Acts 17:22-30 - From the Areopagus Paul can see the end of classical paganism

Posted Fri, 31/10/2008 - 18:01 by andrew

Paul is respectful, but his precise critique of Athenian idolatry is backed up with the full weight of Old Testament polemic. He acknowledges a corrupted pagan instinct to seek after God but assimilates it into a Jewish interpretive framework.

Metavista, narrative, and the historical-critical project

Posted Thu, 25/09/2008 - 17:05 by andrew

In an intriguing and ambitious book, Metavista: Bible, Church and Mission in an Age of Imagination, Colin Greene (the book is written with Martin Robinson) argues that ‘the primary way the Bible was understood up until the modern period was as a unified narrative that narrates the identity of its primary agents and tells the story of God’s interaction with the cosmos’ (101).

Greg Boyd's review of Re: Mission

Posted Wed, 20/08/2008 - 10:30 by andrew

I gave Greg Boyd a copy of Re: Mission at the Christian Associates staff conference in Sopron. He read it straightaway and we had a highly invigorating chat about it on the bus to the airport. He has posted a short review of it on his blog. I’m delighted that he recommends the book so enthusiastically, but there are some matters raised by his review that I think need clarification.

Rom. 13:11-14 - Salvation is nearer to us than when we believed

Posted Tue, 19/08/2008 - 10:34 by andrew

When Paul tells the Roman believers that it is time to awake from sleep, that salvation is nearer to us than when we believed, that the night is advanced and the day has drawn near, that they should put on the weapons of light, that they should walk properly as in the day, that they should make no provision for the desires of the flesh (Rom. 13:11-14), he means that a day of persecution is approaching from which they will be ‘saved’ by putting on the armour of a sober and righteous lifestyle. With hindsight we must conclude that what Paul is speaking about is the suffering that Nero would inflict on the church less than a decade later. This is when they would see the salvation of God that had now drawn near.

Interview published in Precipice magazine

Posted Thu, 17/07/2008 - 18:32 by andrew

An interview that I did with Darren King, mostly about The Coming of the Son of Man but also touching on the need for a narrative-realist biblical theology, has just been published at Precipice magazine. This is how Darren introduces the interview:

One of the hallmarks of the Emerging Church is its desire, its commitment, to move beyond traditionalism, to examine various aspects of Christian faith with an openness to new answers - and new questions. While critics often (unfairly) accuse the movement of "rejecting the Bible", the reality is that those immersed within the EC conversation are often willing to embrace the complexities of the Bible in ways that are unfamiliar to others. And embracing the Bible means entering into the story, understanding the journey as it was for the earliest believers, as part of the process in receiving it as our own.

Mk. 4:30-32 - The parable of the mustard seed

Posted Tue, 15/07/2008 - 15:28 by andrew

Jesus’ image of a tree in which birds make their nests (cf. Matt. 13:32; Lk. 13:19) recalls passages in the Old Testament in which Babylon and Egypt are depicted as trees that provide a home for the birds of the air and shelter for the beasts of the field (Ezek. 31:6; Dan. 4:12). Conceivably Jesus meant by the parable of the mustard seed that the movement of renewal in Israel that he was initiating would become a ‘kingdom’ to rival the empires of the world, providing an alternative form of security and prosperity. In Ezekiel 17:22-24 the image appears to be used for Israel replanted following exile.

Rom. 8:18-25 - The eager longing of creation

Posted Fri, 11/07/2008 - 15:44 by andrew

The outcome of faithful suffering after the pattern of Christ will be glory: if we suffer with Christ, we will be glorified with him (8:17); the sufferings of the present time are insignificant compared to the glory that will be revealed to us (18); those who are destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus will be vindicated and glorified (29-30). In the terms of a different narrative paradigm, the suffering community of the saints will share in the glory that is given to the Son of man when he comes to the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom.

Gabriel's Vision and the resurrection of the Messiah

Posted Wed, 09/07/2008 - 15:20 by andrew

A recent article in The New York Times (‘Ancient Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection’) has drawn attention to a stone tablet on which are inscribed 87 lines of Hebrew that ‘may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days’. The stone came to light ten years ago, but its significance only became apparent after two Israeli scholars, Ada Yardeni and Binyamin Elitzur, published an analysis of what they called ‘Gabriel’s Vision’ in the Hebrew language journal Cathedra.

Rom. 6: - Slaves of righteousness

Posted Wed, 09/07/2008 - 10:53 by andrew

The question here presents itself (Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?) because Paul has stated in verse 14 that because the believers are not under Law but under grace, sin will have no dominion over them. Does that mean that they may therefore sin with impunity - because as a consequence of the grace that abounded in Jesus Christ (cf. 5:15-21) sin will not in the future have power or authority over them? Are they now free from the (eschatological) consequences of sin?

'Intentional kingdom living' and the sheep and goats

Posted Fri, 04/07/2008 - 15:26 by andrew

I receive a weekly email from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity headed ‘connecting with culture’. The most recent one talks about the excellent Street Pastors programme in London, which was started in 2003 by Les Isaac. Jason Gardner makes the point that part of the calling of the church must be to work alongside paramedics and the police to ‘bring rescue to our violent streets’. The theological rationale for this, if you like, is stated in this way:

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