Harry Van Belle pages

I am pleased to announce the launch of the Harry Van Belle pages on All of life redeemed. Harry taught psychology at Redeemer University and at King's University College , Canada, before his early retirement in 2000.

He is a prolific writer and the site has links to many of his papers on topics as diverse as the history of psychology, psychotheraphy, trauma studies, Christian counselling, ethnic studies, communication theory and biblical meditations.

Two new books from B J van der Walt

Below are the details for two new books from Bennie van der Walt. Bennie is a South African Christian philosopher-theologian. He was professor of philosophy and director of the Institute for Reformational Studies at the Potchefstroom University. At present he is a research fellow in the School of Philosophy of the North-West University in South Africa.

A list of his publications in English is available here as well of details on how to order the books.

The Eye is the Lamp of the Body

B J van der Walt
The Eye is the lamp of the Body: Worldviews and their impact
ISBN 987-1-86822-55-2
305 pp; pbk; R120 ($25)












CONTENTS
Preface: Dr. Tukunboh Adeyemo Centre for Biblical Transformation, Nairobi, Kenya)

1. Introduction: Windows on the world

SECTION A: THEORETICAL REFLECTIONS

2. How to view and read God's revelation, the basis for an integral Christian worldview
3. The popularity, history, structure , value and dangers of a worldview
4. The uniqueness of a Reformational worldview
5. The historical background of postmodern view on normativity and on a Christian worldview

SECTION B: PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

6. Traditional African worldview and culture: a reason for the extreme
7. Antheunis Janse van Biggekerke (1890-1960): morning star of a Reformational worldview
8. The Christian worldview of Archbishop (emeritus) Desmond M. Tutu; (1) a general review
9. The Christian worldview of Archbishop (emeritus) Desmond M. Tutu; (2) his view on being human and on society
10. The Institute for Reformational Studies (1962-1999) as a Christian worldviewish organisation; its relevance for future Christian actions

Anatomy of reformation

B J van der Walt
Anatomy of Reformation: Flashes and Fragments of reformational Worldview

Third edition reprint (July 2008).

This was first published in 1981, a second revised edition appeared in 1991.

CONTENTS
1. Christ: conservative, revolutionary, ascetic, or …
2. Christ and the religious order of his day.
3. Christ and the social order of his time.
4. Christ and the political situation of his day.
5. The new way of reformation.
6. John Hus: a reformer in his own right.
7. Ulrich Zwingli: his message for South Africa today.
8. John Knox: the Scottish reformer who feared no man.
9. Sixteenth century models for Christian involvement in the world.
10. Renaissance and Reformation: contemporaries but not allies.
11. The intellectual decor of the Reformation; special reference to Calvin.
12. Church reformation: permanent call.
13. Out of love for my church; on the reformation of a reformed church.
14. Not of the world but in the world; the calling of the church in the world.
15. Church mission or Kingdom mission? The kingdom perspective in our missionary endeavour.
16. Flee from the idols!
17. The idolatry of ideologies.
18. The evangelical, revolutionary and reformational views of social change.
19. The calling of government and citizen; where do we stand in South Africa at this stage?
20. Integral Christian scholarship; looking into the heart of a Christian university.
21. God's hand in history?
22. Norms, means and ends; a reformational approach to economics.
23. The consistent problem-historical method of philosophical historiography.
24. The will of God; how the Holy Spirit directs us in the taking of difficult decisions.

The unforgiving servant (Mt 18)

Slides from my talk on the unforgiving servant in Mt 18.

| View | Upload your own

all of life redemeemed update

I have recently added the following to the all of life redeemed site:

Andrew Basden 2008. Understanding everyday experience and use of facebook and games

Albert Weideman 2008. Constitutive and regulative conditions for the assessment of academic literacy.

D. H. TH Vollenhoven Het Calvinischme en de Reformatie van de Wijsbegeerte Ch 2 (pp 22-48) (in English)

D. H. Th. Vollenhoven 'The foundations of Calvinist thought' - lecture delivered in 1934 at Dusseldorf

D. H. Th. Vollenhoven 'Lecture notes on Kant' from the syllabus 1958-59; translated by Bill Rowe (1977)

Kingdom living – Matthew 18: The unforgiving servant

Kingdom living – Matthew 18: The unforgiving servant
St Mike’s 6.30 pm 22 June 2008

The context of the parable of the unforgiving servant is the whole of Matthew’s gospel.
The Gospel was written initially for the Jews.
It is structured in five main parts:

Birth and Preparation (ch. 1-4)
1. Sermon on the Mount (ch. 5-7)
Narrative Section: Deed Ministry: Miracles (ch. 8-9)
2. Mission of the Disciples (ch. 10)
Narrative Section: Teaching and Preaching in Galilee (ch. 11-12).
3. Kingdom Parables (ch. 13)
Narrative Section: Healing in Galilee (ch. 14-17)
4. Church Discipline or Communal Rule (ch. 18) – this is the section we are looking at now
Narrative Section: Membership in the kingdom (ch. 19-23)
5 Eschatology (ch. 24-25)
Narrative Section: Passion and Resurrection (ch. 26-28)

It was aimed at Jewish readers hence Matthew avoids using the phrase the ‘kingdom of G-d’ and uses instead the ‘kingdom of heaven’ though the terms are interchangeable.

There are just over 340 mentions of the word ‘kingdom’ in the scriptures, 190 in the OT, and 54 in Mt, 19 in Mark and 43 in Luke. The kingdom is obviously important to Matt and he constantly uses parables to explain something of the kingdom. Which brings us to Mt 18: 21 ff and the parable of the unforgiving servant’. What I want to do first is to look at the background to this parable before looking at what it might mean to us.



The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Peter no doubt thought that he was being generous – the Rabbinic consensus was that the brother could be forgiven a repeated sin three times; on the fourth there is no forgiveness.
Peter thought that he was being large-hearted and generous! (Lev 26:21) But

22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Jesus ups the ante! Forgiveness is not limited by frequency or quantity. Forgiveness must be unlimited. He tells this parable to show the consequences.

23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
The king Jesus envisages here would almost certainly have been a Gentile king. Probably, a nearby Egyptian king, at a time before the Roman conquest. The servants were his upper-class slaves who acted as his tax collectors. They would be allowed to collect taxes for him but they could do it by making a little profit.

24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
This was about 20 years wages for a labourer between £400,000 - £1,000,000.

25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

This was perfectably acceptable! Excuses weren’t allowed!

26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
This was a standard promise – but in the light of the extent of the debt it is unlikely he could pay it back. The kings at the time were renowned for their ruthlessness. You don’t mess with them!

