– John Hobbins reflects on the Book of Job here.
– Nick Norelli announces a call for submissions for the 2011 Trinity Blogging Summit here.
– Ben Myers shares audio from his lectures on Augustine’s De Trinitate here.
– Peter Enns records the thirteenth entry on how Calvinist have view evolution over the years here.
– Rowan Williams and N.T Wright have given responses to the killing of Osama bin Laden here. (HT: Michael Gorman and Michael Bird) Ian Paul comments on Wright’s statements here.
– James Smith shares a story that may link the origins of rock and roll with Pentecostalism here! I always thought as a child that it was weird to hear rock and roll attributed to the devil while we were the loudest church in town. It makes sense now!
– I won a copy of Kevin Vanhoozer’s Is There Meaning in This Text? from the Koinonia blog (see here). Whoo-hoo!
– Nijay Gupta comments on Stanley Porter’s Fundamentals of New Testament Greek here.
the archives near Emmaus 
Sweet. I loves me some blog props. 😉
I give honor where honor is due. 🙂
It is sad to see how far away and out of touch both Williams and Wright appear on the issue of Ben Laden’s death! And btw, the British have been at the Commando business for many years! 😉
I haven’t listened to Williams, but I think Wright is dead accurate. We did what we did because we believe the myth of American exceptionalism.
Brian,
Tom Wright once again speaks from his ivory tower, he’s rather good at that I might add! 😉 And indeed, the Americans should present (as they have since WW2) their “exceptional” world power and leadership. But indeed the time has come for them also, to take real moral and spiritual inventory. Great Britain had this once (Britannia), but they lost it to overt socialism, and the loss too of simply Christian theological and moral doctrine.
Fr. Robert,
First, that he is “ivory tower” is a mis-characterization. He has been a pastor and an academic.
Second, it is ad hominem. I know you don’t like that because you have accused me of using such arguments against you.
Third, you and I have very different visions of “Christian theological and moral doctrine” which share very little common ground. Therefore, I don’t expect you to see eye-to-eye with Wright, though here, I think even if you hold to some form of “Just War” this cannot be grounded in such theory.
Brian,
I am a Brit, also an Anglican, and I have met Tom Wright. So I get to have my opinion! 😉 And he knows almost nothing (in my opinion again) about the Just War Theory (which is R. Catholic btw), America, or military history! Again, in my opinion ya have to have some personal experience here, and old Tom just doesn’t! 😉
Fr. Robert:
I am an American, and also non-denominational, and I have also met Tom Wright. So I get an opinion as well! And it is categorically false that someone has to have first hand experience with something to have an opinion on it. That is simply misguided.
Brian,
There is nothing like first hand experience! I learned this years ago! And old Tom is a good man, but a man from the academy mainly. And on these subjects of war, military..even America, he speaks from his mental irovy tower! I have both lived in America (over three years now; also my little brother is now an American, and he was an American Marine also), and I served arm in arm with their US Marines (Force Recon), and too next and near to their other Special Forces (Gulf War 1). So yep, my opinion is with ‘boots on the ground’! 😉
Likewise, it is probably skewed a bit because of your military service. Maybe not being trained to fight, and being able to stand back, gives someone a better perspective on matters?
I am have seen both sides, and have both experiences, Royal Marine Commando, and priest (and my theological education), etc. So my position is one closer! And Brian, your “skewed” also…a liberal from Frisco! 😉
Your not gonna win this one mate! lol Remember, personal opnions! 😉
I love my liberal San Francisco. If you knew of what you speak you wouldn’t say “Frisco”. I think that is a city in Texas somewhere.
So if this is just “personal opinions” then how is Wright and Williams “out of touch” as you claim? It sounds like it’s just as simple as that their position is different than your own, no?
So if this is just “personal opinions” then how is Wright and Williams “out of touch” as you claim? It sounds like it’s just as simple as that their position is different than your own, no?
BADA BING!
Brian,
Of course this is more than personal opinions for Wright and Williams, they are before the public eye (though their positions also come from their own experiences somewhat too), but on a blog, you and me, it boils down to our personal experience, more than writing some theological blog statement. This was more my point. I could labor to write some type of definitive blog, but who cares? 😉
So one’s public/social standing determines the worth of their opinion?
No Brian, that was not my point.. I just think we take those in public and social standing more so than our own life and experience. One thing is certain for me, Tom Wright has nothing over me, theological or experiential! I have been to hell and back in combat, something Wright will never know, or you! And your the Wright guy, not me!
Also Brian, I am a historial British or Anglo-Irish conservative. Read Edmund Burke! I wonder sometimes if men like Wright and Williams ever have? And not just historically, but in some place of ideology and thought!
Here is a link for Edmund Burke..
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Edmund_Burke
Also for those that might care?
http://www.jeremystangroom.com/edmund-burke-the-great-conservative/154/
Fr. Robert:
(1) My appreciation for Wright has to do with reputation earned by dedicated work in his area, not merely his social standing. While social standing can matter of it reflects such things as dedication (and at times respect for office) it doesn’t have intrinsic worth.
(2) I’m glad you have a healthy sense of self-confidence.
