A Short History of Ethics

Alasdair MacIntyre, 1998, A Short History of Ethics: A history of moral philosophy from the Homeric Age to the twentieth century, London and New York: Routledge Calssics, 2nd ed.

It will be difficult to understand bioethics if one does not have any idea about the development of ethics. Bioethics is a new branch of ethics, barely thirty years old. It is also known as applied ethics to differentiate it from the theological ethics. In this book, which is highly recommended, MacIntyre has managed to condense the often dense history of ethics into one small volume (only 264 pages).

A Short History of Ethics

Alasdair MacIntyre, 1998, A Short History of Ethics: A history of moral philosophy from the Homeric Age to the twentieth century, London and New York: Routledge Calssics, 2nd ed.

It will be difficult to understand bioethics if one does not have any idea about the development of ethics. Bioethics is a new branch of ethics, barely thirty years old. It is also known as applied ethics to differentiate it from the theological ethics. In this book, which is highly recommended, MacIntyre has managed to condense the often dense history of ethics into one small volume (only 264 pages).

Re:Connect: Spiritual Exercises to Develop Intimacy with God

This is an new excellent book on prayer by my friend David Sherbino (Hot off the press). David is professor of Pastoral Ministries and Spiritual Formation at Tyndale Seminary and minister at Cornerstone Community Church (PCC) Kleinburg in Ontario, Canada.

Unlike most books on prayer which discuss about prayer, this book actually teaches you how to pray. The book is structured such that one can pray for seven weeks with daily prayer readings for each day. There is also a section for praying through the church year.

I have enjoyed praying through it and find it very helpful.

The problem is that it is only available from:
Tyndale Bookstore
25, Ballyconnor Court
Toronto ON
M2M 4B3
Tel: 416 226 6746, ext. 2188

David will be coming over to Malaysia and Singapore next year and I hope he will bring some copies.
.

Re:Connect: Spiritual Exercises to Develop Intimacy with God

This is an new excellent book on prayer by my friend David Sherbino (Hot off the press). David is professor of Pastoral Ministries and Spiritual Formation at Tyndale Seminary and minister at Cornerstone Community Church (PCC) Kleinburg in Ontario, Canada.

Unlike most books on prayer which discuss about prayer, this book actually teaches you how to pray. The book is structured such that one can pray for seven weeks with daily prayer readings for each day. There is also a section for praying through the church year.

I have enjoyed praying through it and find it very helpful.

The problem is that it is only available from:
Tyndale Bookstore
25, Ballyconnor Court
Toronto ON
M2M 4B3
Tel: 416 226 6746, ext. 2188

David will be coming over to Malaysia and Singapore next year and I hope he will bring some copies.
.

For the Love of Our Children's Genetic Future

Ted Peters, 1996, For the Love of Children: Genetic Technology and the Future of the Family, Louisville, KN: Westminster John Knox Press

Ted Peters is professor of systematic theology at pacific Lutheran Seminary. His writing is very precise and logical. In this book he takes on the challenge of looking at biotechnology and molecular genetics from the children's viewpoint.

This is a unique approach and Peters' thesis is that all children have claims on their parents and in turn their families. This places the responsibility of guarding the morality and placing boundaries on genetic research and application on the parents and indirectly on society and the church. He proposes an ethic "for the love of children."

His other book I have reviewed is The Stem Cells Debate

For the Love of Our Children's Genetic Future

Ted Peters, 1996, For the Love of Children: Genetic Technology and the Future of the Family, Louisville, KN: Westminster John Knox Press

Ted Peters is professor of systematic theology at pacific Lutheran Seminary. His writing is very precise and logical. In this book he takes on the challenge of looking at biotechnology and molecular genetics from the children's viewpoint.

This is a unique approach and Peters' thesis is that all children have claims on their parents and in turn their families. This places the responsibility of guarding the morality and placing boundaries on genetic research and application on the parents and indirectly on society and the church. He proposes an ethic "for the love of children."

