Seyoon Kim’s scholarship is remarkable (Paul and the New Perspective, Origin of Paul’s Gospel). I look forward to the release of his latest work on Paul and the Roman Empire called Christ and Caesar. It appears that he will refute a lot of the counter-imperial claims made by some scholars such as N.T. Wright.
Author: Jonathan Dodson
The Apologetic Power of a Missional Community
At Austin City Life we talk about the “apologetic power of a Jesus-centered missional community.” What do we mean by this? We believe that one of the greatest apologetics–arguments for the gospel–is a community that embodies the gospel in missional form, a church that invites unbelievers and skeptics into an unpretentious community of imperfect, winsome believers who are laboring to renew their communities and cities socially and spiritually in and through the gospel of Christ.
We believe that Jesus calls us to make relationships and mend the brokenness of our city as an end in itself, not merely as a way to convert someone. We are against a bait-and-switch evangelism. Rather, we are imperfectly trying to engage people and culture in a way that betters individuals, families, and cities. In Luke 4 and Isaiah 61 Jesus made a connection between the “good news” and restored cities. We are trying to live that connection out, believing that it will compel others to embrace Jesus and join us in living our this apologetic.
This is, in fact, the legacy of the early Church. Historian Rodney Stark comments on the response of the early Church to suffering and broken cities:
…religion did not merely offer psychological antidotes for the misery of life; it actually made life less miserable. The power of Christianity lay not in its promise of otherworldly compensations for suffering in this life, as has so often been proposed. The truly revolutionary aspect of Christianity lay in moral imperatives such as “Love one’s neighbor as one’s self, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and “When you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” These were not just slogans. Members did nurse the sick, even during epidemics; they did support orphans, widows, the elderly, and the poor…
Stark goes on to note that Christiainity gained converts because of this kind of faith. This is not bumper sticker Christianity–pithy slogans and empty actions. Social mission was part of the very nature of the church. It is our hope and practice that Austin City Life does not merely offer psychological antidotes for the misery of life; but that we actually made life less miserable as well as more hopeful.
Broken Becomes Beautiful
Austin singer/song writer Nate Navarro (formerly of Wide Awake) will be releasing his first solo album in the Fall. Broken Becomes Beautiful narrates the story of a sinner deeply acquainted with grace and the mission of God. Nate’s emotive, gritty lyrics push through the strings to remind us of an authentic and stirring faith, drawing us back the the simplicity of the gospel–we are more broken that we dare admit but in Jesus more accepted than we could ever imagine. Check out his MySpace page and stream some of his new songs.
Archaeological Stone: Gabriel's Revelation
UPDATE: Ben Witherington weighs in on the find.
The NY Times released an article today that discusses the impact of a new archaeological find, a large stone that bears hebrew script describing a messianic figure who would die and rise again three days later. If authentic, this will provide unique 1st C B.C. Jewish evidence for messianic death-resurrection:
A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.
Ironically, Jewish scholars are saying this should shake the foundations of Christianity; however, it seems to me that in only strengthens the already Jewish-rooted faith:
“This should shake our basic view of Christianity,” he said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University. “Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story.”
It is unclear to me how this should shake the foundations of the Christian faith. After all, Jesus himself referred to the Jewish prophet Jonah’s experience of being in the belly of a whale for three days as a type of his own death-resurrection (Luke 11;29-32). Jesus called it the “sign of Jonah” which pointed to Jesus as something “greater than Jonah.”
Another Jewish reading:
“His mission is that he has to be put to death by the Romans to suffer so his blood will be the sign for redemption to come,” Mr. Knohl said. “This is the sign of the son of Joseph. This is the conscious view of Jesus himself. This gives the Last Supper an absolutely different meaning. To shed blood is not for the sins of people but to bring redemption to Israel.”
The apostles claimed very similar things; however, in their account of Jesus death the connect Jesus death with redemption for Israel, through the forgiveness of sins, which was also extended to the Gentiles:
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:36-38)
If this stone is authentic, then I see no reasons why Christians should be alarmed. Rather, it is further evidence of Augustine’s maxim: “The New is in the Old contained but the Old in the New explained.” What we need is a whole Bible theology, not just a Jewish or Christian reading, an Old versus New testament approach.