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A non-believer's lament...

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The Lost World of Genesis One - John H. Walton

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Chiasm and inclusio

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Guerrilla Worship - Liverpool Flash Mob

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eschatology

The word eschatology refers to the study of the 'last things' - traditionally death, judgment, heaven, and hell. What do we need to say about these things in an emerging church context?

Surprised by Tom Wright - a review of Surprised by Hope

Knowing I would have a few hours to spare here and there on a recent visit to Rovaniemi, just outside the Finnish Arctic Circle (setting of the Sauna episodes in The Demise of Sir Toby’s), I took Tom Wright’s Surprised by Hope with me. I had bought the book some time ago, but irritated by a remark I thought I had seen somewhere that this book made Wright the C.S. Lewis of the 21st century, I put the book down, having skim-read it, thinking ‘Oh no he isn’t!’. I must have been mistaken about the book. Surprised by Hope is midway between popular and academic theology (I’ve yet to read Wright’s ‘popular’ books), and apologetics it isn’t. Rather, as the title suggests, it is a fresh look at the resurrection, and the nature of Christian hope. I became more enthralled the more I read, finishing the book quickly, and returning to read parts of it more slowly.

The future of the New Testament and the Sibylline Oracles

My argument in both The Coming of the Son of Man and Re: Mission is that New Testament eschatology – that is, the interest that the New Testament has in future events – can for the most part be mapped against a historical narrative that interprets, first, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70 and, secondly, the eventual defeat of Greek-Roman paganism as critical events through which both YHWH and the early suffering church are justified and vindicated. This two-part vindication constitutes, in effect, the parousia event, when the church that has remained faithful to Christ under intense pressure, both from apostate Judaism and from paganism, will be rewarded – raised, exalted with Christ to reign with him throughout the coming ages.

A Response to Andrew's Questions on Resurrection

A few days ago Andrew Perriman posted a sort of review and a list of comments regarding Kevin Beck’s book titled This Book Will Change Your World.  In response to my comments, Andrew also had a couple of questions about the resurrection, especially about 1 Thes. 4 and 1 Cor. 15.  This is a response to the questions Andrew raised about the resurrection, not just recently but also in the past.   Hundreds of pages can be written on these two passages, and I am hoping that however inadequate of a response, Andrew together with the readers of Open Source Theology will enjoy these arguments and interact in a constructive and meaningful way.

Creation care as a rule of life

Andrew’s commentary on Lovelock’s upcoming book delves into an important question about the church’s response to this and other prognosticators who are forecasting gloom and doom scenarios. Given that creation care is so close to my heart, I am mulling over what sort of response I ought to choose in the face of all the bad eco news (which, of course, gets merged with all the general bad news the media spews out to further heighten our collective anxiety). For what it’s worth, here’s some perspectives/actions that I tend to employ to self-sooth and not capitulate to feelings of helplessness…

Global warming, storm warnings, and the future of the church

James Lovelock argues in The Vanishing Face of Gaia - to be published in the UK on 26th February - that the earth is suffering from a terrible and probably incurable sickness caused by human industrial and agricultural activity, that the various therapeutic technologies and practices currently being developed offer at best an illusory hope of saving the planet and at worst are likely to exacerbate the problem, and that politicians should abandon the effort to avert the crisis and instead set their minds to the challenge of living with the devastating consequences of climate change. Indeed, 'living' may barely be an option: 'I am not a willing Cassandra,' he writes, 'and in the past have been publicly sceptical about doom stories, but this time we do have to take seriously the possibility that global heating may all but eliminate people from the Earth.'

Jesus as the Tree of Life

Preterism and Emergent Eschatology

Andrew Perriman was recently interviewed about his views on eschatology ("endtimes").  During the interview it became apparent that the interviewer was constantly trying to associate Andrew’s views with his own.  By the end of the interview, Andrew appeared to be a little annoyed with the interviewer’s constant appeal to his own sectarian views.

New heaven and new earth on the ultimate day of the Lord

Here is something else from my book (The Antichrist and the Second Coming). It continues the post that I put up earlier on the burning of the Land. As I see it, Revelation 21-22 is talking about the same thing as Isaiah 65-66: The destruction of the old covenant order at the full establishment of the new covenant order

What would Jesus do to the planet?

I followed a trail from Kurt’s user biography here on Open Source Theology to his blog to some reflections by John MacArthur on the ultimate futility of environmentalist activism:

The environmental movement is consumed with trying to preserve the planet forever. But we know that isn’t in God’s plan.

The earth we inhabit is not a permanent planet. It is, frankly, a disposable planet - it is going to have a very short life. It’s been around six thousand years or so - that’s all - and it may last a few thousand more. And then the Lord is going to destroy it.

I’ve told environmentalists that if they think humanity is wrecking the planet, wait until they see what Jesus does to it. Peter says God is going to literally turn it in on itself in an atomic implosion so that the whole universe goes out of existence (2 Peter 3:7-13).

What can an emerging theology learn from preterism?

Duncan’s post on the narrative of Revelation has sparked an interesting dispute about the relationship between an emerging theology and preterism. Since the conversation isn’t directly relevant to the post, I wonder if we might explore its implications separately. It’s an opportunity to think a bit about what we mean by an emerging theology and how we might negotiate the boundaries between different dogmatic traditions as well as between modern and postmodern ways of thinking.

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