have a coffee

Oh Lord, won't you buy me ...

Christoph — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:34:46 +0000

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1847053,00.html

Time.com has an interesting article on the relation between prosperity gospel and the economic crisis. Although their title blows it way out of proportions by suggesting that God might be to blame for the whole mess, the article is an interesting read with sources like the UC Riverside's John Walton and Rochester's Anthea Butler. HT to Willem Ouweneel.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Out of the inbox mess

Christoph — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:25:01 +0000

Now, I know it's been quite some time since my last post. Part of this is due to the massive amount of work that's been coming my way during the last months. No, I'm not succumbing to burnout, but I did need to reorganize and even drop a number of things from my agenda.

On the way, I discovered a number of helpful things such as a new focus on my God-given gifts, as well as some work-related theory to make my life easier (with methodologies such as Getting Things Done by David Allen or Simplify by Siewert/Küstenmacher). Also, in trying to implement whatever fit me from these theories, I came about a great piece of software to help me organize my central information store, Microsoft Outlook.

So, although I do not blog about technical things very often any more, I'd like to introduce you to ClearContext: This amazing outlook addon helped me get rid of the sometimes thousands of emails in my inbox in an organized manner. Here's what I like about it:

Topics help me assign specific emails to one of the many projects I am working on. I used to do this with different "project" folders (and ClearContext seamlessly integrated with my existing classifications), but here's what's new: Once I assign a topic to an email, ClearContext automatically assigns the same topic to any new messages in the conversation. With a single click, I can file an individual message, my response to it or even the entire thread. Also, what I like is that ClearContext does not use Outlook's categories for this, so those remain free for GTD's idea of contexts (like @work, @home).
Which brings me to threaded views. ClearContext does an amazing job of giving me access to all related items (emails, todos, appointments) for every message. I pull up some email related to a project (or get a new one that's automatically classified) and have all the relevant information accessible right away.
Prioritization helps me find out what's important: ClearContext does a great job of recognizing which contacts are more important to me than others. Color coding helps distinguish important emails from less important ones.
In order to get things done, ClearContext allows me to directly create todos and appointments from incoming emails. It also has a lot of useful features to deal with follow-up -- way beyond Outlook's flags.
With the dashboard, I can plan my day: It shows me all relevant emails, appointments and tasks at a glance -- no need for Outlook Today any more.
Since ClearContext does a good job at using native Outlook features to organize the information, everythings syncs very nicely with my Pocket PC.

Just a number of days with ClearContext and I can't imagine living without it any more. And, having cleaned up my heavily congested inbox, I somehow feel like the guys in LOTR when they finally emerge from the abysses of Moria -- clean air, finally.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

The first postmodern philosopher?

Christoph — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:29:37 +0000

"What is truth?" Pilate asked.

John 20:38

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

When the Holy Spirit comes to town

Christoph — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:06:38 +0000

A whole group of churches hosted the HolySpiritNight, one of Germany's largest regular youth services, in Freudenstadt last Saturday. For the first time, HSN went "open air" in our city square, which is the largest in Germany and therefore very famous With an estimated 1,000-1,500 visitors, HSN drew crowds from everywhere. A lot of people from the city came to see what was happening and stayed even for the evangelistic sermon. We all had a great time. A first report and some pics can be found here.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

The Spirit, the Text and the Reader

Christoph — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:59:21 +0000

How does the Bible convey God’s truth to me, the reader, in a way that God can do something in my life? This question is the crux behind any discussion of Pentecostal hermeneutics. Different answers have been given and reflect the different stages in the ongoing development of Pentecostal hermeneutic theory (if there is such a thing).

Looking back, our Pentecostal fathers never argued this question. To them, the Bible was a faithful guide – a lens, through which the Spirit-filled reader could look back at the Spirit’s work in the past, immerse himself completely in the experiential world of the text and realize how the Spirit would begin to work in the same way today. Restorationism, to early Pentecostals, was not primarily a question of outward forms and ecclesiastical organization, but rather a spiritual act: The Spirit was able to use the Biblical text to transfer an ancient experience to today’s readers. Objective observation of the text from a detached stance, or even the provision of scientific proof for Biblical authority was never a relevant question to those Pentecostals. The Bible, very pragmatically, proved itself faithful by actualizing the experience it described.

