Cooling Twilight

Author: Dan

Review: The Enoch Factor by Steve McSwain

Steve McSwain’s book, The Enoch Factor, is about knowing and walking with God, not in the sense of gaining theological knowledge about God, but rather about knowing him in terms of true “intimacy and inspiration.” This isn’t the “personal relationship” of evangelicalism, it’s the spiritual experience of progressive Christian spirituality. It’s about discovering a connection with the Divine that, though couched in Christian terms and understandings, is not confined by orthodoxy. McSwain says of Christianity: “The Christ-way is an enlightened spiritual pathway to God…The path has guided me to an extraordinary place of self-discovery and God-realization.”
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January 13, 2013
Review: Rants to Revelations by Ogun R. Holder

Rants to Revelations: Unabashedly Honest Reflections on Life, Spirituality and the Meaning of God by Ogun Holder is true to its title. Holden’s book adds to the already crowded blog-to-book genre by collecting and expanding upon his online writing — exploring spiritual insights, struggles of faith, the trials of parenting and the challenges of relationships.

Holden’s writing is competent, if not breathtaking — he has clear voice that carries his ideas well. His musing sometimes lean towards vague, feel-good spirituality, but he never strays too far from actual experience, so the brief essays generally remain grounded in the events of his life and never drift too far into esoteric musings.
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January 12, 2013
The Bible Alone

Mark Driscoll recently tweeted: “The Bible alone gives us the insight we need to understand what’s going on in the world…and what’s going on in us.”

I realize a single tweet isn’t a full expression of systematic theology, but the idea expressed in that one sentence sums up much of what is wrong with modern American evangelicalism.
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January 12, 2013
What We Can Learn From Louis Giglio

Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not going to comment on the details of the Louie Giglio story. If you’re not familiar with them you can catch up here. To me, this particular non-event just isn’t that important — the presidential inaugural benediction is a symbolic gesture that doesn’t have any real significance in the grand scheme of things.

But there’s an important reminder in all this: Giglio’s views on homosexuality, despite attempts by some to paint them as extreme, are in fact normative for most conservative Christians — who are, by some counts, nearly half the population of the United States. So though one may vehemently disagree with Giglio on this topic, one can’t legitimately marginalize him as representing merely a fringe position. (more…)

January 10, 2013
Locusts and Honey

One popular understanding of John the Baptist’s time in the wilderness is that, though the text says he ate “locusts and wild honey,” he actually ate locust bean pods, not insects. This has become such a part of Christian mythology that the carob tree, which produces edible bean pods and is native to the Middle East, is also known as St. John’s Bread.

We find the description of John the Baptist’s diet in Matthew 3.4 and Mark 1.6. Both gospels say that he lived on ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον — that is, locusts and wild honey. The key word here is ἀκρίς, meaning locusts. Besides these two verses, ἀκρίς also occurs in Revelation 9.3 and Revelation 9.7 where it is used to describe a plague of insects. Locusts are also listed in Leviticus 11.22 as one of the “clean” foods that are permissible to eat. (more…)

January 8, 2013
Intellectual Snobbery

I’ve been accused of intellectual snobbery. I suppose there are worse things — like say, being accused of just plain snobbery. Or boring old intellectualism. But intellectual snobbery — that’s a double whammy — a two-for-one insult worth paying attention to!

Ironically, I wasn’t labeled an intellectual snob for providing a too academic and esoteric argument, but rather for refusing to do so. That’s right — because I declined to offer up scholarly resources and arguments, I fell afoul of the snob police. One only wonders what would have happened if I had decided to bring scholarly resources to bear!
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January 7, 2013
Homosexuality: The Issue facing the Church

Is there currently a more divisive issue within Christianity than that of homosexuality? Sure there are plenty of other issues that Christians fight about, but of all the topics mentioned in my post “Can you be a Christian and still believe … ?”, homosexuality and abortion easily garnered the most attention. And though abortion is undoubtedly a contentious issue, Christendom stands in virtually unanimous opposition to it — the discussion there is largely regarding the extent to which the practice should be legally regulated or fully prohibited.

But homosexuality — is this the key issue in what some have labeled a New Reformation? Are we in the middle of a foundational schism? Or will this issue fade into irrelevancy as time passes, just as slavery (at least in the Western world) is now only a sad memory from the past?
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January 5, 2013
Who said writing theological limericks can’t be lucrative?

My thanks to Tony Jones for running his Theologian Trading Card Contest. It turns out that I was a lucky winner thanks to this limerick about Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza:

To Schüssler Fiorenza women are indebted.
Before her they were largely uncredited.
She thoughtfully shared
And with boldness declared
A feminist theology intrepid!

Somewhat oddly, my limerick about Schüssler Fiorenza didn’t garner me a card signed by her, but instead I won a signed Kevin J. Vanhoozer card — though I have no real complaints about what was a great contest with great prizes! (Although there was one snide comment from an unnamed significant other who said the quality of my limericks offended her sensibilities as an English Literature major and as a human being. To that sentiment I demur, though I’ll readily agree that it would be unwise to quit my day job in order to pursue a career of theological limerick writing.)

And, even if you missed this contest, you can still purchase your own set of Theologian Trading Cards.

January 4, 2013
A Modest Proposal for the Return of the Biblical Institution of Slavery

Prolegomena
At the outset we must make clear the standards by which we are to judge the institution of slavery. As Christians, we cannot be subject to whims of the heart or fancies of the intellect. We cannot acquiesce to the norms of modern secular culture, instead we must hold firm to the norma normans, the norming norm, the Bible, the revealed Word of God to mankind.

We are fallen creatures, living in utter darkness, unable to see the light on our own: “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jer. 17.9). But God, through his grace, provided us with Holy Scripture, which is “God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3.16). It is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Bible that we must cling to as the absolute standard of truth.
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January 3, 2013
Review: With God On Our Side

Over Christmas I had the chance to watch the 2010 documentary With God On Our Side. This film provides an insightful, provocative and emotional look at Christian Zionism, exploring historical, religious, political and social aspects of the Jewish/Palestinian conflict. The film doesn’t settle for easy answers but instead seeks to uncover the truth behind the rhetoric. It allows Christian Zionists to speak for themselves and explain their reasoning, but also offers a decisive refutation of that misguided position. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to gain a better understanding of the problems in the Middle East from a truly Christian perspective. Below is the trailer:
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January 2, 2013