27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
This was almost uncertainly unheard of! Jesus was subverting the ideas and concepts that this first-century hearers would have of ANE kings. Why? The answer is Jubilee – this is the underlying message of this parable. Practice Jubilee. The jubilee was a time that occurred every 7 x 7 years – it was a Sabbath year of Sabbath years. Every one returned home, the land was restored to them, slaves were set free and debts were written off – it was good news indeed! AD 26 was a year of jubilee, the year that Jesus announced his kingdom manifesto in Lk 4 as the favourable year of the Lord – another term for jubilee. This writing off of the debts the hearers would have understood straight away as jubilee – here was a pagan king practicing something the Jews should have been doing but weren’t!

28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’

Denarii = a day’s wages for a labourer or foot soldier –many many times smaller than the debt of the first servant! Here is someone who has jubilee done to them and in turn doesn’t practice it himself. He has had grace, mercy, forgiveness and release shown to him in great measure and couldn’t bring himself to share it with others.

29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’

This second servants words also echo the first words, the first servant must have realised what he was doing. He had experienced incredible grace but wasn’t able to extend that to others. That is living dysfunctionally, that isn’t kingdom living.

30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

Great wisdom here – how could someone in prison earn to pay the debt back? This first servant really is messed up! Unforgiveness screws you up!

31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
They were distressed not only because of the unfair treatment, but because the actions of the first servant might mean it might reflect badly upon them.

32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
Understandably, the king is angry – not only has he lost the revenue from the second servant the first put into prison but also his inability to show mercy, again it reflects badly upon the king.

33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
The difference between grace and mercy – mercy is not getting what we deserve and grace is getting what we don’t deserve.

34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
Basanistas = torturers, not merely jailers. Torture was forbidden under Jewish law but the Gentile kings did practice it.

The king acts with compassion and mercy and yet punishes with ruthlessness. Grace and justice embrace.

Here’s the rub!
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

An echo of the Lord’s prayer: forgive us our sins as we have forgiven. Interestingly Mt uses debts and Luke debts and sins.

Jesus spoke in Aramaic probably used the term khaba which means both sins and debts.

It would be easy to spirtualise this away and just regard it as forgiveness of sins, but debts are also included – this is a theme of the sabbath year and jubilee, sins are forgiven, slaves are set free and debts are written off.

Jesuit theologian John Haughey:

"We read the gospel as if we had no money, and we spend our money as if we know nothing of the gospel."

God is concerned about what we do with our money – forgive us our debts. Don’t get into debt!

Why this emphasis on forgiveness? – forgiveness can bring release and restoration; two major jubilee themes.

Let’s look at this forgiveness.

First some things it is not:

1. Forgiveness is not ‘never mind’
– things need to be addressed and confronted, too many churches have piles of rubbish under the carpets! Let’s not be one of them. Being forgiving doesn’t mean that injustice and sin doesn’t have to be confronted – the verses immediately before this parable show us how to confront sin.

2. Forgiveness is not weakness
Forgiving doesn’t mean we tolerate wrongdoing. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t address injustice. You are forgiven – but don’t do it again.

3. Forgiveness is not easy – it may depend on your personality!
It can be difficult, painful and hard – but it does transform, it’s worth it!


4. Forgiveness is not forgetting
Who say you have to forget? Forgiveness is not forgetting. Nowhere in the scriptures does it tell us we have to forget – but we do have to live as if it never happened. In the parable the king forgave his servant, but when he showed unforgiveness to another, the king still remembered what he had done.


What is forgiveness?

Forgiveness is a letting go, a cancelling of a debt. The Greek word used is aphiemi, it literally means to ‘send off’, ‘to release’ good jubilee terms!

1. Forgiveness is a choice
Forgiveness is a choice not a feeling!
When we have been hurt or wronged – we need to recognise it.
Realise we can’t change it – we can’t reverse it.
But then we have a choice live with the pain or release it through forgiveness.

2. Forgiveness is giving up revenge
We don’t have a right to get even! Revenge can be sweet, but it is not right!
Rom 12: 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

Oscar Wilde: “Always forgive your enemies--nothing annoys them so much.”

3. Forgiveness brings freedom

The story has been told of a former inmate of a Nazi concentration camp who visited a friend who shared the ordeal with him. "Have you forgiven the Nazis?" he asked his friend. "Yes." "Well, I haven't. I'm still consumed with hatred for them," the other man declared. "In that case," said his friend gently, "they still have you in prison."

That story points out this reality: ultimately, forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. Bitterness and anger imprison you emotionally. Forgiveness sets you free. Lewis Smedes writes:

The first person who gets the benefit of forgiving is always the person who does the forgiving. When you forgive a person who wronged you, you set a prisoner free, and then you discover that the prisoner you set free is you. When you forgive, you walk hand in hand with the very God who forgives you everything for the sake of his Son. When you forgive, you heal the hurts you never should have felt in the first place.

4. Forgiveness is a process
Forgiveness may take time – it is a journey. We may have to keep on forgiving some. Lewis Smedes tells this story:

I once was in a rage at a police officer in the village where I live for abusing my youngest son for no good reason. I stomped about my house for several days in a fury of anger at the officer. I knew I would be miserable unless I forgave him. But I did. I did forgive him. I forgave him by going into my study and getting on my knees, and saying, "Officer Maloney, I forgive you. In the name of God, I forgive you."

About a year later I saw this same office drive by in a patrol car and I had to do it all over again. Only it was easier the second time. Then, a few years later, I heard that he had been fired from the force for abusive conduct. Hearing that tasted sweet as honey to me. I secretly smacked my lips with vengeful satisfaction. Then I realized I needed to forgive him one more time. Which I did. And, who knows, I may have to do it a few more times before I’m over it.

What happens if you feel you can’t forgive?

I need for justice ... It’s too hard .... I’ve been hurt too much ....

You have a choice forgive and set yourself free or don’t forgive and keep yourself imprisoned.

Father forgive …
God has forgiven us - we didn't say sorry, we didn't make the first move

Ask the Lord to help, take the first step - choose to forgive, don't wait for the feelings

Ask for a revelation of God love and forgiveness to you; the unforgiving servant didn’t realise how much he was forgiven so he couldn’t forgive others – ask God for that revelation.

ASBO Jesus 494

ASBO Jesus

Christian and Humanist Foundations for Statistical Inference - Andrew Hartely

Christian and Humanist Foundations for Statistical Inference: Religious Control of Statistical Paradigms

Andrew M. Hartley

Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock Publishers): Eugene OR, 2008.

xii + 126 pp; $18.00 pbk.
ISBN 10: 1-55635-549-1
ISBN 13: 978-1-55635-549-3

Andrew Hartley poses the question 'Does the Christian faith have anything distinctive to say ... about the foundations or practice of statistics as a science?' His answer is a resounding yes. In this book he shows us how. As he does so he exposes the dogma that statistics is religiously neutral as being a religious belief. If such a claim seems intriguing or even outrageous, then this book is for you.