His other book I have reviewed is The Stem Cells Debate

What will you do? (5)

An urban congregation in sub-Saharan Africa has very positive experiences with Mercy Ships and other short-term medical outreach programmes. They approach a mission agency staffed by Europeans, Americans and local health professionals. It is funded by Korean Christians and they plan to establish a permanent clinic. The local congregation argue this is one of their most powerful evangelistic tools.

‘The government provides only the bare minimum when it comes to health care’ says one of the elders. ‘If someone is very sick, they may get treatment at a public hospital for a reduced fee, but often there is no opportunity to access medical services. It’s not so bad here as in rural areas, but even here in the city there are not enough facilities. So people with “connections” get served in the hospital sooner, even before people who may be very sick and have waited a long time, but don’t know the “right” people.’ He goes on: ‘Western and Asian churches who are economically strong but don’t help their poorer brothers and sisters, never mind those who might be evangelised, are really no different than the rest of the world. Christians who have much have a duty to help believers who have little.’

Another influential church leader takes a different view. She claims the local congregation should instead put their efforts into expanding local services. ‘Health care is a right and the government should provide it. When the church steps in all it does is supply a quick fix, like putting a plaster or band aid on a gaping wound. Both the local people and the mission agencies should try to get the laws changed to provide adequate national healthcare services.’

What issues does this story raise?
What will you do?

.

What will you do? (5)

An urban congregation in sub-Saharan Africa has very positive experiences with Mercy Ships and other short-term medical outreach programmes. They approach a mission agency staffed by Europeans, Americans and local health professionals. It is funded by Korean Christians and they plan to establish a permanent clinic. The local congregation argue this is one of their most powerful evangelistic tools.

‘The government provides only the bare minimum when it comes to health care’ says one of the elders. ‘If someone is very sick, they may get treatment at a public hospital for a reduced fee, but often there is no opportunity to access medical services. It’s not so bad here as in rural areas, but even here in the city there are not enough facilities. So people with “connections” get served in the hospital sooner, even before people who may be very sick and have waited a long time, but don’t know the “right” people.’ He goes on: ‘Western and Asian churches who are economically strong but don’t help their poorer brothers and sisters, never mind those who might be evangelised, are really no different than the rest of the world. Christians who have much have a duty to help believers who have little.’

Another influential church leader takes a different view. She claims the local congregation should instead put their efforts into expanding local services. ‘Health care is a right and the government should provide it. When the church steps in all it does is supply a quick fix, like putting a plaster or band aid on a gaping wound. Both the local people and the mission agencies should try to get the laws changed to provide adequate national healthcare services.’

What issues does this story raise?
What will you do?

.

Persons In Community

William H. Lazareth (ed), 2004 , Persons in Community: Theological Voices from the Pastorate, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans

While Philip Rolnick in Person, Grace and God deals with the theological and philosophical concept of personhood, this book deals with the pastoral aspects of persons. Its main thesis is that persons can only be understood in community. This community is God's people who are faithful stewards and prudent managers of the world.

William Lazareth, the editor is the Jerald C. Brauer Distinguished Professor of Lutheran Studies at Carthage College, Kenosha in Wisconsin. He is also a program associate of the Pastor-Theologian Program at the Center of Theological Inquiry. This program is supported by an endowment by the Lilly Foundation. The program is set up because some Christians have perceived that there is a separation of theology and the church.

"A significant part of the current crisis in the church is the hiatus between academic theology as an intellectual discipline and ecclesial theology as a confessional stance" notes Wallace M. Aston, Jr. the director of the Center of theological Inquiry (p.ix).

The Pastor-Theologian Program "would seek to focus attention on the ordained ministry as a theological vocation and on the church as a theological community' (p.xiii). Sixty pastors were involved in the program and discussion. Twenty of these contributed articles to this volume.

The articles are easy to read and give a significant pastoral perspective on many of the issues dealing with personhood. It is a ground up theological investigation on what it means to be human.

.

Persons In Community

William H. Lazareth (ed), 2004 , Persons in Community: Theological Voices from the Pastorate, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans

While Philip Rolnick in Person, Grace and God deals with the theological and philosophical concept of personhood, this book deals with the pastoral aspects of persons. Its main thesis is that persons can only be understood in community. This community is God's people who are faithful stewards and prudent managers of the world.

