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Retrospect & Prospect

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Retrospect & Prospect

Monthly Archives: March 2010

An Introduction to Timothy Tennent

30 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by Justin in Uncategorized

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ministry in the 21st century, ministry to postmoderns, missiology, tim tennent, timothy c. tennent, timothy tennent

Well, for the 4 Guys, the name Timothy Tennent isn’t new; however, I wanted to write a quick intro to Dr. T because I just received his new book Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first Century in the mail and have decided to blog through the book.  This will be less of a review and more of a report, focusing on the content of Tennent’s missiology.

I got to spend a decent amount of time with Tennent at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.  I took 4 or 5 classes with him and had lunch with him, one on one, once a week during my last 2 years on campus, not including obviously the 2 sabbaticals that he had during that time.  At the time, I begrudged him that time away because it meant that I got less time with him, but during those breaks he wrote the book just mentioned and another: Theology in the Context of World Christianity:How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology.  I’m now glad that he got that time away because I can have him with me even overseas…or at least his distilled, foundational thoughts on missiology.

He is now president of Asbury Theological Seminary, and here is the short bio on their website:

Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss TheologyDr. Tennent comes to Asbury from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he served 11 years as professor of world missions and Indian studies.  Prior to his work at Gordon-Conwell, Dr. Tennent taught missions at Toccoa Falls College in Georgia, where he was honored as teacher of the year in 1995. He also teaches annually at the Luther W. New Jr. Theological College of Dehra Dun, India, where he has served as an adjunct professor since 1989. He has also ministered and taught in China, Thailand, Nigeria and Eastern Europe.  Ordained in the United Methodist Church, he has pastored churches in Georgia, and preached regularly in churches throughout New England and across the country.  Dr. Tennent is the author of several books, including “Building Christianity on Indian Foundations,” (ISPCK, 2000); “Christianity at the Religious Roundtable,” (Baker Academic, 2002); and “Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology,” (Zondervan, 2007). He is the co-author of “Revitalizing Practice,” which is about challenges to theological education in North America (Peter Lang, 2008). Dr. Tennent is also the author of a missiology textbook entitled “Invitation to World Missions: A Missiology for the 21st Century,” which will be published in 2010. Dr. Tennent’s wife Julie (Myers) is an accomplished organist. She graduated from Gordon-Conwell with the M.E.M. degree in 1984 and has a BMus in organ from Westminster College. They have two children, Jonathan, and Bethany.

Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first Century (Invitation to Theological Studies Series)Education:  Dr. Tennent received his M.Div. in 1984 from Gordon-Conwell; the Th.M. in ecumenics, with a focus on Islam from Princeton Theological Seminary; and did graduate work in linguistics (TESL) at the University of Georgia. He completed his Ph.D. in non-western Christianity with a focus on Hinduism and Indian Christianity in 1998 at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.  He is also one of four graduates from a new leadership development program. The mentor project in academic leadership was developed and supported by the Lexington Seminar (a Lily endowment).

The more time I’ve spent with Dr T. in person, through his writings, and his lectures, I have come to believe that he really is today’s leading missiologist.  Knowing him, I should probably confess that there are thousands of missiologists in the Majority World Church that I have not read and may not ever read due to the lack of publishing resources for Christian works by non-Western writers.  And others might want to put forward others, but as an evangelical focused on reaching the unreached, training believers to sound forth the gospel in the midst of a pluralistic society, and seeing the Church in all her historic and ethnic diversity, glory, and warts, I think there’s no one better.  Am I partial…probably!

Other things:

Here is Tennent’s blog

Here you can listen to a couple of courses taught by Tennent.

Here is Asbury Theological Seminary’s chapel page.  Tennent is a powerful preacher.  He preaches at their chapel service about once every 3 weeks it seems.  He’s in Mark right now.

I share all of this as simply an intro to a series of posts I hope to write through his new book, as I mentioned.  I am already certain (only 50 pages in, about 10% of the book) that not only missionaries, mission agencies, and missiologists, but Bible School and Seminary professors and especially PASTORS ought to wrestle with what Tennent is saying and what it might mean as they teach, preach, train, counsel, direct their congregations!  I hope working through it will benefit not only myself, but that your appetite will be whet.

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Jesus changes everything…how?

13 Saturday Mar 2010

Posted by Justin in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

law and gospel, New Testament Ethics, Old Testament Ethics

Hello folks, I was in the shower the other day, and a thought struck me.  I haven’t thought long and hard on this at all, so its a young thought that would invite your input if you have a minute.  In a nut shell, I was thinking about the relationship between Religion and State (See my earlier post on Susan Wise Bauer’s History of the Medieval World and you might understand why that was on my mind), particularly thinking about the Old Testament Theocratic ordinances for Israel and their use for today.  I know a ton has been written on this, and I’ve only read a couple books on OT Ethics, though I’ve read a good deal on the use of the law for the believer, but most of those books just throw the civic laws in the bucket of “fulfilled by Christ laws” and move on.

