Justin Taylor's Blog, page 147

Religion in the American Family in the 1950s

For the majority of us, our knowledge of the American family in the 1950s is almost entirely mediated through popular culture. It’s sometimes hard to understand how the idyllic home life of the Baby Boomers in the 1950s turned into the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960s, though if we know the economy of the gospel, we know that moralism is often the mother of licentiousness.

We still find Christians today, however, pining for the supposed golden age of the 1950s.

D. G. Hart, reviewing Mary Eberstadt’s How the West Really Lost God, makes a helpful point on the religious life of American families in the 1950s:

That post-war family may now be forever tarnished by such maudlin television shows as “Leave It to Beaver” or “Ozzie and Harriet.” Even if those network families did not depict accurately the virtues of white, middle-class, suburban families (who never seemed to go to church), the Christianity of the 1950′s that blessed those families is not one that Eberstadt should use to support her case. For Protestants it was a time of neo-orthodoxy lite—more Niebuhr than Barth—when the American way of life (freedom and democracy)—not faith and repentance or word and sacrament—was synonymous with Protestantism. The situation among Roman Catholics was better but not by much. As Roman Catholics (in the United States at least) left behind their ghettos for suburban parishes, they assimilated American norms in ways that prepared the way for Vatican II’s engagement with the modern world, a posture that significantly undercut rationales for becoming a priest, nun, or monk. Of course, the families of the 1950′s were as responsible for increasing membership in conservative as in liberal churches. But in the case of liberal Christian families, domestic ties could not withstand the baby-boomers loss of faith.

. . . If the family ever becomes more important to the conservative Protestant wing of “family values” voters than the gospel and the Christian ministry, then what happened to 1950′s churches and families could well be the fate of Christian defenders of the family.

The Necessity and Danger of Polemical Theology

D. A. Carson argues that polemical theology is biblical but can also be dangerous.

. . . any robust theology that wounds and heals, that bites and edifies and clarifies, is implicitly or explicitly engaging with alternative stances.

In a world of finite human beings who are absorbed in themselves and characterized by rebellion against God, polemical theology is an unavoidable component of any serious theological stance, as the Bible itself makes clear.

But then he points to the dangers:

Nevertheless there is something wrong-headed about making polemical theology the focus of one’s theological identity.

This can be done in many ways.

There are well-known scholars whose every publication has an undertone of “everyone-has-got-this-wrong-before-me-but-here-is-the-true-synthesis.”

Some become far better known for what they are against than for the overflow of their worship or for their generosity to the needy or even for their affirmation of historically confessed truth.

Still other Christians develop websites and ministries whose sole aim is to confute error. God knows there is plenty of error to confute. To make the refutation of error into a specialized “ministry,” however, is likely to diminish the joyful affirmation of truth and make every affirmation of truth sound angry, supercilious, self-righteous—in a word, polemical.

In short, while polemical theology is just about unavoidable in theory and should not, as a matter of faithfulness, be skirted, one worries about those who make it their specialism.

Carson also makes the point that “polemical theology ought to develop a wide range of ‘tones’”:

Re-read Galatians.

Within the space of six short chapters, Paul can be indignant with his readers, but he can also plead with them. He openly admits he wishes he could be present with them so he could better judge how he should adjust his tone. He can be scathing with respect to his opponents, precisely because he wants to protect his readers; he can devote several paragraphs to clarifying and defending his own credibility, not least in demonstrating that his core gospel is shared by the other apostles, even though he insists he is not dependent on them for getting it right. He happily connects his theological understanding to ethical conduct.

All of this suggests that a mature grasp of the potential of polemical theology wants to win and protect people, not merely win arguments.

You can read the whole thing.

In the Image of Our Devices: How Technologies Shape Our Picture of Human Identity

A lecture by Ken Myers—president and executive producer of Mars Hill Audio—at Hope College (January 14, 2011) on how metaphors of the digital world shape how we think about ourselves and about community:

A Checklist before Talking about Race in the Church

Some wise counsel from Thabiti Anyabwile on things to check before leading a church into a discussion on race and racism:

Check your motive.
Check your strategy.
Check your goal.
Check your timeline.
Check your terms.
Check your theology.
Check your feelings.
Check your competence.

Read the whole thing for his explanation of each of these points. Here’s just one excerpt, under the “check your motive” category:

Are you really zealous about “race” and “racism” or do you feel guilted or embarrassed into discussion?

If the latter, you won’t last and will likely find yourself worse off after attempting to speak or host a forum.

If the former, then be sure to couple your zeal with knowledge. Few people are more destructive than those who have great burning passion but little prayerful, informed knowledge about these issues. Maybe the best place to start isn’t discussion but listening and reading.

