Material Worthy of Your Attention

"Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2.15, ASV)

I wanted to pass on two links to my friends and family out in cyberspace for two excellent articles. By excellent I do not mean that they are 100% correct (though they may be) or that I agree with them 100% either. But they are both great reads for thinking through two very important subjects related to our understanding of the Scriptures and our walk in this life.

The first article is called "Just War and the New Community:The Witness of the Old Testament for Christians Today" by Gordon Brubacher in the Princeton Theological Review {fall 2006}. This article is most easily read by copying it and pasting it on some paper and printing it out. But I can assure you that you will be challenged in reading this article. From my point of view I am deeply sympathetic to Brubacher's argument. I have long argued that many abuse the war texts in the Hebrew Bible through shoddy hermeneutics. Dr. Brubacher, I am sure, has not answered all the questions but he has made a good faith effort to wrestle with the issue rather than make mere assertions.

The other article is by J. Richard Middleton called "A New Heaven and a New Earth: A Case for Holistic Reading of the Story of Redemption" published in the Journal for Christian Research (2006). Middleton's piece is very well done and there is little that I can disagree with. I wish I had read it before I did my series on heaven ... it would have saved me a great deal of effort.

Both of these articles are nothing short of stimulating and conducive to serious thinking and reflection on reading and interpreting the Bible. I commend them both to you for your enjoyment.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
PaLO VErde Church of Christ
Tucson, AZ