Some Good Reading on the Net
Author: Bobby Valentine | Filed under: Christian hope, Contemporary Ethics, eschatology, Exegesis, Hermeneutics, Ministry, Mission, Preaching, War -PeaceMaterial Worthy of Your Attention
“Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2.15, ASV)
I wanted to pass on two links to my friends and family out in cyberspace for two excellent articles. By excellent I do not mean that they are 100% correct (though they may be) or that I agree with them 100% either. But they are both great reads for thinking through two very important subjects related to our understanding of the Scriptures and our walk in this life.
The first article is called “Just War and the New Community:The Witness of the Old Testament for Christians Today” by Gordon Brubacher in the Princeton Theological Review {fall 2006}. This article is most easily read by copying it and pasting it on some paper and printing it out. But I can assure you that you will be challenged in reading this article. From my point of view I am deeply sympathetic to Brubacher’s argument. I have long argued that many abuse the war texts in the Hebrew Bible through shoddy hermeneutics. Dr. Brubacher, I am sure, has not answered all the questions but he has made a good faith effort to wrestle with the issue rather than make mere assertions.
The other article is by J. Richard Middleton called “A New Heaven and a New Earth: A Case for Holistic Reading of the Story of Redemption” published in the Journal for Christian Research (2006). Middleton’s piece is very well done and there is little that I can disagree with. I wish I had read it before I did my series on heaven … it would have saved me a great deal of effort.
Both of these articles are nothing short of stimulating and conducive to serious thinking and reflection on reading and interpreting the Bible. I commend them both to you for your enjoyment.
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
PaLO VErde Church of Christ
Tucson, AZ
September 4th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Thanks Bobby.
September 5th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Definitely thanks. I’m looking forward to reading them.
September 5th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I’m already excited about the Just War article. There’s a discussion percolating on Tim Archer’s blog that might interest anyone who is concerned about these matters. We haven’t gotten to the topic of Just War YET, but we will. Right now we’re talking about the paradigm that shapes our gut response to the question.
in HIS love,
Nick
September 5th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Both were excellent articles. Thanks for passing them along.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:55 am
I wish I had more time to analyze these articles. I’ll try to take more time (if I can find it) in the next few days to study the second, since I will probably agree with most of what is said in the first. I’ll file the first away for later reference.
I did take time to glance over the second, and there are so many new notions there, that they are hard to digest. A few thoughts do come to my mind:
* What about the biblical concept that we are pilgrims and strangers on this earth (1 Peter 2:11; Heb. 11:13)? This seems to be in conflict with the idea that this earth is our eternal home.
* It seems as I scanned over the article, that the author lightly brushes aside texts such as 1 Peter 1:4, Revelation 7:8 (looks like the righteous there are in heaven), 2 Corinthians 5:1ff, etc.
I’ll try to grab some time to look deeper into this.