• About

The Cruciform Pen

~ toward a cross-shaped life

The Cruciform Pen

Monthly Archives: January 2015

What To Read…

29 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by thecruciformpen in People to Know

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

D. A. Carson, Georges Florovsky, Jürgen Moltman, John D. Zizioulas, John Goldingay, John Webster, Karl Barth, N. T. Wright, Richard B. Hays, T. F. Torrance, Tradition, Walter Brueggemann

I am currently reading N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. And I must say it is one of the most enjoyable reads in long while. I don’t remember the last time I’ve had so many “aha” moments about passages and concepts so familiar. Over and over again I found my assumptions delightfully challenged and reshaped.

This leads me to an important principle: It is beneficial (and enriching) to read authors from outside of our own traditions.

Lately, I have made a practice of intentionally reading people who write from within a different tradition than my own. And I have found it valuable for the following reasons:

  • it broadens my perspective of the church
  • it helps me to understand /relate to people within those traditions
  • it has potential to reveal blind spots within my own tradition
  • it removes unhelpful caricatures that flourish through “hearsay”
  • it teaches me how to disagree agreeably, if you know what I mean
  • it deepens my respect for the diversity of the body and reminds me that I don’t have to agree with everything someone says to be encouraged / edified by their work

The list could go on.

Here is a sample of some of the writers that I have read recently and the traditions they write from:

  • N.T. Wright – Anglican Communion (Church of England)
  • Karl Barth – Swiss Reformed (Confessing Church in Germany)
  • Walter Brueggemann – United Church of Christ
  • Richard B. Hays – United Methodist
  • T. F. Torrance – Church of Scotland
  • D. A. Carson – Evangelicalism [my own tradition]
  • John Webster – Anglican Communion (Church of England)
  • John Goldingay – Episcopal
  • Jürgen Moltmann – German Reformed

I have not read very much from the Orthodox tradition but I am eager to read something by Georges Florovsky or his pupil John D. Zizioulas, from within that tradition.

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. on Suffering

16 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by thecruciformpen in Resources, Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Suffering, Walter C. Kaiser

In his book Grief & Pain in the Plan of God: Christian Assurance and the Message of Lamentations Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. offers the following typology of suffering in the Old Testament (see pgs. 128-136):

  1. Retributive Suffering
  2. Educational or Disciplinary Suffering
  3. Vicarious Suffering
  4. Empathetic Suffering
  5. Doxological Suffering
  6. Evidential or Testimonial Suffering
  7. Revelational Suffering
  8. Eschatological or Apocalyptic Suffering

Here in the conclusion to the book, Kaiser has a brief discussion of each type of suffering with biblical examples. These are helpful categories to have tucked away in your mind so that when we see suffering (in our own lives or in the world around us) we don’t commit the same error as Job’s friends, automatically assuming it to be one kind of suffering when actually there is something else going on. Here is how Kaiser concludes (pgs. 135-136):

Suffering then is multiplex in its causes, purposes, and explanations. All attempts to reduce the explanation of suffering both in that day and ours to a single reason, such as retributive suffering, could earn the quick rebuke of God as it did for Job’s three friends. Let us be biblically sensitive and spiritually alert to the wholeness of God’s revelation, and let us be reticent to postulate total patterns based on the presence of a single swallow.

Let us bow before our Maker and recognise His infinite wisdom in His distinctive and numerous reasons for suffering. And when none of these eight explanations, or any additional reasons that may have eluded us here, seems to fit our own moment of crisis, then let us return to the lodestone and central affirmation of the book of Lamentations: ‘Great is Thy faithfulness.’

This book is available on Amazon as well as Logos.

Papyrus Exhibit in Michigan

07 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by thecruciformpen in Resources

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

P46, Paul's Epistles, Textual Criticism, University of Michigan

P46_Galatians IV, 2 – VI, 8

I am super excited because for my birthday my wife is taking me to the University of Michigan this weekend, where a papyrus collection of Paul’s epistles is on display! At the Parsons Papyrology Exhibit Case, located in the Audubon Room of the first floor of the Hatcher Graduate Library, there is a set of leaves from a papyrus codex containing portions from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The codex, generally referred to as P46, is dated to about 150 C.E. to 200 C.E. There are a total of 86 leaves extant: 30 are at University of Michigan and 56 are in the Chester Beatty Collection of Dublin, Ireland.

The discovery of the codex in 1931 provided a text at least a century older than the Vatican and Sinaitic  codices, the oldest authorities on which the text had previously rested.

