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Coffee House Etiquette – Part 2

19
May
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Culture

Due to popular demand, I’m doing Part 2 of some simple rules to follow while at a coffee house.  I do find it ironic that on this kind of blog, a post about coffee has the most comments.  That says a lot about my other pieces.  Maybe it’s the satire that people are attracted to (I’m hoping that’s it).  So here it goes; more things to keep in mind as you spend time at the local coffee shop.

  1. People-watching, though often amusing, only tells others your own life is not very interesting.  And we wouldn’t want that.
  2. Playing your own music through an iPod loud enough to drown out the other noise may cause serious hearing damage.
  3. Wane yourself off extra sugar and unnecessary condiments for your drink—this is a sign of maturity.
  4. Don’t build yourself an office with 3 tables for your study session.  There is a thing called the public library, you know.
  5. If you become a “regular,” it’s only polite to introduce yourself and learn the names of you baristas.
  6. Don’t ask sketchy people to watch your stuff as you use the restroom.  Scan the room for people that look trustworthy.
  7. Make the move from iced, whipped drinks to lattes or cappuccinos to straight espresso.  There’s a whole other world you’re missing out on.

Read Coffee House Etiquette – Part 1.

What else?

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Podcast Summaries

8
May
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Bible, Culture, People, Theology

I had the chance to listen to some podcasts by Keller, McManus, Bell, and Driscoll during a roadtrip I took earlier this week.  Here are some quotes I found to be useful.

Relational Intelligence: The Disproportionate Investor – Erwin McManus

Talk on 2 Timothy 2:1-7
-You can only know what you have embraced.  You become what you give away to others.
-Invest in people who aren’t trying to define boundaries but find opportunities.
-On character vs. achievement: We want the indulgences of a general with the responsibilities of a civilian.
-Invest in those who understand there needs to be an integration of character and achievement.
-People with good stories and successful ministries are those who refuse to be victims.
-The wrong intention: When I know everything you know and everything I know I will be more powerful than you.

Community of Jesus – Timothy Keller

Talk on Luke 6:12-36; The Beatitudes as a reversal of values

-Four worldly values: power, comfort, success, recognition
-Four kingdom values: weakness, sacrifice, grief, exclusion
-Michael Wilcock: “Prize what the world calls pitiable, and suspect what the world considers desirable.”  At this point Keller humorously asks “Who wants to join?”
-Christian ethic: Draining yourself of ill will towards people, especially enemies.
-To those who have been burned by the Church: Remember the church is not made up of natural friends, it is made up of natural enemies.  The Christian community is not bound together by any other commonality.  The church is therefore a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.  Be patient while relationships are transformed.

Sexuality and Christian Hope – Timothy Keller

-Sex is not self gratification or self expression, it is radical self-donation.
-To give yourself to someone so deeply that it results in personal transformation and completion.
-Never have physical oneness without whole life oneness.
-Never get physically vulnerable without becoming vulnerable in your whole life.

Culture – Timothy Keller

-Cultural activity is arranging raw material for the flourishing of human beings.  Christians do this for the glory of God.
-On missions: To charge Christianity with colonial and imperial prostitution is to declare that Christianity belongs only to one culture.  Jesus Christ belongs to Africa, Asia, as much as it does the West.
-Lamin Sanneh, African Scholar who teaches at Yale, wrote Whose Religion is Christianity and comments:
Secularism’s scoffing of “African superstition” is cultural totalitarianism … Jesus did not mock their [Africa's] respect for the sacred … [so] they beat their sacred drums for him until the stars skipped and danced in the skies.
-View Keller’s notes on this sermon here.  Extremely insightful.

