PTC BLOG

Christian Hedonism

2011-09-07T18:59:00.003+10:00

It seems I was the only Christian involved in ministry in Sydney who did not attend the recently heavily promoted John Piper talks. I have heard from colleagues who did that Piper once again expounded his version of Christian hedonism with which we are familiar from his writings: 'God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.' Reactions I have heard range from cautions endorsement to outright rejection of Piper's message as being 'another gospel.' It might be helpful then to draw attention to these more balanced critiques by Paul Helm here and here. I wonder if Piper would be better focussing on the more pervasive Biblical language of 'love' for God which has an affective element as well as a commitment to obedience, but does not focus on my satisfaction.

Bill Dumbrell's latest book.

2011-07-12T19:19:00.002+10:00

Australian Biblical scholar Bill Dumbrell has just published the latest in his series of New Covenant commentaries on the book of Revelation. See a report on the launch here. This volume grew out of a series of lectures Bill gave at PTC some years ago which I found very stimulating, and of course his lifetime of reflecting on how the Bible fits together.

That Dangerous Book

2011-05-17T19:15:00.002+10:00

John McClean (now officially a doctor - congratulations John) has written a great piece for the ABC Religion and Ethics website on the King James Bible on its 400th anniversary. The Bible is a dangerous book, he warns. Check it out.

Hebrew Keyboard for Linux

2011-01-24T10:02:00.002+11:00

For any who use the Linux operating system, here is a link for a Hebrew keyboard to which the SBL site draws attention.

2010-11-14T21:20:00.003+11:00

Australian Biblical Scholar Honoured

Recently a Presentation Dinner was held at the PTC to honour noted Australian Biblical scholar and author William (Bill) Dumbrell for his significant contribution to Australian Biblical scholarship (including teaching at the PTC). Bill has helped generations of students and readers to see how the Bible fits together. An Everlasting Covenant: Biblical and Theological Essays Presented to William J. Dumbrell is edited by John Davies and Allan Harman and published by the Reformed Theological Review in its Supplement Series.

This volume of studies, organised around the theme of covenant, includes contributions from Australian and overseas scholars (former students and colleagues of Bill's), including several PTC staff and postgrads (Steven Coxhead, John Davies, John McClean and Joe Mock).

It is available from RTR, PO Box 635, Doncaster, Vic., Australia 3108. $35 plus $3 postage in Australia (Asia $8.80; elsewhere $13).

Bavinck on the Trinity

2010-07-29T17:35:00.003+10:00

"The moment monotheism is not supported by the doctrine of the Trinity, it risks losing its purity, being threatened by pantheism or monism, on the one hand, and by polytheism and pluralism, on the other." Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics Volume 2. God and Creation J. Bolt, ed. ; J. Vriend, trans. (Baker Academic, 2004), 119.

A great insight. Without the doctrine of the Trinity the pressure for unity will force us to include all things in God, or the pressure for diversity will lead us to splinter our idea of God. Only the doctrine of the Trinity allows a view of God who is both the transcendent and immanent Creator, the source of both unity and diversity.

Wilberforce's 'A Practical View' - Get to Know the Classics this Monday night

2010-07-29T11:03:00.005+10:00

It's Federal Election season in Australia, and one of the issues that has already arisen is the relevance of 'religion' (or irreligion!) to political policy and action. How timely - for this coming Monday night my topic in Get to Know the Classics is William Wilberforce and his A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country Contrasted With Real Christianity published in 1797.

OK: the title is not pithy, but the topic is vital. How should evangelical Christians act on their personal Christian convictions when they reach the 'public square'? We know that Wilberforce - 'the conscience of England' in his time - did act, and left a lasting legacy. Having studied his life and times in the last few weeks, it seems clear to me that the world in which we live today would not be as it is, but for God's work through this man, and the other like-minded men and women who surrounded him.

Could it be that Wilberforce and his book might still have something to say to us - even to challenge us - in our own day?

Here are some quotations from Wilberforce and others about his intentions and achievements in A Practical View.

'The subject is of infinite importance; do not let it be driven out of our minds by the rush of life and the empty pleasures. Soon this present scene, with all its cares and gaieties, will be rolled away, and we will all stand before God’s judgment seat’ (Romans 14:10). This awful consideration prompts the writer to express himself with greater freedom and justifiable frankness, and will, he trusts, secure him a serious and patient reading.

'If what is stated appears needlessly austere and rigid, the writer would ask not to be condemned, without a fair examination as to whether or not his statements accord with Scripture' [William Wilberforce, Introduction as printed in the 1885 edition]

'I deem it the most valuable and important publication of the present age… I shall be glad to look to you (at least to your book)… to strengthen my motives for running the uncertain remainder of my race with alacrity.' [John Newton]

'[A Practical View has given me]… unspeakable comfort… If I live, I shall thank Wilberforce for having sent such a book into the world.' [Edmund Burke having spent most of his final two days reading it]

[For the first time I] understood the vital character of personal religion, the corruption of the human heart and the way of salvation through Jesus Christ' [Legh Richmond, leading evangelical, about his reading of the book when he was a somewhat worldly curate on the Isle of Wight]

The story of Wilberforce is both inspiring and instructive, and my goal for Monday night is to give you a hearty feed of both.

Sex: the Bible says go for it

2010-07-26T10:22:00.004+10:00

I've been at the Religion in the Public Square Colloquium in Melbourne over the last few days. It was a well conceived and executed event. Two of the presentations on sex have made it to the front page of the Age today. Kamal Weerakoon and his mother Patricia presented on the support of recent studies for the biblical view of sex and Melinda Tankard Reist spoke about the sexualisation of children. Have a look at the article here.

Scott Rae was the keynote speaker and did a great job. He will be at PTC this week - and it is not too late to book for Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

Seminars for Christian Leaders

2010-06-24T08:53:00.003+10:00

Places like PTC often have visiting scholars doing lectures and seminars for students, faculty, theology graduates and a few others who are interested. It is exciting to be running something quite different. Dr. Scott Rae a leading Christian ethicist is visiting PTC in July, and we are hosting two events for Christians leaders in health and business. These are for "lay" leaders (though of course all God's people are part of the "layity" since the word just means "people" and ordination does not mean that you graduate from God's people to a new class of being!) Ministers and theology students are not invited to these seminars (well, they can come if they wish, but we hope the rooms will be packed both times with people who work on the coal face).

On Tuesday, 27th of July at 7:30-9:30pm at the PTC Scott Rae will hold a seminar for Christian health professionals on "Dealing with Euthanasia". The next morning, Wednesday 28th of July, there is a breakfast for Christians who work in business, the corporate world and government at the Burwood RSL across the road from PTC. The evening seminar costs $30 (student discount $15) and the breakfast is $35.

Invitations with more details are available in the events section of the PTC website.

Scott Rae is Professor of Christian Ethics, Talbot School of Theology, California. His primary interests are medical ethics and business ethics, dealing with the application of Christian ethics to medicine and the marketplace. He has authored The Ethics of Commercial Surrogate Motherhood; Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics; Brave New Families: Biblical Ethics and Reproductive Technologies; and Body and Soul: Human Nature and the Crisis in Ethics, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics (Zondervan 1995), “Calling, Vocation and Business,” Religion and Liberty (Nov‐Dec. 2004): 6‐8 and “Money Matters—Ethics in the Workplace, MHEDA Journal (May 2005). He is co‐editor of Beyond Integrity: A Judeo-Christian Approach to Business Ethics (Zondervan, 2004, 2nd ed).

Strange reporting!

2010-05-14T20:23:00.005+10:00

In the Sydney Morning Herald today there is a very sad story about a priest in Newcastle Anglican Diocese defrocked for sexual misconduct. Part of the reporting struck me as extremely strange. The reporters claim that although there were no criminal charges "church doctrine dictates sexual relations between a priest and anyone else must be sanctioned by the hierarchy". Now that seems odd, doesn't it? Surely no Christian church has a process of approving sexual relations outside of marriage. In very liberal churches committed same sex relationships may be accepted: but that is different to the "hierarchy" approving a sexual relationship.

The Diocese professional standards say what I would expect a church to say "You are to be chaste and not engage in sex outside of marriage and not engage in disgraceful conduct of a sexual nature". However the standards also say “If you intend to make physical contact with another adult or speak to them about a sexual matter you should... seek permission.” Commonly in professional standards this simply means that if you are going to put your arm around an adult parishioner at a funeral to comfort them you should say “do you mind if I give you a hug?” or if you are going to demonstrate how to participate in a children's game you should seek the child’s permission by saying “do you mind if I put my hands on your shoulders.” Perhaps the reporters have completely (and bizarrely) misinterpreted this guideline (and called it church doctrine!)

The reporters seem to have no idea that Christians believe that "do not commit adultery" still applies. Here's some more proof that we live in a post-Christian society. In terms of sexual ethics we are counter-cultural. So counter-cultural that it seems that two journalists from Sydney's leading newspaper cannot comprehend a Christian framework.

Missional Church

2010-05-12T05:43:00.003+10:00

"Missional Church" is a hot topic at present, and almost everyone in church leadership says that they are committed to church being 'missional'. But what does the term mean? And what implications does it actually have for how we understand church and, more importantly, how we live as a church? Like lots of these kind of terms, "missional" has a history and comes from a specific discussion. A key figure in the development of missional thought about church is Leslie Newbigin (1909-1998), a Church of Scotland missionary in India who, in light of his Indian experience, challenged the churches of Europe to give up the idea that they lived in Christendom and to start thinking and acting as missionary churches.

On 25th May PTC will host a lecture on Missional Church entitled "For the sake of the world: a missional ecclesiology" by Mike Goheen from Trinity Western University in Canada. Mike is a popular speaker in North America on the topic and is a well published author. His PhD was a study of the theology of Leslie Newbigin. I am expecting that Mike's lecture will be worth hearing for at least three reason. First, he will get beyond 'missional' being a cliche and explain what the term means for people who have taken Newbigin seriously and show how it actually challenges what we think about church (not just giving us a new name for old practices). Second, Mike brings a distinctively Reformed view of the issue. Third, he won't leave the discussion in the realm of 'theory' but will talk about how it should change church life.

For a fascinating afternoon reflecting on church and God's mission and the implications for our churches join us at PTC. The lecture will run from 2-3:15pm and will be followed by afternoon tea. The cost is $10, simply pay at the door.

"I said you are gods"

2010-04-24T09:49:00.003+10:00

There is a great series of posts over at Berith Road on the intriguing text in John 10:34 "I said you are gods" in its context and against its OT and ANE background. This issue has been doing the rounds of the blogs lately, and I find Steven’s the most insightful treatment and one that underscores the uniquely divine-messianic role of Jesus. There is also a couple of good follow-up posts relating to divine postures of sitting and standing. Well worth a read.

New Lecturers Nominated

2010-04-19T10:44:00.005+10:00

Some exciting news about staffing for PTC is now public. The two nominated lecturers both have strong connections with PTC, one was a part-time lecturer in the 1990's, the other is a current student. They both bring great strengths in their respective areas.

The executive of the Theological Education Committee Executive (the governing board of the PTC) has nominated Murray Smith and David Burke to be full-time lecturers at the PTC. These nominations need to be endorsed by the Standing Committee of the Theological Education Committee (in April) and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Australian in NSW (in July). The nominations are for the Rev. David Burke to be lecturer in Ministry and Practice from January 1, 2011; and for Mr Murray Smith to be lecturer in Biblical Studies from July 12, 2010.

David Burke comes with extensive ministry and academic experience, having been the minister of the Presbyterian churches in Henty, Strathfield, and Orchard Road, Singapore. He has been the Christian Education Director for the Presbyterian Church in NSW and he has lectured at several theological colleges including the PTC, and Singapore Bible College. He is married to Glenda and they have three adult children.

Murray Smith is an elder at Kirkplace Presbyterian Church in Kogarah where he coordinates teaching and training. He is in the final stages of a PhD at Macquarie University. He has had ministry experience in congregations, in secondary teaching, in university student work and in academic roles in the university sector and theological colleges (including the PTC). Murray is married to Lynette and they have three young children. (In the picture Murray is on the left, David on the right - the hairstyle is about to become the PTC standard and Ian and John Davies will just have to conform!)

This is great news for the PTC. Please pray for the ongoing process as the Assembly approaches. Please pray for these men and their families and the PTC as the team changes and grows.

Early Canon - canonised or not canonised

2010-01-28T01:00:00.002+11:00

In the last blog post John discussed the possible canonisation of Mary MacKillop as an Australian saint. As I write this in Cambridge I wonder if the proclamation has taken place, on Australia Day, and here in the UK I missed all the excitement. In any event, we had our own kind of excitement here yesterday.

Last night in the Cambridge University Divinity School, Judith Lieu gave her inaugural lecture as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity - a chair that dates back to 1502, so that is quite something. Judith Lieu, whose husband Sam is a professor at Macquarie University (but naturally enough here for the big event last night) formerly taught in Sydney at Macquarie.

It was a particularly skillful, and very carefully argued lecture on the topic of 'Conflict and Convergence'. In particular we considered the extent to which Christianity was i) a distinctive religious movement in the second century, say from Judaism, and ii) coherent or disparate within 'itself' whatever 'it' means? (my words, not the professors.) In particular, is the idea of a monolithic 2nd century Great Church based on apostolic doctrine (as we now hold it) a myth forged in the fires of 4th and 5th century controversy? As I understood it, that was certainly the well nuanced thesis the Lady Margaret Professor was presenting (far better nuanced than any blog post could be!)

In one section of the lecture - which you can download on http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/732482/formats;jsessionid=F8F60B863A85E20DFA5673CB7F45DF68 - she suggests that Christianity was quite fragmented. As to N.T. 'canonisation'(!),she presented a picture of the 2nd C where the Canon was not only unformed but no-one had even thought putting together a canon. Thus, when Melito of Sardis (died 180?) refers to the "Old Testament", [ta palaia biblia] we shouldn't take this to imply that he considered there to be any "New Testament".

David Instone-Brewer one of the Research Fellows here at Tyndale House, reminded us here this morning of the words of Tertullian - in my understanding only a decade or two after Melito - where he refers to vetus and novum instrumentum ['old and new testament']. That certainly looks (in the late 2nd century) like Tertullian had something like a New Testament in his mind, as distinct from an Old one - whatever instrumentum means.

As you can see I may have missed out on the lamingtons and BBQed lamb yesterday, but there were still interesting things to do here in Cambridge.

(Australia Day even got a mention in Judith Lieu's lecture!)

Australia’s first saint?

2009-12-22T18:06:00.003+11:00

The Vatican has all but proclaimed Mary MacKillop to be Australia’s first saint. We congratulate our Roman Catholic friends on this recognition of the accomplishments of a remarkable woman and her potential elevation to her Church’s “hall of fame”. It makes a pleasant change from the incessant focus on our sporting heroes. I don’t even quibble with this use of the word “saint” as many Protestants do. Words mean what people use them to mean and it is churlish of Protestants to claim that we alone have the true definition of a “saint” just because some English Bibles use this word as a translation of hagios, applied in the NT to all followers of the Lord Jesus, while we use different words for our “worthies”. Words are capable of more than one meaning, of broader and narrower definitions, and we regularly use words in senses other than their NT uses.

What is curious is the way the media have on the whole suspended their usual healthy questioning — regarding her alleged miraculous posthumous activity. Disturbing, at least at the level of folk religion, if not the official Roman Catholic position, is the attribution of the miraculous cures to Mary, rather than Mary’s God. All prayer other than that directed to God in the name of Christ, is misplaced. Sadly, I fear we are in for a rather confused time as superstitious popular corruptions supplant Biblical truth in the guise of honouring a great Australian woman. We might have opportunity gently to point people to the one in whom true healing is to be found.

PTC Anagrams

2009-11-30T22:35:00.002+11:00

Truth and wisdom can sometimes be anagramaticaly concealed in a name. What happens when you take the blender to

Presbyterian Theological Centre?

The year we started, one could imagine a small paragraph in our denominational magazine headed

Tiny college trains preacher-to-be

Or perhaps, thinking of 1 Timothy 5:17, we might get

Ace preaching? Only better toilers!

Or a variant, based on 2 Corinthians 4:7 might be

Clay preachers — one toiling better

A vision statement, mission statement and action plan in one might be

One in Christ — A better college — Pray

Our world missions perspective finds expression in

Yearn to etch clear gospel in tribe

Orthodoxy and orthopraxis blend in

Listen to grace in brotherly peace

It would be interesting to see if other colleges can yield some apt anagrams.

