Tony Campolo in Tulsa

Mark your calendars and plan to join us for a lecture by

Tony Campolo
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
7:00 p.m.
Sharp Chapel


and

Wednesday night, April 5th, 2006
at First Presbyterian Downtown.

More Links On The Bible

Here are a couple more interesting reads on the Bible for our upcoming discussion:

Alastair Roberts - The Authority Of Scripture: From Priests To Prophets
Alastair Roberts - The Authority Of Scripture: The Authorizing Text


Technorati Tags: Bible, Biblical Authority

Bible Articles

Walter Brueggeman Biblical Authority

Appetizer quote "Responsible interpretation requires imagination. I understand that imagination makes serious Calvinists nervous because it smacks of the subjective freedom to carry the text in undeveloped directions and to engage in fantasy. But I would insist that imagination is in any case inevitable in any interpretive process that is more than simple reiteration, and that faithful imagination is characteristically not autonomous fantasy but good-faith extrapolation."

NT Wright How can the Bible be Authoritative


NT WrightThe Bible for a Postmodern World

NT WrightThe Bible and Christian Imagination

Bible Article

Remember our Gathering on April 6th (details in post below)

There's Something About the Way You Use the Bible There's something about the way you use the bible, something about
July 16, 2004 - 6:17am
There's something about the way you see the bible as a thing to be used at all.
There's something about your intensity and your urgency and the way you have your eyes locked on some distant prize. There's something about the energy you are putting into this. It's making you frantic and in a hurry. You will not be present in a sacred moment. You will not wait. You will not keep silence. You will not admit that you are weak. You will not let things unfold.
You cannot abide, so you will not abide. You will not abide the journey. Arriving is all you want, and the bible is some kind of shortcut for you. You seem to be cutting corners and covering your tracks with memorized verses. You enter every room with a blast of pretty Jesus words and a lot of fast talking.
Somehow you have come to think that the bible is like everything else in your life. You think it is something to master and something you can own. The more you know about the bible, the more power you hope to gain. The more verses you can quote, the closer to God you hope to be.
The bible is your prop and your flag. You wave it around and make sure that it is seen. You highlight it and talk about it and make wild claims about its truth and fight over it and win with it and boast about how you believe every word of it. It is your way and your truth and your life.
Behold, your sacred battle cry: “The Word of the Lord is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
But that verse isn't about the bible. It's about Christ, whom you serve, and whose spirit you are called to carry in your heart. It is only He who is your way and your truth and your life.
That old man that you brushed aside? The one you called a liberal and a wishy-washy Christian? He spent the last fifty years with his hands and his heart in the pages of that sacred book. He has wept over it and searched for truth in its stories. His unanswered questions have increased every year until finally he knows nothing at all but the love of God and neighbor.
He knows something that you do not know.
Those people around the table? The ones you spoke so harshly to that night when you came upon them sharing a meal and pleasant conversation at church? You told them it was a shame when Christians gathered only to eat and talk. You dropped your big black bible on the table with a thud for emphasis. They are some of God's oldest and wisest servants. They have prayed down the walls of prejudice and broken the strongholds of anger and pain with the prayers of their hands and feet. Their meal was a prayer, though you couldn't hear it.
They know something that you do not know.
These people know that the bible is not a self-help book full of easy answers, but a book of stories and wisdom that is meant to lead us into relationship and worship. There are hard and fast truths in it, yes, but they are surrounded by soft truths, and slippery truths, and sometimes truths, and truths that once were true but are no longer true, and truths that are only true if you are in the right state of mind, and truths that are only true if you are not hurting someone, and truths that are true in the moment but not if you are talking about the moment, and truths that can only be lived and should never be spoken, and truths that we cannot hear, and truths that are more than we can bear.
The truths of the bible are utterly beyond anyone who seeks to own truth and who seeks truth above the Spirit of God.
The bible is not a book for those who need a weapon. It is not a book for those who know where they are going and what questions they will ask. It is not a book for those who are in a hurry and looking for the shortest route.
The bible is a book for pilgrims and wanderers. It is a book for children and for those who wish to become children again. It is a book for seekers and searchers and dreamers.
It is a book for anyone and everyone who hopes that the desires of God might be written upon their hearts.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 (NRSV)

Post-Colonial

So much for Emergent being an Anglo American thing.

Latin America RED DEL CAMINO

Africa Amahoro

Steve Argue on Salvation

This week I'm doing some work with Steve and it reminded me of this amazing presentation he made on the topics of salvation a year or so ago in Michigan. I had the priveledge to be with him when he presented it and to hear the interaction that followed. Let me know what you think of it.