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Pray for the People of Haiti

7
Apr
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Church Life, Culture

Asbury Theological Seminary released a corporate prayer for the people of Haiti earlier this year, saying, “Where Christians agree together around prayers anchored in Scripture and animated by the Spirit, the Kingdom of God moves on Earth.” Here is the full text, to share with anyone who will join in praying with one voice:

Pray for the people of Haiti*

Almighty God, our Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Mighty Fortress, You are our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Though the Earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging we will not fear for you have entered into and overcome human suffering in the suffering of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. We join in the prayers of your people all over the World, interceding in agreement, pleading for your merciful intervention for the sake of your people in Haiti. We believe there is a river whose streams make glad the City of God, and we pray this river of mercy to flow through the streets of Port Au Prince.

In your mercy, by your Spirit, through your people and in the name of your son Jesus, would you:

bless the poor, comfort the mourners, rescue the orphans, protect the widows, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, raise the dead, renew the hope, repair the ruins, restore the land, release miracles, send workers, compel relief, and cause Salvation to spring up through the brokenness of the ground as a witness to your compassionate Glory.

Please hear our prayers. Make us into your mercy and show yourself mighty to save.

We agree in these prayers in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.

*Reliance on Psalm 46

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The Future of Literature: Kindle, iPad, eBooks etc.

1
Apr
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Books, Culture

Recently I had the opportunity to ask a friend about the future of literature, especially as it relates to theology and research.  I for one have been a little anxious about when to make the switch to digital literature, whether it be through Kindle, iPad, eBooks etc. Most of us realize that making the switch is inevitable–technology is turning books digital. The benefits are real.  Most notably, they include better accessibility, lower cost, and more space.  Imagine having all of your study tools on a laptop through a product like Logos or Bibleworks.  You can literally have your entire library at your finger tips when traveling or moving between your office/home. Also, research becomes quicker as you can search for keywords. But it also makes these products more affordable–printing costs, distribution etc. are cut and therefore the price is usually 1/2 – 2/3 that of a hardcopy. Finally, physical space is saved because now your library is on a hard-drive rather than a bookshelf.  The only downfall to this is not being able to showcase your scholarliness to your friends. But Christians don’t do that, right? Let’s not forget that, in the interest of stewardship, digital books are also more green.  It saves trees (good news).

Even after weighing the benefits, it’s hard to know when to make the switch and how fast.  Should all of our purchases be digital from now on?  Micah J. Jelinek, Library Administrator at Moody Theological Seminary-Michigan, helped weigh in on this issue as it relates to theology and biblical studies:

If it were me, I would weigh my costs. If I can get a full commentary set through Logos for $500 or a hard copy for $1500, I’d get the copy with Logos. They provide full sets of commentaries at a significantly reduced cost (ex. Logos has the Word Biblical Commentary Series and many others available as add-ons). So, if you get the right package you can search a number of your commentaries/lexicons/etc. all at once through Logos, plus everything is backed up online and it’s also available on your iPhone. Logos doesn’t have every commentary, so that’s where I’d invest money into hard copies. It’s a major transition, but I think having everything searchable and right at your fingertips is a major time saver.

On the future of theological libraries and texts: I don’t think that theological texts will be going all digital for at least 10-15 (or more) years. Even then, because our field of study is (1) under funded, and (2) dependent on older texts, I don’t believe theological libraries will go completely digital or rely completely on a digital database with access to full text books. I think there will always be a place for hard copies of books in academia. Libraries may move to have more online and digital access to books, but hard copies will likely be necessary for reference at the very least.

I would also be hesitant to move to a completely digital collection right now, because Google, Amazon and others are currently competing to claim supremacy in the eBook domain. So, in the same way that there have been transitional periods for video format in VHS vs Betamax or VHS to DVD, I think that we’re in a transitional time for digital literature. The Kindle will likely be obsolete in a couple of years anyway and there is no guarantee that the formatting will remain the same. So for now I’m waiting to see what happens and I’m backing up the eBooks I do have with PDF copies.

After saying all of that, I’m still a purist. For me nothing will ever replace a hard bound book, so I’ll continue to collect hard copies, but to keep up with technology I will also be investing in software like Logos and adding some commentary series’ to my collection that way.