Ageless Dinosaurs

2009-10-24T22:12:00.001+11:00

No, I’m not referring to the PTC Faculty. A recent children’s book on dinosaurs boasts that it avoids the question of how long ago these lovable monsters roamed the earth and so should be acceptable to evolutionists and creationists alike.

What a great marketing idea! We could extend this please-all approach to future editions of the Bible. We could have a collapsible or expandable canon, with clever fold-out pages which could remain discreetly hidden for Protestants. There could be a version of the ten commandments which allowed a set of checkbox options as to which ones the reader would like included/omitted. The one on coveting might have some extra letters in brackets —You shall not co(n)ve(r)t — for those with an aversion to evangelism. The Song of Songs could come with brown paper wrapper, and instructions for gaining access once one has learned the meaning of the word allegory.

The gospels could come in the usual fourfold form, as well as a composite form for those who want to save the effort of hearing their different voices. The resurrection could be made an optional outcome in a choose-your own-ending to the life story of Jesus. There could even be some blank pages to describe the Christ of your own experience. It would be very handy to have a version of Paul’s letters which relegates to footnotes (only to be read by those with a peculiar bent for trying to understand the whole of his complex thought) all the troublesome bits and sticks to the ‘safe’ passages in the text.

There could be a high church liturgical account of the meetings of the early Christians, and one that doesn’t mention worship at all, so as to appeal to contemporary evangelicals.

The Book of Revelation could come with alternative sets of charts marked PRE-, A-, and POST-, and perhaps to cover those keen on the idea of Christ’s rule, but not sure of the other options, one marked PRO-. There’s no end to the possibilities this strategy opens up.

Divine flu: a health warning

2009-09-17T22:19:00.003+10:00

Ben Myers has a recent post with an excerpt from an article by Kim Fabricius on the dangers of both neo-liberalism and conservative evangelicalism. While some of the critiques of the latter will take some readers of this blog beyond their comfort zone (and I'm not agreeing with all of the comments), it is well worth reflecting on the matters raised. We need to see ourselves as others see us and ask whether we have simply identified an evangelical subculture with revealed truth.

Visit of Paul Helm

2009-09-04T17:36:00.002+10:00

The British philosopher and theologian, Paul Helm, will be giving guest lectures at PTC (77 Shaftesbury Road Burwood, NSW) from 3pm till 5pm on Tuesday 15^th September dealing with aspects of

• The age of reason (17th century);

• The enlightenment (18th century); and

• The appropriation by Luther and Calvin of 16th century philosophy

(or whateveer else he is in the mood for!).

These lectures are open to all at no cost and no registration required. Just turn up.

Paul Helm is Professor in History and Philosophy at Kings College, University of London, and holds the J.I. Packer Chair in Theology and Philosophy, Regent College, Canada.

Amongst numerous other interests, Dr Helm has special expertise in the links between Calvin's thought and its development among Calvinists of the 17th century and is the author of Calvin and the Calvinists, 1982.

Blog Conference on Women in Ministry

2009-09-02T15:43:00.004+10:00

Dave has written to let our readers know that over at the Ryde Presbyterian Church site a blog conference on women in ministry has started. The first post, by Peter Barnes (part time lecturer at the PTC) is up.
Future contributors include John McClean and a couple of past PTC students.

Scope of the Atonement

2009-08-17T21:13:00.003+10:00

There is an interesting series of posts (here, here, here and here) over at Euangelion on the extent of the atonement, with concise statements of what approximate to three classic views. John McClean and I have both posted comments.

What does saving faith do?

2009-07-25T18:07:00.004+10:00

Not sure that I can keep a discussion going as long as the last one, but here goes. If you had one shot at saying something about “saving faith,” particularly about its effect, what would it be? The reason I ask is that there is only one passage in the NT which brings those two words together. In fact there’s only one adjectival use of the word soterios “saving.” No peeking at a concordance now, but it would be very useful to come up with our answers, then compare them with the Bible’s. I’ll give you a couple of days to think about it.

Is Baptism a Gospel Issue?

2009-07-18T17:59:00.004+10:00

I once heard a pastor say that he would not be encouraging a “new convert” to be baptised, since baptism is not a “gospel issue” and he could not add anything to what was presented when he “received Christ” (Col. 2:6). This post flows on from a previous one and the discussion there on how we understand “the gospel”. I can readily assent to baptism not being a matter which should hinder fellowship when we come to different conclusions about the Biblical evidence. But that is not the same as saying it is not an outworking of the gospel. Yes, Paul, to make a point in the context of a church dispute, can say that he was commissioned “not to baptise, but to proclaim the gospel” (1 Cor. 1:17). But to take this as a warrant for indifference to the NT’s mode of identification with Christ would be to outrun the evidence (Paul was baptised and did in fact baptise others, as well as writing on the subject as the occasion suggested). It is baptism which seals our union with Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:12) and our incorporation through the Spirit into the one body (1 Cor. 12:13).

Baptism is the initial faith response expected in the discipling task which Jesus entrusted to his followers (Matt. 28:19). Consequently, baptism is right at the forefront of Peter’s proclamation of the gospel on the day of Pentecost. “Repent and be baptised” is his summary of the response he calls for to his message (Acts 2:38). Peter is even bold enough to express the thought that it is baptism which (rightly understood) “saves us” (1 Pet. 3:21). Baptism is the immediate response to Philip’s gospelling (Acts 8:12). In fact, as I read the account of the growth of the early church, I am struck by the constant note of the urgency of baptism; it is not something which should be denied or delayed to any who wish to identify with the Messiah and his new community. This is how the community recognises those who share their faith, those who are joined in a common bond of commitment to him and to one another. Baptism figures in a key list of core unifying principles: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4-6).

When we abandon baptism, we substitute other more individualistic and subjective forms of recognition and exclusion. We undermine the unity on which the NT places such a high value. We subvert the gospel.

Useful Resource for OT Background

2009-07-09T09:41:00.004+10:00

As my students will know, I am frequently drawing attention to the context within which the Old Testament was written, particularly its literary context. The genres, the imagery, the idioms, even the vocabulary of OT narrative, poetry and prophecy need to be considered in the light of Egyptian, Mesopotamian and other Western Asian and Meditterranean sources. For decades the most accessible compilation of relevant documents was J. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (ANET). More recently, the 3 vol. Context of Scripture (COS), ed. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger (which I have electronically in a searchable form): has more recently provided a more up-to-date and more comprehensive collection, with helpful Bible index. What has been lacking is an index from COS to ANET, for the newer anthology doesn’t make the older redundant (not everything is reproduced in COS for a start). This is now remedied by this useful online COS/ANET index.

AACC - Queensland Theological College Conference - AACC 2010 definitely worth diarising

2009-07-04T10:08:00.005+10:00

I was with John Davies at the AACC this week and I heartily agree that it was a worthwhile week. I am planning to return next year.
Most of the sessions were excellent - but for me there were three highlights, all because of their direct practical relevance to my own ministry and life.
First, there was Richard Bauckham's three plenary sessions on the Gospels as Testimony (a summary of his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses and then further reflections in the light of critical responses). As a Christian, I found Richard's exploration of the nature of Ancient biography (or 'testimony') very fortifying: I definitely need to get the book and digest his case more thoroughly.
Next there was Greg Clarke's (of Sydney's Centre for Public Christianity) 'after' dinner speech, Taming Your Tongue in Academia. As a teacher at PTC, I was challenged to renew efforts to make my speech and silence at PTC true ministry. I hope this gets published somewhere as it will be worth chewing over more.
Finally, I really 'enjoyed' (if that is the word for it - Ezekiel 16 is very difficult material) seeing Andrew Sloane (who teaches OT and Systematics at Morling College) in full flight as he considered The office of the prophets: Ezekiel 16 in the pulpit. Apart from the excellent content in this paper, Andrew challenged me in three ways. First, to keep on using my Hebrew (his study of Ezekiel 16 just would not have been possible without access to the Masoretic Text as the English versions all excessively sanitise Ezekiel's rhetoric to make it 'readable in Church'). Second, the value of passion in the academy. Andrew is a wonderful communicator and passion is at the heart of his style. This seems very apt for a paper about God's holy passion for an Israel whose very unholy passion had so disgusted God. It seems the sleeve of an academic gown is not such a bad place to wear your heart after all. Thirdly, his paper was pastorally accessible and had immediate practical value for the ordinary preacher. This is something I must work harder at in my papers as I develop my own style in writing and delivering conference papers in coming years.
Two minor beefs about the conference. First I find it objectionable that St Lucia, and QTC are so much prettier than Burwood. What a wonderful site for a theological college!
Second: how does 'Annual Australasian Conference for the Academy and the Church' produce the initials 'AACC'? This drove me just a little bit crazy all week!

AACC Conference in Brisbane

2009-07-02T15:35:00.003+10:00

This post comes from Brisbane where a couple of us from the PTC staff in Sydney are giving papers this week at the grandly titled Annual Australasian Christian Conference for the Academy and the Church. The “Annual” bit is somewhat prophetic, this being the first. It is good to see some increasing opportunities for those teaching Biblical studies (they even let theologians and other Christian scholars into this one) having an opportunity in the antipodes for professional exchange of ideas and stimulus to scholarship and research as well as ministry focused sessions. The keynote speakers at this conference are Richard Bauckham and David Baker. I testify to the fact that I am an eyewitness to Richard’s presentations on the Gospels (and rather daunted by having him in the front row of my NT presentation!) David Baker is speaking about the portrayal of women in the OT and in the background literature.

My paper was on the Greeks who desired to see Jesus in John 12. I ask the question, are these Greeks (unwittingly) following a script laid down for them in the OT and fulfilling second temple expectations? Can we narrow down the text or texts which provide the substructure to John’s narrative? Why does their appearance have such a profound effect upon Jesus? Does this pericope shed light on the Gospel as a whole?

Defining the Gospel

2009-06-27T18:16:00.004+10:00

There is continuing discussion in Reformed circles about the definition of “gospel” (see e.g. Mike Bird’s useful comments here in the context of a discussion on Piper and Wright). Should such a definition be based narrowly on Rom. 1:3-4? Or should it be broadened to incorporate 1 Cor. 15.3-5? Should it include the person as well as the work of Christ?

My comment is that the discussion is wrongly framed if we are expecting a virtual definition to be located somewhere in Scripture. Definitions are a linguistic construct based on our knowledge of (in theory) every occurrence of a term. Words mean what they are used by speakers to mean in a range of contexts. The word “gospel” (euangelion) occurs some 76 times in the NT, while the related verb occurs some 54 times, and of course the LXX and early Christian writings provide additional linguistic data. When a given passage says “the gospel is …” or some other formula giving content to the word (as in Romans 1), it does not follow that we have a “definition” or that the nuance in one passage is applicable to others.

I tire of those who want to reduce the gospel to a neat formula, a set of words to be asserted and assented to as though this will cover the rich tapestry that is the Biblical gospel. We suffer from a truncated and impoverished gospel if it ends up looking simply like a get-out-of-jail-free card. I encourage a good concordance study for starters. Even that will not suffice, for a linguistic definition is not the same as a doctrinal formulation. Aspects of the content of what the NT writers meant by their gospel might be found in places where the word is not used.

Popular Christianity tends to work with a “gloss” (different from a definition) on the word gospel = “good news”. While this looks like it has etymological justification, and may appear to fit in some contexts, it is hardly appropriate, e.g. for Rev. 14:6-7 where the “eternal gospel” is one of judgment — not particularly good news for those who experience the judgment. To base a meaning on an apparent etymology is a fallacy which would result in us believing that anthology is the study of flowers.

To understand the word translated “gospel” we need some background in Roman imperial terminology, where a “euangelion” was an official proclamation of the emperor, requiring a response. What the Christian euangelion does is proclaim the rightful lordship of God’s appointed messiah as the one whose appearance and entire ministry, in fulfilment of the script laid down in the Old Testament, demonstrates him to be worthy of our total allegiance, and calls for repentance and a commitment of wholisitic faith. How then is any aspect of the proclamation of the person or work of Christ, or what that should evoke, to be excluded?

Holiness

2009-05-29T17:22:00.004+10:00

We all know that ‘holy’ means ‘separate’, right? Well hang on a minute! Despite this being the gloss given in countless sermons, Bible studies, popular Christian writing, and even some heavy dictionaries, where is the evidence for this? I have no doubt that it does have this as an implication, but is this its fundamental meaning? What holiness is really about is ... No, why should I reiterate here what you can read in the latest Reformed Theological Review?
Congratulations, by the way, to the editors of RTR for the new look and expanded journal with four or five articles plus reviews from mainly Australian biblical scholars and theologians.

James Le Fanu, Why Us?

2009-05-26T12:30:00.003+10:00

James Le Fanu
Why us? : how science rediscovered the mystery of ourselves
Hammersmith, London. Harper Press, 2009
xv + 303 pp. ; ISBN 9780007120277; Hardcover RRP $45.00

James Le Fanu is a London based medical practitioner (since 1974), a published author (since 1986), and a regular journalist (since 1992).

He has written an excellent work here, not so much entering the already over-stocked field of “Christianity v. Science” or “Creation v. Evolution” type of book, but actually penning a fact-filled exploration of what science has NOT been able to answer, despite all of its advances. In fact, this is not a “Christian” book at all, but rather an exploration of the power and limits of science to penetrate the deep mysteries of existence, challenging the certainty that Darwin’s Origin of Species seemed to provide, that we are no more than the fortuitous consequence of a materialist, evolutionary, process.

Le Fanu sees the challenge arising, unexpectedly, from the two major projects that promised to provide definitive proof for this most influential of theories: the astonishing achievement of the Human Genome Project which, it was anticipated, would identify the genetic basis of all human distinguishing characteristics; and, the phenomenal advance in brain imaging that now permits neuro-scientists to observe the brain ‘in action’ and thus account for the remarkable properties of the human mind.

But that, he says, is not how it has turned out! It is simply not possible, he states, to get from the monotonous sequence of genes in the Double Helix to the near infinite diversity of the living world. Nor to translate the electrical firing of the brain into the creativity of the human mind.

This is not a matter, he assures us, of not knowing all the facts, but rather science has inadvertently discovered that its theories are insufficient to conjure the wonder of the human experience from the bare bones of our genes and brains. The brain, it seems, may now be thought to not actually contain the mind, so much as the ‘mind’ may contain the brain.

He finishes with a prediction of a major shift in our understanding of ourselves that will witness the eclipse of Darwin’s materialist evolutionary theory and the rediscovery of the idea that there ‘is more than we can know’.

Hopefully good Christian apologists will be at hand when science gets to this point, and can introduce Christian truths of our God and His creation into their debate.

An excellent and very honest overview of scientific advances and the claims that can no longer (and, possibly, never could) be explained by the available facts.

More on the church of Scotland

2009-05-26T04:27:00.003+10:00

In my last post I asked what happens next in the Church of Scotland after the decision to uphold the induction of minister who is a practicing homosexual? What will the evangelicals do?

Here are some hints.

Willie Philips of the Tron Glasgow announced the decision to his congregation the next morning. He speaks with impressive calm and resolve and then leads the congregation in prayer. He deplores the precedent which the Church of Scotland has set. He says that they will not recognise the authority of a church court to call holy that which God has called sin. He affirms his love for Christians who struggle with homosexuality.

He also explains why they are not going to leave the Church of Scotland and gives two reasons. One reason is that they would lose an opportunity to proclaim the gospel from the building in the centre of the Glasgow. That is a claim that has some merit. I can understand that their ministry would be impaired by losing their building and their status as a congregation of the Church of Scotland. Though I wonder if it is already impaired by being part of a denomination which has moved so far from the truth.

More interesting is his claim that "the denomination is not the church". That is a theological issue which the evangelicals in the Church of Scotland will have to wrestle with. It is certainly not a classic Presbyterian view. I'd agree with him that the visible church is fundamentally congregational, but I don't think that the questions they face can be resolved simply by saying that wider denominational structures are not the church. Later on in the statement he asks the congregation to pray for the churches in the Presbytery of Aberdeen whose position is more difficult than that of the church in Glasgow. Perhaps he means that their problem is simply 'political', but it sounds as if he thinks they have a 'theological' problem. I am not sure why the problem arises at Presbytery level but not at the level of the whole church of Scotland.

