Changing Our Minds

I contributed today’s ‘Word for the Week’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2

‘There is no longer a Christian mind’, wrote Harry Blamires in his classic book, The Christian Mind, first published in 1963. The proliferation of publications on the topic since then suggests it’s an ongoing issue. Perhaps that’s a good thing, as each generation seeks to discover afresh what it means to love God with all our mind.

For Paul too, the ‘true and proper worship’ to which we are called involves not just the offering of our bodies but the renewing of our minds. The two go together. It’s possible, though admittedly not easy, to be disciplined with one’s body – to control it, to exercise it, to curb its appetites. But what’s in view here is not merely an outward rule over the body without also an inward renewal of the mind.

Negatively, it means not being conformed to the pattern of ‘this world’ where (as Paul describes in Romans 1:18-32) our minds and hearts are turned away from God. Positively, it involves being ‘transformed’, a verb Paul uses elsewhere only in 2 Corinthians 3:18, where he writes about believers being progressively transformed into Christ’s image. In both places, what’s in view is nothing less than a fundamental makeover at the deepest level of our humanity, a new creation.

So, being renewed in our mind is not first and foremost about being clever. It’s a whole new mindset, a radical perceptual shift where everything is viewed differently because of who we are in Christ. That in turn involves a whole new desire to live a different way, which may well go against the prevailing current, and a whole new set of habits.

To be sure, the old habits are still around, and I may well spot some of them at work in me today: preserving the ongoing rift in the family because of my pride; jealousy and insecurity with the more-talented colleague; self-pity; chronic ingratitude. But where the mind’s habits and dispositions used to go one way following the pattern of this present age, they can now be reshaped according to the new age which has broken in with the events of the gospel.

Such a transformation – a change of mind – comes about not by screwing up our effort or focusing ever inward, but by drawing on God’s mercy shown in Jesus, who makes it possible to live a renewed life from the inside-out.

Tyndale Bulletin 67, 1 (2016)

The latest issue of Tyndale Bulletin has arrived, containing the following collection of articles.

Matthew Hamilton

An Unpublished Fragment of Deuteronomy: Chester Beatty Papyrus VI, Folio 105, Fragment 2, Recto

A previously unpublished transcript and reconstruction of Chester Beatty Papyrus VI folio 105 fragment 2 recto column 1 as Deuteronomy 32:5-11.

Deuk-il Shin

The Translation of the Hebrew Term Nir: ‘David’s Yoke?’

The purpose of this article is to query the viability of Douglas K. Stuart’s recent suggestion that the Hebrew form nir ‘lamp’ should be translated as etymologically related to the Akkadian niru ‘yoke, domination’ on the basis of Paul D. Hanson’s statement. The study is particularly interested in the phrase ‘lamp of David’. The author insists that the traditional interpretation of the Hebrew nir as ‘lamp’ be maintained, thus rejecting the relevance of the Akkadian niru ‘yoke’.

Brian P. Irwin

The Curious Incident of the Boys and the Bears: 2 Kings 2 and the Prophetic Authority of Elisha

A view of 2 Kings 2 that is commonly encountered regards the cursing of the children of Bethel as a meaningless act that is beneath the dignity of the prophet. This paper argues that the curse uttered by Elisha in 2 Kings 2:24 is a covenant curse based on Leviticus 26:22 and is intended to warn Israel of what lies in store if it disregards the prophetic word. In this it complements the story of the healing of the waters of Jericho (2 Kings 2:19-22) which establishes the corollary principle. The events of 2 Kings 3–8 then illustrate this principle in a variety of contexts both nationally and internationally.

Gregory Cook

Nahum’s Prophetic Name

While Nahum commentators correctly acknowledge that the prophet Nahum’s name derives from the Hebrew root for ‘comfort’, they incorrectly interpret the significance of his name for the prophecy. Commentators usually argue that the name does not fit Nahum’s violent vision or they state that the name fits precisely, as YHWH’s vengeance brings comfort to his afflicted people. This article contends that the first two verses of Nahum allude to Isaiah 1:24, which indicates that YHWH receives comfort by being avenged. Therefore, Nahum’s name indicates that the primary purpose of the book is to bring comfort to YHWH, not his adulterous people.

John K. Goodrich

The Word of God Has Not Failed: God’s Faithfulness and Israel’s Salvation in Tobit 14:3-7 and Romans 9–11

Tobit 14:3-7 and Romans 9–11 share several striking verbal and conceptual parallels that invite detailed comparison. Most notably, both Tobit and Paul (1) deny the failure of God’s word (Tob. 14:4a; Rom. 9:6a); (2) proceed to unveil a three-phase redemptive history for Israel (exile => partial restoration => full restoration); and (3) utilise their respective storylines to assure their readers in phase 2 that God will bring phase 3 to completion. These and other parallels show not only that Tobit and Paul share a common eschatological perspective, but that they deploy and develop almost identical thesis statements, thereby further demonstrating the proximity of Paul’s discourse to contemporary Jewish modes of thought and argumentation.

