Bernard Zylstra on Ridderbos's Paul

Paul: An Outline of His Theology
by Herman Ridderbos
Translated by John Richard De Witt;
Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans. 587 pp. $i2.95hb.

This is one of the most significant productions of reformed – evangelical scholarship in the seventies. It deals with the main lines of Pauline interpretation since lS50, with the basic structure of Paul's thought, and – in ten long chapters – with the foremost themes of Paul’s letters. Three of these themes are especially noteworthy with reference to current theological debate. In the first place, Ridderbos shows that there is no tension between creation and redemption in Paul, that redemption in effect is the restoration of creation. Secondly, Ridderbos shows that in Paul there is no dualistic notion of man, no dichotomy between soul and body. Finally, Ridderbos beautifully describes how the church is not in the first place an institution or an organization, but is the new mankind redeemed in Jesus Christ.

I believe that the creation theme should have received more attention. Ridderbos mentions, but does not fully develop, the Pauline presupposition of the goodness of God’s creation as the setting of both sin and redemption. Perhaps this neglect is a consequence of Ridderbos’s hermeneutic - the "redemptive-historical” approach - which, in my view, though it begins with the center of the Cross-Resurrection-Ascension, neglects the alpha of creation because of its concern for the eschatological omega. If there is anything which christian theology needs today, it is a recovery of the doctrine of creation and its implications: the creation as the theatre of God’s glory, the creation of the manifold works of God, the creation with its many tasks and assignments for man’s cultural engagement, the creation where men and women - redeemed in Christ – are called to meaningful service, the creation where the New Jerusalem will be found. Without an anchor in creation, Christian life and thought fall into asceticism, passivism, or gnostic utopias.

Ridderbos is far too sane for this. But he could have given the grounds for his “sanity" more fully, I think, if he had explained the continuity between his first great book, The Coming of the Kingdom, and his last. My few critical comments should not be taken too seriously, since this is simply an outstanding book, which no theologian or preacher can afford to neglect and from which many of us who are not theologians can benefit immensely.

Bernard Zylstra

Vanguard April 1976 p. 26.

On Being Human: Stuart Fowler

On Being Human: Toward a Biblical Understanding
Stuart Fowler
Amani: Melbourne and Kitale
© 2004; eBook edn 2010
ISBN 0 9750307 4 4
iv + 21 pp; AUD 8.00 (approx £4.00)
available from http://amani.org.au/eBooks/amani_ebooks.html



Much sterile theological discussion around the issue of what it means to be human stems from holding to a two- (or three-) part view of humanity: body and soul (or body soul and spirit). This is seen even in Calvin; as Fowler points out:

Indeed, the body has often been regarded as a limitation on the soul. Calvin (1851/1958 [Tract and Treatises Vol III. Edinburgh and London: Oliver & Boyd], 443) saw the body as “the prison of the soul” which weighs it down and “greatly limits its perception”. He argued that the soul could only attain its true spirituality when it is loosed from the fetters of the body and no longer subject to its tyranny. (p 1)

This excellent booklet provides a powerful antidote and alternative to the faulty two-component view of humanity. This is a revised version of the original that was published by the Institute for Reformational Studies: Wetenskaplike bydraes van die PU vir CHO. Reeks F1 Pamphlets no 168 (1981). It was revised in 2004 and now is available as a high-quality eBook in a searchable pdf format complete with colour photographs.

Chapter 1 takes a look at the term ‘soul’. He rightly concludes:

The more we explore the biblical text the more clearly we are compelled to conclude that the two-component theory of the human person is an unbiblical idea that has been read into Scripture in the Christian tradition, It forms no part of the biblical message about humanity. Its presence in Christian teaching is due to the contagion of pagan Greek philosophy.

Fowler is concerned to develop a biblical view of humanity as a single, indivisible entity. The discussion of ‘soul’ is followed by an illuminating examination of the ‘image of God’. The image is not something we possess, rather it the whole person that is God’s image.

Chapter 2 examines humanity in relationship: ‘Humanity means relationships. Human relationships are not merely possibilities. They are essential to being human’ (p. 6). This concept of relationship follows from the command to love our neighbours and this must be based on ‘acceptance without exception’. Fowler emphasises the importance of relating to each other in a variety of ways each of which has a definite structure. Unfortunately, space permits him enlarging on this point.

