arieljvan.com

I’m not a careful follower of Scot McKnight and his widely-read blog, Jesus Creed, so when my friend Rob told me I should read McKnight’s latest book, The Blue Parakeet, I didn’t know what to expect. For many people, McKnight has proved to be a helpful “middle voice,” arbitrating between some of the extreme positions of folks in the Emergent camp and those on the other side who tend toward immovable rigidity in their approach to church traditions. (If that last sentence makes no sense to you, don’t feel bad. You’re not missing much.)

This book turned out to be an extension of McKnight’s “middle” approach to church practice and theology, where “middle” or a “third way” is shorthand for a biblically-grounded position that takes changing cultures and geography into account. In The Blue Parakeet, McKnight advocates an approach to reading and living the Bible that is, in my opinion, not so much startling or ground-breaking as it is healthy and needed. Here’s what I liked about the book:

» McKnight explains clearly that while the Bible is authoritative for our lives, we need to exercise discernment in how we apply it and not be lazy or stupid. For example, questions like this—”How come we don’t obey the Old Testament commands about blood sacrifices, but do obey the one prohibiting adultery?”—can and should be answered. There are essential questions we should ask about the text as we read the Bible with a view to wise application.

» Maybe you’ve heard the Bible’s “big picture” explained in terms of a simple trajectory: Creation - Fall - Redemption. Scot McKnight argues that a more biblically accurate view would include Covenant Community (after Fall, before and after Redemption). And I agree. A huge chunk of the Bible is spent outlining the failed and occasionally successful attempts of God’s people to do life together, and this component of biblical living is dramatically absent in most of the American church today.

A couple of nitpicks:

» The Blue Parakeet is written for a wider audience than McKnight’s typical theologian crowd, and it is pretty readable–but McKnight has some work to do before he figures out this “readable” thing. At times he comes across as stretching…albeit in a kind of humorous, professorial way.

» McKnight’s “test case” for applying his “third way” of reading scripture is one of today’s hot topics, Women in Ministry. I applaud his attempt to jump into the fray, but was disappointed with the way he handled the Bible texts involved. There are certain passages that almost always come up in this discussion, and McKnight handled some of them, but not very thoroughly–and some not at all. I guess I was expecting more than the cursory treatment he gave the topic.

All in all, The Blue Parakeet is a smart, accessible book that takes aim at some unhealthy ways of reading the Bible. McKnight affirms the authority of God’s word while encouraging people to read with a view to intelligent application, life change, and, ultimately, knowing the One about whom the Bible is written. Recommended.

From Mark Galli of GalliBlog:

I think the most dangerous spiritual activity is to try to be humble. But the second most dangerous is to maximize your potential. Both are forms of spiritual masturbation. The self is not a gift to polish and put on the mantle of the soul, but something given to be given away, like a white elephant gift that, in the very act of self-giving, God mercifully transforms into something glorious, an oblation of love .

What do you think?

Finishing with grad school allowed me to get back to some of the important things of life, like sleeping and having a life of the mind. If you know me, chances are good you’re aware that I love the writing of C.S. Lewis. It’s one of those primary facts, like “Lindsay is my wife,” “I’m a Kansas Jayhawk fan,” and “My jump shot is probably better than yours.”

Is Your Lord Large Enough? is the first book on C.S. Lewis I’ve read since the ground-breaking Planet Narnia (review), and it went a long way toward refreshing my mind via the thinking of Lewis, who has kind of served as a mentor in my spiritual life.

What Peter Schakel does is a welcome variation on the usual approach to Lewis, which typically examines his life (biography) or accumulated writing (theology) or apologetics (philosophy). While Schakel is certainly an adept scholar, he deliberatly mines Lewis’ collected works to write a book with strong devotional momentum. Rather than simply clarifying what Lewis meant here and comparing it with what he said there, Schakel ransacks C.S.’s life and books for insights into lived-out theology.

To do this, Schakel poses questions like, How did Lewis pray? What advice did he offer to people struggling with prayer? What help does he extend to people who need help forgiving and loving? What did he say about Heaven, and our expectations of it?

The practical thrust of each chapter gets help from follow-up questions from Schakel that, in my opinion, were really excellent, as opposed to the lukewarm “discussion” stuff that often gets tacked on to books. All told, Is Your Lord Large Enough? was a great restorative for my tired mind and a good kick in the pants for my walk with Jesus. Lewis, a man as practical as he was imaginative, would approve. Highly recommended.

Missional theology in a rap song. Great stuff.

‘Send Me’ - Live at MHC | Ballard from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.

Repeatedly, my hands arch themselves over the keyboard while one knee props open Acts for Everyone. I pause momentarily, as if to fight the impulse that has overtaken me. Then, my fingers start slow-dancing over the keyboard. It’s as if I can’t help myself:

One of the great arts of Christian theology is to know how to tell the story: the story of the Old Testament, the story of Jesus as both the climax of the Old Testament and the foundation of all that was to come (not, in other words, a random collection of useful preaching material with some extraordinary and ’saving’ events tacked on the end), and the story of the church from the first days until now. - N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone Part One