Exodus and Action

I've been making my way through Bruce Birch's Let Justice Roll Down: The Old Testament, Ethics, and Christian Life (WJK, 1991). On pp. 127-28, Birch writes: "God does not liberate without also calling us to the vocation of liberation."

WOW! Well said, Bruce!

It seems that in Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity (the communities of faith I call home) we spend so much time talking about people's souls, that we spend too little time talking about their lives--real, lived life. It is true that many, and perhaps most, of the problems people have in the physical world are related to spiritual issues (unforgiveness, anger, compulsiveness, etc.). And, thus, there is a distinct need to address the interior issues that cause us to behave badly. However, that does not obviate the need to work toward the relief of the oppressed. Truly, biblical salvation endeavors to alleviate the pain of both kinds of suffering.

The constant challenge, it seems to me, is to find the means to do both with the limited time we have. I wonder if doing both is simply a matter of getting out our calendars and scheduling time for "the vocation of liberation."

They shook my hand and called me Doctor.

Did not mean to sign off with four days to go and write nothing else. Oh well.

The defense went really well. The committee was generally convinced of the worthiness of the argument, so they did not spend a lot of time questioning me about that. Rather, they were more interested in getting the manuscript ready for publication and in getting at the trajectory of my argument. Where do I want to go from here? That approach made for a kind of celebratory atmosphere.

I'll write more after I recover a bit more and get back into the swing of things here at work.

4 Days Left

Although I could post once more about the angst I feel going into the dissertation defense, I will spare you. Rather, I'll talk for a few moments about Paul's perspective on the word of God. The Bible is often thought of as the inspired word of God, and perhaps that formulation is adequate. What is inadequate, however, is maintaining that confession without fully embracing the power of the word. Tom Wright points out much the same thing in a little book published in 2005 entitled (Man, I wish I could remember the name of that book). As I stood in the aisle of Barnes and Noble last night perusing its pages, I was struck by two facts. One, Wright's formulation sounded very much like Karl Barth's view of the word, though I think Wright would maintain a greater degree of fealty to the idea that the words (read or not) are inspired by God. Two, this kind of Barthian view that the word of God is the word of God in a far fuller sense when it is preached and mixed with faith in the heart of the hearer (the Aha! moment) seems pretty consistent with Paul's idea that the preached word is the means to save sinners (1 Cor 1).

In addition, this idea resonates well with Pentecostals like myself, though we often don't want to have anything to do with Barth because we've been told for so long that he's liberal and bad, which is, of course, a huge load of hooey (How's that for a theological term?). At any rate, these ideas resonate with me, not because I have abandoned inspiration, but because I embrace the Aha! moments. It is in those times that I come into my closest contact with the ultimate Word, the one that was made flesh.

Blessings to all!

5 Days and Counting

Today is Saturday, March 24, 2007. I feel the stress in my back and in my chest. I'm probably making more of this than I need to, but what I feel is what I feel. I told Sue I thought it would be fun for her to take my blood pressure everyday this week, just to see what it does. She assured me that would be a bad idea because that would just give me something else to worry about. She's right, of course, I don't need anything else to worry about at present.

I started reading my dissertation again today. Of course, I found a couple of typos! And, 20% through, I see a couple of places where the argument should be fleshed out a bit more. I wonder what the committee will say. I wonder where their comments will match my own critiques of my work.

One of my friends is dealing with the rejection letters he got from grad schools to which he applied. I'm wondering if I'll have to deal with another kind of rejection in a week. I'm not sure what I'll do if I get shut out, which I know probably will not happen. There are a couple of things I do know though. First, life will go on. There's actually something a bit freeing about saying that--My life will continue. The things I value most will stay as they are presently--the love of my wife and children. Second, I have gained a tremendous amount from this experience, and that education will have an effect (a good one I hope) on the people with which I come in contact. Neither of those things change. My job may change, but who I am doesn't.

I feel better. Bet my BP is down to 160 over 112. Cool!