Footnotes Are...

摘錄自Dr Yee's facebook：

阅读本文和注脚是同样重要的事。二者让读者像侦探办案般走进他人的思想的线索, 发现影迹, 智慧的源泉, 至终学统。偶尔读到注脚里出现"获益于…"的字样, 或"在*年*月*日****课程的讲授", 这就是让你看到一个准备做谦卑人的最基本的操行/守: 承认。承认别人的贡献, 承认自己欠别人, 在知识上,在获益于他人的知识灵感上。积欠的概念, 包括积欠(和自己论点不同的)对头。剽窃破坏了这一切操守。在知识上常以为亏欠亏缺他人,他人在先的努力, 具体表示这些积欠和肯定他人在先(发现), 是医治不觉自我傲慢和剽窃思想的良药。-- 重读艾略特«荒原», 明白革新的源泉。

A Must-Read Article

彭明輝博士，〈學術文獻回顧與分析的程序與技巧 〉

這是任何一位有心想從事研究，甚至單純是想把書唸好的（廣義）學生，都應當一讀的好文章。

Theological Education Is Difficult

Here is an article from Dr. Kirk's blog, "One Word...", and the first lines:

Theological education is difficult. Well, let me rephrase. Good theological education raises challenges–especially if you’re paying attention in your Bible courses.

the WORD Leaps the GAP

For Richard Hays

At the heart of all your words is silence.

In the night of the world you hear bells

Chiming. It is silence you hear. You sense

Peace underneath earth’s noise, wells

Of stillness far down under the daily slog

Through wetlands of knowledge, your life,

The tramp through swamps of books in heaps, log-

Piles, bogs of words, teeming, sweaty … And rife

Too with truth for those hearing beneath the buzz

Of ceaselessly concatenating syllables

The Origin, the Source who IS, who does

Unheard his work, generating multiples

Of being, infinitely, in silence.

His Word you hear. You hear inside night

Melodies mute to most ears, intense

Notes populating scores of starry light.

These you share with us in love, wise guide

To many, to me old friend most dear, seen

Too seldom in the long years, alas, this side

Or that of the ocean, yet in heart near, keen

Brother, in Christ mated long ago,

The night you sang to welcome Christopher to earth,

With joyful, wild chords greeting him: “Hello!” －

Young father exulting at your new son’s birth.

Then Sarah, much-loved daughter － girl! － breaking

On life’s stage － her heart, like yours, like Judy’s,

Set to range God’s wide creation seeking

That place － hers － to plant her tent, send melodies

Skyward, dance, deploy her lively art.

And Chris himself is father now. The years swing

Swiftly. Walk now with Judy to the end,

Listening to the silence. Sing to God, to us. Sing.

And you shall hear Him one day speak: “Welcome, friend.”

By George Hobson, July 2006, 

in the WORD Leaps the GAP: Essays on Scripture and Theology of Richard B. Hays, ix-x.

同場（重複）加映海斯院長的就職宣講：I Have Set Before You Life and Death

Message To The Next Generation

Hannah's Child -- Hauerwas

在2001年9月10日，《時代雜誌》（Time）評選侯活士（S. Hauerwas）為二十世紀美國最重要的神學家，那篇專文如下：Theologian: Christian Contrarian

那年，侯活士六十歲。結果，隔天就發生了911——他認為自己的一生就是為了這件事而預備。身為一個提倡非暴力（nonviolence）的代表，他極力反對美國正義之戰（just war）的概念，當然，結果大家都非常清楚。2003年，《時代雜誌》邀請他針對出兵伊拉克給予回應，於是侯活士寫了No, This War Would Not Be Moral：

The identification of cross and flag after Sept. 11 needs to be called what it is: idolatry. We are often told that America is a great country and that Americans are a good people. I am willing to believe that Americans want to be good, but goodness requires that we refuse to lie to ourselves and our neighbors about the assumed righteousness of our cause.

If Christians could remember that we have not been created to live forever, we might be able to help ourselves and our non-Christian brothers and sisters to speak more modestly and, thus, more truthfully and save ourselves from the alleged necessity of war against "evil."

