Fallen Into Knowledge

In 1774, the French chemist, Antoine Lavoisier, was racing to discover the properties of a substance Henry Cavendish called “inflammable air.” Lavoisier believed, as did the two other scientists who were also bent on beating him to the discovery, that this “inflammable air” might be created by de-phlogisticating otherwise ordinary air. See, the going theory was that in addition to the 4 Greek elements of air, fire, water, and earth there was this fifth element (and, no, its not love!), this fifth element was contained in combustible substances and was released during combustion. They needed something to explain the processes of rust and oxidation, and phlogiston was it. At any rate, Lavoisier was trying to remove all of the phlogiston from the air to isolate this “inflammable air” - or, aether, as it was sometimes called.
As you might expect, he didn’t succeed. (more…)

I haven’t died, although the few people who visit this Internet Outpost might have reason to think I had. Sorry about that. Most of my writing energy has been directed toward churchly duties. We are starting a sermon series on the book of Hebrews, and I have been banging out notes for that. Here are some now(!):

1. The book of Hebrews depends heavily on the Old Testament to make its argument. It is arguing from the Old Testament.
1a. We cannot assume that our audience is similarly familiar with the Old Testament.
1b. We must respect the authors movement in arguing. We cannot preach through Hebrews while ignoring the indebtedness on the Old Testament.
I think that because of this we need to “introduce” hebrews, to situate it.

2. The author frequently offers “applications” in the midst of the argument: these “parenthetical” sections are often exhortative in nature, and seem ripe for the plucking for sermon material. We must be careful not to be focus on these sections (because they are easy to preach on, relatively) to the detriment of the main argument of the book, which by contrast is harder to preach on.

3. Hebrews describes, in a sense, the mechanics of Christ’s work as embedded in Israel’s story. In that sense we can use Hebrews to (re-) build theology for the church from the ground up, as it were.

4. Everything in Hebrews relates back to Jesus either as the high Priest who accomplished the task, or to His death on a cross. These two are close to being the same thing.

Main Idea: Jesus’ role as a Superior High Priest establishes a new covenant, a new law and a new people: all these are results of and shaped by Jesus’ superior sacrifice of himself.

I’m a bit late to the game, but am also a sucker for Book-related memes. Which books do I find myself constantly recommending?

Richard B. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament.
This is theology done right, in my opinion. When I want to show that biblical studies and theology can speak to each other, or when I want to show theology to be engaging I recommend this book.

Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
I have found this a profoundly moving novel, and each time I read it I want to shout from the hills how great it is.

David James Duncan, The River Why
I recommend this because it is laugh-out-loud funny. Don’t read it in public unless you want people to give you more funny looks than they normally do.

Neil Postman, Conscientious Objections : Stirring Up Trouble About Language, Technology and Education
If I had three wishes, I might use one of them wishing to write like Postman did. This is his best book because in it he gets to talk about all of his pet subjects in essay form.

The Saga of the Volsungs
Periodically, people ask about my studies, and every once in a while I am asked to recommend a medieval text for which to read. I always start people with the Volsunga Saga. Its a great story, everything one would hope for in a medieval adventure tale. Also, it was a primary source for Wagner’s Ring Cycle and for another guy who wrote a book about a Ring. I also might recommend the other Icelandic Sagas, or The Tain

Well, I again went to find and explore the Bull of the Woods Wilderness, and this time met with success. I spent two nights and 30 miles discovering how rugged this piece of Oregon is, gazing at the enormous trees, and being eaten by the ferocious mosquitos. Here are some Pics: