Kerygma and "what really happened"

My dialogue with John Poirier on the nature of Hans Frei's proposal goes on unabated here. In my opinion, the issue turns on the nature of the gospel, i.e. the ultimate referent or subject of the Bible. I took an hour to write a response so I'll just post an interesting quote by Hermann Diem on the relevance of history as "what actually happened" to the authors of the Gospels (I intend to start posting on "the literal sense of scripture" soon).

There can be no question that in their preaching the New Testament authors thought that they were also reporting historical facts. The question can only be whether they had any interest in the historical fact as such, and apart from its proclamation as an element of the Gospel story. (122)

There should further be agreement about that fact that the NT authors, in spite of their lack of interest in the historical issue as we have formulated it, are in the highest degree concerned about the actual happening of the history of Jesus which they proclaim. [This may seem contradictory to us, but not for the NT authors and this for an intrinsic reason:] What they preach is a history which by its very essence does not permit a mere scientific apprehension. Of course it is a history which runs its course in this world and therefore at every stage includes facts which essentially are more or less capable of being historically established also. But such mere historical-scientific appreciation would in any case fail to do justice to the essential import of this history. For this history requires from the hearer of its evangelical presentation, instead of the mere apprehension of facts, not only, as we like to say since Kiergegaard, a personal decision between scandalisation and faith (for this would not get to grips with the essential point), but rather it requires from the hearer faith that in this history a decision has been made affecting himself personally and his whole personal destiny. To believe in the message it announces means to become a disciple of Christ, which means that we live by the faith that we too are crucified and risen again with Christ. To miss the import of the history of JC, means therefore to miss also one's whole personal significance and destiny.We may fail to appreciate this history by not believing in the evangelical message it affords, for the history cannot make its impact on us except through the preaching of this Jesus who discloses and authenticates Himself in the gospel He declares. (125, 6)

Hermann Diem, Dogmatics (London: Oliver & Boyd, 1959)

Shin Bet Have a blog

According to this BBC article, the Israeli secret service agency has set up its own blog.

The agents discuss how they were recruited, and what sort of work they perform; they also answer questions sent in by members of the public.

A Shin Bet official told the BBC that the idea was to inform the public that the agency offers work beyond just stopping Palestinian paramilitary attacks.
The official said that the agency had been cheered by the feedback from members of the Israeli public - keen to find out more about the jobs within Shin Bet, the pay and even the food.

I'll have to work on my modern Hebrew a bit to figure out what they're talking about!

A Slideshow History of Zionism

SlideShare src="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/logo_embd.png"> View Upload your own

I came across this on Kumah: The Neo-Zionist Überblog. Despite the fact that I do not know what an Überblog is (something like the Übermensch?) I'd like to say, for the sake of posterity, that I am not a "Christian Zionist" (neither is this blog).That aside, I find Israel, Zionsim, and contemporary Judaism to be exceedingly fascinating and so am delighted that some software company has developed "Slideshare," which in turn allows one to view funky powerpoint presentations of such fascinating topics as the one I've posted above.

A Conversation on Hans Frei, meaning and truth

I've spent a bit of time responding to John and Michael's comments on my post Hans Frei and Textual Referentiality, so nothing new today. Give it a peek if you're interested.

I should point out that Chris Tilling has started a small and beautiful series on Hauerwas' newly published Prayers Plainly Spoken. My favourite is this one. Ouch. It's so true.

A New Scripture and Theology Blog

Daniel Driver links to an exciting new Scripture and Theology blog. The rate of posting averages at about one a week but it looks as if it should become a valuable resource to all those wanting to enter into and keep up to date with the area of theological exegesis.

Here's a little of what they have to say about themselves:

Scripture & Theology is a new e-magazine dedicated to the relationship between biblical interpretation and the articulation of church doctrine. It exists by and for teachers of the church, which is to say, theologian-exegetes and exegetical theologians whether in academics, ministry, or the laity. The editors welcome all readers, and what is more, we invite your active participation.