J.R. Harrison

The Erasure of Distinction: Paul and the Politics of Dishonour

The article investigates the deliberate erasure of inscriptional honours of two individuals in the first century: Augustus’s ‘friend’, the infamous Gaius Cornelius Gallus, and the famous orator of Isthmia, Nikias. The public dishonouring of rivals by their enemies was common in antiquity. The author explores how this phenomenon illuminates Paul’s conception of glory in Romans and his attack on boasting in oratorical performance in the Corinthian epistles. Paul sets forth a different understanding of honour based on the shame of the cross, God’s election of the socially despised, and the elevation of the dishonoured in the Body of Christ.

Mark D. Owens

Spiritual Warfare and the Church’s Mission According to Ephesians 6:10-17

Ephesians 6:10-17 is typically understood as either a call to engage in spiritual warfare with the ‘powers’ or as a plea for ethical living. While these two interpretations are not necessarily incorrect, they are likely incomplete. More specifically, they do not account for the author’s use of Isaiah in verses 14-15 and 17 and how this text summarises the whole of Ephesians. When one considers these two factors, it becomes reasonable to conclude that this text portrays the church as a community of ‘divine-warriors’ who continue Christ’s mission by extending the new creation inaugurated by His sacrificial death and resurrection.

Paul S. Cable

Imitatio Christianorum: The Function of Believers as Examples in Philippians

In Philippians, Paul has pastoral, paraenetic aims: the Philippians are to adopt a Christian phronesis – a way of thought and life determined by their relationship to the crucified, humiliated, and risen Christ consisting specifically, in Philippians, of (1) an others-focused mindset; and (2) an attendant boldness and willingness to accept suffering and the burdens of others on behalf of the progress of the gospel. These paraenetic emphases are then embodied and illustrated by multiple examples: Christ is the ultimate exemplar and the source of the content of the exhortation. Paul himself is also one who embodies these qualities, though imperfectly. Timothy especially exemplifies others-focus, and Epaphroditus the willingness to suffer in the service of Christ. Euodia and Syntyche, finally, serve Christ boldly but lack the others-focus and unity that Paul exhorts. We conclude, then, that Paul understands the provision of such Christ-like examples and the imitation of those examples by those in Christ within Christian communities to be an important means by which the community progresses in holiness, that is, to be increasingly conformed to Christ.

Kyu Seop Kim

Better Than the Blood of Abel?: Some Remarks on Abel in Hebrews 12:24

The sudden mention of Abel in Hebrews 12:24 has elicited a multiplicity of interpretations, but despite its significance, the meaning of ‘Abel’  has not attracted the careful attention that it deserves. This study argues that ‘Abel’ in Hebrews 12:24 refers to Abel as an example who speaks to us through his right observation of the cult. Accordingly, Hebrews 12:24b means that Christ’s cult is superior to the Jewish ritual. This interpretation fits exactly with the adjacent context contrasting Sinai and Zion symbols.

Terry Griffith

The Translation of Ho Proagoon in 2 John 9

A little known Old Latin variant of 2 John 9 (‘qui recedit’ for ho proagoon) provides an interpretive clue that has been overlooked in the translation and exegesis of this verse. After a survey of modern translations (which tend to over-interpret this verb) and a look at ancient variants, new lexical evidence is adduced to show how ho proagoon functions in the Elder’s statement. Finally, a more neutral translation is offered: ‘Anyone who goes forth [or leaves] and who does not remain in the teaching of the Messiah does not possess God.’

Brian J. Wright

Ancient Rome’s Daily News Publication with Some Likely Implications for Early Christian Studies

A detailed study on ancient Rome’s daily news publication is currently absent in early Christian studies. This article seeks to begin filling this lacuna by surveying the history of this Roman news bulletin and highlighting the sorts of data that must be taken into account in order to determine the publication's subject matter, scope of distribution, and possible relevance for early Christian studies.

Harvey McMahon on Neuroscience and Free Will

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online, this one by Harvey McMahon:

Harvey McMahon, ‘How Free is Our Free-Will? Reflections from a Neuroscientist’, Cambridge Papers 25, 2 (June 2016).

Here is the summary:

‘Free-will is fundamental to our sense of wellbeing, and underwrites our sense of morality, our judicial system and the Judeo-Christian faith. However, science has provided evidence that free-will may be an illusion. In this paper I explore how the brain functions as the seat of our individual free-will and how we are also part of a collective-will expressed by cultural or religious groupings. In both cases free-will is an emergent property where decisions are expressed creatively rather than simply responsively. Yet we may not be as free as we like to think, but within boundaries shaped by our individual histories, our genetics and our environment we can make decisions that determine our character, relationships and future.’

