I have just received my copy of my former teacher and colleague's new book, Living with the Underworld (available to British readers here). I will be writing a review for The Briefing.
But, can I say how excited I am by the book thus far. Firstly, here is theology written for a general adult audience that is not insulting to their intelligence but is fast paced and engaging. There are some big ideas in this book, but the writing is crisp and light, and certainly not without plenty of wit. It is a journey into the underworld with Tony Soprano as our guide.
Bolt also touches on a number of issues of how the Biblical cosmology ought to be read by modern readers without having to engage in a wholesale demythologisation programme. So, there is some interesting theological method being developed in the background, too. Go read it and see!
A taster:
It is a pity that moralism has always been so rampant amongst people who say they are trying to live by the Bible. if Christians were to read the New Testament and grasp its central message, they could never join the moralists, and they would be the most sympathetic people this world has ever seen. p. 68
The Perfect You?
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Once we have an idea of what reality is, could be or will be, there are
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5 comments:
Hi Michael. Glad you like Peter Bolt's book...do you remember Tony Wright? He wrote his fourth year paper on this topic also in 2006.
'here is theology written for a general adult audience that is not insulting to their intelligence but is fast paced and engaging' -
One thing - you make it sound like not read many books of this genre have been written before?
Guys in past decades like J I Packer have been doing this for years! Perhaps you meant more recently, or in Australia. Either way, better late than never!
Cheers, hope your study is going well, AP
I have recently submitted a Phd at Aberdeen on Evil Powers and Idols in 1 Cor 8:4-5 and 10:18-22 supervised by simon Gathercole. My conclusions are consistent with Peter Bolt's. I think it is possible that the demons in 1 Cor 10:20f are the spirits of the dead giants ( of Gen 6 infamy,as interpreted in 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and many church fathers, with possible allusions to the fall of the Watchers in 1 Cor 11:10; 1 Peter3:19; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6.
PS. A little more about myself,St. Helen's Bishopsgate, I trained at Oak Hill 1997-2000, curacy in Wolverhampton,MPhil at Cambridge, now back in church ministry in Surrey.
Andrew - yes you are right: Packer has been doing it for years. But scarcely anyone else... and even he is not the most elegant prose sytlist..
Ro - we 'met' when you were interviewing at Wycliffe last year. Nice to hear from you!
Hi Michael,
Yes I now remember you from your photo- you didn't give your last name when we met!
We missed you at A & R. Hope to see you soon.
Ps. Give my best wishes to your dad- he taught me during his sabbatical at OHC!
I was a bit disappointed with his book. I was expecting something a bit more academic. The interview in "the briefing" was better than the book!
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