Joe Hockey and the interpretation of Scripture

It's not often you get politicians commenting on Biblical hermeneutics, the art of interpreting scripture. The Hon. Joe Hockey, the shadow treasurer, while making general cultural comments, said this (according to the Age) about the way "evangelical" Christians interpret the Bible:

"number of fast-growing evangelical Christian churches in Australia take a literalist approach to the scriptures. While most leaders of the older churches … have moved away from such a position … there is still an alienating literalism that pervades many faiths … One of the reasons why Christian faith has declined in the Western world is because of the reliance placed on a literal reading of the testaments by church leaders.''

While I disagree with his reason for the decline in attendance, he's described in general terms how I interpret the Bible and how orthodox Christianity has and currently interprets the Bible. As it is, according to context. In fact this is how we interpret almost anything, on face value according to context. It's hard to do so with a tiny scrap of paper from the footpath but it gets easier with say blog posts.

(Murray has also commented on this news.)

Posted by Luke Monday, November 09, 2009 5 comments  

Labels: Remarks

A Reflection on Ridley

Now that I've finished studying I thought it would be good to reflect on my time at Ridley College.

Amy and I chose Ridley because we thought we might end up overseas with CMS, the main Anglican missionary organisation, teaching at a Bible College.  This grew out of an earlier desire of mine to pursue some sort of post graduate studies in History.  However this evolved into a plan to pursue full time paid ministry here in Australia.  I then settled on going to Ridley, which also meant cementing the Anglican path.  I admit I was influenced in my choice by observing Anglicans such as Kaniska Raffel and Mike Raiter in action. I also didn't feel bad about crossing over from the Presbyterians to the Anglicans after seeing how Paul Chew also crossed over and had carved out a niche for himself in the Anglican Church of Tasmania.  (Although admittedly I 'd grown up for twenty years at Margate Brethren Church before meeting and marrying Amy.)

The Ridley experience was a good one.  While learning Greek and Hebrew was hard, the immersion in Scripture, theology and ministry was exciting. I'm glad it only took three years, four years would have disconnected us to much from Tassie, and the occasional drudgery of study would have become overwhelming.  I sometimes also struggled with the tension between academic achievement and theological success.

Ridley, while I was there, underwent a lot of changes, hiring new staff, selling part of their property and expanding their academic options.  I enjoyed interacting with a wide range of view points, and ironically feel I've ended up more conservative in my theology then if I'd attended, say Moore College.  ( For example Peter Adam convinced me on the inerrancy of Scripture, Doug McComiskey explained the failings of the New Perspective on Paul and Rhys Bezzant directed me to the erudite Jonathan Edwards.) One of my only disappointments is not doing a formal course of apologetics, a subject Ridley is going to introduce next year.  However my informal reading lead me to Van Til which was very exciting, so it was cloud with a silver lining.

Posted by Luke Sunday, November 08, 2009 10 comments  

Labels: Remarks

'State of Play' A review

State of Play is a classic political thriller, Woodward-and-Bernstein-style, of an investigation into government-corporate shenanigans. Cal (Russel Crowe) is a crusty, traditional, senior reporter and Bella (Rachel McAdams) is the new kid who writes a blog for the paper. On the whole well filmed, with good dialogue and a quick pace. Helen Mirren has a great supporting role as an editor and I also think helicopters have become a modern visual symbol for "the-powers-that-be." Because it's a political thriller about sinister military-industrial complex there were several unrelated shots of helicopters hovering menacingly or floating like large black steel wasps above the city. They sometimes do that at Ridley but that's another story for another post. State of Play is also about the struggle between old and new media represented by Cal and Bella as they follow leads and chase the story. Nowadays we hear lots about online networks and the importance of cyberspace. True, but State of Play also brought out the importance of human contacts, eyeballing someone and meeting people in physical locations. I think it's important to realize our networks and day to day activity are a mix of human and cyber. Intriguingly in Sate of Play, the old media wins and the story is broken on the front page of the newspaper and not Bella's blog. 

Posted by Luke Monday, November 02, 2009 4 comments  

Labels: Reviews

Happy Reformation Day!

Posted by Luke Saturday, October 31, 2009 5 comments  

Labels: Announcements

2010: The year ahead

It's nearly the end of October 2009, and it's been a year of blogging. I've enjoyed airing my theological thoughts about culture, books, events, institutions and theology! Thanks to my regular readers for provoking me to think more deeply or simply making encouraging remarks. I'm about to finish Ridley and start work as an assistant minister in the Diocese of Tasmania. This is a very exciting development and I've decided to tweak the blog a little, which means the frequency of blogging will drop to about one a week. I've changed the layout and added a list of all the Tasmanian Christian blogs I could find on the side bar. I'm also a team blogger over at the MTS blog, and I'll be posting more practical insights over there and keep this blog for analysis, reviews and commentary. Thanks again to my regular readers, vocal and silent and welcome to all visitors.

Posted by Luke Sunday, October 25, 2009 2 comments  

Labels: Announcements