The Edge of the Inside » Bible

The Voice New Testament

Todd Littleton — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:40:08 +0000

Modern Bible translations seem to appear on shelves with increasing frequency. Some projects find as their distinction the particular method employed when handling the translation of original languages. The Voice grows out of an appreciation for the Scriptures and offers a fresh contemporary narrative approach to reading the Scriptures.

I first discovered The Voice Project when conference sponsors offered a copy of a couple of the early books. Then, at The Emergent Gathering in Glorieta a couple of years ago, my friend Chris Seay invited breakout participants to assist with the Psalms. My brother and I were assigned a Psalm to be included in the release of the Old Testament.

Chris was in town for a Robbie Seay Band concert at Crossings Community Church. He showed me the first copy of The Voice New Testament as I dropped him off at his hotel. A few weeks later he was a the Renovare Conference in Houston and was excited about the shipment of new copies he has recently received.

I bought a copy recently and have been reading through Matthew. Recently a young mother asked what Bible she should buy her children. I suggested The Voice New Testament. In fact, I am suggesting The Voice New Testament for our youth. Recovering the Scripture as narrative will be increasingly important. Helping children and youth make this discovery may be a means to revive the Scriptures as a beautiful story of the love of God.

The layout facilitates reading as what has traditionally been found in footnotes is actually set off in the text. These “boxes” provide a bridge between movements in the story. For example, in Matthew the bridge from The Sermon on the Mount to “what happens next” is amplified in the text and keeps the readers eyes above the solid line. Rather than get lost in the “notes” these transitions actually keep the reader on pace and with the story.

I highly recommend a copy of The Voice New Testament and when the Old Testament is released, get one of those too!

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Love Trumps Submission … McKnight at BTS

Todd Littleton — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:39:16 +0000

My brother Trent is a Cubs fan. He and Scot McKnight would enjoy conversations over the “Cubbies.” No doubt they both held out hope there would be no October meltdown. But, like the stock market decline, the Cubs crashed and burned.

It was quite fun to listen to Scot, Todd Hiestand and John Franke talk baseball. [A little known fact would be the vault like memory John Franke has regarding baseball - able to recall who played in any playoff and world series dating waaaayyy back.] There is something about conversation that deepens relationships regardless of the subject.

Scot delivered a talk at the recent Missional Christianity … Church Beyond Boundaries Conference at Biblical Seminary. The title of his presentation, “The Bible and Missional Listening.” If you have not listened to Scot, then you have missed an artist at work. He has an uncanny knack of weaving images into his talks, and likely lectures, opening the imagination. [For instance you might get his talk on the "What is the Emerging Church?" from Westminster and listen for his literary references to Mark Twain in his first talk at the Student Forum. Or, you may find his little book on the atonement helpful. In A Community Called Atonement, Scot describes the various "theories" of the atonement as clubs in a golf bag, we need them all.]

Being a Southern Baptist, I am always interested in what someone says about the Bible. Interestingly I was trained to think it more important to listen for what people note about the Scriptures more than what they think about Jesus. The logic is that if you get it right “about” the Bible, then you will get Jesus right. My experience in and around church life for more than 20 years in some form of leadership betrays that logic. I believe I have recovered from this mistake of putting the Bible before Jesus. At least I am like any good addict, recovering.

You should look for the DVD on this talk, and conference, when it comes out at Shapevine. In the mean time, consider this from McKnight,

“Those who have a proper approach (relationally) to the Scriptures don’t need the language of authority. Love trumps submission.

For McKnight “authority” fosters a relationship “to” the Bible rather than facilitates a relationship “with” the God of the Bible. The better question, better than “What is your view of Scripture?”, would be “What is my relationship to the God of the Bible?’

Before you think McKnight throws out “authority” understand his assertion is a relationship of love with the God of Scriptures does not require the language game of authority. There is more to Scot’s talk than that but it is not less than that. I suggest you pick up his newest “little book,” The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible.

The Bible is the Book for the Church

Todd Littleton — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:12:14 +0000

This past Friday I enjoyed the “Missional Christianity … Church Beyond Boundaries” at Biblical Theological Seminary. Shapevine will offer a DVD of the conference soon. Scot McKnight, Darrell Guder, Tim Keel and Brian McLaren offer thoughts on the subject. The DVD will be worth your money and watching it worth your time. I found this video of another upcoming conference i will not be able to attend. But, my friend John Franke makes a statement that captured my imagination. In fact, Tim and John’s conversation is helpful in clarifying the hope of the conference amidst a love for the Church and the mission of God. I am hopeful Emergent Village or the Nazarene Seminary will record, podcast or video the event. If you can make it, Tim told me there is still room.