Walter Brueggemann on Money and Possessions

Walter Brueggemann, Money and possessions (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016).

Since I saw it announced, I’ve been looking forward to seeing this volume by Walter Brueggemann in the ‘Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church’ series.

Westminster John Knox has made available a pdf except here.

Here are some paragraphs from the Preface:

‘The purpose of this book is to exhibit the rich, recurring, and diverse references to money and possessions that permeate the Bible. While we might conventionally assume, as we do in practice, that economics is an add-on or a side issue in the biblical text, an inventory of texts such as I offer here makes it unmistakably clear that economics is a core preoccupation of the biblical tradition.

‘In writing the book I have, in ways that have surprised me, come to the conclusion that the Bible is indeed about money and possessions, and the way in which they are gifts of the creator God to be utilized in praise and obedience. In such a frame of reference, money and possessions are of course intensely seductive, so that they can reduce praise to self-congratulations and obedience to self-sufficiency. Whatever is to be made of this expansive inventory of texts, it is clear that the economy, in ancient faith tradition, merited and received much more attention than is usual in conventional church rendering.

‘It is my hope that this exhibit of textual materials might evoke in the church a greater attentiveness to a keener critical assessment of the extractive economy around us in which we are implicated and a more determined advocacy for an alternative neighborly economy congruent with and derived from the gospel we confess. It is clear enough that voices that may champion and legitimate such alternative policy and practice are minimal in our society; the voicing of such alternative urgently requires the recovery of the tradition of neighborly money and possessions that has been entrusted to us.’

Currents in Biblical Research 14, 3 (June 2016)

The latest Currents in Biblical Research recently arrived, with titles and abstracts of the main articles as below.

Russell L. Meek

Twentieth- and Twenty-first-century Readings of Hebel (הֶבֶל) in Ecclesiastes

The meaning of הֶבֶל is a crux interpretum for the book of Ecclesiastes. Notwithstanding some variation, Jerome’s vanitas reading of הֶבֶל in Ecclesiastes dominated scholarship for several centuries. Since the rise of modern biblical scholarship, הֶבֶל as ‘vanity’ has been largely rejected; however, little consensus has been reached regarding the word’s meaning. The result has been a rich history of interpretation as scholars develop various suggestions for how הֶבֶל should be understood in Ecclesiastes. This essay briefly sketches the history of interpretation of הֶבֶל, then surveys proposals for the meaning of הֶבֶל in Ecclesiastes during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Amy Erickson and Andrew R. Davis

Recent Research on the Megilloth (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther)

Until recently, study of the Megilloth as a coherent canonical grouping has been minimal. On the whole, the lateness and fluidity of the collection within the Jewish canon has negated its value for biblical scholars, who have long preferred texts and categories thought to be ‘early’ or ‘original’. The state of the field has begun to shift, however, as scholars are giving more attention to connections between individual books of the Megilloth and the coherence of the collection as a whole. This new interest coincides with the growing recognition among scholars that the later (re)uses of a biblical text are constitutive of its interpretation; thus the lateness of the Megilloth (if the collection really is late) does not preclude interpretation but shapes it. Recent studies in the Megilloth as a coherent collection include canon-historical approaches, which trace the formation of the Megilloth within the Jewish canon; intertextual approaches, which focus on allusions to earlier biblical traditions and on literary connections within the five scrolls; and theological approaches, which adopt a synchronic method that puts the Megilloth in dialogue with contemporary theological discourse.

Garrick V. Allen

Scriptural Allusions in the Book of Revelation and the Contours of Textual Research 1900-2014: Retrospect and Prospects

This article traces the contours of the past century of discourse surrounding the underlying textual form of allusions embedded in the book of Revelation. Special attention is paid to the rapid developments on this issue in the past thirty years, a period in which New Testament scholarship has grappled with the textual complexity of the Hebrew Bible presented by the scrolls from the Judaean Desert. The question of textual form is of foundational importance for analysing the reuse or interpretation of Scripture in the book of Revelation. Despite this reality, it is common to find assumptions or misconceptions in recent studies that obfuscate the textual reality of the Hebrew Bible and its early Greek versions the first century CE. The appraisal of scholarship on this issue allows scholars to better contextualize their own approaches to the text of allusions in the light of previous research. This analysis also highlights the changing methods and approaches by which scholars analyse the text of allusions and suggests some avenues for future research on the allusions embedded in the Apocalypse.

