Theology Central
Theology Central exists as a place of conversation and information for faculty and friends of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Posts include seminary news, information, and opinion pieces about ministry, theology, and scholarship.President Trump Wants to End NEA, NEH
The Washington Post reports that as part of his budget-cutting measures, President Trump wants to pull the plug on the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He also wants to privatize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
As it happens, I love art and I love the humanities. In fact, I make my living in the humanities. On my view, the NEA, NEH, and CPB do more damage than they do good. Pulling the plug is just fine with me.
A Lesson in Biblical Application
Preaching at a pre-inauguration service, Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas had this to say:
When I think of you, President-elect Trump, I am reminded of another great leader God chose thousands of years ago in Israel. The nation had been in bondage for decades, the infrastructure of the country was in shambles, and God raised up a powerful leader to restore the nation. And the man God chose was neither a politician nor a priest. Instead, God chose a builder whose name was Nehemiah.
And the first step of rebuilding the nation was the building of a great wall. God instructed Nehemiah to build a wall around Jerusalem to protect its citizens from enemy attack. You see, God is NOT against building walls!
No comment seems necessary.
Netanyahu Invited to Washington
One of President Trump’s first official acts has been to invite Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington. Read the story and the agenda at Israel Hayom.
Peaceful Protest? No Way!
Sojourners worries that “Peaceful Protests Could Be Criminalized In Several U.S. States.” The protests they’re talking about are mobs that block streets and highways. That behavior is not protest, it is extortion. Since one of the states is Minnesota, I think it’s time to write my legislators. This sounds like a good law.
The Grave of Stonewall Jackson’s Arm
Yes, it’s true. The amputated arm received its own burial and marker. Read the story at Atlas Obscura. Incidentally, Stonewall Jackson was a devout believer. It’ll be interesting to know what happens to his arm at the resurrection.
Why the Trinity?
Somehow, right at the beginning of the church, the exclusive loyalty and worship demanded by God alone in the Old Testament was assumed to be upheld and not violated by worship offered to Jesus. For all the diversity we can discover in early Christian communities — and it is great — on this point they are remarkably united. Moreover, this commitment to worshiping Jesus is present and fully formed from the beginning, or at least from as early as we can know. The church knew from its birth, it seems, that offering worship to Jesus is not incompatible with exclusive loyalty to God. The doctrine of the Trinity is a set of conceptual distinctions and definitions that offer a theological account of the divine life that made sense of these primitive practices of worship.
Holmes, Stephen R., “Classical Trinity: Evangelical Perspective,” in Jason S. Sexton (ed), Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) (p. 33). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Alexander’s Counsel for the Lord’s Day
Avoid undue rigour, and Pharisaic scrupulosity, for nothing renders the Lord’s day more odious. Still keep in view the great end of its institution; and remember that the sabbath was instituted for the benefit of man, and not to be a galling yoke. The cessation from worldly business and labour is not for its own sake, as if there was any thing morally good in inaction, but we are called off from secular pursuits on this day, that we may have a portion of our time to devote uninterruptedly to the worship of God Let every thing then be so arranged in your household, beforehand, that there may be no interruption to religious duties, and to attendance on the means of grace.
Archibald Alexander, A Brief Compend of Bible Truth, 191-192.
Calm
While it advertises itself as a “meditation app,” this site is actually good for a few moments of escape and relaxation. Turn up your speakers.
This Week’s Nick
This week’s In the Nick of Time is “I’m Changing the Way I Teach Eschatology” by Kevin T. Bauder. Read it here.
A Tale of Nearly Any Two Cities
Here’s a neat tool called City-Compare that lets you compare all sorts of information for two cities. I grew up north of Detroit: it’s interesting to see how Detroit compares to my current home, Minneapolis. Try it with two cities you’re interested in.
David Oestreich with the Lord
David Oestreich passed away on Wednesday after a brief stay in the hospital. A resident of northwestern Ohio, Oestreich was still a young man with a young family. He was one of the most important voices of his generation for conservative Christianity. A poet, critic, and essayist, he contributed many works to Religious Affections ministries. We extend our sympathy to David’s family.
Lee Irons vs Kevin Giles
Those who are interested in the current trinitarian debates will want to take a look at a blog post by Lee Irons with a response by Kevin Giles. The issue is whether monogenes means only begotten or unique. Interesting stuff, though Giles thinks that Irons isn’t being quite fair.
