I’ve discovered another great band for my studying-reflecting-conversation background playlist — Saxon Shore. They are most similar to El Ten Eleven, but fans of Explosions in the Sky will also like them.

I’ve been trudging through 6 Modern Myths, by Philip Sampson, and Flesh in the Age of Reason, by Roy Porter, for my upcoming history class. In the process, I’ve come to a new realization of how arrogant we can be in our understandings of thelogy today.

Sampson describes the longtime understanding, dating back to Ancient Greece, that the earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around us. Early in his book, Porter describes how the understanding of the human body works has developed over the years. Both of these ideas were first developed in Ancient Greece were widely accepted up until only a few hundred years ago. Today, we consider these ideas to be ridiculous.

Late last summer, I took the first half of this church history class and I soaked up what we learned. There is a lot of brilliant thinking about Christianity that has happened in the last 2000 years. Prior to that class, I kind of had an understanding that we have the best understanding of theology today, and we don’t need to spend a lot of time looking back at what those before us have believed. I figured we have just kind built on the best of what history offered and discarded the rest. Too bad for me.

It’s almost as if we assume those who lived before us were stupid. If they believed so incorrectly about the physical nature of things around them, how can we trust what they might offer theologically. How unfortunate for us. Today, there are certain understandings that we tend to focus on because they make the most sense to our rational world. How much are we missing by not revisiting what those who came before us had to offer. They weren’t stupid, but we are if we discard what they have to offer us.

In a few weeks, I’m taking a Christian history since the Enlightenment class that is taught by Leonard Sweet. Last night, an email was sent to all the members of the class asking us to make sure we have Google Earth installed. How can I not love this class already?

The speaker lineup for the Leadership Summit 2006 has been announced:
• Bono, Lead Singer of the rock group U2 and TIME Magazine’s 2005 Person of the Year
• Wayne Cordeiro - Senior Pastor, New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu
• Bill Hybels - Willow Creek
• Patrick Lencioni - Founder & President of The Table Group, Inc.
• James Meeks - Senior Pastor, Salem Baptist Church in Chicago
• Ashish Nanda - Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
• Peg Neuhauser - President, PCN Associates
• Andy Stanley - Senior Pastor, North Point Community Church in Atlanta

I’m excited Bono will have a chance to address this audience. Even if he weren’t included, this lineup stirs my interest in working out a way to attend this year.

I’ve been interested in reading Preaching Reimagined, by Doug Pagitt, since it was released. When a course syllabus listed it as one of the options for a book review, my decision was quick and easy. I’ll spare everyone the entire book review, but below are a few thoughts from it.

The main thesis of the book is that preaching needs to move from “speaching” to “progressional dialogue.” Pagitt defines speaching as the common understanding of the sermon today. One speaker delivers a message that has been prepared in advance, and solely by the preacher, in the form of a speech. Contrary to speaching is Pagitt’s concept of progressional dialogue. He describes the difference on page 23:

Speaching stands in contrast to what I call progressional dialogue, where the content of the presentation is established in the context of a healthy relationship between the presenter and the listeners, and substantive changes in the content are then created as a result of this relationship.

Though the format of the book is a bit unique, Pagitt’s ideas are well presented and thought-out. He presents his major argument in the first few chapters, without expanding completely on his thinking. The remainder of the book is broken into forty smaller chapters that more fully explore some of the ideas presented. These smaller chapters are referred in parentheses within the initial argument to allow the reader to interact with the ideas of chief interest as she reads through the book.

Pagitt does not believe he is reducing the importance of the sermon. Rather, he is elevating it to be a more useful tool in shaping and transforming the life of the church community and those within it. The dialogical form of sermon he prescribes allows the congregation to explore together how the truth of the sermon can shape their community, rather than just some practical individual application offered by a single voice.

He challenges the speech making act as one that focuses too much on what one person has to say. The one who is preaching can have little to no understanding of what is going on in the minds of his audience, and therefore has less of an opportunity to connect with them in a way that will reshape their lives. On the other hand, through a sermon that includes dialogue, the sermon participants are allowed to actively engage in the sermon. The diversity of views contributed can lead to a better understanding of the content of the teaching for all involved.

