Loyal followers, as the Spring semester commences, I will be posting less on m blog / twitter so I can focus on classes and my next book.—
Joel Peterson (@authorjp) January 10, 2012
I will be posting more frequently on twitter than on blog, but classes this semester will make for good, but less frequent, blogging.—
Joel Peterson (@authorjp) January 10, 2012
Devotional
Victorious Living – E. Stanley Jones
This devotional was written by Methodist missionary to India E. Stanley Jones in 1936. This edition updates the classic, best-selling devotional for the modern reader.
Apologetics
Christian Apologetics Past and Present: A Primary Source Reader - William Edgar and K. Scott Oliphint
This two volume set is a great place to start if you are interested in Christian apologetics. It features the most essential works of writers from the first century to the twentieth century and introduces each with insights from modern scholars.
Theology
Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology - Thomas C. Oden
This book is an excellent introduction to Systematic Theology based on the ancient ecumenical consensus. Most of what Oden says in this volume applies to any Christian tradition – whether you are Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, or part of another denomination. Just be warned–it isn’t a quick read.
General Christian Non-Fiction
Between Heaven and Mirth – James Martin
In this book, Jesuit priest James Martin discusses the role of levity and joy in the Christian life with a big helping of jokes throughout.
BONUS: Free Fiction
The Journey – Joel Peterson
If you haven’t realized this already, I am blogging my book, The Journey, on this blog for free. Click here to start reading with my introduction to this project, and check back every couple days for the next part of the book.
Before you read this, click here to read the introduction.
This novel and all excerpts are (c) 2010 Joel Peterson. All Rights Reserved.
Pastor Mark was a retired physics professor. He loved being a physics professor and found great joy in teaching science to young minds, but God had a further calling for him. While in his forties, he heard a call from God leading him into pastoral ministry. After going through the course of study to become a minister, he was appointed to First UMC of Sweden Maine, a church planted by my grandfather, an Evangelical United Brethren Minister, in the early 1960s. After the merger between the EUBs and The Methodist Church in 1968 and long after my grandfather had been appointed to a different church, it became part of the United Methodist Church.
His house was a modest dwelling, more of a cottage than a house really. The church paid for the pastor’s house, a parsonage they call it. It possessed the most homely coziness, something that kept me coming back as much as Pastor Mark.
I knocked on the door.
“Come on in Peter! I’ve got some chai tea for you in the teapot.” He replied as he opened the door.
The inside of the house was decorated for the fall season. Jack-o-Lanterns stared me down from the mantle and the fire brought warmth to the lounge. Candles were also lit. I could smell the scent of pumpkin pie coming from one of the candles.
When I progressed farther into the house, I could hear two pleasant yet conflicting sounds. One was his wife Margaret, the church organist, practicing in the next room for Sunday’s anthem. The other was the TV. It was turned on to the Steelers vs. Patriots NFL game being broadcast on CBS.
I made my way towards the kitchen, eager to have some of the warm chai tea Pastor Mark had promised. I soon realized that the smell of pumpkin pie was not coming from the candles I had seen, but rather from the oven. He was pulling it out as I walked into the kitchen.
“Have a seat and make yourself at home” he said.
He placed the pot of tea on the table and sliced the pie up into eight pieces.
“What’s on your mind?” he continued.
“Who said anything is on my mind?” I joked, “Maybe I could just smell that pumpkin pie from my house and thought I’d come have some!”
“There’s always something on your mind when you come over, Peter.”
His voice was authoritative and firm, yet calm and gentle. A quality that made him easy to talk to, but also gave him the ability to help with what he heard.
“True, Very True. You know me too well!” I replied.
“Have you been thinking about Allison again?”
He served us each a piece of the pie and poured some chai tea in my mug.
“I’ve told you, I moved on! There’s a lady that is always at those jazz combo nights I perform at. I was thinking about asking her to go with me to the city sometime. We could stare out into the ocean and sip a latte.”
I wasn’t very eager to share my deepest thoughts with him, at least not yet.
“Sure you have. What’s her name?” he retorted.
“Um, I believe its Megan.”
“Sure it is, and when was the last time you talked to this Megan?”
“Umm…”
“So, I’ll ask again. Have you been thinking about Allison?” he chuckled.
He had me there. I had not actually ever talked to her, realizing I was losing this battle, I gave in.
“Yeah. I guess.”
“That’s more like it! You know you can’t hide anything from me.” He chuckled again.
That was one of his spiritual gifts: the ability to see right through me. It may not be one of the gifts from the Spirit listed in the Bible, but he had it all right.
