Comments for Engage the Pews

Comment on Guide to Sound Preparation for Expositional Preaching 2: Single Text, Single Context, Single Book by Gudrun B

Gudrun B — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:36:20 +0000

i like that explanation a lot!

Comment on Guide to Sound Preparation for Expositional Preaching 2: Single Text, Single Context, Single Book by chinglicanattable

chinglicanattable — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:31:43 +0000

True as well!

Comment on Guide to Sound Preparation for Expositional Preaching 2: Single Text, Single Context, Single Book by samtsang98

samtsang98 — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:43:29 +0000

I always prioritize literary context mostly because the Bible comes to the people as a literature. My secondary concern is McManus’ also. Primarily, I do not think we need to force Jesus into a text where he isn’t there. To me, reading the text as a Christian has many different ways other than importing Jesus into the text.

Comment on Guide to Sound Preparation for Expositional Preaching 2: Single Text, Single Context, Single Book by chinglicanattable

chinglicanattable — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:35:35 +0000

Yes, I think I’m on board with Gudrun B’s comment. I fully understand the reservation with reaching outside of a book’s context because that does epistemic violence to the text. But I wonder if the point about Christology needs a bit more nuance. What McManus seems to be suggesting is that Christology itself has turned away from the figure of Jesus to a sort of empty ‘Jesus’ category. ‘Jesus’ is the right answer because ‘Jesus’ is a category in which you can put whatever you want and it will still be right. I wonder if the answer to that in our preaching is to have a much thicker Christology, and if we are working with texts that don’t directly address Jesus, whether we might reflect on what the point of those texts is in a Christian liturgy (keeping in mind that a service of Christian worship is different from a lecture insofar as the service is oriented toward the worship of Jesus). Just a thought. I agree with the general point, though: book context is important.

Comment on Guide to Sound Preparation for Expositional Preaching 2: Single Text, Single Context, Single Book by Preaching Elijah | A Christian Thing

Preaching Elijah | A Christian Thing — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 05:13:38 +0000

[…] course, I know that this may not be a kosher move in biblical studies; my friend Sam happens to have a fantastic post detailing why bad christological moves in interpretation shut down the congregation’s ability […]

Comment on Guide to Sound Preparation for Expositional Preaching 2: Single Text, Single Context, Single Book by Gudrun B

Gudrun B — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 02:53:09 +0000

what, no comments? i shall change this
i think (here i go thinking again) this squirrel answer is in part connected to our school system. children are no longer taught to think but how to give “the right” answer; this carries into adulthood; we want to give the right answer so not to upset the apple cart.
Jesus on the other hand …. and that should be important in church.

Comment on The Missing Prophetic Voice: A Critique of Ministerial Social Media by samtsang98

samtsang98 — Fri, 31 May 2013 01:18:31 +0000

Great stuff. Being ecumenical isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a minister.

Comment on The Missing Prophetic Voice: A Critique of Ministerial Social Media by cky

cky — Fri, 31 May 2013 00:54:29 +0000

When I was young, I had opportunities to learn from two pastors: one gave me all the standard answers, and the other one disliked my standard answers. Both are Chinese from HK. The former one gave me a systematic foundation with all standard answers. The latter one came along: he taught me to reflect on the standard answers (as he disliked standard answers), and he challenged me enough so that I could grow further. Both of them left impressive impacts on me. The preferred-non-standard-answers one was quite evangelistic, but I have a feeling that he has become ecumenical. I am thankful that he is still challenging me today by throwing out non-standard questions onto fb. The standard-answer one becomes mystically evangelistic. I thank God, and I would like to express my gratitude to them.

Comment on The Missing Prophetic Voice: A Critique of Ministerial Social Media by samtsang98

samtsang98 — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:41:02 +0000

Thank you. I hope I do so with other issues as well.

Comment on The Missing Prophetic Voice: A Critique of Ministerial Social Media by 莫非

莫非 — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:36:04 +0000

Boy, you wrote powerfully and clearly on this issue. Very enlightening!