I am so excited to see these in person! It is amazing to think that the scribe who copied these manuscripts could have been the great grandson of someone who had known and read the apostle’s original letters (assuming that Paul was writing in the 50’s). These are only a few generations removed from the autographs!

This is the best birthday present ever!

Theology Conference in Chicago

04 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by thecruciformpen in Resources

≈ Leave a comment

Theology Conference

The EFCA is putting on a Theology conference at Trinity International University this month (28 Jan – 30 Jan). Its theme is THE DOCTRINE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

Keynote Speakers

  • D. A. Carson
  • Graham Cole
  • Dan Doriani
  • V. Philips Long
  • David Luy
  • Tom McCall
  • Douglas Moo
  • Kevin Vanhoozer
  • John Woodbridge

Schedule, Registration, and Papers

For a schedule of speakers along with the papers they presenting see here.

To register for the conference see here.

Some Reflections on Richard B. Hays’ New Book

03 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by thecruciformpen in Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Gospels, Richard B. Hays

reading backwards

Richard B. Hays’ new book, Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness, is a short read but there is a lot to digest in its 109 pages. Each of the four Gospels is given a chapter. In this post I will limit my reflections to his chapter on the Gospel of Mark.

By way of review about the book in general, in the preface Hays states clearly that the book is an

account of the narrative representation of the identity of Jesus in the canonical Gospels, with particular attention to the ways in which the four Evangelists reread Israel’s Scripture, as well as the ways in which Israel’s Scripture prefigures and illuminates the central character in the Gospel stories.

For Hays, the concept of ‘mystery’ is essential for understanding how Mark crafts his narrative around the person of Jesus. He points out that Mark is generally more cryptic and allusive than Matthew (who much more often states explicitly “This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet , saying…”). Mark’s strategy of indirect reference and subtle allusions to the Old Testament cautions us against speaking too quickly about the mysterious identity of the Carpenter from Nazareth. In other words, there is something crudely wrong with stating so blatantly and matter-of-factly that “Jesus is the God of Israel.” Such a brash declaration fails to do justice to the transcendence and profoundness of the truth contained in the affirmation. And some might even say that kind of statement oversimplifies an incredibly complex identity; Hays quotes Rowan Williams, “There is a kind of truth which, when it is said, becomes untrue” (31). The point is that the identity of Jesus cannot be boiled down into such an unqualified two-dimensional statement. Instead, Mark chooses to drop dynamic hints about the identity of Jesus by way of careful selection of stories (and careful telling of those stories), hints that leave the reader to silently ponder who this Jesus was, drawing his categories from the Old Testament.

Here is how Hays concludes his interpretation of Mark’s figural Christology (an interpretation which he notes is not far from the way Mark’s Gospel is read in the Orthodox tradition):

So, if we seek to read Scripture through Mark’s eyes, what will we find? We will find ourselves drawn into the contemplation of a paradoxical revelation that shatters our categories and exceeds our understanding. We will learn to stand before the mystery in silence, to acknowledge the limitation of our understanding, and to wonder. The ‘meaning’ if Mark’s portrayal of the identity of Jesus cannot be rightly stated in flat propositional language; instead, it can be disclosed only gradually in the form of narrative, through hints and allusions that project the story of Jesus onto the background of Israel’s story. As Mark superimposes the two stories on one another, remarkable new patterns emerge, patterns that lead us into a truth too overwhelming to be approached in any other way.

I do have some questions about how Hays establishes an Old Testament allusion. As one example, at times Hays seems to rest his reading of the OT allusion on the repetition of a couple key phrases (and perhaps also thematic similarity?). I want to ask, is the repetition of phrases enough to establish an admittedly cryptic allusion? It would be nice if more evidence could be adduced to demonstrate the presence of an allusion.

Notwithstanding my unanswered questions, I deeply appreciate this kind of reading of Mark’s gospel. As a footnote, I think it provides a convincing explanation of the shorter (in my opinion, genuine) ending of Mark. If the shorter ending is original, then Mark ends his gospel with this authorial comment: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid” (Mark 16:8). This mysterious concluding statement has generated a history of complex textual emendations and additions by scribes in the centuries to follow Mark’s writing. Why would Mark end his gospel in such an unexpected way? Well, if Hays’ reading is correct then it should not be so unexpected after all. Mark has been preparing his readers for this kind of reaction all along. As Hays puts it,

readers who listen carefully to the resonances of Israel’s Scripture in Mark’s Gospel and then see how the story drives toward the passion narrative may find themselves, like the women in Mark’s artful dramatic ending, reduced, at least for a time, to silence…The fear of the women is, of course, a response to the message of the resurrection of Jesus the Crucified One. I would suggest that a similar response of reticent fear and trembling is equally appropriate when we read the story of the crucifixion, if we have rightly followed Mark’s narrative clues about the identity of the one on the cross.

