Tone of voice

contributes significantly to conversation and communication. So does body-language, inflection, gestures and, most of all, the presence of another person. This is the down-side of blogging. All of these things have to be supplied. I supply them for the blogs I read; and you are doing it right now.

Now, a couple of observations: for all the talk about how "community" is now emerging into digital realms...it seems to me that, for all the benefits of blogs like this and others, there is a fundamental built-in limitation: the all-pervasive and essential human element. No matter how you cut it, we are still typing at each other instead of talking. The dynamic is much the same as it was when we sent folded paper letters in envelopes, or when we faxed, or or or... You get the point. The human element can only come through to a certain extent even in the best of digital, online blogger realms. Another observation, or rather, a question: are we any better off for it? Really, are we?

It seems the technology (cliche alert) is indeed driving us apart. Who knows how many people are nightly, by themselves, typing a conversation into a computer monitor, like me, (or reading one, like you) and in the process something is lost.

Hopefully in the midst of all this fantastic technology we will not surrender that which makes community community: people. Online IM, chatting, blogs, email, whatever, are poor substitutes for the real thing. Were you to hear my tone of voice, which you can't, (you have to supply it remember)you would have heard it rise a little, with a touch of angst and a furled brow for good measure. Got the picture in your head? I think I've made my point.

On that note, greetings to all those of you with whom I have shared many a conversation, and to those of you I have yet to have coffee with..to you,

Grace and peace (typed for now, one day face-to-face).

And so to bed.

PowerPoint presentations now available

for Judges, Ruth and Samuel (up to 2 Samuel 11): click here

Also available are (semi-)critical introductions to each book and some special studies for Judges.

I created a special page off of Room 152 on the EHCS site for PP and handouts. I mention them here for whatever benefit it might bring you. I will reproduce here the short notice I have posted there:

A note about the PP slides: The presentations are prepared for and are also a result of teaching through Judges, Ruth and Samuel (twice at EHCS and once at Central Church to an adult Bible class). They are the result of preparation for and the process of teaching in classroom settings. As such, they depend on the teacher/class interactive dynamic. I have not included in the slides all that I said about any text or topic. The slides are the gist of the matter and represent only a fraction of what was presented. I reproduce them here primarily for the benefit of my current students who would like to review the notes at home. Those of you who are eavesdropping are more than welcome to do so, but please keep the foregoing in mind.

PP's from my Genesis class at Central Church are forthcoming and will be posted to the church site. These presentations are far more detailed: church folks do not have to take any notes and I can assume a bit more with them and can cover more depth for longer periods of time.

In neither case is my audience an assembly of "academics". (I hate labels). On the one hand I teach High school teens many of whom have no church-experience whatsoever (thus, my goal is basic introduction and survey); on the other hand I teach within the context of a local community of faith and my teaching there is aimed at a theologically informed shaping of the church, as the people of God, by the story of God. In both cases the academic meat of the study of any particular book is mediated to different audiences with differing needs. Insofar as they might be helpful to you, they are yours to peruse.

Grace and peace.

These are the days of indulgence...

Preston Shipp has done a fine job spoofing one my not-so-favorite-songs.

As for my taste in hymnody, that's another post for another day.

"Not in eloquence of speech..."

writes Paul in the Corinthian Correspondence. So it was with me today. The eloquence is always debatable, but I sure didn't have much volume today. And what I had was scratchy, squeaky and, I'm sure, unpleasant-to-the-ear.

Class: Genesis 12 (again) in what might be a loooong study of Genesis
AM sermon: 1 Timothy 1.12-17
PM sermon: 2 Timothy 1.3-7

I've not preached from either Timothy that I can immediately recall. Don't ask why, seems like they have fallen through the cracks. So in Mike's absence (he is in Philly for SBL/AAR meeting) I took two texts from Paul, wherein he expresses thanks, and tried to bring to the surface the salient issue for the life of the Family of God at Central.

