The eternal subordination of the poor

All this theological talk of mutual love relationships,

go and do the WWF ecological footprint test and tell me, do you believe in the mutual love of Father, Son and Spirit? Or do you slip in some eternal subordination based on, I don't know, cultural importance or history?

For me, I'm a heretic by a factor of 2.3
That's how many worlds would be required if everyone were to live at the standard I do.
That is how many worlds the poor have to make up for.
I keep living this way, and so does most of my christian culture. We talk and talk about 'mutual love relationships', but act as though we are ontologically superior.

We look through history and scoff at the times when the church aligned itself with greedy powers and accumulated wealth for itself, yet we jump in bed with an unsustainable, greedy system in the name of 'gospel proclamation'.

I heard that a few years ago, the Glebe board of the Sydney Anglican Church set it's growth target at 11%. Where do we think this kind of growth is coming from? Do we really think it is sustainable? Do we really think that in a globalized economy, our growth doesn't come at the expense of the third world? Or that our collapse doesn't affect them?

“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality”.

Well, we will be hard pressed in the church in Sydney for a while.
No more regional grants, no more money to build churches with the latest media facilities. We will only be able to live at two times what the world can handle instead of four.

Torture and Eucharist

"The Eucharist is the promise and demand that the church enact the true body of Christ now, in time. Worldly kingdoms have declared the Kingdom of God indefinitely deferred, and the poor are told to suffer their lot quietly and invisibly. In the Eucharist the poor are invited now to come and to feast in the Kingdom. The Eucharist must not be a scandal to the poor. It demands real reconcilliation of oppressed and oppressor, tortured and torturer. Barring reconciliation, Eucharist demands judgement"
William Cavanaugh Torture and Eucharist 263.

Cavanaugh isn't just talking about any old sin here, he is talking about the use of power in a way that is fundamentally against and threatens the Christian community.
It isn't a perfectionist ethic of church, and is specifically targeted at the totalitarian regime of Chile.
Nevertheless, how might we think about this in a democratic society that cheerfully ignores torture done on it's behalf by it's governement? (Not necesserily saying Australia here).

Cavanaugh also draws attention to the fact that the Eucharist reminds us of the one who was tortured to death on our behalf. It seems fashionable in some evangelical circles to emphasise the social aspect of the Lords supper by eating a meal together (which I think is great), to the point of ignoring it's reference to the broken body of Jesus Christ and the pouring out of his blood. (which I'm not so happy about).
What is lost is the fact that our sociality is based on this tortured one, that we share in his death and resurrection, that we look for his return. While I'm up for our welcome reflecting the welcome of God, if God's hospitality isn't emphasised, that is, if Jesus isn't recognised as the host of the feast, our meals become an expression of our (usually) middle class enjoyment of each other. Thus the feast belongs to those who are happy in this world, who are comfortable in this world, who get along with each other.(After all, they are probably the ones providing the food). The step to sociality is taken too quickly. There is little to no room for the notion of excluding the unreconciled.
I think the current turn to the 'symbol-less' meal represents the worst of Eucharistic theology (Jesus dined for my sins).

Hmm, rambling thoughts

Alister McGrath on Barth, revelation and soteriology

"To interpret the idea of revelation, would, in effect,be to reduce theology to anthropology, in that a prior human model with it's attending epistemological presuppositions is required for the analysis of the idea in question.....The function of Barth's concept of the three fold form of the Word of God is therefore to provide a secure theological foundation for Barth's insistence that God, who has spoken his final and supreme Word in Jesus Christ, still speaks to man today- and in every conceivable historical human circumstance"
Alister McGrath commenting on Barth Iustitia Dei 2nd ed, 360

Has Barth placed revelation in the place of redemption?

"Early dialectical theology thus took up one aspect of Luther's theology (the otherness of God) and abandoned the other (man's bondage to sin)"
364

Crazy Missos

http://www.landscape.cms.org.au/landscape001/australianidol_e.html

I was once told, seriously, and by a senior minister around the traps, that you can't trust a missionary's theology after they return. They've been influenced in how they read the bible.

Maybe we should ignore another warning about idolatry?

