Well, I've been back in Kentucky for about a week and a day now. It's nice to get settled back in. I think I've finally gotten over that rather nasty cold I have, though it only really cleared up a couple days ago. Lingered for quite some time there. But I've been enjoying myself in some relative solitude, while hanging out with my friends from time to time. I've got a new neighbor named Matt, a really good guy who's a great inspiration in faith, and I can tell we're going to get along and hopefully become close. Also, my birthday was four days ago. It seems a tad bit odd to think of myself as twenty-four years old now, but it's the case.
What have I been doing? Well, this is one thing that's in play. I've been starting to gradually contemplate the research I'll need to do to write my defense of Evangelicalism over against Mormonism. So far I've begun to develop a structural outline and flesh it out with some particulars. Although it won't be the beginning of my paper, naturally I've gotten some material prepared in generalized outline form on the subject of priesthood from an Evangelical Christian perspective, relying chiefly on the main New Testament sources for a theology of priesthood; I've started formulating my points and selecting a few supporting quotations and citations from the resources I have available in my notes and whatnot - things like Attridge, Lindars, Schenck, etc., though I also found some useful references in Augustine and Thomas Aquinas thus far. Additionally, pertaining to other subjects, I've gotten to comb through some early Christian writings to jot down anything relevant in terms of their ontological views with respect to God, matter, and humanity, and I've found plenty of useful material - Aristides, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Hilary... and all but the last are ante-Nicene. I've also begun assembling some cursory references to LDS sources to be able to document my piecing together of LDS views of God, matter, and humanity, as that will prove likewise important.
In other news, at the airport I began to read Terryl L. Givens' The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy. It has some chapters that make interesting studies, though I'm rather surprised at how clearly Givens' bias shines through in the way he crafts his discussions (and frankly there were a couple paragraphs here and there that I can't even really regard as being honest). I had always expected better from Givens, I suppose. Anyway, I've been taking extensive notes, and I think I have just one chapter remaining in that book. I've behind in my notes for Philosophical and Theological Essays on the Trinity, edited by Thomas McCall and Michael Rea, which is quite a mind-bending book. But really, it's just that it's been a while since I've read much written in the analytic philosophical style. It's good to be back, but I confess that so far several of the models strike me as appealing (Swinburne's seems to have much to offer, and I can maybe see something to Craig's, but I'm also intensely intrigued by the Brower-Rea model with an analogy to material constitution). Anyway, I've also begun to read The Miracle of Forgiveness (1969) by former LDS President Spencer W. Kimball. Mormonism Research Ministry's podcast Viewpoint on Mormonism has been running a chapter-by-chapter series commenting on it, and I've decided to read a chapter and then listen to the associated episode(s). Though I'm still somewhat behind, I'm catching up. I believe they're up through Chapter 9, while I'm up through Chapter 6 (though only through the podcasts through Chapter 4, as there were four 14-minute episodes for that one). I'd long heard from Evangelical critics of Mormonism that The Miracle of Forgiveness tends to embody a very harsh sort of legalism (one that even some strains of Mormonism find rather repugnant), and I'm beginning to see why they've said that.
As for today, I didn't watch the Super Bowl, though I've heard the Giants won. (I care for watching no sport save hurling, and it isn't like we get that on cable here...) After church this morning, I used the Internet and read for a while until around 2:30, then took a 3.5-hour nap, and then did a bit of other stuff until heading over to my friend Meghan's house for an 'anti-Super Bowl party'. I was one of the four winners of the seminary's 'Super Bowl to Go' prize giveaway, so I had a 2-litre bottle of Pepsi (a soda I don't drink - can't stand colas), a large bag of Doritos (a snack I don't eat), and a $20 gift certificate for Papa Johns. At Meghan's house, we ordered a medium 'John's Favorite' (six cheeses, pepperoni, sausage, and Italian herbs.... delicious, and had a coupon good for it) and Tuscan six-cheese cheesebread, sat around looking at various things on the computer, had some good conversation, brought in my best friend Daniel on speakerphone for a while.... good times. I also played vigorously with her rather hyperactive young cat, Panther, who has a pretty darn adorable kitty face.
Classes start this week. I've got nothing on Mondays and Fridays this semester. On Tuesday, however, after chapel and lunch, I'll have Elementary Greek II from 2:30 to 3:45 PM and then John Wesley's Theology for Today from 4:00 to 5:15 PM. On Wednesday, I'll have just a morning class, Christian Ethics, from 9:00 to 10:45 AM, after which, chapel and lunch. And then Thursday may be somewhat grueling, with Introduction to Pastoral Care and Counseling from 8:00 to 10:45 AM, chapel, lunch, and then Elementary Greek II from 2:30 to 3:45 PM and John Wesley's Theology for Today from 4:00 to 5:15 PM. Yikes. At least I'll have four days to mostly relax and accomplish required work after that. In preparation, I've begun to read Anthony Headley's Reframing Your Ministry: Balancing Professional Responsibilities and Personal Needs and Kenneth Collins' John Wesley: A Theological Journey, though technically I haven't yet made it out of the introduction of the latter.