‘The worldliness of being human’ is the provocative title of the next chapter. How can being human legitimately be described as being worldly when we are given the scriptural injunction to die to the world (cf Col 2:20)? Fowler maintains that, paradoxically, ‘To be faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ we must accept the worldliness of our humanity’ and ‘To deny our worldliness is to deny our humanity’ (p. 11). We were created from the earth for this earthly world. The fall has not changed this, several times after the fall our relationship with the earth is emphasised (cf Gen 9:1-6). And in the eschaton our home is a redeemed earth. As Fowler puts it: ‘Nothing is lost but the curse’ (p. 12).

Most Christians make disparaging comments about the world – this Fowler notes reflects a one-sided view. The NT makes some positive comments about the world. He sees the retreat of Christians fro the world as a denial of the gospel. The world has become distorted and corrupted, but the message of the gospel includes the world. Our involvement in the world is to be guided by the Word of God.

In chapters 4 and 5 Fowler examines ‘The sexuality of our humanity’ and ‘Sexuality and Christianity’. He sees sexuality as being ‘as inseparable from our humanity as religion, community and worldliness’ (p. 14). Humanity in the image of God is not male, humanity is male and female. There is no precedent of male over female. He sees no ‘natural male leadership role’, he rightly concludes that male domination is ‘entirely without biblical foundation’ (p. 15). Fowler is no complementarian and he examines several passages that have erroneously been used to justify male leadership and domination.

He sees the degradation of sexuality stemming from viewing sexual activity as a reproductive mechanism. To do so is to ‘reduce[s] human sexuality to mere animal sexuality’ (p. 18). He calls for Christians to take a lead on sexuality. To do so we must adopt a ‘new set of social mores’ – mores that are not derived from contemporary paganism, but from the word of God, we are subject to his norms and laws. The norm for human sexuality is ‘troth’: ‘sexuality can only be a fulfilling, enriching element in human life when it is subject to God’s norm of troth’ (p.21). He concludes with a call for the single person not to be treated as a misfit within the Christian community.

This is well-written and refreshing little book; it deserves wide attention. It subverts the false dichotomous view of what it means to be human and places an integral view of humanity within relationships, worldliness and sexuality.

It is available here. Grab yourself a copy – you’re human and you’re worth it!

What happens when I die? - slides

Intermediate State

View more presentations from Steve Bishop.

What happens when I die?

[These are my notes from a recent talk on 'What hapens when I die?']

Death is something we all have to face. It’s a great leveller! In more than one sense!

Death though is not “natural”; the wages of sin is death, death is the last enemy. However, salvation means victory over sin and death – death, because of Jesus’ resurrection is a defeated enemy. When Jesus died death was conquered – so much so that (Mt 27: 52) the earth quaked, some tombs were broken open and people who had died were raised to life! We don’t have to be afraid of death.

What happens when I die is a question most of us have to face at sometime or another.

Though, you may be surprised to know that not everyone will die! Those alive at Jesus’ return won’t die we’ll put on immortality.


About 10% of what I’m going to tell you is wrong! The only problem is, I don’t know which 10%! We need to test all things against the scriptures.

Many people claim to have had death experiences and have come back – many of them non-Christians. All seem to have a similar story to tell: an out of body experience, a tunnel, meeting someone.

One scientific study done by the university of Southampton has been set up to examine 1.500 survivours of cardiac arrest – the study known as AWARE (awareness during resuscitation) started in 2008 and planned to take 3 years. Time 18 Sept 2008


I’ve not seen any of their results yet.

Other Universities have departments of death studies.

At Bath there is the Centre for Death and Society

At Durham, Centre for Death and Life studies



There are a number of places you can get an MA in death Studies; including Bath and Lampeter,


However, personal experiences or scientific studies are not a reliable basis on which to base a theology or a doctrine.

So, what does happen when we die?

There are many responses to this.

The materialistic atheist on the other hand maintains that when we die we die, we get eaten by worms and that’s it. There is no continuity. We die we rot, end of story

Some maintain that we will be reincarnated, according to what we have done. If we have lived well then we may enjoy an eternal disembodied bliss, otherwise we might come back as a cockroach, an ant eater or an ant.

For the Buddhist they hope to get off the wheel of life and cease to exist or face reincarnation (again).

Two dear old friends, Abner and Fred, had many conversations through their life about death and what they thought Heaven would be like. They made an agreement that whichever of them died first would make every effort to make contact with the one that was still living and tell them what Heaven was like.

Well, Fred was the first to die and about a year later, Abner was truly missing his dear friend. One day, the phone rang...and when he answered it, he heard a familiar voice on the line.

Abner said: "Fred, is that you?"
"Yes it is my old friend, yes it is."
Abner was overjoyed, and said:
"So, tell me, what is it like where you are?"
Fred said: "This is wonderful. You wouldn’t believe what I am experiencing now. The most plentiful food and lushest fields you have ever seen, I sleep in late, have a long luxurious breakfast, and then I go and make love.

