Thinking about a short term mission trip?

It is extremely difficult for us to say to zealous American, Singaporean or Korean Christians that they are really not needed. While there is a lot of talk about “mission partnerships” these days, the theologies of mission that we hold are rarely scrutinized and challenged in a genuine rich-poor encounter. The world of “ missions” seems hopelessly fragmented- and more pragmatist than ever. As long as this state of affairs continues, will not the practice of “partnership” be loaded in favour of those churches with the bigger wallets and the louder voices?

The rest of Vinoth Ramachandra's withering critique is here (HT K&E)

Studying Politicians and Preachers

The words politicians use tell us more about their underlying instincts than their policy plans

 - Simon Lancaster, director of Bespoke

Here's a research project for someone interested in the phenomenon of preaching, take the methodology of these studies on politicians and apply it to preachers in a modern city.  I guarantee some fascinating results.

Beware of Greeks Bearing Firebombs

The situation in Greece at the moment should give us all pause for thought.  The protestors are upset about austerity measures being introduced because of the state of the Greek economy.  They have grown used to a certain standard of living and expect their government to be able to ensure that it continues without disruption regardless of the world economy or other phenomena.  For a long time Greece has been living outside of its means and a disproportionate amount of whatever wealth the country does manage to produce ends up in the hands of the few.  Just like the UK, the US and NZ.  We now live in a society that has unsustainable expectations and is not yet serious about living and cooperating in a way that is realistic given the resources of the planet and human race.  For too long we have lived the high life by sucking the life out of the environment and the developing world.  How are you going to react when the money runs out and the capitalist dream is over?

Rowan Williams on Pullman and the Gospels

For the full review go here, (HT and links to other reviews RB)

Pullman leaves the Christian reader with a genuine paradox to ponder, and he doesn't – to his credit – suggest that the arguments are not serious. The sinister stranger in the book – who stands for all philosophical system-makers who want to improve on history by importing eternal truths at the expense of ordinary truthfulness – insists to "Christ" that Jesus's message can only survive clothed in the language of miracle and power. It is very much the argument we find in the mouth of Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor – that Jesus was too radical for ordinary human consumption, and for his memory to survive at all, you will have to lie about him. But what Pullman doesn't fully allow, I think, is the degree to which the New Testament itself is already aware of the dangers. Mark's gospel, in particular, presents a Jesus who insistently refuses to use his own miracles to prove his status, and a company of disciples who are chronically incapable of understanding Jesus's challenges. It seems to recognise the irony that the more you say about Jesus the more you risk getting it wrong.

And through the Christian centuries, these unresolved tensions and deliberate ironies in the Bible have gone on prompting people to resist the lure of Pullman's "Christ" and his anxious religiosity – a Francis of Assisi, a Bonhoeffer; an Óscar Romero, murdered 30 years ago last week for his resistance to state terror in El Salvador. They have seen through the surface froth of religion and heard the voice Pullman himself obviously finds so compelling. That should make us pause before deciding that the New Testament is quite as successful in sanitising an uncomfortable history through religiously convenient "truth" as Pullman implies. It is aware of its own temptations. It trains its readers in self-questioning.

Bibledex

Nottingham University are making a short introductory video for every book in the Bible, a great project.  Some of the videos are a little fluffy and annoying (e.g. Jude and Luke), but some are pretty good.  Go here to see them all, below is the one on 1 Corinthians.  Enjoy :-) (Oh yeah and watch out for Anthony Thiselton describing his 1500 page commentary on the Greek text as "a bit ridiculous"!)

Colloquium on Spiritual Complaint

spiritual│complaint

theology and practice of lament

Call for papers:
This colloquium (sponsored by the Laidlaw-Carey Graduate School in Auckland, New Zealand) will explore cultural and theological implications of texts and practices of lament and/or complaint. Potential papers, should address complaint/lament with a focus on spiritual/theological dimensions so might include:

• readings of biblical or other complaint or lament literature (Psalms, Job, Lamentations etc)
• studies of historical or contemporary lament songs
• pastoral perspectives on the contemporary practice of lament
• theological reflections
• cross cultural perspectives on lament practices
• post Holocaust reflections
• contemporary political reflections

The colloquium will take place in Auckland, NZ, on 10^th-11^th February 2011 (this is summertime in NZ but after the peak season), with a view to publishing a book with the same title in 2011 (draft papers will be circulated among participants in 2010 and final form submitted a month after the colloquium).
Please send abstracts or enquiries to:

• Miriam Bier miriam.bier@gmail.com or
• Tim Bulkeley tim@carey.ac.nz

original post can be found here

Another Approach to the Vengeance Psalms

[William P. Brown] reserves a special section for the “theological challenge of the Vengeance Psalms” (e.g., Pss 12, 44, 55, 58, 83, 109, 137, 139). After trying to contextualize these psalms as desperate prayers for “God’s judgment to restore a defeated and demoralized people,” he finds theological relevance in them as a summons to modern readers in the first world to hear in them the voice of the world’s oppressed poor.

From this review of this book