The Orthodox Church
I am doing an independent study on Eastern Orthodoxy this semester. Right now, I am finishing up Timothy Ware's book the Orthodox Church for that study.
Less than a hundred pages from the end, I really think this book is worth commending. While as a Reformed Christian I have some obvious differences with Ware's positions, I think the book as a whole is very irenic in spirit and compellingly written. The account of Orthodoxy history is especially engaging and has helped me to appreciate further the rich tradition of the Eastern Church. Reviewing the ramp up to the Great Schism of 1054 and the sack of Constantinople in 1204 reminded me all the more about the tragedy of the divided church.
It seems too me that most of us, as Western Christians, have spent too little time examining how some of the distinctives of Orthodoxy might enrich our own theological traditions. I will likely comment more on the book at some point, but, for now, it suffices to say the book is worth your time if you would like to become better aware of the Orthodox Church and its traditions.
O, Let Us Yet Be Merciful
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,
To mark the full-fraught man and best indued
With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
Another fall of man.
-King Henry V (Henry V, Act 2.2)
I've mulled this powerful passage from the play for a few days in preparation for class tonight. These words ring true in discussing when a trusted person betrays that trust. It is interesting in that Henry's response to Lord Scroop, the betrayer whom he most closely trusted, is threefold: first, realizing the danger of the three men's plot, all they must be stopped. Second, given that such a dear friend was actually willing to harm Harry for selfish gain, he recognizes the attempted betrayal is like “another fall of man” that will lead him to view even the “best” of people “with some suspicion.” They have robbed him of his ability to fully trust anyone going forward. Shakespeare clearly understands the pain of such a situation.
Most touchingly, even as Henry condemns the traitors, he notes to his fallen friend Lord Scroop that he will “weep for thee.” Henry shows a Biblical sense of justice in that even as he administers necessary justice, love rules it. He takes no pleasure in condemning the men he once held dear; and despite their attempts to harm him, he will mourn their loss. The crime must be dealt with, but he still wishes for them God's mercy.
He is Risen
In the end, the plans of men can never overpower the truth of the Christ.
Happy Easter, everyone!
Selling Like Hot Cakes
Jim Dalrymple writes,
Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst, Gene Munster, on Saturday said he believes Apple sold between 600-700 thousand iPads on the first day. This includes the pre-orders that would have been coming in since March 12.
Something tells me he is likely to be right and that there is a very good chance we could see Apple's press release announcing the iPad hitting the million unit mark before the WiFi+3G version even starts to ship (hurry up already, Apple!).
The naysayers of the last few months will be backpedaling about the iPad's impending failure any time now. Twenty years down the road, I think the iPad will be remembered as the device that finally pried people away from the desktop computer user interface model pioneered in 1984 by the Apple Macintosh.
The iPad will define the tertium quid between the PDA/phone and the PC that has been trying to appear since the ill fated Network Computers of the 1990's.
Travelogue
This has been a busy week.
On Sunday evening, my uncle flew in from Seattle and so I joined my parents in doing various touristy, fun activities with him for the first few days of the week. We went down the Great River Road in Illinois one day; the next, we made our way through Defiance and Augusta on the Missouri side. We also played quite a few hours of various card games each night. All and all, it was a whirlwind, but a fun to get to visit with him.
On Wednesday, he and my dad headed to Indiana to spend some time there with my grandfather. My mom and I joined them yesterday for my grandpa's 90th birthday parties — a small party last night and a luncheon with more of the family today.
While it has been spring break at seminary, I have more than enough reading and projects to work on to fill an otherwise empty week. Not surprisingly, I have not finished everything I need to get done yet. But, hope springs eternal: I still have until Tuesday night before my first class of the week — perhaps I can check off a few more tasks by then.
Denominationally Speaking
My #1 is: Presbyterian Church in America/Orthodox Presbyterian Church (was #2)
My #2 is: Reformed Churches (was #3)
My #3 is: Presbyterian Church USA (was #6)
My #4 is: Reformed Baptist (was #9)
How's that for a solidly Reformed beginning?