If it's a nice day I go out in the fields and make love some more. I come in and have a long lunch, then I go out into the fields again and make love all afternoon and retire early in the evening.”

Abner responded: "Heaven sounds so amazing!"

Fred replied: Heaven? Who said anything about heaven? I’m a rabbit in Minnesota!"

For many Christians it is a combination of the Buddhist and the atheist perspective. Our bodies get eaten by worms, but our souls or spirits get into n eternal bliss we call heaven. This however, is not the biblical picture! It is a Greek idea. It stems from a wrong view of what it means to be human. We are not souls or spirits trapped inside a body.

So, what do the scriptures say?

It is something that you’d think they have a lot to say on it. Isn’t that what Christianity is all about getting to heaven when we die? However, there is very little in the scriptures! The problem is that many of our ideas about heaven come not from the scriptures but from non-Christian culture.

As Tom Wright puts it:

“We should remember especially that the use of the word heaven to denote our ultimate goal of the redeemed, though hugely emphasised by medieval piety, mystery plays and the like, and still almost universally at a popular level, is severely misleading and does not begin to do justice to the Christian hope.” FATS p. 20-21

The Bible says nothing about going to heaven when we die.

In the Scriptures heaven is the hidden dimension of our ordinary life – it is where God is. It is not a place that we go to when we die. 

Heaven is not our future hope – our hope is physical bodily resurrection and that will be on the new heavens and new earth.

In the OT it was clear that the dead go to Sheol. David Lawrence in his book Heaven It’s Not the End of the World illustrates it like this. (see slides)

Sheol is translated unhelpfully by the Authorised Version as hell. The two are different places. Sheol is simply the realm of the dead. It was a place of waiting – not punishment or rewards. There are some glimpses of resurrection in the OT but not much. There is some hint that the rewards and fate of the righteous and unrighteous will be different.

The Hebrew word ‘Sheol’ is usually translated as Hades in the NT. This again is the place of the departed and not hell. In Revelation 1: 18 we are told Jesus holds the keys to Hades. Death was not able to hold Jesus and one day when Jesus returns Hades will have to give up the dead.

The New Testament picture looks something like this: (image from Key note – adapted from David Lawrence)

Sheol becomes Hades. There is some sort of “Intermediate State” – the position of the dead between death and Jesus’ return. At Jesus’ return there is resurrection and judgement. The fate of believers will be physical resurrection bodies on a new earth and the unbelievers Gehenna. Gehenna, usually translated as hell, is the name of the rubbish dump outside Jerusalem, where a fire burned all the time to destroy the rubbish that was chucked on it.

So, what then happens between death and the return of Jesus, in this ‘intermediate state’?

It was this question that bugged the Thessalonians – they expected Jesus to return pretty quickly, certainly within a few years of his ascension, but things were dragging on. Believers were dying – what was going to happen to them? Would they miss out? It is these questions that Paul is addressing in his letter to them.

Grieve – grief is important, but don’t grieve like the rest who have no hope.

Hope – because of Jesus’ death and resurrection there is hope. They won’t miss out.

Paul’s focus is not on the intermediate state but on the resurrection. The dead and those alive will meet the Lord.

Incidentally, the word meet here has been used to justify a rapture of the saints up into ‘heaven’ before the tribulation – a modern day theory popularised by the Scofield Bible and by the recent Tim La Haye Left Behind books. However, the word used is the word used to denote meeting a visiting dignitary. A group of important people would go out to meet the dignitary, to welcome him and bring him back to the city; not to go off into the distance with him!

In verse 13 and 15 We have the phrase ‘fallen asleep’.

Some have interpreted this to mean an unconscious sleep.

The dead are asleep. They have no consciousness of what is happening.

David Lawrence writes: ‘evidence from other New Testament passages seems to conflict with this. John [in Revelation] hears the souls of the martyrs in heaven not snoring but shouting’! (p 69)

Some have suggested that for the dead in Christ there is no intermediate state – it is as if they die and are at the resurrection at Christ’s return. This has much going for it. Not least an attempt to get away from a dualistic view of what it means to be human.

However, Jesus on the cross speaks to one of the thieves and says, today you will be with me in Paradise – this seems to imply a conscious awareness of Jesus after death. Lk 23:42, 43.

It could be translated ‘I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise’ – the today refers to when Jesus spoke it and not when the thief would be with him in Paradise. But then why would Jesus use the term paradise?

Paul in Phil 1:21 – depart and be with Christ – if this was an unconscious state how could he then say it would be better?