He maintains that statistics has for the most part been controlled by non-Christian, humanist beliefs. His desire is to see the Christian faith integrated with statistics; hence the descriptive, if not snappy, title of the book.

Hartley claims to write for a wide audience, yet the mathematical equations may put off many arts students, which is a pity as they would benefit from this excellent introduction, as Hartley writes clearly and explains the difficult mathematics well. Though there were one or two places I had to re-read and read slowly!

Hartley begins by looking at four different paradigms within statistics: direst and indirect frequentism, subjective and objective bayesianism.

He then provides a brief overview of Dooyeweerd's philosophy - the philosophy of the law idea (PLI). This includes the religious control of any and all sciences, the modal aspects - their irreducibility and inter-aspect coherence - and the role of religious groundmotives.

He looks in more depth at one religious groundmotive, the nature freedom motive. This has two main poles: the nature or science ideal and the personality ideal. The former emphasises nature and the latter freedom. He sees how these apply to the statistical paradigms. The nature ideal (over)emphasises and absolutises the mathematical aspects of reality, this is seen in direct frequentism and objective bayesianism. These paradigms tend to be the most dominant because, as Hartley states, many statisticians have first placed their trust in mathematicism: reality is reduced to quantitative functioning. The subjectivist approach fits into the personality ideal and indirect frequentism fits well with this framework. Indirect frequentism absolutises the role of subjective elements, the individual scientist becomes the 'last word concerning the credibility of a hypothesis' (p. 76).

The only paradigm that could provide a Christian basis is then subjectivist Bayesianism. This is then examined, in chapter 7, to see how well it does comport with a Christian worldview. Subjective bayesianism makes no claims that scientific hypotheses 'must follow solely from quantitative data' and it holds to the 'coherence of inter-aspectual meaning' (p 82). Hartley identifies some possible conflicts between the PLI and subjective bayesianism but these are not insurmountable. Though he rejects the other three paradigms as being inconsitent with a Christian perspective, he does note that they could be implemented non-reductively and their results may 'approximate subjective bayesian conclusions' (p106).

There is a useful six-page glossary of key statistical terms and Dooyeweerdian terms and an eight-page bibliography. Unfortunately, there is no index.

This brief book is not an easy read, nevertheless it demands and repays careful attention. It should be required reading for all statisticians, mathematicans and scientists. It provides an excellent role model for the application of Dooyeweerd's philosophy to a subject and has shown how religious belief control statistical inference. Statistics is not religiously neutral. It isn't the last word on Christianity and statistics - as Hartley notes in his conclusion, where he identifies other areas for reflection and investigation (p 111) - but it is an important step towards it. It is a pioneering book and will provide the basis for much needed research and discussion.

Available from:

• Wipf and Stock
• amazon.com
• amazon.co.uk
• book depository
• Hot Book sale
• ibs.it

Wordled

From Wordle

ICS essays

Stuart Basden has posted his essays he wrote for his Institute of Christian Studies classes. Lots of great food to chew over.

Jon Swales declares himself a neo-calvinist

... check out his reasons. I was particularly persuaded by reason 4.

Bob Goudzwaard Annotated Bibliography

A second edition of Bruce Wearne's annotated bibliography of Bob Goudzwaard's work is now available:

Bruce C Wearne Cultivating Care within a Vulnerable Economy: an annotated bibliography of the English writings of Bob Goudzwaard 1967-2008

[pdf 104+ xix pages (approx 1.1 MB)]

There are also a number of Bob's articles now on-line accompanying this monumental work. These can be accessed through the Goudzwaard pages on the All of life redeedmed site, or via the live links on Bruce's bibliography.

Jim Skillen annotated bibliography update

I am pleased to announce that Bruce Wearne's annotated bibliography of Jim Skillen's work has now been updated and added to the All of life redeemed website.

Public Justice for All: An Annotated Bibliography of the Works of James W. Skillen, 1967-2008 (2nd updated edn)

A bibliography for a Christian approach to mathematics - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: A bibliography for a Christian approach to mathematics

A Mathematician's Psalm

A Mathematician's Psalm

Gene Chase

Praise You, O Lord, for inverse square laws

By which You hold the earth to the sun

And warm us just enough.

Praise You, O Lord, for the exponential function

And its inverse the logarithm

So pain does not double with pressure,

But growth is proportional to capacity.

Praise You, O Lord, for the continuity of creation.

Cars don't break down in an instant without warning;

Eyesight dims without sudden blackness;

Memory and imagination link past and future with the present;

Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.

Let all that has functional representation praise the Lord!

Praise ye the Lord.

Copyright © 1979. Gene B. Chase. All rights reserved.

Vocational Calvinism by Ray pennings

Ray Pennings has a fascinating piece in this week's Comment: Vocational Calvinism. He writes:

Reformed, Calvinist teaching regarding work can be summarized as follows:

1. God works, and we are called to bear His image;
2. God derives satisfaction from His work;
3. God provides for us through our work;
4. God has commanded man to work, and to work within the framework of His commands;
5. God holds us accountable for our work and expects to be acknowledged through it;
6. God provides particular gifts designed to meet particular needs in the advancement of His kingdom;
7. The Fall has radically affected our work. Work became toil;
   thorns and thistles frustrate our efforts. Fallen man seeks to glorify
   himself rather than his Creator through work;
8. Work is an individual as well as a social activity;
9. God takes pleasure in beauty, and the Scriptures do not focus simply on the functional and utilitarian aspects of work; and
10. Christ worked as part of His active obedience, and the believer's work through Christ is part of that obedience.

Everything is spiritual - a review

Everything is Spiritual
Rob Bell
DVD, Flannell, Zondervan, 2007
025986285562
Running time: 01:17:52.

Rob Bell is familiar to most through the short Nooma DVDs. This is different, there are no set pieces, no clever camera angles or tricks and it lasts much longer. This is a recording from his 25 plus city 'Everything is Spiritual' tour in 2006. The performance on the DVD took place in an Arts Centre in Grand Rapids, USA.

This is a cross between a sermon, lecture, performance art - at the end a huge white board is covered in notes - and stand-up. Bell is a gifted communicator and appears to be speaking without notes. He speaks for over a hour and a quarter but it seems like twenty minutes. Were that all church speakers were as absorbing.

The 'chapters' on the DVD are as follows:

In the beginning 00:00:00
100 billion galaxies 00:09:07
Atoms are small 00: 21:11
Flatland 00:31:42
You are here 00:57:50
Seasons 00:57:50
Everything is spiritual 01:11:10

Bell begins at the beginning, Genesis 1 - he calls is an ancient Hebrew poem - and draws out its implications. He adopts a framework hypothesis and explores the many times phrases and words occur in threes, sevens (eg the first verse has seven words, the second verse 14 words (7 x 2), earth occurs 21 times (7 x3), God 35 times (7 x 5), 'And God saw' 7 times) and tens (the following phrases all occur ten times: 'according to their kind', 'and God saied ...', 'let there be ...'), suggesting that the author have have had some [divine] help!