Torture and Christ Following – Evangelicals Suffering

Todd Littleton — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:29:32 +0000

We always enjoyed a good game of football on our block. There were not many of us but Mike was older and he made a great “all time” quarterback for the games we younger fellows played. Occasionally Mike would think it cool to “torture” us. Sure, we may have annoyed him immensely. He would pin us down in the front yard and with his knuckle tap quickly either on our foreheads or breastbone. We laughed at first. Then it hurt. Hurt like nothing else. Bully? Most would say so. I could not think of doing that to another person today – and only recall such tactics employed on younger brothers on very few occasion. After all, “Mom” was in their corner in those matters.

My friend Brian pointed to this article on a recent survey of “Southern While Evangelicals” and the woeful numbers who fail to consider the Scriptures when thinking about the issue of torture and other political matters. What do you think?

Rock, Paper, Scissors – Thoughts on Sectarian Theology

Todd Littleton — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:41:17 +0000

Now let’s see, paper covers rock, scissors cut paper and rock smashes scissors. We recently watched the Big Brother’s version of “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” I know, I know. Reality TV is not really real. Watching the interpersonal relationships is quite intriguing – especially when you throw in a half million dollar game. What we are willing to let go of to win. After all it is about winning.

Late Monday evening I received an alert to new Lifeway Research regarding opinions about the Bible among Southern Baptist pastors and church members. The article portrays a sharp disconnection between the views held between these two groups,

Research from two new studies indicates a disconnect between Southern Baptist pastorsâ?? view of Scripture and those of the people in their pews.

We Southern Baptists trumpet our view of the Bible as the one item that wins all “Rock, Paper, Scissors” debates. It is the trump card in Spades. It is the “little bird card” in the game of Rook. Engage in a discussion and the conversation turns on our agreement on words to describe the Bible – inerrant, infallible, truth without any mixture of error, and on we could go.

Eventually we gather and divide around the “right” view of the Scriptures. We Southern Baptists are right about everything, just ask us. If you don’t ask, we will tell you anyway. And, if there is any hint one might claim to be Southern Baptist but does not play by the prevailing language game then someone will truly question your Baptist Identity. It would be one thing if this were acute to Southern Baptists. But it is not.

I have a friend in the PCA. You want to get something going just raise the specter of N.T. Wright on justification. Choose a side in the Auburn Avenue – Federal Vision affair and keyboards will light up like the Beijing Olympics pyrotechnic show. Pit these two conservative groups together and we can “walk together in agreement” until it comes to baptism. The we pull out the “rock, paper, scissors.”

For some these different interpretation clearly identify the malady in the church. For others it could be solved, “If they just believed the Bible.” Peter Rollins (How [Not] to Speak of God) suggests these differences are a matter of interpretation and express the lack of our ability to completely name and define the nature of God and what it means to be his people and their accompanying expressions. Before you quit reading, Rollins does not consider talk about God an impossibility. He is concerned we bring God down when in our language games we pull out our “rock, paper, scissors” game. There is much to learn from the truth refracted through the diamond of the event of God and our experience of the God who reveals himself in Jesus.

Sectarian theology often trades the larger story of the work of God for my located story embedded in the history of our particular forebears. This move is akin to the charge Stanley Hauerwas (A Better Hope) makes asserting the Church in America traded the story of God for a support role in buttressing the project of the developing democratic republic. We may only rise above hyphenated theology, God-talk, when we follow the narrative of Scripture excised from the narrative of “God and Country.” This is not anti-American, it is pro-God. That is, it is about returning to the view we live in God’s story rather than fit God into our story.

It is at this point where I return to the Lifeway research piece. We can battle those in the pews all day long. We can overwhelm them with our theologizing and well-crafted arguments. The problem may lie in how we fought our battle. It may be those in the pews simply reflect what we has been portrayed to them. Talk of an inerrant, infallible Bible followed by pragmatic tactics to win the war of Scriptural fidelity may have left them, and some of us not surveyed, thinking we are all talk.

