wedding in Mackinac

just got back from a cousin's wedding on Mackinac Island... the sky was blue, the clouds a puffy white, and the temperature was nice and cool... here's one of my favorite shots of Julie from that day:

(*&^*&^%$ sick

hack...wheeze.... ugh, it's been a rough week | a little sore throat for my wife julie--then a little sore throat for me; not sure if i'm really sick... but no... soon that tickling progresses to the nasal membranes | "i know, i'll use zicam!" | not a chance--ain't no zinc going to stop this train--the germs are insulted | the snot begins to flow | where's the puffs plus? (i love that built-in moisturizer) | go through a box of that stuff in one day | maybe just a little head cold, then all better? | i can feel the mucus draining into my lungs... this is gonna be rough | start that hacking cough... the "productive" kind | what's a good color for phlegm? | call the doctor--says take some expectorant and decongestant; tough it out; call back if near death | this sucks, sick for the alpha weekend--one of the highlights of my job | start to feel better by tuesday; decide to work--big mistake | wore myself out! sick as a hamster wednesday morning | have to sleep in guest room so i don't keep julie up | feeling better today (friday)--oh lord, i hate being sick.

political typology

this is cool... i heard about a political typology survey online. It's at: http://typology.people-press.org/typology/

i came out as an 'Upbeat'... very interesting! if you're willing, post a comment and let me know what your typology is.

don

rejection letter

I received this rejection letter from the JSNT (Journal for the Study of the New Testament), which is "one of the leading academic journals in New Testament Studies. It is published five times a year and aims to present cutting-edge work for a readership of scholars, teachers in the field of New Testament, postgraduate students and advanced undergraduates."

The reviewer pretty much skewered me. The harshest line was "There are a lot of quotations, but little independent reasoning." Ouch! Tell me what you really think. It was acutally a very helpful thing for me to have, and gives me a better idea of what scholarly journals are looking for.

Admittedly, the paper was not up to professional standards. I submitted it to JSNT on a lark, with no expectation that they would actually accept it. In fact, I think I submitted the paper to every journal I could think of. I'm not sure this was a good idea, but oh well. I'm not very disappointed by this rejection, so don't feel bad for me (if you were inclined to).

I still plan to clean the paper up and submit it to the EGLBS journal this summer.

--------------------

Dear Dr Bromley, [I like that! The first time someone referred to me as "Dr" in a serious way! Little does he know...]

Re: The Healing of the Hemorrhaging Woman: Miracle or Magic?

Thank you very much for submitting your above article for consideration by JSNT. I am sorry to say that the reader’s judgment, with which I concur, is that the article is not sufficiently strong for us to publish in the journal. I append the reader’s comments below. You may like to know that we reject over three-quarters of all articles submitted for publication, and only the very best pieces, suitable for this particular journal, can be accepted.

I am sorry to convey a negative judgment and wish you well in your continued work.

Yours sincerely,

David Horrell


David Horrell, Editor, Journal for the Study of the New Testament

[I haven't included the brutal review on my blog here... if you're interested in it, let me know, and I'll email it. You can read it whenever you're feeling bad about yourself... it's sure to cheer you up (at my expense)!]

my workshop at the national conference

These are the rough notes I used for my workshop on 'Effective Ministry as a Staff Pastor' at the national leaders conference. I originally planned something much different, but decided that I wanted to speak more from the heart than give lots of 'how to' tips and strategies.

FOR THOSE JUST GETTING STARTED IN MINISTRY...

Decide whether you’re called to full-time pastoral ministry. Not everyone is!

Know that there are other ways to serve God than full-time pastoral ministry. There are other good things you can do: you can write books, teach, be a motivational speaker, run a corporation. You can be a doctor, counselor, wealthy philanthropist…

Be sure you can make money in other ways!

Figure out really early whom you’re serving and why. Be completely honest with yourself.

Count the cost (Hope to marry? have kids? Buy a home?) There are implications.

Having said that: full-time pastoral ministry is a privilege. It’s a wonderful way to earn a living. It’s fascinating, challenging, stimulating, rewarding


WORKING FOR A SENIOR PASTOR

When assessing a potential senior pastor to work for, remember that the most important thing is their character (integrity, honesty, godliness), not their giftedness. Other things can be worked around.

Don’t work for a senior pastor whom you don’t personally like. You’re going to spend a considerable amount of time with this person. (not necessarily best friend material, but have to at least like them).

