IVP - Addenda & Errata - April 2009 Archives

The Delusions of Pseudo-Scholarship

Last weekend I picked up a copy of David Bentley Hart’s Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (Yale University Press). I’d been seeing comments on this new book, and I was looking forward to getting my hands on it. Over half way into it, I’m not disappointed. It’s difficult to put it down.

Theological Restraint Justified

IVP recently released N. T. Wright’s Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. This book, which among other things is an answer to Wright’s critics, has gotten quite a bit of advance review, with some having read the U.K. edition which came out a couple of months ago.

As I was thinking about the current evangelical debates over the doctrine of justification, I was reminded of something I copied down a couple of years ago while reading Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics IV:

But in theology it is good to look beyond the needs and necessities of the moment, to exercise restraint in a reaction however justified, to be constantly aware of the limits of the ruling trend (however true and well-founded it may be). And since our present business is with Church dogmatics, which is ecumenical at least in prospect, this must be our attitude in relation to the doctrine of justification, not because we deny but because we maintain our Evangelical position. (CD IV.1, 523)

I find that an excellent piece of advice for theologians and would-be theologians. In the current debate, it can be well applied on any side you find yourself. The seasoned maturity standing behind those words is inspiring and invites meditation and self-examination. I’m tempted to post it on my computer monitor.

Barth, however, is not asking us to show restraint in buying the book. By all means, buy and read the book! Then exercise your restraint.

The Enigma of George Eldon Ladd

Last year I read John A. D’Elia’s A Place at the Table: George Eldon Ladd and the Rehabilitation of Evangelical Scholarship in America (Oxford University Press, 2008). I was a student of Ladd’s at Fuller Theological Seminary in the 1970s, and as a matter of fact, I even started out as his student in the Ph.D. program there. (That didn’t last long, and Ralph Martin rescued me from the situation.) I’ve long thought someone needed to write this biography. However, I also recall mentioning this thought to another Fuller faculty person of that era, who expressed the opinion that no good would come of it. He no doubt had in mind some of the personal tragedies that marred Ladd’s life and are disclosed in D’Elia’s biography.

Move by Move

I’ve done a good bit of mountain climbing in my lifetime, though I’ve pretty much retired from it now. Climbers learn that sometimes a particular mountain or climbing route, which when viewed from afar or as a whole can look impossibly difficult, yields its access to those who study it more closely. The ridge is too steep and sharp. The face is too sheer and smooth. But with maps, photos, route descriptions and study, it begins to look doable. And then, once close to the mountain or on the route, the climb breaks down into feasible pitches (roughly speaking, sections measured by rope lengths) and, ultimately, manageable moves. It’s amazing what progress can be made—and paralyses avoided—by focusing on just the next move or two and not the whole climb at once.

The April Fool’s Blog That Got Away

Last week I told Andy Unedited that I just didn’t have what it takes this year to pull off a decent April Fool’s blog. Last year I outdid myself and fooled one or two folks who don’t think there’s any humor to be found in over-the-top carbon offsets. I guess counting out your mint, dill and cumin doesn’t put you in the frame of mind for humor.

But if I had attempted an April Fool’s blog, the fodder was to be found in a Chronicle of Higher Education article that Scot McKnight pointed out on his Saturday roundup of “Weekly Meanderings”. It’s about the globalization of academic paper-writing mills. It’s an interesting—and depressing—read all in itself.

The attitude of one student caught my eye: