In 1650, Archbishop James Ussher published his book “Annals of the Old Testament, deduced from the first origins of the world,” in which he calculated that the date of creation was October 23, 4004 BC, which would make the world 6,013 years old today.

Ussher’s work is usually thought of in two ways today–a laughingstock of science or veritable scripture itself. And as one person pointed out in this video introducing Genesis, both sides are wrong. It certainly isn’t Scripturally obvious that this is so, but neither should it be a scientific whipping post. As Fred Sanders, who is an Old Earth Creationist, says:

Ussher excelled all previous attempts mainly by his precision and his encyclopedic learning: he correlated Biblical accounts with classical and Middle Eastern history, and with Jewish calendar systems. He made independent judgments about the superiority of the Hebrew text to the Greek translation of the Old Testament, about reconciling the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, and about anything else that got in his way. All in Latin, all festooned with quotations from classical authors.

Ussher was simply using the best research of his day, being far more educated than given credit for. So, although I disagree with Ussher’s final conclusion on the age of the earth, I’m still inclined to celebrate today the work of someone who used the best that he had, and who also highly valued the Scripture as God’s word. Happy birthday, Earth!

Update: Matthew over at Cryptotheology, threw the earth a party! There’s even cake.

This past Friday, The 930 (which is the building where Sojourn Community Church gathers) hosted a new gallery opening entitled “Ethiopia.” The gallery description given on the site is:

“‘Ethiopia’ is an exhibit of photos, video, and Ethiopian folk paintings exploring Ethiopian culture through the eyes of two traveling Louisvillians, photographer Jason Crigler and videographer Drew Layman…In the Ethiopia exhibit, Jason Crigler’s photographs make up most of the show. His photographs show a mostly rural Ethiopia, where traditions have remained strong through generations. Farmers plow with oxen and coffee is roasted over fires in small batches. Clothing is washed by hand in streams and made from homespun cloth.”

I missed the opening of the exhibit, but was able to look around later that evening while waiting for one of my favorite bands, Cool Hand Luke¹, to take the stage. The whole exhibit was wonderful, but there was something interesting that caught my eye. On the wall was an opened Ethiopian blessing cross, which you can see on the right below (sorry for the phone camera quality). Below it was this description:
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One of my favorite scholars, Christopher Wright, was interviewed by the koinonia blog recently&mdashan interview consisting of the single question:

“In what way have we as evangelical Christians failed to grasp or live out the fullness of God’s missional intent? How (if at all) has our theology of evangelism been weak?”

Wright has responded by giving 5 false dichotomies where the Church has over-emphasized one aspect instead of realizing both. His insights are spot-on, in my opinion, and I suggest every check out his response in the post “False Dichotomies in Mission” part 1 and part 2.

The false dichotomies his talks about are:
1. Individual and Cosmic/Corporate impacts of the Gospel
2. Believing In and Living Out the Gospel
3. Evangelism and Discipleship
4. Word/Proclamation and Deed/Demonstration
5. Evangelism from Ecclesiology

I highly recommend the read.

