This One's For Hugo...

Term's winding to a close here in London, so there's a little more time for brain consolidation and trying something new.

One of the big things exciting me at the moment is the recently launched Theology Network website, courtesy of Mike Reeves, Dan Hames, and those kind people at UCCF. It's the kind of resource that I'd have loved to have had at my fingertips when I began my degree, but the brilliant thing is it's all about theology being for all, not just those who are studying it for their degree at Uni. Theology is simply knowing God better - not something confined to turning through dusty textbooks and debating abstract concepts. There's a decent stack of articles and mp3 lectures on everything from church history to engaging with world religions.

I'm currently enjoying Reeves' fantastic series on the Trinity which seems to have snowballed since he first gave the talks a while back. The very title 'Trinity' is normally enough to put the majority of us off - but that lack of clarity and occurence regarding the subject in our Christian lives and churches is exactly what he addresses. Part 1 is ready for your digestion here. Enjoy!

Goldsworthy and the Bible...

Having spent most of the last few weeks trying to submerge myself in the writings of Graeme Goldsworthy for my dissertation, I'm now a massive fan of his work. He's passionate about understanding the Bible as a whole, and a whole that points to Jesus Christ, which is what he calls biblical theology.

Justin Buzzard interviews Goldsworthy on his blog here and it really brings out Graeme's heart for biblical theology to be pastoral, that every Christian might long to see how the Scriptures testify to Jesus Christ.

Pancakes and 1 Peter

Pancake day! Pancakes with mince-and-onion-and-peas-and sweetcorn, and pancakes with lemon-and-sugar-and-genuine-canadian-maple-syrup. And parents too. Good times around the eateries of Durham, lastly at 10 George St for the best egg, flour, and milk can offer.

Elsewhere today:
Some Psalms essay prep on the use of the psalms in interpreting the passion of Jesus in the NT.
Some reading on the history of typology in Biblical interpretation for the dissertation.
And polishing off a report on sociological approaches to the household codes in 1 Peter.

My Dad asked us last night if we'd change our degree courses looking back at two and a half years of 'study'. I don't think I would exchange reading Theology for any other subject. It's hard to judge where Theology has indirectly affected my thinking, and even more so where it has shaped my living (and I would not want to be so ignorant as to say that there has never been any connection, especially a negative one, for the subtle hardening of the heart to God's word will affect one's life). Yet Scripture should always make sense. Not in a sensible worldy sense, but in a as-logical-as-the-cross-can-be sense.

I mean looking at these household codes in 1 Peter, the argument went that actually all they are is the writer using a standard form of writing (the household code) to get across the message that the Christian sect should assimilate to the pagan way of life to keep the pagans happy and to ease persecution. And it looked like a convincing line.

But actually, give the Scripture some space and it'll tell you what's really going on. 1 Peter isn't about assimilation at all - sure there are times when the Christian is to act in a way that could easily look like a pagan (general obedience to the governor), but at the same time there is a distinctness that is attached to the fact that the Christian community are living for a different value, a living hope.

The gospel calls people to live differently, and that's the same 1900 years ago. And you can see that as you sociologically, historically, psychologically pummel away at these documents. They make sense, because they're real. They happened. They're living proof that the gospel changes people and makes history, and they're changing people and making history today.

Motivations for good theology...

God has filled my mind with zeal to spread his Kingdom and to further the public good.... I have had no other purpose than to benefit the church by maintaining the pure doctrine of godliness... Moreover, it has been my purpose in this labor to prepare and instruct candidates in sacred theology for the reading of the divine Word, in order that they may be able both to have easy access to it and to advance in it without stumbling.

John Calvin, To the Reader (Institutes)
1559

The Return of Uno

One exam down, five more to go! The DSS paper wasn't too bad, and whilst the 'Doh! I could have written that' feeling unsurprisingly emerged chatting to friends afterwards, I felt I managed to make some relevant points. Managed to get in my lecturer's opening remarks to his lecture series : "The Dead Sea Scrolls are the haunts of crackpots and nutters". All my DSS notes have now been banished to The Bookshelf-Of-No-Return, and I even turned the iTunes up and had a little dance to celebrate.

I'd forgotten what continual writing for three hours felt like, but Elmo's supply of Kendal Mint Cake kept energy levels high. It was great to have a revision-free evening, and play Uno with the housemates as Arsenal's Champions League dream came to a sticky end.

Something to thing about...

"Forgiveness without the restoration of a relationship is not the gospel."
John Piper

Breaktime!

Currently up to my neck in Pharisees, Sadducees, and the good old Essenes...

That's the reward you get for choosing to do a module on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Don't get me wrong, it is actually interesting to compare, for example, what Josephus, Philo, and the New Testament say about these three groups, and then try to establish what evidence there is for the group at Qumran to have been of Sadducaic/Pharisaic/Essene origin. In fact, this gentle stroll into the life and times of the Qumran guys and girls is strangely relaxing.

Sure, getting buried in this sect's teaching and interpretation of various OT passages has the potential to undermine the NT's view on how the OT should be interpreted, but at the same time it makes a change from the normal teaching that can go so directly against what the Bible teaches (still on my guard though!).

It feels a bit like a holiday actually.

Another gift of the Spirit?

Was engaging in a bit of banter with a fellow theologian revising for her finals when she spouted this nugget...

"It's amazing how the Holy Spirit is so at work that I can't remember half the heresy I hear in lectures!"