Testing faith: an alternative reading of Job

What is real faith? Do I believe just because of the benefits to me [peace, comfort, hope, better relationships, sense of purpose, potential prosperity from following Biblical wisdom]? Or will I still believe even if I suffer materially and relationally?

Indeed, critics of religion such as Feuerbach, Freud, and Marx considered Christianity was not true and explained away the persistence of belief by claiming that there were hidden reasons people believed.

These were some of the questions addressed by Walter Moberly in a nice talk he gave at the conference on the Academy and the Church this week.
[Aside: all his talks were given while sitting and without Powerpoint. I found it intriguing and challenging that this uncommon delivery did not diminish the effectiveness or clarity of his talks.]

Moberly suggested the "Modern hermeneutics of suspicion are anticipated in the Biblical text; and so should be taken seriously."
Some would portray the narrative of Job 1-2:10 as describing a cosmic battle between God and Satan for the soul of Job. However, Moberly pointed out that the word "Satan" which appears in our English translations of this passage are misleading. The Hebrew (ha-satan) is a term with a definite article, not a name. "the satan" is a term akin to a prosecuting lawyer.
[It seems the devil is in the details!]

The text presents a stark contrast between self seeking and serving God regardless of the consequences (good or bad). Faith should not be motivated by self interest.
Job holds to God "for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health".
The "life of faith is a life of purification of motive and desire as well as of conduct."

The Patient Job, by Gerard Segners. Notice his wife on the right, urging him to abandon his integrity and curse God.

Time management for academic clowns

I was asked to give a talk with the title, "Managing your time in the academic circus" at the conference on the Academy and the Church. At first I thought the title strange, but eventually I ran with the circus metaphor. Here are my notes.

The end of it all

Here are the current slides for a talk, "Comparison of Biblical and scientific eschatology" that I am giving tomorrow at a conference on the Church and the Academy.

Here is a choice quote from 1979 by a famous theoretical physicist, Freeman Dyson.

“I hope with these lectures to hasten the arrival of the day when eschatology, the study of the end of the universe, will be a respectable scientific discipline and not merely a branch of theology.”

Freeman Dyson, “Time without end: Physics and biology in an open universe”
Reviews of Modern Physics 51, 447–460 (1979)
[I should mention that I don't like Dyson's article, but that is another story...].

Rethinking authority, reality, and ethics.

Jonathan Burnside gave the opening address last night at the conference on the Academy and the Church. Here are a few of my rough notes on the talk, "The ethical authority of the Biblical social vision". Overall, I was challenged to rethink my ideas about the nature of authority and its relation to reality and ethics.

Due to the rise of Islam and secularism some Western Christians have developed a defensive "in the trenches" position with regard to their role in society. Instead, Christians should desire the common good, not just the self-interest and protection of their own rights.

1. What do we mean by the Biblical social vision?

It should be shaped by whole Bible. (2 Timothy 3:16). The Old Testament and New Testament have different ethical authority. Be aware of continuities and discontinuities. Neglecting this can lead to the God hates shrimp problem.

This is a vision that takes the Bible - and how it is written - seriously. In the West we think in abstract terms and so tend to translate the Bible into abstract systems of thought.
Consider the form of Bible - ancient literature - which embodies the Living Word.

2. Why does the Biblical social vision have ethical authority over us? 

Authority is a dimension of reality. (cf. Oliver O'Donovan, Resurrection and Moral Order). Authority in the Bible means a freedom to act within boundaries.
Existence of God is a reality which calls for an ethical response.
Humility, worship, and obedience. (cf. Deut 6:4,5  The LORD is one)
The reality of the nature of God.
The reality of human identity and human flourishing.
The reality of Jesus resurrection. (Compare this to the weighty ethical authority of the Exodus).
The Resurrection reflects God's commitment to restore the creation.
The reality of the mission of the people of God.  

3. How does Biblical social vision exercise ethical authority?

We need to be willing to change our culturally conditioned view about what authority is.  The Biblical vision has authority because it is spreading reality. Authority does not mean exercising control. God's authority is exercised in a relational way. (cf. God's act of creation). God the Father sends the Son and the Holy Spirit in power gives life.
Enables creation to be the best possible.
God's authority is exercised through human beings. [Our job is to be].
Look at parables to get a picture of what it is like when God is in charge.
The Word became flesh (not an abstract concept).

Christians are called to live the story of God to the world. Jesus exercised authority from a place of humility. In Isaiah 42 there is no yelling or shouting in the streets.
Moreso us, since we are not Jesus! We have a tendency to abuse authority.

Dealing with postmodernism. We are to be there for postmodernists when they discover the limits of their postmodern view [because they eventually suffer from ignoring the way the world is, e.g. parents and children suffer when all values and opinions are considered equally valid].

Scientific and Biblical eschatology at AA-CC

I am looking forward to the Conference on the Church and the Academy at the end of June. There is still time to register and to submit papers. I just submitted an abstract for a talk,  A comparison of scientific and Biblical eschatology

How, when, and why will the world end? Both science and the Bible present pictures and possible scenarios for the end.Science tells us that the universe had a beginning, time has a direction (the arrow of time), and life, stars, and even the whole universe may come to an end.
I will review scientific discussions about how currently known physical laws do put constraints on the future. This has led some scientists to make statements about the future.
I will compare and contrast this scientific view of the future to Biblical eschatology which works with a different set of pre-suppositions. Furthermore, the predictions of science are of limited relevance to our personal lives, particularly because of the large timescales involved. In contrast, Biblical eschatology has significant personal implications.

