Migraine Alert

It looks like I'm falling into the persistent migraine pattern again. The stopgap remedies aren't doing what they normally do and it's hitting very frequently. Thankfully next week is Spring Break at The Potter's School so I'll get to rest up a bit. Hopefully that can carry me through to the end of the school year all right.

It seems that when the tree pollen activity is high and my stress level is high everything becomes worse.

The Academic Journey Revisited

I posted some time ago about the interactions I've begun with the AALC  ( http://www.taalc.org/ ) and how I planned to start a course through their extension program.  I've started the reading for the course and do plan to post summaries of what I'm reading, as well as some comments about class meetings.

As things stand now, in late June I will have an interview with a group of denominational leaders who have the unenviable task of deciding if I seem to be someone they would like to have serving in pastoral ministry.  So between now and then I need to get to know the denomination as well as possible. I also need to be sure they know me as well as possible.  On a short time schedule like this we all need as much wisdom and discernment as we can find.

James 5.1 (ESV) comes to mind here.  "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com and http://alex-kirk.blogspot.com

Spam hits the blog!

Okay, maybe we've arrived now.  I received, for the first time ever, a note to moderate which was clearly an advertisement.

I normally post all comments received since I think the blogosphere should be a place of discussion.  So here's the comment that I received and my on-blog response to it.

"Hi, there! Found your blog today and appreciated your summary of the book of Jonah. Thought you might be interested in a brand new pre-publication offer from Logos Bible Software on the book of Jonah! 

Thanks!
Sarah Wilson "

I've heard good things about Logos Bible Software.  I've looked into some of their packages and while they appear useful I have not wanted to shell out the money for something that would have to reside on my local computer and of which I would probably use very few of the features.  Yet many people do use their systems and I know they have a positive reputation.

Now comes the irony.  It would seem to me that a company interested in marketing materials to make the Scripture more accessible to people would want to hold to some clear biblical values, such as truthfulness.  Considering that the post on Jonah was posted quite some time ago and there were posts on all the other books of the Old Testament, one wonders how that post would be picked out.  In fact, it would seem that the message has all the marks of being an automatically generated spam post that would post to anything saying anything about Jonah.  This simply rubs me as deceit.  

I thought about contacting the Logos Bible Software customer service with this but their email contact is only for technical support issues.  Alas, it appears I have received an advert rather than a comment.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com and http://alex-kirk.blogspot.com

Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families

I actually managed to read a book I received for Christmas.  Okay, I have read two of them, but I don't think Patrick O'Brian's H.M.S. Surprise requires a review on this voyage.  It is a great book, though, if you like 19th century seafaring adventures and the Aubrey/Maturin series.

Here's my attempt at getting all the elements of this book down in a nice reference format.  Richman, Sheldon.  Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families.  Fairfax, VA: The Future of Freedom Foundation, 1994.

Richman's book is a brief diatribe against publicly funded education.  In his six chapters he discusses where publich schools came from, what is wrong with them, why they exist, who some of the primary opponents are, what life might be like without public schools, and some concluding idea.  I asked for the book because it frankly looked interesting.  However, Richman quickly spirals into a diatribe against any organization other than the family which may attempt to bring order to society.  While he makes some good observations and has some conclusions which are probably valid, he does not build an orderly argument for his point of view.  The book strikes me as being more a book of conclusions than a book of evidence leading to a conclusion.

This is unfortunate.  The place for conclusions without much evidence is not in a book like this.  That kind of rhetoric belongs somewhere like the blogosphere, where I am writing.  Of course, Richman was writing before people used the Internet.  

I found that many of the citations of sources Richman used in the book were secondary citations, a big no-no for an informed and fair writer.  He also seemed to pick and choose only what fit his argument, blithely leaving out the greater societal context.  For instance, he suggested that Luther was responsible for forming totalitarian government schools which would oppress citizens and make them be automatons for the state.  He suggested this because Luther went on record telling princes that they should care for their subjects by making sure they can learn to read and write and that they should be adequately catechized.  It is not clear what Richman's religious leanings are, but he seems hostile to the whole idea of a Church that trains up believers.  He also seems hostile to the idea of submitting to the authority God has placed over you.  This is a fatal flaw in his work.

