When Christian Doesn’t Mean Christian

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the majority of Americans are ‘Christians.’ Naturally, this begs the question, what exactly is meant by ‘christian’ these days that it applies to persons or groups who have scant resemblance to historical Christianity? “Christian” seems to have become one of those words now emptied of meaning by constant misuse.

A Christian is NOT simply a person who has their name listed on the roll of some institution (i.e., the Church). And a Christian is NOT simply a person who happens to grow up in a home that calls itself by that name, nor, for that matter, in a nation that calls itself by that name. And, finally, a Christian is NOT simply a person who has some ephemeral, vague, inconsequential knowledge of who Jesus is and what Christianity is about.

According to the study, 78.4% of Americans are Christians, about 5% belong to other faith traditions and 16.1% are unaffiliated with any particular religion.

That, my friends, is pure rubbish and easily falsifiable.  What, then, IS a Christian?

A Christian is a person who, by personal decision, admits before God their sin and clings to Christ for forgiveness and pardon.  Such a person is reoriented in life away from self and towards God (primarily) and neighbor (secondarily).  Where such reorientation is absent, faith is as well.  Authentic Christianity is demonstrated not by mere claim but by actual behavior.  “Faith, without works, is dead” - as James has it.

For this reason many of those who have deluded themselves or been deluded into imagining themselves ‘Christians’ are anything but.

A Recovered Post: The ‘Bible Translation’ Meme

If it weren’t that I like Esteban and find him delightfully funny, I’d ignore him like I do others who torment my gentle soul with such tripe. Anyway, with that out of the way- here are my responses:

1. What translation of the Bible do you like best?

None. If you can’t read the originals and you call yourself a scholar you’re a poo head.

2. Old or New Testament?

Both.

3. Favorite Book of the Bible?

Well for pete’s sake… See, below, #5

4. Favorite Chapter?

[See below- I answered them in reverse order]

5. Favorite Verse? (Feel free to explain yourself if you must.)

What damnable heresy is behind this, thou Marcionite! The Bible isn’t a buffet from which you get to pick and choose.

6. Bible character you think you’re most like?

Jeremiah, of course

7. One thing from the Bible that confuses you?

Um… Nothing. There are things I don’t understand and things that aren’t clear- but nothing is confusing of confounding.

8. Moses or Paul?

James and John (and I don’t feel constrained by your arbitrary rules, oh inventor of this meme thing)

9. A teaching from the Bible that you struggle with or don’t get?

Theodicy

10. Coolest name in the Bible?

James

Now tag five people.

NO.

Closing Prayer: Dear Lord, please lead people to abandon these foul memes as they spring straight from the fiery pits of Tilling’s abode where Wrightianity and Ehrmanianism hold sway. And do, O Lord, thereby, purify the world of such unpleasantries. Amen.

Wow- An Actual Award!

Awesome- thanks James!

I’ll not nominate 10- but I will 5-

Chris Tilling, Antonio Lombatti, Aren Maeir, Stephen Pfann, and Esteban Vazquez. I’d nominate Crossley too but McGrath already did. Those 6 blogs are those without which I cannot do. And of course mine makes 7. Hence, the number of perfection is achieved in these sacred 7.

[NB- all the others on my list are important to me too- and so are those on the biblioblogs list- just so no one feels left out or slighted. Remember, if I mention you, link to you, or add you to the roll, you matter!][Some just matter more than others, that's all][And some don't matter at all, but I won't say who because then they'd just get huffy].

Dueling Scroll-ists

Thanks to Joseph Lauer for passing along notice of this essay which begins enticingly

Two experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls will lecture on their history and preservation at a symposium next weekend. Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of New York University’s Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and Donald Parry, professor of Hebrew Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls at Brigham Young University, will discuss and conduct tours of a traveling exhibit of scroll facsimiles at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center in Palmyra.

Anyone going? I’d love to hear about it. And does anyone know if Schiffman still holds his Sadducee hypothesis? It’s been a long time since I read his book and nothing from him since then (for which I feel badly, but not horribly, since there’s always Zwingli urging my attention).

