tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-181485422024-03-13T08:30:27.539-07:00the reformational bloggeroccasional thoughts by a reformed and reformational historianPaul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-78629705113237256392012-11-18T08:38:00.001-08:002012-11-18T08:38:16.220-08:00I've Moved!You can now found the Reformational Blogger, with current and archived posts from this site, at <a href="http://reformationalblogger.wordpress.com/">http://reformationalblogger.wordpress.com/</a>. <br />
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At WordPress I've been able to add some content that I didn't have here and I may enlarge that in time.<br />
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Please join me there and subscribe to the RSS feed for my intermittent posts . . .Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-51602684905209822542012-10-31T10:39:00.000-07:002012-10-31T10:40:13.429-07:00Modern-Day GnosticismI feel like I posted this already, but I can't find it and it comes to mind again, so here goes. This comes from a review by John Seel at <a href="http://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/3397/band-aids-for-cancer/">Cardus</a>:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What is Gnosticism for the layperson? It's a way of thinking that presents an alternative vision of the human problem and its solution. Creation and fall, according to the Gnostics, were the same event, which is a way of saying that our true state of grace was a kind of spiritual preexistence. Created reality is bad, part of the problem. We are condemned to spend our exile in creation—physicality is a tomb. Liberation is achieved by acquiring esoteric or secret knowledge, otherwise longing for a world of pure mind and pure spirit. As in the thought of Plato and Descartes, the nonphysical self, whether the spiritual self or the thinking self, is the most real. It denies the embodied self, the good creation, the Incarnation, and the bodily resurrection in favour of a disembodied spirituality, connecting my divine spark with the cosmic spirit. Yet, as C.S. Lewis concludes, "God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put the new life into us. We may think this rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it."</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2dsb3G2qfjfICk-MY8N-LdRSyaCTG2dm7dpDHPjLwMfnQXn2nsJHc1BgD710KR9D8ipWGhqFkEwv9auCNNrrKvIVjASRLrQ_nGjgrGojzUngqH7VWrEwcLHcC-VJQyQyHQNo4/s1600/gnosticism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2dsb3G2qfjfICk-MY8N-LdRSyaCTG2dm7dpDHPjLwMfnQXn2nsJHc1BgD710KR9D8ipWGhqFkEwv9auCNNrrKvIVjASRLrQ_nGjgrGojzUngqH7VWrEwcLHcC-VJQyQyHQNo4/s200/gnosticism.jpg" width="200" /></a>Gnosticism is more common than many people think (Seel's point) and I hear it when I hear ministers say things like "God cares about the world but what he really wants to do is change people's hearts" or "the Bible teaches that both heaven and earth will be found in the post-return-of-Christ future, so we should be concerned with Christ now and can enjoy earth after his return."<br />
<br />Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-84650146536213067872012-10-29T17:03:00.003-07:002012-10-29T17:03:28.358-07:00Reforming societyIn honor of Reformation Day (Oct 31) and latter-day Reformer Abraham Kuyper's 175th birthday, I bring you a summary of Reformed (actually Reformational thinking) on business in particular, but society in general. The few readers (am I overstating that?) of my blog don't need to be reminded of this, but some of my friends don't understand what I mean when I say that our faith should make a fundamental difference in how we think and do our work. I think that's my fault for not explaining it very well, but Ray Pennings and James Brink make the argument and demonstrate how far better than I can <a href="http://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/202/sphere-sovereignty-101/">here</a>.<br />
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Their work is part of <a href="http://www.cardus.ca/">Cardus</a>, formerly Work Research Foundation, which offers one of the best expressions of modern-day reformation and a manifestation of basic Reformed (i.e. Biblical) principles such as the priesthood of all believers and the sovereignty of God over all things.<br />
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Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-28216663099027827302012-10-20T09:42:00.001-07:002012-11-11T20:44:54.034-08:00Doing what we're supposed to do . . .A friend recently asked me how I function as an academic in a world in which most of the centers of power seemed to controlled by non-believers or are ideologically antithetical to Christian faith, a la James Davison Hunter, <em>To Change the World</em>. Now I haven't read Hunter (although I began it), so I can't directly comment on his assessment of the situation in the West, his view of how Christians have traditionally engaged culture, or his remedy, so my comments shouldn't be seen as having intimate knowledge of or made as a response to <em>To Change the World</em>.<br />
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My friend's question also reminded me of other discussions I've had with Christians over the years, both inside university settings and outside. These questions are sometimes framed in terms of "how can we [Christisn] get American culture back?" Or sometimes they are more analytical questions that revolve around H. Richard Niebuhr's various categories in <em>Christ and Culture</em>.<br />
