New Issue of Eleutheria

Hot off the e-presses! The new issue of Eleutheria is now available for download. Eleutheria is an online, open access, peer-reviewed journal led, edited, and reviewed by graduate students of Theology and Philosophy, Scripture and Interpretation, and Church and Mission. It is published bi-annually online through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and is an open-access journal. The mission of Eleutheria is to glorify God through the publication of excellent graduate student scholarship from an evangelical perspective in the areas of Theology and Philosophy, Scripture and Interpretation, and Church and Mission. The journal is led, edited, and reviewed by graduate students and is Evangelical in conviction and perspective.

http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/eleu/

Joel Willitts on Christian Cynics

Joel Willitts has an interesting discussion here on cynicism in the evangelical church today. His discussion interacts with a new book by Andrew Byers entitled Faith Without Illusions. Willitts argues that cynicism, when turned into constructive critique rather than criticism alone, will be a positive factor in the shaping of the evangelical church in its hope for recovering from "pop-Christianity". The post is worth a read and the book seems like a worthwhile one as well.

Wright on the Christian Worldview

"It is ironic that many people in the modern world have regarded Christianity as a private worldview, a set of private stories. Some Christians have actually played right into this trap. But in principle the whole point of Christianity is that it offers a story which is the story of the whole world. It is public truth. Otherwise it collapses into some version of Gnosticism." N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, 41-42.

N.T. Wright and Logos

Here's a wonderful quote from an insightful interview with N.T. Wright by Logos Bible Software.

"American Christianity needs to grow up... and see this more holistic vision which will then produce a necessary humility... [to] a bigger, global vision."

N.T. Wright
In an Interview with Logos Bible Software

See the full interview here.

The Gospel

A great truth from Mounce's NAC volume on Romans.

"Christ crucified (if no more were said) is not the gospel. The church needs a renewed awareness of Christ as victorious over death and the grave. It is the resurrection that makes the news good news" (Robert H Mounce. Romans. The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 152).

I would agree wholeheartedly and add that it is not only Christ's resurrection that the Church must embrace but also our own future resurrection. What we do in this body matters because, even after death, God is not done with it. We need to seriously consider the impact of the resurrection upon our everyday activities.

[Mis]Understanding the Bible

Below is a very valuable thought from Craig Broyles in his commentary on the Psalter. I have generalized his statement to expand its force, which is nonetheless true for all of the Bible and not just the particular passage under examination.

"Modern readers are bound to look at [the Bible] as prescientific naivete. But this reaction, in fact, reflects on our own naivete regarding ancient imagery." (Craig C. Broyles. Psalms, New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999: 127.)

Too often we "critically" (in the negative sense of the word) read the Bible with uncritical lenses, impressing our modern standards and thought forms upon a text that resists those impressions with its own thought forms; a message communicated in specific cultures and specific times and places. The more we understand the world in which the Bible was written, the more we will understand its message.

The Stewardship of Gifts

"Man's relatedness to others means that every human being should not view his or her gifts and talents as an avenue for personal aggrandizement, but as a means whereby he or she can enrich the lives of others." Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God's Image, p. 78.