He announces that there will not be an offering that Sunday since that would be an expression of fellowship with churches with which they can no longer be in fellowship. He says that the central church authorities take a percentage and I'm sure he said 80%! He says that the session will be considering further steps in the next few weeks. I assume that withholding funds is going to be a major way of protesting.

He also warns the congregation that they can expect to be criticised and mocked in the media. In the Scotsman article reporting the decision the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland was quoted as being "delighted" with the decision. Alyson Thomson, head of communications for the Commission described the Church of Scotland as "a modern church for a modern Scotland" which had "decided that the values of fairness, equality, dignity and respect are of more worth than those of ignorance and intolerance." So the evangelicals know where they stand in the public discourse, they are committed to "ignorance and intolerance". It underlines how out of step the evangelicals are with their socety (or at least the elites) over this issue. I'm sure there will be more to come along these lines. (I have trouble imagining an Australian government authority making a statement like this about a church decision, but perhaps I am being naieve!)

David Meredith suggests that the way forward would be for evangelicals to join the Free Church and for the Free Church to make accommodation in its worship for that.

The position in which the evangelicals in the Church of Scotland find themselves is very difficult. Let's keep praying for them and asking the Lord to give them immense wisdom and courage.

Another step in long slow decline

2009-05-24T17:16:00.003+10:00

News has just come through that the Assembly of the Church of Scotland has not upheld the appeal against the induction of Reverend Scott Rennie into a charge in Aberdeen. Rennie is openly living in a homosexual relationship. The Fellowship of Confessing Churches in the CoS has been outspoken in its opposition. But the Assembly has endorsed the decision of the Presbytery to go ahead with the induction.

Carl Trueman has a point when he wonders why homosexuality is the line in the sand. However we on the other side of the world can't say too much about the strategy of our brothers and sisters in Scotland, since we aren't directly part of the battle. Now we can grieve with them that the Church which has its Reformation origin in a bold declaration of the truth takes yet another step away from the truth. The church historians can debate how long the decline has been continuing, I guess it goes back into the 18th century at least. The Presbyterian Church of Australian followed the example of the CoS for many years in the colonial period and much of the 20th century. I'm glad that we no longer do.

I wonder what happens next?

More importantly what should we pray for the Church of Scotland now?

New Principal Nominated

2009-05-21T10:43:00.002+10:00

Yesterday afternoon Robert Benn, the convener of the Theological Education Committee which governs the PTC as a committee of the Presbyterian Church of NSW (all a bit complicated!!) released the following announcement.

"During recent months the Theological Education Committee of the NSW Assembly has carefully considered several applicants for the position of Principal of the PTC to commence on 1st January 2010.

Rev Dr John Davies, who has served the denomination as Dean and Principal for 23 years advised the Committee of his intention not to seek reappointment as Principal, although the Committee hopes that he may continue to serve the PTC in other roles.

It is our pleasure to announce that the vice-principal, Rev. Dr Ian Smith BA, Dip Ed, MEd, MTh, PhD will be recommended for principalship to the NSW Assembly in July. Ian brings qualities, qualifications and experience to lead the PTC forward to a new era. He has had significant pastoral experience, has served as missionary in Vanuatu, has been a lecturer at the PTC for 14 years and has been Acting Principal at the PTC on three occasions. The Committee warmly commends Ian to the Church.

Rev Robert Benn
Convener of the TEC."

The book that had to be written!

2009-05-19T08:01:00.005+10:00

In the PTC library the other day I picked up a new book: Power and Poverty by Dewi Hughes. It brings together two very disparate themes. The front cover tells you that it is about global poverty. But the table of contents is redemptive historical and shouts "biblical theology". The structure is what you might expect in a biblical theology - Genesis 1-11, Abraham, government in Israel, laws in the Mosaic covenant; Christ as ruler, teacher and judge, the gift of the Spirit; and then the church and its place in God's world. Books on Biblical theology often show the rich thematic connections in Scripture, but do not have a strong connection with ethics, espcially social ethics. There are exceptions to this in the work Brian Rosner, Craig Blomberg, Tim Chester and Chris Wright.

Hughes continues in the trajectory of Chris Wright, and looks at the theme of power and poverty in the Bible. Often studies of those themes are entirley focussed on social ethics and do not relate the themes to wider redemptive history. Hughes does this well. Not only does he look at the social ethics of the Old Testament he relates that to God's purpose for Israel, and considers Israel in its biblical-theological position. More than that he traces these themes into the New Testament through Christology and then into the church.

Hughes makes the case that poverty and injustice are Biblical concerns and are not impositions from an illict political perspective. I went through a stage when I thought that a faithful Christian had to be apolitical, but over time I kept noticing that so many passages demand that we should take notice of political issues. That does not mean taking strong views in party politics, but it does mean a concern for justice and care for the poor. I've also seen more and more of that Christian social ethics has to come through the church. The church must be a community of justice and mercy. When it is this it is a witness to the world of what it should be, an anticipation of the new creation and a centre from which justice and mercy may flow. I've seen this, not by moving away from Biblical Theology, but by reflecting on the Bible as it present redemptive history. It is exciting to read Hughes making this case so well.

Hughes does not claim that Power and Poverty answers the practical questions of addressing poverty. What he aims to do is to show that Bible believing Christians have to be concerned about it, and that the Bible gives us very important perspectives on global political issues.

Hughes is the Theological Advisor for Tearfund in the UK and a member of The Lausanne Movement's Theology Working Group.

The danger of public theology

2009-05-18T15:25:00.005+10:00

There's lots of talk about Public Theology. But it gets a whole lot harder when you actually have to do it in public. This morning Jim Wallace of the Australian Christian Lobby was on Sunrise with "Mel and Kochie" talking about gay marriage. On the other side were Peter Furness from Australian Marriage Equality and his long term partner Theo Phillip. You can watch the video here.

Jim began with the argument that this could be extended to allow someone to marry their cat. That seemed like bad move. First of all it is a reductio ad absurdum, and that is usually a weak argument. More importantly it sounded as if he was saying that homosexuality was equivalent to beastiality: and that didn't seem a great opening line! His next argument was that the gay lobby was trying to make the lifestyle of 1.2% of the population to be 'normative'. I don't think this worked, since they are not trying to make gay marriage 'normative' but allowable. Finally he argued that heterosexual marriages are more stable and therefore better for children (I think that was the argument it got a bit messy at this point). That was a complicated argument to run on breakfast TV, and Kochie thought he was saying that homosexual couples would abuse children (or least that's what he said he thought Jim was saying, which raised the temperature of the debate nicely!)

So Jim's argument seemed thin. Not suprisingly so since he had to argue about consequences, when the real difference between the two views is a view of what is according to nature, and what role nature (i.e. created order) has in deciding how we should act. Jim raised that issue slightly, talking about what was "natural", but the argument was not clear.

Jim's best argument was that our society regularly restricts the rights of some people (e.g. smokers). But that doesn't explain to people why the right to marry should be restricted to heterosexual couples.

The interchange showed how hard it is for Christians to make positive arguments in the public square. That doesn't mean we shouldn't work at it. I don't know what I would have said if I was in Jim's role. I know that I don't want Australia to have legal gay marriages and I know why I don't want that. The reasons don't make sense apart from my Christian commitments. Conclusion - more worked needed on this issue from ACL and any other Christians who want to try the argument in the media.

There is a blog on the Chanel Seven site with lots of comments.

A proverb for students (and teachers)

2009-05-07T11:49:00.002+10:00

Ever left a lecture or a sermon thinking how brilliant the speaker was, but still not entirely clear what it was all about, perhaps even more confused than before? Or have you been in a Q&A in which the questions were really a chance for people to show off how much they knew.

Proverbs 18:2 rings too true in the world of academia. “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.” (NRSV). Understanding takes humility and patience. You have to be ready to learn from the object of study and let it set the terms; and also be ready to learn from others. None of that appeals to the fool,.

One of my pet peeves is how quickly people (and I’m talking about orthodox evangelicals here) make sweeping dismissals of classical expressions of theology, without making the effort to actually understand what was said and why. But I didn't write this post to air that "peeve", I read Proverbs 18:2 and saw that it warned me. Maybe its a warning you need as well.

Pursuing understanding is a challenge in all study and teaching, but specially in theology. How awful to turn theology – the study of God – into self-expression rather than quiet, humble, disciplined attention to God himself. Some theological approaches collapse theology into anthropology or into clever word games. However even when we say theology is the "science of God" and that theological statements have a genuine reference to a God we can still be fools. (I'll leave the discussion of how theological statements refer to another day).

Is reading, thinking, writing,and teaching all about you or about what (and who) you are studying?

Twitter in church

2009-05-04T09:40:00.004+10:00

This morning Eugene had a tweet about twitter in church linking to an article in Time magazine about pastors encouraging their congregations to tweet during church!

Bizarrely enough it's something I've been thinking about. It is easy to sit with your mobile in hand (on silent of course) and send a few messages. I'm not admitting to doing it, because I don't think I have, but I've certainly thought about it. Students do it via laptop in lectures (I know they do, because sometimes they send me emails). It can be a way of people connecting with each other and with the 'experience'. Yet is is "virtuous", is it being the kind of people we want to be? Maybe there is a place for sitting and listening without having to publish a response?

I am struck by the contrast with the instruction in the Westminster Directory of Public Worship (1645) which tells worshipers that "The publick worship being begun, the people are wholly to attend upon it, forbearing to read any thing, except what the minister is then reading or citing; and abstaining much more from all private whisperings, conferences, salutations, or doing reverence to any person present, or coming in; as also from all gazing, sleeping, and other indecent behaviour, which may disturb the minister or people, or hinder themselves or others in the service of God."

It is a very different world. But maybe there is some wisdom in the Directory. What do you think?

Get to know the classics - Luther

2009-04-30T17:44:00.002+10:00

Martin Luther is one of the great Christian thinkers of all time and very important in the history of the Protestant churches. This Monday night (4th May) at Get to Know the Classics Mark Glanville will introduce us to Luther and his book Bondage of the Will. In it Luther takes on Erasmus over the question of God's sovereign grace in redemption. We meet Luther in full flight, showing his theological insight and his argumentative flair.

Get to Know the Classics is held once a month 7:30-9:00pm on a Monday evening at Presbyterian Theological Centre.

An enigmatic life - David Broughton Knox

2009-04-27T05:28:00.004+10:00

This 2005 biography of (David) Broughton Knox has been my weekend reading. He was Principal of Moore (Theological) College from 1959-1985 and led it to from being a fairly parochial institution to being on the way to becoming the highly influential college it is now.

Brian Edgars review from Journal of Anglican Studies Vol. 6(1) 127-28 can be found here.

If you, like me, live with his influence, then you should read this book. For my self I am a Moore graduate from 1995, and living in Sydney and working in the evangelical scene the influence of Moore is widespread. Just take the example of theological education in Sydney. As well as Moore itself three of the four staff at PTC are Moore graduates, as are the Principal and several staff of SMBC and several of the staff at Morling College. Some of these were directly students of DBK, others of us have been taught by people who were profoundly shaped by him and by the college he lead.

Students and graduates of PTC would benefit from reading this and getting a historical prespective on DBK and Moore. I was surprised at the relative lack of formal study in theology he had himself, he had a D Phil in Historical Theology but his own undergradaute 'seminary' experience at St John's Higbury was very poor. The English Reformers were his main point of reference. For instance he did not start reading Calvin's Institutes until after he had finished his BD.

Much of DBK's life was filled with controversy and conflict. Some of the key conflicts were with Liberalism and Anglo-catholicism and it is claimed that he thought of MTC as being "Protestant and not Anglican". This shaped his theology.

The discussion of Knox's teaching shows his great ability to teach a way of thinking about theology without giving a great deal of content. He was committed to the scripture principle and tried to get students to engage with the Bible rather than to build on the thought of other writers. This is a great strength in many ways, though it seems as if many of his students interviewed for the book thought that a bit more interaction with others would have improved his teaching.

I was surprised at the level of conflict he had with the Diocese during his time as Principal. This was the most enlightening part of the book for me. I did MTS with Philip Jensen at UNSW from 1988-1991 and then was at MTC 1992-1995. During that time there was a fair bit of conflict still going on, and I'm sure I was only aware of a small part of it. Reading this helped me see where some of that conflict came from.

The piety of DBK's background and own life are impressive; as is his commitment to ministry and church life. This is part of the "enigma" of DBK. For his theology could seem highly 'intellectualist' and yet he had a quite piety. He taught about the importance of "fellowship", "friendship" and "relationship"; yet seems to have been somewhat awkward and prone to fights; however there were many people who knew him as gentle and compassionate.

There is much to thank God for in the life of DBK. For those of us who never knew him, it is worth reading this book to understand more about him and his influence.

The problem of "translation"

2009-04-24T15:10:00.004+10:00

There was a strange story in Sydney Morning Herald yesterday about Manly local council honouring the artist Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo with an exhibition and website. On the website his self portrait has been edited to remove the cigarette from his mouth in line with the councils anti-smoking policy. (See the pictures at the right).

The story doesn't explain exactly how the picture contravenes the policy, in fact it says that the instruction had been to remove the whole painting! This story seems ridiculously extreme, but it is a real problem. How do you present something from one culture in another one in which some aspects of it will clash?

I remember being at a production of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" in which the "comedy" had members of the audience on their feet booing its misogyny. Do we change the play so it is a comedy for us, or do we try to explain to people how it would have worked, or do we just let them boo?

We sometimes struggle with the same kind of issues in translating the Bible. How much do we tidy it up for contemporary audiences? Do we get rid of gendered language? How about expressions that seem crude to us? (On that compare 1 Sam 25:22,34 in the King James and the NIV.) What about terms that might seem confusing for us, such as 'flesh' (Gk: sarx) which most modern translations will now translate as "sinful nature" (e.g. Romans 7:5,18,25).

There is a bad argument for moving to gender nuetral language (people are offended by gender specific language) and a good argument (people actually don't get gender specific language). But of course it isn't as simple as those two arguements make it sound.

Have you got good, bad or amusing examples of the problems of translation between cultures?

"Big" mission startegies?

2009-04-20T10:28:00.001+10:00

Skye Jethani applies the theology of the cross (see Carl Trueman's summary ) to church strategy. There is a place for strategies, probably even for big ones, but we must never think that we change the world by them. When we do gain the final perspective on God's providence no doubt we shall see that the key events have been as apparently unimpressive as the cross. Faithfulness is the key.

Looks like an interesting book.

Proverbs and ministry

2009-04-14T10:25:00.003+10:00

The book of proverbs may have been composed to train young men in the court. Kings certainly need wisdom to rule well (Prov 8:15). I imagine the emerging leaders of Israel working through the sayings of Solomon and preparing for their future roles. That makes me think that one fruitful way to use the proverbs is to relate them to leadership in the people of God. In the past of toyed with a project which explored Proverbs as ministry wisdom and I thought I’d give it a try here and see how it works.

I read Proverbs 14 on the train this morning, so that I where I am going to start.

Three themes in the chapter strike me as connecting with ministry.

The first is the value of wisdom. The chapter opens with a vivid image. On one block of ground a wise woman carefully places brick on brick constructing a home (presumably an unusual task for a women in ancient Israel). Her next door neighbour already has a lovely house, which she is determinedly demolishing. (Prov 14:1 cf v11). Of course fools don’t realise what they are doing. You’ve seen it in lives and families and probably in churches. Pastors are to build for Christ, and there are terrible warnings for those who destroy his church (1 Cor 3:10-17). Pastors and elders need to take extra care that they gain wisdom and act wisely. Wisdom bring protection, folly brings a beating (14:3); folly is gullible, wisdom is discerning (14:15).

The rash action, the thoughtless word, the inability to see how our actions hurt others, fights for my preferences and my preferred styles; time wasted on the unimportant while a ministry runs to seed, these are some of the actions of the foolish pastor. Inevitably there is pain for the pastor, and worse the Lord’s church is torn apart, rather than built up. On the other hand it is a great joy to see a humble, godly, united ministry team building a church under the Lord.

How do we get ministry wisdom? It is a gift of the Spirit, so pray for it. It is the invitation of Proverbs (1:2-7), so go there. If this project extends beyond this post it might help you find wisdom in the Proverbs.

