Church

The New Old New Atheism of Simon Critchley & Others

/ Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

I have noticed, recently, especially with the waning influence (or at least presence) of the “New Atheists” in the public square, that there has been a shift in the tack that Atheists have taken against Christianity in the past year or so.

Philosophical movements generally begin in academia, then find themselves trickling down to the masses as those twenty-something college students that were influenced by these academic discussions now move on into the wider world. Both Atheism and Evangelical Christianity generally find themselves one generation behind in these philosophical developments of the world.

So, for example, when the world was just beginning to move on into “post-modernity” (notwithstanding the functional meaninglessness of such terms at this point), it was the heyday of  Atheistic and Evangelical evidentiary apologetics, representing firm pre-modernist, Enlightenment thought (on both sides). Arguments centered around the very existence of Jesus, fidelity in translation and transmission, Intelligent Design, and the general historical reliability of the Bible.

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Class 6: NT Letters, Revelation, & The Bible in Worship (WE’RE DONE!)

/ Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

This week was the last week in the six-week Bible Survey class I’m been doing at my church.

It’s been an honor to do this class, and I feel like this last one went especially well. Others seemed to find it genuinely helpful.

We ended our time in this class by talking for a little bit about how we can use the Bible–and all the information we just gleaned these past weeks–in our own, personal, spiritual lives.

To conclude the class, this Saturday we will be going to University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. You really won’t want to miss this. I’ll be putting a post up on this tomorrow.

For those that have followed in class and online, thank you so much for doing so. It was such an honor to be able to do this class, and I can’t believe I was given the time and grace to do it.

I hope that these resources are found to be helpful to those that invest their time into them; and that they draw each of you into a greater knowledge, love, and desire for our God as He meets us in our Scriptures.

And lastly, over the next months, I will be compiling all of these notes, as well as other essays I’ve written on the Bible in the past and self-publishing a book in both print and electronic forms. If you think about it, please pray for me. I’m starting to see that self-publishing is a lot more costly and complicated than I had originally thought.

This Lecture Covers:

  • A chronological survey of the contents and background of Paul’s letters
  • Discussion of the contents and background of the other letters of the  New Testament
  • A talk about that crowd-favorite, Revelation. We talked about how it fits into the greater story of Scripture, how it’s often misread, how to properly read it, and it’s contents and background
  • How one should approach the Bible to build up their spiritual life
  • Practical methods people can employ to know God through the Scriptures

**Side Note: twice in the audio of this lecture, I refer to Galatians and James as books that may each have been the “first book of the Bible written”. I meant to say “New Testament”, not “Bible”. Sorry.**

Download: [Audio] [Notes] Continue reading →

How do you use the Bible and Bible knowledge in your spiritual life? [OPEN MIC]

/ Paul Burkhart / 7 Comments

This weekend, I will be teaching the last class in my six-week Bible Survey class at my church. I want to end the class talking about how to use the Bible (and especially the knowledge gleaned from the class) in one’s personal (and corporate) spiritual life. How does the Bible actually function in a believer’s life to cultivate a dynamic, deep, and intimate relationship with Christ and the Holy Spirit? I have my own thoughts on this, but I want to hear from all of you. So here are some questions:

  • Do more Bible “facts” actually have a direct impact on your spiritual engagement with God? In other words, has studying the backgrounds of the Bible ever led to meeting God? How or why not?
  • What practical methods of immersing oneself in Scripture have been most fruitful to you spiritually?
  • How might people use the tools of Biblical Studies (commentaries, etc.) to treat the Bible formationally, rather than merely informationally?
  • For those that are oriented in such a way that they constantly want to know the context, background, history, date, etc. of Scripture, how have you been able to quiet all these questions in order to meet God?
  • Similarly, for those more “intellectually”-oriented, how have you been able to move beyond the intellect to engage other parts of yourself with Scripture?
  • How do we move beyond facts of Scripture to the Person of Scripture?
  • If (as I said in the first class, and other theologians have said) the Bible only “becomes” the Word of God as the Holy Spirit meets us during our engagement with it, what have been the most effective practical ways that you have invited the Holy Spirit into your Bible Study time?
  • In your experience, what have been some of the pitfalls in other approaches that are commonly endorsed by the contemporary church, or what are some of the realities that aren’t talked about often?
  • What would you say if you were me (haha)?