Why aren’t we told much about what happens between death and Jesus’ return?

I suspect because that is not our goal – our hope is resurrection bodies and the new earth. The physical is important!

There are three possibilities then for what happens when we die, in this intermediate state:

1. We are asleep and are not aware of anything until the resurrection

2. When we die we immediately experience the resurrection, so there is no intermediate state for the dead, but there is an intermediate time for those who are still alive

3. We are with Christ in paradise waiting for the resurrection

What is the take home from this?

Death is not the end. We don’t need to fear it as Jesus has the victory over it.

We don’t have much scriptural information about what happens when we die - because that’s not the focus of the gospel of the kingdom.

Our hope is not in heaven with harps but resurrection bodies on the new heaven and earth. We don’t look forward to life after death, but as Tom Wright puts it, life after life after death!

Music for a Sunday morning

Odds and sods

Genesis 1 as ancient cosmology by John Walton
How Christians should vote in 2010 by John Chaplin
Richard Baukham's new website
Overcoming preaching dilemmas: lessons from Sidney Greidanus

Not just Christian philosophers but also prophets

Here is a prophetic call from a Christian philosopher, H. Evan Runner, from The Christian Philosophical Enterprise in the Light of Biblical Prophecy:

Well, why have I taken all this time to develop these thoughts, and how had I thought to relate them to us of the Association for Calvinistic Philosophy? I wanted to bring out clearly that we who are members of this Association and are Christ's men -- we are called to be prophets, we are meant to be prophets, in our thinking, critiquing, writing, publishing, in our instruction of the new generation, in the way we organize and finance (budget) our Association's efforts. That means that we are to be God-possessed, possessed by the Spirit of God, God-driven in our personal lives and work as members, and in our organized activities. Remember Professor Greydanus' words, "To possess in faith the testimony of Christ the Lord regarding Himself in such a way that it governs your inner being and very existence, all that you do and say, is to have the Spirit of prophecy. He of whom this can be said is a prophet."

We members of this Association are prophets. That means -- let us make bold to say it -- that we are not in the first place philosophers, that is, that is not the ultimate truth about our lives and work, either as individual members of this Association or in our collective work as an Association. We are prophets, and our being philosophers, or, to put it more modestly, our being engaged in philosophical work, must be understood as a moment of our lives as prophets. We may not, we cannot, actually, separate our philosophical task from our prophetic calling as men, and it is the prophetic calling which works through in our philosophizing, not vice versa.

Our task as Christian men [and women] who are engaged in philosophical work is to be witnesses to God's glory, to glorify God in His exaltedness far above all His created works, in His holiness.

Further, our task, again as Christian men [and women] engaged in philosophical work, is to be witnesses to the sovereignty and glory of God in all His works of creation, to the reconciliation of all things to God's sovereign Rule through Jesus Christ, to the coming of the Kingdom.

Again, as Christian men who are engaged in the work of philosophy, we are to point men to their lostness, their alienation in the creation, to their having lost the meaning of their lives in the world, the meaning of experience, to point them to the fact that the real nature of the
transcendental and transcendent horizons of human experience -- the continued revelational witness of God's Order -- escapes them.

Once more, in the philosophical work that we as Christians engage in, we are prophetically, thus not by our own wisdom or in our own strength, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring to the light in our critical analyses the spirit of the lie, of suppression and distortion that is at work in the world, however many traces of the truth may be found, and at the same time to point to the gracious revelation of the Way, the Truth and the Life and the age-old community of the Truth and fellowship in the Way and the Life, the Church of Jesus Christ, already known in the Old Testament, out of which our analysis springs.

It is in the Church of God that the community of scholars is born and flourishes, nowhere else. Finally, as Christians engaged in our philosophical task, we are to go on the offensive to extend God's prophecy to the ends of the earth, to all the nations of the world, and, in pushing outward, always to be busy proving, that is, putting to the test, the spirits that are at work everywhere in the world, confident that He who is in us, and who by His Spirit binds us together in the bonds of love, is greater than he that is in the world, and that our Lord's intention is, as He has told us, the establishment of His supremacy over all His creation and the fulfillment of the creation design. All, however, in His own time and in His own way.

Kuyper Center Review. Vol 1: Politics, Religion and Sphere Sovereignty

The Kuyper Center for Public Justice at Princeton has published a number of essays dealing with politics, religion and sphere sovereignty - hence the title! Many of the essays originated at the annual Kuyper conference at Princeton.

Further details are here.



