Blog Archives
Flotsam and jetsam (11/15)
The Perspectives in Translation blog has started its series on translating 1 Tim 2:12 and the question of “authority”. Denny Burk is first up with his argument that the NIV 2011 gets it badly wrong.
One cannot underestimate the importance of 1 Timothy 2:12 in the intra-evangelical debate over gender roles and women in ministry. There is a reason why countless articles and even an entire book have been written on the interpretation of this single verse. In many ways, this verse is the most disputed text in the debate. It is clear that Paul is prohibiting something, but just what he prohibits has been fiercely contested.
- Sarah Flashing has an excellent post on the subculture of women’s ministry.
The women’s ministry paradigm has been undergoing a subtle but important shift over the last few years. Many evangelical women are now discussing and operating according to an alternative to the emotional, therapeutic, and pretty-in-pink cliché that has dominated for so long, encouraging women to think beyond the contours of the current paradigm and develop a vision for women’s ministry that more actively and intentionally involves the life of the mind. They are identifying and rejecting the experience-driven model as insufficient because without theological substance any impact is merely temporary.
- Allen Yeh comments on Kevlar Theology: or, the Difference between Essentials and Nonessentials.
The solution, as I see it, is what I call “Kevlar theology,” that our theology should be as unbreakable and as elastic as a bulletproof vest.
- Grateful to the Dead has a very helpful post on the sacraments and scaramentality in the Middle Ages.
Sacramentality is the concept that the outward and visible can convey the inward and spiritual. Physical matters and actions can become transparent vehicles of divine activity and presence. In short, sacraments can be God’s love made visible.
Morning links (9/21)
NYT has an article about Deciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome because of the culture of death that typically surrounds the practice. HT
- Here’s an interesting post that actually came out a couple of weeks ago on Why the Church Needs More Christian Women Scholars. The short answer: “because attempts to encourage non-theological thinking have become so widespread in the culture of women’s ministry.” My wife would say “amen” to that.
- Here’s an interview with Michael Horton on the nature of systematic theology.
- Nusery rhymes were a big hit yesterday. It all started with NT Wright reading Humpty Dumpty, and soon we had Bultmann reading Mother Goose.
- Time offers the answers to 10 unanswerable questions.
- HuffPo offers some good links discussing the recent article condemning a number of young adult novels as “soft porn” and calling on them to be banned from public schools.
- And, first there was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Now there is Dick and Jane and Vampires. Where will it end?