Christian Carnival XCII

Welcome to Christian Carnival XCII! All the entries are in and I've divided them up into the following categories: Biblical Studies, Theology, Philosophy and Apologetics, Spirituality and the Christian Life, Politics and Culture, and Church Life and Mission. Of course not all the entries fit neatly into these categories but they're a useful guide. Enjoy reading the posts and feel free to have a good look around!

Biblical Studies

Otho from The Pros and Cons reflects on the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The posts looks at why we believe what we believe, and how and why these three men stood up for what they believed in. Dadmanly also continues the theme of perseverance and certainty with his reflections on Romans 5 in a post entitled Death and Rebirth.

Hebrews 12:14 tells us that without the pursuit of holiness, no-one will see the Lord. The Online Pilgrim offers some useful insights into this verse in this post on Holiness. 

Dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos theophilos is always worth reading, and this week's post is no exception. This post on Repentance in the OT looks how at how various OT writers treat the subject of repentance.

Lastly in this section, last week's carnival host Matt Jones gives an analysis of various Bible translations and looks at both the pros and cons. Lots of pictures and exciting diagrams :) Matt also has a very useful archive of all the previous Christian Carnivals here.

Church History

Once upon a time heretics used to be burned at the stake, now they have their own TV channels. Ah well. But what is heresy anyway? Team Hammer (love that name) take a look at what heresy is, and what it isn't from a historical viewpoint.

Scot over at Magic Statistics reflects on the martyrdom of Latimer and Ridley, which took place 450 years ago this week. Check out the post here.

Church Life and Mission

Attention Span grapples with the often thorny issue of church finances by asking the question: where is ministry money used best? Rev-Ed sings the big church-little church blues here. 

Christian leadership is the theme up for discussion over at intheouter. What is 'toxic' leadership, and what can we learn about it from the lives of Saul and David? The Bloke's series on the subject continues here.

Lastly in this section, Pastor Bill has returned from a disaster relief trip to New Orleans and is about to leave on another one. He offers some reflections and some pictures from his trip here.

Politics and Culture

Is it just me, or have faith-politics-culture issues quietened down in the blogosphere lately? Maybe I'm just reading the wrong blogs. Anyhow, CWV warrior looks at Christianity's cultural mandate and Church leadership in the postmodern relativistic quagmire in this post.

Blogcorner Preacher takes a rather incisive look at the theology and politics of the TV show The West Wing, the "liberals' wet dream". Read the full post here.

Spirituality and the Christian Life

Rev Bill looks at growing up in Christ and suggest how we might move on from being spiritual babies to more mature believers.

Give a warm welcome to Carnival newcomer Kim of Mother Lode who reflects on the Tower of Babel story and suggest about we might restore humanity's single mother tongue of praise and worship.

Postmodern relativism comes in for another bashing in this post from Kim over at Sharing Spirit.

Gary proves himself to be supremely organised by actually providing me with all the HTML to link to his post all in one go, here goes:  Gary Sieling of The Secret Life of Gary presents On Christian Honesty. Nice one Gary.

"Are you ready for war?" asks Philthreeten in this post which ponders the question: "Is offense the best form of defence?" or for my fellow speakers of the Queen's English: "Is offence the best for of defence?". Exciting stuff.

There's also a bit of personal testimony this week from Kypackrat who shares how God has twice humbled him in the past week. It's called simply Being Made Humble.

I'm not the most domesticated of people, so this post found me completely out of my depth: it's called simply Kitchens and comes from The Common Room.

Be Thou Ware is the title of this week's entry from A Penitent Blogger, and is a challenging look at at how Christians relate to both their friends and enemies.

Katy Raymond gets all autumnal on us with this post entitled Autumn Vision from her very nice looking blog Fallible.

Science v Religion debates burn with the same intensity as always, but they are asking different questions. Science asks 'how?' whereas Religion asks 'why?'. Ales Rarus chips in with a thoughtful contribution entitled Religion as Sacred and Science as Profane looking at the two different approaches that science and religion take.

I'd always thought the Vikings were a bunch of maruading pillagers from across the North Sea, but in turns out that now they have a football team that are having some off-the-field problems. Ron of the Northern 'Burbs blog looks at the Vikings' recent troubles and shows how our character and example affects others in this post.

Lastly in this section, Adam has a rather challenging poem entitled The Devil's Hand.

Theology, Philosophy and Apologetics

Weekend Fisher considers what it really means to know God in this fascinating post entitled Omnipotence, Weakness, and the Cross of Christ. Do pop over and have a read of this intriguing post.

Steve Pavlina offers a look at Life After Death from an intellectual rather than a religious perspective.

Dave of Logical Meme contributes some ideas on Intelligent Design and its implications for philosophy.

One of my fave bloggers John Pettigrew has submitted a post named Proof, Evidence, Doubt and Decision which examines why we decide things the way that we do.

Bobby Grow of Credo (good blog name) gets into some really meaty theological discussion with this post on the differences between a semi-pelagian and a semi-Augustinian viewpoint. Here's an outline in Bobby's own words:

 "A controversial look at what differentiates a "semi-Augustinian" position from a "semi-Pelagian" stance. This article was prompted by a personal desire to clarify my own position relative to the typical caricature of non-"Reformed" soteriological constructs; i.e. usually considered to be Arminian or semi-Pelagian. I contrast the teaching of Pelagius, Augustine, and briefly speak of Thomas Aquinas to accomplish my desired end. "

Interesting stuff, well worth reading.

You can't fail to have noticed that GodBlogCon took place last week. Pseudo-Polymath describes how he spent the return journey from the convention pondering some issues in Christian ethics with what he describes as an 'Aha!' moment of revelation.

The atonement is also an issue that is frequently a hot blogging topic. Athanasius of Papercut Theology ask us:  "Should the Christian doctrine of the atonement be grounded in an appreciation for cultural context? Not every culture is like Western culture, where the penal substitution view of Christ's saving work dominates. Can this view of Christ's work (and thus the gospel itself) be relevant in a culture that does not share the same value we place on such concepts as law, transgression, and guilt?"  Be challenged here.

The ever-readable Parableman continues his series on theories of knowledge and reality by looking at some of the no-evidence arguments about God, and how a "lack of experience of God affects how a nonbeliever responds to a lack of evidence for God." Check it out here.

Kenny Pearce has submitted an entry which looks at the thought of 17th century German thinker G W Leibniz and suggests how Christians ought to approach natural science and miracles.

What does the 'good life' really mean? Tidbits and Treasures offers some thoughts on a recent article in Christianity Today magazine featuring Chuck Colson and Harry Fickett. Read all about it here.

Finally, Pastor Mark reflects on how he ran 'Amazing Grace' through the Babelizer and discovered some interesting truths...and falsehoods. Take a peek here.

So that's the end of this week's carnival, thanks for everyone who took the time to submit an article. If you e-mailed me an entry and I've missed it out, let me know as soon as possible and I'll include it.

Next week's carnival will be hosted over at Lady For Christ.