Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
This week will be a little hectic for the library since everyone is finishing up with books that they checked out. For final papers, the library has an immense selection of books for students to use as resources. I am working on a final paper for my New Testament class, and I have selected a number of helpful books to guide my argument. I have chosen eight commentaries that I thought would be helpful. The BIB REF section on the lower floor of the library includes many commentaries and books on Hebrew and Greek translations. I may use some of these books as well, however books from the BIB REF section may not be checked out.
The paper concerns I Corinthians 8-11 and the idea of food that is sacrificed to idols. I cannot say anymore in regards to this paper because I have not started it. However, the idea of food sacrificed to idols has appeared in other places in the New Testament (Romans 14-15 and Revelation 2 for example). For other classes, the final may come down to one more class presentation. The computer labs on the lower and upper level of the library supply the sufficient technology for students to use on their presentations. If any of the students need any help with operating one of the systems or finding resources, there will normally be a student worker in the computer lab on the lower floor. Perhaps some of the finals next week are exams (possibly cumulative). The librarians and sometimes student workers work hard trying to keep the library a quiet and productive environment for people to do their work. The student can even isolate himself from everyone by going to one of the small cubicles in the library to try to concentrate on studying for his exam.
The library will also provide students with coffee and hot chocolate so that they may take a short break. Truly the library is prepared to help students get through finals week. The remaining question is this: are the students prepared to finish this semester strong? The final grades on Self-Service represent a semester's worth of hard work, or maybe not so hard work...
-Daniel Wright aka Superfly
November is here! All of the
debates and political conversations will finally begin to come together and it
will be time to decide who you think would be more fitting to lead this
country. With all of the different aspects
to contemplate it can be overwhelming. Who is the lesser of two evils? Who will
be able to handle this great responsibility? Where should I place my trust?
What will really happen if you are put into office/stay
in office?
The Agora Conference this past
weekend was centered on Politics and how as Christians we should function
within this. During the sessions that I attended a broad framework was provided
in how we as Christians should look at different events that take place within
our government. It is important to remember that no matter who is in office, it
is an accurate reflection of the United States of America as a whole; whether
we agree or disagree with the President's actions, it is the people who gave
him this position. We must pray for the individuals in our government and trust
in God's ability to use them in whatever way He pleases.
No matter if you did or did not
attend the Agora Conference, there are many issues that we should be praying
about and trying to gain a further understanding of within our government.
Every vote does count and so not only should we take advantage of the right
that we have a citizens but we should also be informed in our decision making.
Besides watching the debates on television, reading articles online, and
discussing political issues amongst friends books can be a great resource to
help challenge your thinking and give you a better understanding of the
information you already have.
Unfortunately, the books I am about to suggest I have not yet had the
chance to read myself, but as I look into the issues further I felt as though
these books could be helpful - and the
best part is we have them here within our own library! (:
Christianity and
Politics by William Wilberforce
BR
115 .P7 W474 2004
Voting as a
Christian: The Economic and Foreign Policy Issues by Wayne Grudem
BS
680 .P45 G782 2012
Voting as a
Christian: The Social Issues by Wayne Grudem
BS
680 .P45 G783 2012
The Bible in
Politics: How to Read the Bible Politically by Richard Bauckham
BS
680 .P45 B38 2011
~Leia Brunette
I have had two experiences during summer vacation so far
that I thought would be worth sharing, particularly on this blog. The first
comes from my summer job, and the second comes from my local library
in-the-middle-of-nowhere, Chester New Hampshire.
During this summer my life takes a very different pace, as I
am on the grounds crew for a local golf course. Instead of shuffling books or
helping patrons with Microsoft Word in a nice air-conditioned library—like
during the semester—my average work day here runs from 6:00AM to 2:00PM in the
cold, rain, and heat, doing all sorts of different landscaping type-jobs. This
year one of my more recent jobs has been teaching a new high school graduate
the ropes.