William Lazareth, the editor is the Jerald C. Brauer Distinguished Professor of Lutheran Studies at Carthage College, Kenosha in Wisconsin. He is also a program associate of the Pastor-Theologian Program at the Center of Theological Inquiry. This program is supported by an endowment by the Lilly Foundation. The program is set up because some Christians have perceived that there is a separation of theology and the church.

"A significant part of the current crisis in the church is the hiatus between academic theology as an intellectual discipline and ecclesial theology as a confessional stance" notes Wallace M. Aston, Jr. the director of the Center of theological Inquiry (p.ix).

The Pastor-Theologian Program "would seek to focus attention on the ordained ministry as a theological vocation and on the church as a theological community' (p.xiii). Sixty pastors were involved in the program and discussion. Twenty of these contributed articles to this volume.

The articles are easy to read and give a significant pastoral perspective on many of the issues dealing with personhood. It is a ground up theological investigation on what it means to be human.

.

Paul and Margaret Brand

This interesting documentary is part of the Day of Discovery television series produced by the RBC Ministries.

The documentary shows the life and mission of Dr Paul Brand and his wife, Dr. Margaret Brand in their work among the lepers of India. There are still photos, videos of Paul and Margaret Brand at work, and interviews of Paul, Margaret and Philip Yancey.

This is suitable for individual, small and large groups viewing.

Paul and Margaret Brand

This interesting documentary is part of the Day of Discovery television series produced by the RBC Ministries.

The documentary shows the life and mission of Dr Paul Brand and his wife, Dr. Margaret Brand in their work among the lepers of India. There are still photos, videos of Paul and Margaret Brand at work, and interviews of Paul, Margaret and Philip Yancey.

This is suitable for individual, small and large groups viewing.

Attachment Disorder Churches

Leadership Journal, Fall 2008

Attachment Disorder Churches

If your people won't follow, it may be the result of past abandonment.

by Kenneth Quick

It used to be that churches trusted pastors unless something such as moral failure or spiritual abuse broke that trust. Today, though, when the average length of a pastor's ministry in some churches is less than three years, the factor that prompts to churches to become "hard to lead" is a situation of abandonment at a crucial juncture.
What is a "crucial juncture"? A wolf on the horizon (some significant event with potential negative consequences for the church) that causes the pastor to flee. It can be a conflict or a challenge to his leadership. It could be corporate anxiety caused by a drop in giving, decreased attendance, a move, or a building program.

read more

This is an interesting diagnosis of a condition for churches. I am also interested to learn that pastor stay for less than three years in churches before moving on. I used to think it was 5 years!

Attachment Disorder Churches

Leadership Journal, Fall 2008

Attachment Disorder Churches

If your people won't follow, it may be the result of past abandonment.

by Kenneth Quick

It used to be that churches trusted pastors unless something such as moral failure or spiritual abuse broke that trust. Today, though, when the average length of a pastor's ministry in some churches is less than three years, the factor that prompts to churches to become "hard to lead" is a situation of abandonment at a crucial juncture.
What is a "crucial juncture"? A wolf on the horizon (some significant event with potential negative consequences for the church) that causes the pastor to flee. It can be a conflict or a challenge to his leadership. It could be corporate anxiety caused by a drop in giving, decreased attendance, a move, or a building program.

read more

This is an interesting diagnosis of a condition for churches. I am also interested to learn that pastor stay for less than three years in churches before moving on. I used to think it was 5 years!

Person, Grace, and God

Philip A. Rolnick, 2007, Person, Grace, and God, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans

This is a book that need to be slowly chewed, meditate upon and digested. Philip Rolnick is professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. This is not an easy book to read but a great book to understand. Rolnick takes on the tremendous task of investigating the concept of personhood.

Rolnick started his investigation from the etymological and historical development of the concept of personhood. Then he takes on the challenges to the concept of personhood from neo-darwinism, polemical deconstruction and from the critical stance.

He concludes "(u)ltimately, to be a human person means that the totality of who we are is open-textured to the presence and power of God."