Ch 14 gives one key step to wisdom: stop and think about it. 14:8 says the wise and prudent “give thought to their ways”. That seems to be a result of being wise, that you understand what you are doing, but it is also a path to wisdom. Want to be a wise pastor? Stop and think! Turn over your situation and your plans in your mind, ponder them, and don’t just shoot from the hip. Be aware of what are the big decisions and prayerfully think them through. Even if you have the right to make them alone, don’t; take counsel. Strive to understand what you are doing. 14:16 says the fool is “hotheaded and reckless”. The art of counting to 10, of not sending the email straight away, of not keeping a count of wrongs but letting things go; all of this is at the heart of pastoral wisdom. Wise pastors are reflective.

The second theme that catches my eye is the need for hard work. I have Proverbs 14:4 on notice board of my office “where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest.” Though the version I’ve used translates empty as clean, and I think that is the point. If you want everything nice and neat don’t get any work done, but if you want a harvest that takes work and work makes mess. 14:23 reinforces the fact that results require effort. There is a time to sit around and reflect to plan and understand –then there needs to be effort. I can remember several meetings I’ve been in, in which resolutions were made but nothing was done. Any growth, any results, any harvest will come from God’s hand, but will also take effort. Do not bemoan how unresponsive people are to the gospel, unless you are making clear and realistic efforts to proclaim the gospel. So get to work, and remember that work will make mess.

The third theme is found in two achingly beautiful the proverbs about the hidden depths of the inner life. Ministry is about people. So ministry wisdom means knowing something about ourselves and others. Sometime the experience of ministry promotes a deception that we have direct access to other people’s experience. We don’t. A lot of what who we are is known only to us and God (or only to God). So remember that “each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy” (14:10). As you talk and share with people, you don’t really know what is going on for them; nor they for you. That doesn’t mean that we don’t try to understand, but remember that there will always be depths of the inner life which will not and cannot be shared.

14:13 reminds us of the enigma of human experience: “even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief”. Maybe the best thing to do with this proverb is simply to recognise how true it is. Until God wipes every tear from our eyes there will always be sorrow. That’s good to remember that when leading worship. Joy is not the only Christian experience, or even the main one. Lets have joy, but also allow for lament, because it will come. For more on this see Carl Trueman’s great piece “What can miserable Christian’s sing?” which you can find here.

When did this happen?

2009-04-10T06:50:00.003+10:00

There comes a point when something we are totally immersed in changes; yet we have been so immersed that we have not noticed the change. Parents experience it with children - they wake up one day and realise that their kids are adults, and they ask themselves, When did this happen?

This week I have enjoyed being at the Discendi Studio conference at PTC Sydney - a conference organised by the three theological colleges of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. I have had the "When did this happen?" experience several times. It happened when I listened to a theological student or recent graduate deliver a scholarly paper, and I had to remind myself that I was not at an international scholarly conference. It happened when I heard students and graduates wrestle with issues of ministry practice with a level of maturity and an ability to integrate several disciplines to the issues. It happened when I listened to the warm camaraderie between lecturers in the respective colleges, seeking to work together to do the task of theological college even better. It happened in the warmth of fellowship experienced. I have come away from the conference with great gratitude for what God has done in our midst and great optimism for the future. When did this happen? I guess it's been happening for a few decades now - slowly and steadily - but there's no doubt that theological education in the Presbyterian Church of Australia is coming of age.

Discendi Studio

2009-04-09T05:51:00.002+10:00

Today we wrap up Discendi Studio the theology conference supported by the three Presbyterian Colleges in Australia. The title means "zeal to learn" and comes from a line from Calvin's Institutes. The theme has been "Calvin and theological scholarship" and we've had some great examples of just that. Some of the papers have been Calvin Scholarship - such as Calvin and the Jews, or Calvin as a commentator. Others have looked at historical issues such as the rise of Calvinism in Australia (1938-78) or various theological and Biblical topics with some interaction with Calvin. One of the highlights of the conference have been the short papers which students and others have done. The genre of a 20-25 minute brings as brevity and clarity which Calvin would have appluaded.

It has been great seeing students, staff and others from different states getting to know each other, talking through issues and finding out about the state of play in different states. I hope that people will stay in touch.

The presentations have been recorded and they should be available in some form (watch this space).

Justice in the city

2009-03-30T17:58:00.004+11:00

I just opened the envelope with the latest copy of CASE magazine. I was quick to open it because it has an article Mark Glanville (a PTC graduate) and I wrote on "Justice in the city". It isn't about batman (we aren't that cool - we'll I'm not).

We look at how the city highlights issues of justice and intensifies the challenges and argue that the evangelical church can not leave this issue to the "liberals" while we get on with mission. A concern for justice (not simply charity) has to be part of the scope of our part in God's mission.

We use the Ten Commandments to sketch out what justice should look like, because any account of justice is always grounded in an anthropology. Justice can't be just "treating everyone the same", it has to have some goal. Even if we have an "autonomous ethic" and we let people choose their own story, that comes from a view of human nature (a view which says human nature is does not exist or at least has no goal).

You can't read the article on-line. You'll have to subcribe (which you can do here) or you might be able to find it in your local theological library. You'll find a copy in PTC library.

A Timely look at Calvinism

2009-03-23T22:05:00.002+11:00

Time magazine has nominated the resurgence of Calvinism as one of the top ten ideas changing the world right now. While the essay may not be altogether flattering to those who stand in the legacy of John Calvin, it acknowledges the Reformed faith as a cultural force to be reckoned with in Christian circles and (at least in a north American context) to be noticed more widely.
Our own conference coming up on the debt we owe to this remarkable exponent of the Christian faith is not an exercise in irrelevance, but a Timely event.

How students suffer at PTC

2009-03-21T19:53:00.002+11:00

Some lecturers at PTC are so cruel. Any one who has spare Arctic gear please send it to the Greek class.

Missional chemistry

2009-03-20T03:29:00.004+11:00

Eugene Hor comments on a trend in the US to move to smaller churches as part of becoming more engaged in the mission of God. It makes sense, and fits with something I've thought for a long time. Years ago when I did chemistry I learned that one of the key variables which increases the rate of reaction is the surface area. So if a solid is reacting with a liquid it will all happen faster if the solid is broken up into a powder than if it sits in a single lump. In ministry it is often better to have a lot of little things happening than having it all happen at one place.

It is a common claim (which I assume is right) that churches are most likely to be in effective contact with their communities when they are a new church plant. So constantly spinning off new churches can keep evangelistic momentum. Also in a smaller church it is more likely that more people will be called on to use their gifts and people are more likely to be in the kind of person to person relationships in which they will care for each other and mature together. (Of course it is only 'more likely' a small church can be just as unhealthy as a large one, and being small can be a symptom of being unhealthy).

Increasing surface area for ministry can be a challenge. A church of 70 adults might manage to support a pastor and have a few good musos and a small children's ministry and see a few people becoming Christians each year. It can be a lot more exciting to go to a church of 700+ with several specialised staff and great music team and cradle to the grave programs that meet all your "needs". More exciting, but it is unlikely that you will get ten times more "ministry" happening, though there might be hundred times more "buzz". Being a pastor for a smaller church doesn't feed the ego as well as leading a big church. Lots of small churches can be harder for a denomination to "control" and service. So there are lots of reasons why we might think bigger is better, but I suspect it isn't so.

I would also add that "spinning off" new churches has to be done with genuine mission motivation. It can not be simply a way to move off a group of people who don't quite fit the "sending church". That will do no good for the sending church nor the new church and will simply show our lovelessness. So I am not suggesting "homogenity" as the main feature of new small churches.

Of course there can be a "critical mass" needed (though that changes the metaphor to nuclear fission!). Churches working deliberately working together can provide that.

Missional chemistry is a reason to keep starting new churches, with the aim of keeping them small. It is a Kingdom strategy, not an empire one.

It might seem strange in denomination of mainly small churches to bother making this case. However I think that the PCNSW often longs to have big churches, while letting our smaller churches feel a bit second rate. It's time to help smaller churches see that they can be right in the middle of mission.

Commencement and Graduation

2009-03-12T19:20:00.007+11:00

Last night we had our annual Commencement and Graduation. It was great night. We welcomed lots of new students (John Davies told us that there had been a 17% increase in enrollments and it certainly feels like that). Here is a shot of the new students being welcomed.

We graduated our first Doctoral Student, Max Gilbert (below) who wrote a thesis on Jesus claim to divinity in his use of Ps 110:1; and David Balzer who teaches NT recieved his MTh for a thesis on temple in John's Gospel.

People graduated with other awards as well. Hamdy Awad and Roland Lowther with MA (Theology); Cornelius Nel, Joel Radford and Ian Stenhouse with MDiv; Clare Aroney, Robert Aroney, Karen Astles and Virginia Fay with Grad Dip of Div; Brett Graham with BTh (1st class honours) and Matthew Hong, Jimmy Liang and George Medvedsky with BTh; Steve Pym and Russell Smidt with Advanced Dip Theol and Farid Awad and Jillian Patterson with Cert Theol. Stephen Gould, Russell Smidt, Brett Graham, Ian Stenhouse, Kyou Hong, David Yu and Steve Pym also recieved our Diploma of Theological Studies which is the academic qualification for ordination. Congratulations to everyone for all the hard work that these awards represent. We are excitied about the prospects for service of Christ which all our graduates are taking up.

We also had a wonderful version of "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus" from our student ensemble put together for the the evening. I think this should not be their only gig. Here is a shot of the singers.

The evening finished with a excellent address by Sandy Macmillan (minister of the church in South Wagga Wagga). Sandy took us to Ps 67 and challanged us to thank God for his blessings and aim for his glory. Great words for a graduation.

Out Of The Mouth Of A Babe

2009-03-12T15:10:00.018+11:00

As I was racing around getting ready this morning, my four year old son Joshua said to me "Mamma, my Alex the Lion toy (a character from the movie Madagascar) is broken. His tail's come off." I sympathised but that wasn't the reaction he wanted. So he said "But Mamma, he's broken, so I have to throw him away and get a new one." I knew how hard it had been to buy the toy so I said "Well Joshie, have you thought of looking after him even if he doesn't have a tail anymore? Maybe you could love him even though he's broken?" I could see the cogs spinning in his brain and after a little time of silence he said "OK. I'll do that. 'Cause that's what Jesus does with me. He loves me even when I'm naughty." I couldn't have said it better myself! How I love it when my children teach me about God's gracious promises. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ..." (Romans 8:1) and "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." (Romans 8:33-34).

Get to know the classics - Augustine

2009-03-10T07:29:00.003+11:00

The outline from my talk on Augustine and the audio are available now at PTC online. The reading for Anselm will be there in the next few days. Murray Smith will introduce Anselm on April 6. See lots of you there.

While I Wait ...

2009-03-06T10:16:00.036+11:00

I hate waiting - ok well, maybe "hate" is too strong a word. But I don't like it much. I think waiting means 'nothing to do'. Boring! So wherever I go, I take stuff with me to do in case I need to wait. I take my diary to catch up on my "to do" lists. I take a book (lately it's been Cosa Nostra - A History Of The Sicilian Mafia by John Dickie or Feminine Appeal - Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother by Carolyn Mahaney). At the very least, I make sure I have chewing gum with me so I can chew out my frustration at having to wait!

Yesterday, while reading my Bible, God showed me that there are some great things we can do while we wait for Jesus to return. For the Christian, waiting is not 'nothing to do' time. And it's all got to do with verbs - doing words. In 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul praises the church because:

• the word of the Lord has sounded forth from them in Macedonia and Achaia (verse 8);

• (and even more than that), their faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy need not say anything (verse 8);

• they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (verse 9).

The Thessalonians were doing all of this while they waited for God's Son from heaven (verse 10) - the very Son whom God raised from the dead - Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. I was struck. Waiting is not such a bad thing. Like the Thessalonian Christians, while I wait for Jesus to return, I can sound forth the word of the Lord, I can make sure that my faith in Jesus goes forth everywhere and I can continue to turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God - and all this, while I wait for God's Son to return. A new perspective on waiting. Thank you God.

P.S. I have been using The Daily Reading Bible, volume 12 by Matthias Media.

Wisdom, Glory and Virtue in Colossians.

2009-03-03T23:06:00.003+11:00

I've recently listened to these talks by N.T. Wright given at the IVF USA "Following Christ" Conference. They are gold. He gives a great example of reading the Bible in context and applying it to our thinking and living. He paints a big picture of God's work in Christ so powerfully and shows how it comes from Paul's theology specially in Colossians. The conference is for emerging academics, and he has some perinent applications for them.

Listen, it will be good for mind and heart.

If you are someone who disagrees with "Tom" on things, I'll be interested to know what you disagree about from these talks. Let me know if you do.

Augustine's best prayer?

2009-03-01T21:46:00.003+11:00

Tomorrow night I am presenting an introduction to Augustine's Confessions at Get to know the Classics. It is a wonderful book and as I've been preparing I've been tempted just to read great slabs of Augustine's poetic prayer. I won't do that, I'll give some background and orientation which helps people read Confessions for themselves. I will, however, quote these wonderful words which are a summary of Augustine's reflection on his life in Book X. It captures his Christian theistic worldview in its Neoplatonic expression, his view of sin and his wonder at God's grace. Is it his best prayer? It certainly beats "Give me continence but not yet"!

"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace."

Ministry Training for Women - begins!

2009-02-24T10:41:00.003+11:00

Yesterday our Ministry Training for Women (MTW) program got started. It was exciting to have about 35 women enrolled. Some of the students are already students here or are married to students, others come from churches all around Sydney. The morning seemed to have gone well and everyone enjoyed it. The picture shows everyone still smiling at the end of the morning. MTW will meet 9 more times this year. In the mean time students are thinking about who they will find to be a mentor for them.

Equip Women's conference

2009-02-24T07:27:00.001+11:00

Carmelina Read, our Dean of Women, is part of the organising committee for the Equip Women's conference. It seems like a great conference (not that I've actually been invited). It happens in May this year and is looking at the fascinating book of Esther. Carmelina might like to tell us a bit more about it.

Get to know the classics - Athanasius and Augustine

2009-02-23T15:57:00.002+11:00

The PTC Blog has been quiet - apart from Peter's interesting discussion of metaphor. It's been quiet as a Presbyterian church during the collection. I'm sure someone can come up with something better than that.

We held our first Get to Know the Classics back at the beginning of February. It was a great evening and the room was packed full. I promised to make the recording available but it has taken me a while to work out the best way to do that. It is now available at PTConline . You will need to register on the site and then you can access the Get the Know the Classics section and find the notes from Peter Barnes and the recording. I've also put a copy of the reading for Augustine.

Get to know the classics is on again next Monday night and I'll be introducing Augustine's Confessions.

Flourish - women's ministry conference

2009-01-25T07:49:00.002+11:00

It has been very quite on the PTC blog since we've been busy finishing up the the year and then been on leave. In fact I'm embarrassed to see that the last post was almost 2 months ago!

As the new academic year starts comes closer I hope we will get a bit more active.

I'd like to point you to the website for Flourish, a national conference on women's ministry for the Presbyterian Church of Australia. I am on the committee and I think it will be a great conference. Too often in the last 20 years women's ministry has been a topic of controversy in the PCA. We hope this conference will encourage women to be active in their lives to serve the Lord, and help churches find ways of helping women flourish.

There is also a facebook group.

Barack Obama and the incarnation

2008-11-28T18:43:00.004+11:00

I've just written an article on the incarnation which will come out in the next edition of the Australian

Presbyterian. One angle I'd thought of was looking at the election of Barack Obama and the incarnation. What's the conne

ction? Well the material didn't make the cut for AP, so here it is, slightly amended.

Barack Obama's election has triggered an outpouring of hopeful enthusiasm, some of which is almost messianic in its raptures. The response from conservative Christians seems to have been as much to this millennial fervour as

to Obama himself. Lots of them have been saying “pray that he can keep his head with all this nonsense going on”. (There was a similar dynamic with the election of the Rudd government a year ago, though because we are usually more reserved about our politics it hasn’t been as exaggerated as in the US.)

The election is a significant historical event. Obama’s racial background, his age, hi

s political leanings, his background in community development, the use of the internet and the financial support of million

s of individuals all seem to make the 2008 election notable. The progress of his presidency will be fascinating. There is an important incarnational perspective on it.

The incarnation shows us the depth of our problem. Our world is not simply disorganised or uneducated. There is a wound which centres in the human heart, and runs through the whole created order and can only be restored by God’s healing. The evangelical sceptics of the Obama-hype have a point, a new president, no matter what his calibre, can not change that. Every declaration that we have entered into a brand new era of hope inevitably founders on the rocks of human sin.

