Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Quick Update

If you were wondering how the reader situation described the post below ended up I got an email today that said they were opting to strike the Nestorian Liturgy quote but keep the Origen quote.

I'm not thrilled with this option, but it's a little better and I have to live with it. Personally I think that both should have been taken out of the reader, but I'm not in charge and I can't make those decisions.

So if you're at Asbury and you are using the 2008 Lent reader for your devotions please know that I had nothing to do with that. Also know that I can only place my wholehearted endorsement on the Lent/Easter Day section of the reader. The other half may be great, but I still feel uncomfortable with Origen in the mix. I can appreciate the major contributions that Origen made to biblical studies and I can agree that it sucks that he was condemned a heretic posthumously, but I cannot agree with including him in a devotional reader knowing that he was condemned a heretic by people much wiser and knowledgeable than we are.

I'm sure these last two posts have bored almost all of the 5 people that read this blog so I'll try to post something light and/or funny next time around. Though I'm not making promises.


- Ben

6 comments:

scycle said...

So I'm confused, you didn't have anything to do with the Lent reader, but you endorse the Lent/Easter Day section. Are they different somehow? Wasn't there another section called Easter Tide to this? Isn't that what the other girl took on?

But wouldn't you have to say that at least the Nestorian section was omitted? It seemed to me from the other post that it the Nestorian was the, forgive any unintended puns, greater of two evils...

Ben said...

Scruff,

You're right, I wasn't being clear.

I call the whole thing the Lent Reader. It contains readings for Lent, Easter Day, and EasterTide.

So it's like a book with the halfway point being Easter Sunday. So what I mean was that I can only endorse the first half.

And yes, with Nestorius gone the greater of two evils is gone, but I still feel uncomfortable putting my "stamp of approval" on a devotional work that includes Origen.

Does that clear things up? I tend to leave out details and not write clearly when I'm trying to be quick.

Sorry.

scycle said...

De-confussed...

While just pointing out the victory in removing the greater of two evils, I understand the disappointment that the other stuff must remain in a booklet that bears your name but you don't whole heartedly agree with. All too often we are left with decisions of choosing the lesser of two evils. Those "good or evil" decisions only seem to occur when choosing characters on video games.

Jessica said...

if you want to post something light and/or funny, i know a good story you can post. it starts with dinner at a mediterranean restaurant...

Anna said...

uh i am so bored right now.

chad said...

so i really appreciated the last few posts over this....i really like your concern for the whole google thing....because it is wild the hits I get on my blog through google and i wouldn't be surprised that someone would/could stumble upon it.