Blog Book Discussion: Living the Cross Centered Life

Over the next few weeks I will be engaging in a conversation with several women at my church. Our conversation will revolve around the nature of the gospel per the wonderful reflections of C. J. Mahaney in Living the Cross Centered Life. If you have an opportunity, pick up this book for yourself and join the discussion here at Flash Point. Mahaney writes,

'We never move from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross.' The cross and its meaning aren't something we ever master.

How has the gospel transformed your life? Do you continue to experience its transformative power as you learn more about the triune God? I am constantly amazed when I consider God's absolute justice and his perfect love how it is that he would save us through the sacrifice of his own Son, the second person of the godhead. Believing this is one thing, but how many of us treat as more than merely an abstract, spiritual truth? Does the cross inform every area of your life? The cross centered life is truly the foundation of a Christian worldview.

Reading "Womens Books"

Like most people I know, I read a lot of books. I rarely browse when I go into a bookstore or visit Amazon, I generally know exactly what I'm looking for. As a woman in ministry to other women, I have to say that I rarely read books written by women for women. That isn't to say that I can't or shouldn't -- after all, I'm working on one of my own for women in the church. But when I do browse in a Christian bookstore, I usually head for the theology or apologetics department to see what's new. I like to check out the latest in the great apologetics methodology debates (which, by the way, seems silent these days). Bioethics books and other reflections on contemporary culture are equally interesting areas to browse. I don't usually end up in the women's Christian living section until right before I head to the checkout. Sometimes I pick something up, but generally I don't. There are wonderful books written by women for women, and I think I own them all (well, almost). Carolyn Custis James, Elyze Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth George--these are solid women writing for women in the church. I hope someday soon I can be added to that list.

Is there a propensity for women in the church to first enter the women's section of the Christian living isles in the bookstore to search for a book? I wish I had some statistics, I just know that of the women I know, many are doing just that. Occasionally I hear someone say how much they loved reading Martin Luther (however, this was a seminary graduate), but what I usually hear is women looking for the right topics, but pursuing the topics through women's authors.

A question recently asked of me is whether I could point a woman to some theology books written by women. I certainly can, but why do they need to be written by women? Do evangelical women think they can only read books written by women? I think many do. For those that lean that way, I hope it isn't because they believe male writers are writing for men and that serious theology books are off limits to women.

I'd like to hear from you, Christian women, on this topic. What are your own reading habits like? What do you read? Who do you read? What about the other women in your ministries? I realize that not every woman is interested in reading Cornelius Van Til's Systematic Theology or Carl F.H. Henry's God, Revelation, and Authority like I am. I just hope at least we're buying books on hermeutics instead of allowing our women's bible studies to provide a short cut through the work of locating context.

Reviving Evangelical Ethics: Book Review

As an ethicist and cultural critic, I enjoy engaging all kinds of ideas because I take seriously the biblical injunction to 'take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.'

People face an onslaught of challenges in todays world that necessitate biblical reflection such that their decisions are most glorifying to God. This isn't to imply that the bible contains every answer for ever dilemma we face. It does, however, provide us with principles and rules through which we can consider other matters that aren't specifically mentioned in the Bible.

So I find myself baffled, when with little explanation, I hear it taught that "Christianity isn't a set of rules," that it's about a relationship with God. You probably think at this point that I'm a moron, that I would actually question such a statement. Of course, I accept and embrace that Christianity is about the relationship I have with God, but this isn't to the exclusion of considering ways of right living and a pursuit of God that seeks to glorify him in our lives, lives that are a sequence of actions. I fear we confuse people when we speak of it in any other way.

Often when we consider the overall nature of the bible, we think of the old testament as containing the Law and plethora of unachievable expectations in the form of rules and regulations. Then as grace enters the picture through the loving sacrifice of Jesus, we see the fulfillment of the Law in Christ. The tendency to not see grace in the old testament and see no place for rules in the new testament leaves a believer missing a lot of what the Bible was intended to communicate to its readers.

In her book, Reviving Evangelical Ethics, Wyndy Corbin Reuschling hones in on the topic of ethics and its relationship to the Christian life. She states,

Righteousness or justification is not just 'being made right with God;' it connotes living right with God, fulfilling moral obligations consonant with a new orientation and perspective. To think of being declared righteous' without any accompanying commitment to actually act righteously is not what the biblical writers had in mind in their instructions on the Christian life. (p. 110)

Our ontological status, our state of being righteous, gives great hope to the individual that their eternal future is secure in Christ. But as we unpack what it means to live for Christ, we discover the important element of sanctification and our participation in that process, sinful creatures seeking to live the moral life. Frankly, its clear by looking at our daily activities that we are constantly up against ethical quandries. So how is it that Christianity isn't about rules?

Obviously becoming a Christian isn't dependent upon doing something that puts you in a position of acceptability before God. In that sense, Christianity is not about a set of rules. And of course, living the Christian life is about constantly seeing God's grace manifest in ways unimaginable. We see God's hand care for his children in ways that demonstrates his graciousness. But this isn't to the exclusion of expected ways of living and being.

