A Conversation on Denominational Renewal

was held at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis February 26-28, 2008. The denomination in question is the Presbyterian Church in America, a sister Church to my own communion.

I can't say I'm sold on everything the speakers had to say; even the idea of calling a series of lectures a "conversation" strikes me as a wee bit precious. I would also take issue with Matt Brown's implicit assertion that desiring a recovery of "old ways of doing things" is necessarily a "resting on laurels;" in my curmudgeonly opinion, the ecclesiastical disaster we have inherited because our fathers traded the ordinary means of grace for methodism is an excellent argument for a return to historic (by which I mean pre-1700s) presbyterian practice. At the same time, he gets massive bonus points for observing that many locations for new PCA Church plants are chosen as much because they're hip and exciting as because there's a genuine need there for new congregations.

Nonethelesss, I think the analysis presented (particularly in the lectures on ethos and ecclesiology) of the generally schismatic condition of confessionally reformed Churches in our nation (although framed specifically as a description of the PCA in particular) is right on. Again with certain caveats, I very much appreciated Jeffrey White's lecture on missions, in which he called into question the present obsession with "cultural renewal" in many presbyterian circles and recommended instead Church planting amongst the poor.

So, if you're looking for something to fill up your iPod, you can download the conference lectures (for free!) at http://www.denominationalrenewal.org/.

On microphones and live theatre

Over the last couple years, I've seen a few major touring productions here in Denver, and am simply appalled at the use of body mikes. If the audience members are close enough to see those microphones, then they're close enough to hear unamplified vocals. Goodness gracious, I once taught wisps of sixth-grade girls how to project their voices clearly; surely professionals can learn to do it.

This reliance on amplification has, ironically, the effect of diminishing the immediacy of live theatre. When I saw "Avenue Q" recently, the cast members at one point entered the audience. (Edgy! Exciting!) But instead of being drawn in, I became disoriented because their voices weren't coming from their persons, but the speakers. As the present crop of teen singing sensations has demonstrated, the cast could just as easily lip-sync to a recording, and the theatre-goer could save the exorbitant ticket price.

The structure of Romans 4:1-12

Romans 4:1-12 is arranged into a chiasm (parallel elements centered around, and thereby drawing attention to, a main element):

A) Abraham our father (flesh)- 4:1
B) Faith vs. works- 4:2-6
C) Blessing over against sin- 4:7-8
B') Circumcision vs. uncircumcision- 4:9-12
A') Abraham our father (faith)- 4:12

Genius update

Thank you, iTunes 8 Genius button, for reintroducing me to "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You" by Black Kids and "Radio Nowhere" by Bruce Springsteen. Pop gems which we are obligated to pass on to our children and their children after them (although I still can understand only about every third word in a given Springsteen song).

Genius is much more taken with Van Morrison than I have ever been, though.

"Remnant" in Isaiah 36:4

In Isaiah 36:4, Hezekiah asks the prophet Isaiah to pray for the "remnant that is left." Contextually, this may refer to Jerusalem, which appears to be one of the few places left in Judah which has not fallen to the Assyrian invader. This seems unlikely, however, because in this military campaign Jerusalem is the real lynchpin. Assyria's victories will only be confirmed and secured when Judah's capital is also taken. Moreover, Hezekiah is not only interested in preserving Jerusalem, but in regaining and keeping all of Judah.

In the Bible as a whole, "remnant" is most often used to refer either to those Jews who returned to Palestine after the terms of the Babylonian Exile were lifted, or to those Jews who remained out among the nations but maintained their faith in the God of Israel. Either way, "remnant" connotes those few left behind after the bulk of the people has been removed. The northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria), composed of ten tribes, had been exiled in another Assyrian invasion some ten years earlier. Thus, Hezekiah sees Israel and Judah, although two nations, as a single people under God; although Judah had remained politically intact, it was in truth only a remnant (two tribes) of the whole people of God (twelve tribes).

That is, Judah is part of a covenant community broader than itself. This recognition is striking because Israel's religion was debased; leaving aside the various centers of pagan idol worship, even the worship of the Lord himself had been corrupted by taking place elsewhere than Jerusalem and through golden calves. Hezekiah's reign was marked by a restoration of the worship God had prescribed for his people in the Scriptures, but the reformer king nonetheless recognizes his erring brethren as brethren. Here, then, we learn we should consider ourselves united to other Christians outside the narrow confines of our particular denominations and traditions.

At the same time, "remnant" indicates that the Church's very future is at stake. If Judah, itself a mere remnant, falls, there is nothing left of God's people. From our vantage point in history, we know God will preserve yet a smaller remnant through the Babylonian Exile which Judah will eventually suffer, but of course Hezekiah couldn't foresee that possibility. When he describes Judah as a remnant, he confesses their situation is desperate; divine intervention is their only hope.

In Romans 9, Paul uses Hosea's prophecies to demonstrate that the Lord has used the remnant of Israel to turn the Church into an innumberable host. Despite her present vast numbers (when reckoned ecumenically), the Church's only hope continues to be divine intervention: in this life, but most especially through the arrival of the new heavens and earth in glory.

Thus says

The use of the phrase "thus says" in Isaiah 36:1-37:7 reveals the actual nature of the struggle recounted there. At first blush, it seems we have a contest between the Assyrian Emperor and the comparatively weak King Hezekiah, waged through speeches, delivered on their behalf, by spokesmen. But when Isaiah says "Thus says the Lord" (Isaiah 37:7), we realize the contest is in fact between the Assyrian Emperor and Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel and Creation. With that declaration, the true nature of the struggle becomes evident, and its outcome certain.

Download iTunes 8

I have more than 3000 songs in my iTunes library. While around 300 of those are spoken word tracks (lectures, Mars Hill Audio Journal, and such), that's still a lot of songs to remember and make sure I take time to appreciate. (And yes, I realize many of you hep young cats out there have a vastly larger collection of mp3s. But it's big for a guy who still has hundreds of cassette tapes in his basement.) This is why I love the "Genius" feature of iTunes version 8.

Select a given track, click on the Genius sidebar button, and iTunes will suggest other tracks you might like to buy from the iTunes store. This is not why I love iTunes 8. I love iTunes 8 because when I click on the other Genius button, it automatically generates a playlist from my library on the basis on the original track. Since the songs all come from my library, I know they're good (because, of course, I have impeccable taste). But I had forgotten they were in there, and so I have the added thrill of hearing really good songs I haven't heard in a long time.

I really should buy some Apple stock. Better yet, Apple should just give me some shares for this unsolicited plug.

So this is what I got

when I finally got to a Barnes & Noble to cash in the birthday gift card from my brother- and sister-in-law. A good album which features the great "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)," a perfect example of the break-up song.

Persuasive, as opposed to accessible, arguments

You may neither know nor care that writers such as John Rawls have argued that only universally "accessible" arguments should be employed when formulating public policy. In practice, this means that religious arguments, because they depend upon a prior acceptance of suprarational propositions which are not held by all citizens (i.e., not all Americans believe/practice the same religion), are ruled out of order. The Presbyterian Curmudgeon does care, however, and this is his blog. Not only does he care, but he finds these sorts of propositions destructive of the great experiment that is American liberal democracy.

This all comes up because Richard John Nehaus (the original blogger, as described by Andrew Sullivan in a rare moment of insight), in the October 2008 issue of First Things (the original blogger, as described by Andrew Sullivan in a rare moment of insight), passes on these observations by Judge Michael W. McConnell of the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in "Secular Reason and the Miguided Attempt to Exclude Religious Argument from Democratic Deliberation": "Once it is recognized that every worldview is held by some and disputed by others, there is no sound reason to block one family of worldviews–religions–from the public square. Arguments are not more or less 'accessible' in the way Rawls posits. They are more or less persuasive, depending on what listeners make of their underlying premises. Democracy is best served by allowing every citizen an equal right to argue for collective public ends with the most persuasive arguments they can muster without prior limitations based on the epistemic, methodological, or ideological premises of their arguments. Then we allow other citizens to accept or reject those arguements, based on their own opinions. That is liberal democracy. That is free government."

Yeah. What he said.

From vain hope to false hope

In his commentary on Isaiah 36, John Calvin moves from the devastatingly clever speech of the Rabshakeh to make a general observation on the strategies used by Satan to discourage and confuse Christians. The evil one will persuade us to forsake a vain hope (ex. Egyptian military intervention, a large retirement savings account) in order to direct us to a false hope (ex. Assyrian generosity, government intervention in the financial system). God, however, calls us to forsake both vain and false hopes in order to direct us to the only true hope: his grace to sinners through the Cross of Christ.

Come to Zion

In Isaiah 35, the prophet offers a vision of the glory of God's people as a counterpoint to the final judgment of the Lord's enemies, described in Isaiah 34. Although Isaiah frequently uses "Zion" to describe the eschatological community of God's people, he doesn't explicitly employ that term until the very end of the chapter, in verse 10. In terms of literary structuring, Zion may be reserved to the end because that city is our eschatological goal.