Make sure your senior pastor is someone who will support you and go to bat for you. Is he or she invested in you (e.g. time)?

How does the senior pastor care for those already working for them? How does he/she care for his/her family? Are they dysfunctional?


PRACTICAL STUFF FOR EARLY ON:

Get a detailed written job description and tack it up on your wall.

Full-time pastoral ministry is a job. Insist on regular performance evaluations. Ask questions about your salary and benefits. Get it in writing.

Full-time pastoral ministry is different than other jobs. Not a professional-client relationship. Higher standards of integrity. Greater expectations.

Get as much training as you can. Read books, go to conferences (including non-Vineyard), talk to other pastors.

Consider education: seminary, VLI, VBI, etc.

Start to figure out if you want to be a specialist (long-term associate, etc.) or a generalist (senior pastor). Don’t have to decide right away.

After a couple of years, ask for a few brutally honest assessments from those who know you and have seen you in action.


THINGS YOU'LL DISCOVER:

People who work for a church are sinners too.

There will be some disillusionment during your first years. That’s because you’re probably an idealist and/or a romantic.

Being in full-time ministry does not help your spiritual life.

Your motivations for going into ministry weren’t all good. Maybe not even mostly good. That doesn’t mean you weren’t called. Be real about it.

Ambition is OK. God wants and needs ambitious people. Be ambitious for good things. Confess and repent of ungodly ambitions.

Your senior pastor will not live up to some of your expectations. This is especially true if there is an age gap and you’re looking for a perfect mentor (father figure).

Full-time ministry is a job. You have paperwork, meetings, bureaucracy, boring stuff.


PRACTICAL ADVICE:

Keep your relationship with Jesus at the center. Don’t put your senior pastor, your spouse, your career, there.

Learn spiritual disciplines that work for you. Don’t give up.

Learn to be assertive. Speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). Ask for what you need. Get things off your chest (but don’t dump).

Develop intimate friendships with other men. [acquaintance—companion—intimate friend] Go outside the church if necessary. Have accountability.

Keep envy and jealousy in check. This is not a zero-sum game. God is in charge.

(James 4:10) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
(1Pet. 5:6) Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.)

Cherish your family.

Vineyard Leaders Conference

the national vineyard leaders conference was fantastic... check out the link for audio.

http://www.vineyardusa.org/ministries/nationalconference.aspx

little EGLBS award i won

I received this email last week from Holly Toensing, the EGLBS secretary. Woo-hoo! I won for the paper I presented at their meeting earlier this month.

----------------

Dear Don--

I think by now you may have received word from Peter Gosnell, the convener of the New Testament sections at the EGLBS meeting..... that you have won the best student paper in the New Testament sections!! [And to think that you were nervous!!] :-) Congratulations on stirring up a lot of discussion with your fine paper!

Now I have to follow up with an administrative task: In order to get you your check, I need to have your social security number. If you don't want to provide this to me via email, perhaps you would feel more comfortable via phone: my office phone is 513-745-3796 my home phone is 513-232-7711.

Hope all is well for you!

--Holly Toensing
EGLBS sec./treas.

girls and macs

i watched 'supernanny' last night... i love that show. a 9 year old boy and 4-year old twin girls--and what girls they were! cute little monsters. supernanny did a great job helping the two helpless parents get a grip on things, as usual. even though the two girls were badly behaved (to the extreme), i couldn't get over how *cute* they were! even when they were throwing tantrums i found myself smiling. i just don't know how i'm going to be able to discipline a cute little toddler of my own without laughing and smiling... maybe after a few months of it, and enough sleepless nights, the humor wears off a little? let's hope.

i'm writing this entry on a new iBook G4. this is the first apple i've ever owned. in fact, i've hardly ever even worked on a mac before; not counting the Apple 2 I had back in the 80's.

here's my assessment of the apple so far, coming from a life-long PC person: the operating system is head and shoulders above Windows, no doubt about it. things work the way they ought to work... when you close the laptop, it actually goes into sleep mode ever time... not 75% of the time, as with my PC. when you open it up, it works great (unlike my Dell, where i have to 'repair' the wireless connection on wake-up). my bluetooth connection works flawlessly, unlike my Dell, where i had to screw around with COM port settings and such. seriously, why do i even have to know about COM ports anymore?? it takes me back to the days of autoexec.com and config.sys. the apple simply gets out of your way and lets you do what you want to do... how the PC ought to be.