This is a remarkable work of scholarship of a theologian and philosopher whose methodical use of exegesis and analysis gives us a good idea of the concept of what it means to be a person.

Person, Grace, and God

Philip A. Rolnick, 2007, Person, Grace, and God, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans

This is a book that need to be slowly chewed, meditate upon and digested. Philip Rolnick is professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. This is not an easy book to read but a great book to understand. Rolnick takes on the tremendous task of investigating the concept of personhood.

Rolnick started his investigation from the etymological and historical development of the concept of personhood. Then he takes on the challenges to the concept of personhood from neo-darwinism, polemical deconstruction and from the critical stance.

He concludes "(u)ltimately, to be a human person means that the totality of who we are is open-textured to the presence and power of God."

This is a remarkable work of scholarship of a theologian and philosopher whose methodical use of exegesis and analysis gives us a good idea of the concept of what it means to be a person.

An Invitation to a Retreat (6)

Be Still and Know

An Invitation to a Retreat (6)

Be Still and Know

How to be Christian in a Brave New World

Joni Eareckson Tada and Nigel M. de S. Cameron, 2006, How to be a Christian in a Brave New World, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Joni is a quadriplegic who has spent three decades advocating for the disability community.

Nigel M. de Cameron is research professor of bioethics at the Illinois Insttute of Technology and president of the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future.

The book is targeted at the general informed reading public and deals with human cloning, designer babies, redefining human nature and human harvesting. Though they do not offer new arguments, the recommended reading list and the Internet links are worth looking at.

How to be Christian in a Brave New World

Joni Eareckson Tada and Nigel M. de S. Cameron, 2006, How to be a Christian in a Brave New World, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Joni is a quadriplegic who has spent three decades advocating for the disability community.

Nigel M. de Cameron is research professor of bioethics at the Illinois Insttute of Technology and president of the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future.

The book is targeted at the general informed reading public and deals with human cloning, designer babies, redefining human nature and human harvesting. Though they do not offer new arguments, the recommended reading list and the Internet links are worth looking at.

Breaking News for Christmas!

This is from Bob Teoh, A Christian journalist in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dear friends

Christmas Story

This Christmas, I am coming out with a 32-page booklet with a selection of six Christmas stories which I have written since 2000 and published in local newspapers. There is also one story taken strictly from the Bible with full chapter and verse reference and a url link for those who may want to check out for themselves.

These stories are very reader-friendly and are therefore suitable for giving to your neighbours and colleagues. In fact, some of them have even quotes from the Qur'an regarding the birth of Jesus. Though not evangelsitic tracts, these are contextualised Christmas stories to give non-Christians an idea of what Christmas is all about.

They are priced at RM3.00 each, or less than the price of a Christmas card, for the purpose for giving them away. Publication of this booklet is generously and professionally undertaken by http://www.logos-on-wheel.com/.

You can pre-order them at packets of ten (10) each for RM30.00 and it will be delivered or posted to you. You can just bank in the payment through the ATM. Please let me know your order and I will provide you my Maybank account number. Contact me at bobteoh88@gmail.com

They will also be available at the Burning Bush Bookshop at DUMC and other designated bookshops.

Regards and have a blessed Christmas,

Bob Teoh

Breaking News for Christmas!

This is from Bob Teoh, A Christian journalist in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dear friends

Christmas Story

This Christmas, I am coming out with a 32-page booklet with a selection of six Christmas stories which I have written since 2000 and published in local newspapers. There is also one story taken strictly from the Bible with full chapter and verse reference and a url link for those who may want to check out for themselves.

These stories are very reader-friendly and are therefore suitable for giving to your neighbours and colleagues. In fact, some of them have even quotes from the Qur'an regarding the birth of Jesus. Though not evangelsitic tracts, these are contextualised Christmas stories to give non-Christians an idea of what Christmas is all about.

They are priced at RM3.00 each, or less than the price of a Christmas card, for the purpose for giving them away. Publication of this booklet is generously and professionally undertaken by http://www.logos-on-wheel.com/.

