Today we did not cover as much ground as yesterday.
Class was interrupted by the Spurgeon Fellowship Lectures.
Dr. Todd Miles (a theology professor at Western Seminary) lectured on how emergent and emerging churches (yes, I know, just go with it) are making the social justice message more prevalent than the gospel message. Miles presented a paper called, "A Kingdom Without a King: Evaluating the Kingdom Ethic(s) of the Emerging Church" at the 2007 ETS National Conference, from which his lecture was taken.
Also, D.A. Carson lectured on "A Pastoral Theology of Suffering and Evil." In short it had to do with developing a preemptive theology for the inevitable times when we suffer and are struck by evil (both moral and natural). It was a good reminder about death and the cross. Not P.C. but valuable.
However, in class we did begin to discuss what impact systematic theology has on preaching.
Carson compared biblical theology to systematic stating systematic theology is ordered logically, topically and a-temporally.
We only scratched the surface on this, with more to come tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Obamica: Get your's today!
"Obamica" Yarmulke
$15.95 $12.75
Save: 20% off
Endorse your favorite presidential candidate with this clever yarmulke! One side of the Obamica suede kippah has an Obama campaign logo with the words "Obamica 08" and the other side says "My Bubby is voting Obama."
Brian, you better get one before they are gone!
Just to be fair, here is the other side of the aisle
"John McCain is Zayer Shain; which is Yiddish for "John McCain is great".
Class with D.A. Carson: Day 1
This week I have the opportunity to study expository preaching with D.A. Carson, research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
Today was our first class and it was great! Now, I don’t agree with everything D.A. Carson says, but I do think he is an amazingly gifted scholar who I can learn an incredible amount from.
We started out talking about how preaching needs to be defined functionally and theologically. Meaning, preaching is defined by what is happening and why and not by where and when. With this in mind preaching is verbal/oral communication in which the following are true:
* It is God’s gracious self-disclosure. The Bible is our content and Jesus is our focus.
* It is biblical truth mediated through human personality
* It is to perused, encourage, rebuke instruct in righteousness, evoke a human response to the God who is its content.
* It goal is the glory of God and the calling forth, as well as the edification of the church.
* It has a “heraldic” emphasis.
It is at this point Carson tipped his hand in that he is firm believer that the best form of preaching is monologue preaching. “God has ordained that men and women are saved by the things we preach, not by the things we talk about, discuss or share.” Here is one of our disagreements.
After lunch we spent our time discussing preaching viewed through the lens of biblical theology. Biblical Theology is the foundational starting point of expository preaching. This does not exclude systematic, historical or pastoral theology, but biblical theology, Carson argues, comes first.
Biblical theology asks two questions what does a particular book of the Bible contribute to Scripture’s over all understanding of the subject at hand. It does not ask what is the nature and character of God (this would be systematic theology), but what does, for example, Isaiah say about the nature and character of God? The second question biblical theology asks is, “How does this information play into the canonical frame work of Scripture or into redemptive history as a whole?”
It is interesting taking a preaching class from a New Testament theologian, as opposed to a homiletician. Today we spent the majority of our time learning to interpret Scripture (hermeneutics) and less time figuring out how to preach Scripture (homiletics). This backs up what I have said for while; preaching can be divided into to tasks: knowing what to say and knowing how to say it. I believe preaching should concentrate more on (even if only 51%) on what to say, than how we say it. Both are vitally important, but I would rather deliver a true and boring message than creatively preach what is inaccurate and false.
More tomorrow…
Today was our first class and it was great! Now, I don’t agree with everything D.A. Carson says, but I do think he is an amazingly gifted scholar who I can learn an incredible amount from.
We started out talking about how preaching needs to be defined functionally and theologically. Meaning, preaching is defined by what is happening and why and not by where and when. With this in mind preaching is verbal/oral communication in which the following are true:
* It is God’s gracious self-disclosure. The Bible is our content and Jesus is our focus.
* It is biblical truth mediated through human personality
* It is to perused, encourage, rebuke instruct in righteousness, evoke a human response to the God who is its content.
* It goal is the glory of God and the calling forth, as well as the edification of the church.
* It has a “heraldic” emphasis.
It is at this point Carson tipped his hand in that he is firm believer that the best form of preaching is monologue preaching. “God has ordained that men and women are saved by the things we preach, not by the things we talk about, discuss or share.” Here is one of our disagreements.
After lunch we spent our time discussing preaching viewed through the lens of biblical theology. Biblical Theology is the foundational starting point of expository preaching. This does not exclude systematic, historical or pastoral theology, but biblical theology, Carson argues, comes first.