What Bishop Tom really said about church

In The New Testament and the People of God, N.T Wright laid out four questions for historical worldview analysis which could be asked of any people group. They were 1. Who are we? 2. Where are we? 3. What's wrong? 4. What's the solution?
In 1996's Jesus and the Victory of God he expanded this to five questions with 5. What time is it?

These were basic questions, used in JVG to assess how well the gospels picture of Jesus fit with a 2nd Temple Jewish worldview and an early christian worldview.
Most of Wright's work is historical.
Not on worship.

But he has written on worship. And to my knowledge he never has used these questions of our current culture in order to figure out how we should do church. To do so would be terribly anthropocentric and unbiblical.

If you want to know what kind of meta-narrative Wright has for church meetings, you could do worse than his article 'Freedom and Framework, Spirit and Truth: Rediscovering Biblical Worship' freely available on the obscurely named www.ntwrightpage.com



In the article Wright touches on three New Testament stories, the heavenly worship of Revelation 4 and 5; the turning from idolatry to the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Lord Jesus Christ; and the New Passover of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Wright makes these points

"a) that the worship of the very earliest Christians grew directly from their conviction that in his death and resurrection Jesus the Messiah had accomplished the redemption for which Passover was the model and of which the new creation would be the goal;

b) that in this worship they put Jesus side by side with the creator God, while retaining a constant Jewish emphasis on monotheism over against pagan polytheism, not least the imperial ideology, and dualism;

c) that in this worship they believed themselves, through thus worshiping the one true God, to be being themselves renewed as human beings, bearing God’s image."

He draws three energizing and stabilizing principles

1. Worship has a Trinitarian shape, which leads to Christ like living

2.Worship is a response to God's grace which is pleasing to him

"we should be able to address head on the fact that Christian liturgy is itself an act of humility, of response, of obedience. We live in a culture where doing our own thing, breaking with the past and discovering our own identity from within, are urged upon us from all sides. The Christian gospel reveals much of this as a form of gnosticism, of pride, of refusing grace rather than accepting it. And the fact of using a liturgy which is not of our own making, in which God’s initiative is built into the very structure, in which we share the wisdom and prayer of previous generations and other cultures, is itself a sign of humility, a sign that we know we are responding to God’s grace, not taking the initiative ourselves. Christian liturgy thus declares in structure and content that we are creatures before our creator, sinners before our holy God, the redeemed before our redeemer. It is heavily ironic that in some Protestant circles the absence of official liturgy, and the reliance on what particular people decide to do at any given moment, is not recognized as what it is in form (though obviously not necessarily in content): an exercise in cheerful Pelagianism."
'Freedom and Framework, Spirit and Truth: Rediscovering Biblical Worship'

3.Christian Worship integrates all of human experience, head, heart, hands, individual, community. We hope for the day when the whole creation worships right

Then Wright addresses three urgent concerns
1. Unmasking the pressure for informality, as a product of enlightenment, romantic and existentialist thinking.

2.Ordering Worship around the gospel

"But, more particularly, Christian worship is dramatic, performative, setting out and celebrating God’s story with the world; to tamper with it on a whim is a form of arrogant vandalism. The biblical story from Genesis to Revelation is a great drama, a great saga, a play written by the living God and staged in his wonderful creation; and in liturgy, whether sacramental or not, we become for a moment not only spectators of this play but also willing participants in it. It is not our play; it is God’s play, and we are not free to rewrite the script. We cannot read the whole Bible in each worship service, but the selections we choose, whether through a lectionary or not, should reflect the larger story and remind us of its full sweep and flow."

3. Redeeming culture
All culture is to be assessed, old and new
"Good liturgy, planned carefully week by week and year by year, will bring the two together so that they complement and reinforce each other and, most importantly, build up the worshipers in the knowledge and love of God and send them out refreshed for their kingdom-tasks in the world. And if we know what we are about this should mean that in our worship, in its music and readings, in its drama and movement, in its silence as well as its speech, we are not only reflecting different cultures but contributing creatively and in the power of the Spirit to the culture which our God is bringing about in our own day."


This is obviously a long, long way away from the anthropocentric results of taking an historical analytical tool and misusing it as a normative guide for church meetings

Which Gospel, which theology?

