Fear and Trembling

I am currently reading a book by Tony Jones called The New Christians: Dispatches From The Emergent Frontier (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008). I understand what Jones is reacting to, and I share many of his concerns, but some of his “dispatches” give me a splitting headache when I think about them. Take for example Dispatch 13, delivered after a brief discussion of Stanley Fish: Emergents believe that truth, like God, cannot be definitively articulated by finite human beings (p. 153). So, Tony, is that a definitive truth? It seems that you cannot escape a truth claim even when you claim to have no truth claims. The notion is self-defeating (or self-refuting ). If Dispatch 13 is false, then there is some truth. If Dispatch 13 is true, then it proves itself to be false, because it is a definitively true statement. He states the notion another way on page 154: "…“truth” is not the hinge on which the biblical narrative turns." There’s only one response to that from some...

I “took the plunge” this week and went to see the new Batman movie . I was not disappointed. The action was a bit over the top, but that is to be expected these days. Heath Ledger’s Joker was the best villain I have seen on the screen since Darth Vader. Something about the smeared make-up brought out the “best” (do you say “worst” for a villain?) in the character. I never thought of Batman as a Christ Figure before this film. I am torn between not revealing the end of the movie and explaining what I mean. I’ll leave it at this: Jesus Christ took all of our sin and shame upon himself on the cross. He was the only One big enough to handle that shame, and He took our shame from us as He paid the penalty for all of our sin . Batman gets the chance to do essentially the same thing for another character in the film. Other interesting reviews of the Batman movie can be found here , here , here , and here .

Stand to Reason’s blog has some great quotes from early church fathers on justification here . I like these quotes enough to post all of them. For by grace you have been saved through faith," in this way: "All we bring to grace is our faith. But even in this faith, divine grace itself has become our enabler. For [Paul] adds, 'And this is not of yourselves but it is a gift from God; not of works, lest anyone should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).' It is not of our own accord that we have believed, but we have come to belief after having been called; and even when we had come to believe, He did not require of us purity of life, but approving mere faith, God bestowed on us forgiveness of sins. - Theoloret of Cyrrhus, in his fourth-century commentary on the Epistles of Paul, speaking of Ephesians 2:8 So that you may not be elated by the magnitude of these benefits, see how Paul puts you in your place. For 'by grace you have been saved,' he says 'through faith.'...

This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal, but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed. - Martin Luther I have been a Christian for thirty-two years as of a few days ago. It was very simple when I was young. Christ died for my sins, and I didn’t have to worry about God being mad at me for what I had done or would do. I learned to do the right thing, not because I wanted God to like me, but because it was the right thing to do in and of itself. I wish my life had continued to be that simple. I learned to complicate it while sitting in revival meetings, on the forth or fifth verse and chorus of “Just As I Am.” I learned that I shouldn’t be so sure that Christ had died for my ...

According to the post and links here , it takes about ten hours to arrange for and purchase a child slave from Haiti from New York City. What would Wilberforce do?

An interesting bit of information is highlighted here on Ben Witherington’s blog. I use his words: David Jeselsohn bought an ancient tablet …but he was totally unaware of its significance. Now it may be the earliest Jewish evidence for the idea of a dying and rising messiah figure. The stone has been credibly dated to the first century B. C., before Christ's birth, and this has caused quite a bit of discussion. Isaiah 53 foretold the Messiah’s death a few hundred years before this stone’s composition, so I don’t think this stone should surprise most Christians. (Other prophecies from the Jewish tradition concerning Christ’s suffering are found here and here .) Of course, that will not stop some sensationalists from reaching extreme conclusions like those related here . What’s BW3’s conclusion? …the real implication of this for Jesus' studies should not be missed. Most radical Jesus scholars have argued that the passion and resurrection predictions by Jesus found in the Gospe...

It’s good to hear that William Lane Craig’s Reasonable Faith is going to be released in a third edition. I like this book, particularly it’s comprehensive overview of theological trends and, of course, it’s treatment of the Cosmological Argument . The book is one of my favorite. See also the Christianity Today cover story here .