He then looks at the immense size of the universe from the very large (galaxies) to the very small (atoms and sub-atomic particles). In doing so he is able to draw out the incredible and awesomeness of the creation and brings glory to the Creator. The fine tuning of the universe is then briefly explained.

Edwin Abbot's Flatland analogy is then explored to make some excellent points. He suggests that it could unite science and faith, and predestination and freewill. Science is a circle in the 2D flatland, faith is a square; but in reality they may be 2D representations of a 3D cylinder.

He sees humans as being both spiritual and physical. We can't help but being spiritual - hence everything is spiritual. However, he doesn't really define what he means by 'spiritual'. I would like to have seen him develop this a little more. It is all well and good being spiritual (structure) but how are we to develop and embody it (direction).

There are a number of small errors that Bell makes in the science, these have been identified here. These don't however, detract from his main points. There is nothing new or ground-breaking on this DVD and there are numerous of resources that Bell has drawn upon, including Henri Blocher and Nahum Sarna on Genesis, Hugh Ross and George Schroeder on science and Genesis and Abbott's Flatland. But what Bell does is make it all accessible, fascinating, intriguing and very watchable and in the end it stirred up a response to worship our amazing Creator.

Available in the UK from
eden
wesley owen

Putting Jesus in His Place - book review

Putting Jesus in His Place The Case for the Deity of Christ
Robert M. Bowman Jr and J. Ed Komoszewski
Kregel Publications 2007
ISBN 978-0-8254-2983-5
£11.99; pbk; 392 pp

What do we think of Jesus? That is perhaps the most important question ever asked. There have been a myriad of answers: a rebel Pharisee (Hyam Maccoby), a failed Jewish revolutionary (H S Reimarius), a magician (Morton Smith), a great moral teacher and example (E Renan), a social worker (Edward Norman), a man who never was (G A Wells), the husband of Mary Magdalene (Barbara Thiering), a myth for our time (Don Cupit) or divine but not human (Docetism), human but not divine (Ebionitism) and God incarnate, human and divine.

No historian denies the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth, what is more controversial is his divinity. As F F Bruce wrote: "The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar. It is not historians who propagate the 'Christ-myth' theories." The case for the deity of Christ is clearly presented in this book by Bowman and Komoszewski.

The authors use the acronym HANDS to examine the evidence for the deity of Christ:

Honours: Jesus shares the honours of God
Attributes: Jesus shares the attributes of God
Names: Jesus shares the names of God
Deeds: Jesus shares the deeds that God does
Seat: Jesus shares the seat of God's throne

The book is split into five parts, each part examines one of the aspects outlined above.

The honours shared by Jesus and God include: worship and prayer; the attributes shared include preexistence, being eternal, uncreated; the shared names include: I Am, first and last, alpha and omega, saviour, King of kings, Lord of lords; the deeds include: creating, speaking with divine authority, forgiving sins, ruling over the forces of nature; the seat includes: claiming to be equal with God, ruling over all things and ruling forever.

It provides an excellent overview of the divinity of Christ drawing upon biblical and non-biblical sources. It provides a powerful and compelling cumulative case for the deity of Christ.

There are 75 pages of notes, two pages of recommended resources and a 26-page Scripture index. There is also an accompanying website, here, with further resources.

The book is very accessible, in terms of reading, layout (lots of nice tables) and price!

Available in the UK from:
Amazon
Book depository
Wesley Owen

Apostolic Networks in Britain by William Kay - book review

Apostolic Networks in Britain
New ways of Being Church
William K. Kay
Paternoster: Milton Keynes, 2007
ISBN 978-1-84227-409-5
£29.99; pbk; xxii + 377 pp.

William Kay, Director of the centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies at Bangor, is a prolific author, editor of Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association and an ordained minister in the Assemblies Of God. He has written widely in the area of faith development of young people, religious education and on the Pentecostal movement. Here he turns his attention to a movement parallel to the Pentecostal movement: apostolic networks. He combines his extensive knowledge of the charismatic movement with empirical studies and has provided an almost exhaustive study of the contemporary so-called 'new church' scene.

When I was involved with the charismatic movement in the early eighties to mid nineties, these churches were called house churches - the name was indicative of its origins rather than descriptive, as most met in school halls, cinemas or sports centres. Now it seems they are calling themselves new churches. This too is a misnomer, the newer churches are those of the emergent movement. Kay uses the better description 'apostolic networks'.

Usually the last move of God is the worst enemy of the next. Pentecostals usually don't get on with charismatics - and here we have a Pentecostal putting the new churches under the theological and sociological magnifying glass, and it is done in a sympathetic and understanding way. No one can say that Kay has not done his homework, I would also find it hard to believe that any of those networks or apostles examined here would say that Kay has misrepresented them or misunderstood them - all of it resonates with my experience of apostolic networks.

First he traces their history (chs 1-2). Starting, as most histories of the charismatic movement do, with Smith Wigglesworth's prophecy to David Du Plessis, through Arthur Wallis and then the Fountain Trust to the streams associated with Restoration magazine (R1) and Fullness magazine (R2). Now we have a whole range of Rs!

Kay examines 12 apostolic networks in detail (chs 3-14); the 'apostles' are: Bryn Jones, Terry Virgo, Barney Coombs, Tony Morton, Roger Forster, Gerald Coates, Stuart Bell, Colin Dye, Noel Stanton, John Wimber, Colin Urquhart and Hugh Osgood. Here he provides a brief biography of the apostle some observations on the network and then some concluding remarks. Most of this section is drawn form interviews with the apostle and members of their churches. Kay isn't over-critical and is generally positive and I would have liked to have seen a little more constructive criticism and critique.

Several key themes are then explored in the 'Crossflows' section (chs 15-17), including the cell movement and the Toronto blessing. Most of the networks have cells but are not cell churches and all have to a greater or lesser extent experienced the Toronto blessing, that came out of the Toronto Airport Church in the nineties. Part IV (chs 18-20) contains a qualitative analysis. this includes a look at the theology, mission and sociology. With the exception of perhaps Terry Virgo's network the majority are arminian in outlook. There is a brief discussion on what is an apostle. The main emphasis is on being a church planter. The discussion is unlikely to persuade those who believe that Apostles disappeared with the early church. Is there a difference between NT Apostles and contemporary apostles? In Part V (ch 21- 24) is a summary of the results of an extensive qualitative analysis. This is based on a questionnaire sent to 647 leaders in the networks. There was a 48.8% response rate. The questionnaire was based on one Kay sent to Pentecostal pastors in the late 1990s.

