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Rhymes with Justification
Growing up Baptist, justification was a really big deal. Because like good Protestants (even though we weren’t always sure we were Protestants… long story) our teaching emphasized salvation by grace through faith alone. But I have to confess that ever since I started seminary (5 years ago) I’ve had another kind of justification on the brain. This kind of justification is where you have to defend yourself to other people. I’m not just talking apologetics, although this definitely has application there. I’m talking about defending whole fields of inquiry and their use in biblical studies. See, as a Baptist, I was taught to just focus on the Bible. Church history…
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On Blueprints
The man who wants to build a house begins with blueprints. Without instructions, he is playing a dangerous game trying to construct something exceedingly complex by more or less shooting from the hip. If house-building is your thing, all you have to do is find a set of suitable blueprints and work from there. The same holds true for the man who would master a theological system. If his whole point is to end up with a workable system, there are many to choose from. The blueprints you choose for your theological system will have different strengths and weaknesses, as well as a broad range of costs. The man with…
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On Gardening
If you would, stroll across the lawn with me. I have something I’d like to show you. It’s just around this corner here. I’d like to give you a tour of my soul. What’s that you say? “It’s just a garden”? Of course it looks like a garden! What else would you expect a soul to look like? But it’s not “just” anything. It’s one of the most precious things on earth. I’m not out to compare gardens or even to show off what I’ve done with mine. My garden isn’t all that special, I just mean that every garden is sacred. You gaze upon hallowed ground. For this earth…
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The Art of Distinction
Theology has long been held by its admirers as the queen of the sciences. This may seem strange to the modern or postmodern ear, but think about it from the perspective of faith seeking understanding: “unless I believe, I shall not understand.” The corollary to faith seeking rational explanation is that faith is itself supremely rational. Until you understand theology you cannot hope to truly understand anything else. And thus theology is the most distinguished of all arts, the greatest pursuit of the mind of man. [Editor’s note: for those of you wondering who’s the king, let it go. Queens can also be #1.] My experience of theology leads me…
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The Journey of a Thousand Miles…
Everyone always starts with definitions. I used to think it’s what lazy people did to get their brains going: no matter what the topic or venue, you start by saying “the dictionary defines x as thus-and-such.” Only after I began to study philosophy did it really sink in that definitions matter. I mean, of course they matter, but beyond simply making sure that speaker and listener have roughly the same picture in mind when the word comes up, there is a matter of precision necessary simply to keep the speaker on-track. It’s too easy to equivocate without even realizing it (i.e. assigning different meanings to the same word). So we…