From the Garden to the City

From the Garden to the City : The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology is the title of a short book by John Dyer, director of Web development at Dallas Theological Seminary.

From the Garden to the City deconstructs the concept of technology and examines it through the lens of Scripture. Studying Bible passages and insights from the best thinkers on technology, theology and culture, John Dyer shows how technology left unexamined can enslave us rather than honour God and fulfil his plan for us. With helpful observations and practical applications, he issues an urgent challenge to live faithful lives in this technology-saturated modern world.

This is an excellent book - faithful to the Bible - yet up to date with its knowledge of technology. I highly recommend it.

Bible Overview (Lent Course)

I have created a website to provide links to the Lent Course presentations for the Bible Overview track that I ran at St Mary's Cheadle. This six week course was on Wednesday evenings, and began on March 9, 2011.

Update: By popular demand, the course is being repeated during Lent 2012. The first session is on February 22.

New website for M'Cheyne resources

A new website for Robert Murray M'Cheyne resources has been designed by a friend in Surrey.

We hope that you will like the fresh design of the new site. The process of adapting items from the old UK Online website is ongoing, but much is there already.

Please update your bookmarks and links, especially if you had linked online to the old website.

UK Online have delayed their closure by a week. It will close on 21 January, 2011. From then on, my email address ending in @ukonline.co.uk will no longer reach me.

There is a contact form on the new site.

UK Online will close in January 2011

UK Online will close on 14 January 2011.

This means that my 14 year old website will then disappear (as such).

It is likely that the contents will still be accessible via the Internet Archive.

Here is a link to the M'Cheyne page via the Wayback Machine.

The menus should still be navigable, though page loading may be slow.

This Year's Biography: Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Desiring God

Every year at our Pastors Conference, John Piper delivers a biographical message on a bygone saint whose life and influence are in some way instructive for us today.

At this next Pastors Conference, Piper will be focusing on Robert Murray M'Cheyne, the Scottish pastor, poet, and man of prayer from the 19th century. M'Cheyne died very young—he was only 29—but his life and writings have had a powerful and enduring impact on the church, for the better.

Conference details: Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 31 - February 2, 2011

McCheyne, McGonagall and the West End of Dundee

This talk was given last night during Dundee's WestFest.

David Robertson takes a look at the influence of Christianity in general and St Peter's in particular on the West End of Dundee, examining the impact of two famous west enders, the preacher, pastor and poet Robert Murray McCheyne, a former minister of St Peter's Church and William Topaz McGonagall. McGonagall is one of Dundee’s most famous citizens – the ‘world’s worst poet’ was actually a member of St Peter’s and his tragic/comic life gives surprising insight into 19th Century Dundee life.

The audio recording of this talk is now available online. Click here.

M'Cheyne's Bible Reading Calendar now available in Thai

Missionaries in Thailand have translated M'Cheyne's Bible Reading Calendar into Thai.

http://bit.ly/bp5bXP

May God bless this to His Church in Thailand.

COWBOYOLOGY

http://cowboyology.blogspot.com/

*** Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds*** [Hebrews 10.24]

This is the blog of Clint Humfrey in Alberta, Canada.

He's a fan of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, as well as being a pastor, a NT scholar and a rancher.

Years ago, he contributed the guest essay Of Common Ilk to my M'Cheyne pages.

The Diary of Jessie Thain

A friend emailed me today, and his message included this line, "If I remember correctly, R.M.M. was engaged when he died, and I assume that you have known his fiancée’s name.". The initials denote Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-43), the main subject of my website. Here's how I responded.

The general consensus is that he may have been engaged to Jessie Thain, though I have never seen a primary source proof that would cinch this. Some editions of Alexander Smellie's biography of R. M. McCheyne (a burning light) have as an appendix, Extracts from the diary of Jessie Thain.

His note prompted me to Google for her name and I came across this gem, from which I include a brief quotation below.