I don’t know if someone has already suggested what I’ve started thinking, but it seems to make initial sense to me.  Let me know what you think.

It seems that instead of some laws becoming null and void due to the fulfillment of Christ in the past, that they actual are to be fulfilled in the future by Christ.  It seems that most folks are saying that the Civic laws are no longer active because Israel is no longer the people of God and the Church isn’t a Theocracy, but a people throughout all the nations, therefore there is no place for the laws to be active and fulfilled…besides, Jesus brought the Kingdom of God, and the laws of the Kingdom of God cancel the Laws of the OT Theocracy.  I’m sure this is a little simplistic summary of a complex argument.  Sorry, but it’s all I got right now.

After reflection, I think it makes more sense to say that the Civic laws are enforced…only retroactively.  For instance, in the OT, a homosexual would have been put to death should they have been found guilty of practicing that lifestyle; however, who now enforces the civic laws of God on the earth?  It would seem – no one.  But the Bible is clear that at His second coming, Jesus will judge men and women according to their deeds, and homosexuality is one offense listed through OT and NT as being under the judgment of God, so we can safely say that there is no room in the Kingdom for one who practices such things.

We know that God has postponed His immediate judgment against sin, otherwise the world would be empty of living for who could stand before God is He chose to judge us as we deserve?  Another related point, in my mind is the idea of circumcision.  It was practiced in the OT, but even throughout the OT, we find that it should have pointed to a interior reality.  If you are to be God’s people, you need a circumcised heart.  The foreskin was merely a place holder for the time that God would grant the New Covenant, circumcising the hearts of His people.

It may seem flimsy at the moment, but I want to argue, tentatively, that in the OT, OUTWARD action was God’s modus operandi.  Outward action that should/would point to an ultimate INWARD reality.  So, the Israelites circumcised their foreskins, an outward act, looking forward to the inward fulfillment, and homosexuals were put to death right then, in a physical judgment that pointed to the spiritual judgment to come. 

But the NT reality is not the same…au contraire, God declares the INWARD reality in the present, right now.  We now have circumcised hearts already!  This inward NOW-reality points to the day when God will give us full new bodies and declare outright that we are free from outward judgment.  Similarly, the NT declares that those who are living in sin are already under the non-outward judgment of God.  The wrath of God is already being revealed, inwardly, against these men and women, while the actual sentencing and outward punishment awaits for the moment.  One could argue that there is still outward manifestations of judgment as I guess you could argue that those who are being saved have some outward manifestations of their status as well, however, the throne room declaration of non-guilty and entering into the presence of God as a redeemed child and the throne room declaration of guilty and eternal judgment are things that will be very much manifested in the future.  Another example of this is Church discipline where the Church declares about a person spiritual what will later be confirmed by God outwarding.  What they loose has been loosed and what they bind has already been bound!  They are voicing a spiritual reality that has been declared by God and about which, He will eventual take action.

So, since Jesus, there has been a reversal from the OT pattern of immediate outward action pointing to or confirming ultimate and eventual spiritual action (and eventual the final physical action at the second coming) to the NT pattern of immediate and ultimate spiritual action to be later confirmed by God’s physical action.  Now, the question is why this seems to be the case?  My first thought is that it has to do with God’s hidden mystery of the ages that the gentiles would become the children of God.  God preferred this take place not through the growing of a single government and people who would incorporate conquered foes, but through men and women who would be conquered by Christ and put his sufferings on display to the world, preaching and illustrating the Cross through word and deed.  I’m sure much more could be said regarding Jesus in all this, because He has constituted a whole new reality!  It revolves around his work, I just haven’t parsed all that out yet.

But, first check my thinking here.  Thanks.

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Join with what God is doing in Japan

07 Sunday Mar 2010

Posted by Justin in Uncategorized

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Hey one and all, I wanted to share about an opportunity to empty your pockets for the glory of God.  Christ Bible Seminary in Nagoya, Japan was started just a few years ago by a friend named Michael Oh.  The seminary, while still quite small, is doing some remarkable work in Japan, and their vision for God’s glory in Japan is compelling.  My wife and I support Michael and his family on a monthly basis.  That’s how much we believe in what they are doing!  You can find out more about this opportunity at Desiring God’s blog, the seminary has set up a little website which has a full explanation, and hear more of Michael’s story from Bethlehem Baptist’s pastor’s conference site where he recently shared and on Urbana’s site where he shares about being a South Korean man seeking to advance the Kingdom in Japan despite the unpleasant history between these peoples.

At least look and pray!  But,  better: look, pray, and give!

