Theological Term of the Week

 

anthropopathism
A figure of speech in which human feeling or emotions are ascribed to God. Sometimes anthropopathism is contrasted with anthropomorphism, with the term anthropomorphism defined narrowly as the attribution of human form to God; but when anthropomorphism is defined more broadly as any language that speaks of God in human terms, then anthropopathism is seen as a special kind of anthropomorphism.

• An example of anthropopathism from 1 Samuel 15:35:

  And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. (ESV)

• Phil Johnson in God Without Mood Swings:

  While it is true that [anthropopathisms] are figures of speech, we must nonetheless acknowledge that such expressions mean something. Specifically, they are reassurances to us that God is not uninvolved and indifferent to His creation.
  
  However, because we recognize them as metaphorical, we must also confess that there is something they do not mean. They do not mean that God is literally subject to mood swings or melancholy, spasms of passion or temper tantrums. And in order to make this very clear, Scripture often stresses the constancy of God’s love, the infiniteness of his mercies, the certainty of His promises, the unchangeableness of His mind, and the lack of any fluctuation in His perfections. “With [God there] is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). This absolute immutability is one of God’s transcendent characteristics, and we must resist the tendency to bring it in line with our finite human understanding.
  

Learn more:

1. Provocations and Pantings: ‘Constrained Impassibility’ and Anthropopathisms
2. New Link! Paul Helm: Divine Impassibility: Why Is It Suffering?
3. Phil Johnson: Does God Have Mood Swings? (mp3)

Related term:

• anthropomorphism

This week’s theological term was suggested by David Kjos of The Thirsty Theologian.

 

Have you come across a theological term that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

 

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

A Meme or Two

I’ve been tagged for two memes, and in the name of efficiency, I’ll put them together in one econonomy-sized memish post.

Meme One

Connie of Practicing Theology tagged me for this meme.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was a soccer mom. Youngest daughter was doing soccer, soccer, soccer, and I was busy driving her to and from practices and helping with soccer team fundraisers.

Five Snacks I enjoy:

1. ice cream
   
2. dark chocolate (How convenient! I can just leave Connie’s answer for this one.)
   
3. cookies, the crisp kind: snickerdoodles, gingersnaps, sugar cookies, chocolate crinkles.
   
4. apple slices and pear slices. I slice an apple or a pear almost every evening, put the slices in a bowl and munch on them while I watch the news.
   
5. tuna salad on unsalted crackers.
   

Five Things On My To-Do List Today:
It’s later on in the day as I write this, so I’m putting items that were on my to-do list. If I’ve already done them, I’ll cross them off.

1. Make a trip to the dump. Who knew that the city of Whitehorse did regular Tuesday garbage pick up on Canada Day?
   
2. Edit and post the fireweed wildflower post.
   
3. Do laundry and hang it out on the line.
   
4. Hoe some of the garden to destroy the chickweed. Chickweed is my ancient foe which doth seek to work me woe. In the garden is not his equal.
   
5. Make cream of broccoli soup for supper.
   

Things I Would Do If I Were A Billionaire:
I don’t want to be a billionaire, so I’m not going to think about what I’d do if I were one.

Five Jobs I Have Had:
Starting back at the beginning and working forward:

1. bale turner
   
2. camp counselor, wherein I taught young children how to shoot rifles and bows.
3. gas jockey/bookkeeper
   
4. receptionist/switchboard operator.
   
5. filing clerk. (I detested this job. It’s this job’s fault that my own papers are never in order.)
   

Five of My Bad Habits

1. Tuning everything else out when I’m concentrating on something. You might consider this a good trait, but it wasn’t particularly useful when I was raising my kids.
   
2. Starting jobs and forgetting about them. This may have something to do with #1.
   
3. Getting food stains, grass stains, grease stains on my clothes. When it comes to keeping my clothes stain free, I’m a dreadful slob.
   
4. Wasting time.
   
5. Brushing my teeth at night and then eating again.
   

Five Places I’ve Lived:
Starting with the present and working back:

1. Here in the Yukon
2. Thompson, Manitoba
3. Bemidji, Minnesota
   
4. Solway, Minnesota
   
5. Wheaton, Illinois
   

Five random things most people wouldn’t know about me:

1. I own scaffolding. 4 sets of it.
   
2. I despise potato chips and other salty snacks. You may already know this because as I wrote that I felt a pang of deja vu.
   
