SUPPORTER COMMENT
Id like to be a voice for the one that seems to have lost his before ever getting started. I think it would do every one a service to learn the following quote from Joseph Addison, Englisg essayist, poet.
“It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.”
― Joseph Addison
“It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.”
― Joseph Addison
There is much more to the story if others werent so quick to pass judgement and in turn the delivery of message could also use some finesse at the end of the day anytime dialogue is presented that is considered taboo the instict is to tar & feather the messenger FF a decade and the people we want to villanize for having started said dialogue are appreciated and given some credit for the forward motion they helped create...as for what I can say is that there are some 30 maybe 31 citations that have been issued and this man still waits daily to hear from a court appointed public defender that at best has presented a bias or at very least represents an inherent conflict of interest as this man looks to have anyone champion even one idea he wants to share. Instead everyone jokes and can't seem to understand his response to all of this is to hold up a mirror and for everyone to keep living blissfully ignorant.
Three Vectors of Conversion in the Book of Jonah
Kendall Soulen, Emory University
"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come
true, that is a word which the LORD has not spoken
(Deu 18:22)
Jonah employs a sophisticated theology of divine name(s) to portray three distinct
vectors of conversion toward God, and thereby provides a resource for addressing the
question, "Do Christians worship the same God as those from other Abrahamic faiths?"
Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, "Go at
once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it .... "
3 But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to
Joppa and found a ship ... to go ... away from the presence of the LORD.
The Sailor's Conversion: from "my god" to "the LORD"
4 But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and ... the ship threatened to break up.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god ..... Jonah, meanwhile, ... was
fast asleep. 6 The captain came and said to him, "What are you doing sound asleep? Get
up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish."
9 "I am a Hebrew," he replied. "I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the
sea and the dry land."
10 Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, "What is this that you have
done!" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he
had told them so.
14 Then they cried out to the LORD, "Please, a LORD, we pray, do not let us perish on
account of this man's life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, a LORD,
have done as it pleased you." 15 So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and
the sea ceased from its raging.
16 Then the men feared the LORD even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD
and made vows.
17 But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly
of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah's Conversion Pt. 1: from "the LORD" to the "LORD my God"
NRS Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish,
2 saying, "I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly
of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me
forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, a LORD my God.
7 As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.
Deliverance belongs to the LORD!"
10 Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.
***
Jonah 3:1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 "Get up, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." 3 So Jonah set out
and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD .... And he cried out, "Forty
days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
The Ninevites' Conversion: From Wickedness to "God"
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great
and small, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh .... he had a proclamation made in
Nineveh: " .... 8 Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they
shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is
in their hands. 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from
his fierce anger, so that we do not perish."
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his
mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
Johan's "Conversion" Pt. 2: from "the LORD my God" to "the Lord God"
Jonah 4:2He prayed to the LORD and said, "0 LORD! Is not this what I said while I
was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew
that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and ready to relent from punishing.
3 And now, 0 LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to
live."
4 And the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"
6 The LORD God!appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over
his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush.
7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so
that it withered.
8 When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head
of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to
die than to live."
9 But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said,
"Yes, angry enough to die."
10 Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor
and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night.
Compare Genesis 2
9 Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight
and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
***
Do Christians Worship the Same God as those from other Abrahamic Faiths?
Hints from the Book of Jonah
Kendall Soulen - kendall.soulen@emory.edu
"An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign
of the prophet Jonah."
(Matt 12:39-42)
The Sailors' Conversion: a Type of (Gentile) Christianity?
The sailors' conversion is characterized: by being caught up in the drama of the LORD and his
prophet Jonah in such a way that the name "LORDNHWH" pointedly plays a central role. by
trusting Jonah's report concerning himself and the LORD, the God of heaven • by the effort to
act righteously. by Jonah's costly self-sacrifice. by ceasing to appeal to what had hitherto been
"their gods" and calling instead upon the LORD. by ambiguity as to whether the mariners gave
up the worship of their native deities in favor of the LORD
The Ninevites' Conversion: A type of Islam?
The Ninevites conversion is characterized: by being caught up in LORD's drama with his prophet
Jonah in such a way that the name LORD pointedly plays no role. by refusing to take Jonah at
his word ("Forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown") • by relying instead on the
guidance of the king and his characterization of the Deity as "God" (elohim) • by turning from
wickedness toward God. by the Deity, as God, responding favorably to the king's initiative, as
God. by Jonah's exposure as a false prophet
Jonah's Conversion: A type of Judaism?
Jonah's "conversion" is characterized: by Jonah's uniquely intimate relationship with LORD (he
receives the "word of the LORD" immediately). by receiving his commission for the benefit of
gentiles. by knowing from the beginning that the Deity is both "LORD" and "God" • by
reluctance to accept the existential implications of what this means for his own vocation as
prophet
• The LORD God can permit himself to be truthful1y worshipped in three different, nonsymmetrical,
and even partially conflicting ways
• The LORD God's saving purpose for humanity is wider and more perfect than individual
actor's knowledge of the LORD God.
• More complete knowledge of the LORD God's identity does not guarantee superior
standing in God's favor; mutatis mutandis for less complete knowledge
• The LORD God can work salvifically through those who are not his prophets;
conversely, he need not call his prophets for the purpose of authenticating their prophetic
credentials, even when they are authentic. Rather, he may choose to use them to save
others from destruction, if need be at great cost to the reputation of the prophets
themselves.
***
SOULEN TO JOIN FACULTY AS PROFESSOR
OF
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
Posted February 25, 2016
Dean Jan Love has announced that R. Kendall Soulen 86T has been named to the Candler faculty as Professor of Systematic Theology, beginning in fall 2016.
Soulen comes to Candler from his role as professor of systematic theology at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., where he has served since 1992. He received his MDiv from Candler and his undergraduate and PhD degrees from Yale University. Regarded as a leading post-supersessionist theologian, he devotes much of his scholarship to the idea that the Christian faith becomes more authentically Christian as it overcomes its legacy of anti-Judaism.
A frequent lecturer and speaker, Soulen has authored numerous articles and books, including The God of Israel and Christian Theology (Fortress, 1996), Abraham’s Promise: Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations (Eerdmans, 2004), and The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity, vol. 1: Distinguishing the Voices (Westminster John Knox, 2011).
Soulen is an ordained elder in the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church, and an elected delegate to the 2016 General Conference.
***
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_theology: Systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. Subdisciplines are dogmatics, ethics and philosophy of religion.
Systematic theology draws on the foundational sacred texts of Christianity, while simultaneously investigating the development of Christian doctrine over the course of history, particularly through philosophy, science and ethics. Inherent to a system of theological thought is that a method is developed, one which can be applied both broadly and particularly. Using biblical texts, it attempts to compare and relate all of scripture and create a systematized statement on what the whole Bible says about particular issues. There are ten basic areas (or categories) of systematic theology; however, the exact list may vary slightly.
- Theology proper – The study of the character of God
- Biblical theology – The study of the bible
- Christology – The study of Christ
- Pneumatology – The study of the Holy Spirit
- Soteriology – The study of salvation
- Theological anthropology – The study of the nature of humanity.
- Hamartiology - The study of sin
- Angelology – The study of angels
- Ecclesiology – The study of the church
- Eschatology – The study of the end times
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