Queen of the Sciences

If you know Habakkuk at all (a big if!), it's almost certainly because of the way the Apostle Paul uses it to make his own argument about righteousness and faith, using one single verse of this minor prophet. But what was Habakkuk talking about in his own time? Did the apostle cut the verse out of context and distort it for his own purposes? Whose faithfulness are we talking about, anyway? In this episode Dad and I tackle these questions—gaining a new appreciation for the whole of Habakkuk. And of the Septuagint!

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Notes:

1. Mauney, "Reading Paul from out of Habakkuk, both Hebrew and Greek" in Promissio

2. Sarah has an article in this issue of Promissio, too: "A Theologian Who Reads the Bible"

3. See also Dad's essay on "Faith" in the St. Andrew's Encyclopedia of Theology

4. Related episodes: The Crucifixion, Atonement, Justification by Faith, Galatians 1, Galatians 2

How dare anyone say one life is better than another? or the living of a life is wiser than another? Say something and risk legalism; say nothing and risk nihilism; and neither of those lead to a good life, either. In this episode Dad and I compile our sum total of 125 years of living, plus a lot of shortcuts gleaned from reading and talking to other people, to tell you what's worth pursuing, what's worth hurting over, and what's not. What you do with it is up to you!

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Notes:

1. Related episodes: Nietzsche, Brain Mind Soul, Critical Social Theory, Jacques Ellul, Propaganda, Hey Jude, An Unlikely Marriage

2. Sarah's article "The Church and Happiness"

3. Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity: The Jovinianist Controversy

4. India, Girls®

You might just be able to hear the explosion of the fireworks over the explosion of rhetoric upon the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. Aiming to shed more light than heat, Dad and I discuss The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) from a theological perspective. Civic good is not the ultimate good, but it's not a negligible one, either. We find good reasons as Christians to support the American project, its self-corrections, and onward attempts to attain a more perfect union.

Notes:

1. Related episodes: Our Democracy?; Jefferson; Lincoln; MLK; Thurman; Two Kingdoms 16th Cent.; Two Kingdoms 20th-21st Cent.

2. Sarah's short story in which Revolutionary-era Lutheran pastor Henry Melchior Muhlenberg plays the part of a detective

3. The Declaration of Independence

4. Samuel Miller's sermon on July 4, 1793, is found in Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730-1805, Volume 2

4. See also Waldron, God, Locke, and Equality

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A discussion between me and Dad about Katie Langston's phenomenal memoir Sealed, tracing her life from Mormon upbringing to conversion to Christianity to discerning a call into ministry. A must-read for anyone interested in the Latter-day Saints as well as hope and healing for people scarred from high-demand religion. Be sure to get the new second edition, now in ebook and paperback!

Tradition is a buzzword in confessional polemics: Protestants (supposedly) say Scripture only, while Catholics and Orthodox (supposedly) say Scripture-and-Tradition without hierarchical triage between them. Of course, it has never been that simple! Luther and Melanchthon and the Formula of Concord all insist that they were in fact more faithful to the tradition of the church against Roman innovation. Roman Catholics rightly point out all that is not explicit in Scripture and yet adhered to faithfully by the church, including Protestants (e.g. the word “Trinity” or infant baptism). For that matter, Scripture itself is a form of Tradition and full of Tradition—as the opening words of I Corinthians 15 attest, and much biblical scholarship of the past two hundred years has excavated.

So what do we even mean by Tradition? How do we judge it or select from it—because everybody in fact does just that? How do we know what is a faithful development from the original apostolic gospel and what is a treacherous deviation? What “principle of critical judgment” or “clear method of discrimination”? David Bentley Hart and his book Tradition and Apocalypse to the rescue! ... maybe.

Related episodes: Theology & Experience 1, Theology & Experience 2, Islam, Bondage of the Will, St Paul among the Philosophers

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