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Sunday, April 30, 2006
New Photo
Betty Cole happily, if a bit belatedly, sent in this snapshot of Georgia and me. It was taken about a year ago
at Bob Foster's Lost Valley Ranch in Colorado. The occasion was the 40th anniversary reunion of members of The Navigators'
1965 OTC -- Overseas Training Corps. Betty's husband, Bill, was part of the group, led by Rod Sargent and Jim White,
who spent the summer with us in Lebanon. They made a great contribution to the development of the original Nav team
in the Middle East. Other members of the group included Roger Borchard, Bruce Das, Tom Kotouc, Ben Long, and Ray Rice.
10:27 am edt
Friday, April 28, 2006
Really?
The front cover of the current issue of Christianity Today notes that some evangelicals are
arguing that for centuries we have misunderstood the meaning of Christ's atonement, and asks the question: Really?
So perhaps it is not out of place for me to draw your attention to the new link on my web site:
Bible Studies (check the top of the column to the left), because the first of the Bible studies that I am posting
is one on the Atonement. Is it possible that Christianity Today (CT) knew what I was up to? Just kidding.
Actually, the notes I am posting on the Atonement are modeled on the notes I prepare for the
weekly neighborhood Bible study group I facilitate. So, for a while at least, these Bible Studies pages are "real time"
and will be ongoing for some weeks to come.
The author of CT's article is Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington,
DC. The article is well done and worth reading, but tendentious. As he himself admits, "Not everyone sees
it that way," meaning his way. For myself, my study leads me to conclude that the doctrine of the Atonement is
far richer than a single perspective allows.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Cheaper by the Dozen
I was on the Web today, doing a little genealogical research. My great-grandfather, also named Waldron Scott, was
born in 1837. During the U.S. Civil War he fought for the Union with the 7th Missouri Regiment and was
wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. At the conclusion of the War, he moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, married Mary Ann
Johnson, the daughter of a local horse breeder, and fathered eleven children. Life on the frontier was not easy
in those days; three of Waldron's children died before their first birthday. One of Waldron's children,
my grandfather Walter Emanuel Scott, fathered two daughters and seven sons, all of whom survived. The eldest son
was my father, another Waldron.
It is small wonder that
there are so many Scotts in this country. In frequency, Scott ranks 34th out of 88,800 surnames in the USA.
Candles
Philip Roth's latest
novel, Everyman, has just been published. It's about an old man dying and makes for dismal reading. I
don't recommend it. However, it is true that we seniors think often of death. Younger people do too.
When Wolf Christian Jaeschke, who leads the Navigators ministries in Germany, was a little boy growing up in a secular family, he
was taught to compare death to the snuffing out of a candle, never to be lighted again. In a recent paper, written about
Easter time, Jaeschke shared his conviction that God does indeed light snuffed-out candles again. Jesus' resurrection
ensures our own in the new world to come.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Singing in the Rain
After seven weeks of drought here in northern
New Jersey, heavy rains have fallen the past couple of days -- enough to bring us within an inch of "normal" for the first
four months of the year. That got me recalling, in terms of annual rainfall, the various places my family and I
have lived over the years.
The driest was Albuquerque, New Mexico
where I lived as a 13-year-old, and which averages only 9 in/23 cm per year. Next driest would be Zahleh, Lebanon
and Colorado Springs, Colorado, both of which average about 16 in/50 cm annually.
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, where
I attended college, receives 26 in/66 cm each year. Omaha, Nebraska, where I grew up, checks in with 30 in/76 cm; and
Loueizeh, Lebanon (near Beirut) gets 35 in/89 cm.
Near the top of the list is Paterson, New
Jersey, where I live now and which averages 50 in/127 cm. But by far the wettest was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where
we lived in the early 1970s, and which averages nearly one hundred inches (254 cm) per year, twice that of Paterson.
What was our favorite residence? I
think my children might vote for Kuala Lumpur -- lots of rain, true, but warm rain. One of my children
recalls it as "magical."
Friday, April 21, 2006
Vernon Grounds
Denver Seminary is in the process of launching the Grounds Center for Public Ethics and endowing the Vernon C. Grounds
Chair of Pastoral Ministry and Societal Ethics. This gives me an opportunity to pay my own modest but heartfelt tribute
to Vernon, now in the tenth decade of his life.
