Why I am the happiest of all bloggers

Joe Cathey decided to give a prize to the 10,000th visitor to his blog—and I was that visitor! The generous prize is—wait for it—a book of my choice! So Joe has bought me a copy of James D. G. Dunn’s Jesus Remembered, a book which I have long been wanting to read. When I settle into my favourite armchair with a glass of Cabernet Shiraz and my new copy of Jesus Remembered, I’ll be sure to drink a silent toast to Joe.

Joe also says that he’ll be offering a prize when the 20,000th visitor arrives. So if you don’t yet read his blog, there has never been a better time to start....

Scottish Journal of Theology

The November issue of SJT is out now, and it includes some excellent theological scholarship. It’s available online if your library is a subscriber. Here are the contents (with some of my own comments added):

Brevard S. Childs, “Speech-act theory and biblical interpretation”
[A thoroughgoing criticism of N. Wolterstorff’s speech-act hermeneutic, and a more appreciative engagement with A. Thiselton.]

Wolfgang Vondey, “The Holy Spirit and time in contemporary Catholic and Protestant theology”
[A very fine article, which presents a pneumatological approach to time on the basis of a theology of the cross, and in engagement with contemporary cosmology.]

Ian A. McFarland, “‘Naturally and by grace’: Maximus the Confessor on the operation of the will”

Julie Canlis, “Being made human: the significance of creation for Irenaeus’ doctrine of participation”

Christine E. Joynes, “The returned Elijah? John the Baptist’s angelic identity in the Gospel of Mark”

A. N. Williams, “Does ‘God’ exist?”
[A provocative trinitarian critique of the term “God,” which argues that Christian discourse would be better off without this term, or at least with a far more circumspect and self-critical use of the term.]

The miracle and mystery of creation (Gen. 2)

“The creation of woman [in Gen. 2] is very far removed from that of man, for it is the last and most mysterious of all the kindnesses that Jahweh wished to bestow upon the man.... As distinct from the animals, [the woman] was a complete counterpart, which the man at once recognised and greeted as such. So is elucidated the age-long urgency of the sexes for one another, which is only appeased when it becomes “one flesh” in a child.... The Jahwist’s story of creation practically issues in this aetiological explanation of the power of eros as one of the urges implanted in humanity by the Creator himself, and so gives the relationship between man and woman the dignity of being the greatest miracle and mystery of Creation.”

—Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology I (New York: Harper, 1962), pp. 149-50.

Exorcism today

An article a few days ago in The Australian (27/10/05, p. 11) discusses the contemporary practice of exorcism. A Roman Catholic expert on exorcism, Sydney bishop Julian Porteous, says that Italy has experienced an increase in requests for exorcism in recent years, as a parallel to increasing occult activity.

This year, Rome’s Pontifical Academy Regina Apostolorum even introduced a new course in demonology and exorcism. Julian Porteous explains that the signs of possession can include speaking in unknown languages and recoiling from symbols such as the cross and holy water.

Clearly there are evils in the world. There are even overarching supra-human structures of malevolent evil that can rightly be described as “demonic.” The church really does have something to say about such evils; but it seems to me that mythological talk of ghosts and holy water can all too easily become an evasion of our true task of confronting evil with the gospel of Christus victor.

More from Pannenberg

Here’s another highlight from the aforementioned interview with Wolfhart Pannenberg. Pannenberg is asked: “What is your greatest concern for the church as it moves into the next 25 years?”

He replies: “My greatest concern for the church is that it continue to preach the Gospel and not adapt to secular standards and concerns. Some churches and many church ministers think they have to adapt to the secular concerns of people in order to reach them. I think that the opposite is true. If people were to hear in church only what they also get on television and read in the papers, there would be no need for going to church. The church has to proclaim a different thing: the hope for eternal life. It must proclaim participation with the crucified Christ through baptism by faith.”

Old Testament theology from a three-year-old

Yesterday my three-year-old daughter was asking me about the Old Testament:

—“Dad, why did the Israelites love God?”
—“Because God rescued them from Egypt and gave them a new life.”
—“Where was their new life?”
—“In the desert…”
—“But it’s bad to live in the desert.”
—“Um … well, yes…
—“So why did the Israelites love God?”