"Humans are rational and capable of accurate theological reflection, and thus ethical. God is just and is known to everyone, and his ethical demands are revealed to Jews through written legislation, but are known to everyone else innately. Reward and punishment will be appropriated by God on the basis of righteous actions -- "on the basis of desert" -- with any earthly injustices rectified by a final judgment. Since humans are inherently sinful -- that is, they violate God's ethical demands, and probably often -- honest self-reflection concludes that God's final judgment will be largely negative. Fear of the final judgment causes people to either renew their attempts at righteousness (falling into a "loop of despair") or retreat into self-righteous denial, boasting, and hypocritically judging others (the "loop of foolishness"). God generously redirects the punishment due sinners onto Christ, who being sinless and divine offers limitless satisfaction through dying. He stipulates a manageable criterion, faith, so that humans who choose it will receive a positive evaluation on the day of judgment and so inherit eternal life. Ethical guidance is still necessary, but it doesn't provide the basis for salvation. The relationship between humanity and God thus remains conditional and contractual, but much more manageable with the single criterion of faith in place."


"Humans are ignorant and incapable of accurate reflection -- a disorderly mess. They inherit Adam's being, or "flesh", and are oppressed by evil forces that were released in the garden of Eden. They need to be rescued before they can even begin to think and behave properly. God initiates an elective saving action by sending his son to be martyred in the flesh and raised to an existence which provides a new template for humanity. Christ entered the human condition, assumed it, terminated it, and is now reconstituted in heaven where he continues to intercede -- through the spirit -- for people still mired in the flesh. Through no choice of their own, humans are rescued from slavery (in Adam) into a new form of slavery (in Christ), which leads to eternal life. Only in hindsight does it become clear how desperate the prior condition was in Adam. Only now is it seen that humanity is trapped and enslaved under all sorts of forces -- including the law. But with the spirit no further ethical guidance is necessary, for that would only provide more opportunity for sin and the flesh to exploit. The relationship between God and those in Christ is unconditional and apocalyptic, liberating the believer who participates in death to await resurrection."


Both are from Doug Campbell's "The Deliverance of God", you can have a guess which one he likes

Sick of the socialists who translate the Bible?

Are you worried about how you might translate the Bible, given how many long haired hippies are in Theological Colleges today?

Here's the answer, The Conservative Bible.

Sick of all those lefties making Jesus talk about justice and non-violence?

We'll take those Marxists down by replacing words like 'fellow laborer' with 'colleague'

'The divine guide is upon me to wake up those who wont take care of themselves!'

H/T civitas dei

Yoder- just don't say you're a christian

“ Jesus was not just a moralist whose teaching had some political implications; he was not primarily a teacher of spirituality whose public ministry unfortunately was seen in a political light; he was not just a sacrificial lamb preparing for his immolation, or a God-man whose divine status calls us to disregard his humanity. Jesus was in his divinely mandated prophethood, priesthood, and kingship, the bearer of a new possibility of human, social, and therefore political relationship. His baptism is the inauguration and his cross is the culmination of that new regime in which his disciples are called to share. Men may choose to consider that kingdom as not real, or not relevant, or not possible, or not inviting; but no longer may we come to this choice in the name of systematic theology or honest hermeneutics” John H. Yoder Politics of Jesus 52-53

The Last five posts in far less time

The theological centre of the Psalms is the reign of YHWH, over his people, over the nations and over the King.1 The stability of his Torah, like the stability of the world, is undergirded by the sovereignty of YHWH over everything. “Because the judgments of Yhwh are acts to enforce his rule, the psalms give a prominent place to his work as a judge”2 The Torah of God is presented as the way for his anointed king to be aligned with YHWH's reign, to avoid negative judgment and to be blessed by Yhwh. Even in light of the failure of Davidic kingship, this relationship of Yhwh's reign, alignment and blessing is opened to each individual and the entire community of Israel, as it had been under Moses. The Deuteronomic scheme of retributive justice outlined in the Torah psalms provide both the tension that drives the laments and the confidence in deliverance. This confidence comes not from a moral coherence immanent to the creation itself, but from the fact of Yhwh's reliable reign in giving the Torah and creating the heavens and the earth.