Feel free to respond below, in a Facebook comment, email, text, or phone call. Thanks.

Class 5: Intertestament, pt. 2; NT Intro; Gospels; Acts

/ Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

This week was the fifth week in the six-week Bible Survey class I’m doing at my church.

And wow, we covered a lot in the class. But still, this class probably had the greatest percentage of material I had prepared that was not actually touched on in the talk. This makes the manuscript that much more full of extra material.

Covering the topics above, I have 35 pages of material below.

You may have noticed that I never actually finished the materials I talked about last week. Well, entering into an entirely new testament of the Bible put me in a mindset that I just couldn’t go back to finish up writing about every one of the Prophets. I’ll do it someday. I promise.

Lastly, mark your calendars for August 25th, where we will be going to University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. You really won’t want to miss this. Details to come next week.

This Lecture Covers:

  • A discussion of the Political and Religious history between the Old and New Testaments
  • An Introduction to the Background of the New Testament
  • Background and context of Jesus, his upbringing, and his life
  • Survey of the content and background of the Gospels.
  • An extensive and in-depth look at the book of Acts.

Download: [Audio] [Notes] Continue reading →

Visions of Arcadia: the most terrifying art exhibit I’ve ever seen

/ Paul Burkhart / 5 Comments

This weekend I had the privilege of seeing the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s new exhibit Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia. The exhibit showcases works exploring the idea of “Arcadia“: an idyll pastoral world envisaged in Virgil’s first major poetic work Eclogues where nymphs and fauns dwell alongside Bacchus and Pan; where human dwellers exist in peace, rest, and joy in the natural world.

(To put it simply: you can usually recognize Arcadian themes at work in a piece of art when it has naked people hanging out in nature–usually around rivers.)

This image of Arcadia, having been explored in art epochs in the past, overtook art once more right as modern art was being born, right around the turn of the 20th century. In fact, the exhibit subtly makes the argument that this image of a rural, paradisal ideal is an essential element in modern art’s development. The modernists’ dilemma–the tensions between longing and reality, finding and losing, permanence and transience, human and mythic–all find their embodiment in this Arcadian world.

The exhibit begins with excerpts from Virgil’s poetic treatment of this theme, set beside works that visualized his words. These run along one wall. On the opposing wall of this introductory hallway, there are excerpts from Stéphane Mallarmé’s modernist treatment of Arcadia, L’Apres-midi d’un Faune, accompanied by pen-and-ink drawings from Matisse that visualize his words.

The exhibit is great, but very theoretical. It works subtly and on nuance. It’s not just a bunch of pretty things thrown into a room. Instead it is a thesis–an argument–in visual form. It watches a theme develop from myth to poetry to visual art (and then from Renaissance to modern) and explores how they are all connected and converse with one another. It’s really like no other exhibit to which I’ve ever been. If you get the chance, see it.

But that’s not why I’m writing today.
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Class 4: Prophets, pt. 2; Wisdom Books; & Intertestamental Period, pt. 1

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

This week was the fourth week in the six-week Bible Survey class I’m doing at my church.

We didn’t quite get to the Introduction of the New Testament like I had planned. This class was a bit different than other ones. Rather than focusing on a lot fo content of each book, this week was mostly a “tour” of these sections of the Bible and History, with some “highlights” along the way. The main point was to give people a bigger picture of these things to help them read the Bible themselves.

Just like last week, my notes are very incomplete. Most everything I said is in there, but I definitely want to provide a lot more in the notes than I say–and that hasn’t been filled in for most of the books so far. I will be spending the next two weeks filling that in. Once I’m done, I’ll let you all know. Thanks for your patience.

Lastly, I know I did a very poor job at telling the story of the Intertestamental history. I will try this again and condense it more in the next class. I will be much better prepared then.

This Lecture Covers:

  • Principles to keep in mind to help when reading the Prophetic books
  • Highlights from the Prophetic Books
  • Survey of the content and some of the background of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament, with a special focus on the content of Job
  • Survey of the History between the Old Testament and New

Download: [Audio] [Notes] Continue reading →

notes from last week’s class are finally done!

/ Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

Earlier this week, I posted the audio and incomplete manuscript for Class 3 for the Bible Survey class I’m doing. Last night, I finally finished polishing up the notes with all the extra information I wasn’t able to say in the class. I hope it’s helpful. This final manuscript comes in at 36 pages long (admittedly, that’s with size 14 font to make it easier to read online, but still), so there is lots of stuff there that wasn’t talked about (especially with Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Esther).

So, check it out below, download it, share it, critique it, and let me know what you think! I’d love to get some feedback on these to know if they’re actually helpful. Enjoy, and thanks for your patience! (and P.S. don’t forget about the Dead Sea Scrolls trip tomorrow.)

What do we make of the atrocities of the Old Testament?

/ Paul Burkhart / 11 Comments

This is a slightly edited version of an excursus I wrote in this week’s notes for the Bible Survey Class I’ve been teaching at my church. Follow that link for more information on the class. Also, I’m well-aware that the second half of this is exactly the “angle” talked about in the venerable Pete Enns’ recent blog post. I wrote this before he posted that, but still, I wanted to put it up on the off-chance this articulation might be helpful to others.

In the books of Numbers and Joshua, God commands the Israelites to commit genocide on many different people, including their women and children. He also commands them to forcibly enslave others. And in still another story, he commands Moses to take the remaining virgins of this particular people of which they disobediently did not kill all, and divide them evenly among the soldiers and the “rest of the Israelites”. We can only imagine what for.

A few quick thoughts:

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Class 3: The Historical Books & Prophets, pt. 1

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

This week was the third week in the six-week Bible Survey class I’m doing at my church.

And yes, we actually covered all the books of the Old Testament from Joshua to Nehemiah, did an intro to the Prophets, and had a brief discussion on the ethical problems with the “Old Testament God” in an hour.

You can find a small article I wrote on those atrocities and “ethical dilemmas” of the Old Testament attached to the end of the Notes below.

At the time of this writing, I’m not quite done with the notes, but I wanted to get the lecture audio to everyone. So, below you will find an incomplete version of the notes. I will upload a revised version later today (or tonight) with everything else filled in. I’ll update this post when that happens, as well as the Scribd doc below.

Also, as I posted about earlier today, as part of this class we will be going to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit this Saturday in Philadelphia. There are also discounted tickets available. Check the link, and I hope to see you there!

This Lecture Covers:

  • A discussion of the Deuteronomistic and Priestly Histories of the Old Testament
  • Survey of the content and background of the Historical Books of the Old Testament from Joshua to Nehemiah
  • An general introduction to the Prophets
  • A discussion concerning the atrocities committed in God’s name by the Israelites in Joshua and Numbers

Download: [Audio] [Notes] Continue reading →

Join us this Saturday to see the Dead Sea Scrolls!

/ Paul Burkhart / 5 Comments

As part of the Bible Survey Class I’ve been teaching at my church, I’ll be leading a tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at The Franklin Institute here in Philadelphia (map).  We will be meeting at 4:30pm this Saturday, July 28th in the main hall just inside the main entrance (you can get into that hall without buying a ticket). I’ll have some introductory words to set up our time, and then we’ll go to the exhibit where we’ll stop a few more times for some added information.

Also, Living Social is selling discounted tickets to the exhibit all this week (the usual evening price is $19.50). So even if you can’t go this week, still buy the tickets and go another time. It’s an amazing exhibit and will be here until mid-October. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at burkhartpm [AT] gmail [DOT] com.

P.S. the trip to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology has been moved to a week later than originally scheduled, to the 25th of August.

The Gospel Coalition & Sex as Conquest: Jared Wilson, you’re better than this {1}

/ Paul Burkhart / 7 Comments

Update: Part 2 is up, engaging with the issue itself and The Gospel Coalition.

Fine… I’ll throw my two cents in.

A few days ago, Jared Wilson, trying to speak to the appeal of the S&M-tinged book 50 Shades of Grey, posted an excerpt from the book Fidelity (which I have read, so I feel I can speak to this) by the always-good-for-a-sound bite Douglas Wilson. Here’s how I’d summarize his ultimate point:

Modern humans have rebelled against God’s good and correct design of male authority and female submission to that authority. But, as people made in the Image of God, we have deep longings for the way God has structured reality to work best. And so, even when we reject God’s gracious version of gender relations, that desire is still there and will thus be corrupted and express itself in things like rape, pornography, and thinking things like 50 Shades of Grey is appealing.

I really don’t think either of them would think I am mischaracterizing them here. Both Wilsons involved in this equation clearly intended in their writing to promote what they believe is a beautiful synchronicity between male and female in which both fluorish.

