Last Top 25 Reminder

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Please get me or Matt Dabbs your statistics so we can generate an updated, accurate ranking of progressive Church of Christ blogs. We are well into the process and have already learned a lot. For example —

* Alexa rankings can be WAY wrong. So can Google Page Ranks. Even if you average a bunch of these indicators together, the results have a very low correlation with reality. Continue reading →

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The Fork in the Road: Things That Perish With Using

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Robert Prater asked,

Would you refute the view advocated by Ferguson and Hicks that the early church’s nonuse of IM is that instruments were a divinely prescribed part of temple worship that was superseded by the “higher worship instituted by Christ?”

Surely isn’t that enough authority for us to follow in just singing as the early church were instructed and practiced??

I’d like to consider what the scriptures say about our “higher” worship. We start with a favorite proof text of the conservative Churches of Christ — Continue reading →

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The Cruciform God: A Light on a Hill

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Jay F Guin

We’re continuing our study of Michael J. Gorman’s Inhabiting the Cruciform God. We are now well-beyond the book, but continuing to explore its implications.

A light on a hill

Turn with me to the Sermon on the Mount. Continue reading →

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N. T. Wright’s After You Believe: A Theory of Virtue, For Discussion

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Regarding a theory of virtue,

Aristotle’s tradition [of working to achieve virtue] led ultimately to pride. … For Paul — and this was one of the most painful things he had to work out, as we see in 2 Corinthians — the Christian life of virtue was shaped by the cross of Jesus Christ, resulting in a quite new virtue never before imagined: humility. … The Christianly virtuous person is not thinking about his or her moral performance. He or she is thinking of Jesus Christ, and of how best to love the person next door.

(p. 240).

Wright commends to us what he calls “the virtuous circle,” consisting of five elements: scripture, stories, examples, community, and practices. These are designed to help us develop transformed hearts and minds. The presence of the Trinity is, of course, assumed, and its starting point is grace, and its end is glory — the presence of God, with justice and beauty are among its chief objects.

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The Fork in the Road: Eph 5:19 and the Psalms

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Jay F Guin

[This is expanded from my Sunday comment. I thought this was important enough and novel enough to make into a post. This is the last post on instrumental music for a while.]

Bruce Morton, in his book Deceiving Winds – Christians Navigating the Storm of Mysticism, Leadership Struggles & Sensational Worship, cites three Psalms that Paul paraphrases in Ephesians 5:19. (I reach the opposite conclusion from Bruce. He has done difficult and important research on this topic and deserves credit for his scholarship but no blame for my conclusions. His conclusions may be found at this post.)

Does Eph 5:19 refer to Psalm 108:1?

(Eph 5:19 ESV) addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

As Bruce points out, the parallel is particularly clear when you compare the Greek of the New Testament with the Greek of the Septuagint (LXX), a Greek translation of the Old Testament often quoted by Paul.

The Psalms he refers to are — Continue reading →

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Truth in Advertising

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Thanks to the Sacred Sandwich.

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The Cruciform God: The Body of Christ

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Jay F Guin

We’re continuing our study of Michael J. Gorman’s Inhabiting the Cruciform God. We are now well-beyond the book, but continuing to explore its implications.

Body of Christ

One of the most familiar descriptions of the church is as “the body of Christ.” Why did Paul choose this metaphor?

(Rom 7:4)  So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

In this case, of course, Paul uses “body of Christ” in its literal sense. It appears that he uses “body of Christ” to refer to the crucified body, in contrast the resurrected body alluded to later in the verse. Thus, we die to law as Jesus died on the cross, and as Jesus was resurrected, we belong to the resurrected Jesus. Death, Paul argues, releases us from whatever bound us before (7:1-3). Continue reading →

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N. T. Wright’s After You Believe: On Service, For Discussion

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Regarding service, Wright refers the description in Rodney Stark’s The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force …. of how Christians in Asia Minor reacted to the coming of plague in their cities —

The rich, the well-to-do, and particularly the doctors would gather up families and possessions and leave town. … But the Christians, often among the poorest, and many of them slaves, would stay and nurse people, including those who were neither Christian, nor their own family members, nor in any other way obviously connected to them. Sometimes such people got well again; not all diseases were necessarily fatal. Sometimes Christians would themselves catch the disease and die from it. But the point was made, graphically and unmistakably: this was a different way to be human.

(pp. 236; emphasis in original).

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The Fork in the Road: Learning from the History of Worship, Part 4

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Abraham

Now, harken back to Abraham. He offered sacrifices, including offering his only son. He walked in the very presence of God, talking with him face to face. And he was marked with a sign of his covenant with God. And all these are true of Christians today, and none speak particularly of the assembly.

Jesus offered the only atoning sacrifice we’ll ever need. But we continue to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and fellowship offerings. These are no longer animals and such like, but they are offered by priests (each of us) in a temple (each of us and our congregations). Continue reading →

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The Fork in the Road: The Instrumental Music Discussion / How to Win the Worship Wars

Posted on April 4, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Tomorrow I post part 4 of the “Learning from the History of Worship” discussion, and that’ll be my last post planned on the instrumental music and Regulative Principle questions for now.

That doesn’t mean the topics won’t come up now and again. They will. But it’ll be a while before we delve so deeply into the topic again. But, of course, theology is a seamless web. Everything connects. Make an adjustment here and it changes things over there.

Therefore, nearly everything we talk about will affect our views of instrumental music and worship and salvation — if we’ll let it. Continue reading →

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