REFLECTIONS ON SALVATION
OR
“LET’S GET OUR CHRIST ON. LET’S KICK IT, JESUS STYLE.”– Pastor Skip in “Saved”
Steve Argue January 2005
As you listen to my words, I would ask that you would create an image in your head of an infomercial. Picture a stud or babe-like looking spokesperson convincingly telling, showing, and demonstrating to you the necessity of their product and why you should buy it. Now, take that image and tweak it a bit… imagine, the same infomercial displaying all the wonderful benefits of the product but it is communicated by a spokesperson who is a 100 pound weakling looking like
everything but what the “product’ is destined to produce. The writer of this reflection is certainly a picture of this second image. Salvation, in my limited experience and estimation is the most glorious of concepts and I am the most pathetic of spokespersons. I would argue that any connection between this particular concept and this particular spokesperson is certainly absurd or strangely wonderful… or both. Some might even call it mysterious (Rom 16.25, Eph 3.6, 6.19). There are elements of mystery and awe that I hope always moves me beyond the intellectual and the strategic and continues to grip me personally. In this context of absurdity, mystery and awe, I offer some brief reflections…

Where to start
Salvation defined must start with our understanding of God’s person. This is nothing new to us, but I think it is an important reminder that salvation, whatever we determine it to be, comes from one who chooses to reveal Himself and his purposes to his creation. If we were to ask why God would do that, my best answer is; “I don’t know.” Maybe that’s why words like grace and mercy and love are so significant to the Christian. These are embedded in the mystery and
awe of the Creator revealing himself to his creation simply because he chooses to and we are dull, un-anticipating, non-seeking recipients who are awakened to God and his purposes completely and only through God’s efforts.
The real mystery I propose that this is the true mystery of the Gospel. It is the mystery of God breaking in where God is not wanted or at least not known. This breaking in might be seen in grand pictures of revivals or underground churches, but I see it even more person by person. The breaking in is witnessed in the lives of everyday people and even in this one very
pathetic infomercial spokesperson. The fruit of this breaking in is varied. God breaks in when one becomes aware of their depravity; God breaks in when a cup of cold water is given to the least of these; God breaks in when relationships are restored, when compassion is extended, when addiction is broken. The mess we get in is when we try to measure break ins or evaluate their legitimacy. We are tempted to talk about numbers saved or seek out the sexiest testimony
because they bring the most attention or they sound best in prayer letters. When we try to quantify mystery, salvation and the gospel we begin to sound like an infomercial, creatively packaged in a 3-minute “testimony.” The essential gospel
If we are able to embrace the mystery of God’s working in people’s lives and are comfortable with holding loosely what “salvation” looks like, even celebrating different expressions of it, I think we can be more comfortable with saying what the Gospel is. For though the fruit of the Gospel is multifaceted, the central message of the Gospel is evident. The Gospel cannot be the gospel without recognizing God as creator, people as rebels, God as pursuer, Christ’s
incarnation, death, and resurrection, the Spirit’s ongoing presence, and a call to return to God and his community. The creeds and confessions give us the pathway for the essentials of a believing community and these, to me, are more than intellectual ascents, but are central to a revealed worldview that one embraces. They reinforce the elemental or essential teachings that one embraces as Christian (Heb 6). Christian leaders shepherd people in responding to Jesus greatest command…. ‘Follow me.” Our task calls us to be theologians above managers, rock stars, activity coordinators, best buddies or leaders. Therefore, I offer the following considerations and implications…

The Bible

Since our next meeting will focus on the Bible I though I'd link to an excellent post that might fuel our conversation a bit.

It's a bit lengthy - about the equivalent of 8 pages single-spaced - but it's well worth the read when you have the time.

Humanity Notes - Danny Grimes

Emergent Discussion / Thursday, March 2, 2006 / Danny Grimes / dgrimes@oru.edu

The Human Condition

A Biblical Worldview - 3 Essential Themes

1) The Creation – Paradise Established – Good News Genesis 1:26-31
· imago Dei – Humanity was created in the “Image of God.”

“The imago Dei embraces our entire selfhood in all its variegated functions,
centered and unified in the heart.” Gordon Spykman

2) The Fall – Paradise Lost – Bad News Genesis 3:1-7
· Total Depravity
It means the total inability to get to God on our own initiative - a propensity to evil.
It does NOT mean that we will always do the absolute worst - a total lack of goodness.