This morning, rummaging around in my library, I spotted a little pamphlet, Evangelicalism
and Social Responsibility, written by Vernon back in 1967 at a time when social responsibility was still on the back
page of the evangelical agenda.
1967 was also a time in my personal life when I was becoming aware of the biblical theme
of social justice. Vernon's booklet -- and a small book written about the same time, Don't Sleep through the Revolution,
by Paul S. Rees, who was at that time minister-at-large for the World Vision organization -- contributed much to shaping
my public theology.
Vernon's preaching was (I am recalling the 1970s) a combination of high scholarship, flowery
language, an odd lugubriousness, and occasional long-windedness. One needed patience to hear him out.
But the substance of his messages were one's reward. His talks never failed to enrich.
Off the podium, Vernon was a mentor to younger men such as me. During my years as general
secretary of the World Evangelical Fellowship (now Alliance) Vernon stalwartly supported me in my challenge to evangelicals
to work harder for social justice, particularly in the global arena. In 1979, as president of Denver
Seminary, Vernon invited me to deliver a series of lectures which became the backbone of my book Bring Forth Justice,
published in 1980.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Nepal
Newspaper reports today highlight violent unrest in Nepal, a predominantly Hindu nation of
25 million people, famous for its Mount Everest, highest peak in the world.
Sparking the unrest is a desire for a more democratic and honest government.
The violence is sparked by Maoist rebels, on the one hand, and the King's intransigence on the other.
Most people are not aware that in the midst of all this turmoil, thousands
of Nepalese are becoming followers of Jesus -- more than a quarter-million to date. (As recently as 1960 there were
fewer than a dozen known Christians in Nepal.)
Whether this growing Christian movement will help shape the nation's future remains
to be seen, for Christians currently suffer Maoist pressure from the left and Hindu pressure from the right.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Two Friends
I have two good friends, both of whom are currently writing books on Islam.
Both are learned men, with earned doctorates. Both are evangelical Christians. Georgia and I have many Muslim
neighbors here in Paterson, so I have a vested interest in what my friends write. Yet their books, which I have been
privileged to read first drafts of before publication, could hardly be more different.
One friend sees Islam as the greatest threat in our day to civilization in general,
and to America, Israel, and the Church in particular. He believes that at the End of the Age, which is close at
hand, Satan is attempting to take control of the world by means of a militant Islam. America must stand stalwart against
Islam, as it did against atheistic communism in the recent past, and Christians must oppose Islam with all the strength
God gives us.
The other friend believes that the 9/11 attack was a wake up call to Christians
in America, not to enter battle with Islam but to learn how to witness to Muslims more lovingly and effectively
than we have in the past. The real battle is for the hearts and minds of individual Muslims. For this, Jesus
is a better model for us than Jonah.
How can two brothers, both rooted in the same Christian tradition, reach conclusions
so diametrically opposed to each other?
The enigma can be understood partially in cultural terms. One brother is a Midwest American;
the other is of Arab heritage. Partly it's a matter of perspective. One writes as an "objective" theologian
from the outside. The other writes subjectively, as an insider who has lived among Muslims most of his life
and is passionate about sharing the gospel with them. And partly it's a question of how each understands the gospel.
With which of these two brothers do you identify with most readily?
Monday, April 17, 2006
Big Tent Evangelicals
Yesterday Michael Luo, in a New York Times
article entitled Big Tent Religion, wrote, "Today, on Easter, evangelical Christians can celebrate, knowing that they are
part of a movement that has never been so powerful or so large. But like any dominating force, evangelicalism is not
monolithic, and it seems that now, at a time of heightened power, old fissures are widening, and new theological and political
splits are developing.
"A new generation of leaders are vying
to define [the evangelical] center," Luo continues. "A tug of war is unfolding behind the scenes over theology
-- should evangelicalism be a big tent, open to more divergent views, or a smaller, purer theology?"
This article was of special interest to me because it was back in March of 1979 that I introduced the idea of a big tent -- though at the time the phrase I used was "open space."
Addressing a large group of evangelical leaders at a consultation on
theology and mission, at a time when I was serving as general secretary of the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF), I said,
"I see the WEF as a kind of 'open space' in which evangelicals from all six continents can affirm their identity, express
their unity, and develop fruitful patterns of cooperation."