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What I'm struck by in many of those conversations is the way "culture" seems to be a thing that's separate from individuals and groups. And the way Christians seem to bear some responsibility in relationship to that external culture (flee from it, co-opt it, ignore it, transform it, and so forth). In many case there seems to be a presumption of opposition to some degree or another and this sense of opposition seems rooted in a kind of isolation that Christians seem to hold to. <br />
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By isolation, I mean a sense that there is something big, and dangerous, and menacing, or uncontrollable about culture and that requires Christians be on the defensive or offensive, or they have to engage in insurgency tactics, or they have to find ways to accomodate, assimilate, resonate, or something else.<br />
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What seems missing to me is a recognition of God's sovereignty and a focus on our being called into being as God's image bearers. The Niebuhrian Christ as Transformer of Culture comes closest to capturing this focus, but, as many critics of the approach have pointed out, this approach sometimes manifests itself by Christians taking the offensive against culture.<br />
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As I understand the implications of <br />
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God's sovereignty<br />
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Common Grace<br />
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long-term and major results are not the object to keep in mind; instead, we need to ask our we are to faithful and obedient in our daily lives. But as we ask this, we need to keep in mind the larger view of what it means to be created in the image of God--brought into being to create, to develop the world around us, to flourish, to live and work for <em>shalom. </em> Will such a strategy transform culture? No doubt, at least in small, local ways it will, but for most of us we shouldn't see our task as some how in opposition to culture, we should see that culture is the God-ordained product of human activity. We are not outside, next to, or above culture. We are in it, we are shaped by it, but we also shape it. It's in God's hands how the history of humankind ultimately unfolds, but it's in our hands how we act each day as God's culture-forming image bearers.<br />
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May the work of our hands--all of it, in every detail--reflect God's glory through our obedience and faithfulness to his Word.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-42473800276211852062012-10-19T14:26:00.001-07:002012-10-19T14:33:41.303-07:00What's our mission? Or, How does Christianity relate to our careers? In <a href="http://www.cardus.ca/comment/">Comment Magazine</a>, Cory Willson <a href="http://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/3626/putting-business-on-the-mission-map-how-churches-can-serve-businesspeople/">reviews two books</a> on vocation and mission and offers a distinctly Biblical understanding of what human beings are called to be and do.<br />
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The following quotatation gets at the heart of his critique: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Christians in diverse professions need more than a moral theology that begins and ends with personal piety, models of servant leadership, and calls to love their neighbour.</blockquote>
What is that theology?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To be effective, a theology of vocation must be grounded in a biblical vision of the person as God's image-bearer, which necessarily involves culture-making. On its own, a focus on love and redemption lacks the theological weight to ground vocation in creation and God's plans for humans in the world. </blockquote>
To equip academics and others at developing such a theology and applying it to their disciplines and professions, I recommend the <a href="http://icscanada.edu/library/flnsearch.shtml">bibliography</a> available at the <a href="http://icscanada.edu/library/fln.shtml">Faith and Learning Network</a>. <br />
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Of course Comment Magazine and its mother institution, <a href="http://www.cardus.ca/">Cardus</a>, are leaders in equipping Christians to understand and live out their calling as God's image bearers in their professions.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-74162817887645022612012-10-13T12:25:00.001-07:002012-10-13T15:32:01.897-07:00What does it mean to lead a life of repentance?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdgNmBm7Ig5nxQQDiF4Ml0lACT0CJDwcRa2rDZnqtQhxVJwxxB5l3Kyv30VoLrGXKcfcquvZuR7KTI8tl0Et6Rp49_ngSFqQW5F2WdVnLAt8Kpm1py1zLXPKTP_NzQIPr2YwRq/s1600/on+being+human.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdgNmBm7Ig5nxQQDiF4Ml0lACT0CJDwcRa2rDZnqtQhxVJwxxB5l3Kyv30VoLrGXKcfcquvZuR7KTI8tl0Et6Rp49_ngSFqQW5F2WdVnLAt8Kpm1py1zLXPKTP_NzQIPr2YwRq/s200/on+being+human.gif" width="132" /></a></div>
In <em>On Being Human</em>, Calvin Seerveld invites Christians to sanctification and to see sanctification so broadly as to reach deep into the nature and manifestation of our occupations, in his case, philosophizing:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That means that those of us who are philosophers need to foster and build a philosophical anthropology that heals fractured theories of humanity and gives a younger generation of scholars not just a head full of split-hair concepts but horizons within which to think integratively. We are faithful to God's Word in our philosophizing not merely when our analysis is logically correct and paired with right living but when our thinking is truly thanking, when our theory sparkles with life-giving wisdom (29-30).
