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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Bob Cargill’s Seizure Inducing Shirt
I dare you to shake your head side to side rapidly and look at that….
E-Sword Users: A New Module- Alford’s Greek Testament
Download it here. As always, it’s free.
Rudolf Bultmann: The Man of Faith
There’s a very fine essay here which once appeared in The Christian Century titled Rudolf Bultmann: Scholar of Faith.
Rudolf Bultmann — who died on July 30, 1976 at the advanced age of 91–was the last of the theological giants who grew up in the universities of the Kaiser’s Germany (he began to study theology in 1903at 19),and the last of the prophets who struggled to hear the word of the Christians’ Lord after what had happened in 1914.Teaching New Testament at Marburg University from 1921to 1951, Bultmann exerted all his many talents in order to recover the highest tradition of German biblical scholarship after the interruption of the war. Giving his acute and well-stored mind to the problems of biblical interpretation, or hermeneutics, he developed the science of form criticism with Martin Dibelius. However, he also took very seriously the world around him — the postwar world of the Weimar Republic, groping for financial as well as spiritual stability (in the end, its gospel was Mein Kampf).
And
In his volume of wartime Marburg sermons, translated as This World and the Beyond (Scribner’s, 1960),he did not supply a commentary on the news. Instead — and with as much success as any Christian preacher could expect — he addressed the fears which gripped young and old. It was a traditional and individualist message, and he would say much the same thing to Sheffield industrial workers in time of peace (reprinted in The Honest to God Debate). It was not colloquial; it was not sociological. But in point of fact Bultmann’s theology helped to keep many individuals within the great tradition of faith in the eternal God, the God revealed in the crisis of the gospel of Christ; for in the jargon, although his work was to “demythologize,” he refused to “dekerygmatize.”
Bultmann, and von Rad, helped me come to terms with Christian faith and its meaning for today as no one else ever has, or did, during those formative years in Graduate School. Others may scorn them and turn their noses up at them, but the two of them did more to see to the continuation of real Christian faith in Germany than anyone else. Indeed, they were to biblical studies what Brunner and Barth were to theological studies. All four are blessed men of sacred memory.
The simpletons today who scorn Bultmann are, in a word, ignorant of both his work and his contributions. To be sure, some of his ideas have been superseded and others advanced. But when it comes to the man himself, the giant of New Testament scholarship, the breadth of his knowledge and the mass of his publications, no one else even comes close.
From time to time someone will ask me where they should begin if they wish to learn the real Bultmann- and not the Bultmann of his opponents. I always reply, read his sermons. That’s the place to start. There, the man of sincere, meaningful, real Christian faith is found. Everything else is preparatory.
Our Dear Swiss Do not Suffer Fools
From the BBC
BBC Breaking News
@BBCBreaking Switzerland Olympic team expels footballer from#London2012 for alleged racist comment on Twitter http://bbc.in/OD9zj6.
(Though the link they provide to the story has nothing of Switzerland on it).
Racism at the Olympics makes as much sense as impiety at a meeting of a Bible society.
A Funny Line From Zwingli
Reading Zwingli is always a delight, especially when he writes, in one of his letters, a brilliant little line. First, the background: Zwingli had debated the Franciscans and the Dominicans in Zurich about worship of the Saints and in a fluster one of the Dominicans, defeated, fled the room with all haste and no decorum. Zwingli remarks
[When he departed] we wept—as one weeps when a cross-grained and rich stepmother has departed this life.
Now that’s funny! I think I shall use it.
America and Her Allies Are Morally Responsible for the Slaughter of Syrians
But even more responsible are the Chinese and the Russians, who have blocked efforts to remove Assad at every turn simply in order to retain an ally.
Syrian government forces mounted new ground attacks against rebel-controlled neighborhoods in Syria’s commercial hub of Aleppo, the state media said Monday, but failed to dislodge the opposition from their strongholds, according to activists.
The Syrian army has massed its forces around Aleppo, where rebels hold several neighborhoods after a 10-day offensive, and has been pounding it with tanks and helicopter gunships. There have also been periodic incursions of government tanks but the rebels have held on to their gains.
This use of heavy weapons, particularly helicopters, is just another nail in President Bashar Assad’s coffin, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said late Sunday during a stopover in Tunisia as he kicked off a Mideast tour expected to focus heavily on the unfolding crisis in Syria.
Already an estimated 200,000 civilians — almost 10 percent of the population — have fled the fighting in Aleppo, according to the U.N. official for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, citing the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent. Aleppo is Syria’s largest city with around 3 million inhabitants.
The time for tough talk is over. America, act. Or history will despise you.
Related articles
Why I Still Love Bob Cargill
Robert and I don’t see eye to eye on the gay marriage question. I think that’s plain and clear to anyone and everyone who reads our blogs (and let’s face it, that’s everyone who is anyone).
