EngineeredTheology

2 The Greco-Roman World The Greco-Roman World. Alexander the Great’s conquests left the middle east in the center of a large region that more or less spoke the same language (Greek) and same culture (Hellenism). The Hellenist culture invaded every aspect of life, even those who were staunchly against it. As the Roman empire took over, the land saw relative peace and security- but at the price of extreme taxation. The pagan landscape (including that of emperor worship) was not separated from daily social and political life but tightly integrated. In contrast to this, the Jewish instance of only one God who hated all the long established rituals was a major challenge to this Hellenistic worldview. In so, the Jews (who were regarded as atheists) took strong stances against the encroachment of paganism into Judaism which fueled anger against all who were seen as representatives of Hellenism.

3 The Story of Israel Since the temple was destroyed in 587 BC, Judaism was faced with the tension between the faith they professed and the reality of their situation. The were in the land, but still in exile. When Babylon was destroyed by the Persians, it meant just a new overlord. Antiochus Epiphanes wanting Israel as a buffer against Egypt decided he would change the focus of their worship to themselves (in actions that would have worked in pagan areas). The desecration of the temple did not have the desired effect, and led to the Maccabean revolt. Even with the Hasmonean regime, it did not seem to be the same return from exile that was expected. Herod the Great then attempted to assert himself as the king of the Jews with the rebuilding of the temple, but was never accepted. Israel was waiting for god to overthrow the pagans and return as he had promised. After the temple was again destroyed in 70 AD (and the defeat of the Bar-Kochba rebellion) were large nails in the coffin of any revolutionary hope.

Theology, Authority, and the New Testament
2i On Worldviews Our worldview embraces all deep-level human perceptions of reality. They 1) provide stories through we see reality, 2) provide answers to basic questions (who are we, where are we, what is wrong, and what is the solution), 3) are expressed through our cultural symbols, and 4) include our praxis (our way of being in the world). From this, we see that culture is our praxis and symbols, religionis also symbol and praxis, but that they point beyond themselves to a controlling story, theology is questions and answers, and literature involves each of the four parts. Worldviews are vital, but usually unseen. What comes into sight as a set of beliefs and aims which are shorthand versions of our controlling stories. These beliefs and aims give rise to subsequent beliefs and intentions, which is where most debates and arguments take place.

ii On Theology Theology is the dimension of the worldview that transcend normal motivations into a different sphere. “It provides an essential ingredient in the stories that encapsulate worldviews; in the answers that are given to fundamental worldview questions…” (130). As with other forms of knowledge, we can critique god language, but still affirm the possibilities of transcendence.

iii On Christian Theology Christian theology tells a story. This story offers questions to the four worldview questions (who are we, where are we, what is wrong, what is the solution). This worldview is expressed in socio-cultural symbols, both artifacts and cultural events. Finally, it gives a type of praxis. In reviewing these we find that most Christian debates on Christian theology occur at the level of basic and consequent beliefs, not at the worldview level. Finally, Christian theology is tied to events in history, so the theologian “is committed to speaking true words about the past…” (136).

3 Theology, Narrative, and Authority The authority of the NT lies in its story. It is to be read as an incomplete 5 act play, where the actors are to, by the authority of the first four acts, improvise and bring the play to a conclusion by acting in ways that are consistent with the previous story. The Christian acts (1-Creation, 2-Fall, 3-Israel, 4-Jesus) start in the 5th act, give indications on the conclusion, but do not make the intervening steps clear. In this way, “the church would then live under the ‘authority’ of the extant story, being required to offer an improvisatory performance of the final act as it leads up to and anticipates the intended conclusion.” (142)

History and the First Century
2 The Impossibility of ‘Mere History’ “There is not, nor can there be, any such thing as a bare chronicles of events without a point of view.” (82) In any event, there is far too much data to ever record, so we are constantly evaluating what is and is not important. Any retelling of history will involve how the author perceived the events, and which facts they choose to include.

3 This Does Not Mean ‘No Facts’ Despite this, we must not forget that through the lens of the author we are actually looking at real events, even though some lenses may distort the events more than others. We must keep our eyes and ears open to also recognize the lens the author has. As we do this, we must also be aware of our own lens, and be careful of our own a priori assumptions.

4 Historical Method: Hypothesis and Verification History, like everything else, proceeds by hypothesis and verification. We create hypotheses about the past that 1) fit together as much of the data as possible in the simplest and most straightforward way 2) is complete in that it does not simplify one area by making another impossibly complex 3) fits in with the larger historical picture. In all of this, for history it is “getting in the data that really counts” (106). As we look at simplicity, there are different kinds of simplicity. We should expect continuity in a single person, but also expect that as a group, people “do not always march forward in a straight line”.

5 From Event to Meaning “History, then, includes the study of aims, intentions and motivations” (111). We do this not just at the individual level, but for societies and their worldviews. Within this, we can address meaning. For a word, this can mean its use in a sentence which is then placed in a story, which is then set against someone’s particular worldview. Though involved in a particular worldview, meaning does not need to stay in the private realm. Events are public, and specific meanings can be undermined as more evidence is amassed against it.

Literature, Story, and the Articulation of Worldviews
2 On Reading When we look at literature we can read in a realist view (I read the newspaper and it tells me what happened). When we read differing accounts though, we can see this is not true and can read it as phenomenalist (all I see in the newspaper is the author). Instead of the multiple either/or readings presented, a both/and reading needs to be adopted. The text has a viewpoint and the reader’s reading is not neutral. The text has a life of its own, but also had specific intentions by the author. Finally, that the text may describe concrete actions and that the author was looking at them through his lens.