During my time with this new employee, the commonplace discussion
about school, life, and family ensued. Upon my saying that I attend
“Philadelphia Biblical University” (sorry, I haven’t started saying “Cairn”
yet), the discussion about Christianity came up. As this is my third summer
working there, all the guys on the course know that I’m a Christian and that I
study the Bible at a University. What was different about the discussion this
time was how much this new kid didn’t understand about Christianity—his parents were never
involved in any type of religion, and he was raised in a government school that
never taught him anything about Christianity or the Bible. He was shocked to
hear that Jesus was God. We started talking about the Bible. He had never heard
of Abraham before. He even asked me if Jews thought that Abraham was God the
same way Christians think Jesus was God. Now, I say all this not in any way to
make this fellow look bad—he is simply a product of our culture.
The second event was my looking through the catalog for my
local library. They don’t even have a
copy of Calvin’s Institutes. The closest thing to any sort of “Christian”
material available was Joel Osteen, the man from planet prosperity. I was
definitely disappointed, although not surprised, at the major lack of Christian
materiel available to the public in my area—New England. The land that once was
called home to our friends the Puritans.
I tell both of those stories to remind my fellow students of
what I was reminded of by them: we take for granted what we have, both in our
general understanding AND our library. Not knowing the name of Abraham, if you
were raised in a Christian household as I was, is something that’s hard to
imagine. As a PBU student, not having access to thousands of commentaries and
theological treatise is also something we don’t stop to think about, and often
times, it isn’t something we stop to use. Those things being said, I want to
encourage you to thank God for the resources he has given you—both through the
friends and churches that you have, and also the great collection of writings
available to us in the library. Go ahead, pick up a dead theologian. Read
Calvin’s Institutes. Praise God that you can.
~Zak Fixler
One of the first things you will notice as you step through
the wooden doors of the library are the colorful paintings on the wall facing
you. These paintings all carry a story, each of them unique. Art has a funny
way of expressing stories. Each piece adds a part to an even bigger story that
the curator tries to tell. And art, being a very subjective topic, will lead
you to interpret the story differently from you brother standing next to you
and your sister across the room.
And to think that just a few years ago, our library had very little to offer in the aesthetic realm. Our school has changed a lot. It's constantly ebbing and flowing, out with the old, in with the new. Soon, students will register for classes next semester, finish the semester strong, leave for the summer, and come back again in the fall. I know this next fall will be different. I know for sure that there will be new students who will contribute to a new PBU community culture. I know some of my favorite professors will be gone, and there will be new professors to fall in love with. Yet, loss is still a hard thing to deal with. Several of our students have been personally hit with this emotional tear, speechless, confused, angry, numb. Dr. Hirt, dean of the Bible department, has been struggling with cancer since last year. We've just been informed that Lisa Weidman, Director of Communications and Marketing and a key catalyst for the appearance of fine arts on campus, has a rare form of cancer. Unlike Dr. Hsu's death, theirs will be expected. We will have a little bit longer to celebrate our last times with them,
stories ebbing and flowing.
I wonder what stories Lisa intended to share with each piece of art she contributed to for our campus. I wonder what stories she will be sharing in heaven, stories that God has embedded on her heart, full of color and wonder and so much beauty, full of ebbs and flows.
~Hanah Bae
And to think that just a few years ago, our library had very little to offer in the aesthetic realm. Our school has changed a lot. It's constantly ebbing and flowing, out with the old, in with the new. Soon, students will register for classes next semester, finish the semester strong, leave for the summer, and come back again in the fall. I know this next fall will be different. I know for sure that there will be new students who will contribute to a new PBU community culture. I know some of my favorite professors will be gone, and there will be new professors to fall in love with. Yet, loss is still a hard thing to deal with. Several of our students have been personally hit with this emotional tear, speechless, confused, angry, numb. Dr. Hirt, dean of the Bible department, has been struggling with cancer since last year. We've just been informed that Lisa Weidman, Director of Communications and Marketing and a key catalyst for the appearance of fine arts on campus, has a rare form of cancer. Unlike Dr. Hsu's death, theirs will be expected. We will have a little bit longer to celebrate our last times with them,
stories ebbing and flowing.