And yet the blogosphere blew up over this.
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a homosexuality post-script & conclusion

/ Paul Burkhart / 4 Comments

Most of last week on this blog was spent discussing some recent “conversations” about the Evangelical church’s relationship with the homosexual community. I first addressed conservatives, and then progressives (as well as some thoughts on the “willful persistence in sin” comment I hear from conservatives a lot). This week, we move on. But not yet. In response to some of the ways people have responded to these posts, I felt I needed to write this.

In conclusion to it all…

These posts I’ve written got a lot of circulation around the web (and to those who commented/posted links, I thank you), and so for anyone that runs across them, I want to make something clear:

It might seem odd that I’ve typed far more words and dripped more sarcasm in attacking the more conservative side of this issue, all while ultimately agreeing more with them at the end of the day. In the end, even with all of my many theological and social disagreements, I cast my lot with them, even though I know most of them would not have me.

These posts, hopefully, have been written in the same spirit as Mark Noll’s blistering attack on Evangelical anti-intellectualism, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, which he calls “an epistle from a wounded lover”.
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For Theology Nerds: a satirical dictionary (don’t miss this!) [casual fri]

/ Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

Andrew Wilson, over at The Theology Forum has done us a great service my creating this “Brief A–Z of Theological Jargon”, and it is great. Everyone gets some elbows in the ribs. Check it out. You don’t want to miss it. Here are some of my favorites:

Complementarianism 
1. The belief that men and women are complementary.
2. The antiquated and repressive notion that wives should submit to their husbands, and women should not teach or have authority over men.
3. The attempt to disguise (2) by referring to (1).

Egalitarianism 
1. The belief that men and women are equal.
2. The modern and liberating notion that women can do everything a man can, sister, including wearing trousers, leading the home, leading churches and teaching and having authority over men.
3. The assumption that (1) necessitates (2).

Roman Catholicism
The belief that the church is universal, apart from Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and pretty much everyone except Roman Catholics.

Some critical words for the Left on Gay Reparative Therapy (ii)

/ Paul Burkhart / 17 Comments

Update II: I posted some important final words on these posts.

Yesterday I began giving some of my thoughts on Exodus International‘s recent repudiation of gay “Conversion Therapy” that was supposed to have “cured” gays of their homosexuality. I began by talking about my experience reading the primary text on this type of therapy in college, and then I criticized some of the common thinking of those on the more conservative side of the spectrum when it comes to this topic, especially how Evangelicals have reacted to Exodus International’s President, Alan Chambers. I also wrote some further thoughts responding to some questions about “homosexuals ‘persisting’ in their ‘sin'” (Update: I clarified some thoughts on that post).

But today, I’ve got some words for the Left…
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some brief thoughts on “willful persistence in sin” & homosexuality

/ Paul Burkhart / 7 Comments

Update III: I posted some final thoughts on these posts.

Update II: In some commenting I did on facebook, I feel I communicated myself more clearly on a couple of issues than I did on this post. So, below, you’ll find those clearer comments, edited for your consideration.

Update: The second and final part of these posts is up.

In response to my post earlier today on Exodus International’s decision to move away from “conversion therapy” of homosexuals, in which I criticized many more conservative reactions (don’t worry, you progressives will get your due tomorrow, haha). A couple of comments, messages, and such have asked me about that classic Evangelical formulation that homosexuals that “persist in their sin” or “walk in deliberate willful disobedience” cannot be “saved”.  (This idea is based on some parts of 1 John, but that application of those verses has too many interpretive issues to go into here, as I type on my phone. Suffice it to say, though, that it’s a bad application and doesn’t naturally flow from the text).

Anyway, back to the question.

Life is much more complicated than those simplistic categories of “willful”, “deliberate”, and “persistent” (and “sin”, frankly). Being in counseling myself, and being a counselor, this whole “willful disobedience” thing is much grayer than that articulation implies.

What do you do with pastors that are irresponsible in their preaching and “pastoring”, and even in light of SO many other believers telling them they are wrong, disobedient, harmful, and sinfully relating to their people, they “wilfully persist” in that? What about all of us Christians that “willfully persist” in driving even 5 mph above the speed limit? What about the person in the church that never stops gossiping, even in spite of sitting in sermon after sermon on the topic? Or all the southern and midwestern christians that “wilfully persist” in their gluttony?
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