The New Cosmological Argument

I have often fought for the belief that we have a reasonable faith.  By this I mean that it makes sense, it isn't just some random collection of ancient wisdom.  It makes sense and is an intelligent approach to reality.  One of the many arguments for this cause that I greatly appreciate is the Cosmological argument, and related thoughts.  The ultimate statement for this is found in the Bible, in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God...".  However, today we find support for the existence of God in an unlikely corner.

Prodigal Son Returns

So it has been a long time since I was last able to post.  Sorry fair readers, my levity was lacking, but it has all been in service to my country.  Honestly, I haven't been having a great many deep thoughts in the last few months.  Recently I have been experiencing a little bit of a personal revival in the Biblical lands that Abram once escaped in search of the promised land.

Divine Intervention

December 13^th my wife, Kristina, had an opportunity to be part of the choir in a Messiah sing-along in a nearby town. There was a rehearsal at 2:30 and a performance at 4:30. We planned for her to leave for the practice ~1:30pm so my morning was open for a “small” project. I had just the project. I needed to attach the old exhaust duct to the new fan I had installed in the upstairs bathroom. My plan was simple: take the duct tape, tape the loose end of the duct to the exhaust port on the fan, and climb back down. I estimated this would take 45 minutes because every project takes longer than expected.

The first hiccup came at step two, tape the loose end of the duct to the exhaust port on the fan. The old duct was 4" in diameter while the exhaust port was 6". I handled this beautifully. “No problem.” I said to myself, “I’ll just add Home Depot to my short list of errands.” I then gathered up all of the parts I had left up there, and skipped to step 3, climb back down. That is when Kristina informed me, “Whatever you did up there last knocked the lights out in the bathroom.”

!

I had purposely rearranged some of the insulation, but…no! That couldn’t have…Aw…a simple project had caused a disaster. But I would have to deal with this later – after we returned from the Messiah. Not now. But this was just the beginning.

Ashurbanipal learning Akkadian

I came across an interesting passage from Ashurbanipal talking about his schooling. Even the Assyrians thought Akkadian was hard! I am so happy that the OT was not written in Akkadian.

"and I have studied (lit., struggled with) the heavens with the learned masters of oil divination, I have solved the laborious (problems of) division and multiplication, which were not clear, I have read the artistic script of Sumer and the dark (obscure) Akkadian, which is hard to master, (now) taking pleasure in the reading of the stones (i.e., steles) (coming) from before the flood, (now) being angered (because I was) stupid and addled (?) by the beautiful script (?)" (379).

But just in case you think that you would like to have him in your class, read the following about what he did to a rebel.

"Ummanaldash was alarmed and laid the corpse of that Nabu-bel-shumate in salt and gave it, together with the head of his shield-bearer, who had cut him down with the sword, to my messenger, and he had him brought before me. I did not give his body to be buried. I made him more dead than he was before. I cut off his head and hung it on the back of Nabu-kata-sabat, (his) twin brother (?) (and) a faithful (subject) of Shamash-shum-ukin, my hostile brother, who had gone with him to rouse Elam to hostility." (312)

Quotations are from Luckenbill, ARAB II

The God i Don't Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith

“The Paradigm Root in Hebrew”

“The Grammar of Social Gender in Biblical Hebrew.”

“Reading the Bible in Nazi Germany"

"Gerhard von Rad's Attempt to Reclaim the Old Testament for the Church”

This fascinating article looks at von Rad in his social context of Nazi Germany and how he read the OT in that context. He taught at the University of Jena, the school where DeWette had given his famous dissertation on Deuteronomy many years earlier. The school was run by an ardent SS officer/medical scientist until 1945. Von Rad thought of Deuteronomy not as law but a collection of sermons from traveling Levites. But he does not back this up with exegetical support. Levinson thinks that this lack of support comes from his social context and passion to keep the importance of the OT. Von Rad was probably chosen for his position because of a supposed sympathy for the Nazi movement. Jena was the first school to remove the requirement to study Hebrew, a move which von Rad strongly resisted. New Nazi-flavored classes were begun, while von Rad taught his own OT classes in response. But he had very few students throughout the war. In 1936, there were 155 in the Faculty of Theology, but von Rad's three classes had totals of 4, 2, and 2 students. By 1944 the total number of students in the Faculty had shrunk to ten, and von Rad still had between 2 and 4 students in each of his classes. 45 dissertations were submitted during this time, none of which were supervised by von Rad. The Confessing Church sents students to von Rad every year just so the school would stay open. Levinson thinks that von Rad's move to call Deuteronomy sermons was arbitrary. Von Rad often spoke out publicly that the OT is important as Christian Scripture. He did not want the OT to be regarded as law (and hence Jewish), so he argued that it was filled with grace, which led him to sermon. While the conclusion of the article is tendentious against the idea of Deuteronomy as a sermon, the history presented is worth reading. I had often wondered what von Rad did during the time of the Nazis.

THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE Part 8

Conclusion

Since the historical-critical way of reading the Bible is not going to die out anytime soon, I am thankful for the positive influence that TIS is having in the guild. Its many beneficial aspects can cohere well with evangelicalism.[12] I am especially thankful for the connection between theology and the Bible being made by many more than in the past, and I hope that TIS has wide impact, particularly in the biblical studies guild. But in spite of its compatibility with evangelicalism, I remain concerned about some unbalanced directions TIS is being taken and unconvinced that TIS is desperately needed by evangelicals or that we should follow it in every detail

See below for comparison of TIS with other solutions. 

THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE Part 7

Whenever evangelical biblical scholars discuss TIS with theologians, one question always seems to arise: How is this different from what we have been doing? The difference between TIS and standard historical critical work is clear, but the border between TIS and evangelical thought is fuzzy.

Follow the link for more of my thoughts on TIS commentaries.