Interestingly, Kay believes that the number of apostolic network churches are far fewer that have previously been estimated (around 2,000 according to Religious Trends no 3). The 12 networks Kay examines comprise 647 congregations. Obviously, there are a larger number than these, for example independent new churches such as those very loosely associated with South Chard (Sid Purse, Harry Greenwood, Ian Andrews, Roger Price) and with Brother North's (GWN) 'circuit' (eg, those in Liverpool, Lanark, Exeter, Reading and Rora House, Devon). North is an interesting and influential character - Kay describes his as a proto-apostle. Those who were originally associated with him were Dave Tomlinson, Alan Vincent, Peter Parris and Bryn Jones.

The questionnaires reveal some interesting results. The mean age of congregational leaders is 47, and the range of ages is 25-72. The vast majority are male (85%) and most do not hold with women elders. Most of the leaders had some Christian background and upbringing but had very little full-time or part-time residential training. 75% spoke in tongues everyday and 86% read their Bibles daily. Only five of the networks had more baptisms than funerals. One-fifth of the congregations contain more than 50 adults and 5.1% of the congregations are over 350 adults. Kay summarises: "The networks are more alike than different..." (p. 312). Church growth and charismata is the subject of ch 22. Here Kay concludes that Charismatic activity both from the leaders and the congregation is associated with church growth and that ministerial evangelism is important but is not associated with church growth.

There is an extensive (15 page) bibliography which is an invaluable resource - as is the whole book - for future researchers. Few other book length studies of his aspect of the contemporary scene have been published.

Kay has provided a comprehensive and extensive - if not exhaustive - study of apostolic networks and it is a must read for anyone involved in the networks and those researching the movement. It also has the added advantage of being very readable and accessible. I throughly enjoyed reading it. It forms part of Paternoster's excellent Studies in Evangelical History and Thought series.

Publisher's site here.
Wipf and Stock

Available from

• Wesley Owen
• amazon UK
• Book depository

The mystery of life's origins - free download

The King's promise

My mum died on Sunday - this is the reason for the lack of recent blogging. Among her things I came across an "Active Service" Testament, which must have belonged to her uncle who died in WWI. In it was this letter:It reads:

Windsor Castle

November 18th 1912.

Dear Sir,

I have had the honour of submitting your letter of the 15th inst; to the King, and I am directed to inform you, in reply. It is quite true that he promised Queen Alexandra as long ago as 1881 that he would read a chapter of the Bible daily, and that he has ever since adhered to this promise.

Your very truly,

Francis Brading Esq.

The King is Edward VII.

For Us and for Our Salvation - book review

For Us and For Our Salvation:
The Doctrine of Christ in the Early Church
Stephen J. Nichols
Crossway Books, Illinos, 2007
ISBN 978-58134-867-5


I bought this book on the strength of one effusive review. I wasn’t disappointed.

For many Christology and the early church is a boring topic – there are too many –isms (or should that be –wasms) to get confused with. If that is your view then a read of Nichols's book will be an ideal antidote. He has a habit of making complicated ideas and theories accessible and fascinating – boring it’s not. Church history can be fun!

The book comprises six chapters. Chapters 2, 4 and 6 consist of selected key documents from the proponents and advocates for the views he discusses in the odd numbered chapters.

The first chapter looks at the early centuries. The baddies here are the Ebionites, Marcion, Valentius, Theodotus the Cobbler, Paul of Samosa, ‘Praxeas’ and Sabbellius; the goodies: Ignatius, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus. During this period the issue was the divinity of Christ (denied by the Ebionites, the adoptionists such as Paul of Samosa and Theodotus aka the Cobbler)) and the humanity of Christ (denied by the docetists such as Valentius and Marcion).

I particularly appreciated the placing of these heresies within the cultural milieu. The ground motive of Platonism has much to answer for. As Nichols puts it:

The docetists, imbibing too much Platonism for their own good, simply could not allow for a human, fleshly Christ. (p 33)

Before 312 AD the enemies of orthodoxy were largely without, since then the enemies of the church have also been within. Chapter 3 looks at the issues surrounding the ‘battle at Nicea’ (325).

Here the hero is Athanatius and the villain Arius. The debate seemingly over the inclusion or not of a single letter i: homoousias (Athanasius) or homoiousias (Arius).

Contrary to Dan Brown and the DaVinci Code the vote at the council of Nicea was not close – only three voted against, when between 250 and 300 bishops voted for. It did not mean that Jesus’ divinity was established by a vote; it confirmed and strongly affirmed what the vast majority of church fathers knew anyway.

The Council of Nicea didn’t fully settle the issue it was six decades before the Arian influence declined and orthodoxy triumphed. Fortunately Athanasius had some allies: the Cappodocians, Gregory, Basil and Gregory. Jesus' divinity and humanity was affirmed; this however led to a new set of problems which leads us to Chalcedon.

Chapter 5 looks at Leo the Great and Chalcedon. The Chalcedon Council brought together ' the two natures of Christ, his full humanity and his full deity, into one undivided, unconfused and unmixed person' (p. 99): two natures in one person. Leo was no stranger to danger - he faced Attila the Hun and came out unscathed. More intellectual enemies were the Appollinarians, who he faced in the lead up to the Council of Chalcedonin 451. Apollinarius (d 392) and his subsequent followers maintained that Christ has one nature and one person, 'a God-man without a clearly defined and distinct humanity and deity' (p. 103). The Cappodocian Fathers had battled with Apollinarianism, but despite that Apollinarius's teachings still found a stronghold among some. The Council of Chalcedon was to deal a death blow to the Apollinarians and Leo's formulation of two natures in one person' was to prevail. The story is well told by Nichols, who manages to make it live.

This is an excellent primer on the early Christians creeds and Christology. I highly recommend it as a great place to start. The addition of primary sources is an extra treat and this provides an accessible way into the Church Fathers.

Further details here

Available in the UK from:

• amazon
• book depository

Does science make belief in God obsolete?

The Templeton Foundation are asking big questions: Does science make belief in God obsolete?
The responses include: Yes, if by ... from Steven Pinker, No and yes by Cardinal Schonborn, Absolutely not! by William D Phillips, Of course not by Mary Midgeley, No, but it should from Christopher Hitchens and Yes by Victor J Stenger.

More on post-charismatic?

There is some debate on the origins of the term post-charismatic, the title of Rob McAlpine's book (see my review below). Apparently jonnybaker and Doug Gay used it in their book Alternative Worship and Gerald Coates used it in 2001, Timothy Miller edited a book with Postcharismatic in the title, but the first use could perhaps be traced back to John Wimber who used it in the eighties (unless anyone knows otherwise?).

Here are some reviews of Post-charismatic?:

• Brother Maynard - who gets a few name checks in the book and has provided a typology of what the term post-charismatic might mean.
• Charis Shalom
• Captain Collo
• Jason Clark
• Chrisendom
• whatever you do

Any others?

