Chris Price | No tags assigned yet | Sunday, February 14, 2010 2:50 AM | No comments available
There is no shortage of New Testament commentaries available for purchase. The choices can be dizzying. Some focus on theology, others on the Greek, others on the cultural context. Some are for professionals, some for bible students, some for laypersons. And with many commentaries running upwards of $40 or more, you have to be selective.
The best resource I have found for sorting through all the commentary clutter is D.A. Carson's New Testament Commentary Survey. Carson is the well-respected research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and co-author of probably the most popular introduction to the New Testament: An Introduction to the New Testament by D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo. In NTCS, Professor Carson goes through every book in the New Testament and discusses the serious commentaries available for each. He is candid about what he sees as the qualities and inadequacies of each. He describes their strengths in different areas, such as exegesis, theology, and cultural understanding. He evaluates their usefulness to different audiences, such as bible students, pastors, interested laypersons.
In addition to discussing the commentaries for each book of the New Testament, Carson discusses books that are not technically commentaries (in that they do not provide verse-by-verse discussion), but which focus on aspects of specific NT books. Carson also mentions the prices of each book discussed. Finally, there is a helpful "best buys" guide in the back that offers his admittedly subjective opinion on what the best values are for the "theological student" and "well-trained preacher."
New Testament Commentary Survey is around $10 and was updated in 2007.
Chris Price | No tags assigned yet | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 3:58 AM | 1 comment/s
In his What Americans Really Believe, Rodney Stark -- a leading sociologist -- has a chapter entitled "The Godless Revolution That Never Happened." He notes several earlier predictions about the demise of religion and rise of atheism. Thomas Woolston, 1670-1731, thought religion would disappear by 1900. Voltaire, 1694-178, gave religion another fifty years. Though religion endured, the expectation of its imminent demise persisted. Other influential thinkers including Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim, all shared a similar view of declining religious belief.
In the 1960s, Anthony F.C. Wallace stated in a leading undergraduate anthropology textbook, "The evolutionary future of religion and in supernatural forces that affect nature without obeying nature's laws will erode and become only an interesting memory . . . belief in supernatural powers is doomed to die out, all over the world, as a result of he increasing adequacy and diffusion of scientific knowledge . . . the process in inevitable." Also in the '60s, sociologist Peter Berger stated, that by "the 21st century, religious beliefs are likely to be found only in small sects, huddled together to resist a worldwide secular culture . . . the predicament of the believer is increasingly like that of a Tibetan astrologer on a prolonged visit to an American university." Finally, the April 1966 issue of Time famously asked, "Is God Dead?" on its cover.
With a new wave of "new" atheist best sellers, some skeptics may be getting their hopes up again. Perhaps the end may not be as imminent as they had hoped, but surely there has been a steady growth of atheistic enlightenment as societies have become more educated and rational. Secularization, after all, must be inevitable.
What do the polls tells us? Stark offers the numbers from leading polling organizations since 1944, for those who do not believe in God:
The number of atheists in the United States appears to be unchanged for at least 63 years, despite advances in science and secularization.
Ah, you might say, but there have been reports that the number of the "non-religious," "no religion," or "irreligious" has grown. This may be right, but it does not tell us much about the growth of atheism. Stark notes that these numbers have climbed from 7 to 12% over the same time period, with the steepest uptick occurring during the 1990s.
There is, no doubt, some overlap. Obviously, most atheists are going to also agree that they have "No Religion" or are "Non-Religious." But most of those who answer No Religion or something similar do in fact believe in God or a higher cosmic power. 40% believed Jesus was the Son of God or a messenger of God. Half believe in angels, more than half pray, and almost half believe in ghosts. As it turns out, "What 'no religion' seems to mean to most who gives this response is that they reject conventional religions, but not supernaturalism of more exotic sorts--two thirds of them can be classified as New Agers." Stark, Chap. 17, What Americans Really Believe.
Just as the rise of atheism had been predicted for so long, the demise of church attendance and Christian faith has been anticipated by many. The prediction about the demise of religious devotion, it turns out, are just as mistaken about the rise of atheism. Studies show that reported church attendance has been remarkably stable. Attendance today is the same as it was in 1973: 36%. There was a drop off prior to 1973. From 1954 through 1964, church attendance was stable at 44%. The drop of eight points occurred between 1964 and 1973.
Stark attributes this decline to Vatican II. His theory is that Vatican II lead to a decline in Catholic attendance, while Protestant rates of attendance stayed the same. The overall drop is explained by significant reductions in Catholic attendance post-Vatican II. Although Stark may be mistaken about VII reducing the seriousness of missing mass, there is no doubt VII brought about significant changes to the Catholic Church. Even so, the rate of attendance has been remarkably stable for 36 years through times of remarkable social change. Further, Stark is likely on to something about how -- at least -- VII was perceived by American Catholics.