In spite of our disagreement, though, for my part, affection remains undiminished. Bob is the brightest young scholar in the fields of DSS studies and Archaeology (as well as digital technology) known to me in person or by reputation. his work is astonishingly good and I would put him in the same league, intellectually, as Emil Brunner, Karl Barth, Gerhard von Rad, and Rudolf Bultmann. Of course, he’s no Zwingli, but who really is besides Zwingli himself?
I mention my unwavering admiration because I’ve gotten a couple of snarky emails from persons who think I should take my views to what they call their ultimate conclusion and cut all ties to Bob. That, slack jawed mouth breathers, I refuse to do. Some of us are adults and some of us are able to agree that when we disagree nothing changes.
So endeth my public declaration.
Finis
Related articles
- Bob Cargill: Shot, But Still Standing… (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
On The Anniversary of Bultmann’s Death
Rudolf Karl Bultmann, the greatest New Testament exegete of the 20th century (and as yet still unsurpassed as the best New Testament exegete of all time) died on the 30th of July in 1976. In honor of the great man, here’s a photo gallery. Here’s a recent book about him. Here’s a fun essay about him. Here’s a quote from the quotable chap. And here’s a reminiscence on the anniversary of his death I posted two years ago.
Rudolf, you were and remain the greatest New Testament scholar of your generation and ours. Thanks for your great work. We still miss you.
Historical Proof of the Biblical Samson!……????
See for yourself!
Ha’aretz informs us that a
Seal found by Israeli archeologists may give substance to Samson legend. Scholars say the scene shown on the artifact recalls the story in Judges of Samson fighting a lion.
Really??? Really???????? Boy talk about making a suit out of a button and seeing what one wants to see this is a brilliant example of exactly that.
A small stone seal found recently in the excavations of Tel Beit Shemesh could be the first archaeological evidence of the story of the biblical Samson.
Really???????????
The seal, measuring 1.5 centimeters, depicts a large animal next to a human figure. The seal was found in a level of excavation that dates to the 11th century B.C.E. That was prior to the establishment of the Judean kingdom and is considered to be the period of the biblical judges – including Samson. Scholars say the scene shown on the artifact recalls the story in Judges of Samson fighting a lion.
No, not really. It looks like something but a lion? And a tiny, tiny man?
But excavation directors Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of Tel Aviv University say they do not suggest that the human figure on the seal is the biblical Samson.
Well then why is the article titled as it is and why are readers, up to this point, basically told that it is????? Come on, this is dreadful pandering to the ‘bible in one hand and spade in the other’ mentality of fundamentalism.
Rather, the geographical proximity to the area where Samson lived, and the time period of the seal, show that a story was being told at the time of a hero who fought a lion, and that the story eventually found its way into the biblical text and onto the seal.
Well there ya go! Someone who had heard a story made a little seal. That’s no more proof of the biblical Samson than someone painting a picture of a Unicorn being ridden by a pretty princess is proof that Harry Potter is historical fact! The piece should have begun with this sentence.
Stop this dreadful misrepresentation, press people. You’re embarrassing yourselves and misleading (i.e., lying to) the public. And when Fox News and World Net Daily and the others of their ilk pick up this story they’ll run it as ‘Proof of the Biblical Samson found in Israeli Excavation!!!!’ and the next thing you know, the dim Maximalists will publish an essay in BAR suggesting that the seal was made by an eyewitness to Samson’s slaying of the lion.
Addendum to the Previous
From the twitter-
James Morrison
@JamesPMorrison Romney declares Jerusalem “capital of Israel” proving he has no grasp of diplomacy beyond posthumously baptizing Jews & goading Muslims.
Mitt Romney Is Netanyahu’s Toady Slave Mouthpiece
In Jerusalem speech, it was Romney’s voice but Netanyahu’s words.
Apparently if Romney is elected the US will be only the latest land annexed into Israeli territory, joining Palestine as another place where Israel’s will is law and the ‘President’ nothing more than a slavish toady of Israel.
Romney read his speech from two teleprompters that were placed opposite the stage, but compared to Obama, Romney seemed gray and uncharismatic. Even from this hand-picked, extremely friendly audience, he wasn’t able to extract thunderous applause. The speech itself sounded as if it could have been written by Netanyahu’s bureau. So it’s no surprise that when the two met later for dinner, Netanyahu thanked him for his “support for Israel and Jerusalem.”
And then Bibi went to his house and laughed and laughed and thought to himself, ‘this guy is so lame and easy to control. He will do our will without hesitating. We finally have the perfect slave of our masterful will to occupy the White House’.
In general, Netanyahu embraced Romney as no Israeli prime minister has ever before embraced a candidate running against an incumbent U.S. president: Aside from their working meeting in the morning, Netanyahu also hosted Romney and his wife and sons for dinner at his official residence.
Fatten him up for the metaphorical slaughter and he’s told to do what Bibi rather than the American people wish him to do. He should adopt this as his campaign poster:
Mitt Romney – the Mormon Zionist: Israel’s choice for America’s President.
