Hagiographers and Iconoclasts and the Third Way

The following quote about A.B. Simpson, founding guru of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, typifies the response we ought to have not only to our higher life, holiness movement forebears, but also our fundamentalist or Restoration Movement forebears, and especially our fundamentalist, higher life forebear who lives in Oak Brook. Without our heritage, our prior experience and identity are uprooted. But without honesty and the will to reform, our brains and consciences turn to mush. Take and heed, take and heed.

Gordon T. Smith, Conversion and Sanctification in the Christian & Missionary Alliance (1992).

We tend to have two kinds of people within the C&MA -- the hagiographers and the iconoclasts. The iconoclasts see little if any good in the heritage of the C&MA when it comes to theology. [A.B.] Simpson and his contemporaries are viewed as incompetent in both biblical exegesis and in theological method, and thus as having little to contribute to a modern discussion. They are even, perhaps, a bit embarrassed by our founders. The unstated assumption is that the sooner we can move on and distance ourselves from Simpson, the better.

The hagiographers, on the other hand, feel the need to refer to the founder of the denomination as Dr. Simpson, which is the Alliance equivalent of saying Saint Simpson. In this perspective, Simpson did no wrong, especially when it comes to exegesis and theology. These folk would seem to have us defend every aspect and perspective that Simpson brought to the question of sanctification.

We need an approach to this discussion that affirms tradition along with the authority of Scripture. We need to affirm the strength and vitality of our theological and spiritual heritage, and the power and significance of Simpson's insights, while also acknowledging that Simpson was neither a good exegete nor a good theologian. He was a preacher, prophet, and leader. We can affirm his strengths, and recognize that he was a product of his age. He was a giant in the religious movements of the late 19th century. But he also had some glaring weaknesses, notably those that we find so difficult to accept: weak biblical exegesis and poor theological method.

Yet, it is possible to develop a theology of sanctification and of Christian experience in general, that reflects careful attention to Scripture while also affirming the insights of the heritage. This contemporary perspective on sanctification, then, will reflect the strengths, wisdom and insights of the denominational founders. We stand on the shoulders of giants. But it would also seek to formulate our theology with attention to biblical exegesis and theological method. Our contemporary statement will be with different language and probably a new paradigm by which we capture the biblical message and the insights of our heritage.

Study of sanctification

I've got a big-time intellectual curiosity right now on the topic of sanctification. It seems like the pietistic way I hear so often isn't satisfying enough for my mind. But I still need sanctification like I need a doctor. It's ugly.

I've been following threads in John Piper's book Future Grace and the various materials by Andy Naselli analyzing the Keswick theology of sanctification. I've made up my mind to read Phoebe Palmer's book from the 1840s, The Way of Holiness, which seemed to spark off the Methodist Holiness movement in the US, which spread to England and became the Keswick conference... the party includes Fanny Crosby, Amy Carmichael, Andrew Murray, and Dwight Moody.

Here's an interesting survey of some of these life-connections in the Higher-Life movement, which reached even C.T. Studd, Billy Graham and Bill Bright.

The things I'm disturbed about are anti-intellectualism, passive quietism, and unrealistic, superstitious assessments of self and spiritual realities -- in short, a stereotypically feminine approach to dealing with sin. It emphasizes faith (let go and let God), but the faith is the sort you need for falling, not for climbing.  I really don't know what to make of the accusations being lobbed back and forth, especially when I read about Phoebe Palmer's life and the emotional demands of revivalism that she was responding to. So... if you understand it well and it works for you, great. But I'm in search of a more comprehensive model. As I said in an earlier post, I'm looking for an openeyed faith that is realistic and robust. I'm sure others have gone in the opposite direction for equally valid reasons. I'm not.

It's been a worthy distraction, though. And I finally found the passage I was looking for, that both Piper and Naselli refer to: J.I. Packer's testimony of "deliverance" from an unrealistic pietist view of sanctification.

Read below, from Packer's introduction to Triumph over Temptation, an abridgement of John Owen (pp. 31-37).

