Finished reading: Jesus the Great Philosopher by Jonathan T. Pennington 📚
I absolutely loved this book. I hope Pennington builds on this framework (i.e., the Bible as philosophy, Scripture addressing the big questions of life) in the future. I’d be up for a more technical treatment, especially of how Christianity offers answers to the big questions of ancient philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and politics.
Bob Thune has written the perfect response to Brad’s essay on the death of magisterial Protestantism: MAiD for Protestantism: A Reply to Brad East. I had wanted to write up something in response to Brad’s piece, but now I don’t need to. Thank you, Bob.
Tis the season
Currently reading: Jesus the Great Philosopher by Jonathan T. Pennington 📚
Enjoyed a stimulating lecture this evening from the inimitable Matthew Crawford on the question, “Can Christianity Be Noble?”
Music to my anti-productivity attuned ears (courtesy of Todd Brewer): “Time Management and the Recklessness of Jesus.”
Zac Koons convincingly argues that we ought not outsource praying and preaching to the AI chatbots infiltrating our churches. If AI can lessen some of the administrative burden of parish ministry, sure…go for it. But don’t be seduced when it comes to these distinctly human tasks, which really are at the heart of a minister’s vocation.
Zac also makes an interesting concluding point: “The rapid creep of AI into every nook and cranny of life represents a golden opportunity for our churches to grow and flourish. All we have to do is not use it.” With the onset of AI exhaustion, Zac suggests that the low-tech, humanity-embracing ethos of the church will be increasingly attractive to people. I heartily concur. May our churches be pockets of resistance from the technopoly, not functionaries of its reign.
I’ve become increasingly suspicious of morbidly introspective forms of Christian piety, so a list of “self-examination questions” doesn’t immediately pique my interest. Nevertheless, these questions from John Wesley seem genuinely useful:
- Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
- Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
- Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
- Can I be trusted?
- Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
- Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
- Did the Bible live in me today?
- Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
- Am I enjoying prayer?
- When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
- Do I pray about the money I spend?
- Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
- Do I disobey God in anything?
- Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
- Am I defeated in any part of my life?
- Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
- How do I spend my spare time?
- Am I proud?
- Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
- Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
- Do I grumble or complain constantly?
- Is Christ real to me?
Currently reading: Protestants : the radicals who made the modern world by Alec Ryrie 📚
Finished reading: Terrible Beauty: A Story of Calling, Breaking, and the Unmaking that Made Me by Bryan Halferty 📚
Really raw, honest account of the internal anxieties that go along with planting a church. Halferty does a really nice job of making his interior life transparent to the reader.
