Friday, September 3, 2010 at 9:41 am

The Fear of the Lord

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (0) |

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," we are told in Ecclesiastes. This, of course, is true. But the fear leading to wisdom is not fear to anxiety, but fear to awe. To be filled with awe is to know the one who you stand before, and to know acceptance. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because fear of the Lord is simply the recognition that the Lord is God - the God of glory. Fear, in this proper sense, undermines our handholds and our footholds, leaving us with no ground on which to stand, argue or fight. Fear is the beginning of wisdom because this fear leaves us undone - calling out, "I believe, help me in my unbelief," as well as "Without you, I can do nothing" (John 15:5).

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Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 11:59 am

Human Persons and Christian Formation

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (0) |

I just finished reading a book on theological anthropology (you can read my somewhat "scathing" review here). Theological anthroplogy is simply the study of human persons theologically. In other words, how, as Christians, do we talk about the central defining features of human existence - freedom, sexuality, identity, etc. In this particular book, the author sought to use ancient sources from the Church Fathers, Desert Fathers and Mothers, etc. to help us recover an ancient understanding of personhood. Despite what you might think after reading my review, I did think the book had some good emphases. Her focus was on the inherent value of human persons - each and every one - and how the modern conception of human "nature" as inherent bad has misaligned our understanding of personhood. Fair enough. But what I found disconcerting about the volume was that formation was couched simply as fortitude.

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 9:25 am

Being a "Generous" Evangelical

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (0) |

The word "generous" has been thrown around a lot lately. For many, its use highlights a growing lack of doctrinal orthodoxy, which, in many cases, may very well be true. There are certainly many disconcerting things that happen under the label of "generosity." This highlights an interesting issue between members of the church. I can't help but notice that Paul and James, as two of the most obvious examples, spill a lot of ink over the issue of unity. So how are we to think about this?

I have come up with something of an arbitrary delineation of evangelicals, and while it may be highly simplistic, I think it does call attention to an important issue. As I see it, broadly, there are two types of evangelicals - generous and not-generous. The demarcation has nothing to do with doctrinal orthodoxy, but simply with how one conceives onself in relation to the gospel. The generous evangelicals primarily see themselves under judgment by the gospel, while those who are not generous primarily understand the gospel as something they possess. Therefore, by owning the gospel, as it were, other views and positions are seen to be dangerous rather than potentially prophetic. Furthermore, the temptation the non-generous types have given in to is to apply God's own attributes to themselves. God is sovereign, in other words, and they find themselves at his right hand.

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Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 10:57 am

Journey with Jesus

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (0) |

I would like to highlight a new book by one of our board members, Larry Warner. Larry has written on the Ignatian Exercises from a Protestant standpoint, seeking to lead people through the exercises that is true to the Exercises themselves as well as the needs and emphases of Protestant believers. Few people know the Exercises as well as Larry, and he does an excellent job in the book to make them accessible to others. While I think many would get a lot out of this volume, if you know a spiritual director, I think they would benefit greatly from it. Larry's emphasis throughout the volume is that the Exercises are not something you should go through on your own, but should be part of guided interaction. Take a look and let us know what you think.

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Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 6:31 pm

Eugene Peterson on Sabbath

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (2) |

I've been reading Eugene Peterson's book Working the Angles (which is a must read for anyone in ministry), and came across this passage on Sabbath. I wanted to quote it for a couple of reasons, not least of which because of the hilarious comment about Augustine and his mother: 

We are, most of us, Augustinians in our pulpits. We preach the sovereignty of our Lord, the primacy of grace, the glory of God...But the minute we leave our pulpits we are Pelagians. In our committee meetings and our planning sessions, in our obsessive attempts to meet the expectations of people, in our anxiety to please, in our hurry to cover all the bases, we practice a theology that puts our good will at the foundation of life and urges moral effort as the primary element in pleasing God...Pelagius was an unlikely heretic; Augustine an unlikely saint. By all accounts Pelagius was urbane, courteous, convincing. Everyone seems to have liked him immensely. Augustine squandered away his youth in immorality, had some kind of Freudian thing with his mother [!], and made a lot of enemies. But all our theological and pastoral masters agree that Augustine started from God's grace and therefore had it right, and Pelagius started from human effort and therefore got it wrong. If we were as Augustinian out of the pulpit as we are in it, we would have no difficulty keeping sabbath. How did it happen that Pelagius became our master?"

