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 The sad thing about living in a Western influenced culture is that we rarely have the opportunity to hear and learn from our brothers and sisters in the East.
Kenneth Bailey, an American Presbyterian minister/professor who spend 60 years (1935-1995) in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Cyprus, tries to remedy this issue with his book “Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels.”
“Middle Eastern Christians have been called the forgotten faithful. The world knows that across the centuries there have been Jews and Muslims in the Middle East. For the most part, however Middle Eastern Christians evaporated from Western consciousness after the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451. Few are aware of the existence today of more than ten million Arabic-speaking Christians who possess a rich heritage of ancient and modern literature. Speaking a Semitic language, these Christians are a people who live, breathe, think, act and participate in Middle Eastern culture; they are rooted in the traditional ways of the Middle East. Their voices, past and present, need to be heard in biblical studies.” (Preface, pg 11-12)
Accordingly Bailey draws from a collection of Syriac, Hebrew/Aramaic and Arabic commentaries, Bible translations and other writings to bring a fresh look at the message of Jesus. It is this connection to our Eastern family that makes Bailey’s book so refreshing and welcoming.
In other words, this isn’t a novelty book full of ‘new’ theological ideas. Nay, a lot of what he says is similar to what I’ve heard before or has worked out myself with the Lord. The genius of the book is Bailey’s reliance on the Church Fathers of the East who illuminate the culture around the life of Jesus.
Continue reading Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey
For the first since April 1927 the famous detective Sherlock Holmes is back in print with a new canonized adventure chronicled by Dr. John H. Watson.
That is correct, the Conan Doyle Estate, who has ultimate control over the writings and characters developed Arthur Conan Doyle, has authorized commissioned a new Sherlock Holmes novel. [...]
 A few months ago I was the very happy winner of a book giveaway by Tony Campolo on his website, RedLetterChristians.org (which I highly recommend reading!). The book that I won was called “Stories That Feed Your Soul” and is a collection of nonfiction inspirational short stories revolving around the following eight themes:
- Freedom From Condemnation
- The New Life In Christ
- Intimacy With God
- The Call To Rescue Creation
- Living With Hope
- Praying In The Spirit
- God’s Plan For Us
- The Assurance We Need
At first I read one story per night while putting my son to bed, but soon I found myself eagerly eating up the stories as I saw the hand of God working in each situation. They truly did bring to light some of the nuances of living out our faith day-to-day while causing me to stop and reflect on my life.
The stories are also very useful in communicating complex ideas and theological points. Point in fact, I paraphrased one of Tony’s stories in my sermon last week on a whim as it just seemed to fit and, would you believe, it was the one thing folks remembered! Why this may not reflect good on my sermon, it does highlights the power of stories – perhaps that is why Jesus taught in parables? 
Below is the story that I paraphrased (and which will be read in its full this coming Sunday) as a teaser for the 117 stories included in Tony’s book. Enjoy and be blessed.
Continue reading “Stories That Feed Your Soul” by Tony Campolo
I don’t know if you all have heard or not, but I just found out that N.T. Wright released translation of the New Testament last fall called “The Kingdom New Testament.” While I have not read it (although I am saving my pennies to get it!), Scott McKnight gives it the following praise:
 Deep inside of us we all want to think that we are unique – some special and different than everyone around us. And on one level that is true as our personalities, physical features, background and the essences that make us “us” is unique and different.
Yet on larger level we are not unique. Instead we all tend to take on the characteristics of our culture and, to a certain level, the characteristics of our generation.
In the reading the book “The Millennials: Connecting to America’s Largest Generation” by Thom S. Rainer and Jess Rainer I was really struck by how much of my thinking and values were shared across the 77.9 million people born in the United States between 1980 and 2000. (Being born in the first half of 1980, I am on the forefront of this generation – the largest, by the way, since the 75.5 million Baby Boomers of 1946-1964.)
For example, for years now dating back to high school, I have stated that my goal in life was to ‘change the world.’ I remember singing worships songs on that theme and wanting to live life that made a mark on history versus simply existing. What I didn’t know that that this value of making a differences is a common across the Millennnial generation regardless of religious affiliation.
Another common value is the Millennials desire to be relational and to seek out mentors and teachers who can help them move forward through the twists and turns of life. This value is vastly different than the previous two generations (Boomers and X) who typically valued independence and threw off the ‘chains’ of their elders and struck out on their own. Given that the Millennials saw the difficulties caused by this, it is not too surprising to me that we decided to seek out advice and guidance.
The third shared value is that Millennials tend to have an innate desire to learn. If things continue, this generation is on track to being the most educated generation in the world with over 30% of the generation graduating college. Again, this perpetual desire to learn is something that has defined my life as I have continued to read widely and pursue postgraduate education.
Continue reading “The Millennials” by Rainer and Rainer
 One of the most popular myths in the USA is the one in which a person success against all odds by themselves. These are the ‘rag-to-riches’ stories told throughout the nation to give hope to those ‘without’ while boosting the pride of those ‘with.’
Yet as Malcolm Gladwell shows in his book “Outliers: The Story of Success” these stories are far from truthful. Instead they leave out very important details about how a person rose through the ranks – details that show that individual people own a ton more to their ancestors, the people around them and their cultural than perhaps they want to admit.
Take for example Canadian hockey players. If you look at the birthdates of all the professional hockey players in Canada you will find that an overwhelmingly number of them were born in January, February or March versus the other nine months of the year. Why is that?
Well in Canada, the youth hockey league determines eligibility based upon birthdates with a start time of January 1st. Therefore children born closer to the beginning of the year have longer to develop physically and mentally than their team mates who were born at the end of the year. This advantage causes them to stand out among their peer which gives them more face time with the coaches who like to encourage start players. As time goes on, the slight advantage of a birth date builds into a huge advantage that eventually leads to disproportionate birthday numbers mentioned.
In continuing along those lines Gladwell shows how ‘rags-to-riches’ superstar Bill Gates – the college dropout turn world’s richest man – owns his success not to his own work ethic, which does helped mind you, but to the opportunities given to him by his family. As in, Gate’s parents put him in an exclusive preparatory middle school which just-so-happened to have both a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and the mainframe computer time to run it – something virtually unheard in 1968.
Continue reading Being Part of the Tapestry of Life
 Over the years I have heard various comments about Randy Clark – most of which tended to focus on a small period in Randy’s life.
In 1994 Randy was an average Vineyard pastor in St. Louis when the Lord used him to spark a revival in Toronto that spread throughout the world. Yes, Randy was the guys who preached the first sermon on January 20, 1994 of what would later become known as the “Toronto Blessing.”
Having mixed feelings about the revival and its effect within the Vineyard and throughout Pentecostal/Charismatic circles in general, I was cautiously excited when I saw one of his books inside a box of giveaway item destined for our church’s food pantry/clothing closet. My feelings were even more mixed when I noticed that the book was focused primarily on impartations – i.e. the laying on hands by one person with the purpose of transferring a spiritual anointing to another person.
It should be noted my mixed feeling with such a topic comes having grown up within Pentecostal/Charismatic circles and having heard many a sermon preached about impartations and “mantles” (a reference to Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings 2). Accordingly, I know that there is a biblical and historical precedent for such an impartation, it is just that over the years I have seen people chase after such impartations – going from one revival to another, one pastor superstar to another, chasing a spiritual ‘superpower’ that would allow them to bypass the mundane life on this planet and become a spiritual ‘giant’…..
Yeah, you know the abuse…
So there I was – face to face with a book by a controversial pastor on a controversial topic. And being me, I choose it as a traveling companion on the long ocean flight to the Philippines this past November. 
By now you are wondering what book I am talking about…well the book in question is “There Is More: Reclaiming The Power Of Impartation” published in 2006.
The book itself is split into three main sections looking first at the biblical and historical precedent for impartations before moving into an experiential look at the fruit or outcome of the “Toronto Blessing” and/or other revivals in which Randy prayed over someone to receive an anointing. The third part of the book is about the purpose or goal of such an impartation, which is to spread the word of God throughout the world for the glory of God.
Continue reading Impartations and Randy Clark
At 993 pages the second book of the Kingkiller Chronicle is an epic in and of itself, let alone when combined with 672 page first book, “The Name of the Wind.”
Even more to the point, the audio book version of “The Wise Man’s Fear” took over 43 hours – which translates into multiple [...]
“There is a counterintuitive aspect of engaging with the spiritual practices of church. Though spiritual formation is chiefly an inward reality, we often work on our heart, mind and soul through bodily or external practices. This is true of all the spiritual practices of church. But we need to keep in mind that it [...]
 A friend of my recently shared this short essay by CS Lewis about Christmas in the book “God in the Dock.“ After reading it, I just had to pass it along as it hits the nail on the head:
“Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. This is important and obligatory for Christians; but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here. The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn’t go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business to have a ‘view’ on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business. I see no reason why I should volunteer views as to how other people should spend their own money in their own leisure among their own friends. It is highly probable that they want my advice on such matters as little as I want theirs. But the third thing called Christmas is unfortunately everyone’s business.
“I mean of course the commercial racket. The interchange of presents was a very small ingredient in the older English festivity. Mr. Pickwick took a cod with him to Dingley Dell; the reformed Scrooge ordered a turkey for his clerk; lovers sent love gifts; toys and fruit were given to children. But the idea that not only all friends but even all acquaintances should give one another presents, or at least send one another cards, is quite modern and has been forced upon us by the shopkeepers. Neither of these circumstances is in itself a reason for condemning it. I condemn it on the following grounds.
1) “It gives on the whole much more pain than pleasure. You have only to stay over Christmas with a family who seriously try to ‘keep’ it (in its third, or commercial, aspect) in order to see that the thing is a nightmare. Long before December 25th everyone is worn out — physically worn out by weeks of daily struggle in overcrowded shops, mentally worn out by the effort to remember all the right recipients and to think out suitable gifts for them. They are in no trim for merry-making; much less (if they should want to) to take part in a religious act. They look far more as if there had been a long illness in the house.
Continue reading “What Christmas Means to Me” by CS Lewis
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Who Writes This Mess? My name is Joshua Hopping and I am a Son of the Most High journeying through a foreign land following the Wild Goose (i.e. the Holy Spirit) one step at a time.
As I journey along the Way, I have the privilege of serving as the bi-vocational pastor of the Payette River Vineyard Christian Fellowship. I am also a voracious reader who loves studying church history, theology, and world missions.
This blog, "Requisite Danger", is a record of what God is teaching and showing me as I try to follow Him wherever He leads as well as occasional random thoughts. I pray that you will join me in this journey through online/offline interaction as this life is lived in community.
May His grace and peace be upon you.
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