Tonight, internet permitting, I continue my study of the gospel according to John following Dr. Herold Weiss’s book Meditations on According to John. You can find more information at the Google+ Event Page, and view either there or via the embedded viewer below.
Tonight’s study on According to John, based on Chapter 14 of Dr. Herold Weiss’s book Meditations on According to John, will have me going far afield from the gospel of John into a discussion of individual and community memory and the importance of a message transmitted by and shaped by a community. I will argue that rather than seeing this type of transmission as a weakness, it is, in fact a great strength and should be embraced.
What does it mean today to hear Jesus saying “Remember” (John 15:20) today? What is the role of the Holy Spirit in all this?
I’m going to shamelessly link to a post by Allan Bevere in order to publicize a hangout I’ll be hosting next month. Allan’s post is Once Again, The Civil Religion of the Religious Right AND the Religious Left, and I’m interested because I think Allan might well dispute both of my guests.
We tried for this hangout this past Tuesday, so it has now been rescheduled to June 9. My two guests will be Elgin Hushbeck, Jr., author of What is Wrong with Social Justice, and Steve Kindle, author of Stewardship: God’s way of recreating the world. (Note that the two books are not written in response to each other; they are just typical books by each author.)
I will try to be neutral in hosting, but I do have opinions on the topic. Most importantly, I think Christians, as a community, would do well to step away from prescribing the means by which individual members should accomplish social goals. Despite what Allan notes regarding the words of the prophets being addressed to Israel as a theocracy, I think they do express principles on which I should act.
How those principles apply to my current faith community and the country of which I’m a citizen is more debatable, and it is that debate that I think is good. For example, the principle that laborers should be treated well is a principle expressed by the prophets. Exploitation of laborers draws some strong words. What should be debated is how this can be accomplished. Does a minimum wage improve working conditions, or does it just increase unemployment? What is the net effect of social welfare payments from the government?
I know that people of good will can disagree on these points, and I think people of good will should always be willing to discuss, to work together where possible, and to compromise when that seems indicated. The church, while upholding the principles expressed by the prophets, should, I think, be a safe place to work out the “how” on an ongoing basis. That means I don’t think this is a debate that will—or should—end.
That’s why I was so delighted to host the beginning of the debate, in turn disappointed that audio problems prevented us from continuing, and again delighted that both authors were available for a June 9 rescheduled hangout. They were both vigorously and courteously discussing the definition of justice and what social justice is, and I plan to ask them some questions based on what I’ve said above.
Note that Allan Bevere has a book that relates to this topic and expands on what he says in his post: The Politics of Witness.
I failed to post on this earlier, but in about 20 minutes I’ll be starting this study. Of course, there’s always the option to watch it later (or not!).
YouTube viewer:
I’m a little late posting the event for this, but my study of John will continue. I expect to post a couple more notes on the last hangout in this series as well as a follow-up to my conversation with Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. on the Energion Publications weekly hangout. For more information, see the link above. I will embed the viewer below if you want to go via YouTube.
My major purpose in doing this study was to engage in the discipline of following through the book(s), both According to John and Dr. Herold Weiss’s Meditations on According to John thoroughly, discussing the material, and taking questions and comments. This is a difficult process for me because both my training and my inclination is in the historical exegesis of the text, using the word “exegesis” as narrowly as possible to refer to extracting the historical meaning to the first audience. So thinking about the theology is hard work for me, and some of the rough edges definitely show. At the same time, I think this is a worthwhile exercise. Fortunately for me, some people who have a great deal of skill have challenged me on some points and that has helped me dig even deeper.
This week’s topic introduces an interesting aspect of biblical theology: comparing and contrasting the theology of two different passages. Colossians and John share some points of theology here according to Dr. Weiss, and we’re going to look at how one can examine this sort of claim and what the results are.
I do plan some conversations with experts for this series. Dr. Weiss himself has agreed to join me for a discussion. I suspect that one will emphasize christology and the statements he’s made relating the christology of John to various stages of the early church. That will in turn doubtless tie into some discussion of the trinity. Dr. Drew Smith, author of Energion Publications title Reframing a Relevant Faith will be joining me to discuss biblical theology and how it differs from systematic theology among other topics. Dr. Smith has his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in New Testament where his dissertation dealt with the theology of Mark. We’ll try to make him talk about John nonetheless! I will announce dates for these conversations soon.
So join the fun tonight at 7:00 pm central, 8:00 pm eastern, or watch the video later and respond through comments of blog posts.
Using Google Hangouts on Air, we will again broadcast a hangout with some of our authors. For further information, check the Google Plus event. I will embed the YouTube viewer below. Note that once the hangout is complete, the recording will be available through the same viewer.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the event tonight has been changed. Elgin Hushbeck and I had been planning to discuss the dating and authorship of Bible books in April, but we’re going to be doing that tonight. This is a conversation, though Elgin is the moderator/interviewer. This reverses the usual procedure, in which I interview one or more of my authors. Fun!
I should have posted this earlier. I’ll use as an excuse that our son is visiting us from Arizona. He’s probably not really to blame, but we are very delighted to have him here. Some distractions are a definite gift from God!
You can find out more information from my Google+ Event, or watch the study via the YouTube embed below.
