Quotables

QUOTABLES FROM SCJ 13.2 (quotables from other issues)
Chosen by Nathan Babcock
Lincoln Christian University -- Seminary

Featured Quotation"People who can combine Jeremiah, Paine, Max, Harold and Kumar along with Dr. Seuss could be called postmoderns, whatever that means. What it means for spirituality, which is our topic, is this: one of the distinctive characteristics of postmodern spirituality… is theological incoherence which finds its way into bricolage spirituality."

Scot McKnight, "Spirituality in a Postmodern Age" (SCJ 13.2: 212)

"The rational categories of Lockean epistemology hindered the full vigor of a Calvinian understanding of the spiritual dynamic of the Supper to fully enrich Campbell's understanding of the Supper – just as it did in early American Presbyterianism."

John Mark Hicks, "Churches of Christ and the Lord's Supper: Twentieth Century Perspectives" (SCJ 13.2: 163)

"'Breaking bread,' then was not a solemn funerary ritual, but the new community's celebration of the presence of the risen Jesus through which God revealed the eschaton… Joy is pervasive in Luke's meal stories and is particularly appropriate to the Eucharist… It is one of the great discontinuities between the meals of Israel, Jesus' meals in Luke, and the contemporary church… that joy is not a significant mode in which the contemporary Supper is experienced."

John Mark Hicks, "Churches of Christ and the Lord's Supper: Twentieth Century Perspectives" (SCJ 13.2: 173)

"With the importance of music in mind, it is easy to understand that the early leaders of the Stone-Campbell Movement required new hymns and hymnals in order to reinforce the "restored" theological disposition they were advocating. At the very beginning of the Movement, before time allowed for the creation of new hymnody, they adapted the contemporary hymns of their day by changing any doctrinally offensive words or phrases."

Austin L. Jones and Melynne B. Jones, "Songs in Three Streams: Charting the Historical Development of the Stone-Campbell Movement through Its Hymnals" (SCJ 13.2: 178)

"After the death of Alexander Campbell, issues that previously started as seeds of tension between different groups within the Movement continued to grow and eventually led to splintering. Parallels in the music of the movement can also be identified."

Austin L. Jones and Melynne B. Jones, "Songs in Three Streams: Charting the Historical Development of -the Stone-Campbell Movement through Its Hymnals" (SCJ 13.2: 181)

"Paul specifies the relationship between God and Christ. This is not merely the sacrificial act of Jesus but also the act of God… It is simultaneously Jesus' obedient faithfulness (Rom. 5:19) and the act of God… Jesus does not die to persuade God to forgive sinners; on the contrary, in his death God himself acts in love to extend his mercy and grace."

Ben Wiebe, "Cross Currents: Rethinking Atonement (with Reflection on Campbell, Stone, and Scott)" (SCJ 13.2: 197)

"In the gospel, language that had been used to safeguard God in his otherness and distance from our limited and flawed humanity is turned inside out to proclaim that all the glory behind creation has come right down into human life in the vulnerable form of Jesus."

Ben Wiebe, "Cross Currents: Rethinking Atonement (with Reflection on Campbell, Stone, and Scott)" (SCJ 13.2: 200)

"The Poisonwood Bible, published in 1998, is a grand read with a great flaw… [It] is indeed a page-turner, in most aspects worthy of its honors. Its serious failings, however, involve the author's conception and understanding of religion. She does not grasp its historical character and proportions in the Congo whether Christian or not."

Frederick W. Norris, "Religion in The Poisonwood Bible" (SCJ 13.2: 203, 204)

"In spite of these large failings I happily concede the Kingsolver is not religiously tone deaf… Her criticisms of contemporary Christianity… are usually crisp and so on point that they make a Christian cringe… a number of her critiques of the church may be used by Christian study groups to sharpen their faith and change their ways."

Frederick W. Norris, "Religion in The Poisonwood Bible" (SCJ 13.2: 208)

"What I want to say now is at the heart of the postmodern spirituality enterprise: it is diverse and each person appropriates what he or she likes… In other words, they form a bricolage of the Christian faith and Christian practices that suit them. They have abandoned the insularity of traditionalist spirituality."

Scot McKnight, "Spirituality in a Postmodern Age" (SCJ 13.2: 222)

"Evangelicals who (rightly) reject the preservationist arguments for priority of the Majority Text are themselves subject to the same objections, at least in the case of an extreme form of "inerrancy of the original autographs." Specifically, preservationism is not a viable historical position, for it is not legitimate to "tell" God what he must have done… it is dogma rewriting history. More to the point, elevating the hypothetical original autographs to such a level of importance misunderstands the nature of scriptural authority."

Thomas Scott Caulley, "The 'New' Textual Criticism: Challenges and Promise" (SCJ 13.2: 238)

"Another promising emphasis of the "new" textual criticism is the stress on the NT manuscripts as artifacts of early Christianity. Hurtado calls attention to the rich data the MSS provide in addition to the text itself."

Thomas Scott Caulley, "The 'New' Textual Criticism: Challenges and Promise" (SCJ 13.2: 239)