Posts for Jun, 2007.

6/30/2007 8:48:00 AM

A God Entranced Vision of All Things

Posted Saturday, June 30, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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Everyone loves Jonathan Edwards! I realize that this says more about my context and what I read than about the general attitude towards Edwards among the average person in United States, for whom Edwards is only known by a single sermon of his which they read in high school, but it seems that Edwards continues to gain in popularity in theological and philosophical circles. The latest Edwards book I read is the result of a Jonathan Edwards conference hosted by Desiring God ministries in 2003. The book is a collection of articles edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor and is entitled A God Entranced Vision of All Things. It is a good look at a few aspects of his life and a detailed look at three parts of his theology. Here are a few of my favorite chapters.

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6/27/2007 7:26:00 AM

Mount of Beatitudes

Posted Wednesday, June 27, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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We have little idea where the Sermon on the Mount was actually given. But this place is a good guess! It is on top of a hill, is near the Sea of Galilee and can hold large crowds. So why not? There is a very nice church on top of the mountain as well, where you can see the coat that the Pope wore on his visit here. One of the times we were here there were a large number of security people wandering around, which was unusual because this was a Christian site in Galilee. No worries about bombings here. The reason for the security was shown halfway through our visit when even more security showed up, along with the president of Germany. The president of Germany, like Israel, is mostly a figurehead, but he is still worthy of lots of security I guess! Read more of Mount of Beatitudes


6/27/2007 7:11:00 AM

Five Dollar Piper Books

Posted Wednesday, June 27, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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Just to let you know, all Piper books are five dollars Wednesday and Thursday at Desiring God . Great books at a great price! Read more of Five Dollar Piper Books


6/26/2007 5:34:00 PM

Juries and Theology

Posted Tuesday, June 26, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
Categories: Culture and Theology   Comments: None
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I got summoned for jury duty this morning, and as I was sitting there I started thinking about commen sense. (By the way, there were not any cases for the specific group I was in, so I was only there two hours.) They said we should decide using our own commen sense. This is also a technical term that I have been reading a lot about recently, specifically Scottish common sense realism. This viewpoint had a great effect on the church in the last two centuries and affects how we do theology and how we read the Bible. But as I was pondering common sense, it seems that a postmodern culture is drifting away from common sense: they recognize that everyone has an angle and a viewpoint. Therefore, common sense actually isn't all that common. So will the whole idea of a jury go away? In my thinking postmodernism doesn't mix real well with a jury system. Of course, postmodernism doesn't mesh real well with a justice system at all. Read more of Juries and Theology


6/23/2007 10:57:00 AM

Going Places with God

Posted Saturday, June 23, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
Categories: Bible Geography   Comments: None
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I will begin this book review by saying that I normally hate devotional books. Either they are so cheesy I can not stand it or they say such intellectually ignorant things that I get too distracted from the point of the text. But Wayne Stiles has written a devotional book that I have found helpful. The theme of his book is the geography of the Bible, so each entry is based upon some geographical theme. While there are a few that I think are a stretch, overall they are well done and either challenging or encouraging. For example, he discusses the move of Jesus from Nazareth to Capernaum. He believes the reason for this move was to put Jesus on the International Highway so that he would have greater influence. The application then is that we need to think strategically in our lives and think about the big picture of what God is doing. Each entry also contains a prayer and a quote from someone in church history. Interspersed throughout the book are wonderful pictures from Israel and several maps to help the reader orient themselves. I highly recommend this book for an intellectually responsible but still encouraging devotional.  

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6/23/2007 10:55:00 AM

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind II

Posted Saturday, June 23, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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This is the second part of the book review of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. In this section I describe what I think are the contributions of the book as well as its problems. Read more of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind II


6/20/2007 12:59:00 PM

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind

Posted Wednesday, June 20, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
Categories: Culture and Theology   Comments: None
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I have started doing reading for my PhD program this summer, so I thought I would pass along my reading reports. The reports are about 10 pages, so I have divided them up into two posts. The first report is on a fascinating and provacative book by Mark Noll about evangelicals and thinking. I would happy to hear any comments on the book or the report.  Read more of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind


6/14/2007 10:39:00 PM

GPS Theology

Posted Thursday, June 14, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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I was recently given a GPS system as a present and I have highly enjoyed using. I can type in any address in North America and it tells me (in American English, British English or German) how to get there, taking me step by step and turn by turn. I can even ask it which stores are nearby or where I can go for British food. You can never get lost. As I was thinking about my incredible gift given to me, I started pondering what it would be like to have a spiritual GPS, where we could just be told what exactly to do and where to go. But then I realized that the GPS unit in a sense took the fun out of driving: I stopped thinking about where I was going or my drive there because it was being taken care of for me. I think that this is part of the reason why God did not give us a spirtual GPS: He did not want us to stop thinking or stop enjoying the journey. We were not created to simply follow a detailed list of commands, we were created with a brain and not a GPS system. God wants us to think about what we are doing and make wise choices, not simply follow a detailed manual. (I'm keeping my GPS, though!) Read more of GPS Theology


6/10/2007 9:37:00 AM

Recommended Books

Posted Sunday, June 10, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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A friend of mine recently asked me about any books I would recommend for him to read. I thought that I would ask for advice from all of you as well. He does not have any formal theological training, but he is quite bright and well-read (just as an example, he just read and enjoyed N. T. Wright's massive tome on the resurrection). So here are some of my ideas, although it needs to be fleshed out a great deal. I hope especially that someone else will take it upon themselves to recommend some NT books. Read more of Recommended Books


6/7/2007 5:18:00 PM

Journals for the Thinking Christian

Posted Thursday, June 07, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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I was thinking the other day about what the informed Christian should read to keep abreast of what is going on in the world of church and theology, so I decided to make a recommended reading list for journals (a reading list of books will come at a later date, Lord willing). So here they are, in order of importance (in my opinion, of course!). If you have opposite opinions or want to suggest another option, please comment!

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6/6/2007 12:59:00 PM

Neither Poverty nor Riches

A Book Review

Posted Wednesday, June 06, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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Craig Blomberg set out several years to write a book that was a biblical theology of money and the resulting product is a fine example of how to do biblical theology. He surveys every important and most every minor passage that relates to money in some way and then draws conclusions based on those observations. I highly recommend reading this book for a balanced view of money. Here is an excerpt from his comments on James 2:14-17.

      So, too, professing Christians today who have surplus income (i.e., a considerable majority of believers in the Western world), who are aware of the desperate human needs locally and globally, not least within the Christian community (a situation almost impossible to be unaware of, given our barrage of media coverage), and who give none of their income, either through church or other Christian organizations, to help the materially desitute of the world, ought to ask themselves whether any claims of faith they might make could stand up before God's bar of judgment. This is not salvation by works any more than the examples of Abraham and Rahab in James 2:20-25, but it is the demonstration of a changed life, a heart begun to be transformed by the indwelling Spirit of God, which thereby produces an outpouring of compassion for those so much less well off than oneself (155).

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6/1/2007 10:58:00 AM

Drunken Ugaritic Gods

Posted Friday, June 01, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
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Continuing on in the literature of the Ancient Near East, I was challenged (indirectly) by a Hittite text. It is an oracle report which consists of the priests asking the gods yes and no questions based on extispicies and bird oracles. As I was reading it, I was thinking to myself that this was very strange and that I am glad we do not have gods like that. But then I remembered that this kind of thing did happen on occasion in the OT, primarily with the Urim and the Thummim (Exodus 28:30). While we do not know what they were, they seem to operate in a way similar to this Hittite text (which is on pages 204-211 of the Context of Scripture: Canonical Compositions if you are interested).

But I then I read another text that was very different from YHWH. This text was about El, the chief god of the Ugaritic pantheon. The story goes that he had a party with lots of feasting and drinking. After the party, he got together with some of his drinking buddies in the drinking hall and drank some more. Then when he got home he met someone/thing (we have no idea what it was) which caused him to fall over into his feces and urine. Two goddesses go on a search for a cure for El, and the recipe is given at the end of the story so that others can use it as well. It is almost like a commercial: El uses it, so should you! I am thankful that our God does not go through drunken fits like this. 

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