timjdavy Bible and Mission

#Biblefresh training and three transformative moments in my Bible reading

This Saturday 5 March, 9.30 – 12.30 at Redcliffe we are holding the first of our Biblefresh training events. To kick off we will be doing an overview of the Bible called, Grasping the big picture – a journey from Genesis to Revelation. Here’s the blurb:

Just as the picture on the box helps us to see how a jigsaw puzzle fits together, knowing the big story of the Bible can transform our reading of God’s word. Join us for a fun, interactive guided tour as we weave our way through God’s amazing story from Genesis to Revelation.

Come along!

I first attended a Bible overview as a student. Vaughan Roberts spent a day with us showing how the whole Bible fits together. It totally transformed the way I read the Bible.

Reflecting on that experience now I can pinpoint three major points of transformation in my reading of the Bible:

1. The coherent story of the Bible
Realising that the Bible is a single, coherent narrative (though made up of a rich variety of mini narratives, to say nothing of the the non-narrative elements of Scripture);

2. The literary variety of the Bible
Realising that different literary genres require different ways of reading in order to understand and apply the text;

3. The missional nature of the Bible
Realising that mission is not just a theme the Bible talks about in places but actually defines the origins, content and purpose of Scripture.

If you made a similar list of defining moments in your Bible reading, what would you include?

 

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Wealth, poverty and power in the Old Testament

Chris Wright's Old Testament Ethics for the People of GodAs well as teaching on specific biblical modules at Redcliffe, occasionally I join other classes for one-off sessions looking how an aspect of the biblical material relates to their subject. The most recent class like this was on Friday when I joined the Diploma and Professional in Mission class on ‘Wealth, Poverty and the Environment’ to look at how the Old Testament addresses the themes of wealth, poverty and power.

I found Chris Wright’s Old Testament Ethics for the People of God particularly helpful in preparing this session. He outlines the Old Testament’s understanding of poverty in three ways: what causes poverty? how are God’s people to respond to poverty; and a future vision of a new creation without poverty.

We then looked at three passages, Deut. 15 and Job 29, 31. The Deuteronomy passage is well-known for its discussion of how Israel is to approach the issue of poverty. Indeed, in his excellent NIBC commentary on Deuteronomy, Wright (again!) suggests that the passage ‘offers limitless opportunity for ethical and missiological reflection and action’. OK, there is hyperbole in this statement but it is undoubtedly true that the passage (and other parts of Deuteronomy) contains much food for missiological and ethical thought. My own Master’s dissertation was on the orphan, widow and alien in Deuteronomy. A couple of years ago I also had a student here at Redcliffe who wrote her dissertation on the book’s approach to poverty and how that might inform how the church addressed the issue in the contemporary UK context.

The Job passages are more obscure to most, but in an attempt to defend his righteousness Job provides us indirectly with a window into an ideal ethical life where those with power protect the weak and address injustice. At one point Job claims that ‘The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.’ (29:13, ESV)

Wouldn’t that verse make a great epitaph?

timjdavy Bible and Mission

What would you do?

1 and 2 CorinthiansIn his recently published International Study Guide on 1 & 2 Corinthians J. Ayodeji Adewuya offers a contemporary case study reflecting his discussion of food sacrificed to idols in 1 Cor. 8:1-11:1.

Deji is a Christian and has a sister who is married to a Muslim. He happened to visit his sister during one of the religious festivals. He witnessed the slaughtering of the ram that was accompanied with some recitation. It was time to eat and he suddenly found himself in an awkward situation. If he did not eat, he risked offending his sister and brother-in-law. More importantly, he thought he might shut the door on every opportunity to present the gospel to them. On the other hand, he thought that his participation would amount to a validation of their practice. What should he do?

What would you do?

This provided an excellent discussion in a recent 3rd year class here at Redcliffe. Different views were expressed representing various home contexts, including one student sharing about how this is an issue he confronts often when visiting his family.

It’s fine to contextualise issues for the West (what are our idols: celebrity, success, progress, cheap goods, etc.) but let’s not consign the live issues discussed in the Bible as just happening then. Of course there are nuances and differences in contemporary intercultural contexts, but we in the West need to remember that sometimes an idol is an idol.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Bible and Mission Visiting Scholar coming to Redcliffe

Lim Kar YongEach year the Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission invites a visiting scholar to spend some time at Redcliffe, contributing to the activities of the Centre. The Bible and Mission Visiting Scholar is usually from a non-Western context and is involved in the life and teaching of the College, as well as engaging in their own research.

This year we are delighted to be welcoming Rev Dr Lim Kar Yong who will be spending a month here at Redcliffe.