my disappointments so far come mainly from the fact that i'm going from a high-end PC (Inspiron 8500) to a low-end Apple. i hope to remedy this soon by upgrading to a 15" PowerBook in the next couple of weeks. a couple of other gripes: no right-click button on the laptop keyboard. i simply cannot believe that you would not include a right-click button when it's so useful to have! my other complaints have to do with the low-end nature of the iBook: no ability to span across multiple monitors (unbelievable!); no S-video out capability (without an extra adaptor); pretty crappy resolution (only 1024X768); no microphone jack (that I can see)

god is beautiful... (in our backyard)

our magnolia tree


our forsythia shrub

the EGLBS meeting

it's been a while since my last post; mostly because i've been too busy to think about the blog...

the EGLBS meeting went great; arrived Wednesday night at about 10:30pm in Wheeling, WV. The meeting was held at a golf resort in the mountains there... beautiful scenery, but the room was small and kinda old.

the first day started off with papers at 11am. we're broken up into different sections (e.g. New Testament, Old Testament, Archaeology...) I was in the NT section. The first session was an hour and 45 minutes, and four people read their papers and took questions. Most of the people at this thing are professors or grad students at state colleges and universities, although there were a few seminaries represented. i was the only person listed as representing a non-college! i'd say that probably half would identify themselves as "Christian", and maybe %20 as "evangelical".

the four papers read in the morning session were fairly dull--mostly stuff that would only interest you if you were a biblical studies major... the Q&A was pretty tame. i was the first presenter in the afternoon session. i had a powerpoint presentation that was incredibly basic by vineyard standards (just one image, english and greek text, and some highlighting animation), but was the most 'elaborate' there! once i finished my paper, the moderator asked for questions, and four hands shot up! the first guy, a teaching fellow at the University of Michigan (interesting coincidence) sort of laid into me... he disagreed with my take on the miracles, and basically said that the pericope in question (the hemorrhaging woman) proved that Jesus didn't heal anyone, but that people healed themselves psychosomatically (though faith); of course, i disagreed with him, and i think i did a pretty good job defending my thesis. another person disagreed with me, saying that 'miracle' and 'magic' are merely words used to accuse or affirm subjective religious interpretations of events.... a classic argument. however, i think i did a pretty good job arguing that one as well.

once the sessions were done, there was a presidential talk (about religion and violence), and finally the plenary session, where Lawrence H. Schiffman was the featured guest... he's a big-wig in the dead sea scrolls community. it was actually quite an interesting talk; this guy knows his stuff forward and backward (literally... get it, he's a hebrew scholar, they read text backward... hahaha... that's a joke)

one of the coolest things about the meeting was that my thesis advisor from ashland seminary, John Byron, was also a presenter in the NT section, so he got to hear me give my paper. we also had plenty of time to hang out, eat meals, and talk... he was really encouraging about my talk, and said it was really quite a good thing to 'stir the pot' like that.

there was a final session on Friday morning, then i headed back home... a great experience!

EGLBS Meeting

i received the program for the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society meeting that i'm presenting a paper at on April 7-8 (i'm on page 3, under NEW TESTAMENT 2: Jesus and Gospels). holy cow, i'm feeling a bit intimidated. i thought this would primarily be other students at a similar stage of study as me, but instead it looks as though most of the other presenters are professors. in fact, the professor who supervised my master's thesis at Ashland, John Byron, is one of them! i think i'm going to have to do a little revision and double-checking on my paper in the next week--i think people ask tough questions after you present, and i don't want to look like a complete idiot.

Euthanasia

Okay, maybe it's just because I have a baby on the way that I'm especially sensitive to this, but this euthanasia thing is really pushing my buttons. To give you an idea of where this debate is going, take a look at this exceprt I pulled from Peter Singer’s website (he’s a medical ethicist at Princeton, and bigwig in the euthanasia movement). Is this a bit scary?

http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/faq.html

Q. You have been quoted as saying: "Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Sometimes it is not wrong at all." Is that quote accurate?