Post-Charismatic? Book review

Post Charismatic?
Rob McAlpine
David C Cook, Kingsway Communication, 2008
£9.99; 349 pp.
ISBN 978 1 84291 350 5



We have post-everything and post-anything, now we have post-charismatic. Post-charismatic has a range of meanings. John Wimber used it to mean the charismatic renewal was over. Here McAlpine – better known as Robby Mac - uses it to mean not non- or anti-charismatic or even post-Spirit, but moving on beyond the charismatic, beyond its excesses.

I would regard myself as a post-charismatic. I’ve been involved as a leader in a small independent house church and then moved to a much larger house/ new church that eventually became part of Gerald Coates's Pioneer movement. There were a number of reasons why I left, not least being the power struggles and latent dualism. I joined the local Anglican church – where I still belong. Most who have left the charismatic movement have become disillusioned and have given up on church if not God. It is to these people that McAlpine’s books is addressed. It is a timely message.

He starts by giving a brief overview of the history of the charismatic movement. A number of key people are omitted (this is inevitable in something less than a PhD thesis! Notable omissions are Edward Irving and Alexander Boddy). It is a good sympathetic overview. He traces its origins from Wesley, through the Keswick-holiness movements to the birth of the Pentecostal churches through the 60s/70s charismatic wave and then the more Reformed third wave of Wimber et al.

McAlpine then looks at several of the excesses of what could be called charismania. These include the Latter Rain movement, Prosperity and healing, and Covering and authority. Each of these takes up a chapter. What I found fascinating was the influence of the Latter Rain teachings in subsequent movements. The Latter Rain 'prophets' included William Branham, George Warnock and Franklin Hall; the teachings that had a lot of influence include:

• Restorationism - God is restoring to the church truths that have been lost for centuries
• Five-fold ministry - the restoration of the Eph 4 'ascension gifts' to the church
• Laying on of hands - to impart spiritual gifts
• Prophecy - the emphasis on the prophetic gift
• Recovery of true worship - ie the restoration of David's tabernacle
• Immortalisation of the saints - some would embrace immortality before the return of Jesus
• The unity of the church - the church will become a unity before the second coming
• The manifest sons of God - the church will become the ongoing incarnation of Jesus.

An interesting question would be where did the "Latter Rain" get these ideas from?

The final part, Spirit and praxis, seeks to reflect on these excesses and bring pastoral insight for those hurt by them. McApine writes carefully and irenically even when criticising the excesses - he does it out of a heart of love. There is no doubt that God has moved through the charismatic movement. He has used it to restore a sense of worship and intimacy. The danger is that these gains can easily be lost in the excesses that all too often it demonstrated. McAlpine writes to all those disillusioned with the charismatic and seeks to provide a way for them to reintegrate the Spirit and word. Without one we dry up and without the other we blow up.

Available from:
Equipping the Church (Kingsway)
Amazon.co.uk
David Cook Distribution Canada
Amazon.ca

Good technology, bad technology

This week's Comment has an interesting piece on technology by Wan Phek How of Regent College: 'Good technology. bad technology: how do we tell the difference?'. He asks:

Are these criteria—uninterrupted availability, personalization, standardization, modularity, ease of maintenance—sufficient to determine whether or not a particular technology is ultimately good?

Pagan Christians

This is a brilliant spoof advert for Frank Viola's book Pagan Christians.
See my review here.



[HT Nathan Gann]

Coming soon ...

... a new book on worldview by Mike Goheen and Craig Bartholomew:



[HT Dave Beldman]

Our World Belongs to God

Jon Swales has found an on-line version of this contemporary statement. (click on the image for the link)

In a Christian school I used to teach in we used to say the first part of this as part of our school assembly.

Preamble

1. As followers of Jesus Christ,
living in this world—
which some seek to control,
but which others view with despair—
we declare with joy and trust:
Our world belongs to God!

Current reading

Kuyper's Days of Glad Tidings - Pentecost

Jack Van Meggelen has translated Abraham Kuyper's Days of Glad Tidings - Pentecost (with Ascension Day) vol. III (translated from Dagen van Goede Boodschap -Op den Pinksterdag (Met Hemelvaart). J.A. Wormser: Amsterdam, 1888). It is now available on All of life redeemed at the Kuyper pages.

John Martyn

Searching journal contents

Searching journal contents suddenly got easier with:

• Index theologicus [HT Between two worlds] and
• James P Boyce Centennial Library [HT yet again Between two worlds]

Mark Roques

Mark Roques is interviewed by Amy Stock on schoolswork. If you click on the orange 'listen now' button, it will open up this - click on the may podcast - Mark starts about 3 minutes in.

Update: click on mp3 and you'll hear the full interview with Mark.

God and Richard Dawkins

BeThinking has a mp3 of John Lennox on God and Richard Dawkins (over 28 MB) from 2005. (HT Between two worlds)

Mike Goheen pages

I have now added the Mike Goheen pages to All of life redemeed. (My thanks for the help to Dave Beldman.)

Mike is professor of Worldview and Religion Studies at Trinity Western University, Langley BC, Canada. The site includes links to most of Mike's papers that available on-line. Including his PhD dissertation on Lesslie Newbigin.

Calvin Seerveld interview

Calvin Seerveld is interviewed by Comment. It is a fascinating insight into the life and work of an academic, an author, an artist and a pop song writer.

Faith and Force: Book review

FAITH AND FORCE: A Christian Debate about War by David Clough and Brian Stiltner. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2007. 304 pages, bibliography and index. Paperback; $26.95. ISBN: 9781589011656.

Faith and Force is an unfortunate title for this book. The “and” gives the impression of two separate areas of life; faith is not a separate area because it permeates all of life. However, this title was chosen, I suspect, for its alliteration rather than its theological purpose as both authors seek to show how their faith integrates with their different positions.

David Clough and Brian Stiltner have produced an excellent and innovative book. They come from different perspectives as well as different sides of the Atlantic. Clough, a Methodist at St. John’s College, Durham, UK, expounds and defends a pacifist position. Stiltner, a Roman Catholic at Sacred Heart University, USA, takes a just war position.

The impetus for this book is the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Two friends found themselves on opposing sides of the debate and long e-mail debates ensued. These debates formed the basis of Faith and Force. Each of the chapters is co-written and then followed by the e-mail type discussions which retain much of a conversational character and highlight agreements and disagreements.