Reuschling does a great job speaking to the misuses of the Bible and the danger associated with seeing Scripture is merely a set of categorical imperatives. She states,

My concern with this deontological approach is twofold. One is that it actually undermines scripture as revelation, since it limits scripture to little more than a book of revealed rules. Two, this view limits scripture's effectiveness in shaping our moral lives if the primary question posed is "What ought I do?"...For all the emphasis that evangelicals place on the authority of the Bible, a deontological perspective may reduce and diminish the Bible's importance as a source for moral guidance because it restricts ethics to just following principles, rules, and commands, and the Bible to a mere instrument.....Moral formation requires more than just the ability to follow principles and rules. We need the requisit discernment, practical wisdom, and virtues.....The scriptures shape and direct our moral sensibilities, vision, and capacities in many ways. (p. 69-70)

Here she has effectively assisted the church in stating that being a Christian isn't about following a set of rules, but she does not suggest that their are no rules. The Bible is limited if we posit that it is merely a book of rules. Clearly, it contains directives and, as God's spoken Word, it develops us as His followers. What that means is that as we are becoming closer to God in our sanctification, we are gaining wisdom that assists us in our decision-making. As our worldview comes together coherently, we are able to consider whatever comes our direction because we are reflecting on what we know about God and what he has given to us in scripture.

There is much more to be taken from this book, I've merely touched upon some things that I've been considering about ethics as it relates to the lives of women in the church. I believe this will be a helpful book to students of ethics. This book is due to be released in April by Brazos Press, and I obviously encourage you to check it out.

Biotechnology and the Human Good: Book Review

As human life and dignity continues to face unrelenting assault from the influences of secularism in our culture, I am thankful to know that this book is available. Biotechnology and the Human Good brings biotechnology where it belongs - in the realm of worldview and philosophy.

Biotechnology and the Human Good (BHG) is coauthored by experts in the field of bioethics: C. Ben Mitchell, Edmund Pellegrino, Jean Bethke Elshtain, John F. Kilner, and Scott Rae. BHG provides discussion on the philosophical framework that structures the dominant worldviews in the bioethics arena: Christian theism, Philosophical Naturalism and Environmentalist Biocentrism. It then moves into a discussion on human dignity in relationship to biotechnology, considering various views in light of the critical assessment criteria comprehensiveness, consistency, and credibility. Comprehensiveness addresses the application of the concept of human dignity, that it "covers all people to whom the term appropriately applies." (p. 65). Consistency refers to the concept of human dignity being able to "withstand the critiques it levels at other approaches." (p. 65). Credibility speaks to the plausibility of the concept, that it "accords with what we know about the present and what we hope about the future." (p. 65).

Near the end of the book there lists presuppositions for engagement. They are:

1. We must begin with the affirmation of a creator of everything.
2. We also affirm that the biblical account is the best guide to understanding the nature, problems, and ends of human life.
3. As all human beings-regardless of age or level of development, health, disability, or status-are God's imagers, each is worthy of respect and protection.
4. Human beings are also distinct from human tissues.
5. Human beings were created for community and communion, with God and with one another.
6. The fundamental problem of humankind is not physical or mental inadequacy, but sin.

Finally, I want to share this quote from chapter seven as I believe it addresses a larger problem.

The challenges presented by advancing technologies, particularly biotechnologies, are growing almost exponentially. Yet...we are theologically ill equipped to address these challenges wither individually or collectively. One of the major deficiencies lies in the fact that theology has too often become an arcane, academic discipline. We have forgotten...the Puritans, who understood that for theology to have meaning, it must permeate every aspect of life...The theological community must take up the issues we raise in this book and lift its sights from its own intradisciplinary conversations to an interdisciplinary engagement with medicine, philosophy, law, science, industry, and the lay community. For only in the context of a robust, practical theology of living can a workable theology of technology and biotechnology be developed.

As members of the Christian community, we are barely having the conversation about biotechnology or bioethics in general in an intradisciplinary manner. As members of the Church, we need to educate and equip believers on these issues so that they are prepared to give an answer when they least expect they will need one. This is an excellent resource for the Church and for college/seminary students as they consider how to minister in contemporary culture.

Georgetown University Press, Washington D.C.
ISBN: 1589011384

Living On the Boundaries

This isn't exactly a book review, I will have more on this later - perhaps even in the form of an interview. But if you have a chance, this book is a well written analysis of the relationship between women theologians, feminism, and the academy. Let me first get this off the table - I'm not a feminist. However, I think feminism has served well to point out some of the disparities associated with gender. This book largely responds to the question, Where are the good women? as it pertains to women theologians in Christian institutions.

I appreciate this particular thought conveyed by the authors about where some women like us often find ourselves....and it can be very distressing.

For academic women to endure anti-intellectual elements of the subculture and to be marginal in the academic culture is a difficult combination, but one that is often taken on as a call or a responsibility. (p. 42)

Says a female evangelical,

Granted, the anti-intellectual aspects of American evangelicalism can be frustrating, and the anti-woman bias has the potential to get on my last good nerve. However, my identification as an evangelical means that I cannot just abandon them whenever they annoy me. (p. 43)

The theological truths that I hold will always be what steers my involvement in all areas of life. I am not at risk of cutting my ties to evangelicalism either. I'm neither interested in for myself or any other women the role of senior pastor or elder, but I do believe women have a great deal to offer the church in the area of education, and as I continue to pursue my own education and seek my first academic assignments, I'm thankful for women like Nancy Pearcey, Christine Pohl, Nicola Creegan, and others who are opening up the discussion. I'm also thankful for the male academics who have seen and communicate about the injustices to women in the theological academy, and I'm especially grateful for those who inspire me to continue.

Living On the Boundaries, IVP
ISBN: 0830826653