My motive was to enable younger evangelical leaders, from what at that
time we called the Third World, to have a greater voice in shaping the evangelical movement, for up to this time the
defining of 'evangelical' was pretty much the province of North Americans.
My proposal caused great turmoil at the consultation, and the consultation's final
report implicitly rejected the idea ("concern for the goals and direction of the [WEF] was expressed"). It seemed more
important to the leaders of that generation that well-defined fences be maintained. I see from Luo's report that the
debate continues.
(For any who might be interested, the paper I presented to the consultation is
included under the link Select Writings. See the button, The Evangelical World Mission.)
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Lessons from the Past
Writing in the New York Review of Books, Arthur Schlesinger Jr reminds us of words spoken
by President John Kennedy 45 years ago:
"We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient
-- that we are just six percent of the world's population -- that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind
-- that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity -- and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to
every world problem."
Agree? or disagree?
Another point to ponder
from the past. The apostle Paul said that Christ "died for all." That seems quite unambiguous
-- until you consider (as our Bible study group did a couple of nights ago) that the little preposition "for" has more than
two dozen possible meanings! (Webster's unabridged dictionary.)
Which one did Paul have in mind? In the passage where Christ "died for all"
occurs, Paul doesn't tell us. So we spent the better part of half an hour sorting through the possibilities. I'm
reminded of former President Bill Clinton's infamous remark, "It all depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."
Our study of the Atonement proceeds apace.
3:41 pm edt
Thursday, April 6, 2006
How the Global South Reads the Bible
I always look forward to each issue
of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. (You will note that its publisher, the Overseas Ministries Study
Center, is listed among my "favored links.")
One riveting article in the current issue
is by Philip Jenkins, author of The Next Christendom: the Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford, 2002) It is
entitled "Reading the Bible in the Global South." In it Jenkins contrasts the way we of the affluent North read the
Bible with the way those in the global South read it.
He quotes Kenyan Anglican archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi
as declaring, "Our understanding of the Bible is different than theirs [in the North]. We are two different churches." Jenkins
reminds us that "For the growing churches of the global South, the Bible speaks to everyday real-world issues of poverty and
debt, famine and urban crisis, racial and gender oppression, and state brutality and persecution."
The omnipresence of poverty in these societies, he continues,
makes people in what my generation called the Third World keenly aware of the transience of life, of how dependent individuals
and nations are on God, and how untrustworthy is the secular order."
Another article I found fascinating is written by J..
Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and is entitled, "African-Initiated Christianity in Eastern Europe." This article tells the
story of Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian-born pastor who relocated to the Ukraine a decade ago. Pastor Adelaja speaks
fluent Russian and preaches mainly in that language.
The name of his church is God's Embassy.
A Ukrainian pastor, Vladimir Gargar, says, "We now know why God created Africa. God created Africa to open our eyes
to his salvation."
Monday, April 3, 2006
Atonement
Tomorrow we have our weekly Bible study. We are a warm, close group of nine: six African-Americans, (one
from Jamaica); three Caucasians (one from Argentina). For more than a year we made our way through the Gospel of
Mark. As you know, that story ends with the empty tomb's discoverers (three women) bewildered and speechless. And
in a sense, so were we. What then was the meaning of Jesus' mission, his tortured execution, the
vacant sepulchre?
To answer this question, we have now embarked
on a study of the various theories of the Atonement that Christians have come up with during the past twenty centuries.
We are beginning, of course, with the Book of Acts and the remainder of the New Testament. Already we have noted that
Peter, Paul, the writer of Hebrews, and John all have different "takes" on the Atonement. It promises to be a rich,
rewarding study -- one that should profoundly impact our lives and, hopefully, those around us.
New material
If this site is working properly, my March blogs should now be archived.
(See 2006 03 01). Meanwhile, let me report some new material I've added to the site. In the section on Holistic
Ministries you will find an article, reprinted from Transforma-tion magazine, that describes what I like to call The Paterson
Paradigm -- that is, why Georgia and I do what we do the way we do it. And in the Genealogy section I've included
some Family Tree stuff from my autobiography that will be of interest primarily to family members. You are welcome to
peek if you wish.
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