A. It is accurate, but can be misleading if read without an understanding of what I mean by the term “person” (which is discussed in Practical Ethics, from which that quotation is taken). I use the term "person" to refer to a being who is capable of anticipating the future, of having wants and desires for the future. As I have said in answer to the previous question, I think that it is generally a greater wrong to kill such a being than it is to kill a being that has no sense of existing over time. Newborn human babies have no sense of their own existence over time. So killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person, that is, a being who wants to go on living. That doesn’t mean that it is not almost always a terrible thing to do. It is, but that is because most infants are loved and cherished by their parents, and to kill an infant is usually to do a great wrong to its parents. Sometimes, perhaps because the baby has a serious disability, parents think it better that their newborn infant should die. Many doctors will accept their wishes, to the extent of not giving the baby life-supporting medical treatment. That will often ensure that the baby dies. My view is different from this, only to the extent that if a decision is taken, by the parents and doctors, that it is better that a baby should die, I believe it should be possible to carry out that decision, not only by withholding or withdrawing life-support – which can lead to the baby dying slowly from dehydration or from an infection - but also by taking active steps to end the baby’s life swiftly and humanely.

it's a girl! (probably)

we had our first ultrasound this morning at UofM... looks like it's probably a girl! we're both incredibly excited, of course. i'm already thinking about what color to paint the walls in the baby room... how awesome; God is good. the whole thing took about 45 minutes--it was a lot more extensive than what I was expecting. seeing the baby in cross-section was a bit unnerving for me... not sure why. maybe just the idea that this life is so small and fragile? i can't wait... a daughter! how amazing.

a bit colder

well, i think the 'arctic blast' that hit the northeast has made its presence known down here too... temperatues were in the 50's today, instead of 60's and 70's. didn't attempt the water today, but did some jogging on the beach... it's remarkable how much the sand increases the difficulty of running!

i started reading Philip Jenkins' "The Next Christendom"... it's pretty darn interesting... i had no idea there were that many christians in africa. it does explain the presence of so many africans at my seminary (which is anglican)! it's so amazing that christianity has adapted and survived in so many diverse cultures... makes you think there's something 'miraculous' about it!

i'm also still reading clancy's 'teeth of the tiger'... it's pretty interesting, although i don't really find his muslim terrorist characters very believable. it's still fun stuff. also reading the new testament apocrypha... currently working through the gospel material and other sayings sources. some weird stuff going on in those first centuries! wow... makes the latest mind-benders from hollywood seem pretty tame.

decided that i'll wait to get back to michigan to watch 'saw' with jesse... it somehow seems more 'healthy' to watch it with a friend than alone.

so long!

blogging from Jacksonville Beach

well, here we are! i'm writing from Panera Bread here in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

the drive down wasn't too bad... mapquest said 17 hours, but effect of some bad traffic and snow in the appalachians (not to mention a generous number of rest stops) put the trip at about 18.5 hours. needless to say, i was pretty wiped out when we arrived.

i couldn't believe the snow as we drove through virginia! it was pretty bad in the mountains there... strange that it was worse as we drove south! but by the time we came out of the mountains the temperature was up to about 50, and it was great from then on.

can't believe how warm and beautiful it is here! yesterday it was 78 and sunny, and had to actually turn on the air conditioner in the car... how awesome. i've been out in the water just about every day... kayaked the first two days; it's a bit tricky with the waves, but you get used to it. the water is still pretty cold, so the wetsuit i have is really handy. there were quite a few people in the water over the weekend, but today was a bit windy, so not much action... tried some boogey-boarding today, but the waves weren't too good (the broke too quickly)

i watched 'open water' on the drive down--wow, what a great movie! a low-budget indie film, but real sharks and no over-the-top special effects or gore. definitely had me keeping an eye out when i was in the water!

this climate really reminds me of growing up in california... being able to wear shorts and t-shirts just about the whole year-round. man, i do miss the weather...

sure are a lot more older people down here... you really notice it. also, with so many people retired and not working, the traffic is pretty much heavy all day long.

i see a lot more people down here 'living it up', so to speak. rent a little pad a few blocks from the beach. maybe work 25-30 hours a week, spend all the rest of the time on the water, at the clubs, or drinking beer and playing foosball into the wee hours of the morning on the front porch. i guess if i just wanted to relax and enjoy myself, that's one way to go about it!

i'm thinking that the people who remain in the colder climates (e.g. michigan) do so for: a) family & friends, b) career jobs, or c) are really huge hunting or snowmobiling enthusiasts. that seems to sort for a particular kind of person i think... mostly good qualities (except maybe c.)

however, i've noticed that the people down here in the 'south' are a lot more friendly than up north. people say 'thank you' a lot more, and eye-contact with a 'hello' isn't so unusual. reminds me a bit of the characters from 'a streetcar named desire'--the coarse, brutal north and the genteel, refined south (or that's what i remember from high school). i guess the hospitality is a remnant from the old southern culture, but i suppose it will change as more northerners continue to move here.