You can pre-order them at packets of ten (10) each for RM30.00 and it will be delivered or posted to you. You can just bank in the payment through the ATM. Please let me know your order and I will provide you my Maybank account number. Contact me at bobteoh88@gmail.com

They will also be available at the Burning Bush Bookshop at DUMC and other designated bookshops.

Regards and have a blessed Christmas,

Bob Teoh

Considering New Paradigms on St Paul

Getting to know Saint Paul today: A change in paradigm?
David M. Neuhaus SJ

Recent Pauline scholarship has revealed new perspectives from which we can examine the life of the apostle and the world he lived in, claims David Neuhaus SJ. What are these developments, and how can they change our traditional understanding of Saint Paul?


Introduction: Who is Saint Paul?
The figure of Paul marks the passage from Jesus of Nazareth, recognized after his death by his disciples as the promised Messiah of Israel, to the Universal Church that preached the Gospel to all the nations. Paul has been seen as the pioneer of Christian mission, the father of Christian theology and even the real founder of Christianity. Some have seen him as a apocalyptic thinker, others as a Pharisee rabbi become Christian yet others as a cultivated Hellenist or a Gnostic syncretist or an incoherent religious fanatic.

Getting to know Paul has never been easy. It is difficult to derive a clear autobiographical picture from his own writings. There are contradictions between these writings and the supposedly “biographical” presentation of Paul by Luke in Acts. In addition to this, in the past few decades, new historical and exegetical perspectives have changed how we understand the world in which Paul lived and worked. These perspectives have undermined at least some of our most basic suppositions in getting to know Paul. They would seem to necessitate a change in paradigm in order to read Paul and ascertain his role. I will propose here four aspects on which our understanding of Paul and his world have changed in the past decades. The question I pose here is: have the consequences of these changes been integrated into our reading and understanding of Paul? Can we integrate them without a new paradigm in Pauline studies? What can the new paradigm be?

read more

Considering New Paradigms on St Paul

Getting to know Saint Paul today: A change in paradigm?
David M. Neuhaus SJ

Recent Pauline scholarship has revealed new perspectives from which we can examine the life of the apostle and the world he lived in, claims David Neuhaus SJ. What are these developments, and how can they change our traditional understanding of Saint Paul?


Introduction: Who is Saint Paul?
The figure of Paul marks the passage from Jesus of Nazareth, recognized after his death by his disciples as the promised Messiah of Israel, to the Universal Church that preached the Gospel to all the nations. Paul has been seen as the pioneer of Christian mission, the father of Christian theology and even the real founder of Christianity. Some have seen him as a apocalyptic thinker, others as a Pharisee rabbi become Christian yet others as a cultivated Hellenist or a Gnostic syncretist or an incoherent religious fanatic.

Getting to know Paul has never been easy. It is difficult to derive a clear autobiographical picture from his own writings. There are contradictions between these writings and the supposedly “biographical” presentation of Paul by Luke in Acts. In addition to this, in the past few decades, new historical and exegetical perspectives have changed how we understand the world in which Paul lived and worked. These perspectives have undermined at least some of our most basic suppositions in getting to know Paul. They would seem to necessitate a change in paradigm in order to read Paul and ascertain his role. I will propose here four aspects on which our understanding of Paul and his world have changed in the past decades. The question I pose here is: have the consequences of these changes been integrated into our reading and understanding of Paul? Can we integrate them without a new paradigm in Pauline studies? What can the new paradigm be?

read more

An Invitation to a Retreat (5)

The participants were invited to assess the state of their spiritual life at the present moment and express it as a plasticine sculpture. Which one do you think is mine?

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

An Invitation to a Retreat (5)

The participants were invited to assess the state of their spiritual life at the present moment and express it as a plasticine sculpture. Which one do you think is mine?

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

An Invitation to a Retreat (4)

Conducted a guided retreat on the theme Be Still and Know at Gethsemanne Retreat Centre/Reconre in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan from 25-27 October 2008.

An Invitation to a Retreat (4)

Conducted a guided retreat on the theme Be Still and Know at Gethsemanne Retreat Centre/Reconre in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan from 25-27 October 2008.