Kar Yong is a Lecturer in New Testament and Assistant Director of Postgraduate Studies at Malaysia Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Sufferings of Christ are Abundant in Us” (2 Cor 1:5): A Narrative Dynamics Investigation of Paul’s Sufferings in 2 Corinthians (London: T & T Clark, 2009); “Paul’s Use of Temple Imagery in the Corinthian Correspondence: The Creation of Christian Identity,” in Kathy Ehrensperger and J. Brian Tucker, eds., Reading Paul in Context: Explorations in Identity Formation (London: T & T Clark, 2010; and “Is There A Place For Suffering In Mission? Perspectives from Paul’s Sufferings in 2 Corinthians,” in Dr Tan Kang San (ed.), The Soul of Mission: Perspectives on Christian Leadership, Spirituality and Mission in East Asia (Petaling Jaya: Pustaka Sufes, 2007).

Kar Yong will be spending a month at Redcliffe contributing to a number areas of College life and learning, as well as working on his next book:

“I am looking forward to my time at Redcliffe, not only to carry out my research but also to interact with and learn from both the faculty and student community who have such diverse experiences from all over the world. I know that I will certainly be enriched from my experience at Redcliffe.” (Kar Yong)

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Tearfund’s Dewi Hughes giving annual Redcliffe lecture on global mission and justice

On Tuesday 9th November from 7pm to 9pm Tearfund’s Theological Adviser Dewi Hughes will be giving the 2010 Redcliffe Lecture in World Christianity on the subject of Global Mission and Justice: With justice deciding for the poor of the earth (Isaiah 11:4)

Here’s the blurb from Redcliffe’s website

With righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth Isaiah 11:4 

The role of justice as it relates to global mission is an increasingly important discussion today. It includes justice for persecuted Christians and the poor, environmental issues as well as war and peace and the law. Our understanding of the issues is often tied in with our views on the rule of Jesus as Messiah and nature of the Kingdom of God, as well as end-time theology.

Dewi Hughes, Tearfund’s Theological Adviser will be exploring the theme of Mission and Global Justice when he delivers the 2010 Redcliffe Lecture in World Christianity. In addition to exploring the factors influencing how evangelicals relate to justice, Dewi will examine and assess current movements who are involved in justice issues.

The evening is free, but pre-booking is required.

For booking details please visit Redcliffe’s website

timjdavy Bible and Mission

1 Corinthians commentaries on Google books

This semester Redcliffe’s third years on the BA(hons) in Applied Theology can choose a module on 1 Corinthians. We’ll be getting really stuck in to the biblical text over the coming weeks and thinking hard about how the letter relates to our participation in God’s mission today.

Google books has a surprising number of good commentaries available to read. You can’t usually read the whole thing but with the size of some of the volumes, even a limited preview is well worthwhile!

Here are some links:

1-2 Corinthians by Craig Keener (NCBC series)

The First Epistle to the Corinthians by Gordon Fee (NICNT series)

The First Epistle to the Corinthians: a commentary on the Greek text by Anthony Thiselton (NIGNT series)

1 Corinthians: a shorter exegetical and pastoral commentary by Anthony Thiselton

First Corinthians by Richard Hays (Interpretation series)

1 Corinthians by James Dunn (T. & T. CLark Guides series)

1 Corinthians: interpreted by early Christian commentaries by Judith Kovacs

Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians by Tom Wright

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MA in Bible and Mission begins

Today was the first session in the Reading the Bible Missionally module of Redcliffe’s new postgraduate MA in Bible and Mission.

Students had come prepared by reading the introduction and first two chapters of Chris Wright’s The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. As well as discussing the reading we also looked at the developmet of the methodology of missional hermeneutics.

In particular it is noticeable from the literature how ‘missional hermeneutic’ can mean so many different things. This is, perhaps, inevitable with such a newly developing approach, which can of course be frustrating at times. On the other hand, it’s one of the things that makes it all so exciting!

Here are a couple of resources I’ve come across that try to explain the different approaches people have taken (thanks to Brian Russell for making me aware of the first):

Reading the Bible Missionally by Tony Stiff on his blog Sets ‘n’ Service

The Gospel and Our Culture Issue on Missional Hermeneutics on the Gospel and Our Culture website

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Redcliffe College launches the Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission

On Wednesday evening, Redcliffe College hosted the 2010 Annual Lecture in Bible and Mission, which incorporated the official launch of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission. The event was put on in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators, Bible Society and Keswick Ministries. We also streamed it live on ustreamtv, which seemed to work well.

The lecture hall at Redcliffe was full, which was great to see. After a brief welcome I gave a presentation about the ethos and activities of the Centre. David Spriggs from Bible Society then came to the front and prayed a wonderful prayer, dedicating the Centre to God.

I then introduced Gordon Wenham who gave a lecture on the theme of ‘The Nations in the Psalms’. It was an excellent case study in tracing a theme canonically through the whole Psalter. I then gave a ten-minute ‘missional response’ in which I reflected particularly on ‘the Psalms in the Nations’; i.e., the Psalms as a tool of mission. We then had some time left over for an involved Q&A session.