julie and i watched 'the notebook' last night on DVD. i really liked it... at first it had me rolling my eyes--just a bit too cutsie & cookie-cutter--but by the end i was into it and even got a bit misty-eyed.

i really want to watch 'saw', against all my better judgment. my dad said it was great... this is a dilemma... i know i'll thoroughly enjoy watching it, but i also know i'll end up thinking 'i really didn't need to see that'... alas. what would grace wilson do? i always ask myself that.

well, enough for now... thanks to the free wi-fi here, i'll have a chance to write again soon. hope everyone back home is doing well, and hope things are warming up!

from my dad in Hong Kong

HELLO FROM HONG KONG!!!

It's my first break in the schedule so I'm here in the Youth for Christ offfice trying to squeeze my fingers into one of those tiny little keyboards they make for NORMAL hands. Ouch, I'm cramping up already!!

I got to San Diego Airport late Tuesday afternoon, waited a couple of hours, got on a plane to L.A., then got off cuz mechanical difficulties. An hour and a half later, back on plane, to L.A., and then left for Hong Kong at 11 p.m. Yes, I DID get Bulkhead seat. Still had to park my legs in the aisle. Got run over by the Food Cart about a hundred times, but foot still somewhat attached to my leg.

I really tried to sleep this time. Denny Magnuson, how do you do it?? Overseas seats must be about a foot narrower than domestic. Felt like I was wedged in for 16 hours. Maybe standing on my head would work better.

Arrived in Hong Kong 6:30 a.m., found a Bus into Hong Kong, had 20 min. to unpack and was off to 2 school programs(1000 students), Senior Citizen program(400). How I love the seniors here. I think I high-fived all 400 of them. When I get to be old(another 40 years) I want to be like them!! So full of joy and laughter!! They ooh and ahh at everything I do(I could tie my shoes and get a standing ovation)

Got to bed at 11:30 my first night. Had to force myself to STAY AWAKE all day, even after 18 hours of flying, so I could get on a body time clock. My bed is a little 6 foot bunk bed. Not gonna work. So I piled some mattresses on the floor and gave it a shot. My room is 6'7" wide. I am 6'7" tall. Do the math. Do you really think there that many other 6'7" people in Hong Kong? NOT!!!!

Next day(Thursday. You lose a day going to Hong Kong), I did a high school program, back to Youth for Christ to do a Seniors program, then we did an outdoor program at a Fruit Market, kinda like our Farmers Market. We start doing our magic program, the crowds come, and we share the Gospel with them. Almost thought we were going to cancel, due to the rain.It has been VERY COLD and WET. Haven't seen much sun. And no heat in our little apt. so I just put on everything I own and fight through it. Really funny because at a few of schools I performed in, they had he windows wide open AND THE AIR CONDITIONER ON!!!! You could actually see your breath as you were talking!!! I wonder if they do this to kill off any germs or viruses. Still some concern about the viral problems they had a few years ago.

Friday I ministered again to a Seniors meeting. I had the perfect magic object lesson. I came out with a little teapot, poured me some tea(everyone drinks tea in Hong Kong), talked about how Teapot was specially made for making tea and how were specially planned and created to walk with God and become like Him. I then pulled a 30 foot silk streamer from inside the teapot, taling about the blessings of being "filled" with God. Then I told of how we use the teapot over and over, not throw it away. I actually put the teapot in a paper bag, wadded up the bag and threw it away. The audience went wild!! Wouldn't you, too??

Food has been quite good this trip. We go to a restaurant that has become good friends of the Youth for Christ director,David Chu. They bring us about 12 different dishes of all kinds of real Chinese food(Chicken feet, squid, chicken(sliced up, WITH the bones), and yes, RICE and NOODLES. I've learned to stay away from anything that looks like it's still alive and wiggling. The other stuff has been quite tasty. Not crazy about drinking 15 cups of tea everyday. How about just one Coke, but they're about $3 a bottle. Sometimes after a meal, the couple I'm ministering with(Michael and Jeannie) will sneak out to McDonalds for an ice cream cone. UMMMMM!!!

Today, I am preparing to go to a Phillipine Church to preach. How I love to preach and encourage the people in the churches. They are extremely receptive. This one church last week had a Praise service with Praise dancers that went for 50- minutues before they started the regular part of the service.