Accordingly, predictions about the demise of Christianity and religion in the United States are unfounded. American Christianity has changed in some ways -- for example, the shift from moderate and liberal denominations to more conservative ones and the rise of Pentacostalism -- but in spite of that (or because of it) Americans are going to church in about the same numbers as their parents and their parents' parents.
Chris Price | No tags assigned yet | Monday, June 01, 2009 7:49 PM | No comments available
Christians are often portrayed in pop culture and even in our own media as being boring or killjoys. Church services are presented as a drag to be tolerated and other church events unexciting affairs at best.
In reality, church attendance is likely one of the most important societal factors promoting personal happiness. People who go to church frequently are significantly happier than those who never go to church or are less attenders. To get to the bottom of the issue, I reviewed a number of polling sources.
First, I looked at the Pew Research Center data, which found that those who attend religious services are happier than those who do not.
People who attend religious services weekly or more are happier (43% very happy) than those who attend monthly or less (31%); or seldom or never (26%). This correlation between happiness and frequently of church attendance has been a consistent finding of the General Social Surveys taken over the years.
Religion and church attendance are obviously not the only characteristics that increase happiness. Having more money, being married rather than single, and being in good health also substantially increase happiness levels. Notably, Pew takes a closer look at religion and income and concludes that religious attendance edges out income as an indicator of happiness and makes a 16-point difference for people of the same income.
Next, I looked at the results of a Scripps Howard/Ohio University study taken in 2006, which found that compared to marital status' role in promoting happiness, "[a]n even stronger factor is the power of organized religion -- any religion -- on a sense of well-being." Here are the results:
Although their numbers were small, Jewish participants in the poll were the most likely of any group to say they are very happy. Protestants -- especially self-identified "born again" evangelicals -- also report a high rate of contentment.
Sixty percent of people who have recently attended worship services at a church, synagogue or mosque say they are very happy, compared to 46 percent of people who have not publicly worshiped and 44 percent who have no religious preferences.
Finally, there is a more recent survey conducted in 2007 by the Associated Press and MTV, which focused on American youth and their happiness.
An extensive survey by The Associated Press and MTV found that people aged 13 to 24 who describe themselves as very spiritual or religious tend to be happier than those who don’t....
Eighty percent of those who call religion or spirituality the most important thing in their lives say they are happy, while 60 percent of those who say faith is not important to them consider themselves happy.
This study is a little different in that it does not measure happiness by church attendance, but by the self-reported importance the respondent places on religion. Still, the results are consistent with the above data. There is a twenty point difference between the happiness levels of young people who greatly value religion and those who do not.
In conclusion, these polls suggest that faith and regular attendance at religious services promote happiness and may be an even more crucial factor in the happiness of youth than others.
Last Tuesday America elected a new president and voted a clear majority in the congress to accent his victory. I've had a number of conversations with people since Tuesday; some of these people were unchurched, but the majority of those we talked with were Christians.
I discovered two basic reactions to the election. Some people I talked with felt that President-elect Obama was certainly the peoples choice but that the people chose because they’re looking for a change, any change and that he represented hope for that change. The concern of some is that he might be a Saul who represents our wants but is not the remedy our country needs. Others I talked with felt that President-elect Obama is the appointed David come to lead our country and the free world in a “new dawn.” They have great relief and feel that our country’s democratic ideals were brought into a new maturity.
Whatever your belief about the election, one thing is sure. Now more than ever in most of our life times we need to pray for our new president, his cabinet and for the new congress. And we need to pray daily for God to lead them and guide them and maybe most of all to protect them. Whatever your choice on election day, he is all of our president-elect today. Let’s pray and pray often for him and for his family.
This week I am starting an ongoing series on “Why my Life Sucks.” I find that many believers are not enjoying the abundant life that Jesus promises to all who follow Him (John 10:10). Not only are many living below the place God intends for them, many are feeling that their life indeed, “sucks.” The slang sucks has several different applications that can apply here. Originally, slang for the word sycophant the message here is that my life has become self-seeking; and I’m a servile flatterer (a suck up) and a fawning parasite (dictionary.com).
How does a follower of Jesus get to the place where their life sucks? They don’t start out that way. Galatians 5: 19-22 tells us that people who practice certain works of the flesh will not inherit the Kingdom of God. This doesn’t mean that they won’t go to heaven; but it does mean that they won’t live in God’s Kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy (Rm. 14, 17, 18). In other words, their life sucks. They’ve become a sycophant to the world, the enemy and to their own selfish desires.
This series show us how to get rid of the things in our life that keep us from truly enjoying God’s blessings. This isn’t only for the super spiritual, it’s for anyone who wants all that God has for them.
