A biblical theology of human flourishing; children-at-risk in the Prophets; and how students should (not) to read
Welcome to my newsletter, ‘Bible, Mission, and More’, where I share what’s on my mind as I teach, research, and write on the Bible and mission, children-at-risk in the Bible and contemporary society, Psalms and Wisdom Literature, and a range of other topics. I teach at All Nations Christian College in the UK, though views are my own. You may also like to check out my Bible and Mission website.
Each Tuesday I’ll share something I’ve read, something I’ve written or recorded, something on learning and teaching, and a quote to reflect on.
Something read – A biblical theology of human flourishing
I’m doing some work on the idea of human flourishing at the moment and came across Jonathan Pennington’s 2015 article A Biblical Theology of Human Flourishing for the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics.
Pennington frames his discussion with an initial survey of the development of flourishing as a human pursuit, and as a theme that got lost along the way in theological conversations. Flourishing, he suggests, became more associated with the eschaton (the future) than with daily life here and now.
He then provides a detailed study of key terms associated with flourishing including shālôm / eirēnē (‘peace’), ʾashrê / makarios (‘blessed’), bārak/bārûk / eulogeō/eulogētos (‘bless’), and tāmîm / teleios (‘whole’). He makes a good case for how we should understand these terms in the context of their use in different parts of Scripture and also in relation to each other.
The different terms and ideas built into a very rich portrait of flourishing. When it is all laid out like this is seems obvious that the idea of flourishing, of life being lived fully and enjoyed, is a core part of creation and also redemption:
‘In light of this, the burden of this paper is to argue that human flourishing is a key biblical theme woven through the entire canon, one which explains and enhances some foundational aspects of the Bible’s testimony, including the very nature and goal of God’s redemption for us in Christ, who promises us eternal and abundant life. That is, the Bible, across its whole Christian canon of both Old and New Testaments, provides its own God-of-Israel-revealed-in-Jesus-Christ answer to the foundational human question of how to flourish and thrive.’
The article is freely available on IFWE’s website:
A Biblical Theology of Human Flourishing
Something written – Children-at-risk in the Bible (5) Prophets
In April I will be teaching an online intensive on Vulnerable Children: Biblical and Theological Perspectives. Each day on the module we focus on a particular section of the Bible, looking at how children feature in it and how this can shape our understanding and practice of ministry to, for, with, and by children-at-risk.
In the run-up to this I am doing a series of posts highlighting some of the ways vulnerable children feature in different parts of Scripture. Previous posts were on children-at-risk in the Pentateuch, children-at-risk in the Historical Books, children-at-risk in the Wisdom books., and children-at-risk in Psalms. This week we’ll look at the Prophets.
As with other sections of Scripture, the orphan/fatherless feature in a variety of ways in the prophetic books. Put briefly, I think these texts fall into four categories, which I unpack further in a forthcoming chapter of an edited volume on hope in the Old Testament:
Grounds or Result of Divine Cursing/Punishment (Mal. 3:5; Isa. 9:17)
Indictment of Wickedness (Jer. 5:28; Ezek. 22:7; Isa. 1:23; Isa. 10:1b–2)
Call to Repentance (Jer. 7:5–7; Jer. 22:3–4; Isa. 1:17; Zech. 7:9–10)
Offer or Means of Hope (Jer. 49:11–12; 14:1–3)
Most of our time is spent in Isaiah. I like what Jacqueline Lapsley says about children in her contribution to Marcia Bunge’s landmark edited volume, The Child in the Bible:
‘The children in Isaiah may at first appear to be background figures for the primary drama of God’s judgment and promise of redemption, but upon closer reading they come to the fore… they are not extraneous but rather serve as powerful indexes of God’s judgment and promise. The fortunes and faithfulness of Israel are represented in the welfare of Israel’s children. Yet they are not simply barometers; rather, children in the book of Isaiah are signs of and, in an important way, constitutive of the flourishing that God would have for Israel, and by extension, all of humanity.’ (my emphasis; from Jacqueline Lapsley, ‘“Look! The Children and I Are as Signs and Portents in Israel”: Children in Isaiah’, pp. 82-83)
Even just in the opening chapters of Isaiah we see children portrayed as indexes, signs, and instruments in Isaiah, touching on important themes of acceptable worship, prophetic promise, the grounds and result of punishment, and the embodiment of flourishing (see Isa. 1; 7-8; 9:2-7; 9:8-10:4; and 11:1-9).
Next time we’ll look at Jesus himself as a vulnerable child. If you are free in April, why not sign up for the module?
Information on Vulnerable Children: Biblical and Theological Perspectives
Learning and teaching – How students should (not) read
One of the most common struggles in studying, especially as you move on to postgraduate work, is the challenge of managing the reading. This excellent post by Katherine Firth is one I’ve often referred to when discussing the reading dilemma with students. In her view the five biggest mistakes we make are:
You read every text the same way: journal article, seminal book, original source, further reading, tables of data.
You don’t want to miss anything out.
You want to remember it all.
You think ‘skim’ reading is cheating.
You believe speed reading is the same as close reading, just faster.
She concludes with a plea to ‘read like a pirate’, a memorable phrase that I hope has genuinely helped students over the years. It has certainly helped me. To learn more visit her Research Insiders blog or check out her co-written book, another great resource for students, How to Fix Your Academic Writing Trouble (Open University Press, 2018).
Quote – Miroslav Volf on hope
‘Hope, in a Christian sense, is love stretching itself into the future.’
In ‘Human Flourishing’ in Renewing the Evangelical Mission, ed. Richard Lints (Grand Rapid: Eerdmans, 2013), pp. 13-30 [13].
Thanks for joining the journey and see you next week,
Tim