Contents
Social Pluralism
Jonathan Chaplin

Sphere Sovereignty among Abraham Kuyper's Other Political Theories
James D. Bratt

Kuyper, Neo-Calvinism, and Contemporary Political Philosophy
Gordon Graham

Kuyper, Sphere Sovereignty, and the Possibility of Political Friendship
Michael J. DeMoor

Covenant Theology for a Secular Society: Abraham Kuyper's De Leer der Verbonden (1880) as an Experiment in Modern Theology
John Halsey Wood, Jr.

Neo-Calvinism and the Welfare State
George Harinck

Neither Ignore nor Modify nor Disrupt: The Kuyperian Model of Deliberation as Applied to Same-Sex Marriage
James J. S. Foster

'Here the Shoe Pinches': Kuyper, Tolerance, and the Virtues
John R. Bowlin

Kuyper on Islam: A Summary and Translation
Rimmer de Vries

Bob Goudzwaard lecture online at Paideia

http://www.paideiacentre.ca/audio.html

Odds and sods

First a number theme:
15 must-have Mac apps
7 reasons we find the Bible boring
7 theses on annihilationism
5 love languages critiqued
12 theses on libraries and librarians

Lk 23:43 and soul sleep
Tom Wright on God and government and a response by Jonathan Chaplin
Brian Walsh The Holy Dove and a crown of Thorns
A critique of van Wolde's notion that ברא means to separate and not to create

Roots and Branches - Robert D. Knudsen

Robert Knudsen
Roots and Branches: The Quest For Meaning And Truth In Modern Thought.
Edited by Donald Knudsen.
380 pp. ISBN 978-0-88815-206-0.
Reformational Publishing Project/ Paiedia Press, 2009.
http://www.amazon.com/asin/dp/088815206X
http://www.amazon.co.uk/asin/dp/088815206X

Reformational Publishing Project/ Paiedia Press are leading the way in getting reformational books into readers' hands at a great price. This is book comprises a series of articles by Robert Knudsen compiled by his son Donald. it also has an appreciative introduction from William Edgar.

The range and scope of the articles are testimony of Knudsen's wide areas of interest. Knudsen studied under Cornelius van Til and S. U. Zuidema. From 1958 he taught at Westminster theological Seminary where he taught apologetics and courses on Dooyeweerd's philosophy (for an outline of the syllabus see here), His main area of expertise was on existential theology (his Masters was on Tillich, Niehbuhr and Berdyaev). All three of these areas are reflected in this compilation.

CONTENTS

Foreword by Donald Knudsen

Introduction by William Edgar

PART I: THE ORIGINS OF CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT

"Calvinism as a Cultural Force," in John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World. W. Stanford Reid, editor. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982, 13-29.

"Apologetics and History," in Life Is Religion. Henry Vander Groot, editor. St. Catherines: Paideia Press, 1981, 119-133.

"Roots of the New Theology," in Scripture and Confession. John Ski1ton, editor. Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1973, 247-273.

PART II: DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THEOLOGY AND APOLOGETICS

"Analysis of Theological Concepts: A Methodological Sketch," in Westminster Theological Journal. 40, Spring, 1978, 229-244.

"May We Use the Term Theonomy?" in Theonomy: A Reformed Critique. William S. Barker & W. Robert Godfrey, editors. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990, 15-37.

"The Transcendental Perspective of Westminster's Apologetic," in Westminster Theological Journal. 48, Fall, 1986, 223-239.

"Progressive and Regressive Tendencies in Christian Apologetics," in Jerusalem and Athens. Robert Geehan, editor. Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1971, 275-298.

PART III: ANALYSES OF MODERN THEOLOGIANS

"Crosscurrents," in Westminster Theological Journal. 35, Spring, 1973, 303-314.

"Symbol and Reality in Nicolas Berdyaev," in Westminster Theological Journal. 24, November, 1961, 38-47.

"The Ambiguity of Human Autonomy and Freedom in the Thought of Paul Tillich," 4-part series in Philosophia Reformata. 32 (1967) 55-67, 33 (1968) 32-44, 34 (1969) 38-51, 37 (1972) 3-25.

"Transcendental Motives in Karl Jaspers' Philosophy," in Philosophia Reformata. 34 (1969) 122-133.

"Rudolf Bultmann," in Creative Minds in Contemporary Theology. Philip E. Hughes, editor. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1966, 131-162.

PART IV: AN ASSESSMENT OF HERMAN DOOYEWEERD

"Transcendental Method in Dooyeweerd," in Anakainosis. 1/3, April, 1979, 2-8.

"The Religious Foundation of Dooyeweerd's Transcendental Method," in Contemporary Reflections on the Philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd. D.F.M. Strauss and Michelle Botting, editors. Lewiston, Queenston, Lampter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000, 271-285.

