Paul was a Platonist? Well...

As often happens here at While Rome Burns, I am going to respectfully disagree with Ingrid's assessment over at Slice of Laodicea. In this case, we're looking at a video posted on YouTube (embedded below for your convenience) of an interview between Tony Jones and Jerry Johnson, president of Criswell College.




The folks who put this video together seem to think that Jones is elevating the writings of Augustine to the level of Scripture, and stating that Paul was a Platonist. I really don't think that's an accurate assessment, and here's why. First of all, he doesn't say Paul was a Platonist; he *does*, however, say that Paul was versed in Platonism, which would imply he was extremely familiar with it. This would make sense, as Paul talked about being "all things to all men," and his various writings show that he adjusted his message based on who he was speaking to in order to convey the message in a way his audience could understand. Second, Tony doesn't say that Augustine's writings are the same as Scripture; he simply states that a strong knowledge of Platonism came through in many of his theological writings, and uses that to draw a parallel. Finally, Tony doesn't deny the inspiration of the Scriptures, which Johnson implies at the end of this video. I think I would really like to get my hands on the audio of the entire interview, because it seems to me that in the video above, Tony got cut off. I've got a busy week ahead (I really shouldn't even be on now!), but I'll see what I can do. Stay tuned.

Trees, Tyson, and Tony Jones: SoL Strikes Again

Ingrid must have been bored today, or something. Her latest post rails against Tony Jones' new book The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier. The first thing that strikes me about her post, however, is that she's taking someone else's word for it (namely, that of Lighthouse Trails Research on their From the Lighthouse blog). But wait, it gets better.

First, how does she know that the trees pictured at the top of her post were used for Tony's book? Then, she drags Brian McLaren into the fray, simply because he is credited with giving Jones the idea for this book. Then, she somehow twists what he has to say into a message about the rights of chickens, and how we need to be defending them. Uh, what?

I can't write any more about this. I just can't. Go read it for yourself, but I warn you; Ingrid has really dialed up the rhetoric on this one.

Punk'd By The Devil

No comment needed here; just head over to Reverend Scottie's blog to see how he proved the point so many of us have been trying to make about Slice of Laodicea; they're not interested in the truth, they're interested in their version of Christianity. A form of Godliness, denying its power...

HT: Monday Morning Insight via CRN.Info

Ken Silva's El Niño

Over at CRN.Info Chris has published a response to Pastor Ken Silva's latest missive. I've decided to link to his response rather than write one of my own, because Chris expresses the point I would like to make much better than I ever could. In his missive, Pastor Silva takes an Episcopal priestess who has embraced Islam without leaving the church (no, I don't know how that works either), links her to the Emergent/emerging church, and decries the entire movement as "not of God" and responsible for all of the ills in the Church today. I encourage you to read what Chris has written on this topic.

Ken Said WHAT???

I couldn't let this article at CRN pass without comment. Aside from Ken's usual slander and name calling (posers to the faith, neo-liberal cult, etc.), this is the part that made my jaw drop:

This Memorial Day weekend, how about we ask God to help us remember the Biblical doctrines of grace that we as Christians are supposed to be preaching and then use these useless books of the so-called emerging church to light our bonfires. Let’s use them to fuel our cookouts, at least then they might just produce something useful after all…

I cannot believe that Ken is actually advocating that we burn books! People, this is what the Nazis did! And lest Ken try to pull the article and say it never happened, I have taken a screenshot.

Is Ken really advocating this kind of suppression of ideas? Burning books?

I still can't believe it.

And the Missed Joke Goes WOOSH!!!

Right over the head of the mysterious "editor" over at CRN. Specifically, their post entitled Nice to Worship, to Worship Nice! Naturally, I had to investigate this for myself, because what was being written seemed just a little too... well, out there. Upon investigation of the article the editor linked to, I found a few clues, namely, the fact that the article was published on April 1st of this year. (Side note: in Europe, dates are commonly written in the DD/MM/YYYY format, whereas we in the US usually use the MM/DD/YYYY format). I won't go over this with a fine tooth comb here, but another clue was the name of the production company: Boulderdash. Sounds just a bit like balderdash, doesn't it? It also seems to be the case that Boulderdash produced many arcade games which are now considered classics. And we can't forget the "promotional deal" that is supposedly being "negotiated personally by the Archbishop of Canterbury." Really now.

But what really tipped me off was the premire date at the end of the article: Sunday, April 1st, 2008. Astute readers will remember that this year, April 1st fell on a Sunday, and so it cannot possibly do the same next year. In fact, April 1, 2008 will fall on a Tuesday. A mere typo? I think not.

A Satanic Swipe at the Emergent Church

There are some who have described Christian Research Network/CRN (formerly Slice of Laodicea) as "the National Enquirer of the Christian blogosphere." Saturday, they certainly lived up to that title. Contributor Dwayna posted an article entitled 5 elements of Satanism in the Emergent Church? Never mind the fact that the page she links to on Mosaic's site, the first conviction that they list is that the Bible is "God's infallible, authoritative word to us," and that "Jesus is the only hope for a lost and broken world." Comparing them to elements is simply a way of offering another perspective on the core beliefs of Mosaic. I think they need to go read I Corinthians again.

This is yet another example of irresponsible blogging on the part of CRN's contributors, and condoning the spread of misinformation on the part of Ken Silva.

Response to Emergent Critics

Great post over at Theoblogy (thanks to Chris L. for posting the link on E-What?) offering response from some of the leaders in the Emergent movement to their many critics, both positive and negative. I'm also adding Theoblogy to my blogroll.