Rick Warren: Pastor as Prophet Or Pastor as Politician?

I’m in complete agreement with David Waters when he writes

I’ve been trying to decide which is more troubling: That our two candidates for president are making their first joint campaign appearance at a church, or that the pastor of that church has put himself in the position of campaign moderator.

Both are troubling. Rather than climbing in bed with politicians, pastors are duty bound to be prophetic in their behavior. And by that I mean, they are to be critics of social policy when that policy is at odds with what is right and ethical and moral and, yes, godly. It seems Warren has left aside this prophetic role once again in order to step into the spotlight- hand in hand with politicians- for fame?

David continues

Politicians will be politicians, after all. John McCain and Barack Obama are running for office and everything they do is calculated to win votes. They both want and need the evangelical Christian vote and they have shown they are willing to do just about anything to get it. We expect that, and so far we seem to be OK with that. What if their host Saturday evening wasn’t Rick Warren but Pat Robertson? Or Jeremiah Wright? Or Louis Farrakhan? Imagine the uproar.

Very true indeed. And the uproar would be justified.

Rick Warren’s role in this made-for-TV event is even more distressing and possibly just as calculating.

Again, very true and very observant. Everything Warren does seems calculated to achieve only one end- media attention.

However sincere his attempt, however well-crafted his questions, Warren will merely be providing the candidates with another campaign podium — or in this case, an immensely respected and valued pulpit. Saddleback Church will become the backdrop for McCain and Obama political ads. (The Matthew 25 PAC, which has endorsed Obama, already is planning a TV ad to run during the forum.) Warren won’t be endorsing either candidate, but by their presence they will be endorsing him and his church.

Which is only a part of the truth. The whole truth seems to be that Warren craves the attention that such a meeting will provide him. And David sagely remarks

Whenever a pastor gets tangled up with a political campaign, I’m reminded of what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in “Strength to Love,” a sermon collection. “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state,” King wrote. “It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.” Rick Warren and his church can’t be the conscience of the state when they are co-hosting a campaign event.

Nor does he wish to be the conscience of the state. He wishes to be the spokesman for it. He’s traded in his pulpit for a podium. Now instead of speaking for God- he speaks for politicians. He serves them as their organizing voice.

The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Movie

No, not the one being produced by Bob Cargill in connection with his work- but a little 7 minute film-ette produced by the IAA. Via Claudia (whose awesome blog you surely must check out if you haven’t already).

Farewell Bishop Wrong

NT Wrong is leaving biblioblogdom to take up residence on top of a hill somewhere to await the apocalypse. And yes, he’s really calling it quits. His work has been great fun and I for one will miss his wit.

Farewell, good Bishop.

[n.b.- YES, he really is calling it quits].

More Problems From China

Those wonderful Chinese female gymnasts, which were reportedly all at least 16 within this Olympic year, and who won the Gold Medal this week, were not all what they appeared. Indeed, one is 13. And the IOC and China couldn’t care less if the rules were broken.

CNN/SI reports

Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week. In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He as one of “10 big new stars” who made a splash at China’s Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. In the final, “this little girl” pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, www.hb.xinhuanet.com

Of course now that report is being denied. But as we all learned in school, cheaters never really prosper. And in spite of the news all week about China’s bad behavior, the games themselves have been brilliant. The beach volleyball victory of the US men over the Japanese men today was a barnburner. China may cheat, but it can’t spoil the fun.

The Chronological Study Bible: More Nonsense Parading as Scholarship

“The Chronological Study Bible” will be released this fall in the midst of a Bible-publishing boom in the United States. In an industry that now as much to do with profits as with prophets, Sanford expects his new edition to have wide appeal. “(Our challenge) is to take the scholarship and make it enjoyable to a readership that enjoys history,” said Sanford, who oversees the Bible division for the giant Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson. The latest edition rejiggers the order of books, psalms, and Gospels in an effort to provide a historical framework for a text most scholars consider chronologically challenged. So, for example, whole sections of Isaiah and Nehemiah are reordered to better reflect an accurate historical timeline; the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are merged into one based on Mark’s chronology; and some of St. Paul’s letters (which traditionally appear later in the New Testament) are woven into the Book of Acts.