Related articles
- REPORT: Bibi Asked Mitt to be in J’lem on T”B; Invited him to Breaking of Fast (gestetnerupdates.com)
- Netanyahu Urges Romney Tisha B’Av Visit (commentarymagazine.com)
Quote of the Day
“We [Christians] shall never lack those who persecute Christ in us, even though they proudly attack us in the name of Christ.” — Huldrych Zwingli
To Whom Should the Church Distribute Aid?
Zwingli suggested…
… on September 8, 1520, that the public alms should hereafter be given only to those who had been investigated, and could show actual need. One test of the “worthiness” of the applicants for relief was their ability to repeat the Lord’s Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the Ten Commandments! (Emil Egli, Actensammlung, No. 132, pp. 25–31.)
So if the poor were unable to recite the most basic statements of Christian faith, they were deemed unworthy of church assistance. If you think about it, it makes a good bit of sense. The Church should be careful in its disbursement of funds and not cast ‘pearls to swine’ so that monies collected to aid the poor not be used to buy inappropriate and wicked things.
Church history. It’s a treasure trove of fun facts.
Republicans In Congress: They’re TRUE Conservatives…
In the sense that they conserve the past as far back as they possibly can-
Via Chris Rollston on FB
‘A Voice, and Nothing More…’
He [Johannes Eck] is trying to catch the popular breeze, and does everything by uproar and violence. He babbles much stupidity without wit, without learning, and destroys innocent paper, so that as often as I read what he writes I am reminded of Aesop’s, “What a head and no brain!” and of what the fox said about the captured nightingale—“a voice and nothing more.” — Huldrych Zwingli
In our own time there are so many voices devoid of anything but mere sound. From politicians to televangelists to pentebabbleists to certain academics and everything in between- an abundance of sound and fury, signifying nothing. what Zwingli suggested of Eck could easily be applied to this generation’s majority of biblical scholars – they destroy paper and what they write is empty headed. Seldom can one find something of real substance.
Nevertheless, from time to time, one comes across something that really is quite useful. Those books, essays, and articles are a pearl of great price and when they are found the wise will sell everything they have if necessary in order to acquire them.
Would that more of us (and I’m talking about biblical scholars and theologians) would write more than fluff and worthlessness.
The Garden of Eden And That Tree…
The Tree in the Garden of Eden and its Possible Origins is a paper that was read at EABS last year in Thessolonica by Evlampia Tsireli. It has been uploaded here for your reading pleasure. Enjoy.
A Simple, Powerful Prayer
I beseech Christ for this one thing only, that He will enable me to endure all things courageously, and that He break me as a potter’s vessel or make me strong, as it pleases Him. – Huldrych Zwingli
Have The Remains of Jews Killed by the Romans in Jerusalem in 70 a.d. Been Discovered?
Antonio writes
Veteran journalist Benny Liss releases movie he filmed of underground cave on Temple Mount where he found a mass grave. He believes the skeletons are the remains of Jews massacred by the Romans when they destroyed the Temple Mount, but urges the authorities to properly examine the area.
The report he cites continues
Remains of thousands of Jews massacred by the Romans on the Temple Mount at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple may have been uncovered in Jerusalem, according to a veteran archaeological journalist.
During a conference on Thursday at Megalim – the City of David Institute for Jerusalem Studies, journalist Benny Liss screened a movie recorded a few years ago that clearly shows thousands of skeletons and human bones in what appears to be a mass grave.
Liss, veteran archaeological correspondent for Israel’s Channel 1, told the amazed audience that the film had been shot in a spacious, underground cavern in the area of the Mercy Gate, near the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, but just outside it. Liss raised the possibility that the skeletons were the remains of 6,000 Jews, mostly women and children, killed on the Temple Mount when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, as described in the writings of Flavius Josephus, who witnessed the destruction.
This may be an exceedingly important discovery.
Paying the Price for Faking a Kidnapping
Churches that do this kind of thing will now hopefully stop since 1) it has nothing to do with Christianity (and that’s reason enough not to do it) and 2) if they are foolish enough to do it, they’ll pay the price (as they should).
A southeastern Pennsylvania church and a youth pastor are facing criminal charges for a mock kidnapping of a youth group that was meant to be a lesson in religious persecution. The Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Middletown and 28-year-old Andrew David Jordan of Elizabethtown were charged Friday with false imprisonment and simple assault, said Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico. The church staged the event in March. Mock kidnappers covered the teenagers’ heads, put them in a van and interrogated them. Neither the young people nor their parents were told beforehand that it wasn’t real. The mother of a 14-year-old girl filed a complaint with police.
That’s rank stupidity. Who comes up with such imbecilic ideas and why don’t youth pastors have any sense? Churches need to learn what’s appropriate and what isn’t and that difference should be informed by Scripture, as I opined when this story first came to light in March.
Zwinglius Redivivus 
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