I would have liked to more clearly see Pagitt lay out some ideas of what progressional dialogue can look like. He offers some brief and general suggestions of what it may look like, but never gives the finer details of the shape that it takes even in his own church community. I understand that it might not take the same shape in every congregation, but I would have appreciated a fuller picture of how he has put these ideas into action.

Many won’t agree with everything Pagitt has to say, and some just won’t be willing to make the changes necessary to fully implement some of his ideas. However, for anyone really wanting to think through reshaping and/or improving their sermons, this book provides some good thoughts to process.

Monday, we had a short staff retreat at a cabin in the mountains. The huge snowflakes and precious few seconds I actually got to use 4WD made the trip worth the drive, but that wasn’t the main highlight. Upon arriving, we began by just taking an hour to ourselves to sit, think, pray, read, whatever. It was wonderful.

Between family, full-time ministry and part-time school, life keeps me busy. Even in the midst of all those things, I do a pretty good job of creating space. I need to have some times where I just sit to refill my mind and soul, so I spend a lot of time reading, studying, and journaling with the goal of sustaining myself amidst everything else going on. I’ve found that I have to have those times to keep my from completely draining myself, and I create them and protect them.

But I realized something on our retreat. I’m pretty good at reflecting, but not so good at listening. Much of the space the I create is spent just reflecting on what is going on around me, or dreaming about things I hope to shape around me. But as I sat there that day with no agenda, I realized how little I truly listen…to God. I’ve felt that just because I have space, I’m doing well, but I’m realizing the space I do create isn’t fully what it could be. Reflection itself is a wonderful thing, and I think God speaks through those times, but even moreso, I need to find time that is agendaless, where I can just allow God to speak to life beyond my circumstances.

Wow.

I had no idea I would enjoy Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, by Anne Rice, this much.

This book is clearly fiction, and that should be kept in mind. However, Rice has given us both a researched and a readable look at the childhood of Jesus. Somehow she has portrayed Jesus dealing with both his divinity and humanity even as a seven year old. There is a wide array of perspective on what the cultural upbringing of Jesus looked like, let alone who he himself was. Rice has presented a Jesus that any conservative scholar can welcome, and placed him in a setting that any historian can deem credible. I am adding this book to my recommended reading list simply because I think anyone would find this an accessible way to begin to have an understanding of the cultural realities that framed the ministry of Jesus.

Equally compelling is her Author’s Note at the end where she describes her own journey from a churchgoer as a child, to an atheist, and back to a believer in the past decade. She describes her studies across the vast array of Jesus scholarship, and names those who have been of greatest value in her work. She gives the most recognition and her strongest recommendation to the study of NT Wright.

With The DaVinci Code set to release this spring, there will be another cry among Christians to find a conservative and reliable presentation of the historical Jesus. Maybe the best resource for many won’t be a reference work, but another fictional novel.

In my ever increasing experience with poor coffee shop etiquette, I offer yet another tidbit so that all of us kind have a kinder, gentler coffee shop experience.

Please be aware of areas that lend themselves to natural conversation. For example, picture some large comfy chairs placed in convenient proximity to each other. When someone is sitting in one, please ask if they are expecting someone before sitting in one of the adjoining seats. Otherwise it just creates an awkward moment for all of us.

And on a related note — if you do choose to sit without asking please be aware that this is, as I’ve already stated, a conversational space. In other words, it was designed for me to hear everything you are saying. (Because this is a conversational space, this is an even more blatant abuse of the cell phone conversation etiquette that we have previously covered). I don’t want to hear your cell phone conversation where you gripe about everything that isn’t working out for you that day. Again, I know that we already covered the cell phone issue, but I guess not everyone is reading, so we have to go over it again.

Thank you, everyone, for your prompt attention to this matter.

