postmodernbible

Tetelestai!

Ok, so I suppose it is sacrilege to take Jesus' last spoken word from the cross (according to John and probably translated in Greek from the original Aramaic - or was it???) and apply it to my preparations for Spring harvest but tough, I've done it.

My study floor is littered with used up commentaries, folders of photocopied orders, books I am going to take with me, dvds for clips and even the odd pile of work I still haven't completed.  But the CDs are copied with all the presentations on them, the scripts are printed, the powerpoint slides printed off.  The conversations have been had and the last minute arrangements made. So tomorrow I am taking a day off and going shopping, and going to see a man about a dog (no, honest, I am!!! - we're exploring getting a Westie...a little puppy!!!) and spending time with the family...I need to see them more.

The sun is shining here at Cliff.  It's been an amazing week for me doing all this prep and pouring over Daniel and his friends.  Doing the post-christendom thing alongside that has made me really begin to think again about quite a few issues in quite a deep way.  I am not sure I hack all this post-christendom thing anyway.  I mean it gets very close to either some non-mainstream Christians crowing about the demise of mainstream Christianity, or a major misreading of God's global plans for Christianity.  Compared to the rise of the church in the two-thirds world, what does it matter if western christianity crumbles...is it that precious?  Do any of us want to see it saved?  Isn't there a much better alternative anyway in the real forms of faith and expression that are popping up all over the place (like Frost and Hirsch's emergent virus)?  So what, if we're not going to be the majority - when were we - not for the last hundred years or more I would say.  Having only 10% of the population acknowledging Christ as Lord is exactly where Christendom started from - that's what they reckon was the proportion of people who were Christians in the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine.  I mean, Christendom didn't start from a place of security but from a place of weakness.  I reckon post-christendom is going to be a really exciting time to be around!  Bring it on!  Although, what about the States - it is so different over there - it is Christendom reincarnated at the moment, surely.  Isn't Bush the new Constantine - military might and capitalist morality thrown in with it?  Is that post-Christendom - isn't this actually a European issue rather than a Western or Northern issue?

It's been good to be chatting with Brian over the last few days - I met Brian at ISBL in Groningen and he took this pic of me and some mate enjoying the air (!).  Fond memories of last summer - was it so long ago???

Better go.  I won't be blogging now until after Spring Harvest sometime in early April and then it will be all guns blazing to get the manuscript to the publishers...what fun.

Have a great Easter - lots of chocolate, even more lashings of grace.  Grace everywhere, Grace over you, grace around you, grace beside you, grace before you, grace where you are going and grace where you have been, grace bursting like flowers in your footsteps, grace filling their air with the sweet aroma of Christ.

Pete

Dan and Neb!

I'm beavering away at preparing for the Spring Harvest - writing the bible studies for the big top on Daniel.  They are making use of the kind of chiastic structure favoured by Lucas et al. - intro for chapter 1, then chapters 2 & 7, 3 & 6, 4 & 5.  I can see how it works, although I still want to push chapter seven into a day of its own.  It strikes me that everything changes there - the state is no longer benign - indeed Daniel's vision becomes bestial and fantastic.  Up to this point things are pretty human and moralistic but from now on the roof goes off in terms of apocalyptic imagery and what have you.  That means that when you put the dream sequence/interpretation of the statue in 2 against the manic imagery of 7 you end up with some pretty bizarre moments.  Of course, if you read the text as 2.4-7.1 as Babylonian core material and the rest as Antiochene, that is understandable.  But it then means you are mixing material from different datelines...and radically different contexts.  The fun will be communicating the shift between a relatively benign Babylonian exile experience (???) and the much more harrowing Antiochene experience of non-exile without half the people there thinking I have gone completely off the Bible.

Of course, there is a huge difference in doing what I am doing next week and doing what I do here at the College and in my research.  Although Sh want the Biblical scholar bit, they do not want the academic bit emphasised.  As I understand it, doing the Bible readings is about applying the text to people's own experience today rather than subjecting the text to all the rigorous scrutiny of the Guilds forms of criticism.  I'm going to do some of that, of course.  But mostly I will need to reign the academic side in in order to deliver the more devotional and didactic approach that is needed/expected/desired - otherwise there is going to be nothing other than culture clash.  On the last day I need to look at Belshazzar's feast.  Reading it, I have been overwhelmed by the beautiful way this story is put together - the gradually panning out of the camera as more and more people are brought into the story and then narrowing back into the final scene of Belshazzar's death; the involvement of different levels, the echoes of the other stories, the hubris of Belshazzar, the humility but sterness of Daniel.  I love it!!!  Can't wait to do some narrative exploration of it in the meeting...