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For me, doing history as a Christian means not just getting the facts straight (doing my job well) and loving my neighbors in the past as well as my neighbors in the classroom and in my readership ("right living" as Seerveld calls it), but trying to think deeply and Biblically about my approach to historical study and in particular to questions of the nature of humankind, of what activity of humankind is significantly worthy of historical study, of what stories should I tell of the past, why I should tell them, and how.<br />
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And I pray that, in doing so, my theories will "sparkle with life-giving wisdom" (but that's a tall order!).Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-3575383987125756342012-09-29T14:07:00.001-07:002012-11-11T20:44:54.039-08:00Islam in the WestI'm currently director of GFU's Liberal Arts and Critical Issues, our senior-level, general education capstone course. This semester's topic is Islam and the West and I was recently reflecting on the differences in western nation's treatments of Muslims.<br />
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Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-25600825531468776822012-09-22T11:26:00.002-07:002012-09-23T17:31:38.100-07:00Is evil normative or "not the way it's supposed to be"?Whenever you view the brokenness of the world as a divine measure to improve your character, you will tend to seek Christ as your life coach more than you seek him as your Lord.<br />
--With apologies to Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp, <em>How People Change</em>Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-34154009663747162842012-09-13T11:03:00.000-07:002012-09-13T11:03:27.137-07:00Fishmongering for the Lord<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7qQozrdqim1hlqclOqCWJiVjcNS2NHr6zG922aeWJ8yXV7r_K-i43Wf3xnIjHGMsXjsJw8MKO4xJUNFZgzdCLK3LKAToPyNkg7XKyIHgXTcbUq7sGNeTgLSLefrd2fM5F7cKM/s1600/Bartolomeo_Passarotti_-_The_fish_stall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7qQozrdqim1hlqclOqCWJiVjcNS2NHr6zG922aeWJ8yXV7r_K-i43Wf3xnIjHGMsXjsJw8MKO4xJUNFZgzdCLK3LKAToPyNkg7XKyIHgXTcbUq7sGNeTgLSLefrd2fM5F7cKM/s320/Bartolomeo_Passarotti_-_The_fish_stall.jpg" width="320" /></a>Further to my post of Tuesday, I commend this <a href="http://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/276/the-flash-of-a-fish-knife/">piece</a> by <a href="http://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/seerveld.htm">Cal Seerveld</a>. There is a better, more extensive version of this in <em>The Banner</em>, vol 119 (Sept 3, 1984): 8-9 titled "In Fulltime Fishmonger Service." It is a marvelous reflection that I wish I could share directly with you, but I can't find it electronically.<br />
<br />Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-23831593751351225432012-09-11T11:59:00.001-07:002012-09-11T11:59:20.641-07:00Don't be a dog; be a human.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG8HoKCYmMlsdciEsi4aONGFSLhXTXBBvwk6fuDJ9InydB6Iis_89j1JW-lkLBLH9u-bXlXBOsv721rPEsMWLqwjrWROzqtJuQeXESIPjL21NUizTo-HWTm9B7mYz5n8cxbjXe/s1600/Bingley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG8HoKCYmMlsdciEsi4aONGFSLhXTXBBvwk6fuDJ9InydB6Iis_89j1JW-lkLBLH9u-bXlXBOsv721rPEsMWLqwjrWROzqtJuQeXESIPjL21NUizTo-HWTm9B7mYz5n8cxbjXe/s200/Bingley.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
This is Bingley. He was our foster dog for about nine months. I'll be perfectly honest with you, I didn't like him much. At least, he's not the kind of dog I would choose to own. My daughter, who took him under care when her best friend had to give him up to attend college, loved him dearly. Lots of people see his picture and think he's cute. Well, yes, he is cute in an ugly sort of way. He has a squashed face and he's wall-eyed. When he looks at you directly, you see more white than dark--always a little weird in a dog--and he never looks at you with both eyes at once.