(3) What do British/Anglo-Irish concerns have to do with me? If I have to read based on ethnicity and nationality why would I care about Burke has to say?
Brian,
First, much of American Christian history is standing on the shoulders of British and English Christianity, note the English Evangelical Revival, the Wesley’s, Whitefield, etc. Not to mention the making and minds behind the American Constitution itself! And we must really note how young the American democracy is, as compared to even the British and European history. Which again manifests a great history of Christianity.
And I like N.T. (Tom) Wright also, I just don’t see him as the new ‘Theological Rock Star’ that Americans have made him. His best work is in the area of the Gospels. There are many other thologians in the Church, perhaps one that has been very over-looked, but one that has been called by even the Anglican leader: Rowan Williams as “possibly the greatest Anglican mind of the twentieth century”: Austin Marsden Farrer (1904 – 1968).
And Edmund Burke has been called the Father of modern conservatism. Pretty high regard for an old Anglo-Irishman! Truth is always worth the challenge and study! 😉
@Fr. Robert:
I am not wanting to be a historian of the church or western civilization, so I will pass on the time consuming task of reading more on the subject than was necessary.
I don’t deny Williams greatness. He just doesn’t write on subjects that address my interest. I can’t read everything (though all your random book recommendations indicate you think I can), so I must choose. As concerns the gospels and Paul I have great interest and Wright has written on these subjects.
I don’t care about modern conservatism.
@Brian,
Note, that “greatness” was not Williams, but Austin Farrer!
Well, if ya live as long as me? And keep reading, and press that desire for truth? Maybe you will find the time to read Edmund Burke! 😉
*Btw, I don’t call my reading “random”, as perhaps eclectic. I am I guess also somewhat eccentric? But then I was raised in Dublin Ireland (50’s and 60’s) and went to England as a later teen. And now I am in America. 😉
@ Fr. Robert: Yes, maybe if I live as long as you I will read Edmund Burke. Unlikely, but maybe.
Btw Brian, political liberalism does not bode well with and in St. Paul, in my thinking, (Rom. 13). Paul was a somewhat traditional and conservative Roman thinker! This is the argument too of many egalitarians.
(1) You pigeon-hole Paul by calling him a “traditional and conservative Roman thinker”. He was much too nuanced for such simplicity.
(2) Political conservatism in Paul’s day and his response to it may influence how we look at conservatism in our own day and our response to it, but it is not one and the same. You know that.
@Brian,
Ya might like old Edmund! But don’t wait too long, America is struggling on social and economic levels. Look what has happened to the British and socialism, and allowing too much immigration!
@Brian,
Yes somewhat, but with the Roman idea of democracy, and the Roman state, there is much common ground with the European history, etc.
Fr. Robert:
Let me warn you now, as someone married to a Mexican-American, as someone whose ancestors once immigrated here (those of French heritage are not indigenous to this continent), and as one who supports equality across racial and ethic boundaries, that if you spew forth semi-racist crap like “allowing too much immigration” on this blog again you will find yourself banned. I am glad you think so fondly of your heritage, but I don’t think it is any better than anyone else’s. You continue to imply over and over again that you see some superiority in it. I have let you ramble on but if it keeps going the direction it is going you won’t be allowed to say anything more here.
Brian,
I can leave anytime you want mate! It appears I have struck a cord. And my Irish younger brother is also married to a Mexican-American girl!
“Ramble”? That’s all many of us bloggers do! 😉
Fr. Robert: Implied racism always strikes a cord with me. And your family ties don’t prevent you from saying something ignorant.
Brian,
I was speaking about the UK in my point, and that was not racist! It is simply factual that the UK has allowed too much freedom for many that have come there. And now don’t want to allow Christian freedoms any longer. I don’t call that equal!
“Ignorant”? I have to listen to that daily! It is simply part of so-called modern/postmodern life now! But you say the word mate, and I will depart this blog for good!
I don’t care about your political situation in the UK. I do care that you reflect the New Covenant imperative found in Luke-Acts and the Pauline corpus to transcend petty racial boundaries in favor on (1) realizing our unity in Christ and (2) honoring the imago Dei in all humans. If you want to talk politics, and you want to blame all your problems on others, then yes, there are other blogs for that.
I don’t care if you stay or go. I care that you reserve your insensitivity for places where such sewage is acceptable. This is not that place, so stick with the subject!
If I post a entry on immigration then fine, weigh in. I did not, which means something is seeping deep from within you that you must pour on others. Well, pour elsewhere.
Brian,
Yes, I can SEE that you don’t care about the UK. But I am not going to argue with someone that is not even 30 years old yet, and also distains truth and dialogue, it would seem!
I will remove myself and subscription!
Fr. Robert: I know this is hard for you to accept, but your opinion is not “truth”. Also, your insensitive statements; implied racism; blunt ageism (yes, older people can discount younger people simply because of age) ; appeals to your culture and your experience at war; continual ad hominem attacks on those not like you; consistent labeling of other opinions as “emergent” and “postmodern”; and so forth do not count as “dialogue”. Thank you for your time around here, but yes, if you feel that this is an approach you must maintain then please feel free to remove yourself and your subscription.
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