You can contribute you own posts if you wish, thought it will have to be checked by the editors first. Here are some of the genres they are looking for:

- Book reviews
- Journal reviews (”What’s worth reading in …”)
- Theological exegesis
- Theological meditation on scripture (for an example of this, see R.R. Reno’s meditation on Genesis 23:2 and death)
- Noticing and analyzing trends in this area
- Engagements with historical and contemporary doctors (teachers) of the church
- Announcements of conferences or calls for papers on this topic

Oh, the endless crucifixion ...

I'm finally back from my Easter holidays, though I have to admit that they weren't very "Eastery." Given that the categories "tradition" and "liturgy" play a significant role in my attempt to work out a theological hermeneutic, they play a surprisingly small role in my day to day spiritual life. Which I'm not necessarily content with - it's just the way fate has shaped my current context.

Having said that, I think I can say that one part of the actual Easter Sunday liturgy of my parents' Anglican church spoke to me in a personal way. In the midst of my otherwise distracted thoughts, the repeated response to the intercession remained echoing in my head long after the service:

Living Lord Jesus,

Bring life out of death.

That evening I had a heated discussion with my wife about a particular negative characteristic of mine which I've at best only registered intuitively. I've known that something is wrong, that it's damaging me and the people I know, but it's become so natural to me that I do it as a matter of habit. This destructive attitude has become part of my identity, part of the way I conceive myself, my history and my world. Recognising it, admitting to it hurts. It took a while, yet after persistent discussion and the patience of both partners I had to sink on my bed and recognize that a part of me was wrong and had to die. I've had to do this dying thing quite a lot (or at least it feels like it) and it sucks. It's akin to having the ground ripped from under your feet to be left dangling in a cold void.

And as I lay there struggling to come to terms with this the words in bold above reverberated through my head. At first it was my own petition. As so often in the past this petition can feel like crying out into space. But I then learnt, as on other occasions, that God really is a God of life, and that all the dying we need to go through is just part of the process of getting somewhere else. He's good and faithful like he says he is and somehow - I don't know how he manages it - he turns up at the right time to gently heal us and push us on. He's the great Gardner who's yearning to pour water into the wilderness in order for it to bloom. I guess we just have to learn what the wildnerness is before anything can grow there.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

but joy comes with the morning.

Psalm 30:5

UPDATE:

I've just read a brilliant post by Halden of inhabitio dei on a Christological reading of the Psalms. He used Psalm 30 as an example. I wonder if it's true that just as we are "in" Christ, so we can become "in" David, making his Psalms our own.

Toolbar for Bibles, Bibliographies, Articles, Dictionaries, Blogs, News etc. etc.

First of all, apologies for the lack of posting lately. I'm in England with the family and have rather a lot of visiting and travelling to do. Thanks for the comments here. I will get back to you! Luckily I pre-made some posts to tide me over, so here's my small contribution for today:

Thanks to Jim West for pointing out a very useful "techno-geekish" innovation from Tyndale House. David Instone-Brewer has put together a toolbar which is great for those who spend their days looking up bits of Bible, comparing translations, reading the original, reading obscure dead languages, and searching for articles and bibliographies. Go here to read about it. Click on the top image to download it. This new gadget has certainly made my life easier!

I'm on the Road

so I will start posting more regularly from Monday. I'm currently in London visiting a friend (and the reconstructed Globe theatre, which is fantastic!) and on Friday I'm off to the parents in Taunton, Somerset, to celebrate Easter. My dad tends to hog the computer but in between I should be able to make the odd post of deep theological profundity!

In the meantime, I'm delighted to see that the goodly John Poirier has posted a critical response to my post on Hans Frei and Textual Referentality. I haven't had time to read it yet but look forward the ensuing conversation (I should add that the second post in the series is here).

I'm Being Published!

Which is great news - for me at least! It's my first publication and is an article summarizing Childs' canonical approach. It will appear in the Princeton Theological Review this Spring. Many thanks to Timothy Goering for putting me on to this, and of course to David Congdon and his editorial team for working through the mountain of stylistic errors! I've since read the SBL handbook of style (the student supplement is here) and can promise all future publishers that as of now I will stick to the rules in order to make their lives infinitely easier!