Paul: In Fresh Perspective - N.T. Wright

Last semester, I took a class on New Testament theology.  It was during this class that I learned that I’m more interested in theological method than I am in most of what people think of as theology.  There are a few categories that I still care deeply about (especially the doctrine of God and Christology), but if it isn’t a matter of orthodoxy, I probably won’t be spending the majority of my extra-curricular reading time there.

But that is exactly what is strange about this book.  I spend a lot of the extra time that I have wading through a book that deals with lots of issues that are not of principal importance to the academic work that I am focusing on.  Since biblical theology isn’t exactly my forte, I’ll be brief in this review.  Actually, I won’t review the book at all, other than to say that people will benefit from reading N.T. Wright.  I want to focus my comments on how others interact with Wright.

I am tired of hearing people who have never read N.T. Wright denounce Wright and his ideas.  It’s not that I agree with him.  To be clear, there is much with which I disagree with him.  However, I’ve learned that the issues are far more complicated that people make them out to be.  Just because you know someone who disagrees with one quote from one book written by N.T. Wright does not qualify you to speak to the issues Wright engages in his treatises.  It seems that evangelicals have created a subculture in which it is cool to hate what our heroes hate, even though we don’t know what we hate.  So, if you have things to say about N.T. Wright, or the new perspective on Paul, make sure that you take the time to read about these things before you speak strongly about such topics.  It isn’t helpful to have to correct someone in conversation when they mistakenly misrepresent someone and their ideas.  And, it’s getting really annoying to learn that they haven’t even read the scholars whose academic work they so fiercely loathe.

Folks, if we want to be taken seriously, we need to know what we’re talking about.  Failure to take the time to educate ourselves ought to include our holding our tongues on issues which we haven’t studied.  Let’s not continue the image of uneducated, lazy, arrogant, brash evangelicals who don’t know what they’re talking about.

Paradigm Wars: The Southern Baptist International Mission Board Faces the Third Millennium - Keith E. Eitel

Dr. Eitel is the professor of my missiology class. This particular book covers aspects of the history of the International Mission Board (IMB - formerly known as the Foreign Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). While I am not particularly interested in all of the historical data Eitel covers in this book, he did raise some issues that are interesting to me, and relevant to faithfully completing the Great Commission. That spoken, there are a few things with which, based on my limited understanding, I disagree with Dr. Eitel. But, before I dive into these, I want to couch my thoughts by stating that I am not an expert on missiology, nor am I incredibly well read on missions history among American Baptists. Nonetheless, I have read enough to know that there are a couple points with which I take issue with Dr. Eitel’s remarks, feeling that he has not sufficiently made the case for some of his conclusions regarding arguments he makes from history, nor has he adequately defended these views.

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Missiology: An Introduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions - John Mark Terry, Ebbie Smith, and Justice Anderson, editors

I read this anthology for a class. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy the book. Most of the information was a review for me. However, missiology is something that I find fascinating, and vital, not only to fulfilling the Great Commission, but to the Christian life in general.

While there was some new information in this volume, on the whole, I found it boring. I don’t think that I was bored because I knew most of the material. I think I was bored because the material was presented in a dry, boring way. I definitely recommend the Perspectives reader for a survey of missiology over this volume.

A short, yet brilliant post by Jim West on “Soundbite Theology.”

The quote of the day is:

“If your theology can be explained in a [single] phrase, you should probably abandon theology altogether and take up accounting or advertising.”

Theology and doctrine are too important to reduce to cliches.  A failure to carefully articulate what the Bible teaches and what we as Christians believe  (especially in churches from the pulpit) produces an anemic church which is incapable to communicating the Truth to the world.  Would to God that He raise up men and women who would take seriously the commandment to love God with all their minds.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a pastor.  What kinds of relationships should a pastor have with the members of his congregation.  Is it even necessary for a real, genuine relationship to exist, or is it okay that the “pastor” is a talking head up on stage, or (to borrow from Ross King) “a two-dimensional” person on screen?  I’ve got more coming down the pipeline on this issue, and related topics of ecclesiology.  For now, be content to read this short, 3 paragraph tidbit from a blog I’ve been following of late called City of God.

The article is called “Jesus and Small Congregations.”