Rats, I'm meant to be at a meeting...gotta go!!!

Pete

Musings

I need to go to bed.  I have some cold virus and have been red hot all day...been taking beechams flu things and drinking loads.  I think I am just about beginning to feel a bit more normal...but my nose is running and my head aches and...give me sympathy!!!!

Theresa has already hit the sack and I am down here musing about the week that has been and the week still to come and how much prep I've got to do for Spring Harvest.  I'm almost there.  I'm working with Claire Pedrick who's been a great encourager so far!  We're going for an interactive approach in the big top...lets see what fun we can muster!

Daniel is a strange book and the whole exploration of what it means to be faithful in an alien and provocative culture is just beginning to make sense to me.  Of course, for me there are at least two proposed ways of coping with that situation - almost total assimilation to a benign culture, or almost total rejection of a malignant culture.  I see the difference between Daniel 1-6 and 7-12 as mostly about that very twist.  Although Neb and co. in Babylon did not accept Judaism, the Jews were relatively well treated and were able to rise high into the Babylonian hierarchy.  However, by the time of Antiochus, the state was militantly against Judaism and tried o destroy it - hence the move from assimilation to rejection - and the change from muted criticism of a king's potential arrogance to the bestialising of the four empires.  Anyway, that's the beginning of how I see it.

Our neighbours from Australia taught me a good lesson..well, they've been teaching me the lesson for a while.  On Thursday, Theresa and I both had a meeting at Manchester University until late afternoon.  Well, Lynne and David offered to look after our three kids - then Edward was poorly and so Theresa stayed at home with him in the morning...but still Lynne took him at lunch time and off we went.  David and Lynne then picked their own up from school and ours and when we returned about 5.30, David was still out taking Sam to his Cello Ensemble.  Lynne invited us in for coffee and before we knew it had placed before us rice and sweet and sour chicken. Bless her!  She fed us all just like that.  I went off to pick up Sam and arrived back and they had even saved him some.  We left about 8pm thanking them for being such wonderful neighbours.  Lynne, when I say that, often says "That's what we're here for."  I always have a problem with that - no you're not.  You'r here because David is a fantastic Old Testament scholar, because God has called you to Cliff, because you are here to be part of our community.  Of course, Lynne is right.  Being here is about being that neighbour - offering hospitality is not something which is special - it's what we're here for.

OK, so everyone reading this is saying, "Duh!  What did you think?"  I know, I'm slow.

Well, I better get back to Eco - reading a great article on Intertextuality which he wrote in 1999.  Says some very similar things to what I say in my thesis - which is nice.  Although, I think it likely that I only say what i say because I have read so much of what he says.  That is how the intertextual universe works.  There are some incredibly bright stars in that universe and you end up being attracted towards their light and before you know it, assimilation.

There's that word again.  What does it mean to assimilate into a culture without becoming part of that culture?  Gotta get that one sorted this week.  Small aim!

Hey, it was great to see Phil and Zoe - I hear you went shopping after popping in - did it cost a month's wages?  Sadder to hear of issues relating to my friend's research on Derrida and the NT - get in touch, mate, if I can be of any help to you.  Whatever you do, do not throw in the towel.  Great line in I Robot - when Will Smith sneezes and says "Sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit!"  I laughed and laughed and laughed at that.  Oops.  Hope no-one from SH reads that!!!

Tomorrow - Derby to watch Sam in a concert at the Assembly Rooms - he's on front desk (lead cello) in his orchestra for the first time at the tender age of 10!!!  He is so nervous and so excited.  What a guy!

God bless

Pete   

The Book...

I am working like crazy in the evenings trying to format this book. The other night, coughing and sneezing and generally feeling lousy, I sat up trying to retype in all the Hebrew and Aramaic - the publishers work in SpTiberian while my thesis used SHebrew - and if you try and do a simple transfer, Word goes loopy. Most of it is OK - especially the non-pointed bits. But sometimes I need to make use of the pointing and then it gets hilarious trying to sort out all the little dots and so on. Greek is so much easier!!!

I am reading a few books to get up todate on a few things - it's mazing how quickly the field is moving - Umberto Eco has just brought out a new collection of essays which I picked up at the Tate Modern. It is called "On Literature". Has some great stuff in there from the last decade - including an amazing essay on style which picks up lots from Italian style discussions but also embraces the concept of the Sublime from Longinus. Good stuff - lots of annotations to bring some footnotes up to date.