Patrick Schreiner

Space, Place and Biblical Studies: A Survey of Recent Research in Light of Developing Trends

This article surveys developing research on the nature of space and place. It summarizes the arguments proposed by geographers and philosophers outside biblical studies, and then illustrates how biblical scholars have employed these theories in the study of the biblical text. The review focuses on the theoretical underpinning and then examines a number of scholars who have appropriated what they call ‘critical spatiality’ to historical, sociological, and narratival readings. In short, some now describe space in a tri-part division; the physical world in which people exist, the ideological underpinnings of understanding places, and the lived practices of people within those places that sometimes challenge and sometimes reaffirm the expected uses of such places.

Yael Shemesh

Directions in Jewish Feminist Bible Study

The article highlights various possible directions that Jewish feminist Bible scholarship can take. Even though this field has naturally been influenced by feminist scholarship in general, I believe that it does have a number of unique traits, with regard both to content (such as pointing out the Christian source of certain misogynistic interpretations) and form (commentaries oriented to the weekly Torah portion). The first part of the article deals with these unique features of Jewish feminist Bible scholarship. In the second part I look at four goals shared by feminist Bible scholarship in general and the Jewish subgenre, while focusing on the latter: (1) Emphasizing that the Bible is a patriarchal and androcentric – some would say misogynistic – text; (2) highlighting the voices for equality that can be found in the Bible; (3) focusing on biblical women and recounting her-story rather than the traditional his-tory that has been dominant for generations; (4) discovering the female authors of biblical texts, or at least the women’s voices that emerge from it. In the third section I draw on several Jewish feminist Bible scholars’ treatment of three issues to exemplify how the same underlying data led different readers to different and even contradictory attitudes and assertions about the biblical text. Two of these issues relate to narrative – the characterization of Eve and that of Ruth and Naomi and their relationship. The third issue comes from the legal corpus – the laws of menstrual impurity (Lev. 15.19-24). Here we saw not only the different positions taken by different scholars, but also the change over time in the view of Rachel Adler, which corresponds with the change in her religious perspective and move from one religious denomination to another.

Body Matters

I contributed today’s ‘Word for the Week’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2

Paul uses the language of the temple here – in words like ‘offer’ and ‘sacrifice’ and ‘worship’. But that earlier way of doing things is now transformed.

What is it we offer? Our bodies, says Paul.

As Christians, we can have a lingering ambivalence about our bodies. It’s all too tempting to think that the ‘real’ me is something ‘inside’ me – the ‘soul’ bit or the ‘spiritual’ bit. But Scripture often insists and everywhere implies that the ‘real’ me is embodied.

So, as Paul writes in Romans 3, human fallenness reveals itself through our bodies: in tongues which practise deceit; in lips which spread poison; in mouths which are full of bitterness and cursing; in feet which are swift to shed blood; in eyes which turn away from God. Then, several times in chapter 6, Paul calls us to ‘offer’ (the same word as in 12:1) our bodies as an ‘instrument of righteousness’, while in 8:23 he looks forward to ‘the redemption of our bodies’.

If Christianity involves a recovery of what it means to be truly human, it should come as no surprise that the body is caught up in that restoration. God has saved us – the whole of us. And the whole of us is offered back to him – hands, feet, eyes, ears, and mouth. The challenge is to take seriously what we will do, even today, with our hands or our eyes or our tongue or our brain. The delight is that all that makes us who we are and are becoming in Christ – all the joys as well as the limits of bodily life – can be seen as an ongoing act of worship to God.

But there is something more going on here. We are physically embodied, but we are also socially embedded. Paul’s appeal that we offer our ‘bodies’ (plural) as a ‘living sacrifice’ (singular) suggests he has in mind the whole community of Christians in Rome. This is not a sacrifice made by a wealthy patron on behalf of others in the church, but an act in which all God’s people take part.

So, it’s not just that the body matters, but that every body matters. And there is something about the goal of this sort of worship that allows the church – you and me, even today – to be the embodied presence of Christ in the world.

On Being Overwhelmed

I wrote this week’s ‘Connecting with Culture’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

It was Harold Wilson who allegedly said that ‘a week is a long time in politics’. In these recent momentous days, it looks as if that should be reduced to five minutes. As David Cameron himself quipped in his final Prime Minister’s Questions, this week alone has seen ‘resignation, nomination, competition, and coronation’.

It’s easy to see why our nation is not at ease. You may feel it yourself, or identify it in friends and colleagues, or see it reflected in your social media feeds. We’re experiencing what theologian David Ford has called ‘multiple overwhelmings’. Whether personally, professionally, or politically, it’s one thing to have a single event that knocks us off our feet; but what if the knocks continue to come thick and fast? Is it any wonder we’re confused, anxious, angry, distrustful, and fearful?

