Jonathan Edwards
Helm on Edwards

This year is the 250th anniversary of the death of Jonathan Edwards. Many will be writing and talking about that great American philosopher and theologian. I intend to read some of Edward’s works again this year as well as works about Edwards. Almost everyone claims Edwards from Pentecostal to Reformed. And, I am sure you will be reading glowing accounts of him this year. I will be posting on Edwards myself in the coming year.

I was intrigued by the following from Paul Helm. Dr. Helm was being interviewed by Guy Davies at his blog Exiled Preacher. In answer to Davies on a question about Edwards, Helm offers this:

The strength is also the weakness: a confidence in human reason which is in some respects breathtaking (the relentlessness of his argumentation in Freedom of the Will), in other respects ridiculous (his view of the continuity of things and people through time, as expressed in his Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin). In many ways he is an archetypal 18thcentury figure. Interesting that the influence of the Enlightenment should reach so powerfully into the recesses of New England; there is irony here, an arch-conservative using the ‘latest thought’ (in Edwards’ case Newton and Locke), to assist ole’ time religion. Perhaps there’s a lesson for us.While one cannot but recognise his greatness Edwards has always seemed to me to have been a tiresome person, aristocratic, tactless and remote, and something of a know-all (justifiably perhaps!), but not someone I’d like to have had as a pastor. Sorry, I’m straying from your question.
[You can read the entire interview at http://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/ ]

I doubt if you will see as frank and critical assessment about Edwards from any other card carrying Biblical and Reformed believer. I also find it interesting the Helm sees Edwards’ use of the Enlightenment “to assist ole’ time religion” as a possible lesson for us all. Is Helm saying we should use the “latest thought”, such as postmodernism, to make our case today? Or, is he saying we too should not abandon modernity in the face of post-modernity? Just wondering.

Reading
Truth in a Postmodern World

I have posted on postmodernism in the past. Here is an excellent book that delves into truth in the postmodern world. You will obtain a feel for the different approaches to truth, in the view of the four contributors, which return it to its proper place in the world today. Hopefully this preview with encourage you to read the book and come to grips with this “truth question” that dominates our culture.

Whatever Happened to Truth? Andreas Köstenberger, Gen. Editor, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005)

This is a compilation of essays that were first plenary addresses at the 56th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. A generation earlier, Francis Schaeffer lamented “truth as truth is gone…relativism reigns.” And, Schaeffer understood that once truth was banished from the realm, our everyday lives would be chaotic and unintelligible. Is that not where we are?

In this work, there are four essays about rising up to make a new case for truth so that modern man can be lead out of the wilderness of truth-less-ness and re-establish order is his life. The essays express four different approaches to the dilemma. Editor Köstenberger approaches the issue Biblically using Pilate’s well known question to Jesus on the nature of truth in John 18:38.He looks at the struggle for truth both with the Jewish religious leaders as well as Pilate the secular leader. The Jews, denying Jesus as the Messiah, reject the truth; Pilate wanting to keep control, evades the truth. Jesus’ various “trials” pit the “truth of power” against the “power of truth”.

R. Albert Mohler speaks to the cultural problem created for truth by the postmodern cultural turn. Mohler sees postmodernism deconstructing truth through linguistic analysis that tries to undermine the meaning of words which leads to a therapeutic culture, a decline in authority other than self and the ultimate displacement of morality. This is all an enormous challenge to Christians requiring them to reassert a robust understanding of truth. Without such, “Christ will not in fact be glorified, the Bible will not be obeyed, the Gospel will not be preached, and the Kingdom will not be extended.”

JP Moreland lays the demise of truth on postmodernism and its philosophical dishonesty. Moreland sets forth 5 problems of postmodernism: 1] misunderstanding of Cartesian certainty as it applies to knowledge and truth; 2] confusion about psychological and rational objectivity; 3] rejection of a belief structure with proper basic beliefs; 4] misunderstanding of where truth is found in linguistic structures; and 5] confusion about perception and intentionality. All these problems have lead to the current view of truth as a social construction rather than what actually corresponds to reality.