My #5 is: Methodist/Wesleyan Church (was #1)
My #6 is: Southern Baptist (was #4)
My #7 is: Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (was #10)
My #8 is: Episcopal/Anglican Church (was #14)
My #9 is: Evangelical Lutheran Church (was #13)
My #10 is: Free Will Baptist (was #7)
My #11 is: Mennonite Brethren (was #8)
My #12 is: Assemblies of God (was #5)
My #13 is: Church of Christ (was #12)
My #14 is: Orthodox Quakerism (was #11)
My #15 is: International Church of Christ (was #16)
My #16 is: Seventh-Day Adventist (was #15)
My #17 is: United Pentecostal Church (no change)
My #18 is: Eastern Orthodox Church (no change)
My #19 is: Roman Catholic Church (no change)
I continue to remain surprised on #18-19. Given my admiration for Thomism, as well as a number of elements of Orthodoxy, I'd expect the sacramental churches to score well above, say, the United Pentecostal Church on my list. Of course, this is in part the fault of the quiz system. In reality, I am more in agreement with any church that can affirm the Chalcedonian Christianity than those such as the UPC that reject (little “c”) catholic orthodoxy.
My #20 is: Jehovah's Witness (no change)
My #21 is: Mormonism (no change)
My #22 is: Liberal Quakerism (no change)
My #23 is: Unity Church (no change)
My #24 is: Unitarian Universalism (no change)
The Lost Art of Catechesis
J. I. Packer and Gary Parrett observe,
Thus, for most contemporary evangelicals the entire idea of catechesis is largely an alien concept. The very word itself—catechesis, or any of its associated terms, including catechism—is greeted with suspicion by most evangelicals today. (“Wait, isn't that a Roman Catholic thing?”)
I have noticed that probably the majority of Protestants do look rather funny at non-Catholics who mention using a catechism. This is really a shame because catechisms such as the Westminster Shorter Catechism do offer such a wonderfully rich exposition of the faith. Certainly better than many a Sunday School curriculum will ever do today.
Protestants (generally speaking) desperately need to find ways to embrace theology again and catechesis is certainly a helpful way to ground that, especially if the catechetical answer is not the sum of the teaching.
Packer is right, as he so often is.
Via: Dr. Alan Meyers
iPad
The iPad goes on pre-order in less than twelve hours. Before it does, let me go on the record to say I think the device is going to be revolutionary and will more than likely run in scarce supply for the first few months. I fully expect this to be the first mass market success for a tablet computer.
I also believe that the iPad's best uses haven't been dreamt up yet and will come out of innovative app developers finding new ways to make use of its huge multitouch display and its non-legacy foundations. The more innovation we see on the app front, the more indispensable this device will become as a third major hardware front for Apple.
With that in mind, and with full disclosure that I am an AAPL shareholder, let me suggest that I think $250/share is not an unrealistic price target within the next three to six months.
See, I'm Not the Only One Complaining About Ad Blocking
Ars Technica's Ken Fisher has a thoughtful piece on how ad blocking is killing high quality web sites.
If you read a site and care about its well being, then you should not block ads (or you subscribe to sites like Ars that offer ads-free versions of the site). If a site has advertising you don't agree with, don't go there. I think it is far better to vote with page views than to show up and consume resources without giving anything in return.
Fisher offers concise and truthful responses to some of the common defenses for blocking ads. For example,
Invariably someone always pops into a discussion like this and brings up some analogy with television advertising, radio, or somesuch. It is not in any way the same; advertisers in those mediums are paying for potential to reach audiences, and not for results. […] On the Internet everything is 100% trackable and is billed and sold as such. Comparing a website to TiVo is comparing apples to asparagus. And anyway, my point still stands: if you like this site you shouldn't block ads. (Emphasis is mine.)
It will be interesting to see how readers respond. More food for thought for those who were dubious about my own musings on the subject here or on OFB.
[HT: John Gruber]
The Church
I have been reading Edmund Clowney's the Church for one of my classes. While at first I was not sure I was going to like the book, as I have gotten further into it, it has amazed me with how precisely Clowney hits on the major issues within the church and even ones I thought might be considered generally minor but are of great interest to me.
Juxtaposed with the reading of Clowney, we were assigned to read our denominational book of order for three hours. I found reading the Book of Church Order (BCO) for that time with no goal other than gaining a greater understanding of the “territory” caused me to discover quite a few interesting things I was not even looking for and find several others I now know I need to dig into more thoroughly.
I am really enjoying the study of ecclesiology this semester.