In all this, though, shafts of light manage to break through. I was one of millions who watched the video, courtesy of ITV news, showing a young Portuguese boy consoling a distraught French fan after France’s defeat to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final. It was a touching display of empathy, showing that it’s possible to embrace someone wearing another team’s colours – an embrace in which both are required to yield, the one to the other.

Just as arresting was the picture of a protesting woman taken during civil unrest in Louisiana. The juxtaposition of heavily-clad armed police officers and their apparently hesitant stance with a serenely-poised woman in a long flowing dress is striking. Whatever one’s views of the situation, it’s easy to see why the photo was quickly drawing comparisons with other classic protest images.

Both cases illustrate something of a refusal to be shaped by the prevailing culture, which Christians of all people should understand. Both show that while some ‘overwhelmings’ wound and crush us, others are life-giving and transformative. As David Ford says, the wisest way to cope is ‘not to expect to be in control of everything’, but ‘to live amidst the overwhelmings in a way that lets one of them be the overwhelming that shapes the others’.

What would it look like to be overwhelmed by gratitude? Overwhelmed by generosity? Overwhelmed by a passion for justice? Overwhelmed by a desire to see others thrive, even it comes at our expense? Given the resources available to us in the gospel, what might we be overwhelmed by today?

Mission Frontiers 38, 4 (July-August 2016)

The July-August 2016 issue of Mission Frontiers, published by the U.S. Center for World Mission, contains a number of articles on ‘International Students: Planting the Seeds of Movements’.

Editor Rick Wood writes:

‘Today, more people are traveling more widely and freely than ever before. Never in history has it been easier to communicate the gospel to those from unreached people groups...

‘One of the most strategically important of these human migrations is that of international students. ere are currently around 750,000 international students in the U.S. and they come from nearly every country in the world, many of which missionaries cannot enter. These students are the best and brightest the nations of the world have to o er and these countries are choosing to send them to us at their expense. These students will return to their host country to become the future leaders and influencers in their society. is is a God-ordained opportunity for us to reach the peoples of the world through these students.’

Individual articles can be accessed from here, and the whole issue (5 MB) can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Where We Start

I contributed today’s ‘Word for the Week’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2

I wonder if you could guess what word is used most in Paul’s letter to the Romans? Once we disregard commonly-occurring words like ‘the’, ‘and’, ‘in’, and ‘he’, the word most used is not ‘law’ or ‘sin’ or ‘faith’ or ‘justified’ or ‘Jew’ or ‘Gentile’, or even ‘Jesus’. The word used most in Romans is ‘God’.

What is Romans all about? The gospel? Salvation? Justification? Faith? Jesus? Yes, all of these and more, but only as they are understood in relation to God. That’s where we start.

In particular, we start with the mercy of God.

The argument of the letter reaches a peak towards the end of chapter 11, where Paul refers four times to God’s mercy (11:30-32), making it clear that no-one, Jew or Gentile, can make any claim of entitlement on God, and that the ultimate basis of God’s actions in salvation is mercy.

It’s for that reason – ‘in view of God’s mercy’ – that Paul now urges us to live out the call to be God’s new covenant people. The starting point is not primarily community cohesiveness (live this way in order to get on with each other) or even missional effectiveness (live this way in order to display the faith to outsiders). Paul’s appeal to live this kind of life is grounded first and foremost in God’s mercy.

That’s where we start. And that could be worth remembering at the beginning of a new working week, in an uncertain political scene which seems to be changing daily, in the difficult patch in the relationship with the teenager in the household, in caring for the spouse suffering with ill-health.

There’s great encouragement to be had here. In all the particularities of life, many of us read passages like Romans 12 and think we could never live up to the demands that seem to be required. And then we remember what Paul has already described for us: the mercy of God in bringing us into covenant relationship with himself, without reference to our family history or ability to keep the law; the mercy of God seen in the good news of salvation available to all who call on the name of the Lord.

The gospel is about what God has done in Christ for the world. Christian lifestyle and mission flows from that, but it begins with God not with us. Start there.

Vern Poythress on the Lordship of Christ

I’ve just ordered a copy of the latest book from Vern Poythress:

Vern S. Poythress, The Lordship of Christ: Serving Our Savior All of the Time, in All of Life, with All of Our Heart (Wheaton: Crossway, 2016).

Meanwhile, a pdf excerpt of the book is available here, and Poythress has posted an article here on ‘10 Things You Should Know about the Lordship of Christ’, which are as follows:

1. Christ is Lord over all because he is God.

2. Christ is Lord over all because in his human nature he has accomplished perfect obedience, has won salvation for us, and has been given universal dominion as a reward.