The key questions addressed are: When, if at all, is it right for a country to go to war? Should a person serve in the armed forces? How much money, if any, is legitimate to spend on the military? These are urgent questions since millions of lives and dollars are at stake.
Along the way, clear and insightful discussions are directed at topics like developing a war-ethic (chap. 1), the issue of weapons’ proliferation (chap. 4), and the menace of terrorism (chap. 5).
It is a little disappointing for this neo-Calvinist not to see any major interaction with Reformed authors on the just war position as it avoids the problems of a natural law approach. Nevertheless, this book is highly recommended, not only for its ethical discussion, but also as a model for debate and discussion. Ethics involves a reflective and dialogic process and these aspects are exemplified in this book. The authors have provided useful resources in thinking about the ethical issues of war from two different Christian traditions.

Despite my reservations with the book’s title, it would be great to see a series of books using this as a model such as Faith and Global Warming, Faith and Evolution; though I suspect these debates might not be as cordial as this particular book.

Steve Bishop

Published in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith March (2008)

Publisher's details here

Book website here

Science and Grace: Book review

SCIENCE AND GRACE: God’s Reign in the Natural Sciences by Tim Morris and Don Petcher. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006. 352 pages. Paperback; $17.99. ISBN: 1581345496.

Tim Morris and Don Petcher, professors at Covenant College, have had a long-term interest in the relationship between science and their Christian commitment. It was this interest that led them to create “Science in Perspective,” a course at Covenant College, and it was out of this course that this book developed. Both write from a Reformed perspective and yet this book would appeal to Christians of any persuasion and even to open-minded non-Christians.

The book is split into three sections. The first section looks at “Science and Christian belief in the postmodern context.” What is refreshing about this chapter is that the authors take postmodernism seriously and do not write it off as a philosophical aberration that science will eventually disprove.

Chapter 3 looks at five “dissenters,” Christians who have rejected the Enlightenment Project of the neutrality and objectivity of reason and therefore of science: Blaise Pascal, Johann Georg Hamann, Charles Hodge, Abraham Kuyper, and Herman Dooyeweerd. All of these dissenters agree that there is a need to reconsider the role of faith in relation to reason. Faith commitments are important in the development of science. If there are two different kinds of science—that of the believer and that of the nonbeliever—then how can we work together? Morris and Petcher answer: common grace.

Section two examines “Jesus Christ, the Lord of creation” and considers God’s relation to his creation. Chapter 4 looks at the Trinitarian character of God and his covenant with his creation. The extremes of immanentism or pantheism and transcendence or deism are avoided. The Trinitarian God works in the creation in a covenantal way. This means that the world is not a predictable machine. The next chapter looks at the concept of miracles and God’s freedom in the universe. Morris and Petcher rightly regard miracles as being part of God’s providence; a miracle is an “outworking of God’s purposes.” In the final chapter in this section, “The laws of nature and the gospel of grace,” they see the laws as a “faithful unfolding of God’s covenant promises” that reflect creation’s creatureliness and contingency.

The final section, “Investigating his dominion,” analyzes our place in the “doing” of science. The authors ask, “What does loving God and neighbor entail in the natural sciences?” They see science as an opportunity for obedience to the great commandment (Mark 12:30–31). It is a refreshing and inspiring perspective. Materialism and reductionism are resisted and they capture the wildness of creation that has been lost in the “Modern domesticated version” of science.

Throughout the final section is a lot of wisdom and wise advice, for example: “the use of scientific evidence in apologetics may inadvertently cede to science the ultimate truth authority” (p. 270) and “our ultimate allegiance as scientists is not to our scientific disciplines as such but to Christ’s church” (p. 191).

The penultimate chapter looks at “The kingdom of Christ and the culture of science”; science is seen as “a cultural enterprise that reflects God’s favor and yet calls for His judgment at the same time” (p. 306). The final chapter provides a clarion call for Christians to work out their science in the context of their Christian commitments. There are twenty-four pages of notes, a bibliography of 149 works and an eight-page index.

This is one of the best books on science and Christianity I have read. If you only read one book on science and Christianity this year, make it this one. The authors take seriously Kuyper’s claim that there is no inch of secular life that Christ does not declare, “It is mine.” They look at what this claim might mean for the biological and physical sciences, but as they do so, it has implications for all of the sciences—theology included. This is a book that demands slow, careful, and prayerful study for any Christian involved in academic study.

Steve Bishop

Published in Perspectives on Science and Faith March 2008.

More details here.

John Calvin rediscovered

James Bratt discusses a book he co-edited: John Calvin Rediscovered: The Impact of His Social and Economic Thought (Westminster/John Knox Press, 2007): mp3

The religious heritage of rights talk: Witte and Wolterstorff

John Witte Jr and Nicholas Wolterstorff discuss religion and human rights. Quicktime movie (228 MB) and mp3 (59 MB). This was a CCCS sponsored event.

The kingdom as Jubilee

‘Jesus’ concept of the kingdom was borrowed extensively from the prophetic understanding of the Jubilee year’ J H Yoder (Politics of Jesus p. 36)

God’s work in creation set a precedence: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, rest; this is seen in the Sabbath day Deut 5;12-15 and the Sabbath year Lev 25:17

Barnabas (Paul’s apostolic companion) takes it further in The Epistle of Barnabas 13: 3, 4, he writes:

‘... And God made in 6 days the work of his hands; and he finished them on the seventh day, and he rested the seventh day, and snctified it. Consider my children, what this signifies he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this; that in
6, 000 years the Lord God will bring all things to an end.’

Sabbath year of sabbath years = Jubilee Lev 25:8ff extra rest!

4 themes characterise Jubilee:
(i)rest
(ii)forgiveness of debts
(iii) liberation of slaves and the oppressed
(iv) redemption of property

Jesus and jubilee
Lk 4: 18,19 Jesus’ first public sermon – announcing the arrival of the kingdom – couched in jubilee terms

It is claimed that AD 26 was the actual year of the Jubilee – the jubilee age has arrived.

1. Celebration (jubilation) (Lev 25 v 9) - sounding of the trumpet: a proclamation everyone around knew about it.
2. Atonement (v 9) - all that we do rests upon what Jesus has accomplished in and through the cross.
3. Family (v 10) - all returned to their families; the oppressed go free
4. Work/ rest (v 11) - our work is shaped by obedience to God; the importance of rest - no workaholism here!
5. Reliance upon God (v 12) unless God blesses we starve!
6. Economics (v 14ff) land (v )- the gospel is for all of life, it affects how we buy and sell, the economic powers etc: all of life is to be redeemed.
7. Release from debt - 'forgive us our debts'. Debts were forgiven. Good news for the poor.
8. Stewardship of the land (v 23) - environmental concern
8. Care (v 35).
9. Above all it was a restoration - people were restored, redeemed.

Release and restoration characterises the jubilee themes - a message taken up when Jesus declared jubilee (aka the year of the Lord's favour) in Lk 4.

Eschatalogical anticipation - a foretaste of the 'not yet' now. Echoes of the exodus too (v 8, 55, etc)

Rest

Lk 12:22-31 cf Lev 25: 20-22.
There is much emphasis in our society on work – but not enough on rest. Paul Marshall writes:

This rest is more than recuperation and preparation for work. It is a God-given human response in its own right.