Conference Announcement: Archaeology and the Patriarchs

Peter van der Veen announces

Dear colleagues,
I would like to announce our next international conference of Biblical Archaeology in Germany from October 10-12, 2008. The main topic this year will be the history and archaeology of the biblical patriarchs.
Windows to the Past - Abraham and his World

Biblical Archaeology Conference Near Schwäbisch Gmünd (c. 50kms east of Stuttgart/Germany) - October 10-12, 2008

• The antiquity of the Genesis traditions
• Dating the Patriarchs
• Peoples, lands and places
• Sodom and Gomorrah
• Cult and customs
• Drought and other catastrophes
• Camels
• Faith in one God

With Dr. John Bimson, Prof. Mart-Jan Paul, Dr. Peter van der Veen, Prof. Uwe Zerbst, Prof. Wolfgang Zwickel et al. The patriarch Abraham is undoubtedly a key person in the Bible. God commanded Abraham to migrate from Mesopotamia to Canaan, where he would become the father of many nations. Both Israel as well as the Messiah would belong to his offspring. But did Abraham really exist? Could he not be a mere literary character, designed to provide the people of Israel with a national and theological identity? How ancient are the patriarchal traditions in the Book of Genesis?

These questions have frequently been asked. Although many scholars still agreed until the 1960’s that the descriptions of customs, religious world views and migrations in the patriarchal narratives represented the cultural environment of the early second Millennium BC and therefore were believed to be authentic stories of a genuine past, today this picture has largely changed. Elements of the story whose life setting no longer appear to fit the early date but rather the archaeological context of the first Millennium BC are now being highlighted. Hence the world of Israel’s kings and the period of the Babylonian Exile are said to provide the true cultural background for these stories. For instance the anachronistic appearance of Philistines and Aramaeans in Abraham’s daily setting, as well as the herds of camels (believed to have been domesticated much later) in the stories, are at the centre of the discussion. In addition, could Abraham really have been a monotheist, if the belief in one God became only widely accepted in Judah during the religious reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah in the 8th-7th centuries BC according to the theological consensus?

Not all scholars, however, date the origins of the patriarchal narratives this late. Several aspects of cultic, socio-political and economic life of the patriarchs still reflect a life context more at home in the early second Millennium BC, when according to biblical chronology the patriarchs appear to have lived. Accompanied by an archaeological exhibition, the lecturers seek to explore the world of the patriarchs in a series of illustrated presentations. Excavations in the land of the Bible, as well as the study of ancient documents, climatological investigations etc., appear to shed new light on the exciting world of Abraham and on the date of the Genesis stories. Discrepant theories will also be debated and analyzed.

This surely will be an essential conference on the time of the patriarchs and should be mandatory for all theological students and teachers, lecturers as well as for anyone interested in the world of the Bible.

Programme

(Translation into English for the German lectures will be provided if needed)

Friday, October 10
Arrival 6 PM
Evening lecture 8-9:30 PM - M.-J. Paul, Theologie und Exegese der Erzvätergeschichten - Spuren einer frühen Entstehung

Saturday, October 11
Morning programme 9:30-10:30 AM- U. Zerbst & P. van der Veen, Auf der Such nach Abrahams Welt

Short lectures
J. Bimson, Philistines at the time of Abraham?
M. Heide, Domestizierte Kamele zur Zeit Abrahams?

Afternoon programme
Short lectures 2-3:30 PM
W. Zwickel, Abrahams Glaube, ein zeitloser Beduinenkult?
M.-J. Paul, Abraham ein Monotheist?

Plenum discussions
F. Ninow, Sodom und Gomorra im Licht archäologischer Ausgrabungen
M. Laudien, Sodom im Licht antiker Überlieferungen

Evening programme 8-10 PM - Main lecture - J. Bimson, Archaeological Excavations in Israel and the Dating of the Patriarchs

Sunday, October 12 -Morning programme

Short lectures 9:30-10:30 AM
G. Reinhold, Abraham, ein wandernder ‚Aramäer?
V. Golinets, Abraham, Aramäer oder Amoriter?

