The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

by Thomas S. Kuhn

Useful excerpt from Wikipedia:

“As a paradigm is stretched to its limits, anomalies — failures of the current paradigm to take into account observed phenomena — accumulate. Their significance is judged by the practitioners of the discipline. Some anomalies may be dismissed as errors in observation, others as merely requiring small adjustments to the current paradigm that will be clarified in due course. Some anomalies resolve themselves spontaneously, having increased the available depth of insight along the way. But no matter how great or numerous the anomalies that persist, Kuhn observes, the practicing scientists will not lose faith in the established paradigm for as long as no credible alternative is available; to lose faith in the solubility of the problems would in effect mean ceasing to be a scientist.

“In any community of scientists, Kuhn states, there are some individuals who are bolder than most. These scientists, judging that a crisis exists, embark on what Thomas Kuhn calls revolutionary science, exploring alternatives to long-held, obvious-seeming assumptions. Occasionally this generates a rival to the established framework of thought. The new candidate paradigm will appear to be accompanied by numerous anomalies, partly because it is still so new and incomplete. The majority of the scientific community will oppose any conceptual change, and, Kuhn emphasizes, so they should. In order to fulfill its potential, a scientific community needs to contain both individuals who are bold and individuals who are conservative. There are many examples in the history of science in which confidence in the established frame of thought was eventually vindicated. Whether the anomalies of a candidate for a new paradigm will be resolvable is almost impossible to predict. Those scientists who possess an exceptional ability to recognize a theory’s potential will be the first whose preference is likely to shift in favour of the challenging paradigm. There typically follows a period in which there are adherents of both paradigms. In time, if the challenging paradigm is solidified and unified, it will replace the old paradigm, and a paradigm shift will have occurred.”

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A Handbook for Basis Biblical Exegesis

by R. Samuel Thorpe

This useful book is very straightforward: it contains an outline of the steps to use in doing biblical exegesis. It also contains an example of an exegesis paper. The chapters are handy, too:

Chapter One: Initial Translation

Chapter Two: Textual Analysis

Chapter Three: Linguistic Analysis (Word Study)

Chapter Four: Historical Analysis

Chapter Five: Literary Analysis

Chapter Six: Theological Analysis

Chapter Seven: Application

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Interpreting the Truth

From a perspective of exegesis, Countryman’s book Interpreting the Truth argues against using the myriad of specialized ways of interpreting scripture, urging instead a creative interplay between the interpreter, the text, and the community for whom the text is being interpreted. In this he is arguing for the community of exegetists being less academically focused and more in tune with the community of faith beyond academia.

A worthwhile hint to remember: sometimes it is better for overall insight to look at the end of a passage first. Also, Countryman interprets the books of Jude, James, and Romans as examples of his methodology.

Excerpt: To come to terms with a hitherto unseen reality beneath the prevailing social constructs is to discover truth. Truth is less the opposite of heresy or error, than of a lie. Consequently, it is not a possession, but a surprising discovery.

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Principles of Political Economy

John Stuart Mill

“It often happens that the universal belief of one age—a belief from which no one was free or could be free without an extraordinary effort of genius or courage—becomes to a subsequent age so palpable an absurdity that the only difficulty is to imagine how such an idea could ever have appeared credible.”

— John Stuart Mill, English ethical theorist, philosopher, economist, and logician (1806-1873), speaking about the equation of money and wealth

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Slaves, Women & Homosexuals

Book by William J. Webb

This book provides a methodology for analyzing scripture on any topic, comparing what scripture has to say in relation to the culture of the time (ancient Near-Eastern and/or Greco-Roman), to establish a kind of “direction” established by scripture. Called “redemptive-movement hermeneutics,” this methodology then examines where today’s culture is on the same subject, to see if we have progressed along the direction of movement encouraged by scripture.

On the subject topics, the author sees that the Bible urges or allows greater lenience to slaves and women than the culture of the time provided, so our culture’s continuation of this trajectory is along the path established by scripture. However, on the subject of gays, he believes that the Bible is more proscriptive than the culture of the time, establishing an “absolute no trajectory.”

The book has a host of criteria for evaluating the culture, criteria that would be useful indeed for a thorough examination of scripture relative to culture. I find it most useful, though, as a way analyze how we as the church have gotten interpretation of scripture wrong on now relatively “closed” subjects of contention, rather than a way to analyze the direction that we should take on current issues of great debate.

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Communicating the Gospel

Communicating the Gospel, by William Barclay

http://www.biblio.com/Communicating_the_Gospel-by-William_Barclay_-_10782937.html

This little book by a 1950s-era Greek scholar from the University of Glasgow is absolutely delightful. It was first published in 1968 to provide the text of the initial Laird Lecture. There are four parts:

1. Communicating the Gospel in the prophets. Here Barclay draws on the diverse prophets (Amos, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, who lived 8th and 7th centuries BCE) and paints a compelling picture of their world view. Above all they despised idolatry and understood Israel to have a vocation of inviting people to God. As preachers they “loved words, and used them lovingly, like artists.” (p23) They also had a way of startling their hearers by the way that they delivered their message: dramatic prophetic action.