When organising this event we have half an eye on how it might be used as a resource afterwards. Here’s what we are planning:

  • Encounters Issue 33 (June 2010 – due out in the first week of June) is on The Psalms and Mission and will feature the full text of Gordon’s paper along with my intro to the Centre and missional response. There will also be a number of other papers on issues relating to the Psalms and mission from a variety of perspectives.
  • We will be editing a video of the lecture and posting it on the web in the near future.
  • We will also make an audio version of the lecture available.

More on these in due course.

To finish this post, here’s an excerpt from a news item on Redcliffe’s website

The official launch of Redcliffe College’s new Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission took place on Wednesday 12 May at the College. This exciting initiative aims to serve the Church by engaging in research, teaching, writing and speaking on mission in the Bible and the Bible in mission.Web and digital media will be used extensively to make the news and activities of the centre widely accessible. There will be an annual public lecture and bi-annual consultation on an aspect of Bible and Mission, and the Centre will have visiting scholars from the two-thirds world who will input into the teaching programme and community life at Redcliffe.  The College is also working together with key agencies such as Wycliffe Bible Translators and Bible Society to develop the activities of the Centre, and is looking forward to being involved in events and initiatives such as the Keswick Convention and Biblefresh. 

Rob Hay, Principal of Redcliffe College commented: “At Redcliffe we are committed to ensuring our preparation of men and women for Christian service around the world is rooted in the Scriptures. Mission is the central theme of the Bible – and people involved in mission need to be equipped to demonstrate and proclaim the stories, images and truths of the Bible in their specific context. Redcliffe’s Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission makes a unique contribution to this area.”  

Speaking after the launch, Tim Davy, Director of the Centre, and Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Redcliffe said: “The evening summed up what is so exciting about the Centre. The lecture hall was packed with church members and leaders, biblical scholars and missiologists, mission agency personnel and students preparing for cross-cultural service. This reflects both the felt need and enthusiasm for what we are doing, and the importance of partnership, which lies at the heart of the whole initiative.” 
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Vacancy for Head of Mission Studies at Redcliffe College

My friend and colleague Dr Kang-San Tan is moving on this Summer so Redcliffe is now advertising for a new Head of Mission Studies. For full details please visit Redcliffe’s website. Otherwise, here is the text from the main advert:

Shaping world changers:
Vacancy for Head of Mission Studies at Redcliffe College

Something special is happening at Redcliffe College… We have a new Principal, a new strategic vision and a motivated and experienced team. Now we are recruiting for a new Head of Mission Studies. If you want to join this dynamic, forward thinking, professional College, and have the skills and experience to match, we want to hear from you.

Redcliffe has spent over 100 years training women and men from all over the world to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ effectively across cultural differences in church, mission and development ministries around the world. But we are far from old fashioned! Our courses are innovative and wholistic and our college community exceeds 30 nationalities each year and prepares people of all ages.

We are looking for a new Head of Mission Studies to lead the Mission Studies department and contribute to the development of missiological thinking beyond Redcliffe. The teaching is at undergraduate and postgraduate level across a range of specialist courses.

The role requires a mission scholar who can combine effective communication skills in both lecture hall and conference venue with the ability to mentor students in a wholistic learning process. Ideally with a PhD but certainly with a strong academic background and a commitment to ongoing learning, you need to have had firsthand experience of cross-cultural mission and ministry.

If you would like an information pack and application form please go to www.redcliffe.org/homjob.

Closing date for applications: 17:00 GMT on Monday 14 June 2010.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Exodus, Church and Mission

Exodus, Church and Mission is the title of an evening class mini-series we are running at Redcliffe College in May.

Here’s the blurb from Redcliffe’s website

Evening Classes: Exodus, Church and Mission
With Richard Johnson, Associate Lecturer in Biblical Studies

2 sessions:

Monday 17 and 24 May 2010, 7.30pm to 9.30pm

In partnership with the Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission

The book of Exodus is full of exciting stories and important teaching about God, his people, and their role in the world. This mini-series of two evening classes will help you to understand the big picture of Exodus, as well as how it applies to living as the people of God in the 21st century.

Monday 17 May – An Overview of the Book of Exodus
How does the book of Exodus fits together and how does it fit into the wider story of the Bible? As well as addressing these questions Richard will also deal practically with how we can get the most out of reading Exodus on our own or in small groups.

Monday 24 May – Themes for Church and Mission in the book of Exodus
Drawing on themes from the book of Exodus, Richard will suggest ways in which these apply to church life and mission in the 21st century.
Formerly Redcliffe’s Head of Biblical Studies, Richard Johnson is now an Associate Lecturer in Biblical Studies, runs a bookselling business, and has an itinerant teaching ministry. For more details about Richard please visit his website Qoheleth Resources.

Cost and booking
The mini-series costs £6 per session, which is payable on each night. Pre-registration is required. To book your place, contact events@redcliffe.org.

Directions: Please see our directions page for details on how to find us.