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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Theological Scallywags

The blogging parsnip sometimes says some great things (well, greatish).

For instance, in his blog on the Centre for Public Christianity he says:

Furthermore, the plethora of scallywag accounts of Jesus' life is allowed to grow because theologians have said 'it doesn't matter'. No - it does matter, theologically, that we can go Israel and see with our own eyes the ground on which Jesus walked. He was not a fantasy, or a principle. He was a man of flesh and blood and bone, and as far as any man of flesh and blood and bone may be traced in history so we should expect and in fact rejoice that traces of Jesus' presence among us are there to be found.


Well, Michael, for the Holy Spirit's revelation of creation as for Jesus (is there a hint that we are backing away from Barth here?). It does matter, theologically, and for the same reasons as it matters for Jesus: the scene is set for the grand covenant between God and his creation in concrete terms, in terms congruent with the manner in which the setting and scene interact and play out. If not, then the God merges with the demiurge, or something worse. See my earlier post, and my comment upon same.

6 comments:

neil moore said...

Eric, I just don't know how people like Michael Jensen & Co so readily set themselves up for the charge of "hypocrisy".

You have rightly exposed Michael Jensen. I just don't understand what Moore Theological College is churning out theses days. They are so ill-equipped to run a consistent argument for the veracity of the Word.

He is not alone. John Dickson is in the same category as is his cohort at the Centre for Public Christianity. A "mouthpiece" for the Word? I think not!

Neil

John said...

Yes, it's a shame that Michael and his mates do not take Paul's words as seriously as they should. Paul makes it plain that the very nature of God can be understood from the creation. This makes it clear that Paul not only has the usual attributes in mind but the fundamental entity that separates us from the pagan, namely, time.

The pagan posits a slow, imperceptible movement from nothing to something. We Christians say that it was instantaneous, the ONLY sign of the miraculous that signals non-Nature (i.e. the Creator) working. Lack of time is the key to identifying God having worked the miraculous.

This is not a blind faith issue. Lack of time is demonstrated in a myriad of articles that are on this website in the top right-hand corner. Just as you can't hide the fact or explain away the Creator's physical appearance in Judea 2,000 years ago, neither can you hide his rapid creative activities 6,000years ago. The Sydney Diocese takes the heretical view that it is now hidden from view because it is now far too long ago and that it was an action of Nature (i.e. evolution) that brought this present reality forth. I ask our Anglican heretics how one can distinguish this from a purely pagan view of origins.

neil moore said...

John, that is shameful. They are only revealing a scaled down representation of Jesus Christ. Not him in all His glory. Robbers!

Neil

Duane said...

"I ask our Anglican heretics how one can distinguish this from a purely pagan view of origins."

Reminds me of an essay about a decade ago by John Woodmorappe?
http://www.rae.org/tractor.html

Eric said...

John, I think you're onto something about 'time'. I think the SADists overlook its domination of our experience, and the immediacy of God's will-to-action, as opposed to the employment of techniques and intervening actions for us to produce things. God's mark must be that he says and it happens.

neil moore said...

Duane, thanks for the link. I'll have a look at it tomorrow.

I suppose your media has gone overboard about the death of Michael Jackson as has the media in Australia?

Neil