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He is also lazy. That dog could sleep, and sleep, and sleep. Go for a walk? Not when he's in sleep mode. Go outside to relieve himself in the morning? Not yet--he's sleeping in. Not only did he sleep all the time, but he snored. Not only did he snore, but he often slept with his eyes open! Whites showing, one eye looking one way, while the other was focused on something else. Did I say he was ugly?<br />
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I don't think he's particularly smart either. Other members of my family tried to convince me otherwise, but he generally seemed clueless--not interested in learning tricks or basic commands, apparently unable to make simple word and action or object connections.<br />
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But despite all the things I don't like about Bingley, he still got something right--he was doggy. Dogs are different from one another, to be sure, but dogs do a lot of the same doggy things. They lie around a lot, they scamper when they play, they bark and growl to protect, they wag their tails when they are happy. Would I prefer a dog with a long snout and sharper eyes and more inclined to learn tricks? Definitely. But I couldn't fault Bingley for not acting like a dog.<br />
But here's the thing. It strikes me that lots of things in this world--dogs, other animals, plant life, even inanimate objects--all seem to do what they're supposed to do. Dogs act doggy and cats do their feline thing. Birds, for all their diversity, always act according to their kind, doing what they were created to do. Plants, although they seem a little boring compared to animals, nonetheless fulfill their God-given task to grow, to synthesize light and nutrients, inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen, to die and become mulch.<br />
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We pretty much take this all for granted, but the interesting thing is that while all of the rest of the creation order seems to understand what its supposed to do, the crown of creation--humankind--forgets it. There are obvious examples--hate crimes, atrocities, simple selfishness, lying, cheating, and stealing. But even when we try to correct this, it seems like we forget what we're supposed to be. Organized religion often struggles to figure out what humans are supposed to be and usually misses it. Even Christianity, I would argue, is often practiced in a way that dismisses our central calling.<br />
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I understand why this is. Because of the human will and our God-given ability to make choices coupled with humankind's fall into sin, we never do what we're supposed to do without mucking it up somehow. We're supposed to domesticate crops and we grow marijuana. We're supposed to create art and we make pornography. We're supposed to build cities and we create the Tower of Babel.<br />
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But have you noticed how religion deals with this? Instead of redirecting our creative and cultural proclivities into positive directions, we deny them all together. Sometimes in subtle ways and sometimes in obvious ways, but it often happens because we can't seem to distinguish between what we're supposed to be doing and the fact that we often do it the wrong way. So what does religion offer us? Calls to holy living or spiritual activities or self-denial or other-worldly orientation. In short, I would argue, it calls us to forget who we are.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbcxyUZR9xBN4hVRPg42fFkr60c62hr4WpS7xIXuT3P6A1HSyYzwwsYF7s-bTbmYtVBC0RWIb7Y17c6GbQXyh4CDEKpFueoZYlf89-iM2ErDk2eRrv1jmpw-MOxvK48w7KOLaO/s1600/Lucy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbcxyUZR9xBN4hVRPg42fFkr60c62hr4WpS7xIXuT3P6A1HSyYzwwsYF7s-bTbmYtVBC0RWIb7Y17c6GbQXyh4CDEKpFueoZYlf89-iM2ErDk2eRrv1jmpw-MOxvK48w7KOLaO/s200/Lucy.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
Although I said that dogs always succeed at being doggy, I implied that they always get it right, but they don't always. The dog that regularly lives with us is hyper-protective. She barks at every little sound she hears and it drives us a little crazy sometimes. We've tried to correct her and discourage her through all kinds of means. She knows that we disprove of it, but she can't help herself. Somewhere along the way she started trying to check herself when she begins to bark. She doesn't stop barking, but the first bark out of her mouth sounds more like a chicken squawking as she tries to stifle her instincts gone awry. It's a little funny, but it's also a little sad. What would be more sad is to have her debarked. Have you heard or seen a debarked dog? It has to be done sometimes, but it doesn't change the impulse or behavior, just the ability of the dog to vocalize. So if we debarked Lucy, she'd still leap from the couch and run to the door, but her actions would be accompanied by a pitifully squeaky or hoarse effort to bark.<br />
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This, to me, is what happens when our religious practices, our efforts to correct our sin, attack who we were created to be. God has called us to be humans--to be bearers of his image in the world, to be creators and cultivators and peacemakers--and by his grace equips us to do so despite sin in the world. Too often, however, we can't see our God-given tasks for the mess we've made of them. By God's grace, not only do we have the ability to fulfill our calling as God's image bearers, but to see what our calling really is.
Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-60757410764396099722012-09-10T13:11:00.000-07:002012-09-10T13:13:43.993-07:00What is spirituality?I recently completed a survey for academics on beliefs and values. Many questions used the term "spiritual" and I had to decide for myself how I understood the term as I answered those questions.