However the incarnation is also God’s great affirmation of the world he has made, include people and our societies and even our political institutions. Our world can only be healed by God, but it will be healed. When the evangelical critics paint any hope in politics or enthusiasm for a political program as wrong headed, they are in danger of losing sight of the incarnation. God says we matter and our life in his world matters.

There are elements of Obama’s platform with which most evangelicals would disagree. Still, we shouldn’t be surprised that people hope for good government and for change for the better. The incarnation says that is worth working for, it also says that we won’t find the change we really need in any politician.

World Philosophy Day

2008-11-20T12:00:00.004+11:00

I bet you did not know that it is World Philosophy Day. Once you've settled down your raucous laughter perhaps we can be serious for a moment and at least admit there are worse reasons for a "day". (How about World Telecommunications Day, or World Television Day? "Here's a good idea - let's all make phone calls or watch TV today, because we don't do enough of that!") As a rather amateur philosophy teacher who is really a theologian I am glad that a discipline with such an impressive heritage is being recognised. The Western world could only benefit from greater emphasis on the life of the mind.

Though too much can be claimed for philosophy. Koïchior Matsuura Director General of UNESCO connects the human rights tradition to philosophy, saying about the Day " Of eminent philosophical importance, the 1948 Declaration implicitly evokes the universality of human beings and their rights. It also provides an opportunity to revisit today some of the key concepts that underpin our modernity: human dignity, freedom and universality". That all sounds very Kantian, and did give some of the language in which human rights have been couched. However I think it is widely acknowledged that the Kantian account does not provide resources which really sustain a moral life. Much of the content of the human rights documents draw from the Christian tradition not from Kant.

One way to celebrate the day would be a rousing rendition of the Philosopher's Song by Monty Python (excuse the language), and note that this comes from the Philosophy school of University of Wooloomooloo in Sydney (it doesn't actually exist).

Some more on Psalms

2008-11-15T10:08:00.005+11:00

A student made an interesting comment yesterday. I'd asked him to read Richard Pratt's book Pray with your eyes open. When he reported back he said he'd liked it and one strength was that it used the Psalm's a lot. He said something like "Usually its he Pentecostals who are into the Psalms, not the Reformed". (I checked that I could quote him here!)

Wow! Talk about giving up our heritage. The movement that used to be the Psalms-singer, or in the Anglican mode the Psalms-chanters, nows looks like the group that isn't into the Psalms.

Scripture in church - the Directory

2008-11-11T14:43:00.003+11:00

Thinking about the Bible in worship sent me back to the Directory of Public Worship (Westminster Assembly, 1645) to re-read its instructions.

Fascinating stuff.

First of all since it is part of public worship the reading is to be done by the pastor or teacher or by someone training for ministry. I don’t think that public reading should be restricted to that office, but I wonder if we send the message that it dosen’t matter than much when our ministers never read.

All the books of the Bible are to be read in the common language from the best translation and to be read clearly so everyone can hear and understand.

The minister decides how mauch to read each time, but usually there should be a chapter of the Old Testament and a chapter of the New, or more if that is to short or it is is easier to follow if a longer portion is read!

The books should be read through in canonical order and chapter by chapter, but books like the Psalms shuld be read more often.

The minister might give an exposition along with the reading. Now don’t think that is the sermon, no there would be an expostion (or maybe two) and a sermon later in the service. But the minister is advised to complete the whole reading first, not commenting along the way and to be careful about how long this takes so as not to limit time for preaching or to make the whole servie “tedious”.

Literate people were to be exhorted to own a Bible and read it privately, while others should be encouraged to learn to read.

The demise of scripture in church

2008-11-11T10:19:00.005+11:00

I am reading R. Scott Clark’s provocative new book Recovering the Reformed Confession. It is a great read, argued crisply with some fascinating historical studies along the way. If you know Scott and his Heidelblog you won’t be surprised to know that he pulls no punches (in one chapter he argues the revivalist tradition including Edwards, Lloyd-Jones, Packer and Iain Murray has subverted Reformed theology and piety!) I’ll comment on the book in the next few weeks. Now I want to take up one issue that reading it crystallised for me.

Lots of Evangelical churches in Australia with a reformed tradition (I’m thinking of Presbyterian, Anglican and some independent churches) have changed their patterns of worship or liturgy in the last generation. (Most of them would not use the words worship nor liturgy but they are better than circumlocutions such a “what we do when we meet as a church”). That is no great news, though those of us who have grown up through the changes may not see how great they’ve been.Lots of those changes ‘had’ to happen, because older patterns reflected a culture of formality that has gone. However I’ve had a nagging sense that some valuable things are lost in the shift (and I’ve bemoaned the loss in class!)

In “Recovering the Reformed Confession” Clark argues for exclusive psalmody, which is something I grew up with. I am not going to join him in that (and I’ll explain why some time). I do agree that we have neglected the song book that God gave the church. As I thought about that again I had my moment of clarity. It dawned on me that this is part of a wider pattern in the change in worship. We have managed to remove almost all the points at which the church used to hear Scripture!

Think about a traditional Presbyterian service that you’ll find in the The Book of Common Order (Presbyterian Church of Australia, 1956). It would open with a call to worship, usually drawn from scripture. There would be a prayer of approach, often taken from Scripture. A pray of praise (which would have more or less scripture depending on the minister) and a prayer of confession which would often appeal directly to a promise such as 1John 1:9. Then there would be an Old Testament and New Testament reading and a sermon, the Lord’s prayer and a benediction and doxology often taken from Scripture. Even in the hymn singing churches there was often a pattern of having at least one psalm. In more recent years responsive readings were also used. If the Lord’s Supper was celebrated then the narrative of institution would be recounted twice and there might be a further Bible reading and reflection. There were plenty of things that could be done badly in all this, and the prayers and sermon could be drivel while the people had little heart for worship. But even in the worst case it was a form which gave the opportunity for extensive reading of Scripture. We could do the same analysis of the shift from a Prayer Book Service in the Anglican Church.

What happens in lots of churches today? The call is a welcome which runs along the lines of “a funny thing happened to me on the way to church …”. The prayers are brief and while perhaps (and only perhaps) more heartfelt than in more traditional services do not have any more substantial reflection on Scripture. In a family service there will be a kid’s talk, which is often an object lesson on a general theological or moral point including the words “the Bible says”, but with nothing read and certainly not a passage explained. The Lord’s prayer is not heard and there is probably only one (often short) reading. The service (meeting) finishes with the now traditional benediction, “please stay for coffee”.

I know that is a caricature and that it is not as bad as all that in all churches. Is your church very different though? (For my local friends, this is not a complaint about Springwood-Winmalee PC . We have some of these problems sometimes but often do better than I’ve described here).

The last generation has seen an encouraging resurgence of textual-expository preaching and an enthusiasm for small group Bible study. But we’ve lost something as well! We fret that people don’t read their Bible’s, but we don’t read them much when we get together, so people are simply following the example of church!

I don’t want a return to formalism or even formalities, but we need to work on how to infuse worship with Scripture. There’s the challenge.

New Book on Preaching

2008-11-05T14:33:00.004+11:00

I was privileged recently to attend the book launch of Preach or Perish: Reaching the Hearts and Minds of the World Today . The book is edited by an old friend, Donald Howard (‘retired’ Anglican minister from Sydney), with substantial contributions of his own included. Contributors include such luminaries as J.I Packer, Donald Robinson, and Sir Marcus Loane, who launched the book. I put ‘retired’ in quotes as as Dudley Foord has a chapter on ‘Returement: Junction or Terminus?’. Another contribution which caught my eye is on ‘The Public Reading of the Living Word (Can we be Guilty of Murder?)’, a topic dear to my heart. The chapters are all short and (while this is not the place for a review) look to be to the point and build up an approach to pastoral ministry which has preaching God’s word at its core. The book is not aimed only at preachers, however, for it seeks to encourage an approach to hearing and responding to preaching as well. This looks to be a welcome addition to the resources available in this area and may turn out to fill a gap that is not otherwise supplied. I have for many years been recommending Donald Howard’s book on the Family and his one on Grief as the best things on offer in those categories.

Paul Barnett, honorary doctorate

2008-11-04T21:19:00.003+11:00

Congratulations to Paul Barnett, one of our part-time lecturers (we share him with School of Christian Studies, Moore College, and Regent College, Vancouver). Paul is to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Theology degree by the Australian College of Theology. The doctorate recognises Paul’s contribution to the Anglican Church of Australia and his substantial academic and scholarly work. Paul has (among other things) been a lecturer at Moore College, the founder of the School of Christian Studies at Robert Menzies College at Macquarie University and the Bishop of North Sydney. He has written many scholarly and popular works and is currently working on a three part series ‘After Jesus’ on the first Christian century.
The degree will be conferred at the School of Christian Studies graduation ceremony on Monday March 2, 2009 at Trinity Chapel, Robert Menzies College.

New directions in Pooh Studies

2008-11-03T12:31:00.003+11:00

The directions aren't so new, but are still important for all Biblical scholars to engage with! An important advance in literary studies drawing on source and form criticism. One of our graduates sent me the link and I thought I should share it. It is probably time for a reader response paper and a feminist reading of the same texts (at least). I'd love to see them.

New Inscription Proves ...

2008-10-31T14:31:00.005+11:00

You thought I had disappeared from the planet didn't you? Just thought I’d extract myself for a few minutes from the Kings commentary I’m immersed in writing to comment on this one.

Archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel claims to have discovered (well actually one of his volunteers) the oldest Hebrew inscription found so far on a piece of broken pottery unearthed at Hirbet Qeiyafa in the Judean foothills. While the text is impossible to read from the photo I’ve seen, and probably won't be published for months or years, I can confidently state that it provides irrefutable proof
1) that it is definitely Hebrew written by an Israelite, proving their literacy at around 1000 BC;
2) that the Hebrews were illiterate and it must be by a Canaanite or Philistine;
3) that we can read and translate the text with confidence;
4) that the text is too faded to do more than pick out a few letters;
5) that it is from the time of King David and proves the whole of the biblical account of the conquest, settlement and early monarchy;
6) that it could not possibly be from the time of David because no such king ever existed and the conquest and settlement are later inventions.

And that is only what the experts will say. As for what popular Christian apologists, Zionists, anti-Zionists and others will make of it, well that’s beyond me.

The commentary is going well, thanks for asking. I’m looking forward to the ETS and SBL conferences in a couple of weeks.

Blogging the Confession 9 - God's Decrees

2008-10-27T21:43:00.000+11:00

We come to one of the controversial sections of the confession: its theology of God’s decrees, and I know that you’ve all been on tenterhooks waiting to see what I’ll say about it. I know this because daily, even hourly, I have been bombarded by emails pleading with me to post on chapter 3 of the confession. There must have been … well let me open the mailbox and count them … actually there has been (as Bluebottle used to say in the Goons “not a sausage”!). Still I’ll press on.

Here I’ll look at the basic claim of decreetal theology and the objections to it. In the next post (or two) I’ll look at the details of the confession’s exposition.

Chapter 3 opens with an assertion of decreetal theology, “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeable ordain whatsoever comes to pass”. This is a controlling theme of the confession which goes on to focus on salvation and according to sections 5 and 6 that is particularly determined by God’s decree. John Murray says that “perhaps no chapter has been more distasteful to those out of sympathy with the system of doctrine set forth in the Confession than the third “ (The theology of the Westminster Confession of Faith” Scripture and Confession P&R, 1973, 132).

George Hendry voices the objections of many. He argues that the term and concept of a decree rob the confession of the “exultant joy” of passages such as Ephesians 1:3-14 and Romans 8:29-30 and instead these sections “breathe an air of dread and doom”. He argues that the term and concept ‘decree’ are not found in the NT nor used in the OT with the absolute sense of the WCF. Further he argues that the idea of reprobation rests entirely on Rom 9:19-23 when Paul in fact hopes that “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26). He says that the Biblical presentation is that “God is actively pursuing a goal which he has set before him rather than mechanically carrying out a decision which he took once long ago”. He accuses the confession of a deficiency in relating time and eternity so that the Confession views eternity as simply infinite time and God’s will and decree is located in “pre-temporal eternity” (G.S. Hendry The Westminster Confession for Today SCM, 1960, 54).

We can deal with these objections in reverse order. The WCF stresses God’s transcendence and may not match that with his immanence, and that may suggest that there are better ways of conceptualising the relation of time and eternity, however the framers of the confession almost certainly used an Augustinian “timeless” view of eternity in which eternity is the absence of time and change. 17^th century Reformed theology was only too aware of the distinction between God’s archetypal knowledge and our ectypal knowledge. Here it adopts the Biblical language of “before” but we should not assume they were ignorant of the metaphysical ‘problems’ that language entailed.

On this issues Bavinck comments that “God's decree should not be exclusively described . . . as a straight line to indicate a relation merely of before and after, cause and effect, means and goal; but it should also be viewed as a system the several elements of which are coordinately related to one another. . . . As in an organism all the members are dependent upon one another and in a reciprocal manner determine one another, so also the universe is God's work of art, the several parts of which are organically related. (Bavinck H.The Doctrine of God Banner of Truth, 1977 – I have not checked the page references in the new edition).

Hendry’s claim that the Confession makes God’s work ‘mechanical’ is an over-reaction to the language. God’s transcendence is stressed but look at Chapter 5 sections 3 and 5 on providence to see the language of God’s involvement. Of course if you want the language of Open Theism in which God is working out a plan without knowing the future then you won’t find it in the Confession.

Rom 9:19-23 may not teach ultimate reprobation but it is too simplistic to exclude questions of ‘eternal individual salvation’ from consideration in Rom 9-11. Paul’s grief over Israel is about people and individuals not simply a group identity. I’ll say a bit more about reprobation in later posts.

Decreetal theology is one way of conceptualising and expressing God’s sovereign rule. It is usually admitted that “the divine decrees … are not described in the abstract in Scripture, but are placed before us in their historical realisation” (Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 100). Bavinck has an extensive and impressive treatment of the Biblical material which lies behind the concept of ‘decrees’ (Bavinck H.The Doctrine of God Banner of Truth, 1977, 339-44). He shows that this approach rightly affirms God’s prior purpose for his creation and for his creatures which will be achieved. It places God’s election of his people and his restoration of creation through Christ at the centre of all history.

There is a mystery about God’s sovereign working, but we do not help ourselves to think about that topic by seeking to delimit a certain set of events over which God does not have full control and so full knowledge from ‘before’ time. Any conceptual framework which abstracts from the Biblical presentation runs the risk of distorting the biblical emphasis, in this case the danger is to put too great an emphasis on the decrees, over against their outworking in God’s mysterious sovereignty in the life of creation. However that is not a reason to abandon the framework unless a better one can actually be proposed.

There may be some change in mood between the Biblical material and the Confession, though mood is a rather difficult matter to judge. In any case the confession is a statement of confessional theology not pastoral theology and so does not aim to capture the mood of the Biblical texts.

Blogging the Confession 8 - Triune God

2008-10-11T08:00:00.007+11:00

The doctrine of the Trinity is probably the most significant and distinctive Christian doctrine (the only other nomination would be Christology, but the two are so closely related). When the Westminster Assembly came to address the Trinity it had nothing new to say. The Reformation had affirmed the doctrine of ecumenical councils. (John Calvin does seem to have had a subtly different way of approaching the doctrine focussing on the persons in unity rather than God’s essence – that is reflected in the Confession).

However the doctrine of the Trinity did seem to be under pressure in the 1640’s in London. The movement was called “Socinianism” after Faustus Socinus (1539-1604) a radical theologian Italian who ended up in Poland. He subjected Christian theological tradition to a rational and biblicistic critique rejecting the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the imputation of sin or righteousness, original sin, predestination, real or spiritual presence in Lord’s Supper. This was summarised in the Racovinian Cathechism (1605). This stream of thought was present in 17th C. England though it is hard to trace the relationship with

Socinus. Certainly accusations of and warnings about Socinianism were common in 17th C theological rhetoric. For a well-informed positive assessment of Socinianism see here. His picture is right.

So the Assembly made sure that it affirmed that there are three persons in the one God and each is fully God. It differentiates persons by internal relations following the Western tradition: the Son is begotten and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son. It is a succinct statement of classical orthodoxy, using the classic language ‘persons’ and substance (i.e. substantia.)

