All Theology, Rightly Formed, is Practical
On Facebook, a few minutes ago I posted a status concerning Martin Bucer's on the True Care of Souls:
Today, I read Martin Bucer's on the True Care of Souls. Bucer's pastoral theology is superb, which is unsurprising, since his ecumenical (and, as a consequence, his eucharistic) theology was driven by his constant pastoral concern and determination to achieve the “peace and purity of the church.”
What strikes me as I mull over this is that Bucer would be appalled at our current distinction between “Biblical,” “Practical,” “Historical” and “Systematic” theology. In this work, as in de Regno Christi and his other writings, he constantly blurs disciplines. He, along with his friend and fellow laborer Philipp Melanchthon, probably knew the Fathers better than any of their opponents, for example, and Bucer's familiarity with many of the sources of theology shows strongly in this handbook to pastoral theology.
The four-fold categorization of theology is unhelpful because it encourages us to compartmentalize and think that some theology is inherently practical whilst other theology is something else. But, as Dr. Douglass likes to remind his students at Covenant frequently, orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy. Each theological discipline, when thought through properly, should flow into applications within the Church.
If only more of the “Christian living” works that were authored followed the great Reformers' examples.
Let it Snow
It is actually snowing tonight. While snow is not exactly an odd occurrence in the winter, it is odd for this winter here in St. Louis. Finally. As I write this, I can see big fluffy flakes coming down all across the backyard.
RPW
If you stick around Presbyterian circles for a season, you will probably hear us make reference to the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW) at some point. If I may be anachronistic by less than a century, Martin Bucer defines the principle well in his book, de Regno Christi:
“The first [property of the Kingdom of Christ] is that whatever is done in the churches should pertain to the ministry and contribute to the gaining of men's salvation in such a way that, cleansed from sins and reconciled to God through Christ, they may worship and glorify God in Christ the Lord in all piety and righteousness.
“Whatever does not contribute to this end, and nothing can do so which has not been ordained for this purpose by the Son of God and so commended to us, should be rejected and abolished by those who wish the Kingdom of God restored among them.”
Late Night Haiku XXXIX
CIX. The rain falls softly,
Unspoken sorrow waters
The coming year's plants.
CX. Rain in January
Paints a picture of autumn,
Not winter, nor spring.
CXI. The bleak midwinter
Melts the dried tubers which lack
Rosetti's snow sheet.
Big
David Goldman reports on Apple's most recent quarter results, announced today:
It was one of the most profitable quarters ever for any U.S. company, trailing only ExxonMobil's (XOM) record-setting $14.8 billion quarter from the fall of 2008, when oil prices were at an all-time high.
That is an incredible quarter reflecting Apple's really compelling lineup of products versus the competition.
HT: John Gruber
With a Bang
The first day of the semester went wonderfully. I really find “syllabus day” rather enjoyable, because it is an opportunity to start weaving in the basic framework of the course and start the process of getting to know the students. I'm looking forward to day two, come Wednesday.
And, It Starts
At 1:00 p.m. today, I finally get to resume teaching. While I've been keeping plenty busy with the winter quarter of Ph.D. studies and work around church — so the last six weeks haven't been exactly “downtime” — I have been looking forward to another semester of college teaching. As I told my students last semester, what can be better than getting to spend a semester discussing “great ideas”?
Without further ado, in about twelve hours, it all starts again…
Medieval and Reformation in Parallel
This week has moved at a breakneck pace. Presbytery on Tuesday was definitely the highpoint, of course. Nonetheless, the rest of the week was also enjoyable enough. I've spent it wading through some really fascinating materials on Martin Bucer, Philipp Melanchthon and medieval religious movements in England for my coursework.
Intensely studying medieval and reformation theology at the same time really helps to remind oneself of just how interrelated the two are. Clearly something significant changed when Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door. But, I think Protestants and Catholics alike — for different reasons — do history a disservice when we portray the Reformation era as essentially entirely different from the medieval era.
The Reformation was just that: reform.
Momentum
Oh, why not? I haven't made any predictions on here concerning politics in ages. While refraining to comment on who I'm rooting for, I'll say this: after Newt's performance in Thursday's debate, his notable endorsements, etc., I think South Carolina will go for the former speaker tomorrow.
iBooks Textbooks
Besides being interested in Apple technology generally, I am very intrigued by the new iBooks textbook functions premiered today from the standpoint of a teacher. The idea of being able to produce a highly interactive textbook that tie in with iTunes U sounds marvelous to me. That Apple seems to be working hard to drive down the price of textbooks only makes the whole proposition sound even better.
I think the one thing that is disappointing (though I can hardly expect Apple to fix it) is that the iBooks platform remains iOS-only. To me, a truly good e-textbook platform needs to work at least on Macs and PCs in addition to tablets and phones. Being able to use the Kindle app on my Mac to quickly cite materials I have highlighted is invaluable.
Relatedly, mobile device compatibility is also an issue. While iBooks works on iOS, the Kindle book platform works on iOS, Android, WebOS, BlackBerry OS, etc. In as much as one must have an iPad to use the new iBooks functionality, it seems to me that professors could only take advantage of the technologies Apple showed off if all students received an iPad as part of their tuition package.
That's unfortunate.