In 1 Timothy he is grateful for the act of God in Christ: good news! Christ has come into the world to save sinners! And what's more, I am a living example of the patience of God in Christ! I took the church through the thanksgiving by isolating the grand fact of the text: God has acted in Christ and Paul, as sinner par excellance, has experienced his transforming grace. What is striking about this is that this is such good news! From there I stressed that the text also challenges those of us who have experienced the grace of God to partner with God in his great example-making experiment in our lives. God is at work in us to make us examples of his transformative, redemptive grace! Good news! From there I closed with an exhortation that if the church is to be a truly redemptive presence in our world we must be forthright and own up to the fact that none of us, individually or corporately as church, has it all together. Every last one of us is messed up: chief sinners! And from there our task is to speak the good news of the gospel and not condemnation. Our task is to witness to the grace of God for sinners like us. Too often churches lead with condemnation. Churches should never lead with condemnation, after all, God didn't! He led with grace, and that super-abundantly! Good news, friends, good news!

In the PM I started with Paul's gratitude for Timothy's sincere faith and asked the church to think of the Lois' and the Eunice's in their own lives. Just like Timothy was led to faith by Paul and by his mother and grandmother, so we have been led to faith by someone. Think of those people and be grateful for them and their influence. Now, as Paul instructs Timothy, fan the flames of faith and discipleship! Do not rest on the laurels of faith past, but keep alert for the fight of faith in the present moment. By the grace of God we do not fight this fight alone or ill-equipped. He has not outfitted us with fear, but by his Spirit he has given us power, love and self-discipline. Fan these gifts! These are gifts of the Spirit: God can well take care of his church. Be encouraged by the great people who have shaped our faith, and be encouraged that God partners with us in transforming us into his image and shaping his church!

Grace and peace.

There's a good discussion going

at John Alan Turner's blog about Just War, pacifism, patriotism and the like.

Larry Chouinard has some fine things to say about scholarship and thinking clearly.

Larry James always has a penetrating word.

The Manry family safely made it to Jinja.

I'm waiting on John Mark and Chad to post again (hint, hint).

Ben Witherington's blog is richly diverse and consistently worth reading.

NT Wright's page has so much I have to take it in small bites.

So you see I've been reading more lately and posting less. Blog-wise I've been enjoying the above-mentioned. Links are to your right; I don't remember how to insert them in the text here, neither do I much care, you can find them if you want. Print-wise I've checked a few things out of the Lipscomb library (Bruce Metzger's autobiography is just fascinating; a few obscure books about Greek papyri are also interesting, like Baikie's Egyptian Papyri and Papyrus-Hunting and Milligan's Here and There Among the Papyri; also somewhat interesting is Ward Gasque's little bio of William Mitchell Ramsay). I'm reading Ramsay Macmullen's Paganism and the Roman Empire for a review in my Ted Carruth NT World course. I have no idea what the hot new books are. I've been living in dusty-book-land most of this semester. I have heard that Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks are coming out with a new book on Spirituality based on the writings and theology of David Lipscomb and James Harding. That will be a good one.

Question:
Who are the conservatives with blogs? I'm not trying to manipulate a stereotype, but who (I'm thinking especially in Churches of Christ) among the acknowleged conservative thought leaders in Churches of Christ have weblogs? Most folks who blog, again, pardon the stereotype, are progressives/emergents/ok ok, liberals. (I hate labels.) I'm sure they are out there, but I can't find them, which doesn't mean they don't blog...I could be incompetent and haven't found them yet. If you know of any, please fill me in. I'd like to read them.

Which brings me to another point: for all of the talk about openness, it usually comes from progressives to conservatives (or with other progressives) about being more open to progressives. Rarely do you hear progressives tell each other to be more open to conservatives. Strikes me as ironic at best and flatly hypocritical at worst. I try to read all kinds of stuff from all kinds of people; maybe I'm weird, but at least in my own mind I'm trying to be consistent and fair to everyone.

Grace and peace.

Bells and Whistles

Having a few free minutes, I just added new links:
--Ed Fudge ministries
--Adam Metz
--Landon Saunders/Heartbeat
--NT Wright
--World Convention
--SBL and SBL Links
--Gal328.org
--NT Gateway

and a fancy link-back thingy from referer.org.

Enough school for one week; its time to blow this joint. Friday night is pizza and movie night at the Ice House. Tonight's feature is Annie, courtesy of Netflix and a large supreme courtesy of Papa Johns.