“So, what were you thinking about exactly?” he continued.
“When I first got the guts to ask her to have coffee with me after a lecture. I was recalling how she would always have a witty response to my remarks about theology.”
“What was that particular discussion about?”
“Who said anything about a particular discussion? Maybe…”
“Okay, Okay. You win.”
I had just remembered how good this guy was… He was a servant of God after all.
“So what was it about?” he urged me on.
“The lecture was about Calvin’s philosophies, especially predestination. Our conversation got a little sidetracked though, as it often did.”
“Ah, Calvin. Smart guy, just the wrong idea…”
“I did go to a Presbyterian college. Not something I would have done had I been a Christian Thought major. That part of my life is over though.”
“You don’t have to major in theology to become a pastor. Just look at me, I didn’t!”
Okay, this is getting really creepy now. Maybe he could really see right through me. Maybe God had granted him some sort of telepathic power! I probably shouldn’t bring that up though…
“Who said anything about me becoming a pastor? I have my B.A. In music, I lead music at the church…”
“Whoa! All defensive are we?”
I quickly shut up, but he continued.
“Sometimes God doesn’t lead you into your final vocation right away. Maybe he wants you to have some other experiences and education first in order to be able to use you to your fullest potential. I was a physics professor. I studied all of the modern theories related to physics and all of the tried and true ones as well. I don’t regret that part of my life at all. It gave me the knowledge to better understand my faith. Science helps me to understand the deep inter-workings of the universe God created for us. I find a certain solace in it.”
I didn’t know what to say. He had a good point. I really hadn’t thought about ministry since I was deciding what to major in and what career to pursue. I had been likened to my grandfather on quite a few occasions, but I decided to follow what I perceived to be the stronger of my gifts. More recently than that, the last time I thought about it was that first conversation with Allison. Maybe I wasn’t brought here to eat pumpkin pie, maybe I was here to find my journey, and maybe this was it.
Pastor Mark saw that I was deeply thinking about what he had said. He offered a few more remarks as he finished off his slice of pie.
“If this is the path God wants you to follow, he won’t hide it. He might not make it obvious and you might have to look for it, but it’ll be there.”
“Is he going to send me a vision in a dream?” I laughed as I thought how ancient of a tradition that was, and how few people today received callings that way anymore.
“I doubt it, but I certainly wouldn’t rule it out as a possibility. God does work in mysterious ways. Sometimes the way that we least expect.”
He didn’t know how right he was, and I didn’t yet know either.
I am no longer my own, but thine.Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.Put me to doing, put me to suffering.Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,exalted for thee or brought low for thee.Let me be full, let me be empty.Let me have all things, let me have nothing.I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
- thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.And the covenant which I have made on earth,let it be ratified in heaven.Amen.
- Wesley Covenant Prayer
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 28 trips to carry that many people.
Before you read this, click here to read the introduction.
This book and all excerpts are (c) 2010 Joel Peterson. All Rights Reserved.
If there was anything I struggled with in my life, it was finding my calling and sense of purpose. Coming in a close second was the question of God’s existence. Some never asked this fundamental question because faith came naturally to them. I however, was stuck between gullible and analytical, two conflicting attributes that almost spelled destruction.
Do not get me wrong, I have always believed in the existence of a God; particularly the God of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. I loved God with my whole heart, prayed, and studied fervently and frequently. Perhaps this is why I questioned. I knew faith was the only logical option, but it was too abstract. Some time before the events described in this book, I found a solace in the mystery of God. I studied it, but did not dwell on the questions that used to tear me apart.
Before I was able to find any purpose in my life, I was faced with this issue of viewpoints. The different views of God always seemed to detract from His power as creator. The original Christian church was split up into tiny pieces now; there is little resemblance of it left. The church we have today is segmented, torn apart by schism because of the differing theological interpretations of the Bible and God himself.
I wondered why we couldn’t just focus on the things that mattered: faith, hope, and love. All three of these terms go hand in hand. Faith is what we have because we believe.
Hope is faith that God has things under control. Love is that which comes the most naturally. Love of God, others, and self. As an unknown author put it once, we are to put ourselves third from first. Hope is the hardest of the three to acquire and it takes time and patience to understand.
In the beginning, there was this dream, and it changed my life. It was a quest to find the call, a journey through space, mind, and soul. It was the first leg of a journey that would last a lifetime, and I would never be the same.