"Dooyeweerd's Philosophical Method," mimeographed lecture delivered at Annual Philosophy Conference, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, Oct. 13, 1962.

"Phiiosophia Reformanda: The Idea of Christian Scientific Endeavor in the Thought of Herman Dooyeweerd," in Reflections on the Philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd. Mimeographed text, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1968.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography Of The Writings Of Robert D. Knudsen, in Westminster Theological Journal. 58, Spring, 1996, 111-121.

40 days of faith - from the bless network

Walking in the Way of the Word - H. Evan Runner

Walking in the Way of the Word
The Collected Writings of H. Evan Runner Volume 2
Paidea Press, 2009
ISBN 0-88815-203-3
(Published by the Reformational Publishing Project)

This is volume 2 of the Collected works of H. Evan Runner; rather perversely it appears before volume 1! Runner was a professor of philosophy at Calvin College until his retirement in 1981. This collection comprises his two main books: The Relation of the Bible to Learning and Scriptural Religion and Political Task. Both have long been out of print, so it is great to see them available again.

Both these works originated as lectures in 1959 and 1961 at Unionville. They are stimulating and inspiring reading.



http://www.amazon.com/asin/dp/0888152035/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/asin/dp/0888152035/

Review of Biblical Prophets and Contemporary Environmental Ethics by Marlow

Biblical Prophets and Contemporary Environmental Ethics
Re-Reading Amos, Hosea, and First Isaiah
Hilary Marlow
Oxford University Press, 2009
978-0-19-956905-2
338pp +xvi




Academic tomes have a tendency to be boring, inaccessible to non-specialists, without cultural relevance beyond the ivory tower and have unaesthetic covers. This book defies the stereotype in every way. Despite being the product of a Cambridge PhD, under Katherine Dell, it is readable, accessible, and will have an impact within and without the academia - and has a great cover to boot!

Hilary Marlow has been associated with most British evangelical organisations. She is a director of Director of the John Ray Initiative, has been involved with  A Rocha for over a decade, until recently she was a Research Associate in Theology and Science at the Faraday Institute, has written for the Jubilee Trust  and Grove Books and is at present involved in a project with the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics based at Tyndale House, Cambridge. She has also found time to complete her PhD and this book is the product of that.

The first chapter takes an overview of creation in church history, it is a broad brush view but is full of insight - I made a long list of further avenues to explore as a result of it. She starts - rather predictably - with Lynn White Jr's critique before looking at some theological perspectives on creation. This stems from the early church with its Greek influences to Calvin via the Cappodocians and Aquinas. She mentions that Irenaeus sees Adam typologically, but I'm not certain that this is a true picture.  Tony Lane argues that 'Irenaeus's theology is undermined more than most others by the suggestion of a non-historical Adam' (Darwin Creation and the Fall p. 141). This, of course is a minor quibble. 

She draws upon a number of important secondary sources including Glacken, Harrison, McGrath, Santmire.

Chapter 2 takes the historical perspective on from the sixteenth century. She looks at the divide between history and nature. Von Rad and Eichrodt are singled out for their Hegelian influences which allows them to set up a dualism of nature and history. Following Brueggeman, Marlow agrees that this led to an abandonment and marginalisation of serious thinking about the creation in biblical theology.

Two theologians helped to reverse this trend: Bernhard Anderson and Claus Westermann. As a result many others challenged the setting up of history over creation. Theodore Hiebert, Ronald Simkins and William Brown an three that Marlow briefly focuses on. She rightly notes that these three have helped towards a corrective reading of the Old Testament.

The developoment of an ecological hermeneutic is the subject of chapter 3. Here Norman Habel's Earth Bible Project (EBP) is examined. Taking a cue from feminist theologies the EBP stands with the oppressed Earth in dialogue with the text.

The emphasis on methodology and the methodoogy itself is criticised. As Marlow points out Bouma-Preideger comes up with a similar but more biblically robust set of guidelines. Following Christopher J. H.  Wright's hermeutical triangle God (Israel/humanity and Land/ earth) she forms an ecological triangle: God at the apex and a base of humanity and the non-human creation. It is the interrelationship between these three vertices that are examined in the next three chapters. Three important questions are also posed (p. 111):

1. What understanding of the non-human creation does the text present
2. What assumptions are made about YHWH's relationship to the created world and how he acts in it?
3. What effect do the actions  and choices of human beings have on the non-human creation and vice versa?