At any rate, as it grows late, I believe I'll try to read Chapter 7 of The Miracle of Forgiveness while catching up on the Chapter 5 podcast episodes (there are three), and then call it a night.
What have I been doing? Well, this is one thing that's in play. I've been starting to gradually contemplate the research I'll need to do to write my defense of Evangelicalism over against Mormonism. So far I've begun to develop a structural outline and flesh it out with some particulars. Although it won't be the beginning of my paper, naturally I've gotten some material prepared in generalized outline form on the subject of priesthood from an Evangelical Christian perspective, relying chiefly on the main New Testament sources for a theology of priesthood; I've started formulating my points and selecting a few supporting quotations and citations from the resources I have available in my notes and whatnot - things like Attridge, Lindars, Schenck, etc., though I also found some useful references in Augustine and Thomas Aquinas thus far. Additionally, pertaining to other subjects, I've gotten to comb through some early Christian writings to jot down anything relevant in terms of their ontological views with respect to God, matter, and humanity, and I've found plenty of useful material - Aristides, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Hilary... and all but the last are ante-Nicene. I've also begun assembling some cursory references to LDS sources to be able to document my piecing together of LDS views of God, matter, and humanity, as that will prove likewise important.
In other news, at the airport I began to read Terryl L. Givens' The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy. It has some chapters that make interesting studies, though I'm rather surprised at how clearly Givens' bias shines through in the way he crafts his discussions (and frankly there were a couple paragraphs here and there that I can't even really regard as being honest). I had always expected better from Givens, I suppose. Anyway, I've been taking extensive notes, and I think I have just one chapter remaining in that book. I've behind in my notes for Philosophical and Theological Essays on the Trinity, edited by Thomas McCall and Michael Rea, which is quite a mind-bending book. But really, it's just that it's been a while since I've read much written in the analytic philosophical style. It's good to be back, but I confess that so far several of the models strike me as appealing (Swinburne's seems to have much to offer, and I can maybe see something to Craig's, but I'm also intensely intrigued by the Brower-Rea model with an analogy to material constitution). Anyway, I've also begun to read The Miracle of Forgiveness (1969) by former LDS President Spencer W. Kimball. Mormonism Research Ministry's podcast Viewpoint on Mormonism has been running a chapter-by-chapter series commenting on it, and I've decided to read a chapter and then listen to the associated episode(s). Though I'm still somewhat behind, I'm catching up. I believe they're up through Chapter 9, while I'm up through Chapter 6 (though only through the podcasts through Chapter 4, as there were four 14-minute episodes for that one). I'd long heard from Evangelical critics of Mormonism that The Miracle of Forgiveness tends to embody a very harsh sort of legalism (one that even some strains of Mormonism find rather repugnant), and I'm beginning to see why they've said that.
As for today, I didn't watch the Super Bowl, though I've heard the Giants won. (I care for watching no sport save hurling, and it isn't like we get that on cable here...) After church this morning, I used the Internet and read for a while until around 2:30, then took a 3.5-hour nap, and then did a bit of other stuff until heading over to my friend Meghan's house for an 'anti-Super Bowl party'. I was one of the four winners of the seminary's 'Super Bowl to Go' prize giveaway, so I had a 2-litre bottle of Pepsi (a soda I don't drink - can't stand colas), a large bag of Doritos (a snack I don't eat), and a $20 gift certificate for Papa Johns. At Meghan's house, we ordered a medium 'John's Favorite' (six cheeses, pepperoni, sausage, and Italian herbs.... delicious, and had a coupon good for it) and Tuscan six-cheese cheesebread, sat around looking at various things on the computer, had some good conversation, brought in my best friend Daniel on speakerphone for a while.... good times. I also played vigorously with her rather hyperactive young cat, Panther, who has a pretty darn adorable kitty face.
Classes start this week. I've got nothing on Mondays and Fridays this semester. On Tuesday, however, after chapel and lunch, I'll have Elementary Greek II from 2:30 to 3:45 PM and then John Wesley's Theology for Today from 4:00 to 5:15 PM. On Wednesday, I'll have just a morning class, Christian Ethics, from 9:00 to 10:45 AM, after which, chapel and lunch. And then Thursday may be somewhat grueling, with Introduction to Pastoral Care and Counseling from 8:00 to 10:45 AM, chapel, lunch, and then Elementary Greek II from 2:30 to 3:45 PM and John Wesley's Theology for Today from 4:00 to 5:15 PM. Yikes. At least I'll have four days to mostly relax and accomplish required work after that. In preparation, I've begun to read Anthony Headley's Reframing Your Ministry: Balancing Professional Responsibilities and Personal Needs and Kenneth Collins' John Wesley: A Theological Journey, though technically I haven't yet made it out of the introduction of the latter.
At any rate, as it grows late, I believe I'll try to read Chapter 7 of The Miracle of Forgiveness while catching up on the Chapter 5 podcast episodes (there are three), and then call it a night.
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