Christian Carnival

Welcome to the Christian Carnival for July 27, 2011. We have a number of interesting posts and I will doubtless yield to the temptation to add my own commentary, thus demonstrating that there are some certainties in life. I will also invent any number of awards and bestow them on various posts.

Culture

Aoide-Melete-Mneme(my error corrected-HN) Jennifer Vaughn presents A Lament for Chivalry posted at à la mode de les Muses. She tells us that chivalry is dead, but second-wave feminism didn’t kill it. Who’s to blame? Many of us, it would seem.

Bible Study

Jeremy Pierce dips into one of my favorite subjects, translation theory, as he presents Formal Translation in Aquinas posted at Parableman, a look at a translation issue in Aquinas to shed light on one factor in the Bible translation debates. Jeremy proposes alternate translations, and they are well worth noting. I’ve starred this one for a comment post of my own, so I won’t discuss it here.

Apologetics

Maryann Spikes presents Can Richard Dawkins Handle Propositions? posted at YouTube, saying, “For those unfamiliar w/ the backstory: Dr. Dawkins is afraid to debate Dr. Craig, and just got in trouble for calling a feminist a whiner for blogging against being propositioned in an elevator. There are ‘those’ sorts of propositions, then there are propositions in logical arguments. Hence–the title. :-D” OK – first time I’ve included a YouTube video in a carnival that wasn’t embedded in someone’s post, but hey, it’s the social media age! This gets the “doing a new thing” award.

Luke Nix presents Can Religion Be Tested for Truth? posted at Faithful Thinkers, thus heading into some of the deepest waters in Christian apologetics. I want a lot more definitions, but this will start a good discussion, hopefully between people who do think propositions can be true and false!

Edgar Andrews presents God, science and evolution Part 1 posted at Who Made God?. This post connects to the previous one in that both are dealing with epistemology, with how we know things. Words like “reality,” “testing,” and “humanistic methodology.” Few seem to have patience to work through these issues, but they will continue to bedevil you whether you acknowledge them or not.

Stephen McAndrew presents Finale? posted at Songs of a Semi-Free Man, saying, “This post exams the tension between our quest for meaning and our physical death – an existentialist apologetic. This is the latest essay post on my blog ‘Songs of a Semi-Free Man’, which focuses on dismantling post-modern and modernist myths through essays and poetry.” This presents a very different approach to asking about reality, and yet it connects with the previous ones. If we sense an emptiness, is there something missing?

J.W. Wartick presents Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, A Christian’s thoughts posted at J.W. Wartick -“Always Have a Reason”,  a commentary on the Harry Potter phenomenon from a Christian perspective. A focus on incorporating Potter to teach about Jesus. OK, I confess that I have neither read any of the books nor seen any of the movies, nor bothered to listen to much commentary. In this post I read more about Harry Potter than I have read in the entire time since the books were released. But there is a great tradition of using fiction to illustrate religious themes, and this post is a good example. It gets the “made me read about something I’d avoided” award. (And yes, I know this is a fiction blog!)

Greg West presents The Poached Egg Apologetics – The Eagle Has Landed or Has It? posted at The Poached Egg Apologetics, in which he engages in some very pointed satire. If you don’t get where this one is going pretty quickly, I can’t help you. His little note at the end ‘splaining it is pretty much redundant.

Chris Brooks presents Jesus & Myth posted at Homeward Bound, in which he asks, “Were the stories about Jesus borrowed from ancient myths?” It’s an interesting and brief rundown of the argument.

Devotionals

Lauren Shook presents In the Whirlwind and Storm is His Way posted at RE//all things new. Sometimes we see God in the events in nature, such as storms. I give this post the evocative imagery award.

Christina Siniscalchi presents Gifts That Matter posted at Sisternotes, reminding us of the importance of gifts. I confess I wanted to know more about the poor kid in the introduction who got his note torn up!

Jane Baker presents Spiritual and Emotional Health posted at To Drivel or Not to Drivel, saying, “I’d like to have comments on this post in advance of speaking on this topic in August.” I will add that you should read the post to see the phrase “birthing Ishmaels” used in a sentence.

Isabel Anders presents A “Soul Moment” | BlogHer posted at BlogHer. Do you like to be able to see where you’re going? How far do you have to see? I confess that “one step at a time” is not far enough for me. This is an excerpt from the blog author’s book Soul Moments.

Dan Lower presents Cynical Hope and the “O My Jesus” Prayer posted at keyboard theologians, in which the overwhelming hope of the Christian tradition helps to make us hopeful even in our cynicism, if nothing else, for the hope of our own salvation. I give this the “hopeful cynic” award.

loswl presents Learning the Joy of Trusting in God posted at INSPIKS. He says: “This week the topic that has been on my heart is faith and trust. For some reason it really bothers me when people say that they can’t trust in God because of what He puts them through.” Trust is hard. ‘Nuff said? Nah. Go read the post.

Kaleb presents God Willing? posted at W2W Soul: Windows to The Woman’s Soul, saying, “When is the last time you heard someone say ‘God willing?’ When I was a child, it was a common occurrence to include the phrase ‘God willing’ when making statements about the future.” This gets the “yeah, we really ought to do that” award.

My wife Jody Neufeld presents (or I present on her behalf) Because I Said So from Jody’s Devotionals, dealing with one of the hard passages of scripture.

Narratives

Jennifer in OR presents Sister Love, Brother Bear posted at Diary of 1. This is a story of how stitch by stitch, her children’s souls were being connected in gracious love. Great story!

Ridge Burns presents Ken Blanchard posted at Ridge’s Blog. How often do you celebrate someone who has sown new seeds into your life and ministry?

michelle presents leaving the nest? posted at going into all the earth…, saying, “little excerpt from my life…” But it’s an excerpt that will resonate with any of us whose children have moved away. Don’t worry, Michelle, wonderful things are coming!

Financial

Jason Price presents The Great Recovery: Dave Ramsey’s new movement posted at One Money Design, saying, “Did you see the Great Recovery kick off event? Dave Ramsey has initiated a movement for people to manage their money better and follow God’s principles.”

Joe Plemon presents Am I a Rich Fool? posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “I sometimes read scripture through a filter which allows the truth to enter my brain while bypassing my heart. The story of the rich fool just may have been through that filter.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of christian carnival ii using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

 

Technorati tags: christian carnival ii, blog carnival.