Stimulus Vol 14 Issue 1 February 2006 |
Table of ContentsEvangelicals and business ethics: the Church Alistair Mackenzie The Christian experience of truth versus the rhetoric of values the Church Graham Redding Speaking Christianly in the midst of Babel Daniel Oudshoorn Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Tim McKenzie The Gospel of The Da Vinci Code Mark Keown St Imulus: The even greater commission
Pulpit: The gift of love Matthew Bartlett Models & Metaphors: The Science and theology of perfection
Book reviews Evolving Creation God’s Books: Genetics and Genesis A Seamless Web: Science and Faith Graeme Finlay God Created the Heavens and the Earth Donald Nield Designers of the future: Who should make the decisions? D Gareth Jones Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible J.D.G. Dunn and J.W. Rogerson (eds). William Stringfellow in Anglo-American Perspective Anthony Dancer (ed.) Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics Samuel Wells The Myth of Religious Neutrality: An Essay on the Hidden Role of Religious Belief in Theories Roy A Clouser Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture William D. Romanowski A Time To Gather: Christian Meditations for the Year Andrew Butcher The Struggle to Understand Isaiah as Christian Scripture Brevard Childs Dialogue |
|
February 2006 |
EditorialWhat actually is the Gospel? How do we live it? How do we proclaim it? One reason I struggle with the third question is because of my poor track record at the second, largely based I suspect on an inadequate answer for the first. If I could step outside my body and observe what passed for the answer to the second question, I am sure it would be along of the lines of: 1. express your sexuality to rule; 2. respect private property; 3. be honest in your personal dealings; and 4. don’t use the f*** word (It is a matter of personal relief that “bugger” is now acceptable!). Greedy business dealings, dismissive attitudes to injustice, lack of care for the poor are all largely OK.
So, how should we live? How should our lives exegete the Gospel to those around us so the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed?
Alistair Mackenzie gives us the second part of his series on ethics in the workplace. This article discusses the influence of Church on ethics. The news is good and bad. While Church attendance does make a difference, most of us do not get much further in the workplace than the four points above (or at least three of them). This is not helped by the fact that the Church is largely silent in its worship and teaching on that what many of us spend more than 50 hours a week on.
Given that Gospel perspectives are one of many competing claims to truth in our society, can a values based approach help us to operate effectively? Graeme Redding discusses this. The recent furore over the “Islam cartoons” of course highlights some of the problems – in this case freedom of speech and expression versus particular views on blasphemy.
Daniel Oudshoorn closely examines the issue of language and the proclamation of the Gospel. He comes to some very surprising conclusions. Question: if we use existing cultural constructs to express the Gospel truth, how can we ever avoid the Gospel being taken captive by these cultural constructs? My four point Christianity above is one such result. Answer: read Daniel’s article.
One of the popular expressions of the Gospel has been C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series, the first of which – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – has just been filmed. How true-to-Gospel is the film (or the books for that matter)? Lewis is of course a canonised saint in some circles and so Tim McKenzie takes his life in his hands and provides some perspectives. He is now in hiding with around the clock police protection.
Many of you have probably read Dan Brown’s infuriating but engrossing thriller, The Da Vinci Code. He certainly chose his target wisely – if he had written the Islamic equivalent, his life would almost certainly have been dramatically foreshortened. As the film is out in May, we thought it would be useful to give a heads up to our readers on Brown’s picture of the Gospel and the background to the supposed “facts” he presents.
How perfect is the creation? How corrupted is the creation? It has become fashionable in some circles to attack Intelligent Design by pointing out how unintelligent the designer was. Nicola Hoggard Creegan argues for inherent perfection.
As we think about proclamation of the Gospel, St Imulus has some thoughts about the Great Commission. Matthew Bartlett takes us back to source of our strength. “It’s an upside-down, self-sacrificing, suffering-servant, cross-shaped kind of strength.” When the previous Pope was shot by a Turkish assassin, it was this kind of strength that enabled him to forgive his attacker. That is living and proclaiming the Gospel.
David Cashmore for the editorial committee
Douglas Maclachlan Publisher
|
|
Truth versus values |
|
“...to be part of the gospel imperative to transform minds and put faith in God into practice.” |
|
STIMULUS THE NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND PRACTICE |