John Murray commented on this section that “its brevity is striking and its simplicity is matched only by its brevity. Both surprise and gratification are evoked by the restraint in defining the distinguishing properties of the persons of the Godhead … Later generations lie under a great debt to Westminster for the studied reserve which saved the Confession from being burdened with such speculative notions as commended themselves to theologians … but to which the Scripture did not lend support.” (“The theology of the Westminster Confession of Faith” Scripture and Confession P&R, 1973, 132).

Get to know the classics

2008-10-09T12:42:00.004+11:00

It is great to announce a new series happening at PTC next year. It is not exactly a lecture series, so let's just call it a series of 'evenings'. Get to Know the Classics will be a chance to get know some of these classic works written over the centuries which are part of our Christians heritage. We have lined up a great group of presenters and each month we will have an interesting introduction to a classic piece of Christian literature and conversation about it.

This should be a refresher for theological graduates, a good summary for students and a great introduction for thoughtful Christians. So If you live in Sydney plan to come along and let people in you church know about it as well.

Get to know the classics will be on once a month at 7:30 on a Monday evening starting in February. Why not arrange to have dinner with a few interested people from church each month and then come and join us.

The books and presenters are listed below. You can get an announcement to email or print from the PTC website.

2nd February Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word – Peter Barnes

2nd March Augustine, Confessions – John McClean

6th April Anselm, Cur Deus Homo – Murray Smith

2nd May Luther, Bondage of the Will – Mark Glanville

1st June Samuel Rutherford, Lex Rex – Steve Chavura

6th July Blaise Pascal, Pensees – Peter Moore

3rd August Jonathan Edwards, History of the Work of Redemption – Stuart Piggin

7th September Charles Spurgeon, Autobiography - Stuart Johnson

10th October Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison – Mark Mitchell

2nd November C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity – David Thurston

Discendi Studio - a conference for theological scholarship

2008-09-30T16:38:00.003+10:00

It's a strange day when PTC hosts a conference with a Latin title, but we think it makes sense! Discendi studio means 'zeal to learn' and it comes from a couplet at the end of the “Dedication to the Reader” in 1559 Edition of Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion (see more details below).

In April the three colleges of the PCA are going to hold a conference in which we share our work in scholarship in the varying theological fields. It should be a good chance to hear what staff and students are thinking about and researching as well as a time to build some bridges between Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. The conference will be at PTC in Sydney April 7-9, 2009. If it is successful there may be further conferences in the other cities.

There will be lots of Calvin conferences next year with the 500th anniversary of his birth, but this one will be a bit different, because it won't so much be about Calvin as it will be trying to continue his heritage of scholarship devoted to God and ruled by his word.

Anyone is welcome to attend the conference and to propose a paper for the plenary sessions or the interest sections. You don't have to be at one of the colleges or in the PCA. You can download the full details and registration from the download section of our website.

The title comes from the couplet: Quos animus fuerat tenui excusare libello; Discendi studio magnum fecere volumen. Battles translates this as “ ’Tis those whose cause my former booklet pled, Whose zeal to learn has wrought this tome instead”. Calvin acknowledges that it has been the enthusiasm of his readers to learn from him that stimulated his writing, so that the Institutes grew to be a remarkable work of theology. We hope to continue the same zeal, stimulated by Calvin’s writings.

Preaching and Spiritual formation

2008-09-26T15:27:00.002+10:00

Craig Larsen has a great article on the Christianity Today site about preaching. He points out that a lot of literature on spiritual formation has little place for preaching, but that preaching is, in fact one of God's given "means of grace". (I don't think he uses the term but that is what he is talking about.) That is a good point, but what makes the article even better is that he describes how good preaching (note the adjective) should be effective in spiritual formation. It is a great list. I think my favourite item is number 4. "As our church communities listen to good preaching, it brings us into the place of corporate — rather than just individual — obedience." Have a look at the list and tell us what you think.

I also like the final point he makes - that we should therefore teach people how to listen to sermons for the sake of spiritual formation.

The other area the article could lead us to think about is if we will preach differently if we see what we are doing as the key to the spiritual formation of the church.

WCF Chapter 2.1-2 flow chart

2008-09-21T12:52:00.003+10:00

Here are section 1&2 of the Chapter 2 of the WCF laid out to show their flow. Compare this with the 39 Articles and the Irish Articles which were the direct historical precursors of the WCF. Both simply say "There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible". The WCF is so much fuller and deals with God's ongoing relation to the creation.

1 There is but one only living and true God,

who is infinite in being and perfection,

a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions,

most holy,

most free,

most absolute,

working all things

according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will,

for his own glory;

most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering,

abundant in goodness and truth,

forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin;

the rewarder of them that diligently seek him ;

and withal most just and terrible in his judgements hating all sin ,

and who will by no means clear the guilty.

2 God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself;

and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient,

not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made,

not deriving any glory from them,

but only manifesting his own glory, in, by, unto and upon them:

he is the alone fountain of all being,

of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things;

and hath most sovereign dominion over them,

to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever he pleases.

In his sight all things are open and manifest;

his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature,

so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain.

He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works and all his commands.

To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature,

whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, he is pleased to require of them.

Blogging the Confession 7 - God: absolute and transcendent

2008-09-21T12:25:00.008+10:00

The WCF begins with Scripture, but the following chapter moves to focus on God. God is by far the most important theme of the confession. Have a look at how many of the following chapters start with a statement about what God has done, sometime expressed in terms of the work of Christ. Even when God is not mentioned directly at the start of a chapter it does not take much reflection to see that an view of his purposes shapes every chapter of the confession.

Aquinas spoke of theology treating all things "sub ratione Dei" (in relation to God). He taught that theology is a unified science because it “does not treat of God and creatures equally, but of God primarily, and of creatures only so far as they are referable to God as their beginning or end” (ST I.1.3. ad1). (The graphic is from a 15th C edition of Aquinas' Summa). The WCF seeks to do the same thing.
So it is no surprise that chapter 2, offers a very full and impressive doctrine of God, albeit stated tersely. It is a statement of the indisputable majesty and greatness of the only God.

The doctrine of the Trinity is left to section 3. If I was given the chance to rewrite the confession I’d probably put the Trinity at the beginning of the chapter and let it shape the rest. That might have avoided some of the ways people read the chapter. I’ll look at the Trinitarian doctrine in the next post.

The best way to get an idea of the Chapter, specially the first two sections, is to write it out in a flow diagram. I’ll put my version in a later blog.

Section 1 begins by affirming the unity and transcendence of God (one only living and true God … most absolute). The Reformed tradition along with all orthodox theology has always made it clear that there is a great ontological distinction between God and creation. More than some traditions the Reformed were ready to focus on this and to spell it out in biblical terms.

It then deals with God’s character as he deals with his creation (working all things … will by no means clear the guilty). He freely and personally enters into a relationship with all he creatures, and specially all his human creature. Chapter 7 will fill this out in terms of relations which come from creation and from covenant.

Chapter 2 again to stresses God’s self-sufficiency, and sets his relationship with his creatures in the context of this: he is glorified by them but does not need this, he is sovereign over them, and knows all fully and necessarily. It conclude with the proper response of humans to God, which is grounded in God’s will (cf 7.1 and 21.1).

The expression that God does not have “passions” is often taken to mean that God is apathetic or without anything like human feelings. However John Murray explains that the phrase refers either to “sufferings or to violent motions in the sense of bad temper” or to “passive qualities or properties applicable to a physical object “ (J. Murray, “The theology of the Westminster Confession of Faith” Scripture and Confession P&R, 132). This squares with the Confession also saying that God is “loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering”. These terms have to be understood analogically when applied to God, but the scriptural precedents exclude a claim that the analogy removes anything like human affections from God.

There is little expression here of God’s immanence, though the phrase “of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things” would include the thought that “in him we live and move and have our being”. It is perhaps here that a Trinitarian statement would add to the treatment, since it is only that doctrine which allows us to affirm that God is truly transcendent and absolute and yet also present to and involved with his creation. Related to this concern is the observation that the confession has little to say at this point about God’s love for all his creation. Again I agree that more could be said. However I’d still defend the confession’s emphasis on God’s majesty over against creation. How strong this emphasis should be leads us into a discussion about Classical Theism (a discussion I am not going to go into here!).

Blogging the Confession 6 - no rival authority

2008-09-21T06:34:00.004+10:00

The first chapter of the WCF finishes by clarifying the scope of the Bible’s authority. The implication has been clear through the chapter that the Bible has no rival for authority. That implication is spelt out and the confession asserts that all other teaching is to be tested by the teaching of the Bible, whether it comes from councils (such as the Westminster Assembly itself) or the Church Fathers, or the medieval theologians, or any human source, or from claims to have a private spiritual revelation.

This statement wraps up the exposition of the scripture principle nicely.

Ambrose, Gregory, Jerome and Augustine in the window of Cologne Cathedral (1848).

Good and necessary consequences

2008-09-18T20:35:00.013+10:00

George Gillespe (1613-48) was a leading Scottish member of the Westminster Assembly. He explained his view of good and necessary circumstances and how we should use reason in understanding the Bible.
"That necessary consequences from the written Word of God do sufficiently and strongly prove the consequences or conclusion, if theoretical, to be a certain divine truth which ought to be believed, and, if practical, to be a necessary duty which we are obliged unto, jure divino. This assertion must be neither so far enlarged as to comprehend the erroneous reasonings and consequences from Scripture which this or that man, or this or that church, apprehend and believe to be strong and necessary consequences … neither yet must it be so far contracted and straitened as the Arminians would have it, who admit no proofs from Scripture, but whether plain explicit texts, such consequences are nulli non obviae … the meaning of the assertion is not that human reason, drawing a consequence from Scripture, can be a ground of our belief or conscience … the consequence itself, is not believed or embraced by the strength of reason, but because it is the truth and will of God … ” George Gillespie Treatise of Miscellany Questions quoted in Leith, Assembly at Westminster John Knox, 1973, 82.
For an interesting article about Gillespe and others see John Fesko "The Puritan Theological Method".

Blogging the Confession 5 - hermeneutics

2008-09-18T20:35:00.008+10:00

I’ve been looking forward to working on this installment of the WCF, since it is a chance to look at the principles of the Biblical hermeneutics in the confession.

The rest of the sections of this chapter deal with how we should read God authoritative and sufficient word. The most important theological assertion about hermeneutics is that the “inward illumination of the Spirit of God” is necessary for the saving understanding of Scripture (Section 5). The purpose of the Bible is to bring salvation (not simply to bring conversion but to lead the church in its pilgrimage) and it does this when the Spirit brings saving understanding. This is not a negative statement which portrays the Bible as an obscure book which can only be decoded by the enlightened few. Rather it is a positive statement that Spirit who inspired Scripture will lead his people to understand it. This confidence continues in section 7 which admits that there are parts of the Bible which are not easily understood but affirms that the central message of the Bible can be understood. It is sufficiently clear that the unlearned as well as the learned can grasp its message. The confession does not make this connection, but I think the implication is that the major obstacle to understanding the Bible is not its obscure or difficult message but spiritual deadness of the reader apart from the Spirit.

The framers of the Confession were confident in the clarity of the Bible under the work of the Spirit, but they were not naïve in their approach to interpreting the Bible. They recognised that readers did need to make use of ‘ordinary means’ (careful reading, using a knowledge of grammar and some awareness of the historical and literary context of Biblical texts). The church as a whole needs teachers who can study the Biblical text in its original languages for it is these which are immediately inspired and preserved by God. Today we are more aware of textual critical issues in the Bible than were the members of the Assembly; however we can agree that just as all we need to know from Scripture can be found “in some place of Scripture or other”, so no Confessional doctrine is dependent exclusively on dubious texts.

A further confessional principle of Biblical interpretation is expressed in section 5, that things which can be deduced from Scripture by good and necessary consequence are part of God’s counsel and have his authority. This assertion shows that the Assembly’s method was different to what we might call a more “biblicistic” approach. The most extreme version of this was Socinianism which would accept only doctrines which were explicit in Scripture and allowed no terms or concepts which were not in scripture. In contrast the Assembly was committed the normative authority of Scripture, but allowed that reason had a proper role in the understanding and exposition of Scripture. Rather than crowding this post with more material I’ll put up another post with an interesting quote from George Gillespie on ‘necessary consequences’. The section also allows that there are matters involved in the ordering of the church in which what we might call “common sense” should be applied.

Section 8 expresses two common Reformation hermenutical principles. One is that Scripture should be interpreted by Scripture. The flow of thought is that the Bible is God’s inspired word and so despite complexities and puzzles presents a unified message, which means that when the meaning of one passage is not clear we should expect other passages to illumine and explain it. The section also rejects the medieval tradition of allegorical interpretation of multiple senses of Scriptures and affirms that there is one sense. These hermenutical principles are an entry way into both Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology (but that would be the topic for another blog).

Section 8 affirms the need for translations. It expresses the Reformation view that the Bible belongs to the whole people of God and should be available to all in readable translations so they may be able to worship God and experience his care.

Blogging the Confession 4 - the sufficiency of Scripture

2008-09-18T20:35:00.002+10:00

The first part of section 6 of chapter 1 of the WCF spells put the sufficiency of Scripture, one of the important implications of its authoritative inspiration. In the 17th century this was both a theological and a political point. The Reformed, and specially the English Puritans, were on their guard against attempts by Catholicism and Anglicanism to bind the Christian conscience to works and worship which were not found in Scripture. This was necessary both for God's glory in the church and to preserve Christian freedom. In response they insisted that since Scripture was God’s authoritative Word and was provided for the good of the church, then nothing more was needed and nothing more could be added without compromising the authority of Scripture.

The three texts given to support this claim do not, in themselves establish a full doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture, however they reflect three themes which form the basis of the doctrine. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 describes the Scriptures as God’s fully adequate provision to lead to salvation in Christ and to train and teach for life; Gal 1:8-9 and 2 Thessalonians 2:2 point to the need to reject false claims of revelation

The texts were added by the assembly at the insistence of the English parliament. However a consideration of texts gives an insight into the method the Assembly held could be used to determine doctrine. That is what the next blog will look at.

Now Christian ethics just is counter-cultural

2008-09-12T10:20:00.005+10:00

There was a time when Christians in the West felt that they shared much of the moral framework of the society. I guess most of us know that day is gone. The shift is not simply that Christians live differently to the surrounding culture. The whole way we think is different.

The latest edition of Bioedge highlights this with two different stories about abortion. The Australian story is about the bill being dealt with in the Victorian parliament. It would decriminalise arbortion and allow late-term abortions and remove the right of a medical practitioner to exercise a conscientious objection to involvement in abortions. (I assume that means that an employer could refuse to employ a doctor who said she would not take part in those procedures, but I have not checked exactly how it would work).

Bioedge reports that the removal of the right to conscientious objection is advocated by Lesley Cannold a bioethecist who argues that pro-life doctors impose their views on mothers rather than helping them. She declares that "It is unconscionable for someone to defend the right to follow his conscience, then deny that very same right to someone else." In other words Cannold holds that for a doctor or nurse working in obstetrics to object to participating in abortions is unethical.

The parallel story is about commentary on Sarah Palin the Republican V-P candidate in the US who chose not abort her son who has Down Syndrome. Dr Rahul K. Parikh has written in Salon saying positive things to say about Palin’s concern for a disabled child ("what she has chosen to do is fantastic") but also claiming that Palin’s decision oppresses women and is a “sign of her hypocrisy" (choosing to follow her conscience but denying others the same right). So again to oppose abortion, or at least to do that and to test for a disablity and make a choice to carry the child to birth, is unethical.

The Bioedge commentary on Cannold highlights the different conceptions of conscience in the two positions. Cannold believes that "The right to act according to the dictates of our conscience is founded in the value of autonomy. Autonomy means self-rule. An autonomous person is one who is free to direct her life according to her own values." Bioedge explains that this means that “conscience expresses an arbitrary, even irrational choice.” In contrast traditional accounts of conscience see it responding to some other reality, reason or evidence, or God.

The two views also differ in their take on how human life should flourish. Both would agree that for a child to have Down’s Syndrome is bad. The secular view tends to be that it is a dysfunction which brings too great a cost to the mother, family, and society (and perhaps to the child). The Christian sees it as an evil which should be borne and the child as an image bearer who should be nurtured and served, even at a great cost.

There is plenty more analysis that could be added on the question of abortion, but my point here is that Christian ethics is now counter-cultural all the way down. Not only do we make different decisions to our society on many issues, we have different accounts of the good and different ways of coming at moral reflection.