I am planning this to be a development of a talk I have given previously in France, India, and Serbia.

This picture of the life cycle of stars is from nobelprize.org

Conference on the Academy and the Church

I am looking forward to the Third Annual Australasian Christian Conference for the Academy and the Church to be held at the end of June at the University of Queensland. The last two conferences have been great and hopefully this one will be even better!

The two plenary speakers will be Professor Walter Moberly (Durham) and Dr. Jonathan Burnside (Bristol).
I downloaded and read the first chapter of Moberly's The Theology of the Book of Genesis. It will be great to hear from him. Previously I posted about Burnside's new book God, Justice, and Society.

You can submit your abstracts online now.

How does God act in the world?

Last week I heard a nice talk by Robert Brennan, "Divine Agency in the world: Motivator and Achilles' heel of the relationship between Theology and Science."

A few of the things I learnt from this fascinating talk include:

As late as the seventeenth century, discussions of God's action in the world were shaped by notions of inspiration, divine perfection, and God's two books of revelation (nature and Scripture). These notions were all discussed with reference to the Trinity and Christology.

However, in modernity these three notions are discussed without reference to the Trinity and Christology. [Robert considers this problematic].

Late medieval notions of divine perfection (derived from Greek philosophy?) shaped many theological discussions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For example, William Paley "asserted that harmonious design in nature was a proof of the Christian faith." Rejection of Paley's argument was influential in Darwin's rationalisation of his own rejection of Christianity following the death of his daughter. Darwin had practically memorised Paley while a divinity student at Cambridge.

Rejection of this notion of "perfection" in nature led to 19th century questioning of God's action in the world.

Newton's notions of divine agency in the material world were shaped by Augustinian notion of divine agency in human's, particularly with regard to inspiration.

Evaluating the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus

At the conference on the Church and the Academy last night, Neil Foster from the University of Newcastle School of Law gave a fascinating lecture, A Lawyer looks at the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

In the context of Australian law, particularly what evidence is admissible in court, he argued that if it came down to a court case, a judge would rule that Jesus rose from the dead.

The how and why of publishing

This week at the conference on the Academy and the Church there will be a special workhop on "Getting published". I will be speaking on "The how and why of publishing in peer-reviewed journals". The audience will mostly be faculty and postgraduate students from theological colleges. I welcome any feedback on my draft slides.

Conference on the church and the academy

What should the relationship be between the church and the academy?

This will be a theme of a conference to be held at Emmanuel College in the University of Queensland at the end of June this year.

One stream of the conference focuses on Biblical studies, theology, and mission.

The purpose of the second stream is to bring together scholars working in secular academic disciplines to explore how intellectual issues in their disciplines interact with issues in theological and Biblical studies. This is increasingly important due to the rise of postmodernism and economic rationalism in the academy and of anti-intellectualism in the church. Scholars in the arts, sciences, and engineering who are Christians are being asked to present papers on how a Biblical perspective might dialogue with their discipline and/or how the church can benefit from such a dialogue.

In 2009 we had papers such as

Can Cultural Linguistics Serve the Indigenous Church?

Churches Supporting Christians in the Academy

Confessions of a Christian Criminologist

Divine Pedagogy: Theological Use of Educational Imagery

Law and gospel: Jurisprudential implications of a theological schema

Science and Christian Apologetics - Opportunities and Pitfalls

Statutory Construction and Biblical Hermeneutics - Law in the Service of the Gospel?

Student attitudes to some ideas of Science and Christianity

Taming your Tongue in Academia

The Evangelical Christian School: 10 Critical Issues

The Spirit of St Benedict and the 21st Century University

Theology 2.0: Blogging as Theological Discourse Consider attending and submitting an abstract.

Conference on the church and the academy

The details of the second Annual Australasian Conference on the Church and the Academy have been announced. The first one was a great success.

It will be held in Brisbane again and the dates are June 29 to July 2. So, reserve the dates and submit a paper!

There are two excellent plenary speakers: Robert P. Gordon (Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge) and Markus Bockmuehl (Professor of Biblical and Early Christian Studies at Oxford).

Scholarship

It is only two weeks until the Conference on the Church and the Academy, hosted by Queensland Theological College. On the website you can see the great list of speakers. It is not too late to register.

Conference on the church and the academy

I am really looking forward to the first Annual Australasian Conference for the Church and the Academy (AACC) to be held at the University of Queensland on 30th June-3rd July. Its goal is to stimulate research and publication by evangelical christian academics. The AACC has two Tracks. Track 1 provides biblical and theological scholars with an opportunity to present research in the areas of biblical studies, systematic theology, ethics and church history. Track 2 provides a forum for academics working in the Humanities, Sciences and Engineering to explore issues at the intersection of Christianity and their specific discipline. I hope to see you there!