從這個角度，侯活士真的是哈拿的孩子（Hannah's Child），是美國教會的先知撒母耳。

Jesus vs. Paul

Many biblical scholars have noted that Jesus preached almost exclusively about the kingdom of heaven, while Paul highlighted justification by faith—and not vice versa. What gives?

出名的新約學者S. McKnight於Christianity Today上寫了一篇專文：Jesus vs. Paul，為要處理一個困擾許多人的問題：在福音書中，耶穌的教導是以上帝國／天國（kingdom of God / heaven）為核心，但保羅卻是教導因信稱義（justification by faith），我們該如何處理兩者間的歧異呢？究竟耶穌和保羅所傳的，是同一個福音嗎？

McKnight認為這樣問問題是走錯了方向，他的解決方案是觀察耶穌和保羅究竟如何理解福音（gospel），進而發覺無論是耶穌的宣講，抑或是保羅書信，兩者的核心都是基督論（Christology）：

Jesus may have spoken of kingdom, and Paul may have spoken of justification, but underneath both kingdom and justification is Christology: It is the story about Jesus, who is Messiah and Lord and who brings the kingdom and justifies sinners by faith.

因此，更好的問題是：耶穌自己和保羅是怎麼理解耶穌的？

we ask if Jesus preached Paul's gospel, then we are really asking, "Does Jesus preach Jesus?" Or, "What was Jesus' teaching about Jesus?" Or, "Does he preach himself as the completion of Israel's story?" Or, "Does Jesus preach his own life, death, burial, and resurrection?"

最後McKnight作結：

If we begin with kingdom, we have to twist Paul into shape to fit a kingdom vision. If we begin with justification, we have to twist Jesus into shape to fit justification. But if we begin with gospel, and if we understand gospel as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, then we will find what unifies Jesus and Paul—that both witness to Jesus as the center of God's story. The gospel is the core of the Bible, and the gospel is the story of Jesus.

推薦給每一位對於此議題有興趣的人，Dr. McKnight的文字深入淺出，非常好讀！

Historical Criticism and Narrative Criticism

最近觀察到一個有趣的現象，便是當今以敘事鑑別法（Narrative Criticism）研究福音書的權威學者，包含研究馬可福音的David M. Rhoads（Mark as Story, 1982; 2nd ed. 1999）和研究約翰福音的R. Alan Culpepper（Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel, 1983），他們在八零年代陸續出版了以敘事手法為焦點來分析福音書的專著，也帶動了北美／英語界在討論「福音書文本中的世界」之風，也因此這兩本著作成為研究福音書敘事手法的經典。

但，Dr. Rhoads早些時候研究的是約瑟夫（Josephus）來探究一世紀猶太人的革命史（Israel in Revolution, 6-74 C.E: A Political History Based on The Writings of Josephus, 1976）；而Dr. Culpepper的博士論文則是有關約翰群體的研究（The Johannine School: An Evaluation of the Johannine-School Hypothesis Based on an Investigation of the Nature of Ancient Schools, 1975），都屬於貨真價實的歷史鑑別學（Historical Criticism）之範疇。

這給了我一個啟發和聯想：當愈來愈多的時候，我們強調要去注意聖經文本作者的敘事手法、文學修辭、佈局等等，切莫忘了背後需要先具備扎實的歷史背景訓練及知識。否則，這一切很有可能只是建築在沙地上的樓房罷也。

An Interview: Gordon Fee

http://www.gci.org/yi/fee72

這是一個訪談Dr. Fee關於他最近即將出版的啟示錄著作的半小時影片。

在片中，Dr. Fee不僅談了他的新書，更多關心太多信徒都只是一節一章的研讀聖經，將之視為經句集，而未以不同的方式來閱讀聖經中體裁各異的不同書卷（例如，以誦讀詩歌的方式讀詩篇、以聽故事的方式讀比喻等等）。

很喜歡他的一句話：「我整個教學生涯便是希望學生不僅能好好研究（study）聖經，更是能好好地閱讀（read）聖經。」

延伸閱讀：

《讀經的藝術：瞭解聖經指南》（How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth）

BTW，此書的第三版已有簡體翻譯，名曰：《聖經導讀（上）：解釋原則》