Origen

Surprising as it may seem, the quote in yesterday’s post came not from the pen of a 19th-century higher critic, but from the early church father Origen (c. 185-254).

According to Wikipedia, Origen married Platonic philosophy to Christian theology, resulting in some truly bizarre theological conclusions such as the transmigration of souls and universal reconciliation (the idea that all being, even evil spirits, will one day be reconciled to God). The Catholic Encyclopedia modifies that view somewhat by stating that Origen frequently “recognizing the contradiction of the incompatible elements that he is trying to unify, recoils from the consequences, protests against the logical conclusions, and oftentimes corrects by orthodox professions of faith the heterodoxy of his speculations.”

Whatever your view of Origen’s theological speculations, what is of interest in the quote posted yesterday is that it proves that a non-literal reading of Genesis is by no means a product of 19th-century higher criticism or Darwinian biology. On the contrary, early church interpretations of the creation accounts (and there are actually two creation accounts, not one, in Genesis) were as varied as those in the post-Enlightenment era. Despite its popularity today among evangelical Protestants, a literal, six-day reading of Genesis 1-2 was by no means the accepted reading in early church history, nor is it even the majority view across 20 centuries of church tradition.

To what theologian is attributed this quote about the first chapters in Genesis? If you don’t know, at least try to venture a guess when it was written. (No plugging this into a search engine, either.)

“What intelligent person can believe that there was a first day, then a second and third day, evening, and morning, without the sun, the moon, and the stars; and the first day…even without a sky? Who is foolish enough to believe that, like a human farmer, God planted a garden to the east in Eden and created in it a visible, physical tree of life from which anyone tasting its fruit with bodily teeth would receive life; and that one would have a part in good and evil by eating the fruit picked from the appropriate tree?

When God is depicted walking in the garden in the evening and Adam hiding behind the tree, I think no one will doubt that these details point figuratively to some mysteries by means of a historical narrative which seems to have happened but did not happen in a bodily sense.”

Answers tomorrow!

Here’s a thought-provoking article from WORLD columnist Andree Seu questioning the Christian’s responsibility toward Israel. Depending on which part of the church you normally hang with, this may or may not be a pressing question to you. Rest assured, however, that this is a very big deal in some parts of evangelical Christianity and that there is a truckload of bad teaching on this issue. Here’s a sample:

We Christians have a responsibility to Israel, but what is it? To be cheerleaders for her current Messiah-rejecting government, or to preach to her the gospel? If you tell me it’s both, then how do you pull that off? How do you bankroll her without giving her (and the world) the impression that you are behind her without qualification? Or without tipping her off that she is completely lost unless she repents?

If you then tell me that evangelicals support Israel because she is, as Pat Robertson said, “an island of democracy . . . in the midst of a sea of dictatorial regimes . . . and a fanatical religion intent on returning to the feudalism of 8th century Arabia,” that’s fine as long as you’re aware that you just switched horses. Democracy is an entirely separate reason for supporting her.

And if it’s a true reason, then presumably you will be prepared to revoke your support if she is ever found to be not so democratic. “The political support for the nation of Israel is a distinct issue,” said Vern Poythress, “and should be qualified by the standard of the justice of God.” That is, you apply the same yardstick to Israel’s behavior as to any other nation’s: Does she honor her treaties? Does she treat her citizens with equity? Is she engaged in genocide? Etcetera.

Read the whole thing.

Yesterday, I had my first session in the OT Intro course I’m taking this month. The OT is a collection of literature that at times can seem brutal, irrelevant, primitive, and arcane. Attempting to convince us of its importance, my professor pointed to the fact that Jesus and the NT authors appealed to the OT as their authority.

“Isaiah alone is quoted 450 times in the NT,” he said.  Pausing for dramatic effect, he continued, “That means that if you aren’t familiar with what Isaiah says, the lights in your mind go off 450 times as you read through the NT. And that’s not even counting all the times other OT books are cited or alluded to.”

In my mind’s eye, I pictured those maps of the world that show the world as it looks at night from space. Invariably, those maps are brightly lit in North America, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia, but very dark in Latin America, Africa, and much of Asia, where the countries are not as highly developed. Perhaps that’s what the minds of many Christians look like over huge swaths of Scripture–huge forests of unknown punctuated by small islands of light, cities of understanding in books like Psalms, Matthew, John, or Romans. It’s a sobering thought.

Which parts of your Bible are lit up? Which parts are experiencing blackout? What are you going to do about it?

The World at Night

The Internet Monk has an interesting post today titled “On Being Too God-Centered“:

I’ve sensed, as long as I have been around my intensely theological Protestant (mostly reformed and evangelical) brothers and sisters, a kind of clumsiness with the subject of the significance of anything in human experience. By clumsiness I mean that these matters are handled, but the constant pressure to be singularly God centered and God focused makes it difficult to handle both God and human life at once without one overwhelming the other.

…

Many Evangelicals see a frightening and dark world. They are suspicious of art, music, literature and the imagination. Books are dangerous. Culture- be it high or low- is of little value. Those evangelicals who are not of that mindset know full well what the arguments are: How is this serving the glory of God? What is the value of this activity as compared to theology or worship? What is any of this when compared to God?

The reformed doctrines of depravity and corruption are applied to everything, and the only answer is God. But can the world of being human gain and keep its significance in and through the glory of God, or must it give way to the glory of God? That discussion seems to be going on in many different ways and places, with varying levels of helpfulness.

Read the whole thing. He also links to a very good column in The Guardian, a British newspaper, about the influence of Calvinism on modern individualism.

