Scot McKnight: February 2008 Archives

(Say the Jesus Creed morning and evening during Lent.)

I didn't get home early enough to post our usual Friday is for Friends, so instead...

You may have heard about the hermeneutics quiz I drafted up for Leadership magazine; of course, our hermeneutic can't be reduced to a series of questions. So, what we are really doing is seeing if we can generate a conversation about how it is that we read the Bible. So, here's the quiz ... and we can have a conversation about it here if you'd like. The focus of many on which label they are assigned is not at all an interest of mine; instead, my interest is how we make the decisions we do make on issues like these. The labels were added later and not integral to what I think this kind of quiz can expose.

I wasn't invited to the National Pastors Convention in order to meet with old friends or even to meet new ones. Nope, Zondervan asked me to speak and I was involved in not a little speaking ... Monday evening and Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon. Some thoughts ...

The Monday evening and Tuesday morning events were "hot button" topics discussed in a panel format by four of us: Phyllis Tickle, Tony Jones, Andy Crouch and McKnight. What hot button topics? Our views of Scripture, our views on political involvement, our views of homosexuality and our views on world religions. Hot enough? Indeed.

On Scripture, I was asked to lead us off with a brief survey of issues and how we approach Scripture, which gave me the opportunity to use some stuff from Blue Parakeet. I think some of us approach Scripture "in spite" of tradition, some "through" Tradition, and some "with" Tradition. (Intentional upper and lower case.) We had a good discussion, but there wasn't all that much difference between us. On politics, after we excused Ms. Tickle because -- as is well known -- she has a heart condition (she claims to be over 70 but she has the energy of a fifty year old and the wit of all wits), Tony got us going with his defense of realism. I suffered the heat of Andy and Tony wailing away on this Anabaptist perspective -- Tony used the term "utopian" a few times. (Don't feel sorry for me; I'm exaggerating.) On homosexuality, we all advocated pastoral and ecclesial sensitivity; Andy Crouch gave a splendid introduction that involved his reading a piece he wrote for CT. And on world religions we didn't seem to find any wedges of disagreement ... over all, a good set of sessions.

Tuesday afternoon I got to share the stage with Phyllis on prayer; I gave a brief on the biblical reasons and history of set prayers at set times (using my Praying with the Church). Then we all sat back and listened to Phyllis do what she is known for: resurrecting fixed hour prayer in the USA for so many of us. Not only does Phyllis practice fixed hour prayer and not only does she know the history of it all, she's a magnificent speaker. Kris envied me getting to be with Phyllis.

Wednesday afternoon was my highlight -- other than meeting up with friends: getting to bring out some of the new stuff from Blue Parakeet. I gave a fuller version of what I did at the session Monday night on the Three Approaches to the Bible and then I went through "shortcuts" and weaved in and out of some stories and some biblical texts that are right there in front of us and we have somehow discerned "not to do" them. That's the burden of Blue Parakeet: how do we discern what to do and what not to do. Unfortunately, my flight was backed up against the session and I had to skee-daddle as soon as it was over.

Did I mention the weather? I got home about 11:30pm to 15 degrees and well over two feet of snow in the backyard.

Once again ... as I was speaking I saw many names on name tags that I recognized who've jotted down comments on this blog. What a great blog community we have!

20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”.

1. Overall, this statement is simple: Salome (traditonal) wants her sons to sit next to Jesus in the kingdom. That kingdom is the Davidic kingdom of Jewish hope.
2. This kingdom suggests an earthly reign where there are thrones, etc..
3. The desire provokes consternation on the part of the other disciples and piercing words by Jesus -- words even James and John don't quite comprehend. Those who seek the kingdom, Jesus says, are not those who seek to dominate, rule and wield power. Instead, kingdom seekers serve one another in love.
4. Jesus', the Son of Man's, self-sacrifice on the cross embodies the proper stance of those seeking the kingdom of God.

I've been at the National Pastor's Convention in San Diego -- wow, beautiful weather -- and one thing that makes the whole event vibrate for me is seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

I spent time, of course, with blog friends, readers of this blog whom I've met before or whom I first meet at such events, who are now faces and voices. What it all means to both Kris and me to have so many readers of the blog come out of nowhere to introduce themselves or say something appreciative is beyond words ... we never knew what would become of this blog, but we are beginning to realize all over again that the level of conversation and civility is not just a witness to you our readers but to something that is desired in a world marred by fractious and acriominious words. Peaceful conversation can no longer be assumed, and I have to thank you for all your goodness on this blog. I'm not saying we don't have disagreements, but we know how to disagree without turning a person into an enemy.

I had breakfast with one of my favorite bloggers, Jim Martin, down in Texas. We had a great time talking about how best to prepare pastors. Jim had some very good thoughts for me.

John Frye, up in Michigan, "met" Jim Martin -- only over the blog -- but met him yesterday in person and they had a good time meeting. And today I had breakfast with John and his friend Kenton Kemp.

Dana Ames (not "Day-na" but "Dan-a") and I first met at this event two years ago; we share a common joy in fountain pens and in reading Tom Wright. We had coffee, talked about what was going on in our families (her son is exploring a master's in piano performance -- artsy family I have to admire). I didn't get to speak much with Christine Scheller but it was nice seeing her again (she evokes tranquility for me).

It was the first time I got to sit down alone with Dan Kimball -- we share so many common ideas and theology and I have to say that I envy his awesome hair and admire his pastoral tact, his graciousness, and his commitment to missional work among the 20somethings.

I had dinner with three leaders at Mars Hill Grand Rapids. Creative, insightful, courageous ... Matt Krick, Greg Bunch, and Brad John Nelson (I think I got that right; sorry if I didn't). They brought energy to the table and they give me confidence in the future church.

And I was with Tony Jones and met Julie for the first time; I saw Doug Pagitt and Shelly. We are all grateful to John Raymond, at Zondervan, for his creative insights into all things emerging and emergent. I'll be blogging about this tomorrow.

I'll post tomorrow about our sessions, among which was my first ever "Blue Parakeet" book event. I'm so pumped about that session I can hardly contain myself. I'll talk about Phyllis Tickle tomorrow, since we shared a speaking event on prayer.

(Say the Jesus Creed morning and evening during Lent.)

Here's the offer. I will send a copy of Donald McKim, Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters, to the first person who can stump the professor. At what? Here's the deal:

When I taught at Trinity, I used to play a game with my students. It concerned the initials of reputable, known New Testament scholars. If they could give me the initials of a NT scholar that I didn't know the names for [which they knew], then I would buy them an ice cream at the famous White Horse Inn.

Example:

Student: "F.F. Bruce."
McKnight: "You owe me an ice cream. Frederick Fyvie Bruce."

So here's my deal: If you can come up with initials that I don't know, I will send you a copy of McKim's big honkin' Dictionary. Here are the rules:

1. The initials must be for a reputable NT scholar. (I make the decision; I'm known to be fair.)
2. The scholar must be dead. No brand spankin' new PhD in NT studies.
3. I will not look up the names in any of my books before I answer your challenges.
4. Only one guess per person.
5. I will give you until 4:00 p.m. central standard time; if I'm not stumped by then, I will give the book to my colleague, Joel Willitts.

Go ahead, stump the professor!