Yesterday, Jason Clark blogged about coComment. This is a slick little tool that lets you track the blogs you have commented on. It even lets you show what comments you’ve made elsewhere on other blogs, as you can now see in my sidebar. I think this is a great way to further connect some of the conversations that are happening out there. They state that you need an invitation code to sign up since they are still in beta. I had an invitation in my email almost immediately, so if you get over there quick, they might still be making them available right away.

In case you’ve missed it on the other 5000 or so blogs that have mentioned it, the video of Bono at the National Prayer Breakfast is worth watching. He reminds me why I’m a fan…

The latest release of the TheoHacks podcast that I do with Zach Lind has been posted: Origins of the Bible.

This is the first in what might maybe possibly be a series of shows on the Bible. We begin the series by looking at the history of the Bible itself, and how it was put together.

Based on the recommendation of several people, I recently finished Our Father Abraham, by Marvin Wilson. The subtitle is Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith, and that pretty much sums it up. Sadly, Christianity is commonly seen as a departure from the Jewish faith, rather than a fulfillment or continuation of it. Wilson does a good job of providing a healthy perspective of how followers of Jesus should frame ourselves within the story of Judaism.

There was much to digest from this book, but here are a few tidbits I thought were worth passing along, with a few of my own comments following in italics:

Pg 145 - “The nature of Hebrew is to paint verbal pictures with broad strokes of the brush. The Hebrew authors of Scripture were not so much interested in the fine details and harmonious pattern of what is painted as they were in the picture as a whole. Theirs was primarily a description of what the eyes see rather than what the mind speculates. In brief, the whole world is a mystery which the Hebrew neither comprehends nor thoroughly investigates.”

Pg 150 - “By contrast, the Hebrews often made use of block logic. That is, concepts were expressed in self-contained units or blocks of thought. These blocks did not necessarily fit together in any obviously rational or harmonious pattern, particularly when one block represented the human perspective on truth and the other represented the divine.” - It is very important to understand this. The Hebrew scriptures were never intended to be the scientific documents that the modern minds wants to read them as.

Pg 176 - “For the Hebrews, spirituality did not mean turning inward; true piety was not simply the private nourishing of the virtues of one’s soul. Rather it mean to be fully human, every fiber of one’s being alive, empowered in passionate and inspired service to God and humanity.” - I have an internal alarm that goes off every time I read the phrase ‘fully human.’

Pg 296 - “The word torah, commonly translated ‘law,’ derives from the verb yarah, ‘to cast, throw, shoot.’ The word yarah is frequently used for the ’shooting’ of arrows (1 Sam. 20:36-37), and it’s plural participation form (morim) is translated ‘archers,’ literally ‘the ones who shoot’ (1 Sam 31:3). In time, yarah took on the extended meaning ‘to teach,’ as is attested in more than forty Old Testament passages.” - How cool is this? It gives me a picture of the role of teaching to be shooting your students as arrows in the proper direction.

Pg 298-9 - The concepts of bet midrash, bet sepher, and bet talmud, which Rob Bell and Ray VanderLaan have popularized among Christians in recent years, are introduced on these pages.

Pg 309 - “The Bible, however, teaches that study ought to be, above everything else, an act of worship, one of the highest ways by which a person can glorify God.”

Pg 330 - “In Jewish thinking, however, ‘not system but commentary is the legitimate form through which truth is approached.’ Because Christians have been overly anxious to systematize Jewish thought, they have left themselves open to misinterpreting the text.” - see comments above regarding pg 150

Call me crazy, but for the last few decades, I’ve neglected to take advantage of my local library. Why? I really don’t know.

There are certain books worth owning, and you want to make notes in and keep for future reference. I’m all about that.

There are certain books that you just want to read because you are curious and you really don’t think they’ll have a long-term benefit for you. Is there any reason to pay full, or even used, prices for these? About a month ago, I went online and added myself to the wait list of our county library for Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. Last week, I get an email telling me a copy is waiting for me at the branch that is five minutes from my house. Yesterday, I walked in and practically triped over the “Holds” shelf right inside the entrance that has my copy waiting on it. Three minutes later, I was out of there without spending a dime.

What an idiot I’ve been.