Martoia on Vanhoozer's Drama of Doctrine

I found the following end note regarding Kevin Vanhoozer's Drama of Doctrine in Ron Martoia's The Bible as Improv interesting:

"Vanhoozer's book is, quite honestly, breathtaking, but it is such a lengthy and cumbersome volume that it will never reach most pastors, let alone the average person in the pew. See his own admission in the preface: 'Some of the energy that I hope to communicate in this book may be overshadowed by its mass. I had originally intended to write a short, constructive manifesto.' The mass of the volume? Nearly 500 pages (with 86 footnotes in the introduction alone)! And so it is that many pastors and people in our faith communities never interact with this kind of material. A book such as this feels removed from the everyday bump and grind of ministry and life because it looks, reads, and feels so academic. With books of this mass and density, we are not likely to make inroads into overturning tired paradigms at the practical level. We will continue to have these conversations at academic conventions but not in many churches. Vanhoozer is a winsome writer with profound and important things to say. Sadly, I haven't met one pastor of the hundreds I work with each year who has even heard of the book" (204-205)

Scripture is Missional

"This is what it is meant by Scripture being missional: Scripture is designed by God to work its story into persons of God so that they may become doers of the good. Scripture is missional because it is designed to create restored Eikons who are in union with God and communion with others for the good of others and the world. Scripture, I sometimes have to tell myself, is not designed just to be exegeted and probed and pulled apart until it yields its (gnostic-like) secrets to those who know its languages and its interpretive traditions and who can then divulge their gleanings behind pulpits on Sunday mornings or in monographs and academic journals (very few care to read).

Scripture is missional because it is designed to create missional people who learn from their missional praxis how to see Scripture as a missional text that shapes them so that they can live in the story that the church tells in Scripture. To use the terms of Kevin Vanhoozer in his massive The Drama of Scripture [sic], Scripture is a "theo-dramatic script" that is performed by the people of God on the world's historical stage."

Scot McKnight, A Community Called Atonement, 147.

Blog Update

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you have noticed that I do not write much on it anymore. For the last several months I have merely been posting excerpts from stuff I am reading. My family and I are moving to Fort Worth in a few weeks where I will start a PhD at Southwestern Seminary under Dr. Craig Blaising. Needless to say, the blog is not much of a priority, though I hope to continue to post excerpts and links once a week or so. Thanks for reading!!

Paul's World-Clock

"While other believers held that the finger of the world-clock was touching on the beginning of the coming hour and were waiting for the stroke which should announce this, Paul told them that it has already passed beyond the point, and that they had failed to hear the striking of the hour, which in fact struck at the Resurrection of Jesus."

-A. Schweitzer

Lame Christian Subculture

Introducing the new Christian tablet, "Edifi."

Now you can use this sanctified Kindle Fire to watch videos on Godtube.com, make new friends on Faithbook, all the while sippin' on some Scripture Tea.

I'm turning Postmill because this is too good to be true.

Greg Boyd: Constantine's Pagan Influence on Christianity

What We Have

"Hebrews' affirmations of what 'we have' are surprisingly comprehensive. We have the land, described as the 'rest' into which we have entered through Christ, in a way which even Joshua did not achieve for Israel (3:12-4:11); we have a High Priest (4:14, 8:1, 10:21) and an altar (13:10); we enter into the Holy Place, so we have the reality of tabernacle and temple (10:19). We have come to Mt. Zion (12:22) and we are receiving a kingdom, in line with Haggai 2:6 (12:28). Indeed, according to Hebrews (13:14), the only thing which we do not have is an earthly, territorial city!"

Chris Wright, "A Christian approach to Old Testament Prophecy concerning Israel," 18-19.

Aimed at Edification

1 Corinthians 14:26 - "What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up." 

"What is striking in this entire discussion is the absence of any mention of leadership or of anyone who would be responsible for seeing that these guidelines were generally adhered to. The community appears to be left to itself and the Holy Spirit. What is mandatory is that everything aim at edification."

Gordon Fee on 1 Corinthians 14:26 (NICNT, 691)


(For the record, I do believe that churches should appoint overseers and deacons, but Fee's point is striking.)

The Land As Advance Metaphor

“The Land, like the Torah, was a temporary stage in the long purpose of the God of Abraham. It was not a bad thing now done away with, but a good and necessary thing now fulfilled in Christ and the Spirit. It is as though the Land were a great advance metaphor for the design of God that his people should eventually bring the whole world into submission to his healing reign. God’s whole purpose now goes beyond Jerusalem and the Land to the whole world."




Tom Wright, “Jerusalem in the New Testament,” in Jerusalem Past and Present in the Purposes of God, ed. P.W.L. Walker (Cambridge: Tyndale House) 67.

Jerusalem in the New Testament

Speaking of N.T. Wright, I just ran across a link to one of my favorite articles by him:

Jerusalem in the New Testament

Enjoy.

N.T. Wright's Writing Routine

From an interview by Frank Viola:


Frank: You are one of the most prolific authors of our time. Talk about your writing routines. What does a normal day and week look like in your writing?

N.T. Wright: Sadly there is no such thing as a ‘normal day and week’. I wish there was but life isn’t like that. There is teaching, grandchildren, chickens to feed and clean out, shopping, examining Ph D theses, and all the other fun of family and academic life. But, left to myself (as has happened all too rarely!), I get up very early (5ish), say my prayers, have breakfast, and ideally am at the desk by about 6.30 or 7. Then I can have a really good morning before a late lunch, perhaps a walk, then back to work mid-afternoon, with supper around 7.30, read something for an hour or two, prayers and bed by 10.30 or 11.

However even within this (highly idealized) scenario, sometimes the ‘work’ will consist of simply writing, as fast as I can; sometimes of reading, slowly and carefully, a major new commentary or monograph; sometimes of a mixture of the two plus combing through journals, reviews, online materials … of all of these I prefer the writing task, because of the sheer joy of words and language and the delight in finding a creative way of saying something. The week in my life which most nearly corresponds to the ideal was the week, in spring 2006, when I wrote Acts for Everyone. I began it on a Saturday, had most of the Sunday off, and finished it in the small hours of the following Sunday. I have no idea how many thousand words that was but all I had to do was to sit down and the desk and turn on the tap. It was exhilarating.