Some non-Christians are “good” Christians by behavior – not saved.
Many Christians struggle to have good behavior – but they are saved. What’s up with that?

· So, how far did we fall? Sufficiently to need a savior.

· Was the imago Dei completely erased? If not, was it only damaged?

· The Effects Genesis 3:8-24
SPIRITUAL: Idolatry / Condemnation
INTELLECTUAL: Ignorance
MORAL: Disordered Loves / Desires

3) New Creation – Paradise Regained – Good News Hebrews 9:15
· Redemption / Restoration

· Was the imago Dei completely restored? If not, was it only partly restored?

The History of Redemption
Protoevangelium / Seed of the Woman Genesis 3:15
Noahic Covenant / Race of Shem Genesis 9:1-17
Abrahamic Covenant / Line of Abraham Genesis 12, 15, 17
Sinai Covenant / Nation of Israel Exodus 19:1-6
Davidic Covenant / Family of David 2 Samuel 7:1-17
New Covenant / Person of Jesus Christ Jeremiah 31:31-33

· What is our condition in Christ? Some biblical phrases to consider.
Sinners saved by grace through faith? Ephesians 2:8.9
New Creatures / all things new? 2 Corinthians 5:17
Joint heirs with Jesus? Romans 8:17
Royal Priesthood / Holy Nation? 1 Peter 2:9

Two Human Conditions to Consider
1) Before Christ – Capable of goodness, but lost. Loved and accepted by God as we are, yet pursued and convicted of sin by the Spirit of God.

2) After Christ – Called to obedience, a life of faith and good works – saved by grace through faith. Made holy through cooperation with the Spirit’s process of sanctification. Still loved and accepted as we are.

The Gospel = A Good News, Bad News, Good News Story

Humanity Notes - Paul Littleton

Great to be with you all today. This obviously isn't comprehensive but examines two specific areas related to humanity that I think are particularly relevant to the ongoing emergent conversation: 1) who are we as humans apart from the Fall (for lack of a better term ;). I'll let Kyle take that one on), and 2) can we even discuss humanity by placing our focus solely on the individual, or must we look at humanity in community?

Humanity

I come from a reformed Baptist tradition, so when someone like me thinks of humanity one of the ingrained thought patterns is what we called “worm theology.” For a good example of worm theology check out the following: http://tonga.globat.com/~holwick.com/Job-book/job25_4.html. Growing up we would sing the hymn “At the cross,” which has the line “for such a worm as I” in the original version. Thus, the story of humanity, for all practical purposes, began at Genesis 3 and the fall. Any proper understanding of humanity was understood through that event.

The story prior to Genesis 3 and two aspects of its relevance and importance for the church.

1. Genesis 2 is often ignored apart from statements about the image of God in humanity especially as it relates to anti-abortion issues. But this passage also has much to help form our thoughts on things like social justice issues, the death penalty and war, among other issues. 80's pop band Human League had a song titled Human. These words made up the chorus:

   I’m only human
   Of flesh and blood I’m made
   Human
   Born to make mistakes

   And it isn't simply, or even especially, popular culture that lives with the ingrained idea that to be human is to be “born to make mistakes.” And, interestingly, the “mistake” of that song was unfaithfulness, as if unfaithfulness were a part of our DNA. That's a very Augustinian concept – and one for another day.

   N. T. Wright says that Jesus was the true human. Jesus lived out and ultimately fulfilled the mandate to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. He now reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now the body of Christ in the earth continues to carry the mandate to rule and reign with him. This is what it means to be human. In Romans 5-8 Paul makes a considerable argument that glory is where we are headed as an outcome of the obedience of Christ.

2. 2:18 “It is not good that man should be alone.” It is interesting where this statement falls in the creation story. We read this after Adam was placed in a perfect garden, given the perfect job, living in perfect relationship with the Creator apart from any effects of the Fall, which hadn't yet occurred. God had gone through the six days of creation and each step of the way (except for day two) we read, “And God saw that it was good.” 2:18 is the first instance where we read that something in God's creation was “not good,” and this before the Fall of chapter three. Man's existence apart from community was not good.

Thus, to be human is to live in community. It is even argued by some (Dallas Willard, for instance) that living in community is a part of the image of God. In God we see perfect community. As Father, Son and Spirit you have me, you and him; three in perfect community calling humanity to a community that is reconciled to God and to one another. Thus, the community that God intends for humanity becomes reconciled community, which is an important aspect of the message of the gospel – a message that is not simply about sin and guilt, but about restoration to our own status as true humanity.