Torah keeping- with the grain of the universe? Or the Lord of the universe

The Torah of God is paired closely with the creation at points, though it is
careless exegesis to equate Torah with cosmic principles.1 Psalm 33 is the most explicit pairing of a Torah term, rbd , with YHWH's act of creation. In a Psalm that resembles Ps 2 more than any of the Torah psalms, God's powerful creating word is related to his commitment to faithfulness and his love of righteousness and justice. This power is then asserted over the nations, whatever their size, “YHWH thwarts the plans of nations... but the eyes of YHWH are on those that fear him” (33:10,18). Conspicuous by it's absence is Torah language about YHWH's people. Where we would expect an announcing of blessing based on Torah observance if such a connection were to be made (33:12, 18-19), we instead have references to YHWH himself, his choosing of a nation and the corresponding fear of YHWH. A similar caution is found in Psalm 19 which brings together the Psalms opening concern, Torah, and the concern on which the Psalms almost close, the cosmos's acknowledgement of YHWH.2 The psalm begins with the words of the heavens and earth, that declare the glory of YHWH.(19:1-4), yet the magnificence of the heavens are simply put there by YHWH, it is the sun's journey from one end of the sky to the other that proclaims YHWH's glory (19:4). The Psalm then abruptly turns to praise of the Torah (19:7-11). Again what is most noticeable is the Psalmist's restraint. “Indeed, if v1-6 and 7-11 have a common origin, they read as if the author was avoiding using similar terms about the proclamation in creation and the nature of Yhwh's Torah.”3 The link between them is not verbal, but theological, the same god who sets the path of the sun, and is glorified by it, has given enduring Torah.4 This is also the connection expounded in Ps 119:89-91 and Ps 93. The firmness of the Torah of YHWH and the continuing firmness of the earth are connected not by a common word, but by the strength of YHWH's reign.5 “As for your decisions, they have stood firm today, because all are your servants” Ps 119:91

It is time for YHWH to act

At first glance then, the Psalm's view of the Torah of God seems to present a morally coherent world that jars with the content of much of the rest of the Psalter, especially the psalms of lament. Walter Brueggemann, through a moving exposition of Psalm 73, contends that the candour of the laments is only resolved by a moving from the moral coherence of Ps 1 to communion with YHWH.
“The old troublesome issues of "conduct and consequence' established in the categories of Psalm 1, are not resolved. Those issues are rather left behind for a greater good. No judgment [sic] is finally made whether the world is morally coherent or not, whether Psalm 1 is true or not, whether Ps. 73.1 is sustainable or not. It is enough that the God of long-term fidelity is present, caring, powerful and attentive.”1
While Brueggemann's proposal is an evocative reflection on Ps 73, the candour and the cry for vindication in Ps 119, should warn us from making such a move.
Amidst the positive affirmations of the Law in 119, the Psalmist laments his
current position. The Psalmists spirit is fading, collapsing into the dirt2 , he is surrounded by enemies who taunt, smear, bind and lay traps for him.3 This Torah psalm is no naïve affirmation of a morally coherent universe. Yet the Psalmist continues in his adherence to the Torah, waiting, not for the presence of YHWH, but for YHWH to remember his word 4 and punish his enemies5. The
Psalmist does not want the existential problem of evil to be solved by the comfort of communion with YHWH, but for YHWH to act. “It is time for YHWH to act, people have violated your teaching”6, “Rescue me...decide my cause..restore me”7. This rescue and restoration to life is expected on the basis of the promise of Torah8, on the basis of the Psalmist keeping Torah9, and is enacted by the Torah “this is my comfort in my weakness, that your statement has made me live”10 . Nor is this picture of YHWH as judge and restorer limited to the Torah psalms. YHWH is the great cosmic judge 11, who not only makes covenants but investigates breaches of covenant12. He decides whether Israel or an individual have kept his covenant13 and blesses or punishes them for it.14 The laments of the book of Psalms are not a threat to the Torah piety of the Psalms, but are petitions to YHWH driven by the Torah piety of the Psalms, that plead their case based on the Torah.15 The moral coherence of the universe depends on the present and future (if not eschatological) action of YHWH it's creator, rather than a coherence immanent to the cosmos itself.

Blessed is the man who...

