Practicing the Way
Dust
Who are you following?
There are no free thinkers
The world is forming us continuously …​into what?
Even on days of doubt, I want to believe. I resonate with Peter’s conclusion
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Apprentice to Jesus
Dramatisation of Peter’s calling by Jesus. Conclusion: bizarre, what on earth made him do that?
Rabbi as guru, each with a yoke (Hebrew idiom for briefs and practices).
From Good News to Gospels: What did the first Christians say about Jesus?
An argument in favour of a greater place for oral tradition than source criticism has allowed.
Ch 5 oral tradition of gospels
'rise of form criticism helped kill of the idea of such a strong oral tradition'
form critics have valid observations
shaped for purpose of proclaiming and teaching
variation between narratives, eg lost sheep in Luke in context of associating with sinners in Matt with problems in church community
wenham argues literary freedom
Matt 12:28, Luke 11:20 if by the finger of God both agree 'against Mark'; they have used both sources.
wenham argues this is not evidence for a written and lost q but for oral tradition. The reply is apparently they are two similar for Italy transmission. Countered by the accuracy of transmission in non or seems literary cultures
Mark and Q overlaps
then 'minor agreements' eg adding who struck you to the goad 'prophesy!' (Matt 26:68; Luke 22:64)
The economic logic of Late Capitalism and the inevitable triumph of Socialism
The new spirit of capitalism
Chapter 1: new spirit of capitalism and a Christian response
Max Weber’s protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism
Weber argues working more than strictly needed as demanded by capitalism required an ethnic offered by Christian beliefs. .Particularly at the start.
[It] detaches … pursuit of profit from the end of happiness, … make money an end in itself.
-- P2
Even makes people willing to defer enjoyment in favour of the hard work to make more money
Mission Shaped Church
Mission shaped church
Chapter 1:
post-Christendom
Much of Britain’s self-understanding comes from centuries of Christian faith, but many in Britain now have minimal knpowledge of the Christian faith. Mission shaped church start of post-Christendom section
drop from 55 to 4% Sunday school atendence in 20th century.
multi-culturalism reinforces consumerism in faith—​whatever 'works' for you.
citation 59 no dormant faith to revive, second of third generation pagans.
a 'diametrically different' approach emerging from 'come' to 'go'
Morrow
Self styled objectivity blind to own biases and produced
Not to deny many gains from modern historical criticism
Unwittingly take sides in battle between throne and altar
Three periods 1. from Muslim polemics to medieval Christian theology 2. renaissance, reformation, wars of religion 3. enlightenment and 19C historical criticism
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Ibn Hazm’s polemic against Judaism cause at least in part by personal sense of being slighted by Jews Attacked Moses authorship of Pentateuch in order to undermine the idea of divine authorship No attempt to be balanced but solely searching for insupportable [in his view] ideas. Attacked allegorical interpretation which was adopted by medieval Christianity by the likes of marsilus of Padua and William of Ockham. Disdain for allegorical interpretation accompanied by emphasis on sensus literalis Both received patronage from ludvig of Bavaria who was in conflict with the papacy. Thus their criticism of allegory and preference for historical interpretation of scripture supported ludvigs desire to overturn the pope’s temporal authority in Italy
Bostock
Allegory is derived from the Greek word allegorein meaning 'to say one thing openly but to imply something else'
Allegorical interpretation first emerged from Stoicism and by the first century AD was the dominant way to interpret all philosophy and was always didactic on purpose. As Christianity spread into the Hellenized world it became natural that scripture would also be interpreted this way given the purpose of scripture is to reveal God to humanity. Indeed, Jesus use of parables might be taken as endorsement of such interpretation. Though CH Dodd strongly disagreed.
Three key questions
Chapter 1 - What are the keys to understanding the OT?
An overview of OT study: attractions and obstacles
The attractions of the OT
1. Gripping stories
[Contrary to Richter] Longman finds Christians increasingly attracted to OT.
'spell-binding plots', 'vivid characters'
Paul says [1 Cor 10:1-11] that these are warnings against behaviour such as Solomon’s who lost a kingdom as a result of his marriages to foreign wives [1 Kings].
Longman, Dillarrd, A quick introduction to the Old Testament
Quick introduction to the Old Testament
Authors: Tremper Longman III, Raymond B. Dillard
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Year: 2012
ISBN: 9780310496434
Note | This book is itself a short summary of the authors' longer work: 'An Introduction to the Old Testament'. |
Contrasts 'classic German criticism' of Eissfeldt and 'historical analysis' of Rendtorff with 'canonical function' of B.S.Childs and more particularly 'determined …​ conservative' works of Young, Archer, Harrison and LaSor-Hubbard-Bush with their focus on apologetics. More simply historical-critical and evangelical have been opposing camps argues that there is room for respect and even cross-fertilisation Treating the text 'as the church has received it' (synchronic?) is key to the evangelical perspective according to Longman. Similarities with Childs who, without disowning historical-critical effectively takes a compatible view with diachronic thoughts present but isolated. General (whole testament themes) and Special introduction (individual books) Acknowledges importance of questions of authorship and date but emphasises context as part of OT and Bible as a whole, calling out genre, shape and style specifically. Proposes to treat historical, literary and theological topics separately but insists that they are integrated in the text.
The Epic of Eden
Introduction
Most people have a hodge-podge of knowledge of the old testament but no coherent structure. Richter suggests there are three reasons for this:
Never been taught the OT is their story. Both story and God different to the NT and to Jesus, even unnecessary.
OT is inaccessible for historical, geographical, cultural, linguistic etc. reasons.
The 'dysfunctional closet syndrome'.
OT as your story
OT is two thirds of the Bible and redemption story but treated as 'unfortunate preface'. Yet the characters are unknown to us as close relatives may be to an Alzheimer’s sufferer.