Currently reading: The Decadent Society by Ross Douthat 📚
Finished reading: Stewards of Eden by Sandra L. Richter 📚
As a work of biblical theology, it offers a fairly shallow treatment of Scripture, especially the New Testament. Still, Stewards of Eden provokes some worthwhile reflection on environmental stewardship, a much-neglected topic for Christians.
Currently reading: The Doctrine of Scripture by Brad East 📚
Finished reading: The Church’s Book by Brad East 📚
Meticulous, verbose even, but engaging and well-reasoned. Even for this theology nerd it was tough sledding at points, probably owing to the fact that it’s really a meta-analysis (i.e., reflection about our theologizing). Brad’s central point is well taken: what we think about the church matters for what we think about the Bible. By the end, it did feel like a lot of work simply to unearth where the conflict really lies in our theological interpretations. Of the three authors he treats (Webster, Jenson, Yoder), I’d only read Webster before. Moving forward, I’m most interested in digging into Jenson. But, I’m also curious to hear Brad’s constructive proposals for bibliology. He seems to have certain catholic ecclesial sensibilities resting alongside some very baptist, Yoderian impulses—a seemingly unstable concoction. I’ll be curious to see how he weaves those things together in The Doctrine of Scripture.
The great hermeneutical virtue of the church, therefore, is patience. It is not lethargy or sloth that animates the church’s lumbering and sometimes generationally delayed response to the intellectual Zeitgeist, certainly not in the realm of history and biblical exegesis. It is wisdom. It is a feature of the church’s teaching office, not a bug.
On the Bank of the River by Paul Signac (from MIA)
Currently reading: Stewards of Eden by Sandra L. Richter 📚