But then I came to an open-ended question: 45. What meaning does the term "spiritual" have for you?
In response, I wrote
<blockquote>For me, spiritual isn't the same as spiritual vs natural. Nor is it the kind of eastern spirituality-mysticism. I believe that the whole of the created order is spiritual in the sense that it is an outgrowth of and response to God's creative and sustaining power. In ways incomprehensible to human beings, I believe that God is "behind" the existence and development of everything that is known to human beings. At the same time, I believe that human beings have a unique place in the this creation order to live out lives of creativity, exploration, and development, and as they do so, they give honor and glory to their maker.
</blockquote>Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-56024624788567349712012-09-05T22:54:00.001-07:002012-09-05T22:54:38.131-07:00Defining "Reformational"When I began this blog seven (!) years ago, I asked the question, what does "reformational" mean? We had a bit of a discussion of that then and some links and quotations were shared. Here is an excellent summary from Sypkeman, <i>Reformational Theology</i>, 100-101:
<blockquote>The fundamental premise of [Reformational] philosophy lies in the commitment to the biblical teaching that all reality is so ordered by the creative work of God that his Word stands forever as the sovereign, dynamic, redeeming law for all of life. Acccordingly, it repudiates the modern dogma of the pretended autonomy of human reason; it seeks to uncover the deeply religous roots and motivations which undergird its own and other systems of thought; it affirms the centrality of the human heart out of which flow all the issues of life; and it therefore works in the firm conviction that life as a whole is religious.</blockquote>
Furthermore, and with respect to the study of theology:
<blockquote>This unifying view on our callings in God's world, including our task in theology, lends to Reformed dogmatics a deeper sense of life-relatedness, a more firmly structured place among the scholarly disciplines, and a more responsible directedness, thus opening new doors to the possibility of ongoing theological reformation.</blockquote>Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-21168092429815168362012-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:002012-01-28T10:38:07.341-08:00The AntithesisAfter twenty years, I finally watched the Grand Canyon, and I'm glad I did. I didn't really know much about it other than it dealt with the intersection of Angelenos from different class and racial backgrounds.<br /><br />What the film dealt with that I found so interesting, however, was the exploration of good and evil. Neal Plantinga actually uses a line from the film in the title of his book <a href="http://www.eerdmans.com/Products/4218/default.aspx">"Not the Way It's Supposed to Be."</a> The film explored this from several different levels, exploring both structural evil and personal sin. But it maintained a degree of tension throughout--bad things continue to happen, but where the film repeatedly hinted that worse things could happen, those often didn't come to pass (and thus also pointing to common grace).<br /><br />Lynn and I kept looking at each other thinking "wow, this filmmaker gets the antithesis." In fact, one of the characters puts it eloquently near the end of the film. I can't find a clip of this scene, but part of her words serve as a voice over in the <a href="http://youtu.be/0PI8VXaQiWs">trailer </a>at 2:11.<br /><br />After waking suddenly in the night, Claire says to her husband, Mac,<br /><blockquote><p>Everything seems so close together.</p><p> <blockquote>Hm?</blockquote> All the good and bad things in the world. Everything. <br /> <br />I feel it in myself even. <br /> <br />And in us. Our marriage.<br /></p></blockquote><br />This film beautifully captures how God's good creation and his image bearers struggle day and and day out both with their personal short comings, the short comings of others, and the corrupting influence of evil throughout society. On the other hand, it also points to God's gracious hand to restrain sin and bring about good in the world (it never explicitly identifies this force, but there is a helicopter that hovers around a lot).Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-26568809957676697502012-01-10T13:51:00.000-08:002012-01-10T13:52:28.060-08:00Officially reformationalIt's <a href="http://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/otto.htm">official</a>. I'm reformational.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-52988705259832252482011-12-02T13:51:00.000-08:002011-12-02T13:56:13.945-08:00Kuyperianism for today<a href="http://www.capitalcommentary.org/">Capital Commentary</a> just published a very fine summary and recommendation of <a href="http://www.capitalcommentary.org/abraham-kuyper/future-kuyperian-answers">Abraham Kuyper's views</a> by <a href="http://www.wts.edu/faculty/profiles/wedgar.html">William Edgar</a> of Westminster Seminary.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-38289482174184563472011-12-02T10:47:00.000-08:002011-12-02T11:46:48.780-08:00Political Ideologies and Public Justice<div>See my current piece in <a href="http://www.capitalcommentary.org/public-justice/political-commitments-and-doing-justice">Capital Commentary</a>.