Pentecostalisms, Peacemaking, and Social Justice/Righteousness

I'm thrilled to once again be attending the annual meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS).  This year it is being hosted by Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA from March 1-4 (which promises to be much warmer than Karlstad).  The topic is one I find close to my heart -- "Pentecostalisms, Peacemaking, and Social Justice/Righteousness" and this year I will be chairing one of the Bible sessions.  It looks to be an interesting conference.  You can view a PDF of the sessions HERE.  

The two presenters and their respective papers I will be chairing are:
"‘New Treasures and Old’: (Re-)Reading the Old Testament Theologically with Early Pentecostal Mothers and Fathers" -- Chris Green, Bangor University (Wales)
"‘Tell Me the Old, Old Story’: The Hymns and Testimonies of Ancient Israel and American Pentecostals" --
Meghan Musy, Missouri State University

I am thrilled to be able to chair the session (especially as it pertains to the joint topics of Pentecostals and the OT).  Also, its a delight to be able to chair for Chris Green...who I've found helpful in several previous sessions of SPS concerning the integration of the sacraments -- and a sacramental appreciation -- and Pentecostal theology and praxis.


On a related note...I realized I still haven't joined Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace and Justice, but will have to rectify that this year.  By joining you can elect to receive a PCPJ mug, shirt or book (Pentecostal Pacifism by Jay Beaman).  This group was formed by Paul Alexander (and several others of like mind) of whom I intend in 2012 to read his "Peace to War: Shifting Allegiances in the Assemblies of God".

Reflections on the Old Testament

If you haven't read them already (and chances are that you haven't since I've just posted the last two within the last  couple of days) and have an interest in Old Testament studies...I've posted some of my own reflections on the Old Testament over at my Scribd account.  You can find them through my Writings tab HERE (as well as a few of the other things I've written).  I've posted four different papers on the OT (hopefully worth a read):

Formation of Canonical Texts: The Question of the "Original" Text of the Old Testament 

Formation of the Old Testament Canon or The Formation of a Community

A Midrashic History of the (Hebrew and Greek) Old Testament Text 

Reflections Towards an Interpretation of the Old Testament 

While these were done for assignments in a course on OT Text and Interpretation...I would still appreciate any feedback or critique you have.  I'm always game for improving what I've written and working through my understanding.  Hopefully they are worth the read....if not you can let me know that too...but do let me know gently... :-).

Happiness All Around

Several fun notes about my recent happenings:

Cambria (my five year old) was home from church yesterday with a fever so my wife and I swapped.  I stayed home for Sunday School with Cam (since she teaches pre-school) and she stayed home for service (since I preach).  So for S.S. Cam and I discussed the story of Esther, Haman and Xerxes (which was the lesson for her S.S. that morning) and we decided we should color pictures of the MANY parties that were thrown by Esther.  Cam determined that apparently I am quite the artist (I did do a "stunning" Esther with Haman sitting next to her on the couch begging for mercy and Xerxes returning mouth agape in anger :-)...if you can image anything like chubby stick people with colored pencils and crayons.  We had to include balloons to make sure it was a party and Cam just wasn't convinced my scene was very authentic since everyone (including the king and Haman) were wearing dresses).  Oh well.  So much for authenticity.

I was overjoyed today to finally receive the complete set of Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics (14 volumes) for ONLY $99 from CBD!  I had ordered it back in March and just received it in the mail today (even though the official publication date isn't till November 2010.  I can't wait to work my way through the set for my leisure reading (yes it isn't a part of any required reading for Seminary and yes I do consider it "fun" and leisure reading and I'm still not exactly sure where in the world to store them until I've read through them all :-).

On another note...I'm posting a paper I turned in last week where I gave an all-too brief history of the Old Testament text (Hebrew and Greek), but chose to do so in a midrashic form just for the fun of it.  Hopefully Dr. August Konkel enjoys reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it...now to move from the "origins" of the Old Testament to the "originals" of the Old Testament...a far more complex and yet more interesting (from my perspective) topic to engage.

Imaginatively entering the world of the Hebrew Bible...Karl Barth...text criticism...a wife and children that understand my many addictions and love me anyways...life is good!

Jesus and the Old Testament

There was a wonderful and concise blog post over on the Desiring God Blog that I rather enjoyed (you can read it here). It's about the fact that there was never anyone who knew the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) better than Jesus. (I especially thought the quote at the end was noteworthy...and quite funny). How well do you know and care for the Old Testament?

Why We Should Read, Preach, and Teach the Old Testament

A friend of mine (Dave Peters) just posted some great comments (from Dr. Philip Ryken) about why we should read, preach and teach the OT (31 Reasons).  My own thought is that in our contemporary church setting, it would appear too often one of two extremes concerning the OT predominate: either improper understanding and over-emphasis (leading to forms of legalism) or improper understanding and no emphasis (leading to an emasculated Biblical worldview).  Understanding of the OT should be paramount for every Christian (it was the original Scriptures of the Early Church after all) as it is foundational to understanding the NT.  We cannot shy away from the difficult and ugly found in the OT, because it declares the LORD as truly Lord of all and points ahead to ultimate redemption in Christ Jesus.

Preach it Dave :-) !