Chapters  4-6 look at Amos, Hosea and Is 1-39 in light of these questions and the ecological triangle.  She provides a detailed exegesis and analysis of key passages from these prophets. In Amos the non-human creation plays an important role, 'the natural world engages in a "dialogue" with its creator' (p 157). In Hosea it has less of a role and the emphasis is on God and humanity, but this relationship when broken does have a marked effect on the earth.  Finally, in Is 1-39 there is a link between humanity, God and the rest of creation in that 'natural' disaster is a consequence of disobedience to God and this broken relationship is shown in metaphors and parables of the natural world.

The final chapter looks at the implications of the foregoing for an environmental ethic. Here she starts by providing a broad overview on using the Bible in ethics. The issue of how we move from the scriptures to any ethic is problematic. I was suprised to read a criticism of  Walter Kaiser, she writes 'His study is based on a high view of biblical authority, and this theological perspective colours his selection and interpretation of texts' (p. 248).  All theological perspectives are coloured, theology is never neutral. It left me wondering what is Marlow's view of the authority of scripture and how has that has shaped her choice of passages?

She then turns to environmental ethics in particular. She looks at some key issues; including: what is the value ascribed to the non-human creation? Is it intrinsic or instrumental? Is nature a stable entiry or in flux? and the tension between nature and culture.  She concludes that the prophets recognise instrumental value but also give the non-human creation a value that is greater than any utilitarian one. She does not address the issue of how anything can have intrinsic value,  unless it is value given to it by God - and in which case it is not intrinsic. For the other issues she sees an ambiguity in the prophets.

Few other books have examined the Old Testament in the light of the current environemtal issues. Two other books are by Cyril Rodd Glimpses of a Strange Land  (T&T Clark, 2001) which deals with some individual texts and Chris Wright's Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (IVP, 2004) which takes a broad brush approach. Marlow's book is an example of how to interpret scripture in the light of contemporary issues and how to understand contemporary issues in the light of scripture. It shows that we have not exhausted the scriptures in what it can say to  environmental ethics. As Marlow concludes:

'it is vital that the church be better informed of the rich contribution of its own scriptures to a positive understanding of the creation as a basis for raising awareness of environmental issues and promoting good practice amiong its own members and the wider community'.

I wholeheartedly agree.



Contents
Foreword by John Barton
Introduction
1: Creation in Church History
2: Nature Versus History: An Artificial Divide
3: Ecological Hermeneutics: Meaning and Method
4: Who Can But Prophesy? Creation Dialogue in the Book of Amos
5: The People do not Know: Covenantal Failure in the Book of Hosea
6: The Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts: YHWH, the People and the Land in Isaiah 1-39
7: The Old Testament Prophets and Environmental Ethics: A Dialogue

Publisher's website


Available in the UK from:
amazon.co.uk
eden
book depository

Odds and sods

An illustrated Dooyeweerd? and here
This looks like an interesting book: The Making of an Atheist by Jim Spiegel [HT The Beretta Blog]
Reviews of Jacob Klapwijk's Purpose in the Living World? by Tony Jelsma and by Mark William Westmoreland
N T Wright for Everyone
An interview with Alvin Plantinga
The great Trinity debate coming soon - some resources

Resources for a Christian approach to biology

Roy Clouser. 2001. Is Theism Compatible with Evolution?. In Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives, Ed. Rob Pennock. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001), 513-536.

J. J. Duyvene De Wit. 1962.  ‘Organic Life and the evolutionistic world and life view’ Christian Perspectives 1962. Guardian Publishing Company: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

J. J. Duyvene De Wit. 1965. 'The Impact of Herman Dooyeweerd’s Christian Philosophy upon Present Day Biological Thought'. In Philosophy and Christianity: Philosophical Essays Dedicated to Professor Dr. Herman Dooyeweerd. W F De Gaay Fortman et al. (eds),  Kampen: J.H. Kok. pp 405-433.

J. J. Duyvene De Wit. 1965. A New Critique of the Transformist Principle in Evolutionary Biology. Kampen: J.H. Kok.

Richard Gunton. 2006. 'Reformational Perspectives on the Evolution Controversy' ReformationalUK blog.

E. L. Hebden Taylor. 1967.  Evolution and the Reformation of Biology: A Study of the Biological Thought of Herman Dooyeweerd of Amsterdam and J. J. Duyvene de Wit. Craig Press.

Russell Maatman. 1993. The Impact of Evolutionary Theory: A Christian View. Dordt: Dordt College Press, 1993.

Arthur J. Jones. 2002. 'The Identity and Nature of the Created Kinds – Speciation among Cichlid Fish'. Leicester: Genesis Agendum.