 

The Gospel Project Now Available in the ESV

The folks at LifeWay and Crossway are grateful for a new partnership that will now allow adults, students, and kids to access The Gospel Project (curriculum from Lifeway) with the English Standard Version (Bible translation from Crossway).

The two publishers have partnered together to give away 15 Group Starter Kits (worth $100), which include:

ESV Heritage Bible
The Gospel Project Leader Guides
The Gospel Project Personal Study Guides

Here’s a short description of The Gospel Project:

The Gospel Project is a Bible study resource that invites Adults, Students, and Kids of all ages to dive deeply into God’s story of redemption through Jesus Christ. In every lesson, participants are immersed in the gospel and learn how when the gospel works on them, they become a part of the story, too, the very hands and feet in God’s gospel project. The Gospel Project is designed to unify an entire church under a single Christ-centered curriculum. Separate study plans for adults, students, and kids ensure the proper focus and depth for each age group.

Trevin Wax (PhD cand., Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the managing editor of the Gospel Project, and Dane Ortlund (PhD, Wheaton Graduate School) is senior vice president for Bible publishing at Crossway and the managing editor of the ESV Gospel Transformation Bible. They were both kind enough to answer some questions about the partnership and their respective projects

What have you enjoyed most about working on each project? 

Trevin on TGP: Two things stand out for me. The first is the sheer privilege it is to labor over the Word of God and grow in my own understanding as I help fashion tools for leaders and teachers to expound God’s Word to others. I love being in God’s Word, so much of my enjoyment comes from spending so much time in the text.

The other aspect that I’ve enjoyed is getting to work with so many gifted people. From my fellow Gospel Project team members, to the writers we’ve brought in, to the pastors and leaders who love the material. . . . I’ve met many amazing people in the past two years.

Dane on the ESV: There is no greater earthly treasure than the Bible. I get up in the morning and travel four blocks to get to my Crossway office to spend the day helping people around the world have the Bible and theologically responsible, gospel-rich resources on the Bible. All working from a translation that is both accurate and elegant. You kidding me? What privilege.

How has the Church responded to the work? 

Trevin on TGP: We’ve been blessed by the response. We launched last fall with almost 500,000 participants. We believe we’ll surpass that mark this fall as more and more churches begin using the curriculum. When I talk with people using The Gospel Project, I generally hear two things: “Thank you” (they are grateful for Bible study for all ages that intentionally focuses our attention on Christ) and “This is rich” (they enjoy the depth of discussion prompted by the questions).

Dane on the ESV: It is nothing short of remarkable to see the growth of interest in the ESV around the world in the short 12 years it has been in existence. Awana, Child Evangelism Fellowship, and the Gideons have recently adapted the ESV. The ESV Bible is the number one annotated resource on Amazon—that includes not just Bible, and not just Christian books, but all books, period. We at Crossway sit back stunned at what God has done with this faithful, readable translation.

What are some thoughts on The Gospel Project now being available with ESV?

Trevin: I have been a reader of the ESV since it first came out. I appreciate the translation philosophy, the literary aspect of working from within the King James tradition, and the multiple formats the text is available in. It is a terrific translation. For this reason, as LifeWay has multiplied translation options in recent months, I was particularly excited to know that churches using The Gospel Project would now have the option of adopting the ESV as their translation of choice.

Dane: I love LifeWay. I love The Gospel Project. It is therefore a joy to partner with LifeWay by providing the ESV for this important curriculum. I believe strongly not only in the broader mission of LifeWay, but also in The Gospel Project specifically. In a publishing world that is happily seeing an abundance of gospel-rich resources, this is among the best.

How would churches, small groups, individuals benefit from this partnership?

Trevin: Church leaders recognize the value of having people use the same translation of Scripture. If a pastor preaches from the ESV every week, it will be a help to his congregation if their small group curriculum also uses the ESV as its main translation. I pray that pastors and churches will benefit from using the same translation in the pulpit and in the small group every week.

Dane: By having The Gospel Project available in the ESV, believers who use the ESV in daily life don’t need to be switching back and forth between different versions as they now work through The Gospel Project. This partnership therefore helps the church by allowing for continuity between the Bible they read and hear preached on the one hand and the Bible they study through The Gospel Project on the other hand.

10 Basic Facts About the NT Canon that Every Christian Should Memorize

Mike Kruger, author of Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Crossway, 2012) and the forthcoming The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate (IVP, 2013), has a helpful series on the New Testament canon, linked below, “designed to help Christians understand ten basic facts about its origins.  This series is designed for a lay-level audience and hopefully could prove helpful in a conversation one might have with a skeptical friend.”