What are the implications of this for how we live in our society? I’m interested in your views.

By the way Bioedge is a great way to stay in touch with developments in bioethics in a very digestible way. You can see it here and subscribe for free if your interested.

Contextual mission or missional contextualisation or whatever you call it …

2008-09-11T14:34:00.003+10:00

Mark Driscoll has recently been in Sydney and stirred plenty of discussion. Most discussion has focussed on the 18 points which Tony Payne at solapanel described delightfully as "Mark Driscoll's 18 Theses nailed to the foreheads of the assembled Anglican leaders in Sydney". (In fact there were a scattering of others there as well as Anglicans, though not myself). You can see the report and read a summary here.

He says that we have to be 'missional' and 'contextual', and that is what I wanted to talk about and see if anyone out there (hello if you are the reader!) has a view and wants to keep talking.

On the one hand I am all for missional contextualisation. What I mean by that is we think and speak in the context of culture and society. Inevitably theology is shaped by who we are and where and when we live. I don't think we need to apologise for that or try to avoid it. We should admit it and enjoy it. The questions that press on us and the way we'll answer them are part of theology and preaching and should be. As a theologian I take it as one of my exciting and solemn duties to help students develop ways to speak faithfully about God to their world from Scripture So not only should be we contextual, we are missional; we speak (and write and act) because we are part of what God is doing in his world. Once we've prayed "Your kingdom come on earth" we recognise the mission. So our contextualisation is not mere accommodation or compliance with the culture, it has to be redemptive and so will be subversive and counter-cultural.

So far, so good (for me, anyway).

My fear is that missional contextualisation is short-circuited. We read the Bible carefully against its own horizon and then move to express that in our context with our own horizon, but don't engage with how the church has understood and expressed the gospel and lived in the past. Older forms of thought and life are abandoned with apparent ease. Older forms of worship are judged not culturally relevant and simply jettisoned. I don't want to lock us into traditionalism at all, but I want to be part of a church which drinks deeply of the ways of the past, appreciates it, and keeps some and transforms some and leaves some, but thoughtfully.

I think that is why I find myself changing sides on the question of contextualisation. Some days I insist on it, but others it feels so shallow. When it is done well in conversation with the past I love it. When it is the thoughtless preference of the present for the past I find it sickening.

Am I on the right track? Are there better ways to analyse and address the issues? How do I as a theology teacher help students learn the tradition in depth, but still be ready to re-express the gospel?

Recognising the Scriptures: WCF #3

2008-09-10T03:55:00.003+10:00

Sections 1-4 of Chapter 1 of the WCF lay out a view of what the Scriptures are: God’s inspired and authoritative word. In doing this they set the Scriptures in a wider account of God’s redemptive revelation and name the contents. All of this is quite ‘objective’. In Section 5 the Confession deals with the subjective question of how Christians come to recognise that the Scriptures are God’s authoritative word.

In the mid-17th century the key issue was how the authority of the church related to Scripture. The members of the Assembly made it clear that the church does not authorise Scripture, even though the church may direct us there. The substantive theological point comes at the end of the section, that the recognition of Scripture comes from the ministry of the Spirit through Scripture itself.

The need for the work of the Spirit is two-fold. One is that God’s word as the normative authority is authorized by God himself, as he speaks in his word. The other reason is that human sin means that we resist God’s authority and by nature reject God’s word. So in 10.1 effectual calling by the Spirit involves a change in the mind, heart and will of a believer and in 14.2 the grace of faith given by the Spirit means that “a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God Himself speaking therein”. This work of the Spirit leads to a recognition of the Bible, as the Bible is read and preached.

The picture is of the 1599 Geneva Bible, the preferred version of the Puritans.

This formulation reflects the emphasis of the Puritans on the importance of the individual conscience. The ground of a conviction of the divine authorship of Scripture is inner and personal. To us this might seem like a recipe for an irretrievable subjectivism. There certainly was a subjectivist stream in 17th century England – the Quakers would be the best known version of that. However the Reformed thinkers of Westminster were not of that ilk. In their view the reality of Scripture was an objective truth and the work of the Spirit was powerful and reliable (indeed irresistible). So while they realised that not all people came to the same conviction about Scripture (for not all had the Spirit) they expected that the Spirit would always lead believers to see the reality of Scripture.

The expression of the confession here does not have to mean people hear a single text of scripture and have an overwhelming conviction of its inspiration and authority, I’d explain it in terms of the later chapters which discuss the work of the Spirit. As the Spirit does his work of leading us to receive and rest on Christ for “for justification, sanctification, and eternal life” (14.2) we see that the Bible speaks of Christ and that he in turn directs us to the Scriptures.

In Reformed thought this section has been interpreted in two ways. One is to take the opening discussion of evidences as a positive statement about what the Spirit may use to lead us to an inner conviction. So Warfield wrote that “ ‘Abundant evidence’ one must suppose to be sufficient; and objectively it is sufficient and more than sufficient and this is what the Confession means to affirm. But, according to the Reformed theology, man needs something more than evidence, however abundant, to persuade and enable him to believe and obey God’s word; he needs the work of the Holy Spirit accompanying the Word …” (The Westminster Assembly and its Work, Baker, 1927, 211).

In contrast the presuppositionalists have treated the two sections as contrasting so that evidence and rational argument provides no basis for the Christian confidence in the Scripture. Wayne Spear argues that “ The Confession’s use of arguments for the divine authority of the Bible … does not indicate that rational argument is the necessary foundation for faith … Warfield’s apologetic method appears to depart from the position taken by the Confession. In principle Warfield holds that the evidences which will prove that Scripture is divinely inspired are valid according to the principles of universal human reason, prior to and apart from the regenerating work of the Spirit.” (“Word and Spirit in the Westminster Confession” 39-56 in L. Duncan (ed) The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century Mentor; 2003, 53).

This debate reflects two different epistemologies and is an important one. I find myself generally on the presuppositionalist side. However I don’t think that the Confession can really settle the dispute. Both evidentialist and presuppositionalist apologetics have developed in response to the scepticism and the enlightenment. In the 17th century Britains scepticism existed, but was still rare and the Enlightenment lay in the future. The WCF is not formulated to address the 19th century, let alone the 20th or 21st. There is room for both positions in this section, and we should have an ongoing healthy discussion about it.

Covenant Theology

2008-09-10T03:44:00.001+10:00

Over at Multicultural Ministry Matters Kamal, one of our students, is blogging about covenant theology and offering a good defense to some of the common objections. It's worth a look.

What is the Bible?

2008-09-04T09:02:00.003+10:00

What is the Bible? It seems like a simple question, but if we are serious about the Bible being the way we know God and his salvation and the way he directs and comforts his church (as in section 1) then it is an important question.

Sections 2-4 of chapter 1 of the WCF answer the question in a few ways. First there is a straight forward list of the books of the Bible (the canon) giving the 39 books of the Hebrew canon and the 27 books of NT canon. All wings of the Reformation church rejected the apocrypha and argued that the canon of Hebrew Scriptures which Jesus accepted was the 39 books and that the church had no authority to add to that.

The rejection of the Apocrypha became stronger in English doctrinal statements over the years. The Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) (and the earlier forty-two articles) say of the Apocrypha “the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine”. The Irish Articles (1615) say that the Apocryphal Books “did not proceed from such inspiration and therefore are not of sufficient authority to establish any point of doctrine; but the Church doth read them as Books containing many worthy things for example of life and instruction of manners”. (The Irish Articles were the product of the very English Church of Ireland). The WCF has even less concern to express continuity with the Catholic heritage on this point.

These sections also show us what the Bible is in terms two key features: inspiration and authority. Each section states that the Scriptures are inspired by God and therefore are authoritative. Section 2 says this of each individual book, section 3 says that by contrast the Apocryphal books are not inspired and so have no authority in the Church and section 4 says that the authority of Scripture rest on God who is the author of Scripture.

The Scriptures claims both inspiration (that is God is the author or it is the Word of God) and authority and the proof texts point to some of these claims. This might seem circular (that the Bible is authoritative because it says that it is), but it is not a vicious circle. The acceptance of Scripture rests on the recognition of a deeper reality – that God speaks the Scriptures and that he therefore authorises them. The next section talks about how we come to be convinced of the inspiration and authority of Scripture.

The recognition of the inspiration and authority of Scripture is still vitally important for the church. We need to be very clear that God speaks all of Scripture as his own word and that no other writing or anything else can rival its authority. This is the central point of the doctrine of Scripture, and needs careful articulation and defences in every generation. It also has to be put into action in the way we actually treat the Bible – but that comes later in the chapter.

Blogging the Confession 1 - the necessity of Scripture

2008-09-02T11:22:00.007+10:00

Chapter 1 of the WCF is rightly famous as a classic statement of a doctrine of scripture. I’ll take a few instalments to work through it.

Andrew McGowan in his recent book the Divine Spiration of Scripture has argued that we should look at Scripture in the context of a doctrine of God and contrasted that with the WCF. The contrast should not be made too strongly, because the opening section of Chapter 1 assumes a doctrine of God - his goodness, wisdom and power are displayed in creation, knowledge of him and his will are needed for salvation and he redeems his church and reveals himself. These are important things to know about God in order to understand the Bible! (Notice also the implication that we need redemption and that God deals with his church through the ages). Any exposition of doctrine assumes some doctrine to begin dealing with others. In our context in which the question of God is debated it may make sense for us to start with God in our presentations, but the WCF does not need to be faulted for starting with Scripture.

Section 1 focuses on the necessity of Scripture. It acknowledges general revelation but states that special revelation is needed for salvation. I like the way in which the explanation of that ties the history of redemption with revelation. Echoing Hebrews 1:1 the confession says that God revealed himself to the church “at sundry times and in divers manners”. Perhaps it would have been good if the though of Hebrews 1 had been continued and the Christological centre of revelation had been made explicit. However that becomes very clear in later parts of the confession (specially from Chapter 8 on).

The section says that the Bible develops because God’s revelation to his people was committed to writing, for the sake of the church. It was so that this revelation could be kept and shared and the church could be confident of what it knew of God and the revelation not corrupted that it was written. So in a few words the confession grounds the Bible in the history of redemption and focuses us on the necessity of scripture.

In the 20^th century there have been discussions about whether the Bible is revelation or a record of revelation, but the members of the Assembly had no such distinction in mind. They held that the Bible is revelation because it is a written record of revelation.

The section closes by saying that the Bible is now necessary because other forms of revelation have ceased. Heb 1:1-2 is given as the proof text for this, implying that this cessation is understood Christologically. That is, once God has spoken by his Son who is the Creator, Sustainer, Image and Redeemer there is no more to be said. The term ‘private spirits’ in section 10 is probably a reference to private revelations. So the WCF is not committed to an absolute cessationism (that is that there can not be anything like New Testament prophecy today). Rather it is saying that God’s redemptive revelation is complete and sufficient in Christ and so in the Bible and that must be the focus of the church and the place from where we draw our nourishment. Any other claims of revelation must be judged by Scripture.

The first section of Chapter 1 of the Confession should lead us to ask us what place Scripture has in our thinking. It is not enough to formally subscribe to the authority of Scripture, but it must be the place where we expect God to address his church and the source and test of what we believe about God and how we understand his will.

Blogging the Confession - a proposal

2008-09-02T10:38:00.002+10:00

For a while now I have been planning to “blog” my way through the Westminster Confession of Faith. (I know it is a terrible verb). I teach WCF at PTC since it is the doctrinal position of the PCA (read in the light of the Declaratory Statement of 1901). This teaching has given me a far greater appreciation of the Confession than I had in the past. What I plan to do is to occasionally take a chapter or a few sections of a chapter and make some comments about the interesting, important and relevant aspects. I am not trying to do a full commentary. (I might say something about the Declaratory Statement at the end or touch on it as I go along).

Today I have so many things to do that I can’t decide where to start. So I thought I’d do something else instead … and start the series through the WCF. So later this morning the first installment should appear.

Jonathan Edward's works online

2008-08-22T06:13:00.001+10:00

Since 1953 Yale university has been publishing the works of the great American theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). Yale received a donation of Edward's papers in 1901. The publishing program was completed in 2007 with 26 beautifully presented volumes. However there are still numerous unpublished manuscripts. Now the centre has opened a beta trial version of Edwards' works online. Incredibly they plan to make available all Edwards' works, including the previously unpublished papers, as well as lots of secondary literature. It really is worth having a look at what is available already on the site, which includes all Edwards' major works. This will be a wonderful resources for scholarship as well as browsing.

The picture is of Edward's house in Stockbridge where he lived as a missionary to the Indians after leaving Northampton.

Information Night - Marriage: Why Bother?

2008-08-21T22:16:00.005+10:00

Last night we discovered marriage is definitely worth bothering with - and so is PTC!

Wednesday night 20th August was Information Night 2008, and about 50 men and women came to hear an "Introduction to the PTC" and a sample lecture from John McClean titled "Marriage Why Bother?"

John 'talked up' the value of Ethics as a theological discipline, (as the place where our theology is brought down from the abstract to the real lives Christians live.) Then in his paper 'Marriage Why Bother?', John presented an overview of his own method in Ethics, as well as a demonstration of it in a compelling defence of marriage as foundational to society.

During the night we also heard about the ministry of PTC, with up dates on the latest news (e.g. the new M.A. Units and Ministry Training for Women being offered in 2009.) Along with that we enjoyed singing, prayers and interviews with students.

As I promoted info night 2008 this year I boldly promised great things from John McClean's lecture and so I was rather relieved when he lived up to all my (and our) expectations. I thought I would finish this post with some of the ideas he presented in his sample lecture:

Marriage is indeed foundational in our human communities and human experience.
Marriage is not for sex. Instead, sex is for marriage.
Marriage is the norm in the Old Testament - but something radical happens with the arrival of Jesus. In the New Testament, whilst marriage is still very good and important, singleness becomes an important vocation too.
In the eschaton, the goal of human marriage will finally be reached when we enjoy union with the bridegroom, gathered together around Jesus Christ as his perfect bride.
Whilst we wait for that day, our singleness and our marriages are important gifts from God to be enjoyed as his servants.

So there it is - while we wait for the return of Christ we should definitely keep on 'bothering '.

Ministry Training for Women Launch

2008-08-20T17:24:00.004+10:00

On Friday night we launched our new Ministry Training for Women program. It was a great night and the Knox Room was full with about 80 people from a lot of different churches. People obviously think that MTW will meet a need for flexible, ministry focussed training. MTW will integrate with any of your awards so we're encouraging women to supplement the MTW material with Biblical and Theological subjects as well as other ministry units. Some women will find that MTW is enough at present and take it as a stand alone. Here is a picture of the crowd enjoying supper and of Carmelina interviewing Fiona Wright.

Information Night - Marriage: Why Bother?

2008-08-14T10:53:00.004+10:00

Info night at PTC is next Wednesday night!

John McClean will be speaking at the free public lecture on ‘Marriage: Why bother?’ This will be a great way to help the people in your church to defend their belief in marriage in the market place of ideas.

It’s also a great way to put theological training on the agenda for your church’s emerging leaders.

Open night is a night to explore options for training at PTC, and to hear a lecture which will have practical value for Christians living today.

Information Night
Presbyterian Theological Centre
Wednesday 20 August 2008
7:30-9:30pm

If you have any questions, please phone or email me at the college.

I hope we see you there,

Psalm 23

2008-08-12T19:22:00.002+10:00

John McClean asked (in a comment on my recent Carnival posting with reference to David Clines’ recent SBL paper) if I would post on Psalm 23. There is not a lot in how I exegete the Psalm that is original to me, but I have taken on board some of the work of scholars such as D. N. Freedman and Michael Barré and John Kselmann (I’ll chase up the references if anyone wants them). I don’t see the Psalm as an extended metaphor about sheep. The only faint “watermark” relating to sheep I see is in the word shepherd, which is such a commonplace ANE term for a king or leader that it has virtually lost all its sheepness in this sort of a context. There may be some double entendres going on with the grass and water, though this language is primarily picking up on exodus language, and applying what in the tradition was the experience of Israel in the wilderness to the individual psalmist. This avoids the awkward shift to the table imagery of v. 5. (We are surely not to think of people being portrayed as sheep who are being portrayed as people!)
Most or all of the expressions of the Psalm are taken from the book of Exodus, or other passages (e.g. Ps. 78:19) which reflect on the exodus experience of God’s people. The “green pastures” is Exodus 15 language for the “abode” God led his people to, etc.
Where I might build on the work of others a bit is in locating the sentiments of the exodus theology in a Biblical-theological trajectory which offers the prospect of eternal security.