Enter the Fundamentalists. With their sophisticated debates, their clear profile against a growing liberalism and their historical-grammatical exegesis, they swayed most of mainstream Evangelicalism. And, had early Pentecostals still been able to withhold themselves from the debates and thereby create a quasi para-modern model, this separation did not last. With the influx of Evangelical-molded scholarship into the Pentecostal fold, as well as the desire of Pentecostal denominations to retain their close affiliation with their fellow Evangelicals, Pentecostals gave in and adopted those methods – all the while not realizing, that they had to buy the whole underlying modernist package along with them. All of a sudden, Biblical exegesis changed its face. Now, the work of the Spirit was seen mostly in the past – back then, when the Early Church was still extant, the Spirit moved and worked in peoples lives. Other people (or sometimes the same) observed this work of the Spirit and – again, at the Spirit’s prompting – wrote it down. This, however, is about where the Spirit’s doing ends. And now, many centuries later, the Pentecostal exegete enters the stage. With the Spirit’s help – at best – limited to “illumination”, his task is twofold: (a) to observe as objectively as possible what the Spirit did in the past, and (b) to draw lessons from this observation, which, should a comparable situation arise, might be applied in the reader’s life. Notice how little the involvement of the Spirit in this present side of the equation!

It is only now, with the crisis of modernistic exegesis in the confrontation with postmodern literary theories, that we realize we’ve lost a whole dimension of spirituality. It is no wonder that some recent Pentecostal studies label modernist exegesis a betrayal of fundamental Pentecostal beliefs. Fortunately, a new model is emerging now: Let’s look again at the equation. Back then in the past, the Spirit strongly impacted people’s lives – and, in consequence, the community around them got impressed with the shared experience, too. The Spirit, again, worked through their observation of what was happening and prompted them to write down their experience. Now, many centuries later, the Pentecostal exegete is reading the text. And, guess what happens: The same Spirit that created the original experience and guided the inscripturating community now uses the text to work in the life of the reader. The text becomes alive and the experience of the past becomes an experience of the present. Suddenly, there is no need for a two-step process of observation and application – the experience of the reading-event itself becomes the application to the reader’s life.

Meditating about all of this, my thoughts go back to an early class in Theology 101. I remember Millard Erickson, revered Southern-Baptist fundamentalist writer, railing in our textbook against any Barthian (“neo-orthodox”) ideas that the revelatory event might lay in the present. The text book writer’s aversion against such a present-day event was instilled in us, students in a Pentecostal school, right from the beginning. And suddenly, I begin to think that it might be time not only for a rethinking of our hermeneutical theories, but also for a reevaluation of the text books we borrowed from our Evangelical friends. Sure, so far there might be no good ones from our own side (See, there’s a challenge if you’re looking for one). But does this really justify “importing” others with an underlying philosophy that robs us of an understanding our fathers rightly (even if not articulated) had, and that is at the basis of our Pentecostal theology?

But, back to the issue at hand. The text that relates the story of people’s past experience with the Spirit cannot remain “vicarious experience”, but has to initiate actual experience in the life of the reader. This, however, leaves a couple of questions for any scholar who has so far been trained with and taught to love systems like the historical-grammatical method. First of all, I’m curious about the place of historical observation, background, and authorial intent in this model. Secondly, I’m wondering about what safeguards are there to avoid falling into the trap of absolute subjectivism, where the text could mean anything to anybody.

For the first question, perhaps the issue of authorial intent is the easiest to settle: Who has been able to objectively identify the original author’s intent, anyway? Maybe the move to a new model simply marks our liberation from a hot debate? But even if so, what about history, and culture, and the study of the original Sitz-im-Leben of the text? I think they’re needed now, more than ever, as tools of translation of the text’s content for modern-day readers. Far removed from the original setting and the background of both the original author as well as his first audience, today’s reader needs such tools to help him grasp a text that the Spirit wants to use to work in his life. Note, however, that this vital information does not become the end in itself, nor does it produce the understanding that is the goal of exegesis. Rather, it simply clarifies the text and therefore clears the way for the Spirit to work more easily now.

On the second question, the answer might be simple, but disappointing on the first view. Perhaps the only safeguard against an unlimited plurality of meanings and resulting experiences is the Spirit behind everything. To be sure, this is not something that can be objectively grasped, evaluated and put into words into a nice text book. But, given who this Spirit is, it might just be enough, anyway. Also, note (and here we’re getting po-mo again), that the Spirit works through a community, back in the past as well as right here in the present. That means, again, there is a filter and a moderating force to sift out extreme interpretations – supposing, of course, that the community works as it should. Thus, we would be led to believe (and, yes, the key word here is believe as opposed to objectively deduce) that, as long as the readers of a text keep in contact with the Spirit and move within the Spirit-filled community, they can expect to find the “right” experience in their interpretation event.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Christology and Pneumatology: Inseparable twins

Christoph — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:15:35 +0000

When one of my Google Alerts brought me to the Catholic Analysis blog, I was surprised to find the opinion that ...

the truest, fullest, and most authentic "Pentecostalism" is already available in the heart of the Catholic Church [...].

