Marc Cortez, who blogs at Scientia et Sapientia, is giving away a commentary on Romans by Douglas Moo. If you’re like me and you can’t afford to purchase too many commentaries, go there and enter the contest. Yes I do hope to win.
There will be a new thing happening in my life soon. I’m enrolled in a D.Min. program (part-time) at Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia, Canada. I had been thinking about doing further studies in theology/ministry for a while now and decided to apply; and I was just accepted this summer. Yippee!
I already have a list of required readings to get done before my first course begins in October. There are three courses each year for three years: two weeks in the summer, and one week in the fall; plus a dissertation in the final 4th year. Apart from ministry/work, family, and the addition of P.T. studies, I don’t know how much blogging I’ll be able to do. But at this point, I’m really looking forward to beginning my D.Min. program.
I’m switching back to my old look. I just switched 3 months ago so this is a record for me. I don’t like switching too often but I’ve been dissatisfied with the look of WordPress themes. Besides, my wife said she likes the old look better. I guess that might be a good enough reason too.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to check my blog for comments for the next five days as I’ll be in Minneapolis for a mission developer conference. I’ll be looking for a wireless signal for my laptop but if there’s nothing, I’ll still be happy. I’m looking forward to this event because I’ll be picking up new ideas in an area of ministry I’ve been interested in for a while.
Scott and Marv over at To Be Continued have just finished the last of the 8-part series “Response to Patton’s ‘Why I’m Not Charismatic’” (a 22-page PDF file). They’ve done a good job in critiquing Patton’s paper and causing us, in every position, to consider our own arguments more carefully. [ Added: ...and here's their response all on a 43-page PDF file ]
TC Robinson, who blogs at NewLeaven.com, is a blogging friend whom I am very proud of. TC has been my favorite biblio-theo blogger for a while now–and deservedly so. Finally, he has been publicly recognized for the quality of his blogging by someone as respected as the theoblogger Michael Patton, founder and president of Reclaiming the Mind Ministries and primary contributor at the popular Parchment and Pen has affirmed this by adding TC’s blog, NewLeaven.com, to its tool bar at http://ReclaimingtheMind.OurToolbar.com. I’ve also added this toolbar and it works well. Check it out.
After returning from my vacation, I’ve been taking it easy and have been enjoying watching the highest level of soccer in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I’ve also been reading some books about the missional church and have been challenged to think more in terms of being more missional as a Christian and as a minister. The books I have been reading have been more oriented toward the missional church. As a result, I have been thinking of gearing the New Epistles blog to eventually move into topics about the missional church. The blog started as a biblioblog, then moved into a theoblog. I will now add a missional element to my blogging because I wish to move my own practice of pastoral ministry to be oriented toward being a missional church.
I will be taking a few weeks off from blogging and work to spend time with my family to relax and vacation. No computer allowed, she says. Will be back in a few weeks.
I thought I’d switch to a new look. I haven’t made a change for probably over two years. Some bloggers switch 2-3 times every year. Well, I think at least once per year is a good thing.
I have just learned that Christian blogger, Michael Spencer (1956-2010), who blogged at Internet Monk, has just gone on to be with the Lord. He had a 4-month struggle with cancer but that struggle has just come to an end. He had been a long-time blogger (about ten years), and his blog was very well-read. He always had something intriguing or interesting to say and reflect upon. The Christian blogosphere will never be the same without the Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk.
May Michael Spencer rest in peace.
I loved blogging about the Olympics. My hiatus from blogging about the bible and theological issues has been sort of a holiday. I felt that I needed to step away from blogging about what I like. Hopefully, I can return to my former blogging habit, but I may still be tempted to write one more post-olympic post.
I have to note that my top post ever, by far, is an Olympic-related post. It had over 2,600 hits which was totally unexpected: South Korean women’s team disqualification in 3,000-meters short-track speed skating relay will be controversial
I’m honored that the New Epistles blog has been put on the “Top 50 Ecumenical Blogs” at Biblical Learning Blog (http://BibleCollege.org). I guess this means that I’m ecumenical…but what does “ecumenical” mean? Here’s how Merriam-Webster defines “ecumenical” as:
promoting or tending toward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation.
However, there are different levels of ecumenism. On a basic level, ecumenism tries to overcome barriers to unify congregations through cooperative efforts to increase our understanding of one another’s religious/spiritual beliefs. This is where I’m at. I am all for this type of ecumenism because God calls us to enter into a true spirit of Christian unity.
On a much grand scale, ecumenism tries to unify the ecclesiastical structures of denominations in order to form one official worldwide church with the ultimate goal of achieving a single “organic union”. This type of ecumenism is not true ecumenism; rather, it is dictatorial and can even border on the tyrannical through a forced and artificial structure devoid of a true spirit of unity. My personal feelings toward this is that this oversteps the will of God (e.g., Tower of Babel in Genesis 11).
An inherent weakness or danger in this type of ecumenism is that our preferences for various and beautiful expressions of the Christian faith (e.g., biblical interpretation; worship styles; etc.) can easily be diminished, or even squashed, through a single organic union. Personally, I would much rather prefer to see a multiplicity of theologies and worship styles. This is natural to human nature because each person has different personalities, tastes, and ways of understanding religion and the world. Therefore, I think a multiplicity of Christian denominations, with a heart for true ecumenism, is the most desirable way for a “one holy catholic church”.
What is your view of ecumenism?
You may have noticed that I haven’t been around the blogosphere and interacting as much lately since my family came back from their trip overseas trip from Asia. I’ve been quite busy, and will be busy from now until the new year (Advent, Christmas) so I won’t be posting as frequently. But I will still be reading your blogs on my google reader to try to keep up with everyone.
I’m interested in your sources of news. In this internet age, I still get my news from traditional sources like TV and radio but also read news from websites. I don’t get my news from any single source on a regular basis but seem to jump from one source to the next—very sporadically and irregularly.
Overall and not in any particular order, my top news sources seem to be (excluding blogs):
What are your top sources of news, excluding blogs?
I noticed that I made it on the Biblioblogs Top 50 this month of October and just made the cut at number 50. Just because a blog is on the top 50, don`t let the rankings deceive you. It does not accurately reflect the quality of the blogs posts and how widely they are read and the amount of interaction on them. Biblioblog Top 50 uses Alexa and I don’t know how it works but I don’t trust their ultra simplistic rating system. I’ve perused through the other blogs that are way up there and some do not seem to post very often and hardly get any comments (no offense to anyone), and some are amongst my favorite and most interesting blogs. Hmmm, there’s got to be something wrong there. It’s my take anyway.
I appreciate all the work the person(s) who have been compiling the list of biblio bloggers at BiblioblogTop50. I have to say what I appreciate most is their huge compilation of the biblioblogs. This is the best thing about the blog, not the rankings.
