In Shaped by the Word, by Robert Mulholland Jr., one finds a way to read scripture in order to provide a deeper understanding of God and allow His Word to shape one’s spiritual life. In the Introduction, in chapter 1, the reader is introduced to the idea that there is a movement in the church that seeks to become deeper and stricter in spiritual formation. He claims there are many books written for this purpose, and his intending purpose for this book is for God to use however he may want in the reader’s spiritual life. Mulholland provides the reader with a prayer to pray in preparation of reading this book and states there may be points where God is knocking and calling the reader’s attention to something new.
In chapter 2,
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The image the author gives the reader of this element is that of Jesus stating the commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself. You cannot be transformed without first putting others first because one’s relationship with God encompasses relationships with each other. In section two of the book, the author focuses on God’s Word and how the reader needs to free Scripture from perceptual framework; in this he provides four approaches. First, Mulholland tells the reader that they are a word of God. Humankind is a word of God because God first chose humankind, He spoke each person forth. Second, humankind is to be incarnate words by living out the Word of God instead of living out the worldly desires. Third, the author now incorporates the previous two conceptions of mankind being a word, and living out the Word of God, into being this created, incarnate word now being shaped by the Word of God. Mulholland then explains the Word by which one is shaped. The Word of God being present in Jesus and active in the Holy Spirit. This Word, he suggests, is like a surgeon who one trusts to cut the core of the problem of one’s physical body; while “the Word cuts the core of one’s being and transforms it into the Word God speaks mankind forth to be in the world.” Mulholland then gives his
The authors set the groundwork in the first two chapters for the reader to have comprehension and understanding for the rest of the book. Therefore, the basis of the book is helping the reader to interpret and study the Bible. Fee and Stuart thoroughly discuss the process of interpretation. They stress the importance of correctly understanding what the reader is saying. Fee and Stuart stress that correct interpretation “brings relief to the mind as well as a prick or prod to the heart”
Working over a long period of time, the Holy Spirit moved upon well over 40 writers to record the Holy Scriptures that we call the Bible. Yet, there is a marvelous unity. Let us rever-ence these pages that we have been given to read and study, and so with the psalmist cry out, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law”(Ps. 119:18).
To tackle the housing affordability, first of all, it is crucial to lift the supply of housing as it will release the pressure on the housing price. Nevertheless, the supply of housing is inelastic as it requires an adequate fund, time, approval from the Government. Besides, the housing system is heavily dependent on the private sector. Thus, the Government should provide initiatives for housing providers to shift the supply of houses in the market. Australia would follow the policies from other countries to tackle the housing affordability. However, it has to fit in the Australian context. These policies might work well in other places but it does not mean that it will be applicable in Australia. The Singapore Government has a public
The Bible and its text is trustworthy and reliable to its fullest, but on this journey in seeking the word of God can using it in how daily life is where arises an important question; How now is to understand the idea of the ‘Word of God” and its implications for how Christian theology is to be done. Karl Barth (1886-1968) a Swiss Protestant theologian who is one of the most substantial and influential recent works of Christian Theology in the twentieth century. In this text analysis of one of Barth teaching he breaks down in explaining what he means by “reflection” on the Word of God. Barth first address this three part: “the Word of God in a First Address in which God himself and God alone is the speaker, in a second address in which the
Chicago’s budget crisis has been one of the most unfortunate events of the decade. As a former student of Chicago Public Schools, myself and other students wanted the best for our education, but CPS school teachers and faculty are given the bad news that the City Council thinks we demand too much. Resulting in the Chicago Teachers Union strike of 2012, budget cuts, and many other events impacting things within the schools, it is no longer new to students, who also encounter what goes on outside, such as political news or neighborhood violence. Those in schools feel that it has been the place to be and to feel secure. Now that I have recently graduated, I have encountered a similar want for the best for my education through my college. As
This book review is from the readings of Biblical Inspiration by Howard Marshall. The book is published by Regent College Publishing located in Vancouver, and British Columbia published the book in 2004. The book is braces around the interpretation of the Bible, and the inspiration of the Bible in our lives of today. There are many questions that are brought up the book, and these include: Is the Bible infallible? How do we interpret the Bible today? is its inspiration believable in and biblical criticism believable? All of the different opinions on biblical issues equivalent to these bring up issues and questioning within the community. It is Marshall’s goal to try and produce a statement that is concrete of what the Bible says in our lives today.
