Screwing for Virginity

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

"Evil and the Crucified God"

Let's continue our discussion of N.T. Wright's lecture series, "Evil and the Justice of God," with "Lecture 3: Evil and the Crucified God." Review the archives for discussion of the previous lectures.

Discussion Questions:

How does Wright articulate the problem of evil in a different way from the modern logical problem of evil? What does Wright do with those questions? If we accept what Wright is saying, what do we do with the modern logic problems?

Did Jesus have to die? Did he come to earth in order to die?

Is the church currently living out Christ's victory in the cross, or is it contributing to the problem?

What would a truly Christian political structure look like?

posted by Unknown @ Saturday, November 05, 2005  

5 Comments:

  • At 6:35 PM, November 07, 2005, Blogger Chris said…

    Christ came to, as Wright writes (hehe), "...Jesus articulates and models the call to Israel to be Israel". As I have said elsewhere, the Old Testament references to the "Suffering Servant" and the "Son of Man" are referring to Israel. Christ comes and fills those office to model how "Israel is to be Israel". This is the reason for the Incarnation. But Israel as God's covenant people is not to be a nation set apart. This idea can be supported looking at Exodus 19:5-6, "Indeed the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kindom and a holy nation." This appears to support the interpretation that Israel is to be set apart. However, this verse contains to mistranslations. 1. The "indeed" is better translated as "because". 2. The "but" isn't in the Hebrew. Therefore, this verse should be read "Because the whole earth is mine, you shall be a priestly kingdom and a holy nation." Therefore, Israel is to represent God to the World and the world to God. However, Israel failed to follow this call. Christ came to show Israel how to do this. And as Wright says, "Jesus had warned his people of God's impending judgment for their failure to follow his call, to be the light of the world, for their failure to embody their own life that justice and mercy to which God had called them."
    Israel failed to follow Christ's model, and perhaps Christ learned that his model was impossible to follow. He then took "upon himself the direct consequences...of the failure and sin of Israel."
    Just some thoughts...I want a discussion to get up and moving.

     

  • At 7:49 PM, November 07, 2005, Blogger Unknown said…

    Doesn't "holy" mean "set apart"? If Israel is not to be set apart, why is the church?

     

  • At 9:17 PM, November 07, 2005, Blogger Chris said…

    But I think that the meaning and identity of being the "chosen" people lies not in seperation from, but connection to, the pagan nations of the world - God's world.
    "Set apart" not in the sense being selected for salvation in distinction from the nonelect who are damned. "Set apart" in the sense that they are chosen to embody and bear witness to God's revelation to others. "Set apart" to be intimately connected.

     

  • At 8:27 PM, November 08, 2005, Blogger Unknown said…

    So is the difference between identity and call? Israel is a holy nation, but they saw their "set-apartedness" as something to be maintained, analogous to Christ's description of his disciples as not of this world, but Christians interpret this as a call to not be involved in anything secular.

     

  • At 3:04 PM, November 09, 2005, Blogger Chris said…

    We all need a sense of identity if we are to enjoy true intimacy. You cannot give if you have not first received. If you want to love your neighbor you had better love yourself. It is not a choice. Healthy boundaries are points of connection.
    So they have a seperate identity and a seperate call. But the call is to not seperate yourself from the world. So I agree.

     

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