Sincerity in evangelism

I rediscovered this essay from my blog of five years ago. I was probably even more of a scared, cloistered elitist bookworm then than I am now. But this piece amazed me, and the sentiment convicted me.  I even remember trying to narrate it to a friend. I can see images all mixing in from Phil Garvin, John Bunyan, "Jerry West", and G.K. Chesterton to be squeezed into the four corners of a reflection paper for philosophy class. Enjoy.

Sincerity in evangelism

How is the disciple to act as a “commercial fisherman” rather than a “sport fisherman” when spreading the good news? Most undesirable is the pushy salesman attitude who wants above all else to lead his friend in some fideistic “sinner’s prayer”. Also undesirable is the one who starts out with an intellectual apologetic, meets unbelief and turns into a small-mouthed apologetic intellectual. Both these lack a sincere, pure heart that is supremely interested in the interests of God and of his friend. Part of this is comes from self-reliance, not devoting oneself to prayer and the Scriptures. Another part of it is not being frank about one’s own sin.

Moving on from fishing, another analogy of the sea is the rescuer of a shipwreck. Bits of treasure, gold coins, fallen timbers scattered on the shore. The treasure is the problem of pleasure. Smashed shivers of timbers, the chill of the waves, are the problem of pain. The shipwreck is the world. It is civilization, nature, and the natural Mansoul. Drowning in sin. This shipwreck is the whole reason for the gospel.

And now, when I awake and find myself picking through debris on the beach, imagining if this might have been Admiral Drake’s galleon, forget both that it actually was, that his Patron is at this moment in Portsmouth, designing and financing a new vessel – and that my comrade is still unconscious, trapped in the sinking bilge.

This is the amnesia of the disciple. It is not that I merely believe the Resurrection; I am convinced of it. My weakness of heart, my iniquity, my amnesia, is as much a proof of the cause of the shipwreck and the certainty of my mate’s doom as is his own heedlessness to belief. He doesn’t see the danger because he cannot. I must remember what I was convinced of, so as to “rescue” him and myself for the service of the Patron, on the future Galleon. Don’t expect him to believe, expect to convince him of the danger.

Here we're at.

Worried as hell. Wormwood the result of worms of anticipation and dread slugging their way through my soul. Ugh.

I'm settled into a host family here, the Cai Jia. Last night I had beef hotpot with my host family and my coteacher Danette. Then played basketball with them and the neighbors. Mostly got whupped except for my height. I don't play hard against girls, and I haven't practiced making baskets in a long time.

The day before yesterday I cleaned a dorm room, read the first chapter of Millard Erickson's book on eschatology, and was taken out for hotpot with the KaiShiuan school staff.  I'm blessed.

I'm worried that my sister is going to die, and I can't do much about it.  I'm cursed.
Spending time researching her medical condition awakens my research gene and puts my teaching gene to sleep. Blink.
Help is on the way, and none too soon. Soon I can tell more. We can never rezar too much.

I'm worried because payday and transportation are not conveniently known and close.

I'm worried about what I can do to get my C1 class to understand and pay attention in class. Every time I teach them, I have them for multiple periods, and the first one their Chinese teacher is always gone. They don't listen, because they don't understand me. And because I start them out in the big auditorium, the ones in the back talk among themselves, and the ones in the middle fight or clown around, and the ones in the front get the brunt -- unless I walk around, in which case the ones in the front can't turn around and see me because the seats are so high.

This is the price I pay for acculturation. Those who wish for language immersion don't notice this price.  An openeyed faith is not part of this price, but it is the gratis sine-qua-non that I hope is rapidly growing.

I'm a little annoyed, too, that all my kids call me Naifen, a nickname that means powdered milk. Don't laugh, you'd be annoyed too, after a while. Guess I'll have to get used to it.

Every once in a while, my little friends trip through the office and cheer me up with "what's your name!"