My health has been pretty good. Always hard to make adjustments the first 3 days. The cold has caused a little bit of a cold, but I feel strong. Last night, we had 2 Chinese young men over to teach them how to use Gospel magic in their ministry. Finished about midnite. Then yesterday I directed some young leaders in a mime Drama to use in their evangelistic meetings. I hoping we will debut the skit in the next day or 2.

Well, got to get some things together for Phillipine church. There is always very much preparation going on because we have a schedule but we never know when they will throw in another meeting or 2 each day. That's what we're here for, to be "on call" for the Lord. Boy, you really get a perspective for serving the Lord "moment by moment" when you go on the mission field. We may possible get ONE DAY to ourselves to maybe do some sight seeing but that's a big maybe.

Thanks for all our prayers. Thanks again to all the people who made this trip financially possible. Amazing all these years that God always provides every single need, sometimes at the 12th hour. All these years of missions trips teaches one to truly trust in the Lord let go of the worries about finances, health, safety, and open doors.


Love you all.

Mr. Tiny

florida, here we come!

got a 17-hour drive ahead of me, but shouldn't be too bad... have some books on tape and DVD's to watch (when I'm not driving, of course)...

i'm taking the kayak down, hoping to get out on the ocean a good deal... maybe see some dolphins! i'll upload some pictures when i return.

other than that, just plan on reading a lot of books, getting some sun (hopefully it's warm enough), and doing some jogging. looking forward to it! hope it's warmer here when i return... bye!

my response to his response

Dear Dr. Nolland,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I realize that there were a few questions of yours I did not address. I think that’s partly due to the fact that I don’t have good answers to them yet, but I can tell you what my thinking is at this point.

You observed that I had apparently not made a decision between the historical, sociological and theological methods. The struggle I’ve had with this questions is that there are aspects of each of these methods that I wish to use, but I recognize that the main thrust of my dissertation cannot be along all three lines at once. I know that an investigation of “The function of miracle in Luke-Acts” will be very different from “The function of miracle in the early church.” Maybe I’m simplifying it too much, but it seems that the former is primarily a theological question, whereas the latter is primarily an historical question. Nevertheless, there is going to be some overlap, and even an historical investigation of the miracles (which appears where I’m heading) is going to involve a discussion of their theological significance. The historical miracles are so imbued with theological significance that to do otherwise seems impossible. Also, the main texts I’ll be examining are first and foremost theological works—which makes the distinction even more vague (at least for me).

Miracle-working is in one sense a social behavior, and I’m investigating it within a social institution—the church. In that respect, I don’t think I could do an historical investigation of miracle-working in the early church without involving myself in sociology. Also, it seems to me that much of what is described as “sociological investigation” could just as easily fall under the rubric of good historical investigation. At this point I don’t think my research will be primarily a sociological investigation, as I’ve seen them done (e.g. Malina). Rather, I see the sociological methods being useful in carrying out my historical investigation. I see my project essentially as an historical study of the worldviews, mindsets, aims, intentions and motivations of the early church vis-à-vis miracle-working.

You had also asked about the range of materials I intend to deal with, and whether I will be after a single ‘early church’ view. I’d like to include any data that will allow me to give a more accurate understanding of the historical questions I’m asking. Having said that, it seems impossible for me to explore every ancient text, so I’ll need to pick the most relevant. Given the fact that there will doubtless be variations from church to church, city to city, and decade to decade; maybe I should inquire as to the functions of miracle in the early church? I suppose there is also the issue of what constitutes the “church”—would I include the Gnostics, or the Marcionites, or the Montanists… etc.? At this point I’m inclined to include what would be considered “orthodox” Christianity, but I haven’t really thought through this issue, or how I would defend that choice. Although I personally tend to take a fairly high view of Scripture, I don’t intend to presume this belief in my readers. In other words, I’m not going to presume the Bible is an inerrant source of historical information. I’m not sure if this is answering your question?

Please let me know if there are any questions that I haven’t addressed in my emails. Also, I want to reassure you that these questions of methodology are not occupying all of my research time. I’m continuing to do a lot of reading (including a good amount of primary materials—Apostolic Fathers, Apocrypha, ancient histories, etc.) I’ve also found an excellent resource at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ (The Perseus Digital Library), where I can explore ancient Greek texts--very useful for the examination of word meanings! I’m also taking some advice from Dr. Green and writing brief “reviews” whenever I finish a book or article. I can share these with you if you think it will be helpful.