3. Christ claims authority over both believers and unbelievers.

4. We are to obey Christ in all things.

5. We are to serve Christ all the time, in all of life, with all of our heart.

6. The means of grace guide us and equip us to grow in serving Christ.

7. Serving Christ makes a pronounced difference in every area of life.

8. Because of Christ’s lordship over the world, we can sometimes learn from and cooperate with unbelievers in short-term projects.

9. Christ gives distinctive authority and responsibilities to people in various spheres of life.

10. Through Christ, God establishes a pronounced distinction between the church and other institutions on earth.

The Asbury Journal 71, 1 (2016)

The latest issue of Asbury Journal, containing the below main articles from a Colloquium held on ‘The Church and Its Expansion’, is available from here.

Kenneth Cain Kinghorn

A Tribute to Ellsworth Kalas

Christine D. Pohl

Personal Reflections on Christian Endeavor

Brian Hull

Sending Silent Missionaries: How One Man’s Writing Helped Transform Youth and the Global Church

Robert A. Danielson

Floating Christian Endeavor as a Model for Mission to Migrants

This article explores how the little-known history of the Floating Societies of Christian Endeavor can provide a useful model for modern mission approaches to mission among transnational people, especially migrant workers, who seldom settle in an area long enough to be effectively reached by traditional church planting methods. Evangelizing and discipling people on the move is not a new problem for the church, but one which was addressed in the late 19th century and early 20th century in attempting to reach sailors for Christ. The model developed by the Floating Societies of Christian Endeavor were flexible, lay-led movements that leveraged traditional mission outreach to sailors coupled with the innovative youth organization of Francis E. Clark and the Christian Endeavor Movement. A similar model is suggested for work among migrant worker communities for today’s church, albeit with some warnings from the historical problems of the Floating Christian Endeavor.

Art McPhee

The Kingdom Life and the Witness of the Church

This paper was presented in Asbury Theological Seminary, on October 9, 2015 at the Advanced Research Program’s Interdisciplinary Colloquium on the subject, The Church and Its Expansion. This paper explores the role of the kingdom of God in Jesus’ teaching and its potential impact on the Church for the work of evangelism and church planting. As a central theme of Jesus, it becomes a metaphor and a model for how the Church should be involved in ministry to the world around us.

M. Andrew Gale

Justice and Truth, Theology in the Context of Emerging Young Adults

Emerging young adult church planters face challenging epistemological shifts within their congregations. With the proliferation of postmodern critique, the word truth has lost sway and is being supplanted by the concept of justice. In this article the author details this shift, looking at truth within postmodernism and justice as understood by the emerging young adult generation. He then offers a call for a rediscovery of an evangelical theology of justice and suggests helpful actions emerging young adult church planters can engage in that bridge this linguistic gap to their peers.

Benjamin J. Snyder

From Jerusalem to Jerusalem: Essential Contours of the Modern Messianic Movement

The modern messianic movement is only beginning to be noticed and is often met with confusion by Gentile believers. In an effort to promote better understanding and positive engagement with a view toward mutual collaboration between Jew and Gentile within the modern Church, this paper outlines the essential contours of the movement. Additionally, it appeals to a missiological model that offers a framework to aid the Gentile believer in understanding the movement. As a result of this awareness, this author hopes to see concrete engagement on the part of Gentiles with this expanding work of God among Jewish people.

Thomas Lyons

Praxis, Phenomena, and Spirit Reception in Luke-Acts: A Study of Shared Elements in Luke’s Corporate Baptism of the Holy Spirit Accounts

At the center of pneumatological Luke-Acts discussions is the function and purpose of Holy Spirit Baptism. Central to these debates is the relationship of water baptism, the laying on of hands, and glossolalia to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This study will explore each of these elements in the Holy Spirit reception accounts of Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19 by considering each element in their historical and literary context before surveying scholarship on the relationship between these elements and Spirit reception. The study concludes by evaluating to what degree any of the elements may appropriately be considered normative.

Sheryl Marks-Williams

Globalization and its Effects on the Expansion of the Church: Doing and Being Church Among Immigrants in the USA

At any given time, three percent of the world’s population is on the move. These migrants travel across regions and continents due to various push and pull factors, and do so with their systems of belief. With approximately 106 million of the 232 million global migrants being Christian, churches in the twenty-first century recognize that the church continues to expand not as it crosses new frontiers to new lands, but as it crosses personal boundaries to include all people. As the number of Western Christians decline, so will their influence in global missions. Consequently, it will become necessary for people living in diaspora to be in Christian ministry to, through, and beyond the diaspora. This paper discusses the need to create Kingdom communities among immigrants in the United States of America (USA) by being intentional about understanding immigrants so as to include them in an existing congregation, or by planting new congregations with, for, and by immigrants. It also seeks to identify the type of church or community that might be successful in helping immigrants to connect in meaningful ways to God and God’s people.