In the Psalms, Torah is so highly valued because adherence to it leads to blessedness, for the King and for the individual Israelite. Psalm 1 introduces the theme of the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous that dominates the entire Psalter, especially Ps 3-41. The one who is blessed is the one who delights in YHWH's Torah(1:1-2). This blessing is expounded in no uncertain terms. He has the security and fruitfulness of a well planted tree “Whatever he does prospers”(1:3). The wicked, however, have no such security, will not stand in the judgement and will perish (1:4-6).
The inclusio of 'blessed' statements of 1:1 and 2:12 bind the Torah psalm and the kingship psalm together, and are widely considered a dual opening to the Psalms. The equation of the nations with the wicked leads also to the equation of God's anointed king as the Torah-person of Ps 1. As Tate notes, this equation cuts both ways; “ the editors of the Psalter have modified the high ideology/theology of the Davidic covenant in terms of Deuteronomic theology...In a like manner, Ps 1 moves the role of the king as a torah- person into that of all individual Israelites”1 “Like his brothers (Deut 17:20) the king may be blessed for obedience to the Torah (Ps 18:20-24), or chastised severely for disobedience (Ps 89:30-33). It is only as the King shares in the fpvm and qdx of YHWH himself that the king's rule is extended in time and space, as in Ps 2 and he is considered blessed and a blessing for those who take refuge in him. (Ps 72:1-2,17).
Given the historical failure of Israel's kingship to achieve these ideals it is certainly not co-incidental that Book IV of the Psalter begins with a Psalm of Moses “who presided over the people before they had a land, monarch or temple”2. The reign presented in this 'theological heart of the Psalter'3 however , after chastising the king in Ps 89, is not Moses, but the “Reign of YHWH”, extending the statement of Moses song in Exodus 15:18. If this is the theological centre of the book, the transfer of torah responsibility and blessing of the king to the individual in Ps 1-2 is not surprising. “The Torah of the Lord replaces wisdom and it's human teachers. The responsibility that once was primarily that of Israel's leaders is laid squarely on the shoulders of the pious”4 Goldingay, reading Psalms in light of Isaiah 55, thinks the kingship Psalms are “open to appropriation by the people as a whole in the present instead of having their fulfilment for an individual king postponed until the future” 5 Whether this is the case, the Psalms certainly present obedience to the Torah of YHWH as the path to blessedness for the individual. The Psalms continue the theology of retributive justice found in Deuteronomy. Both Ps 1 and 119 open with yér`Vv¶Aa, 'blessed', the concept of a blameless walk and observance of Torah. This blessing is expanded in Ps 112, children, wealth, security and honour and the inheritance of land in Ps 33, abundance and fruitfulness in Ps 1. YHWH's dsj remains with all those who keep covenant and obey his precepts. (103:17) Psalm 19:11 sums up the attractiveness of the Torah, 'there are great results from keeping them'.

We know that the Law is holy and good

The Psalms view the Law of God in entirely positive terms. The theme of Torah, as an object of delight and desire reappears throughout the psalms, especially in those regularly designated Torah psalms, 1, 19 and 119.1 Psalm 19 describes the Torah in superlative terms of worth. The Torah is more desirable than gold, even refined gold, more desirable than honey, even abundant honey, or honey from the honey comb. The laws of God are special blessing of God to Israel, to be rejoiced in (147:19-20) . This pleasure in and desire for the Torah is repeated throughout Ps 119, where the Torah of YHWH is described as a plunder (119:162), more desirable than gain (119:36), to be pursued more than gold (119:127,71-72), to be panted for (119:131). The Torah is described in personal moral terms, integrity, reliability uprightness, cleanness, purity, truth.(19:1-9) YHWH’s torah is not a burden but a delight, wonders to be explored by the psalmist. This has caused difficulty for many modern interpreters. McCann is a fine example
"One commentator captures well the nature of the problem: "It's not difficult to see why someone might find Psalm 1 a quite insufferable Psalm about a quite insufferable fellow. There he sits, day and night, brooding and fretting over the law. What a pedant!" Such an approach to Psalm 1 stems from understanding the term torà from a Deuteronomic point of view; that is, torà refers to the laws, commandments, statutes, precepts, and ordinances of the Pentateuch. The righteous person is then understood to be a legalist, one who obeys a particular set of rules. From this point of view, if Psalm 1 is an introduction to the Psalter, then the Psalter does not sound too promising or inviting. “ 2
It must be acknowledged that the Hebrew Scriptures, as the Torah of God, contain far more than simply laws, the narrative of YHWH's work and way with Israel and the world are also on view. Yet the theology of the Psalms does not share a modern, Christian and specifically Protestant aversion to rules and law. The Psalmist does seem to be intensely concerned with avoiding even hidden sin (19:12-13), but does not view this as burdensome. The Psalter does not view the Torah as detached from YHWH's gracious action. “They [meditation] are the result of man's loving union with God”3 Rather, moral and ethical instruction are a desirable, delightful part of YHWH's grace; “grace me with your torah” (119:29).4 This call for YHWH's work to reveal, bring understanding and enable obedience to Torah permeates Ps 1195. It is YHWH's Torah, that he personally gives and teaches, his own ways that he shares, yet this is always mediated by his decrees, his judgements, his word.

