Evolution: On a slightly more serious note…

Sam Brownback writes in today’s New York Times:

IN our sound-bite political culture, it is unrealistic to expect that every complicated issue will be addressed with the nuance or subtlety it deserves. So I suppose I should not have been surprised earlier this month when, during the first Republican presidential debate, the candidates on stage were asked to raise their hands if they did not “believe” in evolution. As one of those who raised his hand, I think it would be helpful to discuss the issue in a bit more detail and with the seriousness it demands.

Evolution finally proved

Before you do your Pentateuch exam next week:

Finally, convincing proof of evolution that leaves no shadow of a doubt…

Wilberforce: “feelingly alive…”

 

“If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”

- William Wilberforce, 1759- 1833, the British abolitionist and subject of the recent film Amazing Grace

The woman at the well?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFZgvKNWDcw

The Bluffer’s Guide to Theology

Can you identify everyone here?

A free Mars Bar for the first student email…

Find a solitary fact about each of the following and drop it into party conversation when the going gets slow: Athanasius, Arius,Montanus,Augustine,Anselm,Francis of Assisi,Tyndale,Wycliffe,Erasmus,Luther,Zwingli,Melancthon,CalvinBezaOwen GoodwinWesley,Whitfield,Edwards,Finney,Pusey,Newman,Muller,Spurgeon,

Barth,Bonhoeffer,Bultmann,N.T.Wright

The Bible as Pornography

 

 

 

From http://www.earthtimes.org: Hong Kong- More than 2,300 Hong Kong residents have lodged complaints about indecent and sexually explicit material in the Bible in a bizarre campaign to restrict sales of the Christian holy book. Hong Kong’s publications watchdog has received an avalanche of complaints about tales of incest, rape, cannibalism and violence in the Bible since the website truthbible.net began urging people to file complaints. However, the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority said it will not act on the complaints as it considers the Bible to be “a religious text, which is part of civilization.” Now the website says it may raise the issue with Hong Kong’s public ombudsman on the grounds that the “abnormal sex and violence” described in the Bible is at odds with the moral standards of people in the former British colony. If the campaign succeeds, the Bible could technically have its sales restricted in Hong Kong in the same way that pornographic magazines must be sold in sealed packages and to only those over age 18. The motive for the campaign is unclear.

The number of complaints lodged against the Bible with the licensing authority is the highest received since a magazine last year ran pictures of a semi-naked female pop star changing backstage at a concert in Malaysia. Hong Kong, which has a population of 6.9 million people, is home to around 250,000 Catholics, including Beijing-appointed chief executive Donald Tsang, and around 60,000 Anglican Christians.

John Piper: The Supremacy of Christ

Here’s a ten-minute clip of one of the great exponents of relevant theology of our day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYGLl0gO1dk

Ricky Gervais on Creation

Watch the clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaEj3g5GOYA and reply in the box.

Offended? Challenged? Spurred to write a) angry letter b) reasoned rebuttal?

Movements in Victorian Christianity

Chartists on Kennington Common

Tractarians, Chartists, Darwinists and Fundamentalists 1.Tractarians/ Oxford Movement   The Oxford Movement was an affiliation of High Church Anglicans, most of which were members of the University of Oxford, who sought to demonstrate that the Church of England was a direct descendant of the Christian church established by the Apostles. It was also known as the Tractarian Movement after its series of publications, Tracts for the Times (1833–1841); the Tractarians were also called Puseyites (usually disparagingly) after one of their leaders, Edward Bouverie Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church, Oxford. Other prominent Tractarians included John Henry Newman, a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford and vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, John Keble, Archdeacon Henry Edward Manning, Richard Hurrell Froude, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Wilberforce, Isaac Williams and Sir William Palmer

Worried? Notes on forthcoming exams

Worried? No need.

Here’s some notes on the final exams in Modern Church History and Introduction to Christian Doctrine
 Modern Church History
We will follow the same pattern in MCH and in Doctrine as we went through in the Pentateuch preparation. As follows:
10 short answer questions (20 %)
5 paragraph questions (50%)
1 (out of 3) essay questions (30%)
 
The short answer questions will probably be famous names (cf that list etc) / date recognition (1815, 1869, 1962 etc)/ events (, Vatican 1 etc)
 
The paragraph questions will be explaining events (Tractarians, Chartists, Darwin controversy, Liberalism, Fundamentalism)
 
The essay questions will be a choice (Context and outcome of vatican 1 and 2/ Cause Course and Consequence of 1st or 2nd Awakening/ Impact of Industrial revolution on English religion etc)
 
Introduction to Doctrine
Short answer questions: famous names/ theological names (Harnack,Bultmann. kenosis, pneumatology,  etc)
 
Paragraph questions: on theological themes
 
Essay questions on ;larger doctrinal themes: authority, revelation, scripture/ christology/ doctrine of God/ pneumatology (Holy Spirit in the Bible etc)
 
Christology
Just a reminder to Year 3 Christology module: there is no final exam but TWO ASSIGNMENTS (Jesus in John 1 and Christ to Constantine are due by June 4th (Sorry: this is final cut-off date…. we cannot accept late submissions on this one, because of marking exigencies)