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| It's not you, it's me...I'm giving up on xanga. You can catch all the great same posts from the past, and the new ones to come, over at my blogspot page. Hope the extra click or two doesn't keep you from checking it out.
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| Home...for NowMy apologies to Noah Helm who was expecting the update I promised on July 26. I'm two days late and sincerely regretful. Erin and I made it back to Chicago on Tuesday and now it is time to prepare for Africa. We get on that plane one week from today.
Europe was a great experience. We visited 10 countries (11 if you count sleeping through Slovakia on a train)and many, many sights. After the next two weeks we will have stepped foot on 13 countries in the almost one year of our marriage. That pace is likely not to be kept up. My hope is to do a series of posts on our travels, share some pictures, and if I came up with any deep thoughts during the time, maybe I'll pass those along as well.
We started our trip in Munich. If it wasn't for these two guys needing a babysitter for the week we would have never made it to the Continent.
We spent about five days in Munich. In the morning we would get these guys to the bus for school, then we would run around for the afternoon, and go to parks and dinner with the boys at night. It served as a good transition time to Europe as an 11-year-old translated for us all week.
Munich was fun. It was full of beer gardens (they originated there), old cathedrals, and a young, hip population. We saw the enormous Walking Man
and Dachau concentration camp. This was the only picture Erin could bring herself to take. I haven't developed my old-school 35mm film and put it on a CD yet.
We also saw the old palace with the royal treasury. This was an ancient collection of jewels, crowns, and gifts received by the royal families. The collection composed some of the most opulent, dazzling things I had ever seen.
We went to Dachau figuring we had to see at least one site connected with the events of WWII. It was sobering. I realized for the first time that what happened in many camps was an evolution. Dachau was one of the very few camps to exist throughout the war. It went from being a place for political prisoners with access to their own bank accounts to being a place of all things dreadful usually connected with concentration camps. I had to face what happened during this dark, dark period of human existence a few times on our trip. I found myself not being able to fathom these events. I don't think I ever will.
Munich was definitely worth the visit. There is ice cream on every block; one scoop generally going for less than one euro. But, beware the bikers. They stop for no one. The cars have no qualms about parking on the sidewalk, but the pedestrians won't cross the street unless the signal is green. I think they would wait for the signal if cars didn't even exist; it was just that way.
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| EuropeHey everyone. I regret that my posts have been slowing down in recent
days. But, I must tell you that there will be even less until June 26.
Erin and I were offered free plane tickets to Munich to babysit for
some friends from church. We decided to do it and take another month to
do some traveling on our own. So, if you're going to be wandering
around Europe, drop me an e-mail maybe we can grab some espresso. If
not, check back here at the end of June. | | |
| Summer is HereSummer is here...at least I am pretending. I took my comprehensive
exams (and passed), wrote too many papers (they got turned in), took
finals (which are over), and slept in today (which felt wonderful). The
sun is finally shining on a consistent basis in Chicago, I've opened
the apartment windows, and I watched some of the Cinco de Mayo parade
swing down my boulevard yesterday afternoon. I have a stack of books to
read because I want to and enough things to keep be busy without going
crazy from boredom. I guess all is well.
Maybe some deeper thoughts will come to me soon.
I just finished up season five of 24...am I really supposed to believe that Jack is dumb enough to take a call from his daughter that hates him in the middle of nowhere? Some time in a Chinese prison camp might do him well.
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| Canonical Cookie DoughIf you are an exegesis student with me I hope you've found your way
back after getting through comps. Everyone else, please accept my
apologies for not writing anything over the last week or so. School has
been crazy.
I've been thinking for awhile on the way in which
the Old Testament is used in the New Testament. This is mostly due to a
class I am taking this semester. In particular I've been trying to
formulate my thoughts on the implications of this scriptural phenomenon
for interpretation. I think I've come to a conclusion that will get
frowns from many in the academy, but here it goes.
I want to
compare this interpretive dilemma to cookie dough. I love eating cookie
dough. I was making some peanut butter and chocolate chips last week
when I was stressed out before comps. While putting a few batches in
and out of the oven I probably ate about four cookies worth of dough.
On its own the dough is tasty. Cookie dough is so good they've made it
into an ice cream. Here's the problem: if you eat too much cookie dough
you're going to get sick. The point of making the cookie dough is to
put it in the oven at 350 degrees, wait for 10 minutes, and eat a fully
cooked cookie (preferably with a cold glass of milk). I think the OT
being used in the NT is very similar. One must take some time to
consider the OT in its own context (it's ok to eat some of the dough)
but the NT was given for a reason. The NT is the fulfillment of
everything anticipated in the OT. This is especially true of the person
and work of Jesus Christ. If someone only focuses on the OT and ignores
the way it is used in the rest of the Bible they are going to get sick;
they are not going to get the entire picture.
One of the
passages we studied this semester really got me to thinking about this.
If I only had the OT I would interpret the passage in one manner. But,
upon seeing it used in the NT, my understanding of the OT passage
changed. God has inspired the entire canon and in many instances that
inspiration uses part of the OT in the NT. I guess that OT passage
needed to spend some time in the oven. Hundreds of years after the
dough was made it finally came out of the oven in a complete, fulfilled
form.
Give me the whole canon. The OT is always anticipating
what is to come; it is looking forward to a future Messiah. Why should
we neglect the cookie and just eat the dough? Plus I hate getting sick. | | |
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