Kevin Vanhoozer completes the essays with a very challenging look at what has heretofore been the accepted evangelical propositionalist view of truth he calls the Hodge-Henry hypothesis. To Vanhoozer textual meaning cannot be reduced to propostions only and the inerrancy of Scripture is not in itself a hermeneutic. He finds some merit in the postmodern criticism of truth cast in the propositionalist way. For Vanhoozer truth involves proposition and action. He claims the Bible is theodrama whereby Scripture is the “script” and we are the “recipients” receiving doctrine and direction on how to live as Christians. Truth is the fit between text, how we live and reality; the key is proper interpretation of the various literary forms of the text so as to properly act out the teachings.

Whichever position appeals to you, these men provide trenchant analysis of the need for truth. Though their approaches differ, they all agree that there is truth in Scripture and Christ; that truth can be known and that it is the responsibility of Christians to be advocates of Christian truth as the only truth in the world of relativism long ago predicted by Francis Schaeffer. May we be so!

Election 2008
BOK

In an historic moment, Ted Kennedy, his son Patrick Kennedy and his niece Caroline, the daughter of JFK, endorsed Barack Obama for President. In their view, BO is the next JFK, an agent for a new change in Washington, DC. How Hill and Bill must be fuming. Of course the entire endorsement thing is overwrought. They make good political theater but do not necessarily deliver votes.

There are assumptions in this endorsement. First, that a JFK is what the country needs. Second, that BO is the new JFK. Third, that the country wants a JFK like figure. It is often forgotten that JFK brought enthusiasm and excitement to the 1960 election but he was a narrow winner. And, tragically he only served until Nov. 23, 1963. Camelot and touch football were favorites of the press, but what kind of president was JFK?

It is true that his New Frontier was an answer to the Republican policies of Eisenhower, so his was a message of change. But, his presidency had its successes and failures just like any other. But his tenure is often painted as one of perfection and overwhelming competence. Because of his assassination, there was never a re-election to see if his decisions and policies were endorsed by the electorate.

Furthermore, this is a different world from the sixties. It was the cold war period and the threat was missiles in Cuba. Globalization and a world wide interconnected economy had not yet appeared. During JFK’s administration, the stock market had its sharpest drop since 1929. His response was Reagan like…cut corporate and individual taxes. He also had Congress give him tariff cutting power so he could trade with the European Common Market. His response was not that of the liberal Democrat of the BO stripe. Today, the threat to safety is not an identifiable enemy state like the Soviet Union. And, the American economy now has many competitors in this world for resources and in production. The security and economic problems today are much more complex. And the solutions thereto are elusive and lack permanence.

So, is BO the right man for this time? Time will tell and the electorate will decide. Those who Bill O’Reilly calls secular progressives often make light of the desire of some to return to the Ozzie and Harriet Days; those 50s values. Yet here is the old liberal lion Ted Kennedy and his family wanting to hearken back to the days of JFK for a solution to the current problems facing the USA. But what the country needs is a candidate who has a vision of how to deal with the security and economic issues of today, not the sixties. BO has brought enthusiasm and excitement to the Democratic primary. Now that he is anointed as BOK, it is time to hear how he plans on leading the country in solving the ongoing security and economic problems in this fluid, ever shrinking world. Returning to nostalgic images of the sixties wouldn’t do.

It has been a long time since I posted. I have had a very ambitious schedule over the past months. I was involved in one of the most difficult cases of my 35 year legal career the last half of 2007. It took its toll emotionally and physically [I'm not a kid anymore!]. Additionally, Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church was particularized by the Ascension Presbytery as an official church in the Presbyterian Church in America. As a result, the responsibilities of a ruling elder in a "baby church" have set in. Our travel schedule has been over the top...even for us. Susan and I have criss-crossed the Atlantic 6 times in the last 7 months visiting Scotland, Ireland, Turkey, Cyprus and Greece. Any of you have been involved in international travel know how difficult that is Finally, Susan's beloved Aunt Lenore, her late mother's only sister, passed into her eternal reward just two weeks ago. In an example of God's blessings, we were able to see Lenore on the night we returned from Athens after 24 hours of travel, just an hour before she died. God is good all the time! Now, things seem to have returned to the "usual madness" of the practice of law and the establishment of a Biblical and Reformed witness in Clearfield County. Ergo, there will be time for blogging. There is lots to talk about, so let the posting begin!