Discussions

Main lecturers - Dr. John J. Bimson holds a Ph.D. from Sheffield University. His thesis deals with the Israelite conquest in Canaan. He is lecturer of Old Testament and Biblical Archaeology at Trinity College, Bristol and is author of several publications, e.g. on the Patriarchs. Prof. Dr. Mart-Jan Paul obtained a doctorate from Leiden University. He is lecturer of Old Testament at the Christelijke Hogeschool Ede (Netherlands) and is professor of Old Testament at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of Louvain (Belgium). Prof. Paul wrote several books (including pentateuchal studies and the history of exegesis) and is final editor and author of a Dutch commentary series on the Old Testament (including Genesis-Exodus). Dr. Peter van der Veen and Prof. Dr. Uwe Zerbst are leaders of the international Research group for Biblical Archaeology (ABA). Together they edited two volumes on Levantine chronology and the archaeology of the Conquest. A third volume on the archaeology of the patriarchs is underway. Van der Veen obtained his Ph.D. from Bristol University with a thesis on provenanced official seals and bullae from the late monarchy period in Israel and Jordan.

Further lecturers:
Viktor Golinets (Semitic scholar)
Dr. Martin Heide (Semitic scholar)
Markus Laudien (research on the geography of Sodom)
Dr. Friedbert Ninow (Old Testament scholar and archaeologist)
Dr. Gotthard Reinhold (Semitic scholar and archaeologist)
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Zwickel (Old Testament scholar and archaeologist)

Information and registration (dead-line by October 1, 200 :

Organizer: ABA (Arbeitsgruppe für Biblische Archäologie)
Conference facilities: Chr. Erholungsheim Schönblick GmbH
Willi-Schenk-Str. 9, D-73527 Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Tel. +49(0)7171/9707-0, kontakt@schoenblick-info.de

Registration: Dr. Peter van der Veen, Reinhardstrasse 31, D-73614 Schorndorf, Germany, +49(0)7181-989118; Email: van_der_Veen@gmx.de; van_der_Veen@web.de

*All prices include meals, linen, towels and use of swimming pool and tourist tax for the period of the entire conference (2 nights) one time tax payment of EUR 9,00. Cancellation fee per person per day EUR 8,00.

Conference fee:
30 EUR (students 15 EUR)

Contact Peter directly at the email above for further information.

Speaking of Baptist History

If you haven’t had the opportunity to read the most important Baptist Confessions of Faith since the beginning of the denomination, you can always pick up a collection of them for a great price by a brilliant theologian. Just click here- and get one for all your friends!

Baptists At 400

The year 2009 is the 400th Anniversary of the establishment of Baptist Christianity. The whole year will aim at celebrating Baptist work around the world and Baptist’s contributions to the larger Church. And it’s all kicking off where it all began- in Amsterdam. Christian Today reports

Preparations are already underway for celebrations in 2009 to mark 400 years of the world Baptist movement, which organisers are stressing will not only look at the achievements of the past, but also set out the vision that will ensure the movement’s successful stride into the future.

Four hundred years have passed since the movement’s founding fathers – refugees from England – gathered in the backroom of an Amsterdam bakery in 1609 to read the Bible together. That small gathering became the first Baptist-minded congregation and the European Baptist Federation (EBF) anticipates that 1,700 Baptists from across Europe alone will turn out from 24 to 26 July 2009 to celebrate the occasion, slated “Amsterdam 400”.

If you want to be one of the lucky few- make plans now. And if you can’t go all the way to Amsterdam, don’t worry, there will be lots of opportunities around the globe.

More Professorial Misconduct

It seems Pastors aren’t the only ones capable of plumbing the depraved depths. Professors too, of course, are not immune. Take, for example, a Professor from China who has been arrested for stealing women’s underwear from the dorms. Reuters reports

The 39-year old man — an associate professor in a Chinese university — was charged for taking women’s underwear from a university hostel’s clothes-line last December, the Straits Times reported. The Singaporean professor, who teaches in China, was in the city-state for his leave when he committed the crime. He was caught by a dormitory security guard who found female undergarments in his haversack.

Perhaps he’s just storing them up to sell during the Olympics. Or maybe he’s just depraved. And too cheap to go buy his own.