Back when I was first pondering these questions, my main outlet was songwriting. As is evident in this book, this passion and release continued. This passion later evolved into writing, but that quest would fill another book, The root of all my questions was of course the meaning and purpose of life. I had none. Sure, my expenses were paid and I had my own home. Anyone in any third world country, or even in my own backyard, would have been happy to be where I was, except me. I no longer loved music, the only thing I used to care about. I no longer felt drawn to a relationship with the opposite sex, something I had failed at so many times before.
Writing became my release.
§
The flashback came quick and hard, much like the weather outside my dorm room window. I was quickly transported back. Back to a time not long ago, when I was alone.
At least, I felt alone.
Aaron would not have called her “sexy”, but even he would admit that she was not pathetically geeky either. She was perfect, in my mind; the incarnation of beauty and knowledge.
I thought our mutual connection was our loneliness. I was wrong. I misjudged the ability of my peers to grow up past their High School days of superficial love. If only I had met her in High School.
We met on a dark dreary day, my favorite kind. We were both attending a lecture on the implications of science and upper level mathematics on religion. We both by chance selected the same class to meet our theological credit requirement.
Aaron thought I was a hopeless romantic. He found no need for a permanent, lasting relationship with the opposite sex. He preferred to move from one to another quickly, without a second thought. He wondered why I always wound up having crushes on girls with little physical attraction, only to be shot down by them. He told me to give up. I vowed things would be different.
At first, they were.
After the lecture, I tried to come up with the words to say to her; the girl I saw as the proof of God. My anxiety soared— I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to talk to her, but I didn’t want to mess it up either. My anxiety proved pointless.
“Peter?” I heard a sweet female voice from behind in the hallway leading to coffee shop that was also a part of the library complex.
I wondered who else shared my name in the small area outside the lecture hall.
Since I wasn’t going that way because I had another afternoon class, I decided to speed up before I embarrassed myself; just a small change in velocity so it would go unnoticed.
Before I could open the large door out into the fresh air, I heard the clicking of heels behind me.
“Peter!” she said again, with firmer diction this time.
I turned my head to my left only a couple inches to verify that she was talking to someone else. My worst fear and greatest short-term dream was realized.
She almost broke out into a jog to cut me off, as I was still moving forward.
I stopped and squinted a bit.
She was glowing. I couldn’t tell whether it was the look on her eyes, the smile on her face, or the bright tank top she was wearing. Hindsight tells me it was just the tank top.
“Hey Peter, I’m Allison Hartford.”
To tell the truth, I already knew her name… I asked Aaron after class one day. He was in the same section of the class, skipping the lecture to nurse a hangover.
“I thought you brought some interesting questions to the dialogue in that lecture. I would love to hear more. Maybe over coffee?”
Her words calmed me. I was no longer so shocked to be talking to someone I did not know, not to mention the fact that I had developed a strange attraction to her.
We walked through the hallway making some small talk about sports or the weather or something.
“So, what interested you the most in the discussion?” I asked, curious as to which part of the lecture she sought my opinion on. I wondered if I would be expected to share my physics knowledge, as quantum mechanics and the free will theorem were key points in the lecture. The professor was quick to dismiss any thought that subatomic particles had free will. He then claimed the inverse of the theory; that since particles cannot have free will, neither can we.
“Well, it seemed to me that you didn’t agree with him on a lot of the points he brought up. I just wanted to get an alternate perspective.”
I soon learned that was one of her gifts; the desire to look at both sides before deciding on an opinion.
“No, not really.”
“Why not? I thought he made a lot of valid points.”
“Well, aren’t we supposed to have free will? …to question theological questions, even the existence of God?”
“Yeah, but that eliminates his ability to work through our lives, if we simply deny him.”
“True, but he gives us that choice.”
“Maybe God just knows what we’re going to do, but we still have the ability to do what we want.”
I pondered that thought for a moment. “If that’s true, God couldn’t live in our time could he? He would be outside, knowing what we are going to do without having any influence on it. Wouldn’t that take away the closeness of God?”
“I’m not any kind of theologian, but I’m pretty sure that’s what the Holy Spirit is for.”
Her statement took me aback. For someone not perusing a career in ministry, she had some deep thoughts.
“With answers like that, I think you might have missed your calling into ministry!” I replied.
“I’m a woman, Peter. Women aren’t called into ministry, only men are.”
“Well, I don’t think that at all. Women are called into ministry just like men are. Ministry doesn’t even have to be preaching from the pulpit and overseeing a church. I believe women can be pastors too, but even if you don’t…”
“Lets avoid the doctrine for now. But seriously, who are you to talk? You are the one who should be going into a religious vocation!”