<br /><br />In essense I say that "the problem [with current American governing] lies with the inability [oth both parties] to rationally consider the challenges facing our nation because of unwavering commitment to ideological principles that stand at odds to one another"</div>Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-25088773499346970672011-11-25T10:54:00.000-08:002011-11-25T11:18:54.201-08:00Are Christian Groups and Organizations Churches?In the current issue of <em><a href="http://www.catapultmagazine.com/">catapult</a></em>, the online journal of <a href="http://www.cultureisnotoptional.com/">*cino</a>, editor Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma offers a <a href="http://www.catapultmagazine.com/church/editorial/why-cino-is-not-a-church">thoughtful commentary</a> on the relationship of *cino to the church. To her comments, I would like to add my own:<br /><br />I think part of the difficulty in understanding what church is and what it isn’t and what it does and what it doesn’t do comes from the tendency of Christians to confuse two things. I don’t think *cino is doing that, but I think it's helpful to make some clear distinctions.<br /><br />First, believers often don’t distinguish on the one hand between the church as a whole (ie the organic church or the Body of Christ) and on the other hand the institutional church. I presume most readers of <em>catapult</em> are Christians. As such they are members of the Body of Christ or the church universal. In that sense, *cino and <em>catapult</em> are part of the church because they are expressions of the work of the Body of Christ and serve His people. However, many of these same Christians attend “church.” Used in this way, this term refers to the institutional church, the structure in which local congregations exist and provide a place where Christians gather to worship and be fed through the preaching of the Word and the celebratio of the sacraments. So Christians working together (and separately) are always doing the work of the church while they also form local, regional, and national organizations that constitute the institutional church<br /><br />The second difficulty comes because when Christians gather in these various ‘non-church” institutions but run by Christians and for Christians, those institutions begin to serve church (institutional)-like functions, where folks gather for Bible study, prayer time, etc. In parallel to that, many institutional churches or congregations become passionate about certain Kingdom needs and develop ministries such as schools, day care, meeting the needs of the hungry, and so forth. In both cases they blur the lines between these different institutions and confuse the work of each.<br /><br />I would argue that the church universal would be well served if the institutional church would stay focused on the immediate task of providing a place for public worship and equipping Christians to serve the Kingdom through the preaching of the Word and the faithful celebration of the sacraments and, perhaps, Sunday-school-like training for children and adults alike. At the same time, those in a local church body who see a need such as developing a Christian political organization, creating a shelter for battered women, and so forth, should establish separate Christian institutions with the sole purpose of meeting those needs.<br /><br />*Cino does this well, I think, in creating a structure, as Vander Giessen-Reitsma puts it, “to feed the hunger for robust, intellectual, artistic faith practice.” What the church universal needs, then, are more congregations who have a broad Kingdom vision to train, support, and encourage the faithful in Kingdom service without undertaking too much work that is not immediately the task of the institutional church but without, on the other side, becoming narrowly pietistic in their outlook just because these congregations don’t take direct responsibility for the various activities local church members are involved in. Meanwhile, Christians should actively participate in institutions established to advance the God's Kingdom in all areas of life and human experience.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-58522758682907993622011-11-11T14:06:00.000-08:002011-11-11T14:30:18.943-08:00Why Christian Higher Education is NecessaryPortland State University Philosophy professor Dr. Peter Boghossian will present a free public lecture “Faith, Belief and Hope: From Cognitive Sickness to Moral Virtue and Back Again," November 17 at 7:30 P.M. at Portland State University, Science Research and Teaching Center, Room 155, according to a recent press release.<br /><br /><blockquote>Boghossian encourages educators and members of the academic community to directly confront faith-based beliefs in the classroom. He will challenge six common obstacles to educators failing to engage student beliefs.<br /><br />Boghossian argues that faith-based beliefs are a cognitive sickness that have been turned into a moral virtue. To counter this phenomenon, he argues that faith-based beliefs should be treated like racist beliefs, given no countenance and stigmatized. An extensive questions and answer period will follow Boghossian’s presentation, and dissenting opinions are especially welcome.