David reviewed Scot McKnight‘s new book, The Blue Parakeet. (I am still hoping for my review copy.) The one compelling thing we video chatted on Skype about was Scot‘s provocative turn on the issue of authority. Standing red-faced and sweaty shouting how we find the authority of Scripture our only source of truth for life and faith is nothing but grandstanding when our lives reflect a different authority – our egos, our personal sensibilities, and our pet doctrines. It seems Scot is compelled by the habit of Jesus to let the authority of his life give weight to his words and not the other way around. if we continue to follow around our words with no consistent expression, we can rest assured that others will eventually see we simply engage in a game of “rock, paper, scissors.” And, since there is really nothing to be won in a war of words, people will leave us to our games with barely a return glance.

How about we follow up our recent research, albeit subjective (as if nothing else is), with a question or two as to what speaks louder. The fact that we can say for the world to hear what we believe about the Scriptures, or that our lives reflect the event, activity of God at work in re-creating our character and our actions so that our lives provide a better apologetic for faith than our continued submission to philosophy and reason as a means to “win.”

At the end of the day, this post may well be similar to the one Ed Stetzer just put up. Who knows. What do you think?

Driscoll on “Harsh Language”

Todd Littleton — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:00:51 +0000

I found this video while working through Matthew 15 and Jesus’ confounding words to a Canaanite woman. Making an appeal for her daughter. Oddly Jesus does not offer the same kind of biting retort to the Centurion in Matthew 8. I tend to think Jesus’ words sarcastically represent the sentiment of the religious leaders and how they fail to help those in need by sticking so tightly to their perception God’s grace and mercy is only available to them. Mark offers some sobering thoughts on how we domesticate the Scriptures, taming any “offense” out of them.

Flipping the subject and the object â?¦

Todd Littleton — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:15:59 +0000

Growing up in the church I often heard the phrase, â??apply the bible to your life.â? We even could purchase the â??Life Application Bible.â? The operative move is to study the Scriptures and apply them to life. What if we had our subject and object in the wrong place?

You see, applying the bible to my life makes my story, narrative, primary. In doing so we find it difficult when we face one of the hard â??sayings of Jesus,â? at least hard in our cultural context. For example, in our local primaries it seems important to tout adherence to the second amendment, the right to bear arms. I will not quibble over the â??rightâ? but think the implications of the â??rightâ?? something worth considering.

My â??rightâ? to bear arms, in context, means my first move may not be a peaceable move. Lance told me the story of a family outing floating a river. They had stopped along the way for a break. A fellow, obviously inebriated, made untoward comments directed at the females in Lanceâ??s group. Evidently this fellow was a â??meanâ? drunk and sought to pick a fight. He pursued the group who had set out to finish the trip. Reaching Lanceâ??s group the fellow created such a stir some canoes tipped over and a bit of a panic set in. This fellow came bearing an oar â?? not to help but to assault. His target was a smallish fellow not interested in a fight. Obnoxiously the threatening continued. Lanceâ??s son, a black belt and well versed in MMA (multiple-martial arts) managed to get behind the intruder â?? that is, this fellow intruded on their otherwise peaceful trip.

Seeing what could turn ugly, Lance shouted at the fellow, â??In the name of Jesus stop.â? Bewildered by such an unexpected retort, the fellow dropped the oar from its raised position and began playing the adolescent game of â??he/she started it.â? Cooler heads prevailed and the group traveled on.

Later Lance chatted with his son who noted he was prepared with a particular move that would have killed the fellow. Continuing to describe what he would have done, Lance told his son that is not the course to take. Possessing the â??armâ? does not mean using the arm. But, it certainly makes it for many a primary option. The right does not constitute the proper ethical response.

When Jesus says we should â??love our enemiesâ? and â??pray for those who persecute usâ? he does not address our right but the proper ethical response to the â??other,â? even the â??belligerent other.â? It may be a civic right and a chosen conviction. But, for the one who follows Jesus the right cannot supersede the ethic of Jesus.

I could apply the bible to my life and work the angles of â??self-defenseâ? and choose a militia like response â?? ready to do battle at the beckon call. Something like Peter bearing his â??armâ? in the Garden. But, it may be I need to apply my life to the bible. Rather than force the story of God to fit my life, this means wrapping my life around the story of God.

It was refreshing to hear Dave Dunbar and Todd Mangum describe the hope of Biblical Seminary to train leaders who get the subject and object in the right order. Wrapping our lives, applying our lives to the bible, constitutes the kind of re-ordering of life rising from our response to the call of Jesus, â??follow me.â?