William Price Payne

Folk Religion and the Pentecostalism Surge in Latin America

Latino Pentecostalism and the Roman Catholic Charismatic Movement have experienced massive numerical growth since becoming viable options for the masses in the late 1960s. Contextualization theory suggests that they have experienced exponential growth because they have become indigenous faith systems that mesh with Hispanic cultures and give folk practitioners functionally equivalent alternatives to the syncretistic practices associated with popular religion. Specifically, as a native religion that engages all aspects of the Latino worldview, Latino Pentecostalism operates at the level of a popular religion without being inherently syncretistic. In this regard, it can be described as “folk Christianity.”

The entire issue is available as a pdf here.

There’s More...

I contributed today’s ‘Word for the Week’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2

Where do we see the power of God at work? According to Paul, in how God puts the world to rights, not least in saving people – everyone who believes, Jew or Gentile. That’s where Paul begins his letter to the Christians in Rome – with the gospel, the good news of God’s reign, which is centred on Jesus and rooted in the biblical story.

So it is that the letter takes in our rebellion against God and our alienation from each other; what Christ has done on our behalf, supremely in his death and resurrection; the importance of faith as the means by which we’re made right before God, brought into covenant relationship with him; our new life in Christ; the work of the Spirit in our lives; the hope extended to all creation. We get to the end of chapter 8, where Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from God’s love, and we breathe a deep and gratified sigh. Some of us may even allow an ‘Amen’ to break our lips! What a great letter this is, and what an amazing finish.

Until we turn over the page, and discover there’s more... In fact, we’re only half-way through.

Paul now writes about the place of Israel in God’s purposes. Although we might not fully understand the discussion, it’s clear that God is working out his plan, and we’re grateful to read the outburst of praise at the end of chapter 11: ‘Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! ... To him be the glory for ever!’ And here the ‘Amen’ is supplied for us! We sink back with a sense of being overwhelmed at how great God is. There can’t be anything more to add, can there?

And then we turn over the page and read... Therefore.

There’s yet more. God’s ‘more’ in this case is seen in a community of Christians from diverse backgrounds who offer the worship of their very selves to God, and who embody a set of values characterised by mutuality and love, not only in their relationships with one another but in their witness to others in the world around them.

This is where the letter has been heading towards: those of us who follow Christ walk in his footsteps. Wonderfully, and strange though it may seem, this too is part of God’s great plan for the world.

Theos Report on Religion and Well-Being

The latest report from Theos has recently been published:

Nick Spencer, Gillian Madden, Clare Purtill, and Joseph Ewing, Religion and Well-being: Assessing the Evidence (London: Theos, 2015).

Here’s the summary blurb:

‘The relationship between religion and wellbeing is widely and frequently reported. Academic studies published in peer-reviewed journals regularly confirm the widespread belief that “religion” is good for “well-being”.

‘But what do we mean by “religion” and what do we mean by “well-being”? Neither term is exactly self-explanatory.

‘This report evaluates the evidence from nearly 140 academic studies conducted over the last three decades examining the relationship between religion and well-being in a wide range of countries and contexts.

It clarifies the key terms, showing how “religion” has been used to cover a multitude of subtly different concepts (e.g. religious affiliation, subjective religiosity, religious belief, religious group participation, and religious personal participation), as has “well-being” (e.g. subjective well-being, mental health, physical health, and health supporting behaviours).

‘By doing so the report not only clarifies the extent to which religion is good for well-being, but begins to explain what this means, adding detail to the big familiar picture.

‘Ultimately it confirms that big picture – religion is indeed good for well-being – but by showing the nuances of that relationship, Religion and Well-being hopes to inform the debate about how society should capitalise on this important resource.’

A pdf of the full report is available here.

Foundations 70 (Spring 2016)

Issue 70 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available (here in its entirety as a pdf), with the following contributions. The essays by Ted Turnau and Andrew Latimer will be particularly significant for those interested in cultural engagement and the role of Christians in the contemporary world.

Ralph Cunnington

Editorial

Benedict Bird

The Covenant of Redemption According to John Owen and Patrick Gillespie

John Owen and Patrick Gillespie made profound contributions to the Reformed understanding of the “Covenant of Redemption”, or pactum salutis. Owen discusses it in at least sixteen of his works  from  1645  onwards.  Gillespie’s work, The Ark of the Covenant Opened, 1677, has  been described as “the most elaborate work in the English language” on the subject. The importance of the doctrine, in Owen’s view, is apparent in the Preface that he wrote to Gillespie’s work. He says “the truth herein is the very centre wherein all the lines concerning the grace of God and our own  duty do meet, wherein the whole  of  religion  doth  consist.” Both  authors  regard  the doctrine as the intra-Trinitarian foundation of the Covenant of Grace apart from which no man is  saved.  Both  explain  that  God’s  salvation  plan was  the  result  of the  eternal  counsels  of  the persons of  the  Trinity,  such  counsels having  the features of  a  covenant  and  including Christ’s distinct personal concurrence. Other theologians have rejected the notion of an intra-Trinitarian covenant, on the basis that it contradicts the undisputed truth that God has one indivisible will, and have sought  instead  to explain  the plan  of  salvation  simply  in  terms  of  divine decree. Yet Owen  and  Gillespie  regard  the  “pure  decree”  explanation  as  an  inadequate account  of  the Scriptural data – and hence an inadequate account of the whole foundation of God’s covenantal dealings with his people which underpin the whole of theology. In their view, the Covenant of Redemption provides a more compelling and faithful account, and does so without dividing the indivisible Trinity. This essay explores the alignment of their thinking on this vital issue. 

Ted Turnau

Dialogues Concerning Cultural Engagement (Part One)

In  this two-part essay,  the author addresses  the  subject of Christian  cultural engagement  in a post-Christian context. In Part One (Foundations 70), the author establishes that cultures of the West can be characterised as post-Christian. He then explores the issue of engagement through a  series  of  dialogues  with  different characters:  1)  the  Knight,  who  represents  a  political approach to cultural change, 2) the Gardener, who represents the Benedict Option espoused by conservative writer Rod Dreher, and 3) the Member of the Loyal Opposition, who represents the posture  of  “faithful  presence”  espoused  by  sociologist  James  Davison  Hunter.  Part  Two (in Foundations 71) gathers the various characters for a round-table discussion. After pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each, the author lays out his own approach which focuses on imaginative  cultural  engagement  using  the  arts  and entertainment.  He  explores  the  issue  of same-sex  marriage  as  a  case  study,  and the  reconciliation  between  gay  activist  Shane Windemeyer  and  American Christian  businessman  Dan  Cathy  as  an  example  of  winsome engagement in which each discovered a common humanity in the other. Our goal is a cultural engagement that is an analogue to that kind of winsome reconciliation that creates space within which  estranged  parties  can  meet,  or  what  the  author  calls “planting  oases”.  He  then  briefly considers two examples of this in the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, and U2’s Superbowl performance in February 2002. 

Andrew Latimer

Is the Adamic Work of Christ Shared with the Believer? A Critique of Van Drunen

One of the ongoing debates in Reformed theology is how Christians are to engage with the wider culture. David Van Drunen’s book “Living in God’s two Kingdoms” provides a clear presentation of a two kingdoms approach to cultural engagement and is written to challenge the “vision that the  redemptive  transformation  of  culture  is central  to  the  Christian  life”.  This  article  aims  to show how Van Drunen’s misreading of the covenant with Adam sets him on the wrong course, and  leads  to conclusions  which  are  at  odds  with  the  New  Testament’s  description  of  the Christian life. He fails to see that alongside an “exile paradigm” for believers in this age, the New Testament  also  describes  a  “conquest  paradigm”,  and  he  misses how  the  New  Testament teaches that in Christ believers share in Christ’s Adamic work.

Ben Rogers

Ryle and Evangelical Identity

This  article  examines  J.C.  Ryle’s  understanding  of  Evangelical  identity.  More specifically,  it examines his discovery, definition, and defence of Evangelical principles. He was convinced that Evangelical religion, which is characterised by five distinguishing principles, was the religion of the Scriptures, the Thirty-nine Articles, the English Reformers, the leading Pre-Laudian divines, and the leaders of the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century. This conviction was born out of his own conversion and reinforced by his study of the Bible and church history, and it led him  to  become  an  outspoken  advocate  of  Evangelical  principles  and  an apologist  for  the Evangelical cause.

Samuel Crossley

Recent Developments in the Definition of Evangelicalism

The  second  half  of  the  twentieth century  saw  a  spike  in discussions pertaining  to Evangelical identity. During these discussions the term “Evangelical” came to be used with greater intensity and was deployed in an increasingly technical manner. This phenomenon was in no small part due  to  the Evangelical  renaissance, where New and  Conservative Evangelicals  came  to  global prominence. This paper  examines the  two distinct  approaches  to defining  an Evangelical  that were used in this period, with particular reference to the propositional approach of John Stott and Martyn  Lloyd-Jones  and  the phenomenological  approach  of David Bebbington. The paper finishes by considering the merit of these two approaches in the present day. 

Book Reviews

Richard Simpkin

The Message of Worship (Risbridger)

Tim Ward

Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Scepticism