“Touché”
Our post-lecture chats became a common occurrence. However, the topic of the call to ministry would not come up again. We avoided any mention of this phrase back then. Sometimes I wish we had. Maybe I could have been persuaded to change my mind. I could have switched my major, declared my intentions to become a minister, and pastor a church part-time. God had other plans. So I was a music major, content with my life, sans my lack of a romantic relationship, and pleased with where God was leading me, at least where he was leading me at that particular point in time.
While I usually avoid making New Years Resolutions, I have decided to make a few for 2012:
Truthfully, I think number 2 and 4 are the most important of these resolutions. If anyone is to be believed, 2012 will be an important year for policy in the United Methodist Church. Not only are we considering changing how the church operates on some levels, but we are also going to, yet again, face the issue of Homosexuality.
Of course, 2012 is also the year we elect the next President of the United States. Will religion come into play in this election? Christianity Today posted their top 10 stories of 2011. What will the top stories be in 2012? It seems Rob Bell’s “universalism” was a big deal in 2011, but will even more progressive Christian views make their way into the public sphere?
I invite you to join me in a year of prayerful reflection and consistent devotion.
Happy New Year!
Before you read this, click here to read the introduction.
This book and all excerpts are (c) 2010 Joel Peterson. All Rights Reserved.
“Peter, I’m so sorry to tell you this but…”
I never wanted to hear those words. I avoided them. I avoided him as well, in his last days. I imagine it was a similar situation when Jesus died, on that cross, the disciples were afraid to show their faces. It was Peter who denied his fellowship with the Lord again, and again, and again…
Years before Pascal, or at least my layman’s understanding of Pascal, I adopted his principle, his life wager. My grandfather was a faithful man, and relied on God for all things. I was too young to understand such things.. That was my excuse. He had high hopes and aspirations for me, future leader of the Church of Jesus Christ. I was not ready. I was not even sure I believed in God. However, I made a simple wager. I knew I would someday die and leave all the knowledge I had attained on this earth behind. What I did not know was what would await me after death. Grandfather told me it would be heaven to the faithful and hell for the sinner. If God didn’t exist, I would simply die with nothing to show for my hopefully long life.
I made two decisions that day. I decided to follow God and dedicate my life to his service. After all, what did I have to lose? I would also write a book describing my journey through faith and reason. After all, if heaven didn’t exist, I at least wanted a legacy on this earth.
That was my wager. This was my life.
Three philosophies have occupied my time and study since my wager as a small child. Zen Buddhism was introduced to me in a book about a man’s journey after his rebirth from his depressed self. Objectivism was rubbed in my eyes through a thick book with small print written by a woman who had no love for anyone. The last and wagered philosophy was that of a slightly less thick volume of books from history; one simply called “The Book” in its most direct translation.
Objectivism never appealed to me. Perhaps it was because of dull line after dull line of “story” that had only one logical ending: the creation of an individual identity, free from neighbors, full of rational thought and productivity.
Zen was slightly more appealing. It stressed the importance of the journey, not searching for the correct answer or absolute rational thought: the creativity of ideas. It also stressed meditation, a break from the eternal productivity of Objectivism.
The last is most enduring and accepted philosophy in the western world; the one that has lasted several millennia is the one this book seeks. That is because at the tender age of 8, I made a wager with a God who I was not certain existed. This journey led me to where I am now. I can make no judgment or prediction of where these other philosophies would have taken me for the past is already written. Trusting God was the risk I took, much like a mountain climber trusts his rope or a student trusts his teacher. No one can live in perpetual fear of what they are becoming. They must have the faith that they are doing the right thing or going down the right path.
Now, the past is over and today I make the choice to share it.
One year ago, I released the result of about a year of writing and editing to the public. Over that year, I sold probably between two and three hundred books. It was a good experience for me, but I realized that instead of trying to make money off of my first novel, I would be better off trying to get it into the hands of as many people as possible.
As a result, I am announcing two things today.
1) In addition to the articles, commentary, and book reviews that will be regularly posted to the blog, I will be posting short excerpts from The Journey at regular intervals. The first of these will be available within the next week.
If you read my blog mostly for the articles, you will be pleased to know that you can “hide” these posts by selecting the proper category in the menu at the top of the page. Likewise, if you are more interested in reading this book, you can select the Fiction category in the menu.
Once all excerpts are posted, a download link to the full book will be posted.
2) I am working on my next novel project. At this point, I have a working outline and a good part of the beginning written. I will update you all as this project continues.
