Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Evangelicals and the Environment: Learning from Thomas Payne?

By Roy Ciampa, PhD
Associate Professor of New Testament

It is the time of the year when academic societies dedicated to the study of the Bible meet. The Evangelical Theological Society met last Wednesday to Friday, the Institute for Biblical Research met Friday evening and Saturday morning and the Society of Biblical Literature met from Friday night until Tuesday morning of this week.

The Institute for Biblical Research is essentially the American counterpart to Britain’s Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical and Theological Research. They are both evangelical fellowships dedicated to supporting biblical research. Reflection on the papers given on Saturday morning reminded me of Thomas Paine’s saying, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”

Sandra Richter [MATS '90] of Asbury Theological Seminary read the Old Testament paper on “Environmental Law in Deuteronomy: One lens on a Biblical Theology of Creation Care.” Here’s the abstract, taken from the Institute of Biblical Research website:
The testimony of the Old and New Testaments as a whole is that God is interested in the well-being of the earth and its creatures. The creation narrative initiates this message with the command to humanity to tend and protect the garden; the Nhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifew Testament confirms it with its report of the redemption of the cosmos, and the description of the New Jerusalem. Throughout there is a recurring message regarding humanity's responsibility as the steward of God's creation. This essay investigates that message as it is communicated in the politeia of ancient Israel, the book of Deuteronomy. Here the laws of land-tenure, agriculture, produce, warfare, wild creatures, and livestock are investigated with an eye toward the larger biblical theological message of the Bible. Israel's practice is compared to the norms of its ancient society, and modern parallels are proposed.

Douglas Moo of Wheaton Graduate School read the New Testament Paper on “Creation and New Creation.” Here’s the abstract for his paper, also taken from Institute of Biblical Research website:
The ecological crisis of our times has stimulated considerable interest in the teaching of the Bible about the created world. As evangelical biblical scholars, we have a particular obligation to respond to this crisis by discovering ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnd teaching truly biblical perspectives on the created world. In this paper, I pursue such an agenda by arguing that Paul's language of "new creation" cannot be reduced to an anthropological or ecclesiological focus. The OT and second-Temple Jewish background for the phrase, the contexts in which Paul uses it, and its place within Paul's wider theology make clear that the renewal of creation has an important place within Paul's proclamation of the "new creation." Moreover, the phrase bears significant ethical implications, some of which have bearing on our current ecological crisis.

Both papers were well done and I hope we will see them published in the Bulletin for Biblical Research. What does any of this have to do with Thomas Payne? It seems to me that caring for the environment is an area where until now evangelical interpretation of Scripture has failed to provide the leadership it should and we find ourselves following behind the society in which we live. Usually it is assumed that in these cases our interpretation of Scripture has been corrupted by the dominant views of society. In some cases, however, and I think this is an excellent example of such a case, developments in the wider society lead us to go back and read the scriptures again to see if we have not actually missed something that should have been recognized all along. In these cases “following” does not mean following society in some unbiblical direction but being prodded by our environment [!] to reconsider the scriptural evidence and follow it more faithfully than we did before. We may end up wishing we had led the society in these areas but it is better to follow along sometime later than to dig in our heels and continue to neglect an important part of biblical teaching. Better late than never….

Sometimes, of course we must not choose between leading, following and getting out of the way, but between leading, following or standing in the way. That is, sometimes Scripture leads us to take a stand against unjust or unrighteous developments in society and we must be prepared to take bold stands and seek to let light shine into the darkness. We evangelicals have usually been better at seeing where society is going wrong than we are at seeing where it has gotten something right, something that we should have seen all along. It is important to go and get our eyes checked from time to time. Parts of the environmental movement certainly have serious problems, but that should not blind us to the fact that we have been negligent in the responsibilities that God has given us to care for the creation that Christ died to redeem.

The papers by Richter and Moo are important reminders that “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1, NIV). When it comes to caring for it we should lead, follow or get out of the way.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Sermons I Wish I'd Heard, Part 1: Tithing

By Maria Boccia, PhD
Professor of Pastoral Counseling and Psychology and
Director of Graduate Programs in Counseling at the Charlotte campus

As I was considering ideas about which to write for this forum, I got to thinking about some of the sermons that I have wished I’d heard, but which I have never or rarely heard preached over the years. So I thought that one of the things I might do is to write occasionally about one of these topics. A topic near the top of this list is on the question of tithing and money. In some churches, it is a tradition at the end of the fiscal year for the pastor to preach at least one and perhaps a series of sermons on stewardship (in anticipation of people pledging financial support of the church for the coming year). In others (like most of the ones I have attended), the topic of tithing and money is avoided like the plague, which I consider ironic in light of the fact that something like 50% of Jesus’ teaching is about money. Then, as I was preparing to write on this topic, I received an e-mail from our pastor in Chapel Hill in which he talked about tithing, and attached two columns he had written on this topic in 2007. I thought I might share some of his thoughts with you. Thank you, Rob Tennant.

