Yesterday my Amazon order arrived. Darla, the Accountant-person here at the office delivered it to me. Well, actually UPS did. I wonder how many hands actually touched it from warehouse to desk? Interesting.
Any way, I love packages. Especially packages I’m really anticipating. I think I like buying things online rather than at the store just to build the suspense, just to create an atmosphere of surprise. Everyone loves a surprise.
Within this package were two books recommended by Jesus Creed. The first: Left Behind or Left Befuddled by Gordon Isaac, a seminary professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary. The second: Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight (author at Jesus Creed), a seminary professor at Northpark Seminary.
I am excited about the first because it deals with a “hot” topic that I think, quite frankly, is untrue. The rapture. Isaac treats the “End Times” stuff. You know, the mysterious disappearance of thousands, if not millions… Interestingly enough, after attending Dallas Seminary, the guardian of Dispensationalism and Pre-Millennial, Pre-Tribulational Eschatology, I can no longer hold to the idea of a “Secret Rapture.“ That’s ironic. My reasoning? Well, they are legion, but mainly because Church History/Tradition does not support it, and because, more importantly, the Bible doesn’t teach it. Ha. I can already feel the pulses beating faster, palms getting sweatier, breathing getting deeper!
One has to read the Bible with a very specific “interpretational eye.” A “method” if you will: a method that treats the Bible as a puzzle, a sort of mystery-science theatre. This method ignores the fact that the Bible is literature. A method that thinks like a 19th-20th century Westerner. But who knows? It doesn’t really matter. You don’t have to believe it to be “caught up” in it! I don’t think. What do I replace it with? Good question… I think I have moved to a classical Pre-Millennial position on the 2nd coming. I need to read and study more. Something required since I will most likely confront this issue for the rest of my life.
I am even more excited about the second because this book deals with the issue of interpreting or reading the Bible. It is fundamentally related to the above mentioned book.
How do we read the Bible? What is appropriate? How should we be thinking? What, after all is the Bible? In what context(s) did it arise? What did people think like in those contexts? How has the Church read the Bible over the past 2,000 years? How do we read the Bible today? Which is right, or better, which is more appropriate? Any way, I like Scot McKnight. He is devout Christian, a first rate NT scholar. It seems he is a funny, witty, and open man with an honest heart, and he comes from a similar background. It’s always nice to see others who were born in similar contexts rethinking and rehashing and reflecting on the assumptions, values, and beliefs of the former generation.
Well, I will update my blog around half way and upon completion. So far I have read the first 30 or so pages and enjoyed every bit of it. The point so far: Everyone picks and chooses what they want when reading the Bible. No one actually practices the whole Bible. So, McKnight sarcastically reminds us, the slogan “God said, I believe it, that settles it for me!” is, in his words, “hogwash!” There are plenty of things God said that we don’t do. Like stone adulterers - God forbid, because then hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian ministers/pastors, laypersons, and parishioners would be dead. And we certainly don’t believe everything Jesus said, since I rarely see people in churches missing eyes or hands or feet. :-)
Any way, I love packages. Especially packages I’m really anticipating. I think I like buying things online rather than at the store just to build the suspense, just to create an atmosphere of surprise. Everyone loves a surprise.
Within this package were two books recommended by Jesus Creed. The first: Left Behind or Left Befuddled by Gordon Isaac, a seminary professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary. The second: Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight (author at Jesus Creed), a seminary professor at Northpark Seminary.
I am excited about the first because it deals with a “hot” topic that I think, quite frankly, is untrue. The rapture. Isaac treats the “End Times” stuff. You know, the mysterious disappearance of thousands, if not millions… Interestingly enough, after attending Dallas Seminary, the guardian of Dispensationalism and Pre-Millennial, Pre-Tribulational Eschatology, I can no longer hold to the idea of a “Secret Rapture.“ That’s ironic. My reasoning? Well, they are legion, but mainly because Church History/Tradition does not support it, and because, more importantly, the Bible doesn’t teach it. Ha. I can already feel the pulses beating faster, palms getting sweatier, breathing getting deeper!
One has to read the Bible with a very specific “interpretational eye.” A “method” if you will: a method that treats the Bible as a puzzle, a sort of mystery-science theatre. This method ignores the fact that the Bible is literature. A method that thinks like a 19th-20th century Westerner. But who knows? It doesn’t really matter. You don’t have to believe it to be “caught up” in it! I don’t think. What do I replace it with? Good question… I think I have moved to a classical Pre-Millennial position on the 2nd coming. I need to read and study more. Something required since I will most likely confront this issue for the rest of my life.
I am even more excited about the second because this book deals with the issue of interpreting or reading the Bible. It is fundamentally related to the above mentioned book.
How do we read the Bible? What is appropriate? How should we be thinking? What, after all is the Bible? In what context(s) did it arise? What did people think like in those contexts? How has the Church read the Bible over the past 2,000 years? How do we read the Bible today? Which is right, or better, which is more appropriate? Any way, I like Scot McKnight. He is devout Christian, a first rate NT scholar. It seems he is a funny, witty, and open man with an honest heart, and he comes from a similar background. It’s always nice to see others who were born in similar contexts rethinking and rehashing and reflecting on the assumptions, values, and beliefs of the former generation.
Well, I will update my blog around half way and upon completion. So far I have read the first 30 or so pages and enjoyed every bit of it. The point so far: Everyone picks and chooses what they want when reading the Bible. No one actually practices the whole Bible. So, McKnight sarcastically reminds us, the slogan “God said, I believe it, that settles it for me!” is, in his words, “hogwash!” There are plenty of things God said that we don’t do. Like stone adulterers - God forbid, because then hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian ministers/pastors, laypersons, and parishioners would be dead. And we certainly don’t believe everything Jesus said, since I rarely see people in churches missing eyes or hands or feet. :-)