Interesting blog post by a woman who writes a poignant love letter to her body.
The relationship between our “self” and our “body” has everything to do with 1. time and 2. the fact that our self is not really completely inside of us but also between us.
After the story of Paul in Corinth in Acts 18 we have an interesting section from 18:18-19:20 where there is evidence of a lot of things happening. What we see in this section is that far more is happening than Luke can describe in his account. The world is large, there are lots of people with their own ideas, they come into contact and things are happening. This isn’t Paul master-minding the operation. He’s one player. The Holy Spirit is doing work, and the work is messy. Continue reading
This is concerning Apollos and why Luke makes no mention of Priscilla and Aquila baptizing him.
It is possible, as Bruce points out, that they might have thought it unnecessary, since he already had the Holy Spirit. It may also be that they thought that John’s baptism was valid as foreshadowing of Christian baptism, and perhaps Apollos had undergone that baptism. It is interesting that we have no evidence that the Twelve ever received Christian baptism, and it is even more interesting that Paul not only seems to imply that not all of his converts were baptized but also that he was glad, under the circumstances in Corinth, that this was the case (see 1 Cor. 1:14–17). All of this cautions us against assuming that later beliefs about the necessity of Christian baptism, even its necessity for salvation, were shared by all or perhaps even most early Christians.
Witherington, B., III. (1998). The Acts of the Apostles: A socio-rhetorical commentary (567). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Joy, and the chance to be God more than he could with just the Trinity.
Wrote this in response to Russ at “The Village”
I hope this comes as a response to Russ’ “net negative” essay.
To me the answer is joy. Continue reading
http://www.leithart.com/2012/07/09/righteous-ones/
Harvey Guthrie’s Theology as thanksgiving: From Israel’s Psalms to the church’s Eucharist has multiple problems, but I think he gets the meaning of zedek (“righteous”) just right (p. 9):
“the original meaning of zedek may have been been connected with the action of a protector god toward a devotee who called upon that god. Zedek, or zedekah, was what took place when the desperate cry of a human being was heard and responded to by the god to whom the cry had been directed. Zedek did, therefore, denote a ‘saving act,’ a ‘triumph,’ or a ‘victory’ for the god, a ‘vindication’ of both the devotee whose faith had been justified and the god whose reputation as a deliverer had been sustained. Zadik denoted the one who had been saved, the one in whom the god’s victory or triumph had been manifest, the one who had been vindicated by zedek. . . . .What qualifies a person to be designated zadik is not what that person has accomplished, but the gracious initiative of God.”
I know almost nothing about this woman except a bit of her story. The review gave me a bit more background information. It brings up the question “what is a Christian”. The telling of her story here sounds very familiar. I should blog on this more later. Just wanted to note the link.
If follows an older article where she talks in more detail about her faith.
RS writes that “one would think her religious past is behind her, but [Perry] still considers herself a Christian.” She tells the magazine, “God is very much still a part of my life. But the way the details are told in the Bible—that’s very fuzzy for me. And I want to throw up when I saw that. But that’s the truth. . . . I still believe that Jesus is the son of God. But I also believe in extraterrestrials, and that there are people sent from God to be messengers, and all sorts of crazy stuff.
“I look up into the sky and I’m just mindf—ed — all those stars and planets, the neverendingness of the universe. I just can’t believe that we’re the only polluting population. Every time I look up, I know that I’m nothing and there’s something way beyond me. I don’t think it’s as simple as heaven and hell.”
I’ve been avoiding the tabloid fascination with this marital blowout. I found the Hermeneutics blog post on it interesting, however. Part of what caught me eye was the writer’s sensitivity to issues of divorce, especially for children.
Quote:
I don’t have any insight into what went on in the union or eventual divorce. But I predict that in the weeks ahead, as intimate details begin to leak into public view, Cruise will have friends who advocate for his side, and Holmes for hers, as well as (unfortunately) those who testify against them. I can only hope that both Cruise and Holmes will have the grace to still advocate jointly for the well-being of their 6-year-old daughter, Suri; as a daughter of divorced-but-friendly parents, I know this makes all the difference. To me, the saddest aspect of the dissolution of a marriage is that it declares loudly—to the world and to each other but most painfully to the children—that two people are no longer committed to being the other’s advocate.
Pretty spot on and dramatic article in the NYTimes about how predictive single parenting is to a child’s ability to excel in career and vocation. “Two Classes, Divided by ‘I do'” Continue reading
From Tim Stafford: Why Jesus Doesn’t Heal
Other things the Internet Dust-up over Jared and Doug Wilson Can Teach Us
While I was busy with other things there was a dust-up on the web over men, women, sex, 50 shades of grey, speech, power, etc. Quite the blow up. I’ll post some links and comments.
These are of course just a few. No time today to really dig into this. We’ll see if it has legs. A couple of comments. Continue reading →