How to make the jump from no English to enough English to converse? I've made it a principle not to use Chinese myself during class, unless it is to suggest something to someone, to talk to the Chinese teacher, or repeat something someone else says.  So, my expectations might be too high, and they might need to stay there. I will use lots of real objects, and tell some picture stories. I will go through the book as quickly as possible for them to pick up the vocab and still not feel lost. Do some games along the way... and mark out time for the following items:
(1) Telling stories with big-picture books.
(2) Free-writing. I "very very like" (in my host-sister Susan's words) this article on early EFL writing in Taiwan's 1st-grade classrooms.

My previous experience with English camps and the Taoyuan English Village has prejudiced me against noise and against understanding learner native-language talk in a positive way.  That has got to change a little bit. Read the EFL writing article above, pp. 5-6, to see what I mean.

I got encouragement today from Quin and Merv's posts. God is good.
It seems easier to find good things lurking when full of worry than when full of okness. It keeps me from imploding.

I saw my more prolific self in a mirror yesterday. (His name is J.K. Gayle) Stroll over and look before he quits blogging next month.

I have two new heroes:
Kurt Eichenwald, a New York Times reporter who persuaded a young webcam performer to leave his business and become a federal witness.
Lloyd Reynolds (1902-1978), a self-taught calligraphy enthusiast from Oregon who mentored Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay, who wrote the Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Series published by Portland State University, the handwriting curriculum that I sort-of learned from growing up.

Goodbye.

Humboldt on Language Learning

I posted this on Facebook this summer while I was reading Noam Chomsky's Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (MIT, 1965). It's a strange, mystical quote with a lot of reassurance. It also humbly approximates the findings of psycholinguistics.

From page 51:

Applying this rationalist view to the special case of language learning, [Wilhelm von] Humboldt (1836) concludes that one cannot really teach language but can only present the conditions under which it will develop spontaneously in the mind in its own way.

Dropping some lines from Kinmen

Hi from Kinmen. 

I neglected to post that I was coming here, so now you know. I'm part of a new bilingual program at a small school in Kinmen, ROC. Basically, I'm here to teach first-through-sixth graders and give them the motivating conditions for learning to listen, speak, read, and write in English. Students who have exposure to only ten-or-so foreigners within a distance short of boat or plane. That's a big, and cool, task, which my friends who have volunteer-taught here for years have prepared them for in some ways, but such an intensive program of English (8-10 hours per week per classroom) is breaking really new ground here.

I just arrived yesterday about noon, settled in with my hosts, the Tsai family, within walking distance of the school. Most of all, I'm overwhelmed with the nice place they've got for me. It's a new 3-story house with granite floors, I have a good-size room on the first floor. The family has 2 girls and a boy... the eldest girl, Yicheng, and the boy, Bingcheng, are in Jr. High, and had a math tutor and an English tutor over last night from the college. The youngest girl, Susan, is one of my students. She's really outgoing, and is the most willing of any of them to communicate in English.  Mr. Tsai is a roofer and a carpenter; he builds roofs for temples and such, and he also makes or installs doors, and makes furniture out of wood.  Mrs. Tsai is really welcoming, too.

The kids at school don't speak hardly any English at all... most are at a first-grade level of English. They're a lot of fun in Chinese, though, once they know you understand some of what they're saying. Most of the girls are telling me I'd look more handsome if I shaved my beard. Hmmm.  And now they were just making fun of my because I was tilting my head to one side while I was typing. "Hold your head straight!" (in Chinese) haha

I visited Teresa yesterday afternoon. She, and everyone there on the team, was very sleepy from such a stressful week last week. She's looking pretty skinny, but she's eating and that's the important thing.  She was happy to get the health-food I brought in my suitcase, since she's become allergic to so many things. It was really natural, and still really a welcome thing, to see her for the first time since this spring.

I start teaching tomorrow, so I've got to get some lesson-planning done. Catch ya later!

Joe Dallas, Answering the "Gay Christian" Position. Christian Research Institute, Article DG238.
Highly, highly recommended. 

unknown | nwonknu

I just realized, thanks to an ad for American University's College of Arts and Sciences, the origin of "wonk".  The ad read, "wonks know art... wonks know education... wonks know social sciences... be in the know." Merriam-Webster's says the origin of "wonk" (1954) is unknown. That might be truer than they know.