In the study of Christian theology, scripture plays an essential role in the revelation of the Doctrine of God. Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) words, written by the Holy Spirit through divine inspiration of prophets. They are necessary for the proper understanding of the doctrine of God, the self-revelation of God, the proof of God’s existence, and for the discernment of false doctrines.
Under resources, Green states that theological disciplines must be put back together. This would include seminary curricula and the “practices of Christian formation such as corporate worship, instruction, prayer and hospitality” (63). To help with the task of putting these disciplines back together Green points to some needed resources (65). First, reading Scripture must be ecclesially located. “For those seriously interested, an important practice is to cultivate interpreting Scripture with others who share the posture of standing under” (66). Standing under implies that the bible based material need their origin and structuring inside the community of God’s people (66). Second, reading Scripture must be theologically shaped in making sure that the old Testament and New Testament interpretation is incomprehensible without each other (79). Thirdly, reading Scripture must be seriously involved in discerning the varieties of possible readings of other biblical texts (89). Lastly, reading Scripture must be Spirit filled. “To invite the Holy Spirit into the interpretive process is to deny our autonomy as readers of
The word ain’t is one of the most commonly-overlooked mistake in the English dictionary. It is used very often in TV, books, movies, media, and music, so we shouldn’t be surprised it is now in our real life. Even though our English teachers and grammar textbooks label the word ain’t as incorrect the use of the word has not been banished and we have no idea if it ever will be. Since, it continues to be in our language, and we often us it we should be informed of its origin and its development. However, there are different opinions on the development. Most writers on this issue seems to agree that the word ain’t has not been fully investigated and needs further research. A look at the history of ain’t can help determine how this simple contraction became a serious error in professional writing and speech.
Many argue that throughout Aenied, Virgil develops Aeneas to be a boring and unheroic character; always acting as he should with apparently no power to act in any other way. Occasionally sidetracked, Aeneas is prodded and redirected by the gods toward his destiny. Aeneas’ mother, Venus, constantly interjects to lead Aeneas toward his fate. It is she who leads him away from the fallen city of Troy “ I had twice-ten ships, and my goddess-mother showed me the way.”(I, 541-542) Mercury also sets Aeneas straight from his deviating course by telling him to leave his love Dido “What are you pondering or hoping for while squandering your ease in Libyan lands.” (IV, 362-363) Mercury criticizes Aeneas for ignoring the importance of
This community, according to Chandler, must be centered on Christ with the gospel as its foundation. He says that it is God’s eternal purpose that this community steps beyond the boundaries society sets. Chandler continues in the fourth chapter that a creature of the word and their community will be service-oriented just as Jesus Christ was.
Billings expresses “I want to introduce readers to the practice of interpreting Scripture in the context of the triune activity of God, the God who uses Scripture to reshape the church into Christ’s image by the Spirit’s power” (xiii). His humble demeanor shows that he isn’t writing this book to gain a profit but to open the minds and the hearts of the everyday believer. Billings wants to show that the word isn’t just a flat tune, but a musical instrument that flows with the harmony of the spirit. As the music flows so does the change in our behavior, our attitude in everyday life and it all starts within the scripture.
In doing so, we can discover that final authority is not in and of scripture itself but of the Triune God who is the Author of scripture. The second obstacle to consider is that many have dismissed scripture as a book of Israelitic & Christian stories. Wright contends that these stories are told to inform us of “internal dynamics” of the past so as to engage us in the present for transformation into Christ-likeness. (p.25). Thirdly, Wright asserts that the question of scripture’s authority should not be viewed as a list of rules where God condescends to man. Rather, scripture should be received as God’s purpose to save and renew the entire world by authorizing the church—God’s agent in the world—with His mission through the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is imperative that biblical scholars “see the role of scripture not simply as being [informative about or revelatory of God’s truth] but as a means of God’s action in and through us.” (p.28)
Growing up in a Catholic family, I often questioned the existence of God. As I delved myself into Bible and the words of my priest, the state of perplexity continued to cumulate. Rather than forcibly believing literal messages of the Bible, I adopted a representation of those words in order to mollify myself, in a complex world with a myriad of questions arising.
When looking at the common theme that Barth develops in God Here and Now, it becomes apparent for the need of congregation to justify, ratify, and promote the Bible as the living word of God. When and where the Bible constitutes its own authority and significance, it mediates the very presence of God through the congregation. Encountering this presence in the Church, among those whose lives presume living through the Bible’s power and meaning. Barth states that the Bible must become God's Word and this occurs only when God wills to address us in and through it. The Christ-event is God's definitive self-disclosure, while Scripture and preaching are made to correspond to him as a faithful witness becomes the perfect statement according to