Hear what people are saying about The Journey:
“Mr. Peterson’s freshman novel is one he should be proud of. He takes a complex plot and works it well. Writing a novel is hard, and I commend him for it.” –Rebecca Boucher, mylifewithboysandbooks.com
“I personally thought this book was wonderfully written, and although I am not too much of a religious themed book kinda guy I have to say this book is a must read for anyone who’s ever thought about what it all means not just to be human, but to exist.” –Amazon.com reviewer “Sage”
IntroductionThe following is an interaction with the ideas Fee & Stewart cover in their book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. I highly recommend this book for any layperson who would like to further understand the Christian scriptures from a reliable source.
At first glance, the epistles, or letters, found in the New Testament are quite easy to interpret. They seem to directly address the reader. However, the letters found in the New Testament are not directly addressed to us. Rather, they were addressed to churches that the apostle Paul oversaw in Rome. These churches were in ministry during the first century, so interpreting these epistles as letters to the 21st Century Church does not make sense. Conversely, it would also be inappropriate to assume that these letters have no relation to us. After all, they do make up a large portion of the New Testament scriptures.
Fee and Stewart offer a concise way of exegeting the Epistles in their book that allows readers to find the meaning of the text, and its relation to our lives, without the use of a commentary. Personally, I found some of these ideas difficult to grasp at first, since I have usually relied on commentaries or my own common sense for an interpretation of the Epistles. However rereading the text (as they suggest doing with each letter as a whole) revealed their method, which I found quite straightforward and true to the text after I applied each step to the passages given as examples.
First of all, the authors suggest naming the writer and the recipient and then finding the form (greeting, prayer, body, and farewell). They note that the epistles of the New Testament do not always follow this form, but those that are truly letters do (Hebrews being an example of a epistle that is not completely a letter). Since First John lacks the formal elements of a letter, it would be easy to assume that it is not a letter, but a treatise to the church at large since it only contains the body text (57). I have never had this issue personally, but it is easy to see why others might at first stumble in their interpretation.
I found the second step of exegesis more difficult, which I assume is why most Christians rely solely on a commentary. Part of the issue is that while they suggest that use of a commentary is not required, they do suggest it as method of finding the historical context of the church to which the letter was written (59). The second step is simply to read the epistle in its entirety in order to find the general meaning of the text and to avoid contextual errors that can arise when small chunks of verses are read and exegete on their own. During subsequent readings, they suggest taking notes about what the church seems to be like, Paul’s attitude towards the church, and the specifics mentioned in the letter. When applying this method to the church in Corinth, it becomes clear that the church is mostly made up of Gentiles and that Paul’s attitude toward it is multifaceted (and some would say, bipolar). They then proceed to present a working outline of the letter (61).
According to the authors, I am not alone is my initial discouragement regarding the initial complexity and difficulty of this more involved method. They suggest that this more involved approach pays off in the long run, which I do not doubt. However, I think that double-checking an individual’s exegesis with a respectable commentary until the art is mastered would be a good idea. As I become more involved with the exegesis of text, I plan on using this method, especially as it is outlined on page 67.
In Chapter 4, Fee and Stewart outline some of the problems that must be avoided when asking hermeneutical questions. The first issue they address is the common thought that simply reading the Bible at face value is the true way of interpreting scripture. These people argue that they are not interpreting at all. However, a lack of conscious interpretation is disastrous when reading Biblical texts, especially since these texts were not originally written to the 21st Century church.
They take particular concern with the common practice of interpreting one verse literally while subsequent verses are ignored (72). For example, 2Timothy clearly states that the church should “join…in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus”, which is commonly taken literally, while 2 Tim 2:13 tells the reader to take a pilgrimage to Troas (72). While this difference in interpretation is what one might call common sense, the authors point out that our common sense is derived from the faith tradition we were raised in. While this particular example is extreme, this fact is important to consider when interpreting other passages where the connotation is more ambiguous.
The proposed basic rule to avoiding these pitfalls is to understand that the text cannot mean something that the 1st Century Church could not have understood (74). While some may debate this, it is a fairly straightforward rule of thumb. The second rule is that if we find ourselves in a comparable situation to that of the 1st Century Church, we can assume that God’s word to us is the same as His word to them. While they point out some shortcomings of these rules, they can be applied widely.
While some of the exegetical and hermeneutical guidelines suggested by Fee and Stewart can be tough to apply at first, they offer sound wisdom to those who are attempting to correctly interpret the scriptures, especially the New Testament Epistles. Most laypeople would be fine with simply reading a scholar’s thoughts in a commentary, but their method allows mindful Christians to do some of the work on their own and reap the benefits.