For what it’s worth, the debate has driven me, at least, to study the Trinity in far more detail than I have before. And the study is enriching.
Cosmophagy by David Oestreich
Cosmophagy is a book of nature poems by David Oestreich. Here’s the blurb on the jacket:
If you sit up at night thinking about leaves realizing “they’re each alone / and out on a limb,” or wait for “each day to be sliced in half” – even if you don’t admit you do – David Oestreich is your poet. Like Thoreau, he begins by turning to nature; like Whitman, he sees every plant, every animal (even the newly-departed) as a brother. COSMOPHAGY is a love song to the earth, to language, and to you. Come. Listen. The voice you hear may speak to your own. | Benjamin Myers, Oklahoma State Poet Laureate and author of LAPSE AMERICANA, says: “With a sensibility deeper than the merely contemporary, David Oestreich is writing in the company of Herbert, Hopkins, and a great cloud of witnesses. These poems insist on the meaningfulness of creation, on the full weight of the logos, and they do so with romantic energy and classical wisdom. Here you will find that rare treasure: poems for those in love not just with language but also with the world residing just beyond language’s reach.”
You can order Cosmophagy at Amazon.
Religious Agendas for President Trump
A bunch of religious leaders want to help shape President Trump’s agenda for religion. Religion Clause offers a listing.
A Battle with Traffic Cameras
Adam McCleod is a law professor. After being ticketed (wrongly) by a traffic camera, he fought the accusation, eventually securing vindication in court–and spending more than the cost of the ticket. Here he offers his views on the constitutionality of the criminal-civil proceeding initiated by a machine operated by a distant contractor in the absence of witnesses.
Incidentally, for everything that’s wrong with Minnesota, this is one thing that the state does right: traffic cameras are illegal.
Rising Stars of “Progressive Christianity”
“Progressive” is a close synonym for “liberal.” Here Chelsen Vicari lists three names that are becoming prominent in (politically and socially) progressive Christianity. She promises more names to come.
[Link Repaired]
Do You Want to BE Someone or DO Something?
Brett and Kate McKay offer reflections from the life of Air Force Colonel John Boyd. This is not a Christian document, but it offers advice that ministers of Christ might well apply to their own situations.
Research has shown time and time again that kids of our modern age aspire for what’s perceived as a more glamorous life than one of service and lasting legacy. In fact, the top three career aspirations of today’s 5- to 11-year-olds are sports star, music star, and actor. Just 25 years ago, that same survey turned up teacher, doctor, and banker. Young people want to be recognized, to be famous, and very early on pick up the fact that the path to celebrity (not to mention government service) largely involves telling people what they want to hear — packaging up what’s already popular and selling it back. For it’s not just the military that prizes the status quo; while society is supposedly more tolerant than ever, any nail that pops up from the mainstream very quickly gets hammered down. In our digital age, the righteous online mob can quickly mobilize and silence any opinion considered aberrant. The result is a chilling effect where people have to watch every word they say lest it be publicly trounced upon.
A. J. Conyers on Judging and Not Judging
Touchstone Magazine republishes “An Address to Seminary Students on the Forsaken Art of Christian Judgment.”
We have a similar problem here. The passage only says to “never make judgments” if we abruptly stop reading before the passage has finished the thought. What the passage does say is that there is an irrevocable connection between judging others and the judgment we ourselves receive. The order of judging oneself before judging others is important. First take the log out of your own eye, in order that you might remove the speck that is in your neighbor’s eye. Reading the whole passage, we see that it does not forbid us from judging, or making judgments, but instead counsels us not to judge if we are not willing to stand under judgment, based upon the same standards by which we judge. Far from forbidding moral judgment, it tells us the conditions under which judgment might take place.
Archbishop of Canterbury to Express Remorse
During the English Reformation Catholics burned Anglicans and Anglicans burned Catholics. Now the Archbishop of Canterbury has decided it’s time to express remorse. Apparently, plenty of people in the UK find this gesture pretty ridiculous.
Perhaps it’s time for Baptists to express regret for all the heretics that they whipped, jailed, and burned during the times their churches controlled the state. Oh, wait–there weren’t any. Never mind.
Trump Aide Withdraws after Plagiarism Accusation
Wow. We’ve had a spate of these over the last few years. Now it’s Monica Crowley who is being accused of plagiarizing parts of a book and her doctoral dissertation. See the story at the Chronicle of Higher Education.
APPLICATION & AID