SBL in Review

For the last number of days I have been in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).  I have literally been surrounded by the top biblical scholars in the world.  The people attending have been quite diverse.  There are many professors, authors, students, Catholic priests, Orthodox priests, Jewish scholars, Christians, atheists and agnostics.  I had a chance to meet some authors that I have respected and appreciated for some time, including Darrell Bock and Ben Witherington III.  I also had a chance to meet Elaine Pagels, who participated in the Unmasking the Pagan Christ documentary.  Although I would disagree about many things with Elaine, I did appreciate her knowledge of Gnostic texts and enjoyed the workshops that she participated in.  Other scholars I had a chance to hear included James Crossley, Adela Yarbro Collins, Joel Marcus, James Dunn, Karen King, Marvin Meyer and Birger Pearson.  It was quite interesting even when I did not always agree with the presenter.  It was a helpful experience in helping to boil down the topic of my doctoral dissertation.  Speaking of which, I was able to meet my doctoral supervisor, Gerhard van den Heever, for the first time.  I am looking forward to getting on with my research and getting my topic nailed down.  The highlight of the time was the opportunity to hear N.T. Wright speak on justification.  I was already excited to come to SBL without knowing that Wright would be here.  When I discovered that Wright would indeed be speaking, I was very happy.  Wright spoked to a full house on his book Justification.  He was a pleasure to hear and he could have spoke for another hour without ever causing me to lose attention.  Wright is an amazing speaker, scholar and Christian leader.  I love the way he combines academics and relevance for the church and I want to build my own scholarship on that same model.  I appreciated his honesty in sharing his own journey of wrestling with issues of justification and Paul’s attitude toward the Law.  Wright was also clear about his own commitment and appreciation of reformed theology, even though some of his harshest critics, such as John Piper, come from a strong Calvinist position.  Overall, it has been a great time at SBL.  I picked up lots of good books, heard many great lectures and have learned a lot.  Having said that, I am also looking forward to seeing my family tonight.

Two Types of Apologetics

As I have read numerous books, articles and blogs on apologetics, I have come to a conclusion: there are two types of apologetics.  The first type of apologetics is one that seems to be aimed at encouraging believers.  All too often it is done by poking fun at and ridiculing other belief systems.  There is a dark tone to it and it seems to be telling believers that they should feel good about themselves because at least they are not like those atheists/Muslims/Jehovah’s Witnesses/etc.  Often counter-cult apologetics falls into this category.  There is a place for encouraging the believer but it does not have to be done at the expense of ridiculing others.  The second type of apologetics is that which seeks to build bridges to others.  It looks for areas of agreement and does not seek to argue every obscure point of doctrine.  It attempts, not to prove Christianity true, but to present Christianity as a reasonable faith that is worth consideration by the skeptic.  While I hope to encourage believers on this blog, I do not want to disrespectful to others (and I apologize if I have been).  However, my main concern is to build bridges to others and to equip believers to do the same in their own context.  Hopefully, the content of this blog will be helpful in that purpose.

Is Open Theism a Heresy?

I was recently listening to an audio course on apologetics that made the brief comment that open theism is a modern heresy.  What is open theism?  Open theism is an attempt to remove Greek philosophical categories from theology and a presentation of God in which the future is indeed influenced by our decisions and actions, causing God to not have full knowledge of the future.  In the book, the Openness of God, the concept is presented in this way:

“God in grace, grants humans significant freedom to cooperate with or against God’s will for their lives, and he enters into dynamic, give-and-take relationships with us.  The Christian life involves a genuine interaction between God and human beings.  We respond to God’s gracious initiatives and God responds to our responses … and on it goes.” (p. 7)

Before I comment too much, I need to put my cards on the table.  I am not the most reformed Christian.  I appreciate reformed theology and I like the tightness of the system.  But when I look at TULIP, I have deep biblical concerns about almost every one of them.  This is not based on my denominational heritage.  I was raised Anglican but never heard these issues discussed.  I was a Pentecostal, which is technically Arminian/Wesleyan, but again this stuff was rarely discussed and I was not afraid to disagree on Pentecostal doctrine in other areas.  My current Baptist tradition does not take an official position on either side and there are people who believe anything along the spectrum.  The other thing I need to say is that I studied theology at McMaster Divinity College under Clark Pinnock, one of the main proponents of open theism.  That does not mean I agree with Clark, but I do know and respect him.

