Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-0-9820385-1-2
Printed: 400 pages,
Publisher: Pilgrim Platform
Copyright: ©2008
Reclaiming the Gospel in First Corinthians
For Barack Obama in honor of his election as the 44th President of the United States of America and for the people who have called for change they can believe in
What kind of title is Arsy Varsy? It’s an old Puritan word similar to vice versa. Where visa versa means conversely or a change in order, arsy varsy (pronounced ahr-see-vahr-see) means wrong end foremost or ass backward, which suggests that something is happening the wrong way, with the rear coming first. It indicates the complete reversal of the correct order. Paul was addressing a kind of arsy varsy confusion in the Corinthian church.
Why would a book like this be dedicated to a President? There is a long tradition among Christian writers to provide theological insight where it is needed, where its application can get the most bang for the buck, so to speak. Senator Obama campaigned for President on the platform of bringing needed change to America, and that is exactly what this book is about.
I will put forth the audacity to hope that all Americans want what is best for America, and that the President — any President — is called to provide what he can toward that goal. Granted that my concern is theological and not political, though the two things are intimately related. The old adage is that so goes the (Christian) church, so goes the nation. This is true because politics are the outworking of beliefs and beliefs are the product of theology. Theology is simply the expression of our beliefs about God. And everyone has a theology, even atheists. They believe that God doesn’t exist.
The theological position espoused herein is neither Left nor Right, neither Liberal or Conservative because it is both Left and Right, Liberal and Conservative. How can this be? Because the traditional Left/Right, Liberal/Conservative dichotomy is inadequate to the reality of life. It is a false dichotomy built upon a false and shallow understanding of reality. And it is our understanding of the reality in which we live that is the subject of this book.
This presuppositional approach is different from an evidential approach to biblical study. The integration of Trinitarian categories regarding human nature as a genuine reflection of God’s image reveal additional refinements in the biblical text. In addition, the application of presuppositionalism and Trinitarianism to Paul’s treatment of Spiritual gifts yields richer accounts, more diverse applications and a more foundational position for spiritual gifts regarding both the lives of individual Christians and the structure of the church.
The thesis of this book is that Paul thought, wrote and taught that some of the leaders of the Corinthian church had things arsy varsy or ass backwards. And the reason that First Corinthians has been valued over the centuries is that many Christians have found Paul’s insights and teachings to be valuable. This getting things backwards is a common problem that has plagued Christianity since the time of the Corinthian church, and before that back into the history of the Old Testament to the Fall of Adam. Being a sinner means getting things wrong. Paul was trying to help the Corinthians get things right, and their getting things right meant that they first come to understand that they had things wrong.
The contemporary American churches in the Twenty-First Century are in a situation that is remarkably similar to that of the ancient Corinthian church. So, I decided to preach my way through Corinthians with the hope that Paul’s work with the Corinthians might have some pertinent analysis of and application to our own contemporary situation.
My approach has not been to read everything I could find about Corinthians in the hope of adding something new to the historic dialog. Rather, my intention is less grand. I hope to see and reveal the trouble the Corinthians had gotten into as a church as clearly as possible in order to understand what Paul was saying to them in the hope of shining some light on our own problem because their problem is our problem. It’s a recurring problem because it is a problem of gospel reception and transmission.
Read the Introduction (PDF file).
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