One good note about the book.  My daughter got it for me on Paperback Swap, so it cost only a book in exchange.  I think that book may even have been one of my books.  Maybe I'll put this book back on Paperback Swap.  I wonder what I'll get next?

--
Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com and http://alex-kirk.blogspot.com

Retooling References

AAARGH!  After years of following the APA style sheet, then trying very hard to switch to MLA references, I find the ATS courses require the Chicago style as exemplified in Turabian.  Okay, let's see if I can change my reference format yet again.  It looks like the biggest difference, at least in citations of books and chapters in books, is that there's a comma rather than a period before the date of publication.

comma, not period

comma, not period

--
Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com and http://alex-kirk.blogspot.com

An Introduction to the Old Testament - Malachi

Dillard, Raymond B. & Longman, Tremper III. "Malachi."  An Introduction to the Old Testament.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1994. 437-442.

Malachi, the last of the writing minor prophets, looks forward directly to the New Testament, proclaiming the coming of Elijah who will usher in the Messiah.  The introduction may identify a prophet by name or may simply use the name, meaning "my messenger" as a pseudonym.  The texts seems clearly to refer to a time period after the rebuilding of the temple and long enoughafter that for discouragement to set in.  Most scholars suggest the book was written between 475 and 450 B.C.  Judah did not seem to be seeing the restoration and success people had expected in the enthusiasm of the return from the exile.  Malachi serves to point the people to their failings and proclaim that there is hope in God.

Malachi's striking style is that of a disputation between the people and God.  God issues an accusation against the people.  The people question how they are guilty.  God explains why they are guilty.  At the end of the text the people are called to believe the Lord and to look to the coming of the prophet Elijah.

The heart and center of Malachi's message is that God has made covenants with his people, covenants which they have broken.  While God loves his people, they do not love him.  Yet he will continue to bring them hope.  As we look to the New Testament we see that God has indeed brought hope to his people in the person of Jesus, the one who was heralded by John the Baptizer, the second Elijah.

--
Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com and http://alex-kirk.blogspot.com

An Introduction to the Old Testament - Zechariah

Dillard, Raymond B. & Longman, Tremper III. "Zechariah."  An Introduction to the Old Testament.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1994. 427-436.

Zechariah, the longest of the minor prophets, is also a very obscure and difficult book.  Its contents and style have led to doubt about the date and authorship.  Yet Zechariah 9-14 is frequently cited in the Passion narratives.  Its influence seems second only to Ezekiel in the composition of Revelation.

Zechariah seems to fit into the beginning of the return from the Babylonian exile, with visions dating to 520/519 B.C.  Zechariah is a contemporary of Haggai and speaks to the same kind of social strife and hesitancy to concentrate on restoration of temple worship.  The first eight chapters concentrate on these issues, while chapters 9-14 seem to have imagery pointing to a more distant eschatological future.

Biblical scholarship has fought about the authorship and dating of the book.  There's a very telling statement in the Dillard and Longman about this type of scholarship on p. 430.  "If a modern author carefully arranges his material into various groups by subject or literary form, we ordinarily consider this to be evidence of an orderly mind at work and do not feel compelled to suggest the material must be from different individuals.  In the same way, if an ancient author separates material by literary form (vision, oracle), subject (immediate issues vs. distant), or other criteria (e.g., dated versus undated), this would seem from our Western vantage the actions of a rational, orderly person.  These items scarcely in themselves provide an argument for multiple authorship unless one implicitly adheres to a rather foolish notion that any one author will write only one kind of literature."

Zechariah's visions focus on the power of God to come and judge sin.  We see people in need of repentance, people in need of atonement, people who are not caring for repentance and forgiveness themselves, and the coming of a God who will judge sin and make atonement on behalf of his people. The messianic king will make a humble appearance, riding on a donkey, serving as the shepherd king, the smitten shepherd, betrayed by sinful man.  Yet this is the King who arises victorious to rule among men.
--
Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com and http://alex-kirk.blogspot.com