Christian Carnival CCXXXII
This week's Christian Carnival is up at Faith at Work Blog.
Among other worthy contents, there's this post at The Common Room, which presents the best one-paragraph summary concerning the historical authenticity of the New Testament that I have read:
The Old Testament, too, has proven a remarkably consistent and reliable document. I have studied this matter at some depth and, as a military historian interested in the dawn of warfare and achievement of the Turney-High's "military horizon" among civilizations (not least among the Hebrews), I have some familiarity with how sparse and unreliable most ancient sources are (up to the Renaissance, in fact). I also know how much anthropological "theory" is based on mere speculation. In the military field, this is often speculation by specialists with little professional knowledge of how and why men fight. Thus, I look with jaundiced eye at all textual criticism, especially the modern variety, and am continually struck by how well-preserved and documented Israel's history and Jesus' life are. Campared with what military historians consider authoritative accounts of battles and campaigns, the Bible provides an overflowing wealth or corroboratable detail. I am constantly amazed at how well its accounts harmonize and agree with what we know from surviving evidence.
Over at Crossroads, we have an excellent small treatise on how the pernicious "philosophy" of the Baby Boom (my) generation continues to pollute society and, in particular, the Visible Body:
Yes, there's little doubt that the Baby Boomers embraced moral relativism as their implicit religion (a thing only intellectual elites had done before them -- the BBs represented a mass popular movement) and we had a chance to see how destructive moral relativism could be when inflated into social policy: 60% divorce rates, a million abortions a year, tens of thousands of indigent dope-heads sleeping on urban heating grates, colleges that teach our young to hate the greatest nation in Earth's history and pander to barbarians who as soon slit our throats as look at us...und so weiter. It seems clear to me that my Worst Generation's legacy continues to damage us spiritually, although I do see within the "emerging church" many positive indicators as well -- trending away from and reacting against "anything goes" and "if it feels good, do it" that betokened my generation. I am a fan of the Catholics' Pope, whose Truth and Tolerance is an excellent answer to relativism in the spirit of Christian tolerance. I recommend it highly -- it strikes a balance well, without compromising first principles.
Finally, the excellent Fallible writes on the beauty of blogging:
Monk-mate KANH, I'm sure, can relate. Since I began blogging, I spend much less time yelling at the television or trying to bend her ear on subjects she's heard me spout off on for years. Yes, blogging is a beautiful thing.
Monk
Among other worthy contents, there's this post at The Common Room, which presents the best one-paragraph summary concerning the historical authenticity of the New Testament that I have read:
The New Testament, miraculously unlike any book of ancient origin, is testified to by the survival of thousands of documents within a few years of the original autographs, and these documents all agree with one another to a remarkable degree. It is remarkable because this level of evidence is unmatched by *any* other ancient document.
The Old Testament, too, has proven a remarkably consistent and reliable document. I have studied this matter at some depth and, as a military historian interested in the dawn of warfare and achievement of the Turney-High's "military horizon" among civilizations (not least among the Hebrews), I have some familiarity with how sparse and unreliable most ancient sources are (up to the Renaissance, in fact). I also know how much anthropological "theory" is based on mere speculation. In the military field, this is often speculation by specialists with little professional knowledge of how and why men fight. Thus, I look with jaundiced eye at all textual criticism, especially the modern variety, and am continually struck by how well-preserved and documented Israel's history and Jesus' life are. Campared with what military historians consider authoritative accounts of battles and campaigns, the Bible provides an overflowing wealth or corroboratable detail. I am constantly amazed at how well its accounts harmonize and agree with what we know from surviving evidence.
Over at Crossroads, we have an excellent small treatise on how the pernicious "philosophy" of the Baby Boom (my) generation continues to pollute society and, in particular, the Visible Body:
Let's take a time travel trip back to the 1960's...............the era of the Baby Boomers coming of age..........
Their Philosophies
*Truth is what we think and say it is.
*Helping people is more important than sitting around talking about and obeying rules and decorum.
*Lots of hypocrisy in the society.
*The environment is what we should be focusing on - in fact let's live in the woods.
*Perhaps the Eastern religions can teach us something we are missing here in Western society.
Somehow, with the exception of the Jesus People, the church missed out. In most cases this was very good because they retained their teaching and morality; but in another sense they never really did engage it.
And so as a result of that.....................
The Emergent church (children of the Boomers for the most part)......
Their Philosophies
*Biblical truth is what we think and say it is.
*Helping people is more important than doctrinal truth.
*Lots of hypocrisy in the church
*The environment is somehting we should be focusing much more on.
*Perhaps the Eastern religions can teach us something we are missing here in the Western church.
Yes, there's little doubt that the Baby Boomers embraced moral relativism as their implicit religion (a thing only intellectual elites had done before them -- the BBs represented a mass popular movement) and we had a chance to see how destructive moral relativism could be when inflated into social policy: 60% divorce rates, a million abortions a year, tens of thousands of indigent dope-heads sleeping on urban heating grates, colleges that teach our young to hate the greatest nation in Earth's history and pander to barbarians who as soon slit our throats as look at us...und so weiter. It seems clear to me that my Worst Generation's legacy continues to damage us spiritually, although I do see within the "emerging church" many positive indicators as well -- trending away from and reacting against "anything goes" and "if it feels good, do it" that betokened my generation. I am a fan of the Catholics' Pope, whose Truth and Tolerance is an excellent answer to relativism in the spirit of Christian tolerance. I recommend it highly -- it strikes a balance well, without compromising first principles.
Finally, the excellent Fallible writes on the beauty of blogging:
Honestly, blogging started (for me) as a way to relieve my poor husband from a small measure of his listening duties.
Monk-mate KANH, I'm sure, can relate. Since I began blogging, I spend much less time yelling at the television or trying to bend her ear on subjects she's heard me spout off on for years. Yes, blogging is a beautiful thing.
Monk
posted by Monk | 05:27