The Eco book will also help because I have promised a paper for the Limerick Conference on Intertextuality: "Biblical Studies and Intertextuality: Should the work of Genette and Eco encourage us to broaden our horizons?" Got to get this done over Easter - really looking forward to it because I think that the Guild is missing a few issues...the article should give me space to explore these and see what others think. Sadly can't get to the conference because Sam and Emily are in a music festival on the Saturday!!! Priorities, Pete!!!

I am also trying to grapple with Andreas Obermann's monograph on John - Die christologische Erfuellung der Schrift im Johannesevangelium. Now doing my PhD has forced me to be able to read (academic) French and I can get by now by just picking up a book on intertextuality or whatever and reading it through. I know Greek, Latin and Hebrew with various levels of ability - certainly enough to use them for research purposes. But I have to admit that with theological German I have a bit of a blind spot. The sentences just get so complicated - with bits of verbs chopped off and thrown on at the end and whatever! So Obermann is a bit oif a challenge but is saying some good stuff about the use of logos in hte text - I don't agree with him...but...

Anyway, I need to return to my SH preparations...Daniel is calling! what a wierd mix my life is - one minute exploring theological German, then discussing line management issues with colleagues that I need to appraise, then writing a fundraising letter, and then getting back to writing Bible Study materials for an evangelical Christian conference...the rich tapestry of life. I wonder how much intertextuality will appear between them all!!!

Pete

Comic Relief

Thanks for the comment, Yaz.   Don't know the answer.  I remember Nancy Dinsmore saying that our response was to use our privilege, power and position to speak for those who have no voices.  I agree.

(Explanation: We set up this amazing interview with nancy at Spring Harvest three years ago.  I phoned her on someone's mobile and we taped a mike to the phone (!!!).  Before 800 young people, I did an interview with Nancy who is Development Officer at the Anglican Cathedral of Jerusalem.  She works closely with Bishop Riah over there and is very close to the Palestinian Christian community.  It was an amazing interview.  Nancy is a saint).

Pete   

Abortion and All

I spent a good deal of time in the car yesterday visiting some students on placement.  I was a little horrified to hear the Cardinal Archbishop suggesting that he preferred Michael Howard's abortion policy to Tony Blair's.  The Archbishop of Cardiff came on then and made it even worse - our voting should be guided by decision about morality - and abortion was the key one.  Get a life!!!!  I agree that abortion and the death of so many unborn children is a massive injustice which must break God's hearts.  Abortion is wrong.  But so is the blanket denial of AIDS and the rejection of the use of contraception.  So is the acquired wealth and privilege of Jesus' church....let him who lives in a b$%£%" big glass house stop chucking rocks!!!

What worries me most about these comments is that allied with the Christian Voice movement, we could be seeing the development of a Christian Right alliance here in the UK based on some pretty extreme views of justice and morality.  I agree that Christians have to press for justice for those without rights and that our voting must seek to bring those who fight for justice into power.  But different Christians have different views on justice and so will vote for different parties.  Isn't that obvious?  To suggest that all Catholics should vote Conservative because of one mini-comment from Howard on abortion is just senseless!  As senseless as us all voting for Labour because Gordon and Tony are Christians...As senseless as us trying to create a new political force to represent the Christian vote.  I just worry about our leanings towards the States...please let us not go there!!!

Pete

Just chatting...

Strange weekend.  Sat and watched Comic Relief a good part of Friday and found all those little films heart-rending.  Theresa and i talked about going to Africa to be there and see what we could do and then I said that I couldn't come back...there would be too much to do and I couldn't pull myself away.  I mean, what do you do in the face of such suffering.  Why can't the pharmaceuticals give the tablets away for free in developing countries - you should have seen some of the Aids orphans - it is competely unjust.

Sat night was some Wallace and Gromit evening at Church - I ducked out and stayed home to watch the football (go UNITED!!!  Can we beat Newcastle...well, marginally better than having to beat Arsenal!!!) before heading down to church.  Lots of people there.  Sunday was all age - but that really means same as normal but with no kids work - I sat and muttered.  The service went on and on and on.  Why can;t we engage a bit more rather than be talked at for hours!!!  I was really grumpy during the enforced church lunch - I am sure church is meant to be happier experience than this!  I'm back to my reflections on what it means to be a family-orientated church for the new millenium.  I had a lecture about my daughter's dress sense.  Theresa was fantastic - "I prefer to have her in church whatever she is wearing than force her to wear what I like and she doesn't come!"  EXACTLY!!!!

Went for a bike ride/walk in the afternoon with the family - Emily muttered - she gets it from me!

Last night watched Supervolcano...what a load of ...I mean the characterisation, plot development, scenery, special effects.  I'm sorry but...