Wonk is know spelled backwards.

David Brooks on California's golden age

David Brooks, in a New York Times editorial, recasts the California of 1911-1960 as a city on a hill for the state to follow today.  A restoration to pro-market progressivism in support of immigrant entrepreneurs is his way to prosperity and salvation from government bankruptcy.  He does a really good job of it, too, since most of his readers won't remember the old California except from the old Hollywood movies like John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, which he references in the title: Tom Joad Gave Up.  At that time, thousands streamed into California to find work. Now, thousands stream out of California to find work. What changed?

Conduit or liaison

Right now I'm taking an online course in ethics for paralegals. This question came up in one of the quizzes. Notice the similarity and difference between the two words "conduit" and "liaison", and how they are used to frame the issue.

What do you consider the difference between a conduit and a liaison?

Lyonnet on 1 John 3:8

Usually, when a good writer uses block quotes, it's for a good reason. I'm not talking about someone like Voline, who quotes chapters of another author because it's his only source. I'm talking about someone like Colin Kruse, who in his commentary on 1 John quotes the following paragraph from Stanislaus Lyonnet.


Colin Kruse, The Letters of John pp. 122-123.

Just as a Christian lives under the influence of God living in him, so do sinners live under the influence of the devil and allow themselves to be seduced by him. Consequently, just as he who is born of God and in whom God dwells does what God does, or concretely, 'lives the same kind of life as Christ lived' (1 Jn 2:6), that of a son of God, so the 'children of the devil' can only do what their 'father wants' (Jn 8:44), those very deeds which the Son of God came to undo. (1 Jn 3:8)

 1 John 3:8 says "He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work."

Da Vinci on human worth

Here's what Leonardo Da Vinci wrote on the back of one of his drawings. Notebooks p. 1140. The link has his notebooks transcribed and syndicated by RSS, if you're looking for a genius to add to your reader.

And you, O Man, who will discern in this work of mine the wonderful works of Nature, if you think it would be a criminal thing to destroy it, reflect how much more criminal it is to take the life of  a man; and if this, his external form, appears to thee marvellously constructed, remember that it is nothing as compared with the soul  that dwells in that structure; for that indeed, be it what it may, is a thing divine. Leave it then to dwell in His work at His good will and pleasure, and let not your rage or malice destroy a life--for indeed, he who does not value it, does not himself deserve it.

 I'd put the same argument to someone who kills to steal great art, to someone who ignores his family responsibilities while writing a blog post, or to someone who tells his mistress that the Mexican Revolution failed and it's not his fault.

Lakoff video on politics and cognitive linguistics

George Lakoff is a cognitive linguist at UC Berkeley. He, like his old teacher and erstwhile enemy, Noam Chomsky, has had a lot to say about politics. Here's a link to a ninety-minute video where he introduces his book The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-century Politics with an 18th-century Brain. It deals with political narratives and metaphors from the perspective of neuroscience.

In recovery!

Cross-posted from Straubs4Christ:

Dear Family, Friends, and Fellow Prayer Warriors,

Thank you for your prayers on behalf of Teresa.

Today we received word that she felt the best she has in a long time. That is a direct answer to
many prayers. Praise be to God, the great healer. He is to be praised!

We do not know what her situation will be long term or how long of a road she has to full
recovery, but we know that God answered our prayers and performed a miracle today. Praise the
name of the Lord.

She went from being too weak to sit or stand, to being able to sit up and eat pain-free.

She is currently under the care of a doctor in Taipei. She is being treated for a serious bacterial
infection in her stomach, as well as inflammation in her intestine. It appears she also has some
severe allergies to certain foods.

We count it a blessing to have you praying for her. Will you continue to lift up Teresa in prayer?

All because of Jesus,

Tim & Janet Straub

Messrs. T

I can't seem to keep straight A.T. Robertson, John A.T. Robinson, and N.T. Wright.