What nonsense.  And I’m not alone in this assessment of the whole concept of a ‘chronological bible’.  There are loads of problems which cannot be solved by such an approach and, indeed, problems will be multiplied by it.

“I would say, generally speaking, that scholars would have no interest at all,” said Pat Graham, a professor at Emory University in Atlanta. “What it ends up being is something that laypersons find helpful — or would think it would be helpful. Any biblical studies expert worth their salt would not have much interest in this at all, except as kind of a curiosity.”

Phil’s right.

Sanford says unlocking and reordering the Bible’s chronology can help readers understand the context in which portions of the book were written. But in practice, scholars say, this can prove challenging.

Challenging is an understatement!!!!  It’s just another attempt to twist the text of the Bible around in a new way, to make a buck.

Whether or not the book will win any converts in academia, Sanford thinks his new edition will be a success. There have been chronological Bibles before, he says, but none specifically geared toward Bible study. If everything works according to plan, the newest product will provide a fresh perspective on an age-old bestseller. And on this, the experts begrudgingly agree.”You’re writing a new biblical narrative,” said Timothy Beal, a professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “I guess in this age of (cutting and pasting), it seems like a way to come up with a new Bible.”

Thank you, Professor Beal, for speaking a word of sense.   The whole essay can be accessed here.

Yahweh: The Name Not Welcome in Catholic Churches

Ethics Daily reports

Catholics at worship should neither sing nor pronounce the name of God as “Yahweh,” the Vatican has said, citing the authority of both Jewish and Christian practice. The instruction came in a June 29 letter to Catholic bishops conferences around the world from the Vatican’s top liturgical body, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, by an explicit “directive” of Pope Benedict XVI. “In recent years the practice has crept in of pronouncing the God of Israel’s proper name,” the letter noted, referring to the four-consonant Hebrew “Tetragrammaton,” YHWH. That name is commonly pronounced as “Yahweh,” though other versions include “Jaweh” and “Yehovah.” But such pronunciation violates long-standing Jewish tradition, the Vatican reminded bishops. “As an expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, (the name) was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: `Adonai,’ which means `Lord,”‘ the Congregation said.

The Vatican- turning back the clock since the close of Vatican II.

Oh Come On Spain, What Possessed You?

The Spanish basketball team had their photo taken in Beijing- pretending to be Orientals by contorting their eyes to a slant. What possessed them to do it? Of course they claim it wasn’t racist but come on. It’s the 21st century. This sort of behavior is unacceptable even for jocks.

MSNBC reports

Pau Gasol has apologized, saying the Spanish basketball team never meant to offend any one. Point guard Jose Manuel Calderon wrote on his blog that the gesture, fingers pressed against their eyes, was meant as an “affectionate” message for the Chinese people. Spain’s coach, Aito Garcia, who has refused to address the controversy, snapped at a reporter after the team’s 72-59 victory over Germany on Thursday.

Affectionate???? If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale… For shame, Spain, for shame.

Right Behind: Supplanting ‘Left Behind’

Roland Boer is supplanting the ‘Left Behind’ series with one of his own- ‘Right Behind’. Via Bishop Wrong. Enjoy!!!!

UPDATE:  And, by the way, I’ve not heard of Roland’s blog till now, so I’ve taken a look and it’s delightfully fun!  So, naturally, I’m adding it to the roll.  Here, and on Biblioblogs.com

Responsio brevis ad epistolam … in qua de eucharistia quaestio tractatur

Was published by Zwingli on the 14th of August, 1526, a Tuesday.  Zwingli was right in the middle of his two front Eucharist war with the Lutherans on one side and the Catholics on the other.  The present book offers, in 39 concisely phrased points, his perspective once again.    Indeed, if 1525 was the year of struggle against the rebaptizers, 1526-1529 would be primarily occupied with matters eucharistic.

The text at hand has not been translated, to my knowledge, into English.  And it hasn’t featured extensively in treatments of Zwingli’s Eucharistic theology probably because it is rather monotonous in its cadence and intended for academic consumption.  Zwingli is more prosaic in other works on the subject, which means, most probably, that this particular book will continue to be widely ignored (though of course it shouldn’t be).

Huldrych Zwingli