Thankful Thursday

 

Here are a few things I’ve been thankful for this week.

• a bouquet of sunflowers. As I write this, there is a layer of snow on the ground and the sky is gloomy, but the bouquet of sunflowers on the coffee table brightens my life and reminds me of warmer days. 
  
  
• for a gift of homemade oatmeal raisins cookies. 
  
  
• days and evenings with family and friends. I’ve done lots of visiting this week, and there’s more to come this weekend—the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving.
  
  
• God’s protection when I fell while carrying a basket of dirty clothes down the basement stairs. It could have been bad, but the basket and I landed softly and I wasn’t hurt at all. 
  
  
• the rest from spiritual strivings that comes through Christ.  

Also thankful today:

• Kim Shay
• Persis

What are you thankful for? Leave a comment with your thanksgiving, post your thanksgiving on your blog, or tweet it. Give me the link by email or in a comment and I’ll add your thanksgiving to the list in the post.

Theological Term of the Week

redaction criticism
The “study of the role of the redactor (editor) in the final compostion of the biblical text.”1

(Evangelical redaction criticism presupposes the supernatural nature of scripture, and is used to discover the particular emphasis of a biblical author. But more commonly, redaction criticism is done from anti-supernatural presuppositions, and used to confirm the (supposedly) human origin of scripture. Some of the linked articles under Learn More below denounce redaction criticism generally, but they do so under the assumption that all redaction criticism has anti-supernatural presuppositions.)

• From 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible by Robert L. Plummer:

[W]hile many biblical authors had both firsthand knowledge of events (e.g., the apostle John) and oral and written sources from which to draw (e.g., Luke 1:1-4), the redactor ultimately showed his theological interests and purposes through selecting, omitting, editing, and summarizing the material for his text. (Of course, Christians assume the Holy Spirit was working through the redactors in this process.) 

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Heidelberg Catechism

Question 56. What do you believe concerning “the forgiveness of sins”?

Answer: I believe that God, for the sake of Christ’s satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, nor my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all my life, (a) but will graciously impute to me the righteousness of Christ, (b) that I may never come into condemnation. (c)

(Scriptural proofs after the fold.)

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