One was, one now is not, and the third is hurrying to catch up with them. Does initial prestige fade with ambiguity or does it increase when one's identity is merged with someone a little more famous?

Kaczynski

I wish I had the patience to read the Ted Kaczynski's Unabomber Manifesto. It, and his life, looks fascinating.

Update on Teresa

Since yesterday, Teresa has reportedly gotten much better.  She is a lot more comfortable and happy, in answer to all your prayers. I'm still waiting to hear the results of more tests, and hoping that she will get lots of rest and take in plenty of nutrients and water. Praise God.

Urgent prayer needed for Teresa

Dear Family, Friends and Fellow Prayer Warriors,

Will you join us in praying that God would intervene in Teresa’s health?  Some of her basic organ functions are shutting down.

Here is a note from a fellow teammate who flew with her to Taipei to seek more advanced medical help.

All Because of Jesus,

Tim & Janet Straub

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Straub,

I am Teresa's teammate and friend, Bekah. I am sure you are aware that we are in Taipei doing some tests and trying to find out what can be done to bring about her healing. In the past few days it has been brought to our attention just how severe her illness is and that something must be done immediately to help her. 

Because of the intense pain in her stomach, she hasn't been eating or drinking, and this has been over a very long period of time. As a result her body has slowly started to shut down some basic organ functions, simply from a lack of nutrients and enzymes. Also because she has not had food in a long time, her body doesn't know how to handle food and her digestive system is not functioning at top notch. 

She has been severely dehydrated, and we gave her an IV for that, and we have found a few foods that we are experiementing with to see if maybe we can build back her body's strength and give her the nutrients and enzymes needed to fight the infection in her stomach and intestine....

She is a very sick girl but we are seeking our Father's help and healing. I believe that He is going to help us find some answers. I will do my best to keep you updated as I learn new things.

His

Bekah

Spence on the research-writing balance

Jonathan Spence wrote one of my favorite books:To Change China: Western Advisers in China, 1620–1960 (Little, Brown, 1969). He has been at Yale for more than fifty years and due to his prolific writing for trade presses, has become known outside the academy as a leading scholar in the history of modern Chinese civilization. Nicholas Basbanes interviewed him for a history of Yale University Press.

Nicholas Basbanes, A World of Letters: Yale University Press 1908-2008. Yale 2008. Pp. 184-185.

“I think the Press is always aware of the presence of some kind of audience, or the lack of one,” he stressed in one of the first interviews I conducted for this book. “They do need to have people read their books, after all, and if possible to buy them, maybe not on the scale of trade books, but even nonprofits have to break even in some way or another.” One way of assuring this is to have “two or three titles each year which can carry a lot of much lower-selling monographic studies,” he said. Yet for all that juggling of material, Spence added, “scholarship is still very hard to gauge,” and he cited his own work as an example. Around the time that Yale published his first book, Ts’ao Yin and the K’ang-hsi Emperor: Bond servant and Master, in 1966, Spence said he began to consider writing for a broader audience, especially as a number of trade publishers approached him with invitations to write for them.

“I got interested in the interconnection between scholarship and the more general readership. I used to ask myself why scholarship had to be arcane. That may be the wrong question to ask, but that’s how I phrased it myself. My feeling was this: that instead of spending years and years on the research and then just trying to write it up and get somebody to take it, supposing you spent half the time on the research and half the time on the writing? Just really concentrate on that; just shut yourself away and go on and do it — and then see who wants to publish it and who wants to read it. That’s what I did. I got involved in a different world.”

Shouldn't our presentation be just as careful as our preparation?

Related post: From Monograph to Gem of Scholarship (Aug. 24, 2010).

Mounce on the new NIV and accuracy

Bill Mounce, a Greek scholar who worked on the ESV Bible translation committee, is now on the committee for the revision of the NIV. In this post he blogs about "What constitutes an accurate translation".

Go over and read it!


HT: Better Bibles Blog