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Christianity Today, October (Web-only), 2007 |

Theology in the News

Itchy Ears and Tongues of Fire

Gay-rights group employs Scripture. Also: Pentecostal success invites new challenges.

Collin Hansen | posted 10/12/2007 09:27AM

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Yong then identifies three waves in the development of Pentecostal scholarship. First came the historians who documented testimonies to God's work. Then biblical scholars in the 1970s challenged theological assumptions about Scripture. According to Yong, they "raised questions about the 'objective' study of the Bible given their conviction that they themselves were participants in the biblical story, caught up, as it were, by the Holy Spirit into the narrative of the twenty-ninth chapter of the book of Acts." Finally, in the last 10 to 15 years, new Pentecostal theologians have seen "tongues as a sign of the multilinguistic and multicultural kingdom of God."

All in all, Yong captures in a few short pages what many may have missed in recent decades. Now up to speed, non-Pentecostals can watch for what Yong believes to be a great challenge looming: "[W]ith power come both authority and respectability, and it remains unclear whether the previously powerless who are now powerful—economically, politically, and socially—can resist being co-opted by other theological paradigms, by other ecclesial traditions, and most importantly, by the systems of this world."

Quick Takes

Ben Witherington talks to his son about the ultra-popular video game Halo 3. There must be theological implications to a phenomenon that consumes so much time and money.
Desiring God has posted video, transcripts, and audio from its 2007 national conference, themed "Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints." Speakers include John MacArthur, Jerry Bridges, Randy Alcorn, Helen Roseveare, and of course John Piper.
David Neff nobly accepts the task of explaining recapitulation, a theological concept largely lost to the ages.

Verse for the Fortnight

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen."
Romans 1:25

Collin Hansen is a CT editor-at-large.

Related Elsewhere:

Previous Theology in the News columns include:

Immersed in a Baptism Brouhaha | Changes of heart renew centuries-old divisions. (September 28, 2007)

What's Not Coming to a Bookstore Near You | How competition to publish celebrity Christians crowds out theology. (September 14, 2007)

From the Seminaries to the Pews | The 'new perspective on Paul' gets the popular treatment. (August 31, 2007)

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October (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51

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CBob	Posted: October 24, 2007 6:29 PM


I concur wholeheartedly with gay activists and sympathizers that there are other sins, that all sins be taken seriously; indeed, holiness demands it.

Patrick

Posted: October 16, 2007 7:32 AM


So I guess this is a place where we can beat up the UCC. Never mind that the writer misrepresented that denomination's new emphasis on the Holy Spirit, even though many evangelicals also believe that "God is still speaking" through the Holy Spirit. CT is starting to look more like an in-club thing--but let's at least be fair. There was no justification in taking that potshot at the UCC.

specks and beams

Posted: October 14, 2007 10:09 PM

"Itching ears" is one of those handy polemical phrases that can be applied to anyone who believes something controversial that also aligns with her interests, like: Family-values Christians' ears itch for the gospel that tells them that the heterosexual nuclear family, preferably of the suburban variety, is ordained by God. These itchy ears are averse to dwelling too long on Jesus' clear suspicion of the family ("call no one father") and Paul's statement that marriage belongs to the order of the world that is passing away ("let even those who have wives be as though they had none"). These itchy ears prefer the pastoral epistles, whose author clearly is having to deal with people who took these sayings of Jesus and Paul all too seriously. Watch out! Gossipy widows! And so, unlike 1 Cor., where Paul advises celibacy to all who can (marriage is a prophylactic for the unable), the author of 1 Tim. advises that all young widows should get married, which evidently helps with the gossip.

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