I also did some editing of the book for T&T Clark...it's going to be a bigger job than I thought because all the Hebrew needs transferring and that means keying it all in in a different font...help!  Oh well...if I am going to get it published I need to do the work.

I read this morning that Stanley Grenz has died.  I've read a lot of his stuff - especially the postmodern things.  He had a great mind and his contribution to Evangelical Scholarship is immense.  He was 55 - only 15 years or so older than me.  He has achieved so much.  Someone's blog today (TSK) talked of how he achieved so much in so little time...and it made me a bit sanguine about what I have achieved or not...help!  Praying for his wife Edna and their kids.  God bless them, please.

Gotta paper to write on "Intertextuality and Biblical Studies: Should the work of Genette and Eco encourage us to broaden our horizons?"  Boring title but it says what the paper is about.  Might try and get some draft of the paper on here for comments.  It takes some of the stuff from the thesis and broadens it out further...

Anyway, gotta go!  Lasagne for tea and I missed lunch!

Take care, be blessed.

Pete

Comic Relief Thing...

Link: Guardian Unlimited | Newsblog | Actor to appear in TV soap shock.

Yeah, Classy.  You could almost imagine it...made me think of what other characters in our soaps could be seen in the light of LOTR.

Yesterday in our discussion of Matrix someone slipped and suggested that Trinity raised Nemo from the dead!!!  I now have this picture of Agent Smith as a seagull going "Mine, Mine, Mine" - and the matrix as a fishbowl!!!!  Help I need therapy.

Have a great comic releif day - and give some money!!!

Pete

Jesus of Montreal

Cet apres midi j'ai regarde le Jesus de Montreal avec mes etudants.  C'etait formidable.  J'aime beaucoup le film et la conversation apres.  Je ne comprends que'un petit de francais mais j'adore ce film.

The conversation afterwards was perhaps the most animated I have seen the class so far in the module - lots of great comments coming from different people.  Several still saw Jesus of Montreal as blatant blasphemy - some found it really difficult - I mean a film in French Canadian with poor subtitles is sometimes difficult to follow if you are not used to it.  Moreover, as people said, the film is itself a pretty random pastiche of scenes from Jesus' life interspersed with Daniel and co.s existence.  Personally, I loved it.  The sense that the real Jesus bursts through their artistic, scholarly depictions of Jesus as a human being and changes their whole lives.  The sense that Jesus is beyond art and beyond history and beyond the reality which actors can depict.  I loved the bit in the library where the lady comes up and asks him if he is searching for Jesus.  Yes.  Well, young man, you will find that it is he who finds you.  How good is that!  I loved the bit when the girl comes running down the tunnel with that wonderful vocal track in the background - I've seen him!

Perhaps the most poignant for me in what was a pretty rich experience of watching it last night and some clips today was the final scene - where the two girls busk on the station where Daniel finally collapses (note the Jewish hospital actually re-crucifies him beforfe curtting him up and distributing him to the world - broken for me? - what is going on there???).  The last time we saw those girls was at the beginning of the film singing in church.  Now they have taken church to where Daniel/Jesus was last seen - to his resting place, out into the streets of the city.  I really did have a moment when I thought that that was indeed what it was all about.  Throwing off the confines of the church and going out where Jesus really is and doing church there where Jesus really was.

Wonderful, life-enriching conversation with the students and with myself.  Thank you for the gift you gave me today, Lord.

Pete

mmm...

All this weekend seems to have been taken up with running the kids around - Emily as a Church weekend, Sam at cello things and Ed with me and Theresa have quality time with the parents for once!

Sam is going through a cello frenzy this week! He was at a quartet school over the weekend and today he's having a practice for his Grade 4 exam on Friday but before then he has his normal lesson and his cello ensemble and then orchestra on Friday night as normal. The poor kid is going to have no fingers left! I sometimes worry about whether we are pushing him into this. Theresa and I look on see a ten year old kid and wish he was just playing football. Then we turned up at the school where he had his weekend course for the closing concert and saw him out in the yard playing football with the violinists - sweat pouring down his face! He came on to play his cello in his Man Utd top and with his three quarter length jeans and had a whale of a time. He came up to us both last night before bed and gave us both a hug and thanked us for letting him go...bless.

I played cello for one term when I was 11. We couldn't afford to hire the intrument never mind pay for the lessons. I loved playing it for that one term. When Sam blundered across a cello in a music shop two years ago, I held back telling him how much I loved the instrument. He fell in love with it anyway...and now there is no stopping him. Am I living through him....nah! If he stops I don't mind...it's up to him whatever, as long as I can give him as many opportunities to be who he wants to be and who God wants him to be.

My kids are wonderful!

Pete