Prayers for the Journey: “On Boston, Bombs and Eight-Year-Old Boys”

Last Friday I began a new series on the subject of prayer.  And as some of you may recall, in my introduction, I openly confessed at that I am not a man to teach you how to pray.  I say this because all too often, in my own prayer life, I have a habit of slipping into the rote formulas that we evangelicals often claim to disdain; and I find myself speaking words that have long been stripped of any power or meaning.

But this morning, as I continue to try to reshape my prayer life, I want to share with you the prayer that I wrote in the aftermath of yesterday’s bombing.  While I do not suspect that my words will necessarily give voice to your thoughts and fears, I do hope that they might encourage you to confront the One who knows what it is to have metal objects tear through His flesh – the One who knows what it is to bleed.

 

The Female Apostle and Her Challenge to Evangelicalism

Junia Is Not Alone is a very short e-book authored by Scot McKnight, and in Junia he argues that English-speaking, complementarian translators of scripture have made questionable choices in translating Romans 16:7 because of their commitment to complementarianism.  In part, what his argument also demonstrates is that there is no neutral and objective point of view from which to either translate or interpret scripture.  McKnight’s book raises these questions for us:  Who is Junia?  Why does it matter?  And, how do you know you are interpreting scripture correctly if you are a Protestant without a magisterium or historical confession of faith?

 

Links and Joe

Saturday, 12 January 2013

We present to you another week of our most interesting blog reading. As always the views of these posts are not necessarily the views of BSI, but they are sure going to get you either thinking, talking or mad, possibly all three. Remember, keep calm and enjoy some links and joe.

 

Analysis of Worldview: Are Evangelicals Christian or American? … Part II

Yesterday I argued that every culture, or subculture, has a worldview, and any group’s worldview is embodied by a metanarrative or myth.  Both worldview and myth function at a pre-cognitive level, relatively out of sight.  These in turn produce a set of basic beliefs, and at this level the group is actively aware of the beliefs as well as the symbols and praxis that sustain the beliefs.  Therefore, examining a group’s use of symbols and praxis should tell you something about the underlying worldview to which they adhere.  So the question is whether Evangelicals, based upon an examination of their use of symbols and praxis, are American, Christian  or an unhealthy combination of the two?

 

Analysis of Worldview: Are Evangelicals Christian or American?

Our views of the world require us to tell stories that help explain the world, and our stories produce beliefs, symbols and praxis by which we live.  In theory, we should be able to reverse the flow of this thinking, examining the symbols and praxis of any group to get an idea about their underlying worldview.  I contend that Evangelicals, by their adherence to certain symbols and praxis, show themselves to be more American than Christian.

 

Links and Joe

Sunday, 6 January 2013

Here are some links to various blog posts we found on the net this week.  While we may not endorse every idea espoused in them, we enjoyed reading them, and found them to be thought provoking.  So sit back, relax and enjoy some links and your favorite cup o’ joe this morning.

 

Top Ten Books Ryan Read in 2012 (Because Most of Them Were Assigned by Vanhoozer)

Here are ten books I read this past year provided in no particular order, with no pontificating on the nature of lists and the subjectivity of literary experience.

 

The Elephant’s Debt Update

Tim Challies speaks on Vertical Church ; Errant Theology of Money; and the Missing Elder Update.

 

Prosperity Gospel: Not Necessarily a Problem of the Gospel

Prosperity Gospel is not so much a problem with one’s gospel but with one’s eschatology.  Let me explain before you stone me.

 

Does God Move When We Pray? A Radical Free Will Theists Response

What happens when we pray?  Does it change us? (Classical Theism) Does it move God from within a framework of his general providence and foreknowledge? (Free Will Theism)  If prayer merely changes us, as CT holds, then we accept the premise that God has determined all before time, raising the problem of evil.  If prayer merely moves God within a framework of his general providence (not ordaining all things specifically) then God is only moved one step back from the problem of evil and his foreknowledge only seems like a softer version of determinism it seeks to escape. So now what?  Radical Free Will Theism.