I’m sitting here in the Ft. Lauderdale airport waiting for our plane to board. My wife and I are returning from our honeymoon, and we decided to buy some books for the long wait (which is coming to an end in the next hour and a half). Walking through the small bookstore, I found a copy of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden which I have been wanting to read for awhile. I’m a fan of Steinbeck, and have been wanting to read this for awhile, but my curiosity was piqued even more when I read an article on the book in the Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature (google books). As I was reading I came across this part of the book where Adam’s father, Cyrus, is talking to him about his eventual run in the army, and is waxing philosophical on war and religion:
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Over a month ago, I wrote a post answering the question “Why was Jesus Baptized?” where I argued that no answer has been truly satisfying, there were two paradigms that are very helpful to me. The first paradigm, argued for in the first post, was the “tri-perspectival” paradigm where I said that the entire baptism event (baptism, Spirit descending, and the voice of God) should be held as a unity integrating ideas such as identification, anointing, and pronouncement. Please see the first post for an actual treatment of this view. In this post, I’m going to look at the Biblical-Theological view. I also want to restate that I don’t think this is an either/or issue, but that both paradigms shed led on the baptism event. Nor do I think these are the only valid paradigms. Jesus’ baptism can be found in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22.
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I’ve been thinking recently on Jesus’ baptism. If John’s baptism was one that represented repentance and cleansing, why would the sinless Jesus have to receive such a baptism? I have never been fully satisfied with any one answer, and I don’t think we ever will be. With that in mind, I’m going to try and look at his baptism through two different paradigms. By doing this, I’m not saying the issue is either/or… but both/and. In other words, we shouldn’t use one paradigm to the exclusion of the other, but that both can be utilized in understanding what is going on in Jesus’ baptism. Also, by giving two paradigms, I’m not saying that these are the only two ways of looking at the issue- there maybe be several, maybe even many, others- but I am just focusing on the two that have come to my mind recently in thinking through the issue. Jesus’ baptism can be found in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22.
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Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God
Michael E. Wittmer
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310253071
ISBN-13: 978-0310253075
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Buy Here: amazon.com

We have looked at the first three parts of Heaven is a Place on Earth, which explain “where we are,” “who we are,” “why are we here,” and “what’s wrong with the world?” This brings us to the fourth and final section of the book, “What is God’s Plan for This World?”
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Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God
Michael E. Wittmer
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310253071
ISBN-13: 978-0310253075
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Buy Here: amazon.com

So far, we have looked over the first two parts of Heaven is a Place on Earth. In doing so, we have covered two questions that pertain to worldviews, and saw how Christianity answers them: The first is “What is this Place?” which looks at what the Bible says about creation; the second is “Why are We Here?” and looks at what our purpose in life is in regard to relationships between people and God, other people, and creation. These sections are much shorter at two chapters each. We now move on to part III, “What is Wrong with Me and My World? The Fall in Genesis 3-11
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Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God
Michael E. Wittmer
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310253071
ISBN-13: 978-0310253075
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Buy Here: amazon.com

In the last post, I surveyed the first four chapters of Michael Wittmer’s book, Heaven is a Place on Earth. These chapters make up the introduction and the first of four parts, focusing on “What is this Place?” which is a look at what the Bible says about creation. He ended the section with a piece on being made “in the image of God” with a really helpful chart on the “three-fold” image (see last post for the chart). The chapters in Part Two, “Why are We Here?” focus on those relationships between people and God, other people, and creation. This section will be the focus of this post.
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Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God
Michael E. Wittmer
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310253071
ISBN-13: 978-0310253075
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Buy Here: amazon.com

One of the verses I have struggled with comes at the end of 1 Corinthians 15:

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” (v. 58)

Why the confusion? Because this is how Paul ends his argument for the reality of the resurrection. The reason our work is not useless is because Christ has risen. What does the resurrection have to do with how we go about our day-to-day lives? Our vocations, our leisure, mowing the grass- it all matters, according to Paul, but why? My two favorite books from last year spoke to this- “Surprised by Hope,” by N.T. Wright, talks of the new heavens and new earth as the Christian hope. He focuses on the eschatological realities. “Culture Making,” by Andy Crouch, talks about the reality of our creative calling to produce culture, not just critique it and ignore it, but that we should actively engage it.

Michael Wittmer’s book “Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God” takes the best of these two books and puts it into one- and oddly enough it was written 4 years previous to the other two. Wittmer argues for the “tremendous dignity and value of everyday life” by “taking you from Creation to the Fall, to Redemption, and to glimpses from the book of Revelation” (book description on the back). Wittmer’s goal is to get us to view all of life through the Christian worldview. That is, to view everything through the lens of Biblical Christianity. The result is one of the best books on “the Christian life” that I have read to date. Wittmer gets it.
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