I was watching the end of Big Fish last night, the part where Billy Crudup is carrying his father down to the river to fulfill his dying request. As they arrive, everyone his father has ever known–circus freaks, small-town Southern belles, high-school basketball players in uniform, and fellow soldiers from the Korean War–is standing on the riverbank, all of them waving goodbye. It’s an emotional scene and I was close to tears.

As the credits rolled, I happened to glance out the window, suddenly becoming aware that the parking lot was being bathed in an apocalyptic red glow. The intensity of the light was so abnormal that I thought it was the orange of the street-lamps at first. It took me a second to realize that it was actually the hue of the sky.

Running outside, I was awestruck by one of the most beautiful sunsets that I have ever seen. Intending to capture the moment on film, I dashed back inside and grabbed my camera, but campus had too many buildings and trees in the way to get a good shot. So I started walking down Main Street, past the skateboard kids, small-town shopfronts, and Memorial Day flags billowing in the breeze, trying to get far enough away from town to where I could get a clean shot of the sky. I realized even as I was walking, however, that the light was dying and I had very little time.

It was at this point that I began to be seized with a sense of desperation. I broke into a full sprint, turning the head of an old man along the way who probably wondered where a young man in a T-shirt and gym shorts could be running to at 9:00 in the evening. By the time I reached the end of the road, the sun had dropped below the horizon. I began to take pictures, but nothing showing up in the LCD looked very good. It was too dark by then for the camera to make sense of what was going on. In my disappointment, another thought came to me, “Maybe I’m not meant to capture this, but only to enjoy it.”

So I gave up trying to capture the moment and veered off the road instead, down a gravel path and up a soft rise to a field of freshly mown grass. Finding a seat at the far end, I stared out at the rolling Kentucky countryside and began to join in the chorus the sky had already initiated, singing hymns of praise and voicing prayers aloud.

“Lord, please let me touch as many lives as the man in the movie,” I prayed. “May the end of my life be as beautiful as this sunset.”

I had no idea what any of this was supposed to mean, only that the Lord’s hand was in it. I’ve been sensing Him at work lately in the creases of my life, authoring a story that will be beautiful in the telling. I don’t where any of this is headed right now, only that I am chasing down the sun, heart racing with joy, with miles to go before I sleep.

For those who like God and country in equal doses, Thomas Nelson Publishers has released the “American Patriot’s Bible,” “the one Bible,” as the press release breathlessly states it, “that shows how ‘a light from above’ shaped our nation.”

Never has a version of the Bible targeted the spiritual needs of those who love our country more than The American Patriot’s Bible. This extremely unique Bible shows how the history of the United States connects the people and events of the Bible to our lives in a modern world. The story of the United States is wonderfully woven into the teachings of the Bible and includes a beautiful full-color family record section, memorable images from our nation’s history and hundreds of enlightening articles which complement the New King James Version Bible text.

This will no doubt appeal to the many Christians whose understanding of the Kingdom of God and the Christian’s primary loyalty to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is so shallow as to permit unhindered affection for their nation-state. Greg Boyd offers a critical take here, but the question I want to put to you, the reader, if you are a Christian, is this: How, in your mind, do your citizenship in the Kingdom of God and your citizenship in your nation interact? Can you see some conflict between the two? At what point does patriotism turn into idolatry (or is it just idolatry, period)?

Boundless Webzine has posted a “Free Guy’s Guide to Marrying Well.” It’s a PDF booklet filled with essays giving practical advice on how to prepare for marriage, conduct yourself honorably in a relationship, and glorify God through the whole process. It’s well worth the time.

Using Delirious? song titles as answers to questions…

1. Are you a male or female?: Everyone Knows
2. Describe yourself: I’ve Found Jesus
3. How do you feel about yourself: I’m Not Ashamed
4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: I’ll See You
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: Taking It Wherever It Goes
6. Describe your current location: The Mezzanine Floor
7. Describe where you want to be: Heaven
8. Your best friend is: Louder Than The Radio
9. Your favorite color is: Paint the Town Red
10. You have: God’s Romance
11. What’s the weather like: Beautiful Sun
12. If your life was a television show what would it be called: The Years Go By
13. What is life to you: The Crucible for Silver
14. How do some people feel about you?: Obsession
15. If you could change your name, what would it be?: Majesty (Here I Am)
16. If you could have a job for a day what would you be?: Miracle Maker
17. What’s the worst feeling in the world?: When All Around Has Fallen
18. Describe what you want to be?: Stronger
19. Describe how you live: Oh Lead Me
20. Describe how you love: All I Want Is You
21. Share a few words of wisdom: Our God Reigns

Part of an occasional series featuring my favorite poems.

Miss Murphy in first grade
wrote its name in chalk
across the board and told us
it was roaring down the stormtracks
of the Milky Way at frightful speed
and if it wandered off its course
and smashed into the earth
there’d be no school tomorrow.
A red-bearded preacher from the hills
with a wild look in his eyes
stood in the public square
at the playground’s edge
proclaiming he was sent by God
to save every one of us,
even the little children.
“Repent, ye sinners!” he shouted,
waving his hand-lettered sign.
At supper I felt sad to think
that it was probably
the last meal I’d share
with my mother and my sisters;
but I felt excited too
and scarcely touched my plate.
So mother scolded me
and sent me early to my room.
The whole family’s asleep
except for me. They never heard me steal
into the stairwell hall and climb
the ladder to the fresh night air.

Look for me, Father, on the roof
of the red brick building
at the foot of Green Street—
that’s where we live, you know, on the top floor.
I’m the boy in the white flannel gown
sprawled on this coarse gravel bed
searching the starry sky,
waiting for the world to end.

–Stanley Kunitz