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Friday, July 23, 2010 at 1:56 pm

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Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 10:50 am

Dehumanization in the Church

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (0) |

Dehumanization surrounds us in both obvious and subtle ways. The obvious ways - oppression, slavery, prostitution, and all forms of dehumanizing acts against individuals and people groups is the fruit of much more subtle seedlings of human relationality.

This week I've moved back to the States, and have been run through the ringer of a beaurocratic system that develops clean cut structures and systems which aim to categorize and label every living human being. What am I talking about? Customs. I shipped back a bunch of stuff from the UK - mostly just old clothes, books, a 10 year old laptop, etc. - but it is now being held by customs because of their inability to deal with humans rather than contrived categories. They are worried that I've bought things from other countries to sell in the states (even though the UK is more expensive and so my so-called grand scheme would be to pay double for items in the UK, spend a small fortune to ship it back, and then lose a fortune in selling it - brilliant). This may seem like a little thing - and it is - but it hints at something deeper. We run societies on the assumption that people can be easily categorized and labelled in a de-personalized way. Tax forms are probably the best example of this. Hundreds of entries attempting to tell the government something important - when in the end they fail to ask any important questions. Eugene Peterson tells a similar story about his passport, where the person behind the passport counter had known Eugene his entire life, but demanded the appropriate paperwork from hin to prove his identity. But, we probably shouldn't expect any more from the government - they do have to deal with millions of people.

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Monday, July 12, 2010 at 4:22 am

Justification and the Christian Life

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (0) |

As I am still reading some of Donald Bloesch's thoughts in his two volume (now published as one) Essentials of Evangelical Theology, I will provide a quote from him with some reflections. Bloesch states,

"Justification by faith is often considered the antithesis of salvation by works. Yet we should remember that according to the biblical witness faith does not exclude works but gives rise to works. Works of the law as well as of faith are excluded from justification, however, since the ground of our acceptance before God is not our works but Christ's atoning work on the cross. As Warfield puts it: 'Justification by faith does not mean... salvation by believing things instead of doing right. It means pleading the merits of Christ before the throne of grace instead of our own merits.'"

Justification by faith therefore, is far more than a statement we affirm, as if St. Peter is standing at the pearly gates with a scantron test ready to quiz us. Justification by faith entails a grasping of Christ by faith, and not an attempt to grasp salvation, redemption or forgiveness through our own merits. In Matthew 7 we are told of a man who stood before Jesus attempting to weild his spiritual gifts as merits - and Christ would have none of it. "I do not know you," was Christ's judgement upon him. In faith, we do not grasp justification, forgiveness or sanctification, but we grasp Christ, because in his faithfulness he has grasped us. Likewise, sanctification is the benefit of a life that grasps Christ by faith. It is, likewise, not of works, but of faith as well. But faith, through the grace of God, leads to the faithfulness of his people. 

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Friday, July 9, 2010 at 4:22 am

The Idol of Self in the Era of Lebron

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (0) |

I couldn't help but post something about the Lebron debacle. As a basketball fan I am offended at his narcissism and reality t.v.ish ploys, but more than anything else I am reminded about the American obsession with self-fulfillment. You see it in every interview when Lebron (or fill in the name of any sports star) makes what they think is the obvious ethical judgment: "I just have to do what is best for me." ESPN analyists nod in agreement at such stupidity, affirming the narcissism and even adding to it with their own sentiments - "He has to think about his family," or "It is, ultimately, a decision that has to be made by him and him alone." Now, in the long run, I don't care that Lebron left Cleveland (sorry Cleveland fans), but that this kind of self-obsession is taken for granted in our society today. To turn this a bit closer to home, I wonder how many of us have said similar things about church? "I just have to do what is best for me," therefore I am leaving and going elsewhere.

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Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 2:47 pm

Evangelical Prayer versus Mystical Prayer

Posted by Kyle Strobel | Comments (1) |

I came across another quote as I was reading Donald Bloesch that I thought I would share. This time, he is addressing different views of prayer, focusing his attention specifically on what an evangelical depiction of prayer would look like. Let me know what you think: 

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Sunday, July 4, 2010 at 5:49 pm

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