The Important Issues

I just found it funny that Chris Tilling is writing a mega-post about something as important as inerrancy and I'm discussing on my blog......triangleness. I think we're all pretty sure of who the real scholar is here.

The New Testament and Pacifism

I've been really challenged since about last January trying to figure out my stance on pacifism. I agree with Hauerwas that all Christians are pacifists to some extent, but where one draws the line is how they differ. I used to think that killing for your country was okay, because that's not murder. But, as William Cavanaugh puts it, killing for a nation-state is as arbitrary as killing for the telephone company. He has a really great article, Killing for the Telephone Company: Why the Nation-State is not the keeper of Common Good.

Some verses I'm wrestling with are:
Romans 12:14 - Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Romans 12:17a - Never pay back evil for evil to anyone...
Matthew 5:44 - But I say to you, love your neighbor and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 19:19b - Love your neighbor as you love yourself...

Now, those are just a few of the verses I'm trying to look over. The question in my mind is: what makes someone not my neighbor? Why is an Iraqi not my neighbor? And can I really fulfill the commandments to love if I'm shooting at someone? What would the early church have looked like if they fought back?

Practically, I think about "What if I get married and someone breaks in? Can I defend my wife?" If not, I'd say I'd rather not get married.

God and Logic

I should preface this by saying I'm not much of a theologian (which becomes extremely apparent if you discuss anything theological with me for any extended period of time). I've studied theology at school, and my second major focuses around a lot of philosophical works, but I'm far from being a theologian.

That said: I went to Chapel Hill tonight to visit my cousin and hang out. We always have good conversations and tonight was no different. We discussed Hume a bit, and then we moved into Leibniz's best possible world argument. In discussing a paper that my cousin is writing, I objected to Leibniz's idea that logic was "created" by God. I said that it made far more sense to me that logic is part of God's nature. Now, it's muddled down here and we can't fully grasp the concept of "pure logic", but I imagine that rationality has its place within God's very nature (likewise with existence, goodness, etc). I then gave the example that I think triangles are inherently triangles. God, although omnipotent, cannot make square triangles (because this would be against His nature). Side Note: if logic is arbitrary, or if God 'created' logic, then on a whim, He could essentially create something illogical (or illogical to our current standard of logic) like a square triangle. But, since I don't think logic is arbitrary or created, but merely part of the spirit of life breathed into us, I don't have that problem./Side Note So, I believe that the concept of triangles is, in some way, part of the rationality that comes from God. Triangles have to be three-sided shapes whose interior angles add up to 180 degrees. This isn't because God decided it, or that a triangle could actually be a square if God so chose, but because there is an inherent triangleness within the mind of God.

You may say, "Gee, Josh, I think some philosopher beat you to the punch about 2400 years ago." Yeah, I sound like Plato. I dig Plato and I dig forms. However, I think that these "forms" exist within the mind of God. I think before creation ever existed, the idea of triangles existed within the mind of God. "Before the beginning, there was triangleness...."

New to the blogroll

If you read my blog, chances are you already read this one, but hey...just in case. Michael Pahl is a Ph.D student (just finished his dissertation) and New Testament Professor in Calgary. I really dig his blog, so if you haven't read it, go read it...eh.

The Summer Blahs

I feel....odd when I'm not in class. I like having homework, papers, tests, lectures, etc. I enjoy learning, discussing with other students, and the whole deal. Granted, I'm reading on my own (preparing for some classes next semester and trying to become more familiar with church fathers), but it's just not the same. So, my question, what do you do to get over the summer academic blahs?

Graduate Schools: An Update

After doing a little research, writing some emails, etc, I've got a working list composed of various Graduate schools to which I'll be applying (if anyone's interested).

They are, in no particular order:
1) Duke
2) UNC
3) Trinity Evangelical
4) Wheaton
5) Boston College
6) Baylor
7) (Possibly) University of Chicago
8) Harvard Community Technical College Online for an MA in Crazy Street Preachery

If you have any other suggestions (with the two criteria below in mind), please feel free to post them. Also, if you're the chair of a religion department and you're thinking to yourself, "This kid's got it! We should fund his entire graduate education." Well, sir, you just feel free to email me directly.

Questions about Graduate Programs

The meeting today with the professor from UNC went well, but he said something that...scared me a bit. He said that over 120 people applied for the graduate program at UNC for religious studies, 7 were accepted, 1 in my field. Wow. 1?! I've gotten the same response from Yale (in significantly less nice terms. I basically felt like Yale was saying, "You have a snowball's chance in hell of getting in here. Apply elsewhere....but, we'll take your application money if you want to throw it away.")

So, I need to start gathering together school's that are perhaps 2nd tier. Backup schools, I suppose, just in case I don't get in to my top-choice schools, like Duke (although I've been reading some Joel Osteen and naming and proclaiming a Ph.D from Duke, so I think I'm in). What I'm looking for:

1) A good New Testament staff/scholar - My particular interests are in the historical transmission of the NT text, patristic hermeneutics, and early christian history.

2) A program with pretty significant funding - I've worked 40+ hrs my entire undergraduate career much to the chagrin of my GPA (the most scholarship money a single white male can get from Southeastern is 300 dollars a semester.....no FAFSA is accepted). I would actually rather the funding be based on being a TA or something along those lines. I'm willing to grade papers until my hand falls off if the school's willing to help me out. But I'd like to have a chance to just be a student. I know this sounds odd...when most people my age are concerned with partying and chasing down people of the opposite sex, all I want to do is study and research. Unfortunately, having won the genetic lottery, I'm constantly plagued by the ladies chasing me. It ain't easy being pretty.