3 On Literature Literature is “the telling of stories which bring worldviews into articulation” (65). Literary criticism is explaining “what the writer has achieved at this level of implied narrative, and ultimately implied worldview, and how” (65). This can be done with the author being completely unknown, but eased as we know more about the author.

4 The Nature Stories Griemas diagrams can be used to help explain stories (which is useful in a culture that has largely forgotten what stories are, and are for). If we analyze the parable of the wicked tenants this way we find 1) emphasis that the vineyard was put there for a purpose 2) the role of the son is diminished (countering our over-consciousness of Christology) 3) the tenants who should serve another purpose turn to be opponents 4) the new tenants are not specified 5) the blank spot helping the owner may hide significance. In a wider significance, the story is controversial because it gives a different telling of the story of Israel’s god, his people, and the world.

Worldviews are shorthand ways to tell stories – which is particularly clear in Judaism. We can use shorthand notation (monotheism and election), but must never forget the underlying stories they represent. For Israel, their stories are set from their history – so we must always read these stories with a historical framework.

Knowledge
2 Towards Critical Realism In defining critical realism, the opposing views on how we know something are discussed. On one hand there is positivism, where we assume we can make correct statement about things if we have the raw data. Areas where this does not apply well (beauty, feelings, history) are somewhat downgraded. Of course, if we cannot be sure of the past we can then also say we may not make correct judgments on the raw data we have. phenomenalism takes only our senses as fact, and everything else we are unsure of. The result is that only I exist, because it is the only thing I am sure of. Critical realism acknowledges that everything we do is shaded by our own worldview lenses. When we see raw data, we interpret it based on our knowledges and experiences, and fit it into our larger story of how thing are. We are only one viewpoint – we do not have a “god’s eye view” of all viewpoints.

3 Stories, Worldviews, and Knowledge We do not act at random, then try to make sense of it. We have stories that encompass our worldview in which our actions make sense. In this way, stories are irreducible and cannot be described as a set of maxims. Stories then can reach and touch us in ways that mere facts and data can not. Since stories are normative and claim to tell about all reality, they often do clash. When this happens we can either abandon our story to accommodate this new puzzling event, or make up a new story explaining why the challenging story is deceptive. There are no neutral or objective stories, just the claim that our story makes the most sense of the data we have.

4 Conclusion There is therefore no hard line between subjective and objective knowledge, but more between the public and private. We are not just detached observers of reality, but integral members.

Introduction
i. What to Do with the Wicked Tenants Interpretation of the bible has fallen into four categories, coensinging with movements in western history.

1. Pre-critical – reading the text to see what the text has to say to me, without any view of how it fits in the larger picture or history
2. Historical – coming from the enlightenment, focused on if Jesus actually said what is ascribed to him, what it would have meant at the time, and why was it said/written
3. Theological – overlapping the historical, but instead of focused on the historical picture, focusing on how the passage fits in the larger theological picture
4. Post-modern – focusing on the actual reading of the text, what our pre-suppositions are and what reading the text does to us

ii. The QuestionsNT historical study has been divided from the theological study. The historians see their work as in the open and not to be impinged by religious beliefs. The theologians use history as the introduction, but not an integral part of the theology. These two do not need to be separated, but should be combined all with a proper literary understanding of the NT.

iii. History of Early Christianity Studying the history of the early church is filled with pitfalls. The goal would be to understand the history in which we can place the NT, but most of our historical understanding is from the NT (due to lack of other material). Even when agreement on a historical setting, we run into difficulty on determining what is normative Christianity. We presume that the earlier material is the most authoritative, but the contemporary Lutheran view is that Paul was correcting earlier beliefs. We then look to Jesus for normative Christianity, but this also falls short because of the uniqueness of Jesus (we cannot expect to live and due the same things he has done).

iv. New Testament TheologyThere have been two methods to develop a New Testament theology that reads the NT with both a historical and theological position. This involves both determining the theology of early Christians to address our current Christianity. The first method is to unwrap the historical layers to determine the timeless truths to apply today. Unfortunately, Christianity does not peel so easily and we throw much of the fruit away with the peel. It also rejects that the actions of Jesus were of any consequence. The second method assumes the NT shows “real Christianity” and is there for us to emulate. This does not “do justice to the Protestant insistence on the text itself as being divine revelation” (21).

v. Literary CriticismSince these methods have not produced satisfactory results, there has been a post-modern shift to a reader-oriented study. This focuses on what happens to today’s readers when they read the NT. This is a sidestep away from the timeless truth method to achieve the same goal, but why focus on NT literature and not artwork or artifacts? This also does not help place what we do with Jesus.

vi. The Task RestatedWe need to do justice to the pre-modern emphasis that the text is authoritative, and also the modern emphasis that the text is integrated in history and theology, and the post-modern emphasis on reading the text. This is the aim of the book.

Since I finished the Christian Origins and the Question of God series I have wanted to re-read it and take notes. The main reason is that the first time through I think I only understood about 1/3 of what I read, and it was still revolutionary (I started the first book in late 2005 and finished in late 2006).

Since that time I’ve come to respect N.T. Wright more and more, which fueled my desire even more to understand his arguments even further. So, I am now starting a re-reading of his series, starting with The New Testament and the People of God. Because of the sheer density of the books, I wouldn’t be surprised if it took me another year to really get through the three again. So, I am planning to summarize each chapter as a post – and hopefully I can get through them all before the next volume is published.

I started this book thinking it would be a recap of his longer “New Testament and the People of God” series, as so much of his shorter books have been. While it was in many cases, I was very surprised how differently it was portrayed.

With a more proper view of heaven, a lot of Christian theology will naturally change. Things like justification will need a fresh light and open the doors to changing not just what people think, but how they respond to the world around them.

In short, I think this is a book that every Christian could stand to read and meditate on.