To this I simply offer a hearty AMEN and AMEN!

A Day Sanctified

02 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by thecruciformpen in Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Jürgen Moltman, Sabbath

moltmannI just read an article that made me think of the Sabbath in a way that I have not thought of before. Jürgen Moltmann (“The Sabbath: The Feast Of Creation.” Journal Of Family Ministry 14.4 [2000]: 38-43) talks about the nature of the Sabbath in some pretty profound ways. I’ll just share a few thoughts worth pausing over. First, he notes that in the Genesis account God’s blessing of the Sabbath is unique because previously God had blessed only things. For example, God blesses the sea creatures and birds of the air (1:22) and he also blesses the man and woman (1:28). But when he blesses the Sabbath (2:3) he is not blessing a thing but rather a day, that is, a time. “God does not bless this day through activity, but rather through his rest; not by creating, but rather by being there. In this day God is wholly present” (40). Commenting on Augustine’s famous dictum, ‘our heart is restless in us until it finds rest in thee’, Moltmann points out that restlessness is universal among mortal creatures. So where is the refuge? the place of rest? “It is in time–here and now–on the seventh day, God’s Sabbath. On this day God simply is. All creatures therefore find there place…in the calm of God’s presence” (40). So, because on the Sabbath God blessed a time and not a thing this means that in a sense his blessing is universally available to all creatures who exist in this time, that is, the Sabbath.

And yet, as a spacio-temporal blessing the Sabbath points forward and backward, according to Moltmann. It points backward because it beckons us to remember creation (the day of blessing from the Creator). It points forward because on the Sabbath (in a uniquely blessed way) we may experience life in the presence of the Living God. I’ll close with a quote in which Moltmann makes an interesting analogy between the Sabbath day and the function of temples in the ancient world:

In the limited temples of the peoples, heaven and earth touch, but in the Jewish Sabbath, time and eternity touch. That way the Sabbath is both a day of remembrance of the original creation and a day of hope in our final salvation. Beginning and End are present on this day, interrupting time and indeed rescinding it. On this day death is abolished, for life is experienced so deeply that it is eternal. On this day the law of time is put away, for God himself lives in this day: eternal presence in an instant of time.

Categories

  • Biblical Studies (19)
  • Historical Studies (12)
  • People to Know (26)
  • Poetry (2)
  • Prayers (7)
  • Research Topics / Book Ideas (3)
  • Resources (51)
  • Reviews (24)

Posts

  • September 2022 (1)
  • October 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • August 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (3)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (1)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (6)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (1)
  • May 2016 (4)
  • April 2016 (3)
  • March 2016 (10)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (4)
  • December 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (1)
  • September 2015 (6)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (6)
  • December 2014 (12)
  • November 2014 (8)
  • October 2014 (1)

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 181 other subscribers

Currently Reading

Blogs I Follow

  • Malcolm Guite
  • The Cruciform Pen
  • Crux Sola
  • βιβλιοσκώληξ
  • Holy Writ & Sacred Witness
  • Griffin Paul Jackson
  • Koine-Greek
  • Biblical Studies
  • Bible Design Blog
  • Theological Studies
  • καὶ τὰ λοιπά
  • Euangelion
  • Evangelical Textual Criticism
  • NT Blog

Blog at WordPress.com.

Malcolm Guite

Blog for poet and singer-songwriter Malcolm Guite

The Cruciform Pen

toward a cross-shaped life

Crux Sola

A Biblioblog with Nijay K Gupta

βιβλιοσκώληξ

βιβλιο: "book"; σκώληξ: "worm"

Holy Writ & Sacred Witness

...eyes on the Word; ears to the ground...

Griffin Paul Jackson

Word architect.

Koine-Greek

Studies in Greek Language & Linguistics

Biblical Studies

Making Biblical Scholarship Accessible

Bible Design Blog

Theological Studies

An Internet Resource for Studying Christian Theology

καὶ τὰ λοιπά

A blog by Daniel R. Streett all about Early Judaism, Biblical Studies, Koine Greek, καὶ τὰ λοιπά

Euangelion

toward a cross-shaped life

Evangelical Textual Criticism

toward a cross-shaped life

NT Blog

toward a cross-shaped life

  • Follow Following
    • The Cruciform Pen
    • Join 45 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Cruciform Pen
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...