2. Communicating the Gospel in the apostles. The creed of the early church was: Jesus Christ is Lord. There follows all the various meanings of the Greek word kurios, which means “Lord.” Barclay also describes how sermons were presented in the Acts of the Apostles.

a. The fist and essential message was kerugma: “The new age has dawned, and it has dawned through the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (p35)

b. The second item of the kerugma was that Jesus’ life was the direct fulfilment of prophesy.

c. The third item in the apostolic announcement was the declaration that Jesus Christ has ascended to the right hand of God and that he would come again to judge the quick an the  dead. (Note to self: “It is possible to hold, and many Christians in all ages have held, that the Second Coming happened at Pentecost, that then Jesus came  powerfully in the Spirit, never again to be separated from his own.” p44)

d. The fourth item in the apostolic preaching is an invitation to repent and a promise of forgiveness of sins.

3. Communicating the Gospel today.

a. Approach the New Testament as literature.
b. Second must be the linguistic approach.
c. Third is the historical approach.
d. The fourth approach necessary to communicate the New Testament is the psychological approach. (Investigate not only what people did, but why they did it.)
e. Lastly, we must take the devotional approach to the new testament.

4. The Gospel in tradition. This chapter discusses the paradox of the Bible needing to be open and accessible to all, yet it being a dangerous book. So there is a tension between out being able to interpret it for ourselves, and the weight of tradition (the church’s historical interpretation). Roman Catholic Church cites four people to define how scripture must be interpreted:

a. Irenaeus (c. 180 CE, in refuting the Gnostics): Jesus himself taught the true exegesis of Scripture, and through apostolic succession, that authority comes to us today in our bishops.

b. Tertullian (c. 200 CE): The scriptures are the exclusive property of the Church, and no one has any right to use them except the Church. (p90)

c. Augustine (c. 397 CE) gave two principles. The first is the test of correct interpretation, which requires it to increase love of God and love of many. The second is that, if there are doubts, consult the rule of faith (where the deciding factor is the tradition of the church).

d. Vincent of Lerinum (c. 434 CE): Scripture is to be interpreted according to the tradition of the church. See also 2 Peter 1:20, which says that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.

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Introduction to Pastoral Care

Cover of “An Introduction to Pastoral Care” by Charles V. Gerkin

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Pastoral-Care-Charles-Gerkin/dp/0687016746

By Charles V. Gerkin

(p90) The Social Gospel movement—a product of theological liberalism’s optimism about the possibility of transforming a social life governed by the rule of God’s righteous kingdom—gradually gave way to the realism of neo-orthodoxy. The question is how to combine concern for the individual and concern for social transformation?

1. The art of listening (hear within): to invite self-disclosure and communicate acceptance and non-judgmental care.

2. Capacity to observe (look around).

(pp104-105) …pastoral practices in vogue during any particular time in history have most often been closely related to or been a direct outgrowth of emphases in theology that characterize their time. Currently, we are in a transitional period, theologically speaking.

(p105) There is an urgent need to a new model for pastoral care practice. Describes a typology of theological models developed by historical theologian George A. Lindbeck:

1. Propositionalist. Includes all of traditional orthodoxy and some neo-orthodox theology. These theologies function as informative propositions or truth claims about objective realities. The property of these models are that they directly correspond to what is true and real; they simply describe with is. Therefore the primary purpose of pastoral care within this model is to articulate the propositional truth applicable to the situation inn the expectation that the hearer will accept and believe it. [The facts of God] Note: (p109) this view is based on an outmoded philosophy.

2. Experiential-expressivist. Is rooted in the assumption of a common core of human religious experience that may have diverse forms of expression in various cultural contexts. In this model, theological tenets are less analogous to scientific statements than to art, poetry, and asthetics. The goal here is to analogize a person’s or family’s experience with theological symbols. [The universal experience of God] Note: (p109) Is considered too individualistic to get a core theology, plus, Christianity is communal in nature.

3. Cultural-linguistic. Views religions as comprehensive interpretive schemes to interpret self and world. Adopts a certain cultural scheme to interpret the world. Provides pastoral care by providing people with a storied context of ultimate meaning for their lives. It involves meeting a connection between the varied stories of life and the grounding story of the Christian community. Pastoral care becomes the community of faith’s living expression of that grounding story. [The culture of God]

Thus, pastoral care became primarily an effort to facilitate the connection between life stories and the Christian story, and vice versa (p112).

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Reading ahead

My letter of acceptance to the Master in Divinity program at the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia (otherwise known as VTS) came with a suggested reading list. So I have been spending July reading the books on the list.