At this time, it seems that buying used books is still profitable, especially if you haven’t invested in a device like Kindle or iPad. And let’s not forget that you can borrow out or give away hardcopies without infringing copyright laws.  Still, purchasing digital volumes through software like Logos seems appropriate at this point in the industry. It will save you time and money.  In conclusion, we are in a time of transition and you will probably have to consider which way to go on an individual basis. Hopefully this helps you make informed decisions.

Read an article from http://boston.com about this phenomenon as it relates to Harvard’s libraries here.

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Primer: The Systemizer vs. the Exegete

23
Mar
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Bible, Theology

The big picture.  The fields of theology and biblical studies have for some time now lived in a unique relationship to one another.  Anyone who professes or studies the historic Christian faith must admit the mutual dependency these two fields share. You cannot read the Bible without coming to some conclusion about what its authors believed about God (theology).  Likewise, in the historic Christian faith, you cannot come to conclusions about God without reference to an authoritative source (biblical studies). Traditionally, Scripture has been held as the only inspired and perfectly reliable source for doctrine.

Recently, especially from postconversative and progressive voices, systematic theology as an enterprise has been called into question (following the pattern of Anglicans and others?).  But since long ago systematic theology and biblical studies have existed in somewhat of a tense relationship.  Serious biblical scholars and theologians recognize the importance of understanding the original context of a passage when working through exegesis–extracting meaning.  But the difference lies in where each field places its emphasis.  On the one hand we have the systematic theologian who specializes in inference and developing theoretical constructs. Often times they create or apply philosophical categories to bring clarity to a concept (think back to the debates surrounding the nature of the Eucharist during the Protestant Reformation).  On the other hand, biblical exegetes tend to focus on the particular meaning of a text by drawing on as many contextual clues as possible.  In this way, they become experts in historical, literary, cultural etc. studies necessary for understanding a particular passage.

Where the tension lies.  The systematic theologian is vulnerable to accepting categories, concepts, and definitions of words that have been passed on down through a specific tradition.  Sometimes they are modern traditions, sometimes Protestant traditions, sometimes Roman Catholic, and other times very early Christian.  The danger is in applying certain embedded categories—things taken for granted—to a biblical text. It may just be the case that our received traditions are completely foreign to a passage’s original meaning.  This happens when we are not familiar with the original context.  So what we have are theologians who shallowly search the Bible for proof of their embedded theology. This is called proof-texting. Sometimes it is intentional and dishonest.  Other times it is due to ignorance. Both instances are mistakes and need to be carefully avoided.  The exegete, on the other hand, is vulnerable to not following the logical consequences of their literary conclusions.  What seems to happen is they claim what we can know from a text but then throw their hands up, admitting that to go further is speculative and unfounded.  But on most occasions, applying categories to texts offers clarity of meaning. Syllogisms and philosophical categories have proven to be useful, even in biblical theology.

Still, there are some issues or doctrines, important as they are, that the Bible is not clear on.  Or to go even further, sometimes tension exists between what two passages appear to say on a matter.  Here, the systemizer will make every effort to reconcile and harmonize the texts.  They do this by advancing sophisticated theories in an effort to demonstrate that what the text seems to say on the surface is not really what it means.  On the other hand, biblical exegetes tend to be at peace with living in this tension. What they afford is admitting that any apparent contradictions appear as a result of varying literary conventions far removed from the modern reader.

The present dilemma.  Will you focus on biblical studies and be vulnerable to not answering modern society’s most important questions?  Will you focus on systematic theology and be vulnerable to doing violence to a text?  Both fields have seen capable men and women who consider their conclusions with honesty, humility, and excellence.  Nonetheless, we’ve also witnessed greater fidelity to tradition than biblical authorial intent, and been offered simplistic answers from exegetes who discount the value of philosophical method.  Let’s try to participate in the best work of both worlds.

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