil War. My main reason for thinking that those things won’t happen is that the suffering will hit the cities more than the countryside, but I could easily be wrong
- I find Obama’s vote on abortion abhorrent, unconscionable and unfathomable
- I am in favour of stem cell research
- I find McCain’s position on Georgia (shared by Obama) unrealistic and seriously frightening. I would certainly not invite Georgia to be a member of NATO (an institution that is now past its use-by-date)
- I think the United Nations is, by and large, a waste of space
- I am strongly in favour of full secular equality for homosexual couples (and I’m phrasing it that way because ‘marriage’ raises theological questions that are a red herring here)
- I don’t expect any politicians to be saints; it’s just a question of the degree of corruption. I find it remarkable how little investigation there has been of Obama’s background, competence and voting record which seem to me to be much worse than Palin’s
- I don’t think either candidate has a clue about the nature of the storm engulfing the US economy, nor do I think there is much that either candidate can do about it. I still think the fourth turning is a very good guide to what we are seeing
- For all his faults – and his faults aren’t lonely for long – I see McCain as more able to exercise an independent perspective than Obama. I’m not convinced that there is anything there with Obama, that is, anything which marks him out as something other than a product of his context
- I think that George Romero is a prophet, particularly of the US
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