Scriptorium Archive
for January, 2012

Featured Essay

The Conversion of St. Paul

| Theology | 01.25.2012

Christmas was exactly one month ago, and now, we celebrate another birth, or should I say , a new birth: the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, once fierce persecutor of the followers of Christ, now a formidable soldier for Christ. We can say with certainty that ignorance of St. Paul is ignorance of Christ, especially since much of the New Testament is comprised of his epistles, fourteen in all. Preacher, missionary, and th... Read More...

Not Your Old New Trinitarianism, A New New Trinitarianism

| Theology | 01.25.2012

"Remythologizing" is a mouthful of a word, and it may scare people a few away from Kevin Vanhoozer's fascinating book Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship (2010: Cambridge University Press). Vanhoozer explains in great detail what he means by it, and I won't rehearse that here. But one of the reasons he picked the title was because it rhymes with the famous mid-century buzzword of a certain ki... Read More...

Additional Scriptorium for January, 2012

Live Blog of NBC Florida

| Misc., Politics | 01.23.2012

Pre-debate- Mitt Romney must turn the tide. Newt has the momentum. Here we go. Newt gets to go first. Why? Reagan as Newt. Washington establishment is uncomfortable. Newt is not going to respond because he is above it. Mitt got under Newt's skin. "You are a bad historian . . ." That is a lame response. Santorum says he has the right plan. It strikes me... Read More...

Mitt Romney, a Latter-day Republican

| Politics | 01.22.2012

A love for the soul of the Republican party necessitates an evangelical vote for Mitt Romney. The Republican party was born appealing to northern evangelical voters and those voters helped elect Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln led them in a great crusade to save the Union and free the slaves. Those old-line voters still exist in states like Iowa and Ohio where evangelicals still ar... Read More...

South Carolina: Live Blogging the Primary at Dad’s House

| Misc., Politics | 01.21.2012

The long time reader of these primary pieces will know our family has not been keen on the Gingrich candidacy. We think him unfit to serve in the office of President, but that doesn't mean we do not appreciate the good he has done. The family rule has been that if we oppose a person to think of ten nice things to say about him. We owe him that as a brother in Christ. So bef... Read More...

Open Marriage and American Ideals

| Politics | 01.21.2012

Marriage forms families and families make a civilization. Many of us fail to live up to the high ideal of marriage, but the solution is not to declare our failures variations of the ideal and move on. Marriage has been between one man and one woman for all of American history: our romantic ideal. Every part of this definition is under assault as some Americans try to define ... Read More...

Close Attention to How God Says What He Says

| Theology | 01.20.2012

Vanhoozer says “My wager is that this brief detour into the dispute over the meaning of Dostoevsky’s authorship will yield theological dividends for understanding God’s communicative relation to the world.” (p. 311) Indeed it does, in two ways. First, it sharpens the meaning of divine authorship in a way that clarifies the God-world relationship. “God authors/elec... Read More...

Whatever God Makes Humans FLIRSH

| Theology | 01.20.2012

Reading in modern liberal theology, you begin to notice some recurring themes. Especially when liberal theologians get around to describing God, they tend to emphasize a few characteristics. You find these pervasive patterns of thought: that God is deeply mysterious, but is always opposed to oppression; that God is intimately and immanently near to us, affirms matter in all its... Read More...

A Debate at Our House

| Misc., Politics | 01.19.2012

(I watch this debate with the family ranging from 73 to 17. We opine. Live blog, pardon many errors!) Marriage Newt is asked about his marriage. He argues that it is not an issue and that it is a network problem for bringing it up. Newt answered the question calmly during the day and then ramped it up for the audience. His "rage" is for the camera. (This was confi... Read More...

On Confederates

| Misc. | 01.18.2012

The Civil War, I am being told, was not about slavery. It is true that there were other causes for the War, but the fundamental cause was the desire of Southern men and women to be secure in their property and the property threatened was slave property. Don't believe it? Since Wikipedia is down and you cannot check on Buffy episode titles or other more valuable task... Read More...

God who Writes Like Dostoevsky

| Theology | 01.18.2012

English metaphysical poet Thomas Traherne (1636-1674) insisted that in spiritual matters, “the manner is always more excellent than the thing.” This has great implications for the idea of God as author. When Kevin Vanhoozer presents God’s relationship to the world as a relation of authorship, his point is never simply that God is an author. What he's after is what ki... Read More...

The Civil War Should Be Over

| Misc., Politics | 01.17.2012

Last night in Charleston, South Carolina on the day the nation celebrates the Rev. Dr. King, Governor Rick Perry used a question about voting rights to say the Federal government was at "war" with the states. This was either ignorant or disgusting. I think it should end the Perry candidacy in the Party of Lincoln. Why? One-hundred and fifty years ago Charleston So... Read More...

A Debate Watched at Home

| Misc., Politics | 01.16.2012

Ian, age 17, is here. Dad, age 73, is here. I am here (age 48). Frustration is high with the Newtster. We will try to be fair to him. The crowd is lively and seems eager to boo if they don't like it. The journalists from FOX are applauded. They look uncomfortable with this. No bell, no buzzer. We start with a King quote and a discussion of unemployment. "First, le... Read More...

Communicative Theism

| Theology | 01.16.2012

A short post here before plunging into the next major topic in Kevin Vanhoozer's 2010 book Remythologizing Theology (coming out in paperback this year, they say). That next major topic is how God speaks. But first a word about how Vanhoozer speaks. Remythologizing Theology is a book about the doctrine of God, but it also extends into the doctrine about how God relates to th... Read More...