My experience in the church tells me that most people pray (whether Calvinist or Arminian) like open theists.  Rarely do we pray simply to align our wills with God’s.  When a loved one is sick, we pray as if our prayer may have some influence with God.  Something within us (whether right or wrong) tells us that prayer does something.  I do believe that God does take our wills into consideration.  I believe that we do have a say as to whether or not we become a Christian.  Against the Calvinists, I do believe that grace is resistible.

However, against the open theists, I disagree that God is limited in his knowledge.  I believe God is outside of time and that he already knows the decisions we will make and the prayers we will pray.  To deny that God knows all things is to go down a dangerous path.

I would not consider myself to be an open theist.  But the question is: Is open theism a heresy?  As I said, I know Clark Pinnock and I deeply respect him, not just intellectually but as a Christian.  He has a passionate love for Christ and I believe that he is serving the Lord with all his strength.  I can disagree with Clark on certain issues but I can not deny his love for Christ.  To me, heresies are most often defined by an inadequate Christology, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ belief of Jesus as the archangel Michael.  I have seen no evidence of any heretical tendencies in their Christology.  I continue to be skeptical about open theism, but I am not able label them as a heretical movement.  They are Christian brothers and sisters that I have some disagreement with in theology.

New Web Page

I have set up a new web page that contains some of my personal information and links to all my blogs.  Make sure to check out www.stephenjbedard.com.

My Journey So Far

Apologetics can come in many forms such as philosophy, archaeology and historical analysis.  One of the most compelling forms of apologetics is God’s activity in the human experience.  I recently wrote out my life story, detailing may faith experience including my journey from nominal Christian to atheist to theist to Christian.  It was very rewarding to look back and see the many ways that God has intervened in my life.  If you are interesting you can find the booklet of my faith journey here.  The cost is only for printing and I make no money from this.  You can also download it for free.  I hope it will prove helpful for others as it has already been a blessing to me.

John Ortberg Videos

John Ortberg has a number of interesting videos on apologetic issues.  They are worth taking a look at.  You can find them here.

10,000 Hits!

Some time ago I felt the need to start a blog dealing with apologetics.  I was not sure if any one else was interested but I thought I would go ahead with it anyway.  I have enjoyed even if no one else has.  I have been amazed at the response to this blog.  Some time over the weekend, we had our 10,000th hit on this blog.  That is fantastic!  Not everyone agrees with me but that is okay.  I hope this will be a place of learning for everyone, on whatever side of the issue they stand, including me.  Do not hesitate to request a subject to look at.  I am always open to expand my horizons.  Most of all, thank you for supporting this blog and I look forward to learning with each one of you as we go into our next 10,000 hits.

Check Me Out On Twitter

I recently signed up for the social network too called Twitter (www.twitter.com).  Although WordPress offers a Twitter widget, it does not work very well.  There is a link on the side of this blog where you can see my updates.  If you are on Twitter, please add me.  I am always looking to network with more and more people.

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin

Today is Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday.  Darwin is of course best known as the pioneer in the development of the theory of evolution.  CNN has an interesting article that you can find here.  It is perhaps surprising how relatively few people completely agree with evolution despite its almost complete monopoly in the school system. 

My own beliefs regarding creation and evolution are fairly complicated.  It is difficult to argue against some form of evolution as we see virus’ such as influenza mutating every year.  I also can see that the first chapters of Genesis are not meant to be a modern western science textbook despite what some creationists try to make of it.  However, one of the main reasons I came to believe in God was that I was too skeptical about the idea that all we see came about as an accident.  I did not have enough faith to be an atheist.  I believe that Genesis 1-2 is completely accurate in its theological intention to demonstrate that we are God’s handiwork and that nothing is an accident.  Did it happen six thousand years ago?  Not likely.  Did it happen in six literal day?  Perhaps, although it does not matter to me one way or another.  I do know that God is the creator and that he reveals himself every day through creation.  It is for this reason that I am drawn more to intelligent design than to traditional creationism.

On another note, what should we think of Charles Darwin?  In one way I believe he has done us a favour.  Darwin has forced the Church to get honest about our faith and to become courageous enough to interact with competing theories.  It is not enough for us to plug our ears and shout: “HERETIC!”  We must examine our beliefs and those of others, searching for the truth and asking God to reveal his wisdom.

Yahweh vs Allah

I found a great mp3 on the different conceptions of God in Christianity and Islam including a look at the unity and Trinity of God.  You can find it here.  There are some great insights and it is worth listening to.