This dialogue with you is very helpful for me in the formulation and clarification of my thoughts. Thanks.

Blessings,

Don

latest email to Dr. Nolland

Dear Dr. Nolland,

Thank you for your last email. It was very thought-provoking! I see now what you meant when you warned me against spending too much time investigating the questions of methodology. I could very easily spend the next 6 years ruminating on the philosophical questions involved here.

However, I wanted to at least make another go at giving you an idea of the direction I want to go in, and why. Here are my thoughts, and my answers to some of your questions.

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I’ve stated my research question as an exploration of “the function of miracle in the early church.” The reason I wish to examine this subject is that I think it can shed light on several other questions which are pertinent to the church today. For example: “Was miracle-working limited to Jesus and the Apostles, or was it intended for disciples of all ages?”; “Was the purpose of miracle-working to authenticate the gospel, or is it part and parcel of kingdom proclamation (or both)?”; and then there are innumerable correlated questions related to healing, exorcism, and the nature miracles. I believe that understanding the function of miracle in the early church would be invaluable in answering these questions.

I say “function” because I’m looking not simply at whether they happened, where they happened, when they happened, etc. Beyond these issues I’d like to get at why they happened. I’m interested in their purpose—what the intent was of those who did miracles, and their effect on those who observed or were otherwise impacted by them. For example, taking the healing miracles: was their primary function that of health-care for the believing community, or were they primarily an evangelistic tool aimed at the non-believing world?

In using the word “miracle” I run into a problem, as this particular word was not in existence at the time. Furthermore, there are several Greek words translated “miracle” (or a closely related idea) in the English Bible, namely dunamis / dunameis, semeion, ergon, and teras. I think it is fair to say that, while the subjects of my inquiry did not have a single term which corresponds directly to our word, I can argue for a category of related ancient phenomena which can be referred to as “miracle”. This does not mean that my first century audience would understand exactly what I mean by “miracle”, because I believe there are significant differences between our idea of the “miraculous” and theirs. But, I think they would recognize a meaningful affinity between the things we regard as miracles: healings, exorcisms, nature miracles, etc. In some way these kinds of things were apparently regarded as “spectacular,” if 1 Corinthians 14 (among many other texts) is any evidence. (In answer to one of your questions, I am inclined to include exorcisms within this category because they seem to share so many characteristics with the other “miracles”, especially the other healings. I don’t have a good reason at this point to exclude them.)

Were the witnesses amazed and astounded by Jesus’ miracles for the same reasons a modern person would be? An exploration of their cosmological worldview will be useful; modern people tend to think of a miracle as something that violates the “laws of nature,” or involves something “supernatural.” The miracles must have been amazing at least partly because “that’s not the sort of thing one sees every day”; they were “other than normal.” However, there are certainly non-ordinary things a first-century person would not have classified as a “miracle.” Beyond this, I’ll need to explore their understanding of nature vs. “super-nature” and their understanding of cause and effect.

I have chosen to limit my inquiry to “the early church.” I haven’t clearly defined this period yet, but I think it would need to begin with the earthly ministry of Jesus. I certainly need to examine the miracle-working of Jesus and the earliest disciples in the Gospels, as it seems to establish the starting point from which I’d trace any sort of developmental trajectory. The first point along the trajectory would be the miracle working of the Apostles (and others) immediately following Pentecost, as recorded chiefly in Acts. The end-date of my inquiry is harder to decide upon. I would want to at least include evidence from the earliest post-Apostolic period, as this would be important in answering the questions involved in the cessation debate. In terms of texts, I would certainly include at least one Gospel and Acts—which argues for choosing Luke-Acts as my primary text. I’d most likely want to include 1&2 Corinthians as well, given its discussion of the miraculous charismata. Finally, I’d need to choose something from the post-Apostolic period: perhaps an early church Father or one of the Apocryphal works? The question of including non-biblical sources is something I haven’t worked out yet. I would want to include them as much as is feasible, as their perspective would be helpful in establishing a more credible historical argument. At least, I would need a good reason to exclude them, if I’m hoping to do “historical” investigation. This gets into some questions of methodology, which I’ll try to discuss now.

In terms of my language, I should probably clarify what I mean when I say “historical,” “sociological,” and “theological.” I am still learning how these methods are used and how they’re distinct from one another. By “historical criticism” or “historical method” I mean that sort of investigation which deals with the historical setting of the relevant documents: the time & place they were written, their sources, the events, dates, persons, and places mentioned in the text. The goal of this method being to write a chronological narrative of the pertinent events, revealing their nature and interconnection.