</blockquote><br />Some might believe that we need Christian colleges and universities to protect Christian students from the attacks they will undoubtedly suffer at state and secular schools from professors who hold such opinions. Others might say we need to send our students to Christian institutions to indoctrinate them against such ideas. Others might say that Christian universities teach Truth whereas Boghassian's example demonstrates the lies perpetuated elsewhere.<br /><br />I demur from all such positions. In fact, if that were the basis for Christian higher education, such rationale would feed the suspicions of Boghassian and his ilk who believe that faith, Christian or otherwise, is "cognitive sickness." Instead, Christian universities are places of intellectual inquiry and exploration where junior scholars (students) and senior scholars (professors) seek together to understand the world around them, their place in it, and the implications of their faith for understanding the world. Far from protecting, defending, or indoctrinating, the role of the Christian university is to invite open Christian inquiry and scholarship. This kind of openness is freeing and liberating (in keeping with the liberal arts) and is a true antidote to those who would shut down free inquiry by attacking people's faith as though it were akin to "racist beliefs [which should be] given no countenance and stigmatized."Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-30878473984784224772011-11-05T18:38:00.000-07:002011-11-05T18:38:31.078-07:00Tea Partiers and Occupiers of Wall StreetOver the years I've had occasion to observe that the essential difference between Republicans and Democrats (not disregarding a variety of other factors) is their respective distrust of the public sector and the private sector.<br />
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What's striking to me, then, is how the two current populist protest movements seem to align so fundamentally with these two parties (even though one of them hasn't yet made an explicit connection to one of the parties). The Tea Partiers seem deeply distrustful of the government (the public sector), while the Wall Street Occupiers are deeply distrustful of corporations and the super rich (the private sector).
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For myself, I don't think either assumption is a sufficient basis for a political movement since I operate with the assumption that governments were instituted by God and that free markets are generally effective economic systems. Like my difficulty in aligning with either political party, I also find it difficult to sympathize with either of these protest groups.<br />
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I will say this, however: insofar as the Wall Street Occupiers are concerned with the enormous concentration of economic and political power in the hands of a very small number of people and institutions, I think they highlight an important dynamic in modern, post-industrial, western society. Free market theories did not emerge to justify this kind of powerful elite and 18th-century proponents of capitalism would have been alarmed to see such enormous power in the hands of a few and decreasing opportunity for the many.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-4741225236062470802011-11-03T17:02:00.000-07:002011-11-03T17:02:53.396-07:00What is the Kingdom of God?According to Google image search, it has something to do with the someplace other than earth or where we now stand (images of heaven, the sky, ladders to heaven, bridges to somewhere else) or potential harvests or yields (fields with ripe grain, fishermen casting nets). Virtually no pictures come up in the top hits protraying earthly acts of mercy or the exercise of cultural formative power.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-34912342803187134152011-10-31T13:51:00.000-07:002011-10-31T19:31:36.369-07:00Plowing in Hope or Probing for Land Mines?How do Christians understand their place in the world? How deep does the antithesis run? How far does grace extend?<br />
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<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicP_jQ1itbZIQzVFG-TYgiUz_AcDb4E9WLq59vOfTEn3BqE0X4EAKc38rhUQaLYgO5k5wV6uDm1ZQ1qKBMHa6sS7LeiN-y3YFe89nuMHly6d4z4kkqO_X-Zo9BUl_KJ8saC2iP/s1600/Joint-Trg-Sudan_550x413.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicP_jQ1itbZIQzVFG-TYgiUz_AcDb4E9WLq59vOfTEn3BqE0X4EAKc38rhUQaLYgO5k5wV6uDm1ZQ1qKBMHa6sS7LeiN-y3YFe89nuMHly6d4z4kkqO_X-Zo9BUl_KJ8saC2iP/s320/Joint-Trg-Sudan_550x413.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669684766467160290" /></a>In my experience it seems that Christians often fall into two camps in their approach to the Christian life and their place in the world. On the one hand, there are those who are deeply concerned about brokenness in the world, and particularly their own personal failings or shortcomings. As they apply grace in their lives, they seek to avoid sin, to engage in constant self-reflection in an effort to become more Christ-like. In practice, I see their efforts as akin to probing for land mines. They see the world fraught with moral dangers and their calling in the world is to avoid those dangers. <br />
