briack-a-brack 15/11/10 Bumper Edition

So much on the blogosphere in the last few days, this is almost another carnival. Sorry if i have missed a hat tip or three, but you know i've linked to your blog before and will do so again so let me off for a rush job in marking season please!

Biblical Studies

Mike Bird shares a couple of papers responding to NT Wright
Another couple of papers on Paul and Scripture
Mark Goodacre has a trio of papers on Mark's gospel
Daniel Kirk shares an insanely interesting post on ancient readers
Jim makes a hash of 1 Cor 7, I'd love to show why he's wrong, but not today
John Byron decides God doesn't hate divorce in Mal 2:16 after all
There is a new tool for the study of Paul's letters, it does look luscious!
Hurtado gives his list of important recent developments in NT/Chritsian origins and it is a doozy!
Duane thinks some more about snake omens and their possible relation to Gen 3

Theology

Byron Smith offers some help for all those struggling with converging global crises
Scott McKnight reflects on the difficulty we have getting the gospel clear
William Birch considers God's feminine side
Jason shares some radical Dorothy Day quotes
Bruce Hamil preaches on Luke 20:27-38
Ben Myers wants us to stop smiling
Richard Beck on complicity, which has long been an ethical topic i've wanted to research

Misc

Rich Walker contemplates the future of global english
Some wisdom from Eberhard Jungel on answering stupid questions
The mighty John Hobbins on which Bible translation to use

Lists of objectionable beliefs

Yet another post inspired by Glenn Peoples blog after he has a little rant about being judged a liberal by other evangelicals because some of his views might be considered outside the "conservative" box.  In the post he presents a list of beliefs/claims.

1. The Bible is the word of God.
2. We do not have immortal souls.
3. Abortion is immoral.
4. God raised Jesus from the dead.
5. The liberal claims made about early Christianity by the likes of the Jesus seminar and Bart Ehrman are ridiculous.
6. All people have a duty to obey God’s law.
7. Inerrancy is a false view of Scripture.
8. If God does not exist, then there are no moral facts.
9. The state should not sanction same-sex marriage.
10. There is no such thing as eternal torment in hell.
11. The four Gospels are a reliable history of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

2, 7, and 10 are presumably the ones which alienate him from the mainstream of conservative evangelicalism, while the rest alienate him from mainstream liberal secularism.  It is an interesting list, I am sure it is meant to be representative rather than definitive and I certainly wouldn't cover the same list of issues if I was to write my list of reasons why I don't fit in well with the standard Christian fundamentalist/liberal secularist divide.  I am not going to make my own list but i will do my own version of his, just so Glenn doesn't feel too alone. :-)

1. The Bible is the word of God. Amen
2. We do not have immortal souls.  Of course not, i'm made of mud and God's breath!
3. Abortion is immoral always tragic, usually unecessary and its frequency is evidence of our morally bankrupt society.
4. God raised Jesus from the dead. Amen
5. The liberal claims made about early Christianity by the likes of the Jesus seminar and Bart Ehrman are ridiculous. Huzzah!
6. All people have a duty to obey God’s law. and all people fail to do so (except one)
7. Inerrancy is a false meaningless view of Scripture.
8. If God does not exist, then there are no moral facts morality is merely a social construction
9. The secular state should not sanction same-sex marriage if the state believes homosexual relationships to be valid building blocks of society that it wants to encourage
10. There is no such thing as eternal torment in hell.  of course not, what do you think "destruction" means! ;-)
11. The four Gospels are a reliable history of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Amen

Now, I quite like the fact that in almost any group of people i can come up with some surprises and I hate being fitted into boxes so I celebrate the fact that even with such a short list I have probably given everyone reading that list pause for thought if not a little offence?

Let me know what you think :-)