Not a US Problem

Here’s the problem in South Korea. Students studying too much. I’m not too worried about this at my school.

This is Cool!

The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls. Considering the history and secrecy about these scrolls early on, it’s great they are finally available more widely.

The OT Law

Here’s Michael Horton’s response to the internet open letter to Dr. Laura that has been running around in various forms for a number of years. The basic point is sound, though I’ve never been convinced that the civil, ceremonial and moral law were quite so neatly divisible. His larger point – that we should have a better answer than Dr. Laura when we talk about this things – is sufficiently important to justify calling attention to this old refrain.

Fundamentalisms

The pope’s recent address to Lutherans was certainly interesting in its emphasis on how Christians should focus on common beliefs. I especially thought this element of the speech was interesting:

The Pope said this common witness of the Gospel had been made more difficult by the rise of fundamentalist Christian groups that were spreading with “overpowering missionary dynamism, sometimes in frightening ways”, leaving mainstream Christian denominations at a loss.

“This is a form of Christianity with little institutional depth, little rationality and even less dogmatic content, and little stability. This worldwide phenomenon poses a question to us all: what is this new form of Christianity saying to us – for better and for worse?” he said.

I’m not as bothered by mainstream denominations being at a loss (that’s mostly there fault) but the lack of institutional depth and dogmatic content are genuine issues.

Credentialing

One threat to higher education is alternative credentialing mechanisms. That might make us think differently…

Inerrancy Debates

It seems the issue is back. It is back with a vengeance in this discussion of Michale Licona’s recent book on the resurrection of Jesus. Al Mohler, while appreciative of much of the work in the book is disturbed by the relegation of some of the events in the gospels (especially the resurrections that Matthew says accompanied the crucifixion) to the realm of “poetic language or legend.” In many ways this is similar to the issues raised with Robert Gundry’s expulsion from the ETS a number of years ago.

It’s not the only book since Gundry to make claims which seem incompatible with the way most understand inerrancy. Graham Twelftree’s Jesus the Miracle Worker has some discussion of redactional elements that caused my eyebrows to arch a bit back in the day (see for example how he explains the doublets in the gospels). But given Licona’s Southern Baptist identity, the sparks are sure to fly.

Inerrancy (and its boundaries) and the historical Adam will be two of the issues we can expect to be discussed in the next few months in the evangelical world.

Advice to College Students

Here’s a pretty good message to college students. I especially like this bit:

Education is about finding out what form of work for you is close to being play—work you do so easily that it restores you as you go. Randall Jarrell once said that if he were a rich man, he would pay money to teach poetry to students. (I would, too, for what it’s worth.) In saying that, he (like my father) hinted in the direction of a profound and true theory of learning.

MLK on Theology

Here’s an interesting window into the theological thinking of Martin Luther King, Jr. That certainly isn’t the only basis on which to judge his life. But is is an interesting thing.

The Bible College Life (c. 1976)

For those who have trouble imagining the culture and sensibilities of a forgone age, I’d suggest a look at this. My alma mater produced this movie the year before I transferred there. Never the Same tells the story of another transfer student. My story wasn’t so dramatic, but I lived in that world and it was interesting to see all the familiar places and faces again. A piece of cultural history. Though the transferal to youtube isn’t great, the quality of the production (given the age of the film and the financial limits it was undoubtedly produced under) is not all that bad. Enjoy – and thanks to my friend Randy for making this available!

Moral Pledges and Intellectual Freedom

Harvard makes some interesting demands on its new students. Doesn’t seem like a positive step.