Here are the posts:

“The New Testament Books are the Earliest Christian Writings We Possess”
“Apocryphal Writings Are All Written in the Second Century or Later”
“The New Testament Books Are Unique Because They Are Apostolic Books”
“Some NT Writers Quote Other NT Writers as Scripture”
“The Four Gospels are Well Established by the End of the Second Century”
“At the End of the Second Century, the Muratorian Fragment lists 22 of Our 27 NT Books”
“Early Christians Often Used Non-Canonical Writings”
“The NT Canon Was Not Decided at Nicea—Nor Any Other Church Council”
“Christians Did Disagree about the Canonicity of Some NT Books”
“Early Christians Believed that Canonical Books Were Self-Authenticating”

An Atheist Chastises Evangelicals Who Don’t Evangelize

A few years ago atheist Penn Jillette, of the magician duo, Penn & Teller, expressed indignation at evangelicals who don’t share their faith, asking, “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

Video, followed by transcript, below:

“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me along and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

The Recycled Orchestra: Playing Instruments Made Out of Trash

The Landfill Harmonic Orchestra in Paraguay:

HT: @drhaykin

Advice for Writers and Researchers: Cultivate Surprise and Stop Stalling

Thomas Kidd points us to this advice from the great (and now late) historian Edmund Morgan (1916-2013). He is referring to historical research, but it can be applied more broadly.

If you have studied any part of history enough to be curious about it, enough to want to do some research, you already are aware of the generally accepted views, the orthodox views, the controversies among the experts in the field, what is taken for granted and what is in dispute. You want to learn a little more about some question, and you go to the source materials that are presumably the foundation of the orthodox views. You come across something that you had not known about, something that surprises you a little. Cultivate that surprise. Do not say to yourself, “Oh, I didn’t know that,” and go on with your reading. Stop right there. Ask yourself, Why did I not know that? Is it contrary to what I had been led to expect? Is it because I did not know enough? Or is it because the people who crafted the orthodox interpretations did not know enough? Or perhaps their angle of vision was limited by what came before. . . .

I could cite . . . examples of cultivating surprise from most of the books I have written. But I want to offer a couple of other pieces of advice.

First, and probably most idiosyncratic, try to forget philosophies of history and theories of historical causation: Marxist, Straussian, postmodern, or whatever. You probably have one, conscious or unconscious, but try not to let it get in your way. Cultivate that surprise when the documents don’t seem to support your views.

Next, try to keep your research and your writing together. Don’t wait until you think you have entirely completed your research before beginning to write. As soon as you begin to see connections between things that you had not noticed before, start writing what you think you have found out about them, even if these writings seem fragmentary. Don’t get too systematic. Don’t make elaborate outlines with headings and subheadings. Don’t spend a lot of time arranging your notes. Stop stalling and start writing.

Packer on Three Ways God Inspired the Biblical Authors

In a very helpful essay on “The Adequacy of Human Language” J. I. Packer says that Jeremiah 1:9 (“I have put my words in your mouth”) provides the “theological paradigm” of what is involved in inspiration: “God causes His message to enter into a man’s mind, by psychological process that are in part opaque to us, so that the man may then faithfully relay the message to others.”

He points out that inspiration took different psychological forms for different writers at different times:

The dualistic inspiration of prophets and seers produced in them a sustained awareness of the distinction between their own thoughts and the visions and specific messages that God gave them.

This is psychologically different from the state of mind resulting from the didactic inspiration of the biblical historians, wisdom teachers, and New Testament apostles. For them the effect of inspiration was that after observation, research, reflection, and pray they knew just what they should say in God’s name, as witnesses and interpreters of His work.

Also, it is psychologically different from the lyric inspiration of the poets, who write the Psalms and the Song of Songs in responsive celebration of what they had come to know of God’s goodness in creation, providence, and redemption. Subjectively, as all versifiers and hymn writers know, the experience of a poem “coming on” (cf. Pss. 39:3; 45:1), of its gradually taking form in consciousness, differs both from the way in which an oracle is received and from the way didactic certainty is given.

But—and this is the point to note—in the Bible writers’ view, which almost all the church shared from apostolic days until quite recently, the theological reality of inspiration is the same in each case. God so controlled the process of communication to and through His servants that, in the last analysis, He is the source and speaker not merely of biblical prophecy but also of biblical history, wisdom, and doctrine, and also of the poems, whose giant-size delineations of adoration and devotion set worshipers of every age a standard for what their own praise and prayer should be. . . .

Whether spoken viva voce or written, and whether dualistic or didactic or lyric in its psychological mode, inspiration—that divine combination of prompting and control that secures precise communication of God’s mind by God’s messenger—remains theologically the same thing.

—J. I. Packer, “The Adequacy of Human Language,” in Inerrancy, ed. Normal L. Geisler (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1980), pp. 198, 199; emphasis added.

You can find a helpful outline summary of Packer’s article here.