In his interesting book, “Robert Murray McCheyne,” Dr. Smellie mentions the fact that McCheyne was twice engaged to be married. The excellent young lady whom he first honoured with an offer of his life and love was discouraged by her relatives who thought they saw in McCheyne’s frail body a foreshadowing of an early death. The other young lady was the writer of this Diary. Certainly her references to McCheyne’s death in her Diary are strongly suggestive of a relationship nearer than that of a pastor to his flock. Spiritual affection for those in whom we see the image of the Lord is an ennobling grace which may not always be free from pain; but the love of Jessie Thain for Robert McCheyne, while holy and intensely spiritual, appears also to have the additional marks of the fond and reciprocating attractions of nature. One cannot but admire the delicacy and refinement with which she touches on this subject.

The online page from which this quotation is taken is entitled, Jessie Thain (The Friend of Robert Murray McCheyne) - Edited by Rev. Murdoch Campbell, M.A. The editor's introduction is dated Ross-shire, September, 1955.

Miss Thain was born 31st July, 1820, and was thus seven years younger than the one she loved. Her diary covers the period 31st December, 1843 to 28th November, 1847. M'Cheyne died on 25th March 1843, aged only 29, and there is a diary entry for the same date in both 1844 and 1845. It makes poignant reading.

NB. A 2003 paperback edition from Shiloh Publications is SOLD OUT. There were earlier editions in 1961 and 1967, as well as the originally edited one of 1955. These may sometimes appear in used book stores, whether online or in retail shops.

The Solitary Throne

Mahatma Gandhi once wrote, "I am unable to place Jesus Christ on a solitary throne." In response to this, two books appeared in the 1930s, both with the title, The Solitary Throne, written by Christian authors.

• The Solitary Throne: Some religious beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi in the light of Christ's teachings, by Brenton Thoburn Badley (1876-1949). Madras : Methodist Pub. House, 1931 (rep. 1935).
• The Solitary Throne: Addresses Given at the Keswick Convention on the Glory and Uniqueness of the Christian Message, by Samuel Marinus Zwemer (1867-1952): London, 1937.
  

Zwemer's book was also intended as a direct rebuke to Gandhi’s statement.

Where do you place Jesus Christ?

Are you like Gandhi, merely an admirer of his life and teachings, but unable to place him where God has placed him? Or are you like both Badley and Zwemer, not only his admirer, but his true follower, believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that He has been exalted to the highest place that heaven affords?

This hymn by J. G. Deck puts it succinctly,

1 O GOD, Thou now hast glorified
Thy holy, blest eternal Son;
The Nazarene, the Crucified,
Now sits exalted on Thy throne:
To Him in faith we cry aloud,
Worthy art Thou, O Lamb of God.

2 Father, Thy holy name we bless,
And gladly hail Thy just decree
That every tongue shall soon confess
Jesus the Lord of all to be;
But oh, Thy grace has taught us now
Before that Lord the knee to bow.

3 Him as our Lord we gladly own:
To Him alone we now would live,
Who bowed our hearts before Thy throne,
And gave us all that love could give.
Our willing voices cry aloud,
Worthy art Thou, O Lamb of God.

Jesus the Nazarene, once crucified, but then risen from the dead, now sits exalted on a solitary throne, at the right hand of God.

The Origins of Silent Reading

I want to share something I just discovered during a Google search. I was already aware that silent reading was a development that occurred during European history, but this title homes in on how radical a change this was at the time.

Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading, by Paul Saenger

Product Description

Reading, like any human activity, has a history. Modern reading is a silent and solitary activity. Ancient reading was usually oral, either aloud, in groups, or individually, in a muffled voice. The text format in which thought has been presented to readers has undergone many changes in order to reach the form that the modern Western reader now views as immutable and nearly universal. This book explains how a change in writing—the introduction of word separation—led to the development of silent reading during the period from late antiquity to the fifteenth century.

