Flotsam and jetsam (9/2)

I’ve been out of town for a while, so I haven’t posted many links in the last couple of days. Here are some of the more interesting ones, just in case you missed them.

• Phillip Clayton discusses “Big Tent Christianity” (aka emerging church).
• Sheffield Biblical Studies has started a new blog. (HT)
• William Black discusses the Trinity in evangelical and Orthodox thought.
• The most recent 9Marks ejournal focuses on Hell: Remembering the Awful Reality.
• Brian offered a nice roundup of links on the controversy between Al Mohler and BioLogos.
• Michael Patton deals with the professional weaker Christian.
• Nick explains (again) why he thinks perichoresis has nothing to do with dancing.
• James McGrath offers a nice set of links dealing with online scholarship.
• And, here’s a reading list for new science fictions readers.

Flotsam and jetsam (8/25)

• Denny Burk points out that Al Mohler’s convocation address at Southern Seminary is available online.  In the address titled “Which Way to the Future? Southern Baptists, Southern Seminary, and the Future of the Evangelical Movement in America” (audio here) Mohler calls on Southern Baptists to lead a conservative resurgence in evangelicalism similar to the one the SBC itself went through in the 80s and 90s.
• Brian follows up on his post about the reference to Quirinius in Luke 2:2 with a resounding “Hmmm, that’s a tough one.” (Actually, he gives a nice summary of key arguments on both sides.)
• Nick links to a lecture by Simon Gathercole on Christ’s pre-existence and several other resources on the topic.
• James McGrath offers a resource for assessing the credibility of a source.
• Kaplan is giving away free ebook study guides for tests like the ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, and MCAT to anyone who uses an iPad, iPhone, or iPod.
• A woman suspected of throwing away a live cat has been placed under police protection because of threats to her life after a video of her dastardly deed was posted on YouTube. If only people would be so outraged when we abuse one another.
• The “Old Spice Guy” has now landed himself an Emmy, along with guest spots in two movies and an upcoming episode of Chuck. Many, I wish I smelled like Old Spice Guy.

The creation debate continues, and continues, and…

It never stops, does  it? The most recent hurrah developed around Al Mohler’s speech at this year’s Ligonier conference, “Why Does the Universe Look So Old?“, in which he unsurprisingly argues for a young earth, 24-hour day view of creation. Apparently he sees this as the only view that takes scripture seriously – i.e. it doesn’t try to “bend” scripture to fit science or cultural preconceptions.

The folks over at BioLogos responded by initiating a discussion on the subject, one that has generated quite a bit of comment so far.

• Karl Giberson offered three questions that he would like to see Mohler respond to in more depth. Actually, this felt like one of those posts where the “questions” are really a platform for pointing out where you think the other person is wrong. But, it was still interesting.
• Today, Peter Enns weighed in arguing that both the new atheists and the traditional creationists make the mistake of viewing Scripture as claiming to be scientifically accurate. Instead, he contends that we need to see them as ancient “fictional” narratives about who created everything, rather than “scientific” accounts of how they were created.

No wanting to be left out of the discussion, Scot McKnight offers some thoughts of his own. He’s particularly concerned about the tenor of Mohler’s speech, criticizing him for making this a battle rather than a conversation.

And, on a related note, Huffpo’s new Religion and Science discussion continues with Clay Naff’s rather unhelpful post arguing that we need to reject both the traditional view of an all-powerful God creating the universe (in any way), or the growingly popular secular notion that ours is just one of many possible universes. Instead, he argues that he most intellectually viable position is that a limited being created everything through an evolutionary process.

Flotsam and jetsam (6/27)

• InternetMonk has weighed in on the the recent discussions regarding BioLogos and evolution. He argues that we should affirm the overall mission of BioLogos regardless of whether we should agree with their stance. And he takes Al Mohler, John MacArthur, and Phil Johnson to task for what he thinks is a reactionary and unnecessarily polemical response to BioLogos
• Brian posted a couple of good quotes from Forsyth and Warfield on why academic study should be viewed as a spiritual practice.
• Richard Beck has a post on George MacDonald’s view of justice, hell, and the atonement, and why MacDonald’s argument convinced him to be a universalist. I may post a more extended reflection on this one later if I get some time.
• Apparently Kevin Costner’s oil cleanup idea wasn’t as much of a joke as it sounded at first.
• And, the 2010 Lotus Award winners (science fiction) have been announced. I haven’t read any of these yet. Has anyone else?