We are the image of God – God works and then he rests.

Rest is not just what we do in our spare time, it’s not just a holiday, or a day off; it is so much more:

Hebrews 3:7-4:10
sabbath rest

We rest from out labours – in more than one sense of the word. Rest is a reminder that we can’t do it in our own strength.

When most people ‘rest’ we consume; the numbers in the mall are testimony to that fact. I’m no different, I hate the mall, but I love amazon!


Forgiveness and liberation

Lk 11: 4 release (aphiemi) our debts (opheilema = monetary debts); as we release everyone that is indebted to us ie practice Jubilee

Mt 18: 23 the kingdom of heaven is like... Jubilee!
verse 27 aphiemi
(aphiemi LXX in Lev 25)

Redemption of property
land = wealth, capital
Lk 12: 32-34 sell your possessions and give to the poor
Mk 10:21 rich young ruler ‘ practice jubilee’
Lk 19: 8-10 Zacheus

The implications of Jubilee

1. It is God’s new order bursting in
economic, social, religious, political, ... cf Gal 3: 28

All areas under the influence of Jubilee – hence and image of the kingdom.

2. It shows God’s concern for the poor and oppressed

Provision for the poor:
(i)0% interest rate
(ii) third year tithe given to the poor
(iii) debts were cancelled every seven years
(iv)debtors sold into slavery were to be released every seven years
(v)fallow land was available for the poor

Jubilee prevented exploitation of the poor and oppressed – it not only provided for them it gave the a new start.

Early Israel was an egalitarian society. Later the gap between rich and poor increased; they moved away for the jubilee principles (Is 58; Amos 2:6)
It prevented Israel becoming permanent slaves.

3. It shows God’s concern for the earth
‘the land is mine’ underlines the Jubilee
It is a reminder that we are stewards
It enabled the land and the animals to rest.

4. Restoration
Amos 3:21 restoration of all things
Rom 8, Rev 21 the whole earth is to experience release and liberty – at the Jubilee of Jubilees!



Bibliography

R.B. Sloan, Jr, The Favourable Year of the Lord: A Study of Jubilary Theology in the Gospel of Luke. Schola Press: Austin, Texas, 1977. Pp. 213

Dooyeweerd study guides

I have recently resumed my study guides to two of Dooyeweerd's books:

• The Christian Idea of the State and
• A Christian Theory of Social Institutions

I also intend to return to Roots of Western Culture guide shortly.

Two other study guides in progress are:

• Roy Clouser's Knowing with the Heart by Gregory Baus and
• Jim Skillen's The Scattered Voice by Derek Melleby

Odds and sods

• The soon to be released ESV Study Bible has a web site and more details.
• Doug Groothuis on the "new" atheism.
• UK Christian bookshops now have a blog
• so too do the Evangelical Philosophical Society.
• For the latest Accordance news click here.

A brief musical interlude ....

From the new DVD.
The UNcon was the first time that Daevid Allen, Steve Hillage, Tim Blake, Gilli Smyth, Mike Howlett, Miquette Giraudy and Didier Malherbe had all been together on stage and performed since the 1977 Gong reunion in Paris.

J P A Mekkes on Reformational wiki

Rudi Hayward has posted a useful brief biography of J P A Mekes (1898-1987) and an outline of his thought on Reformational wiki. After a spell in a POW camp, Mekkes worked for the Dutch equivalent of the FBI and then became on of the first professors appointed by the Association for Calvinistic Philosophy. He influenced Bob Goudzwaard, Dick Stafleu and Egbert Schuurman among others.

McKnight on work

Scot McKnight is working through Darrell Codsen's excellent little book on work: The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work.

I'm really pleased that Scot is drawing this book to people's attention. It's one of the few books that treats work as being worthwhile in itself and not viewing work as a just a mission field, a place to share the gospel.

B J van der Walt Transformed ch 4

Taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

This is the fifth in a series of posts looking at B J van der Walt’s Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind (ICCA: Potchesftroom, 2001)

• Overview
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3

In this chapter van der Walt attempts to ‘explain what Christian scholarship entails’. It is not an easy task – either explaining it or doing it. However, it is an essential task!

He starts by looking at the importance and character of education. He describes it thus:

Education ... always implies a deliberate and conscious attempt on the part of the educator to lead the child, student or adult to a particular goal according to certain norms. To educate means to exert real formative power and to give actual direction to the development of the individual. Education, therefore, is a normative task – even in the case of those who deny this fact in their propogation of so-called neutral education (p. 131)

He then looks at the nature of higher (tertiary) education and the difference between everyday pre-theoretical thought and scientific thought. A simple but apposite illustration shows the difference:

Who knows more about the sick baby: the mother or the medical doctor? The answer of course that neither knows more: the mother and doctor have different forms of knowledge of the sick baby. Intuitively and pre-scientifically the mother suspects that her baby has chickenpox. The doctor’s scientific training, however, enables him to diagnose it definitely as chickenpox.(p 135)

Before looking at how to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ, van der Walt examines some common misconceptions in practising Christian scholarship: the dualistic, modernistic and postmodernistic approaches.

In the dualistic view the Christian is both a Christian and a scholar. It is not always easy to keep these together. In the moderistic approach science is viewed as being neutral, the application of the correct scientific method will guarantee neutrality. However, as van der Walt shows, this is false: religious presuppositions are part of every scientific process. The postmodernistic approach with its emphasis on a pluralism of stories is a far more subtle and dangerous than the previous two. Christianity is now merely one of the many different ‘acceptable’ approaches. This means sacrificing the word of God on the altar of postmodern relativism.

Dualistic approaches seek to unit Christianity and the sciences, a modernistic approach rejects Christianity for the sake of science and postmodernistic approaches accept Christianity as one of many equally valid approaches. Whereas, a Christian approach seeks to transform the sciences. Christianity is not an icing on the cake (to evoke the title of another book) but permeates the whole of the cake – like salt or yeast. Every science should be practised in the light of God.

He identifies five stages in Christian scholarship which are summarised in the diagram below.


Christian scholarship should be ‘marked by fidelity to God’s revelation’. This is the light that illuminates our ‘scientific filters’.

In the next section he looks at the role of the Bible and how it is authoritative and how it is a light. He concludes this chapter with a look at the place of theology in its relationship to philosophy. Theology is an ordinary scientific discipline with limited authority.

Tom Wright in the NewStatesman

Tom Wright is interviewed in the NewStatesman by Sholto Brynes:

Tom Wright's literal belief in the Resurrection makes him a hero to conservative Christians worldwide. Here he declares war on militant atheists and liberals, and explains why heaven is not the end of the world.

Sunday's coming ....

[HT Christian thinker]