Jacob Klapwijk. 2008.  Purpose in the Living World?: Creation and Emergent Evolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jan Lever. 1958. Creation and Evolution, Grand Rapids: International Publications. (Translation of Creatie en Evolutie, Wageningen, 1956)

M. D. Stafleu. 'The Idionomy of Natural Kinds and the Biological Concept of a Species' Philosophia Reformata, 65 (2), (2000): 154-169.

M. D. Stafleu 'Evolution, History, and the Individual Character of a Person', Philosophia Reformata, 67 (1), 2002: 3-18

Danie F.M. Strauss. 2003.The “Copernican turn” of biology in the 20th Century. Acta Academica 35(3):49-76.

Danie F.M. Strauss. 200.  Did Darwin initially develop a theory of evolution in the biological sense of the word? South African Journal of Philosophy 26(2): 190-203

Danie F.M. Strauss. 200. Biotic analogies – a threat to scholarly reflection? Acta Academica 28(3): 29-5

Danie F.M. Strauss. 2001. The Effect of Ultimate Commitments on the Content of the Natural Sciences – with special Reference to Biology as a Discipline. Journal for Christian Scholarship 37 :89-105.

Danie F.M. Strauss. 2009. Did Darwin get over the First Hurdle? (lacking evidence for the assumed origination of “life”) Journal for Christian Scholarship 45 (3): 1-32.

Danie F.M. Strauss. 2009. Did Darwin get over the Second Hurdle? (the problem of constancy amidst change), 2009  Journal for Christian Scholarship 45 (3): 77-95

Sytse Strijbos. 1996. 'The Concept of the ‘Open System’ – Another Machine Metaphor for the Organism?'. In Facets of Faith and Science. Vol. 3, The Role of Beliefs in the Natural Sciences Ed. J. Van der Meer. Lanham: University Press of America , Ch 10.

Sytse Strijbos. 1996. 'The Concept of Hierarchy in Contemporary Systems Thinking – a Key to Overcoming Reductionism?'. In Facets of Faith and Science. Vol. 3, The Role of Beliefs in the Natural Sciences. J. Van der Meer (ed.), Lanham: University Press of America, Ch 14.

Rene van Woudenberg Darwinian and teleological expanations: are they incompatible?

Magnus Verbrugge. 1984. Alive: An Enquiry into The Origin and Meaning of Life, Vallecito, California: Ross House Books, 1984, pages xviii, 139

Magnus Verbrugge. 1979.  Evolution and the biotic aspect of reality Anakainosis 2 (1) September: 2-7

Uko Zylstra. 1981. ‘Dooyeweerd’s concept of classification in biology’. In Life is Religion: Essays in Honor of H. Evan Runner. Paideia: St Catherine’s.

Uko Zylstra. 1992. Living Things as Hierarchically Organised Structures. Synthese 99:  111-13

Uko Zylstra. 1996. The Influence of Evolutionary Biology on Hierarchical Theory in Biology, with Special Reference to the Problem of Individuality, in Facets of Faith and Science,vol. 2, The Role of Beliefs in Mathematics and the Natural Sciences: An Augustinian Perspective Ed. J. Van der Meer, Lanham: University Press of America. Ch 13,

Uko Zylstra. 2004. Intelligent-Design Theory: An Argument for Biotic Laws. Zygon, 39 (1); 175-191

New on All of life redeemed

Update of Bruce Wearne's Annotated Jim Skillen bibliography for Feb 2010

Added to the Roy Clouser pages:

2009. A Brief Sketch of the Philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd  Axiomathes (Journal of the Mitteleuropa Foundation).

2009. Transcendental Critique Revisited and Revised Philosophia Reformata Volume 74 (1)

New on my Google Reader RSS feed

These are blogs I've recenlty subscribed to using  Google reader.

+ Science and values
A newish blog by "A group of Christian theologians and scientists concerned about truth and values in science and society."

Old Testament ethics
This is the webpage for the “Old Testament Ethics:  Principles of Living for the People of God” adult learning community at Cornerstone Christian Church.

Sandhedsvidne: 'witness to the truth'
Blog by Angelo Shoun Franklin for Prague

Jazz Notes by Doug Groothius
A reflection on jazz, the universe and life

Teaching Redemptively
A reflection on grace-based education

Crime genre by J Mark Bertrand
Meditations on a life of crime by Rethinking Worldview and Back on Murder author

Odds and sods

Mike Wittmer on evangelical philosophers
Calvinism for the 21st century a Conference at Dordt College (8-10 April 2010)
A list of CPYU Bookshelf interviews including J Mark Bertrand and Jim Belcher
Gabe Lyons via Bob Robinson on Influencing culture
Reviews and interviews: DTK [Desiring the Kingdom by Jamie Smith] around the web