Monsieur S

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A History of the World – Susan Wise Bauer goes Medieval on us

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by Justin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Faith and Politics, Religion and Politics, Susan Wise Bauer, The History of the Medieval World

book cover

Sorry for the lame title of this post, but how else is one supposed to introduce the insanity that is writing a history of the world…that’s right, the whole world.  Susan Wise Bauer’s second installment in her history of the entire world, published little more than a week ago, is called The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, and it begins where the first book in the series The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome wraps up. 

Let me, first, say a word about the genre of a world history book/series.  For a historian, this undertaking is their Super Bowl, the World Series, and March Madness all rolled into one.  Imagine for one moment what it means to try and write a history of the entire world – including all sections of the globe, covering all time for as long as written history (and a little before) has existed!

Because we are already discussing the challenge presented by the task of writing a history of the whole world, I want to organize my review of Bauer’s The History of the Medieval World (HMW) with a short list of weaknesses.  While it’s not the most flattering way to start a review, it is helpful here because the weaknesses in Bauer’s HMW are those that will inevitably exist in any attempt to write a history of the whole world.  Perhaps the best thing I can say for Bauer’s HMW is that those are the only real weaknesses that I find.  And you will see that the things I appreciate most about the book relates to how well she handles these unique challenges.

For instance, due to the massiveness that is this genre, you will always end up leaving people, places, and things out in order to actually finish the project.  Bauer doesn’t just cover Western Civilization here, but many readers will be, for the first time, introduced to Korean Kingships, Chinese Dynasties, Indian Rajas, and much more.  So, do not read this book looking for the final word on any person, place, or period.  Instead, think of Bauer as a gracious host introducing you to a myriad of guests at an international dinner party.  Her job is to make the introduction in such a way as to pique your interest in the other guests at the party so that you’ll decide to get to know them on your own.  In this, Bauer excels.  Not only will you discover the names and dates of important battles, but you’ll also hear how the victorious king had a daughter that made life difficult on him due to her unhappiness with her wimpy husband.  A wimpy husband who happened to rule an adjacent kingdom with which peace was established through an arranged marriage of said princess!  With Bauer, you quickly realize that history is not the story of demi-gods whose only job is to conquer other demi-gods, but that it is a story of humanity…ugly warts and all.

Another weakness in the genre of world history texts is the pressure to settle on a theme or overarching great idea that helps explain and tie together this massive amount of information.  Most historians, sadly, avoid this altogether.  This almost always results in two things that, in my opinion, are unacceptable when it comes to history: a boring read and the misconception that history is a hodge-podge of unrelated peoples, places, and ideas.  It gives the impression that humanity is not coming or going.  It’s all discontinuity and chaos.

I am happy to say that Bauer manages to avoid both of these problems.  HMW is not boring.  Sure, there will be moments when she is tracing a little known and insignificant kingdom in Southern India that you may yawn or blink out for a moment on.  History is not all epic battles, so we can expect some domestic, tamed details here and there.  But what Bauer does well, and what gives meaning to those slightly less interesting parts, is to trace a shared story of humanity.  As you may guess from her subtitle, the relationship between Faith and Politics is the great idea that she works with to bring some order out of chaos.

Now, you may disagree with some of her conclusions.  Perhaps you will argue that Constantine had less or more influence over the Council of Nicaea than Bauer suggests, or perhaps you won’t buy her argument that Clovis was merely a second Constantine, using religion for political stability.  Again, our genre does not lend itself to nuance.  I often found myself saying something like, “I’m not sure if she believes more that the religion of King X shaped his politics or vice versa, or a little of both, or to what degree.”  This is to be expected.  What we CAN see from Bauer’s presentation is that, YES, these two: politics and religion, have had a precarious and unfathomably important relationship.  If one could understand the fullness of how man has sought to be master of faith or be mastered by faith, then one would understand humanity.  Think about it for a moment…especially in our current political and religious climate, is there a more important global issue  that the relationship between religion and politics?  I don’t think so, especially as we understand that so many other important issues (poverty, etc) flow directly out of these two arenas.

As a Christian, I pray that our world leaders, pastors, and people in the pews would read Bauer’s works.  What if we had a fuller understanding of the history of this relationship between faith and politics?  The Church needs that.  I believe the governments of the world need it.  Much more could be said about how the Church today should interact with the governments of the world, but this is not the place to start that conversation. 

I want to end, simply by giving a wholehearted endorsement of this series.  Start at the beginning.  I am sure that your thinking will be enriched by the process.  I own both of the available volumes and plan to buy the forthcoming volumes as well.  In fact, I would encourage you to find out more about Susan Wise Bauer as she has much wisdom to share not only regarding history, but education (such as resources put out by her publishing company Peacehill Press and her books on classical education published by Norton) and the current important issue of today’s political figures and their less than stellar private lives, for instance here.

So…get to reading.

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