Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Gospel by the Bay... and Other Places, Too

The Bay area of California is one of my favorite spots in the U.S. My wife and I vacationed there several years running a while back. I simply love the area.

But when we were there, it was hard to find a good local church to attend. I'm sure that had more to do with our ignorance than the churches in the area. But I'm thankful for one brother I've been getting to know who lives and ministers in the Bay area, Justin Buzzard. Justin blogs over at Buzzard Blog and if you haven't already, you should check him out. And if you live in the Bay area and you're looking for a church, check out Central Peninsula Church while you're at it.

Another Blog I've been enjoying for some time is Eucatastrophe. It gets my award for the best blog name. And Dan cares about the church, the gospel, the family and many other great things worthy of our attention.

He's honest. He's solid. And he raps. His name is Quincy Jones. Not that Quincy--Quincy A. Jones. His blog title captures it all: Truth in the Innermost. He has been engaging in an important conversation about theology and the African American experience/situation/need.

1 comment:

Suzanne McCarthy said...

Hi Thabiti,

I notice you base this series on the verse 2 Tim. 2:2, which you quote as,

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others" (2 Tim. 2:2).

A better practice might be to either quote the Greek and the edition which you get it out of, or quote which Bible translation you are quoting from, here the NIV.

In this case, the Greek says,

καὶ ἃ ἤκουσας παρ' ἐμοῦ διὰ πολλῶν μαρτύρων ταῦτα παράθου πιστοῖς ἀνθρώποις οἵτινες ἱκανοὶ ἔσονται καὶ ἑτέρους διδάξαι

Clearly this says "give over to faithful people" meaning human beings. It happens that in the past "men" was used as a generic for people so in that sense it does say "men". But that would hardly make this verse suitable for a discourse on a male-only leadership.

Well, likely you do know that it says people and you just want to emphasize that for you this means men. I realize that there will be some time yet before the church gives up the male bias imposed on the English scriptures.

I pray some day to find this verse returned to the church as a whole, and hope I live to see the day when it is interpreted the way it was when I was young, as men and women together.