Over the course of the nine centuries following Rome’s fall, the task of separating the words in continuous written text, which for half a millennium had been a function of the individual reader’s mind and voice, became instead a labor of professional readers and scribes. The separation of words (and thus silent reading) originated in manuscripts copied by Irish scribes in the seventh and eighth centuries but spread to the European continent only in the late tenth century when scholars first attempted to master a newly recovered corpus of technical, philosophical, and scientific classical texts.

Why was word separation so long in coming? The author finds the answer in ancient reading habits with their oral basis, and in the social context where reading and writing took place. The ancient world had no desire to make reading easier and swifter. For various reasons, what modern readers view as advantages—retrieval of reference information, increased ability to read “difficult” texts, greater diffusion of literacy—were not seen as advantages in the ancient world. The notion that a larger portion of the population should be autonomous and self-motivated readers was entirely foreign to the ancient world’s elitist mentality.

The greater part of this book describes in detail how the new format of word separation, in conjunction with silent reading, spread from the British Isles and took gradual hold in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The book concludes with the triumph of silent reading in the scholasticism and devotional practices of the late Middle Ages.

Enjoy and learn!

International Conference on Computing and Mission (ICCM)

The International Conference on Computing and Mission (ICCM-Europe) takes place in the Netherlands 10-13 March, 2010.

'Engineering and Theology' matches 'Computing and Mission'.

I have therefore just booked to attend.

I hope to have opportunities to share information about Go Bible for mobile phones.

Geese in Their Hoods (Spurgeon on Romanism)

Following the recent news about Pope Benedict's invitation to disaffected Anglicans to join the Church of Rome, I bring to mind the writings of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) that touch on the tendency (even in his day) of some in the Church of England to drift back towards Romanism.

His article, Geese in Their Hoods is well worth reading, not only for his observations during his travels in Europe but also for his candour in confronting the errors of Rome.

The nineteenth of the Church of England's Thirty-nine Articles is mild in comparison with Spurgeon's treatment of such "too-hot-to-handle" issues today. viz.

XIX. Of the Church.
The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.

As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred, so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith.

You can still obtain the 1997 reprint, edited by Timothy F. Kauffman, published by White Horse Publications.

Retirement

Just a short post to inform readers that I retired four weeks ago, after over 36 years in the semiconductor industry. For most of that time I worked as a test engineer on power semiconductor devices, all at the same site in Stockport, which was under five different company names over this period:

1. Associated Semiconductor Manufacturers (ASM) Ltd.
2. Mullard Limited
3. Philips Components
4. Philips Semiconductors
5. NXP Semiconductors

Due to the current recession, there was a need to reduce "head count", and a call for voluntary redundancies was announced in April this year. I volunteered almost straightaway, was accepted in June, and finished work on 25 September.

I had already switched from full-time employment to part-time in June 2008, so I enjoyed 15 months of having Mondays free before finishing. This gave me a taste for retirement, but not for inactivity.

Now that I am the Go Bible project leader for the CrossWire Bible Society, I have more than enough to fill my waking hours. This brings the engineering and the theology even closer together than I could have imagined.

The slow death of congregational singing

The slow death of congregational singing
by Mike Raiter, Principal of Victoria Bible College
The Briefing, April 2008.

It seems like genuine, heartfelt congregational singing is experiencing its dying gasps. But why does it matter and why should we care? Mike Raiter brings us back to the Bible to inject our singing with new life.

I was at a convention recently, seated near the rear of the auditorium. The music team at the front were ‘leading’ (and I use that word advisedly) and we were singing. Well, we were meant to be singing. And so I did what I've done quite often lately: I closed my eyes and listened to the singing. The song leaders with their microphones were clear and distinct. I could identify each of the several instruments accompanying the singers. But if you blocked out the ‘worship team’, all that was left around the building was a barely audible murmur. I opened my eyes and looked around. Most folk were either standing silently, not even making a pretence of singing, or were little engaged in the activity.

I turned to a friend next to me and commented, “No-one's singing”. He looked at me as if I'd just observed that no-one was flying.

more ......