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<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsotdo4sSNT2FGgnvOSbcKsJSUbVJfKAXVrZ5iYQo5t9Gxs8vjX_8tRO4Z5708OGDFHAGZ5041QRx813TAPVeVz5sB6BIRpzQJ97S3wYnnEVb8H5GjQ_dnz_yZqdTMywmJQ0c/s1600/plowing_field.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsotdo4sSNT2FGgnvOSbcKsJSUbVJfKAXVrZ5iYQo5t9Gxs8vjX_8tRO4Z5708OGDFHAGZ5041QRx813TAPVeVz5sB6BIRpzQJ97S3wYnnEVb8H5GjQ_dnz_yZqdTMywmJQ0c/s320/plowing_field.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669688142153561282" /></a>On the other hand, there are those who see the application of grace in a broader way. It equips individuals to conquer sin in their lives, but also fuels the redemption of God's world. Christians working with this perspective see their calling as more than avoiding sin, but fulfilling their pre-fall calling to work as God's image bearers, to develop his creation, and, in this broken world, to act redemptively in all areas of life (not just their personal lives). Such individuals typically have more confidence about their place in the world and I would characterize their outlook as plowing in hope. Instead of seeing the world as a field that is full of dangerous land mines that must be carefully picked through, they see the world as full of hope and promise, they accept the invitation by our Lord to plow it, not forgetting what every good farmer knows about the potential dangers to themselves and their plowing equipment in the form of stumps, rocks, gopher holes, and so forth.<br />
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Literature on the Christian life often falls into these two catagories. For example, Dallas Willard's <em>Divine Conspiracy </em>does a fine job of helping Christians probe for land mines whereas books such as Bradshaw Frey(et al)'s <em> At Work and Play: Biblical Insight for Daily Obedience </em>encourage the faithful to plow in hope.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-80711184720917773542011-10-23T16:51:00.000-07:002011-10-23T17:16:34.935-07:00The Blogging PoetI'm quite pleased to share with you my wife's <a href="lynnotto.info">website</a> and <a href="http://lynnotto.info/blog.html">blog</a>. She began writing poetry several years ago and has recently begun an MFA program in poetry. I'm quite proud of her and feel that my own stature has been raised now that I share a home with a poet. I don't even mind so much that I sometimes serve as the <a href="http://lynnotto.info/1/post/2011/09/first-post.html">subject</a> of her poetry.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-46786875391377607982011-10-18T21:24:00.000-07:002011-10-18T21:34:30.939-07:00New book on Herman Dooyeweerd<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUiySmEfbQ0WaTmAhBHyTtpog69AwfFplaUOuW91MRdG_gsmskQuvtG9yumKbZOFrgHu97Aaz_Px1-ogzPMv27f0PinyblrMWdoe8RS0wWvr_KVm8G0wfEPTQ8PknlekTbHUb/s1600/P01409.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUiySmEfbQ0WaTmAhBHyTtpog69AwfFplaUOuW91MRdG_gsmskQuvtG9yumKbZOFrgHu97Aaz_Px1-ogzPMv27f0PinyblrMWdoe8RS0wWvr_KVm8G0wfEPTQ8PknlekTbHUb/s320/P01409.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665056531599744066" /></a><br />This past year, University of Notre Dame Press published Jonathan Chaplin's new book, <em><a href="http://undpress.nd.edu/book/P01409">Herman Dooyeweerd, Christian Philosopher of State and Civil Society</a></em>. I'm eager to see this book, and find time to read it. In the meantime, I've contented myself with a review of it by Keith Sewell in the latest edition of <em>Pro Rege</em>.<br /><br />I was also interested to see that the University of Washington, Portland State University, University of Oregon, and Whitman College libraries all have a copy of the book. I'm not sure who's deciding that such staunchly reformational books should be added to their collections, but I'm not complaining.Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-60498323570572934792010-11-30T17:24:00.000-08:002010-11-30T17:27:15.258-08:00The Duch-Munsee Encounter at a Fire Sale Price!Time to buy my book, The Dutch-Munsee Encounter--the only reformational treatment of European-Native American interaction. It may be one of the few reformationally influenced historical monographs period. And it's now only $22 at Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1571816720/ref=asc_df_15718167201337631/?tag=nextagus0054817-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=1571816720&linkCode=asn">http://www.amazon.com/dp/1571816720/ref=asc_df_15718167201337631/?tag=nextagus0054817-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=1571816720&linkCode=asn</a>Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18148542.post-72219365998634841722008-03-03T11:14:00.000-08:002012-11-11T20:44:54.051-08:00More on Larry NormanA few more links on Larry Norman:
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<br />http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/artists/6277/
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<br />http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0635550/bio
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<br />http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:giftxqq5ldke
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<br />http://www.randystonehill.com/
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<br />http://www.itickets.com/news/index.html?detail=1&id=1655Paul Ottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08492583168749891235noreply@blogger.com0