Biblical theology asks two questions what does a particular book of the Bible contribute to Scripture’s over all understanding of the subject at hand. It does not ask what is the nature and character of God (this would be systematic theology), but what does, for example, Isaiah say about the nature and character of God? The second question biblical theology asks is, “How does this information play into the canonical frame work of Scripture or into redemptive history as a whole?”
It is interesting taking a preaching class from a New Testament theologian, as opposed to a homiletician. Today we spent the majority of our time learning to interpret Scripture (hermeneutics) and less time figuring out how to preach Scripture (homiletics). This backs up what I have said for while; preaching can be divided into to tasks: knowing what to say and knowing how to say it. I believe preaching should concentrate more on (even if only 51%) on what to say, than how we say it. Both are vitally important, but I would rather deliver a true and boring message than creatively preach what is inaccurate and false.
More tomorrow…
Friday, October 10, 2008
A breath of fresh air and a face full of smoke...
Last night we (Chris, Bob and I) had the chance to a sit and talk with like minded pastor/church planter types at the Moon and Sixpence Pub. Dan, Rob and Matt are tied with Christian Associates, a predominantly European church planter organization seeking to reach into the States. Dan I have know causally for a few years since we both moved to Portland in the past couple years. Rob and Matt were new to me. We quickly shared our stories by way of introduction and then headed in to the evening's conversation... "saving the world."
Over pints, chips and sausage rolls we talk about church planting and the passion we all have for developing missional communities. We spent some time talking about the proper order for establishing these communities: Our Christology should inform our Missiology which in turn shapes Ecclesiology.
We talked about being "unconverted." Facing the reality that we need to deconstruct some of our religious upbringing and jump back into the world. For far too long we (the church) have stayed segregated from the world, knowing how to function in it, but not knowing (or caring) how to relate to it.
I picked up a ruler to measure success in creating missional communities: Indigenous Leadership. When a community sees people move from birth to leadership within it sphere of influence and responsibility, they have reached a measure of success. When those who came into a community without a relationship to Jesus are moved along in their spiritual journey and are now seen as having come full circle by using their gifts and/or caring for or leading others within the same community, can a church know they have reached an oft unrealized maturity.
These and others nuggets were a breath of fresh air bring hope to my soul. It was good to met new travelers and to develop new partnership. It was a cool evening to share ideas and provoke each other to radical living (despite all the smoke from the cigars!)
Over pints, chips and sausage rolls we talk about church planting and the passion we all have for developing missional communities. We spent some time talking about the proper order for establishing these communities: Our Christology should inform our Missiology which in turn shapes Ecclesiology.
We talked about being "unconverted." Facing the reality that we need to deconstruct some of our religious upbringing and jump back into the world. For far too long we (the church) have stayed segregated from the world, knowing how to function in it, but not knowing (or caring) how to relate to it.
I picked up a ruler to measure success in creating missional communities: Indigenous Leadership. When a community sees people move from birth to leadership within it sphere of influence and responsibility, they have reached a measure of success. When those who came into a community without a relationship to Jesus are moved along in their spiritual journey and are now seen as having come full circle by using their gifts and/or caring for or leading others within the same community, can a church know they have reached an oft unrealized maturity.
These and others nuggets were a breath of fresh air bring hope to my soul. It was good to met new travelers and to develop new partnership. It was a cool evening to share ideas and provoke each other to radical living (despite all the smoke from the cigars!)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Quote of the Week
"Truth in a sinful world is always controversial."
L. Russ Bush in Classical Readings in Christian Apologetics: A.D. 100-1800
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Personal Promise Bible
Personal Promise Bible
"Have you ever inserted your name as you read the Bible to make it more personal? Now you can experience the reality of God's love and promises in a way you never thought possible. In the Personal Promise Bible, you will read your first name personalized in over 5,000 places throughout the New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs, over 7,000 places throughout the complete Old and New Testaments."
First name (5,000 places)
Last name (50 places)
Spouse's name, if applicable (150 places)
And for all you married Christian player'z out there, just image the romantic evening that would follow after your spouse reads Song of Solomon personalized (examples: 1:13, 7:8)!
Might make a great anniversary or birthday gift!
Wow, who thought this was a good idea!
"Have you ever inserted your name as you read the Bible to make it more personal? Now you can experience the reality of God's love and promises in a way you never thought possible. In the Personal Promise Bible, you will read your first name personalized in over 5,000 places throughout the New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs, over 7,000 places throughout the complete Old and New Testaments."
First name (5,000 places)
Last name (50 places)
Spouse's name, if applicable (150 places)
And for all you married Christian player'z out there, just image the romantic evening that would follow after your spouse reads Song of Solomon personalized (examples: 1:13, 7:8)!
Might make a great anniversary or birthday gift!
Wow, who thought this was a good idea!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)