Have you considered that tithing is never mentioned in the New Testament? That's right! It is not! Tithing is an Old Testament concept: Deuteronomy 14 in particular mentions that the people of Israel should tithe, that is give one-tenth to God. God gives some interesting instructions to his people about tithing in this passage. He says that the tithe is to be taken to the place God has chosen for his name (ultimately, I suppose this refers to the Temple in Jerusalem). However, the Law notes that a person may live too far to travel there, and be unable to carry the tithe to that place. In this case, a person is to convert it to money, go to the place that God has designated for his name, and have a party and celebrate God. Take our tithe and throw a party? I think this tells us something about how God thinks about the attitudes he wants us to have with respect to our resources, time, and money. I also think it goes quite nicely with New Testament teaching about giving.

As I said, tithing is not mentioned in the New Testament. What is mentioned over and over again is generosity, and giving out of a full heart, cheerfully. See the connection? Here are some of the things Jesus says about money and generosity:

And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:40-42, NIV)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21, NIV)

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." (Mark 12:43-44, NIV)
Clearly what matters to Jesus is our attitude. It seems to me more about overflowing generosity than about measuring out 10%. Paul's comment, in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, is telling:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (NIV)

God loves a cheerful giver. This has a very different feeling to me than the idea of tithing. As in so many principles of the New Testament in comparison to the Old Testament, it calls us to a higher standard based on the attitude of our heart rather than an external standard. That is why Jesus praised the widow who gave her last mite over the wealthy Pharisee who gave his measured tenth.

My pastor summarized the principles about giving which we learn from the New Testament as follows:
- Give generously
- Give humbly
- Don’t overvalue money; put a greater value on the things of the Kingdom of God
- Give to those in need
- Recognize that all you have is really God’s

My pastor encourages us to begin with giving 10%. But that is just the starting point. We also need to think about giving generously, giving where we see the need, giving of all we are not just of our money. Then I think we will see the blessings of Malachi who understood God's promise when he said, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." (3:10, NIV)

Monday, November 10, 2008

Zephyrs Wanted

By Jeff Arthurs
Professor of Preaching & Communication and Dean of the Chapel

I teach preaching, and sometimes I get tired of my own teaching. I get tired of the constant emphasis in my classes on rhetorical skill. Somehow that emphasis seems to crowd out deeper, loftier, or more pressing issues like theology and spirituality. Don’t get me wrong, all of us could use a heapin’ helpin’ of rhetorical training (boring sermons are so . . . boring, and confusing sermons are so . . . boring), but I often like to breathe the fresh air of pastoral theology. Like this:
“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account (Hebrews 13:17a, NASB).

Preachers are soul-watchers. Is that how you think of preaching—as keeping watch over souls? When we preach, we should “look at” souls (as when we watch the sunset), “tend” souls (as when we watch the fire), and “guard” souls (as when we stand on watch through the night). That last nuance is closest to Hebrews 13:17 because it says we are to “keep watch,” attentively guarding our dear congregation. In the context of the book of Hebrews the idea is that pastors are responsible to help believers keep believing. Our preaching should help them not slip back and turn from the Faith. Pastoring is serious business! Notice also that the verse says we will have to give an account of how well we did this. Real serious business!

That’s clean air for my lungs. Do you have any ideas for how I can incorporate more clean air in my teaching? Remember that I have only ten 3 hour sessions (and that those sessions are really 2.5 hours); remember that homiletics is a performance class (student sermons take up half of the ten sessions); remember that students really do need help with rhetoric (boring sermons are so boring); and remember that my training is in rhetoric (I think God has positioned me in the Church to be of service in that area). But I still need a breath of fresh air. I think my students do too. Please post your zephyrs to this blog.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Small Church, Good Church, Good Shepherds

By John Jefferson Davis
Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics

Recently I had the opportunity to be the plenary speaker at the annual convention of the American Baptist Churches of Maine, meeting at the United Baptist Church of Caribou, Maine, not far from the Canadian border. I was informed that Aroostook County, the northernmost county in the state and a center of the potato farming industry, has the land area of the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined! I had the pleasure of connecting with a good number of our graduates who pastor ABC churches in Maine, including Al Fletcher, the executive pastor of the ABC churches in the state, and Ken Phelps, an area minister and “pastor to pastors” in the region.

As I talked with the pastors over meals and during the breaks in the program, I was reminded that small churches can be good churches, and that the New Testament model of ministry is that of a shepherd who cares individually for the flock, and not that of a CEO who manages a large corporation. These pastors were doing good pastoral ministry in small churches in an economically depressed region, but their faithfulness and commitments to long-term ministries are deeply consistent with New Testament values. I took away from the weekend a renewed sense that our school, Gordon-Conwell, needs to pay attention to the needs of the small churches in New England and elsewhere, and not just to the needs of the mid-size and larger churches.

My messages to the pastors were focused on the theology of worship and the theme of the real presence of the holy and living God among his people as they gather for worship, drawing on the research that I have done for my book manuscript on this theme, tentatively titled Searching for God on Sunday Morning: the Ontology of Worship. The term “ontology” is meant to point to the “weighty reality” of the God who is really present among his people, not just “up there” or “in our hearts,” but truly “among us.”

In the message titled “Meeting Christ at the Table,” I presented an argument for more frequent communion and for an understanding of the Lord’s Supper that is not just one of “remembering” an event from the past, but an encounter with the Risen Christ who is spiritually present with his people at the table through Word and Spirit. If you would like to pursue this line of inquiry, you can download this chapter by clicking on the "Download File" link below.

God’s blessings on your ministry wherever you may be.