One another Wednesday

“you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14)

Which Law in Psalms?

In assessing the Psalms view of the Law of God, it is a crucial task to identify what Law is referred to. The phrase hwhy hrwt appears three times in the psalms, in what are traditionally called ‘Torah Psalms’, (Ps 1:2, 19:8(7), 119:1). The meaning of hrwt is better rendered ‘instruction’ rather than ‘Law’, though the content of YHWH’s instruction is interpreted in a variety of ways. Modern literary approaches, following Child's have identified the placement of Ps 1 as a ‘hermeneutical key’ for reading the canonical book of the Psalms.11 The mention of Torah in the first psalm, combined with the fivefold shape of the Psalms, imitating the shape of the Pentateuch, leads some to consider the reference to Torah as self referential, that is, the Psalms present themselves as Torah, teaching the people of God how to praise and pray.2 Levenson, working from Ps 119 expands the term to include any teaching from YHWH, especially

emphasising teaching unmediated by the Pentateuch3 McCann goes further to identify hrwt simply with the will of God.4 While the literary approach to canonical reading is in many ways laudable, the editorial placing of Ps 1 should not override it’s content. Interpretations that fail to see the connection to the Pentateuch and Deuteronomy in particular say too little. The phrasing of Ps1:2, especially with it’s reference to meditating day and night upon the Law, is found only here and in Joshua 1:8, where the law of Deuteronomy is on view. The language used in parallel to hrwt in Ps 19 and Ps 119, dqp, hwxm, fpvm, qj, twdo are particularly Deuteronomistic ways of referring to the Law, and are clustered in a similar way in Deut 5:31, 6:1, 7:11, 11:1, 26:16-17. 55 While the combination of walk, stand and sit in Ps1:1 is similar to the language of Proverbs, it also overlaps with Deut 6:7. That Psalm 119 seems to have no ‘book consciousness’’, reference to Moses or specific commands does not warrant positing alternate forms of Torah 6 The Psalms elsewhere contain reference to both specific commands of the Pentateuch7 and the sweeping narratives of the Pentateuch8 , and a book consciousness in relation to the Law and personal piety and redemption.9 Nor does the juxtaposition of cosmic language and the Torah of YHWH necessarily lead to a redefinition of the Torah along cosmic natural theology lines.10 Rather their juxtaposition functions as a

comment on the steadfastness of the Law. The Torah is studied, searched, and recited by the psalmist, indicating some kind of written form.11 Though the references to the Torah of YHWH may serve a canonical function in Ps 1, the clearest identification is with the Hebrew Scriptures in general and Deuteronomy in particular. “Although they [the Psalms] are not themselves Yahweh's torah, they are rich sustenance for a Torah oriented religious person”12

The Law of God in the Psalms

It's that time of year again. The time when I have no time to blog, so I hack up an old essay. This one is on the Law of God in the Psalms. Enjoy

The Law of God in the Psalms is viewed as an entirely positive reality. Meditation of and adherence to this Law brings blessing for the nation of Israel, for her individuals and for her king. This positive assessment of the Law is not drawn entirely from the current experience of the Psalmist, but awaits vindication from YHWH. Nevertheless, the agency of YHWH at every stage of the Law, giving, enabling and vindicating is assured. The reliability of the Law, in the face of adverse circumstances is assured on the basis of YHWH’s own faithfulness and power. The concept of the sovereign power of YHWH's word in creation as an analogy to the Torah of God, though attractive, is exegetically unfounded. The role of the Torah of God is to personally guide his people to blessing under his sovereign rule.