I wonder what stories Lisa intended to share with each piece of art she contributed to for our campus. I wonder what stories she will be sharing in heaven, stories that God has embedded on her heart, full of color and wonder and so much beauty, full of ebbs and flows.
~Hanah Bae
On October 26, 2011, I had the wonderful privilege of hearing Makoto Fujimura give a
lecture about his newest project, the Four Holy Gospels Bible, which was
published by Crossway and released in January 2011. It was fascinating to hear
about his technique, Nihonga, which involves painting with pigments made of
prismatic minerals in multiple layers. One of the paintings he spoke of is
titled "Prodigal God", based on the story of the two sons in Luke 15.
The title is based off a book by the same title written by Fujimura's pastor,
Timothy Keller. I read this book over the summer, and it was very challenging. In
speaking of the book and his painting, Fujimura explained that in the days of
Shakespeare, the word prodigal had a good connotation and meant spend-thrift,
or spending everything for a cause. We often label the younger son as prodigal,
but the real prodigal, by the Shakespearean definition, is the Father. Keller
stresses this in his book as well. Both of the sons are wayward in their own
ways. The younger son runs after worldly pleasure. The older son gets caught up
in legalism, and despite both of the sons' mistakes, the father spends all on
them. He runs to meet his youngest, something which was not seen as respectable
for elders to do. For his older son, he leaves the banquet, a great disgrace,
to speak to his son and bring reconciliation. Our Father does this too. He sent
His only son, Jesus, to be disgraced for our sake, which is an incredible
picture of extravagant grace.
Makoto Fujimura leaves the viewer to imagine their own meaning out of his "Prodigal God" painting, but there are several little clues he gives to demonstrate this extraordinary grace. First of all, Fujimura used oyster shell pigments, the only opaque, transparent white pigment, to provide a vision of grace, which provides a stark contrast to the other side of the painting. And speaking of two sides, Fujimura informs his audience that splitting the picture is not recommended in the art world, but he intentionally employed this split to create a problem that humans cannot solve, which illustrates that grace does not equal doing stuff for God, but rather accepting His free gift.
I highly recommend reading Prodigal God (found at this call number in the library: BT378.P8 K25 2008) and meditating on its challenge to be a real prodigal who spends all they have to seek those who are lost in their sin. This is the challenge Fujimura is also trying to convey, and I believe it is crucial to embrace this grace and live it out.
~Allison Beyer
library for a few years now. It was one of the most beautiful messages I have heard and it seemed a lot of people found it to be really encouraging for where they are at and have been feeling. Although his artwork is most definitely fabulous, what touched me the most was the fact that he was able to make the message he shared this morning an art in and of itself.
He spoke on John 11. He focused on verse 11, pointing out that Jesus’ tears in this passage can aid our understanding of the arts and culture. He described three of the people present at the scene including Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Each of these individuals had very different personalities, mannerisms, desires, thoughts etc. throughout the chapter. Because each of them was so different, the approach that Jesus Christ had to take to reach them individually had to be unique. Fuijimura reminded us that in our suffering and crises Jesus is the ultimate master of helping us uniquely in difficult situations. When life is filled with chaos, we need to be reminded that Jesus wept. He stated that a day will come when our sufferings will not be worth it anymore because we will be reclining with Jesus. Our reaction to this is to be that of love, prioritizing our lives, and truly living in Christ's freedom. Fujimura challenged us to face the world by creating and showing beauty, truth, and goodness. All of this should be done in confidence for God's glory.
Makoto Fujimura’s message displayed such reverence for the Lord, while also pointing out so many aspects of John 11 that I have never noticed. Take some time and check out the passage in light of Fujimura’s thoughts. Also, take some time and stop by the library to check out some of his artwork!
~Christa Joy Ciotta
Library Items by Makoto Fujimura
Makoto Fujimura's website
Image: Fujimura, Makoto. Aijo (Compassionate Love). Digital image. Makoto Fujimua. 1987. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.
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