Two Links
Today has been hard; the last couple days have had me breaking through emotionally, some tough feelings. Not uber tough, but tough enough.
Why? I don't know man. I started feeling poopy just a few hours after my last post when I was feeling so good! I'm okay. I did some breathing today. I left a couple messages with my weekly talk-buddy. I see my therapist tomorrow. But for whatever reason, I'm just down, pissed, a bit anxious. The worst seems to have passed. Perhaps tomorrow will be a brighter day. It often is!
But while I've got the floor: two links worth reading.
The first one is an excerpt from E.P. Sanders, well worth the time it takes to read it for those curious about Hellenistic influences in Jesus' Galilee. I admit I haven't read Sanders' books on Jesus and Paul, but want to. I don't know what his beliefs are, if any, but Wright sees him as a pivotal historian of first century Christianity. Sanders is the pioneer of what is now called the New Perspective on Paul. I don't which way I go with the thing, though again, Wright is persuasive; I don't feel pressure to come to a conclusion either. But this article seems a realistic discussion of Greek influences on the NT; an idea taken for granted so often it's making me ill.
Mental throw up, there, feel better.
The second link addresses something which I believe absolutely must, and will over much time and pain, change in Christianity: the fundamentalist' reading of scripture, innerrancy, that. I don't actually know if it really was the creation of Midwest theologians in the late 19th/early 20th century. Well, I know American fundamentalistm originated then, but I don't know what prior attitudes towards scripture or error in scripture were held over the centuries. This is an enormous jar of nightcrawlers (as the use of alpha symbols in this article shows!) and I don't want to open the jar here. But truly, if the Church is to treat its members humanely and attract new members who think, a much more sophisticated approach to reading the Bible is required in my opinion.
That's one thing I feel for sure. That and I'm straight. Not much else right now. I need to so something constructive, I think.
Peace to all
Why? I don't know man. I started feeling poopy just a few hours after my last post when I was feeling so good! I'm okay. I did some breathing today. I left a couple messages with my weekly talk-buddy. I see my therapist tomorrow. But for whatever reason, I'm just down, pissed, a bit anxious. The worst seems to have passed. Perhaps tomorrow will be a brighter day. It often is!
But while I've got the floor: two links worth reading.
The first one is an excerpt from E.P. Sanders, well worth the time it takes to read it for those curious about Hellenistic influences in Jesus' Galilee. I admit I haven't read Sanders' books on Jesus and Paul, but want to. I don't know what his beliefs are, if any, but Wright sees him as a pivotal historian of first century Christianity. Sanders is the pioneer of what is now called the New Perspective on Paul. I don't which way I go with the thing, though again, Wright is persuasive; I don't feel pressure to come to a conclusion either. But this article seems a realistic discussion of Greek influences on the NT; an idea taken for granted so often it's making me ill.
Mental throw up, there, feel better.
The second link addresses something which I believe absolutely must, and will over much time and pain, change in Christianity: the fundamentalist' reading of scripture, innerrancy, that. I don't actually know if it really was the creation of Midwest theologians in the late 19th/early 20th century. Well, I know American fundamentalistm originated then, but I don't know what prior attitudes towards scripture or error in scripture were held over the centuries. This is an enormous jar of nightcrawlers (as the use of alpha symbols in this article shows!) and I don't want to open the jar here. But truly, if the Church is to treat its members humanely and attract new members who think, a much more sophisticated approach to reading the Bible is required in my opinion.
That's one thing I feel for sure. That and I'm straight. Not much else right now. I need to so something constructive, I think.
Peace to all
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