3. I’m allergic to peanuts and pine trees. Does that mean I’m allergic to pine nuts?
   
4. My ears do not lie flat against my head.
   
5. I did not pursue a career as a mechanical engineer.

Meme One

I was tagged by Dorothy of Field Stone Cottage for this meme.

1. Do you remember how you developed a love of reading? I read very early and I loved reading anything and everything. Being near-sighted may have had something to do with my preferring reading over other activities.
   
2. What are some books you loved as a child? I liked the Little House books and Caddie Woodlawn.  I was intrigued by anything historical. I was also a dinosaur nut, so anything about dinosours was treasured by me.
   
3. What is your favorite genre? I only read non-fiction. I used to read a lot of fiction, but I have no desire for it anymore. I like biography, and anything historical. And of course, theology.
   
4. Do you have a favorite novel? My favorite novel is Les Miserables. Nothing since has lived up to that one for me.
5. Where do you usually read? I read in bed for a couple of hours before I go to sleep. Sometimes I read during the day out in the living room.
   
6. When do you usually read? I guess I answered that one already!
   
7. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time? Yep. I’d I usually have three or so going. However, right now I only have one on the go because I’m out of unread books.
   
8. Do you read non-fiction in a different way or place than you read fiction? Ahem. Since I don’t read fiction, the answer should be obvious.
   
9. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library? I own most of them. Many of them I get as review copies. Others I buy at garage sales, the thrift store, or the used book store. I don’t seem to be able to find anything I want to read at the library (and that includes the church library.)
   
10. Do you keep most of the books you buy? Yes, but recently I’ve donated some to the church library so they’ll have at least a few that someone like me might want to read.
    
11. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? For kindergarten age, I liked to read the Betsy books. Simple stories of a simple life, but kids that age find the ins and outs of everyday life so interesting. After that it’s Eddie and Henry and Beatrice and Ramona. Next up is Narnia. I could go on an on and on…..
    
12. What are you reading now? The only book I’m reading right now is 50 Reasons Jesus Came to Die by John Piper. I do have a few books coming in the mail, and sooner rather than later, I hope.
    
13. Do you keep a To Be Read list? No. It would just depress me.
    
14. What’s next? Whatever it is that is coming in the mail.
    
15. What books would you like to reread? I re-read Knowing God by J. I. Packer every once in a while and The Atonement by Leon Morris. Mostly I don’t re-read.
    
16. Who are your favorite authors? Right now, I’d say J. I. Packer, Leon Morris, D. A. Carson, but my favorites tend to change with time.
    

Hot Pink

The month of July is the fireweed period of the Yukon wildflower season. In many places throughout the northern hemisphere, fireweed is seen as more nuisance than asset, and there is good reason for that. There is nothing that can compete with fireweed when it comes to taking over things when other plant species have been wiped out, like when there’s a forest fire, for instance. Its common name, then, is a well-earned one, since fireweed spreads after a fire exactly like the chickweed spreads in my garden.

But its mauve beauty makes it too lovely for the weed label, don’t you think? Here in the Yukon, we treasure our fireweed, giving it honor as our official territorial flower. If you were to drive up the Alaska Highway during July—and you are invited—you’d be welcomed by roadsides pink with masses of these tall flowers.

In both the photo above, taken in Kluane National Park, and the woodland one on the left, only the blossoms along the bottom of the fireweed’s stalk are blooming. That’s because the blooms on this flower start at the bottom and move upward toward the top as summer progresses. Yukoners say that when the blossoms reach the top of the fireweed, summer is over, and that’s about right.

I’ve been told that honey made mostly from the nectar of fireweed is especially delicious, but I’ve never tried it, so I can’t vouch for it. Some people pick the very young shoots and leaves of the fireweed to use as salad greens or a cooked vegetable. I haven’t tried that, either. I have tried fireweed tea, which is made from the dried leaves, and found it much too bitter for me. So I’ll skip the harvesting altogether and continue to enjoy this year’s fireweed for  it’s delicate pink beauty.

Previous wildflower posts: 

• Lavender Charm
• Into the Wild Blue
• The Blue Belles
• Stopping on Yellow
• Waving the White Flag

Photos by Andrew Stark. Click for larger views.