On the one hand, my investigation of “the function of miracle in the early church” is by definition a historical investigation, because I am interested in “what actually went on” as opposed to simply what those who produced the written sources wanted to report. I would like to know (as much as is possible) the historical questions of who worked miracles, what sort of miracles they worked, what their goals and aims were in miracle-working (this is at least partially a historical question), and what the effect was on the church of such miracle-working. Of course, the problem is that all I have in terms of evidence are those very written sources. I don’t, however, think this is an insurmountable problem.

From my reading it seems that this sort of investigation can get bogged down in questions of what constitutes “objective” history versus subjective interpretations by particular authors. I particularly like what I’ve read of N.T. Wright on this subject, and his proposed critical-realist approach. I believe this critical-realist approach has great promise for my line of inquiry. It allows me to explore the historical questions related to miracle-working (in particular their meaning, function, and significance within a given worldview) without being paralyzed by the problems related to the source texts (e.g. authorial intent, bias, subjectivity). I realize that I will have to address the fact that each author had a goal in mind in writing the text, beyond simply recording historical facts. Nevertheless, I should be able to propose a reasonable hypothesis that “fits” the relevant data and makes sense of the evidence.

In asking about goals, aims, and intentions, I think my exploration begins to take me into the realm of sociology and anthropology. In my last email I mentioned the “sociological” approach. By “sociological interpretation” I mean trying to reconstruct the “social world” of early Christianity vis-à-vis miracle-working. What were the symbols, rituals, and language used that gives us some insight into what their experience of miracle-working was like? Given their social world, what significance might the miracles have had that is not readily apparent to us? In terms of “ritual,” what is the significance of laying-on-of-hands, the “name of Jesus,” or anointing oil? How do we understand the significance of Peter’s shadow?

Much of what I’ve examined that explores questions from a sociological approach involves the creation of social “models,” and then the application of these models to the biblical setting. This seems to be what distinguishes this method from that which is just a good investigation into the “historical setting.” In my study there could be some value in exploring the function of miracle in other cultures (both ancient and modern), and applying these insights. Of course, the challenge will be to find situations with enough similarities to the one I’m examining that I can draw useful conclusions.

Finally, I take “theological interpretation” to mean describing what the biblical texts (or events) meant to their original hearers/readers. This approach has some overlap with the sociological and historical approaches (in the same way that society, history and theology overlap). In this study, I imagine the question will be how the miracles fit within the larger themes of the New Testament (and the Old Testament). After all, any question of “function” seems to imply that there is some purpose within a larger whole. To begin with, what was the function (or purpose) of Jesus’ miracles in his earthly ministry? At some point I’ll need to address a question that you raised in one of our earlier meetings: how do we reconcile Jesus’ suffering and death with his miracle-working? And, how do you make sense of miracle-working power in an early church where persecution and martyrdom were so common (and so effective in the larger goal of spreading the gospel)?

we're having a baby!

...just wanted to share the happy news: julie and i are expecting our first child in August (around the 15th). yeah! we're very excited, and just shared the news with the church.

i celebrated my birthday (32 yrs old) yesterday (feb 21). i went to dinner with my beautiful wife Julie at Mediterrano (excellent food!). they have the best olive oil around. afterward i went to Conor O'Neill's, an Irish pub in the downtown area. had a great time playing Poker with friends. apparently it is NOT okay to play Poker with chips in public, contrary to what i was led to believe when i made the reservation. so, Jesse and i had to run to the local Starbuck's to find something we could use as a substitute... we ended up playing poker with cofee stirrers as our poker chips! i had fun... i think most of the other guys did too, but i can tell not everyone is quite as enthusiastic about poker as i am--also, the food and drinks there are pretty expensive.

i'm really enjoying my life these days... i'm finding a new sort of peace in being who i am and where i'm at. not to say there aren't challenges; but i'm not experiencing any of the gut-wrenching angst or uncertainty that had plagued me during adolescence and my twenties. maybe it has anything to do with declining testosterone levels--or maybe the 10 years since my mother's death have created something of a 'buffer' between me and that place--and the fact that my life has been pointed toward (roughly) Jesus for many years now, and i think i've been moving in that direction...

well, gotta go to work... long day ahead!