Latest Biblical Studies Carnival

2008-08-08T09:06:00.003+10:00

John Hobbins is hosting the Biblical Studies Carnival this month - a roundup of recent blogs on matters of interest to biblical scholars and students. This one is helpfully subdivided into three sections and contains lots of useful information and comment, some of which I may find time to get back and comment on later: (1) Rock Hard Rockin’ Scholarship based on Primary Sources; (2) Controversies; and (3) Posts on Specific Texts.

Covenant Theology & McGowan

2008-08-08T06:13:00.003+10:00

All this week Andrew McGowan has been teaching an MA subject on "Scottish Covenant Theology". He has been working through a century a day and today will come to the 20th century. At the end of the course he is going to outline his ideas for the future of covenant theology and I know he has suggestions about reformulating it.

During the week he has been able to explore all sorts of issues in the history of the Presbyterian churches in Scotland. Yesterday he shared with the class a complicated chart of all the schisms and reunions since 1560!

It has been great for students to hear about all this history from someone who lives among it and who brings a careful evangelical assessment to it all. There have been about 30 students doing the course. The intensive is a hard form for everyone and I'm sure Andrew and the students will be exhausted by the end of today.

Getting excited about Spurgeon

2008-08-07T06:24:00.005+10:00

Last night Andrew McGowan gave the Eliza Ferrie Annual Lecture, looking at "C.H. Spurgeon: Lessons from a Reformed Baptist". He outlined the remarkable life of Spurgeon including being a pastor at 17, the rapid growth of New Park Baptist Church in London when he came a pastor and some of the controversies he was involved in.

The lessons Andrew pointed to were: Spurgeon's concern for the conversion of the lost, his devotion to prayer in his own life and in the church, his commitment to scripture and the centrality of preaching scripture in his ministry, his practical Christianity and concern for the poor and his readiness to stand for truth in controversy.

In middle of a long week of teaching Andrew was very energetic and animated. Given the controversy over his book on Scripture I am sure that other people noticed his vigourous approval of Spurgeon's commitment to the absolute truthfulness of Scripture and his description of the Bible as "inerrant in all it affirms". I don't think it is fair to accuse Andrew of seeking to lead any sort of "downgrade" in the Reformed view of scripture.

There were about 200 people in St James Burwood for the lecture (though I was at the front and did not do a head count, maybe someone else has a better idea of the numbers).

PTC on street view

2008-08-05T18:05:00.002+10:00

Google maps launched Streetview for Australia today and PTC is there. I don't see how to give a direct link, but if you go to here and enter 77 Shaftesbury Rd, Burwood, NSW you'll see us. You'll also see that we don't present an overwhelming front to the street. Our international and interstate friends might be interested to see where we are in Sydney. If you are ever walking here from the station it might help as well.

The OT and NT and Calvin

2008-08-05T14:48:00.002+10:00

One issue which I find myself coming back to regularly is the question of the relation of the Old Testament and the New. Over the last few years I have increasingly appreciated the importance of stressing continuity between the two and working from that as a 'bass line'. Last week I preached in chapel on Jesus as priest and that got me thinking about the fact that the we should not see the temple as something we are freed from but something which we have even more fully, since Christians share in Christ's worship and reign in the heavenly temple.

So I was struck by the following quote in Calvin on the sacraments, "we must utterly reject that Scholastic dogma … which notes such a great difference between the sacraments of the old and new, as if the former only foreshadowed God's grace but the latter give it as a present reality" (Inst VI.xiv.23). (The word translated 'foreshadow' is "adumbrarint" which can mean outline, but can have the connotation of "screen" or even "obscure", and it has that kind of sense here.) Calvin goes on to make his point from the opening verses of 1 Cor 10, arguing that Paul's point there is based on equality of the Jewish and Christian experience of the sacraments.

The quote struck me because what Calvin calls a "Scholastic dogma" is a very common view in evangelical circles. So often the only relationships between the OT and NT are promise-fulfillment and a relationship of contrast. Calvin reminds us that there is another relationship of continuity. The book of Hebrews illustrates each of these relationships (see Heb 4:1; 11:40; 12:18-29).

Ministry Training for Women

2008-08-04T16:41:00.005+10:00

We have an exciting new development at PTC next year. We are starting a training strand for women, with the creative title Ministry Training for Women (MTW). The idea is that often theological training is designed by men and for men, so here is a strand which is designed for women. Carmelina Read, our Dean of Women, has had a large role in getting this started and we have recruited an advisory board of fine spiritually mature women who will help us shape things. They meet tonight for the first time to cast their eye over the plans.

MTW will mesh in with any study program a woman wants to pursue, from a certificate to an MDiv (or even an MA). It will focus on developing insight and skills for church and evangelistic, teaching and pastoral service; and will be a 'safe' place for women to think and learn about issues which affect how they experience church life. It is not primarily for 'vocational' ministry, but will be part of the training for women who want preparation for that (including our deaconess candidates). As well as lectures and seminars over four years, we will also provide or support mentoring and field education. Students will also be able to work on a project relevant to women's ministry.

MTW has received a fair bit of interest and we are having a launch on Friday 15th August at PTC. Anyone interested is welcome to join us. Let us know if you're coming (so we have enough desert and coffee!). There was an article in the August edition of the Pulse (the magazine of PCNSW) with more details.

Andrew McGowan visit

2008-08-02T06:49:00.004+10:00

Andrew McGowan will be at PTC next week and it should be fun. He has been in Australia for a week or so now enjoying some R&R. Next week he will be teaching an MA intensive on Covenant Theology. He wrote his dissertation on Thomas Boston and I expect Boston and the Marrow controversy will get a good run as well as the Torrance critique of covenant theology (which I know Andrew rejects). I am hoping to sit at the back of the class for most of the week and listen in.

Covenant Theology is a strange beast for many people in Sydney evangelical circles. In my undergraduate training I was never exposed to it in depth, but rather to "Biblical Theology" (à la Graeme Goldsworthy). I value that approach and make constant use of it. But I never had sufficient exposure to classic covenant theology to be able to compare the two and think about their relationship. It has taken me quite a few years of working on all this to start to put it together in my own mind in a way which gives me some satisfaction. I feel like I can explain it in class sufficiently now days, and I have tried writing some pieces (none have seen the light of day yet). What I'll be interested to see the week is how students interact with Andrew's presentation and what biblical questions they raise and how he deals with them.

On Wednesday night Andrew will give the annual Ferrie Lecture. He will be looking at Charles Spurgeon and asking what lessons we can learn from this great preacher and pastor. It should be an interesting evening. It is on at St James Presbyterian Church Burwood starting at 7:30pm.

There has been a fair bit of controversy about Andrew's recent book The Divine Spiration of Scripture. Ian was positive about it when he read it a few months ago but there have been plenty of negative reviews. Rowland Ward gave a balanced but critical review and Guy Davies has a more positive though still wary approach. Doctrine of Scripture is not going to be the focus of the week, but I expect that we will hear a bit about Andrew's motivation for writing and his reflections on the responses.

New OT Dictionary - and look who contributed

2008-07-29T09:34:00.003+10:00

The new IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings edited by Tremper Longman and Peter Enns has just arrived. Lots of people will know this wonderful series which has produced four impressive volumes on the New Testament and now three on the Old Testament. As a I find this series a great help since it allows the non-specialist in Biblical Studies who wants to engage with careful well-informed evangelical biblical scholarship. This volume deals with Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ruth and Esther. As well as articles on each of those books there are almost 150 articles taking 1000 pages on the theology and themes of the books, the literary features of Hebrew poetry and Wisdom literature, the cultural bacgrlund and various interpretive approaches.

There are four Australian contributors David Jackson, Paul Williamson, Martin Shields and our own John Davies. John has an article on 'theodicy' and one on 'folly'. I don't think there is a connection, though some people would say that all attempts at theodicy (defending God's righteousness) are folly (either they are doomed or needless!).

On folly John tells us that it comes out first in speech, "Fools speak too soon and without listening … they say too much … they slander others … are quarrelsome, irascible, quick to take offense, or verbally aggressive". They may use proverbs, but in their mouths the proverb is 'disabled'. The fool is marked by a character, but behind the character is "a different orientation to knowledge … succumbing to the allure of this world's godless knowledge".

On theodicy he concludes that "rather than attempt to offer a rational explanation, to resolve the tensions by limiting God's power or denying his goodness, [the Biblical writers] seek to instill in their readers the fear of Yahweh. We may not understand God's ways but God knows what he is doing".

I'm looking forward to reading John's articles more fully and dipping into the rest of the volume.

Living Levitically

2008-07-26T06:43:00.004+10:00

Christianity Today have a fascinating article by Daniel Harrell from Park Street Church in Boston (a famous evangelical church once pastored by Harold J. Ockenga). Harrell taught through Leviticus and challenged a group from his church to "live Levitically" for 30 days. Each person was to read Leviticus for themselves and then to decide how they would follow it. There was an explicit recognition that Leviticus does not apply to Christians in the way it did to Israel, but beyond that there was a range of ways of following Leviticus.

Harrell describes the approaches.

"Some people in the group ate kosher and wore linen trousers (in January no less). Just about everyone did a version of Sabbath keeping. Several men didn't shave. Another went as far as to build a tabernacle in her 600-square-foot apartment as a reminder of God's presence. One woman remarked how getting dressed each morning suddenly became a very slow and intentional process. "Fast girls aren't holy," she discovered.Other participants tried to figure out corresponding contemporary practices. For instance, if it is the case that a beard in the ancient Near East distinguished you from clean-shaven pagans, then I decided that maybe wearing a huge cross would approximate that in our day. Another person kept the food laws by only purchasing food locally farmed and humanely prepared. Several people, deciding that burnt offerings suggest a need to be aware of sin in a way that we typically aren't, wrote down their sins for the month, and then ceremonially burned them as a sign of God's forgiveness."

I am not sure what to make of this. On the one hand it sounds like an interesting educational exercise. It involves people in reading and reflecting on the Bible. The need to take action obviously pushed people to clarify what they thought and to be very concrete. However the range of hermeneutical approaches seems to undermine the exercise to some extent. Harrell says that it was important to do this in community. The result though was a classic postmodern situation, everyone doing their own thing together! It is not the same as a community which is consistently regulated by the Levitical law. I think I'd want to offer some guidelines to people for their thinking.

That then points to the deeper problem. The month was an experiential learning exercise and month of some new spiritual disciplines, both of which are valuable but neither of which are the same as living under the law of God. For the law of God calls for consistent, life-long obedience. I'd defend the classic Reformed view of the three uses of the law (see Michael Horton's exposition of that here). So I'd say that Christian are called to obey the law understood in and through its fulfillment in Christ. (There are some explanations and nuances I'd put with that statement, but I'll leave those for another time). It is possible that living Levitically for a month may trivialise the serious Christian obligation to keep the law.

So while I was intrigued to read about the exercise, I'm not convinced about it. However I'd be interested to hear what others have got to say about it.

Scott McKnight has a brief summary of Living Levitically at Jesus Creed (followed by lots of comments).

New titles at PTC Library

2008-07-23T10:37:00.011+10:00

The book of Psalms : a translation with commentary / Robert Alter. New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. 9780393062267

This timeless poetry is beautifully wrought by a scholar whose translation of the Five Books of Moses was hailed as a “godsend” by Seamus Heaney and a “masterpiece” by Robert Fagles. Robert Alter's The Book of Psalms captures the simplicity, the physicality, and the coiled, rhythmic power of the Hebrew, restoring the remarkable eloquence of these ancient poems. His learned and insightful commentary shines a light on any obscurities of the text.

Genesis / James McKeown. Grand Rapids, MI : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008. 9780802827050

The first Old Testament commentary in the new Eerdmans’ Two Horizons series, McKeown begins with exegesis of the Hebrew text, highlighting the recurrence of key words, phrases, and themes throughout the book. He also draws attention to passages particularly pertinent to earlier readers either facing or returning from exile, offering an historical context outside a solely Christian perspective.

The second half of the book unpacks the numerous theological horizons of Genesis — main unifying themes (descendants, blessing, land); key theological teachings of Genesis (creation, fall, character and image of God, life of faith); and the contribution of Genesis to theology today, including its impact on science, ecology, and feminist theology.

1 Samuel : looking for a leader / John Woodhouse, general editor R. Kent Hughes. Wheaton, IL : Crossway Books, 2008. 9781581348736

The latest volume in the Preaching the Word series, under the editorship of R. Kent Hughes, has the current principal of Moore College (and longtime Old Testament scholar) John Woodhouse working through 1 Samuel. He demonstrates that 1 Samuel's Biblical context provides serious reflection on our need for leadership, and the failure of human leaders. But it also reveals God's answer for Israel, which turns out to be his answer for the whole world and for each of us individually. This perceptive commentary not only illumines Old Testament history but points to the New Testament promise that was fulfilled in Jesus, our sovereign leader and Saviour.

Henry Bullinger (1504-1575) : shepherd of the Churches / George M. Ella. Eggleston, Durham : Go Publications, 2007. 9780954862435

The publisher claims this biography of Henry Bullinger is the first full-length study of his life and works ever to appear in the English language. Today Bullinger is almost unknown amongst English-speaking Christians, yet he was the best known theologian in Britain during the entire Reformation period. Dr George M. Ella is an historian and theologian who has written biographies on William Cowper, William Huntington, John Gill, James Hervey and Augustus Montague Toplady.

*Text taken from various on-line reviews*

SBL in Auckland

2008-07-12T20:33:00.004+10:00

After a week of listening to academic papers in Auckland at SBL, I thought it was time to blog again (being a bit of a novice at this high-tech means of communication).

The week in Auckland was very stimulating. The papers that I particularly appreciated were in two areas: those that unpacked more on the background of the Graeco-Roman world of the NT (an area of growing interest for me), and those that examined literary theory and its impact on hermeneutical methodology.

When it comes to the NT world, the good papers shone light on how the social world of the recipients of NT letters shaped their understanding. I heard great papers on the relationship between Cicero and 1 Corinthians 1-4, or Paul's caricature of his rivals in 2 Corinthians 11:20 as "parasites" within a patron/client relationship, of coins that helped to interpret the Bar Kokhba revolt. But at other extreme, there was some papers that I would put in the realm of parallelomania or, as one participant said, belonging to the realm of Hans Christian Anderson.

On the issue of literary theory, I was encouraged to look more at Speech Act Theory - and its relationship to sensus plenior and the dual authorship of Scripture - an excellent paper. I was also entertained by a paper on Psalm 23 - read through different literary theory - whether feminist, deconstructionist, post-colonial etc. The "entertainment" of this paper certainly helped confirm to me the bankruptcy and subjectivity of many such methodologies (although I am not sure that this was the presenter's intent).

I came away from the conference with three impressions:

1. Very few presenters thought about the communicative effect of their papers. Although an academic paper is not entertainment, any presenter must always think about delivery as well as content. It was good to be a student again and to be reminded that sitting through 7 or 8 hours of lectures in a day is quite an ordeal, and it is the teacher's task to be concerned both for content and for pedagogy. Those presenters at SBL who put a fair bit of effort into the "packaging" of their delivery actually communicated. It always astounds me that those who teach children and teenagers must have formal educational training, whereas this is not required for the teaching of adults.

2. I was really pleased (is it OK to be "proud"?) to belong to a group of people from PTC who are concerned for serious scholarship. John McClean's paper on Pannenberg was a real highlight - both for delivery (amazing 3 dimensional powerpoint) and for content. Rachelle Gilmour's paper on suspense in 1 Samuel 9 was clear and well argued. Peter Lau's paper on Boaz helped me understand much more about the levirate laws and Boaz' virtue. I did not get to Maureen Miner's paper, but I heard great reports. For a little college, we can be very pleased to be part of a developing community of scholars.

3. There is an amazing (and alarming) breadth in the faith commitments (or lack thereof) among those who are involved in academic Biblical studies. I was reminded again of how blessed we are in Sydney (and other places too!), where there is an environment which values both faith commitments and academic rigour. The need to defend the faith is just as real, if not more so, at the more academic end of the spectrum - and this will only be done well as we continue to take seriously the interpretation of text against its original setting. There is much work to do in this area.

It's good to be back home to the warmth of a Sydney - but a great week of meeting people and being educated and challenged in Auckland. It was a week well spent.