Oh, really? Anyway, getting curious, I ordered Joseph (aka "Benedict XVI" ) Ratzinger's book on New Outpourings of the Spirit, and, behold, this is interesting stuff. While, of course, I strongly disagree with his sacramental ecclesiology, Ratzinger does deal with a lot of questions that seem familiar from a Pentecostal point of view. I really liked his explanation on the inseparable relationship between Christology and Pneumatology.His basic premise is that,

Christ and the Spirt are properly distinguished only if, by considering their difference, we can learn better about their unity. We cannot properly understand the Spirit without Christ, nor indeed Christ without the Spirit.

This means that ...

our understanding of Christ becomes possible only through the Holy Spirit, in whom Christ "shares himself." In view of the upsurge of charismatic movements within the Catholic church in recent decades, Ratzinger contends that
the new presence of Christ in the Spirit is however the necessary presupposition for there being sacraments or any presence of the Lord in the sacraments.
This, of course, ties in closely with his previous argument that the sacraments alone constitute the church. Also, he argues that the whole concept of successio apostolica, which is immensely important in Catholic ecclesiology, cannot exist without a proper pneumatological foundation, i.e. an ever-renewed "Sacrament of the Spirit."
our focus on the Spirit has to transform itself into a focus on Christ.
The Incarnation does not stop with the historical Jesus, with his sarx (2 Cor 5:16!). It is thus that the "historical Jesus" becomes forever significant, precisely on account of his "flesh" having been transformed in the Resurrection, so that now, in the power of the Holy Spirit, he can be present at all times and in all places [...].
The Spirit's whole purpose in ministry is not to point to himself, but to mediate the risen Christ to the believers.

In view of the often one-sided emphases on either Christology or Pneumatology, especially in the debates between Pentecostals and mainline Evangelicals, I find these thoughts really helpful.

This is interesting stuff. I'm going to have to reflect on it a little more and I'm curious to read the rest of the book. Tell me what you think ...

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Preaching for spiritual growth

Christoph — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:18:30 +0000

Over at Cerulean Sanctum, Dan muses about the question, whether pulpit preaching is an effective tool to create disciples. While I certainly do not agree with everything he says, his four ingredients four effective disciple-making had me thinking about the way I preach. Some preliminary conclusions ...

(1) Intimacy

As Dan correctly points out, intimacy has a lot to do with overcoming distance. While, certainly, it is never possible to make a public sermon seem like a one-to-one or even a small group conversation, there are things you can do to get closer to the people. For me, this begins by not hiding behind a pulpit (I don't have a pulpit), nor a big bible, nor a microphone, nor anything else. Usually, when I'm preaching, I'm walking close to the people -- down at their level, even though we have a raised stage platform.

(2) Relationships

Dan uses this point to emphasize the significance of love lived out in the church body. It's true that this is of spreme importance, but as soon as the sermon is embedded in the context of these loving relationships and the preacher himself is clearly a part of this powerful social network, it will also profit from them. Of course, it is true that this somewhat speaks against the effectiveness of guest speakers -- but, I guess, there are other things that they'll profit from.

(3) Holy moments

I'm not sure about Dan's vague definition of "holy moments" ("the Holy Spirit broods over us?"), but I agree that it's important for the audience to get a chance to experience and not just hear the message. We try to do this by visual presentations, drama, audience participation, all kinds of hands-on illustrations (like my cooking during one of my sermons :-)) and sometimes symbolic actions to respond to the message.

(4) Discussion

Even after reading Doug Pagitt on participatory preaching, I'm still not sure about how well open discussion would integrate into a preaching time in my church context. We try to connect the sermon to our small groups' meetings in the following week, by providing further questions for study and thought. This way, the application part of the sermon is partially tranferred into the small group context, with its stronger intimacy and relationships (see above) and improved context for discussion.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Council blogging

Christoph — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 12:00:59 +0000

At the Pentecostal BFP movement's 112th general council for the moment, I'm one of the lucky few with an internet connection, thanks to my hotspot flat rate. I hope to be sharing some reflections from an inspiring event with my readers, so, stay tuned. Just a few minutes ago, I had submitted a rather lengthy article to begin with, but my blogging software somehow killed it and I don't have the time right now to type it again.Â

In a couple of minutes, I'm off to today's business session, dealing, among other topics, with "hot" topic of the movement's relationship to the ACK, Germany's largest ecumenical council -- which (and that's the problem) contains among other members the Roman Catholic church. So, it's going to be an interesting afternoon and I hope to be back with some updates.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.