Rhode Island Coffee and books

One day before Christmas I had a coffee and a Danish pastry at Rhode Island Coffee on Little Underbank in Stockport. There were a few books related to Rhode Island on the window ledge, so I browsed through one of them.

It was Marguerite Appleton, A Portrait Album - Four Great Rhode Island Leaders.

Here is the Amazon link.

The time I spent there was enough to read the first chapter, which was about Roger Williams, (1603-1883), the co-founder of Rhode Island. He is credited for originating either the first or second Baptist church established in America.

He also wrote, The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience (London, 1644). This is his most famous work, and was the ablest statement and defence of the principle of absolute liberty of conscience that had appeared in any language. It is in the form of a dialogue between Truth and Peace, and well illustrates the vigour of his style.

A pleasant interlude in a brief shopping errand.

Statistical analysis of Bible verse lengths

In the course of my Go Bible activities, I found it necessary to perform a statistical analysis of Bible verse lengths, in order to test a conjecture that there had been systematic truncation in the particular source text that I had been working with. This was the French translation by Pirot and Clamer.

This is an illustration of where my Engineering and Theology interests and skills overlap.

The underlying probability distribution would be of interest to statisticians.

• Cubic polynomial best fit below the mode, where mode length = 79 characters
  
• Linear best fit above the mode

The chart lends weight to my truncation conjecture. There was a second peak of verses with length=255. The few slightly longer verses may be explained by word-wrap effects.

Further details are given in this Go Bible Forum topic. If you are not a forum member, you will first need to register before logging in.

Messianic Good News

Messianic Good News is a non-profit organisation, founded in 1950 for the purpose of proclaiming the good news of salvation in Jesus the Messiah to Jews and Gentiles primarily through the written format. They publish and distribute tracts and books for outreach as well as the quarterly, “Messianic Good News,” through which they aim to encourage and equip readers with a deeper understanding of the faith. These articles are available on the website.

They recently hosted a conference in South Africa, on the subject, ISRAEL IN THE LAST DAYS - a critical look at popular views of the end times. The speakers were:

• Stephen Sizer - who spoke on Israel from a theological perspective
  
• Kevin Daly - who dealt with the misconceptions in popular dispensationalist views
  
• Peter Cohen - who spoke on the prophecies of Daniel 9 and Matthew 24
  
• Alan Morrison - who gave a two part paper on "the Restoration of all things".
  

Transcripts of all the conference talks are now available.

God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?

New book out from LionHudson on 7 September 2007.

With new atheism loudly gaining more and more media attention, and religion seemingly being backed into a corner with nobody to stand up and rationally defend it, John Lennox’s new book God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? is a much needed addition to the science and faith debate.

God’s Undertaker is an intelligent response to the claims of new atheism, which, based on the evaluation of modern scientific evidence, argues that theism sits more comfortably alongside science than atheism.

Written by John Lennox, a well respected academic and mathematician, the book has received acclaim from top scientists as well as respected figures in the religious community and will provide a thought provoking and fresh basis for discussion.

I have already pre-ordered a copy. The author is a friend from my time at Cambridge University (1966-1969).

The linked page also gives details of a public debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox, to be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA on 3 October 2007.

Atheist Delusion and Richard Dawkins

The Atheist Delusion website is a useful compilation of critiques of Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion.

The welcome page begins, "Richard Dawkins, the world's most famous atheist, makes his home in Oxford, England. It was in Oxford, back in 1978, while sitting in a biology class in Magdalen College School, that I was first exposed to Richard Dawkins' favoured theory of human origins - Darwin and Wallace's idea of 'evolution by natural selection'. Sitting in one of the biology labs of a School founded in 1481 and attended by the likes of Sir Thomas More, William Tyndale, Cardinal Wolsey and John Foxe, I learnt of an idea that, according to Richard Dawkins, makes it possible to be 'an intellectually fulfilled atheist'."

The webmaster is Michael J. Penfold of Bicester on Oxforshire.