Tracking the new Evangelical interest in Christian Eastern Orthodox [SSL288]

One of the most influential people to bring the gifts of Eastern Orthodox Christianity into the view of the English speaking and Evangelical world is the topic today: Reverend and Bishop Kallistos Ware

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Eps 76: The Sin of Certainty and Misunderstanding the Bible: Guest Peter Enns

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Peter Enns’s website (with a new podcast as of MARCH 2017)

Pete on TwitterPeterEnns


Hear other recent episodes:

 


SHOW NOTES to Eps 76:

MIN 1:00 Who is Peter Enns?

MIN 2:00

What was the path that led to writing “The Sin of Certainty”

Pete’s BLOG link

Pete’s controversy? Wait. What?

MIN 4:30

On uncomfortable things.

Suggestion alternate ways of thinking that are compelling that alone can be too uncomfortable and resisted sometimes.

Centrist background and when went to Westminster Seminary and taught there.

Inspiration and Incarnation (book link)  The problem on the OT.

MIN 8:30

Adam – BioLogos

The Evolution of Adam

Genesis and Science speak two different languages.

Medieval Jewish readings of the Genesis story Adam reflects and parallel the story of Israel and paradise land.

Adam as a symbol, theme, or pattern. Be aware of literary structure.

Bible written as thoughtful theology not history (or science). Written as the story of Israel that show their ideology. (and identity)

MIN 13

[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Literalism is a modernist reading strategy [of the Bible].[/ictt-tweet-inline]

(To share this nifty quote above on TWITTER, it takes 4 seconds. Just click the blue bird icon. And keep your eyeballs open for other easy-to-tweet quotes throughout these show notes.)

Different books of the people (in different eras) adjust and revise other parts of scripture.

[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]I find that the most conservative way of reading the Bible is the most unbiblical.[/ictt-tweet-inline]


MIN 15

Pete, what do you mean by “GOD”? (and how he encounters that in his newest book.)

Using the word “God” is almost lazy.

MIN 19:30

[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]There is no one portrayal of God in the Bible.[/ictt-tweet-inline]

It changes depending on the culture, theology, time, circumstances, and author or authors writing the book. The New Testament comes from the Old Testament trajectory.

MIN 22:00

[In Paul’s letters] Paul [is] trying to make sense of Jesus when it’s a radical departure from Jewish thought.

[The bible is] [T]he development of how humans think about God. The tribal God is warlike [is one example].

[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]The “biblical God” is the God we see through our own lens.[/ictt-tweet-inline]

MIN 25:00

God in our image.

[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]“It’s not just that we use psychology, we ARE psychology.”[/ictt-tweet-inline]

[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]“All theology is psychology and sociology, [because] we are people who live in communities and people with histories.”[/ictt-tweet-inline]

[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]“God allows [God’s] children to tell [God’s] story from where they are from their perspective.”[/ictt-tweet-inline]

Hold with an open fist.

MIN 28:30

The mystery of the Incarnation and how we see the world.

[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]“Jesus is the model and Savior and messy and a 1st century Jewish man.”[/ictt-tweet-inline]

What’s the divine part of Christology?

MIN 32:00

How has Pete’s personal concepts of God have evolved?

My experience of God is not irrelevant and not relegated to just the academic and the life of the modernist mind.

(Eastern) Orthodox “God as Being” (rather than a Being)

When you think of God what do you think of?

God is in you and without God there is nothing. And God is all around you. (New ideas for Pete).

MIN 37:00

What’s around the corner for Pete Enns.


Pick the best option for you below:

3 Theologies of Christianity

This is one of the handouts I got at my weekend graduate residency. It’s a spreadsheet summary of the book by Justo Gonzalez. Christian Thought Revisited: Three Types of Theology. Nashville: Abington Press, 1989.

The first one listed won out in most Christian cultures historically: Transactional (TYPE A). We might even take this approach for granted, but there are reasons this flavor of Christianity took hold the most in Western culture. Power is the big reason. The other theologies haven’t been lost completely and are important to recognize. We see a reemergence worldwide of TYPE C (Incarnational), the oldest approach to Christian theology and the one geographically closest to Jerusalem. TYPE B (Transcendent) is most often seen in Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions.

After you read through it, share something.

The Three Theologies

Praying for Children-UPDATE

Jesus blesses the children

Today a recommendation:

Here is a distinctively Evangelical slant at praying the Scriptures for our children by Thom Turner, using an Eastern Orthodox lens. It is an interesting place to begin exploring this topic, and enact practices like these for our offspring, (or the children in our lives). In this way, we learn how Christians have prayed blessings for children over the centuries, and God is honored by our petitions and praises.

UPDATE new post from Thom:

A Prayer for Our Children: Song One

Posted: 31 Mar 2011 12:09 PM PDT

This is the first prayer of “A Prayer for Our Children.” This prayer should be read slowly and meditatively, pausing on each phrase and line break. A brief silence should be held between the call and response.

Call

Almighty God, you nurture all Christians.
We are your servants whom you have delivered from evil,
and we sing to you with grateful thanks.
With your mighty arm you deliver my children from all dangers,
and with joyful tears we cry out to you:

Raise my children (insert name of child) to be worthy of your kingdom.
May they be shaped into heirs of your eternal blessings.

Response

Just as the Archangel Gabriel was sent to Mary and Joseph to protect Christ from harm,
I pray that the hosts of heaven come into our midst.

I pray especially for God to intercede in our lives. Be my help, so that I:

Raise my children to be earthly angels.
Raise my children to be heaven-minded.
Raise my children to be your kingdom servants.
Raise my children to pray: “Rejoice!”
Raise my children (insert names), to be made worthy of the Kingdom and make them heirs of eternal blessing.

Amen