I gave Greg Boyd a copy of Re: Mission at the Christian Associates staff conference in Sopron. He read it straightaway and we had a highly invigorating chat about it on the bus to the airport. He has posted a short review of it on his blog. I’m delighted that he recommends the book so enthusiastically, but there are some matters raised by his review that I think need clarification.
Interview published in Precipice magazine
Submitted by andrew on Thu, 17/07/2008 - 18:32.
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An interview that I did with Darren King, mostly about The Coming of the Son of Man but also touching on the need for a narrative-realist biblical theology, has just been published at Precipice magazine. This is how Darren introduces the interview:
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Mk. 4:30-32 - The parable of the mustard seed
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Submitted by andrew on Tue, 15/07/2008 - 15:28.
Jesus' image of a tree in which birds make their nests (cf. Matt. 13:32; Lk. 13:19) recalls passages in the Old Testament in which Babylon and Egypt are depicted as trees that provide a home for the birds of the air and shelter for the beasts of the field (Ezek. 31:6; Dan. 4:12). Conceivably Jesus meant by the parable of the mustard seed that the movement of renewal in Israel that he was initiating would become a 'kingdom' to rival the empires of the world, providing an alternative form of security and prosperity. In Ezekiel 17:22-24 the image appears to be used for Israel replanted following exile. |
Rom. 8:18-25 - The eager longing of creation
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Submitted by andrew on Fri, 11/07/2008 - 15:44.
The outcome of faithful suffering after the pattern of Christ will be glory: if we suffer with Christ, we will be glorified with him (8:17); the sufferings of the present time are insignificant compared to the glory that will be revealed to us (18); those who are destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus will be vindicated and glorified (29-30). In the terms of a different narrative paradigm, the suffering community of the saints will share in the glory that is given to the Son of man when he comes to the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom. |
Gabriel's Vision and the resurrection of the Messiah
Submitted by andrew on Wed, 09/07/2008 - 15:20.
A recent article in The New York Times (’Ancient Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection’) has drawn attention to a stone tablet on which are inscribed 87 lines of Hebrew that ’may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days’. The stone came to light ten years ago, but its significance only became apparent after two Israeli scholars, Ada Yardeni and Binyamin Elitzur, published an analysis of what they called ’Gabriel’s Vision’ in the Hebrew language journal Cathedra. |
Rom. 6:15-23 - Slaves of righteousness
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Submitted by andrew on Wed, 09/07/2008 - 10:53.
The question here presents itself (Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?) because Paul has stated in verse 14 that because the believers are not under Law but under grace, sin will have no dominion over them. Does that mean that they may therefore sin with impunity - because as a consequence of the grace that abounded in Jesus Christ (cf. 5:15-21) sin will not in the future have power or authority over them? Are they now free from the (eschatological) consequences of sin? |
'Intentional kingdom living' and the sheep and goats
Submitted by andrew on Fri, 04/07/2008 - 15:26.
I receive a weekly email from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity headed ’connecting with culture’. The most recent one talks about the excellent Street Pastors programme in London, which was started in 2003 by Les Isaac. Jason Gardner makes the point that part of the calling of the church must be to work alongside paramedics and the police to ’bring rescue to our violent streets’. The theological rationale for this, if you like, is stated in this way: |
1 Cor. 3:10-15 - Christian workers and the day of fire
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Submitted by andrew on Thu, 26/06/2008 - 10:45.
In his discussion of purgatory, paradise and hell in Surprised by Hope Tom Wright is at pains to deny that there are any 'category distinctions between different Christians in heaven as they await the resurrection'. He considers in this connection 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 - the 'only passage in the New Testament which makes any kind of distinction at this point' - and argues that both groups of Christian workers will arrive at the same destination; the difference is that some will 'arrive gloriously', others 'by the skin of their teeth' (181). |
Surprised by Hope: facebook, parousia and new creation
Submitted by andrew on Tue, 24/06/2008 - 20:52.
I was recently invited to join a Facebook group named ’Initiative For Every Pastor To Read "Surprised By Hope" Before Easter 2009’, whose laudable objectives are defined as follows:
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When Paul tells the Roman believers that it is time to awake from sleep, that salvation is nearer to us than when we believed, that the night is advanced and the day has drawn near, that they should put on the weapons of light, that they should walk properly as in the day, that they should make no provision for the desires of the flesh (Rom. 13:11-14), he means that a day of persecution is approaching from which they will be 'saved' by putting on the armour of a sober and righteous lifestyle. With hindsight we must conclude that what Paul is speaking about is the suffering that Nero would inflict on the church less than a decade later. This is when they would see the salvation of God that had now drawn near.