What Are the "Principalities" in the Bible (N. T. Wright Q&A)

Lent 2020

Maybe at this difficult time we can admit that this world is not as clear to us as we thought it was.

The Australian summer of 2019-20 was brutal. The worst bush fires in history.

Although, on a trip home I escaped the worse of it, what we did experience was difficult and stressful. However, we agreed at the time that being there during that crisis was somehow important.
It connected us to friends and family in a way that watching it on the news could not have done.
The catastrophic fires promised by scientific study of climate change had arrived.

Returning home to Canada seemed to land us in a different kind of crisis. During January, Canada was in the difficult situation of recognizing ancient land ownership while attempting to manage a modern economy. However, from a distance the negotiations showed restraint and respect, important values.

No sooner was there good news on this item, then it was becoming clear that COVID-19 was a growing threat to people and the economy.

Physical reality has bitten us. No narrative spinning gets you out of a crisis that comes from the planet itself.

For the first time in my life Lent means something real. Lent means giving up on our journey to Easter. Lent this year we are giving up a lot.

We are being forced by reality into a posture of non-self-reliance. Societies stand or fall not as individuals but whether they treat each other with love. We will need to care for everyone and be cared for, by the time this passes.

In the lead up to Easter. Remember the one who imaged what it means to be a human, the one who died for us, the one who has saved and wants to save us’* Justice, peace and order – that is the work of Yahweh. We have been blessed by Yahweh by The Spirit. We have been blessed by modern science and economy and in so far as they value every individual, they reflect Yahweh's values.

How can we love one another in this time of trouble? How can we image our Creator’s character?


* ‘Saviour’ was a well-known political term. There’s a famous inscription which speaks of Caesar Augustus - ‘it seemed good to them Greeks of Asia and in the opinion of the High Priest to say the following - Since Providence which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit mankind - sending him a saviour, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things. Watts, R. (2002) What does it mean to be saved? Working Together: The Magazine of the Australian Evangelical Alliance Inc. 2002 Issue 4.

Design Theology 3 by Rikk Watts

Design Theology 2 - by Rikk Watts

Design Theology 1 by Rikk Watts

I am continuing to work on my book, but as I do I want to continue to bring you transformative listening and viewing.

Rethinking Genesis

The thing about technology is that there is no escaping the link between how we think about technology and what we think the Book of Genesis is telling us.

Really until recently there were no too many options for a theology behind Genesis. Mostly, buried within much of how we have been brought up to understand Genesis incorporates substantial amounts of Greek philosophy, particularly Plato. Any good history of Christian theology will explain the story.

Interestingly, a neo-Platonic view of Genesis leads directly to a view a hyper critical understanding of technology. In contrast John Walton, has suggested that Genesis uses the cultural ideas of functional creation to communication the ideas of Yahweh.

John Dyer 2016 #4

The final talk by John. is a discussion of chapel and campus architecture as it refers to Dallas Theological Seminary.

The discussion never really reaches the heights of great articulation of the issues of design. It is very practical rather than necessarily relating design to the theological story you are in.

If you have ears you can still hear Vitruvius’ voice, de Architectura known popularly today as The Ten Books of Architecture. Commodity, firmness and delight are words that come to us from a 17th Century translation of the Roman architect , it is the only treatise on Classical architecture surviving in its entirety from antiquity. But commodity, firmness and delight or function, well builtness and beauty are curiously incredibly closely connected to your attitude to the world.

It has long fascinated me that post-modernism first found it's 'voice' in physical form in architecture.

But this would not have surprised Vitruvius. 

Architecture among all the arts is unique.  As the art of building, it straddles the line between the theoretical and the practical.  Vitruvius himself states in the first chapter of Book I: “The arts are each composed of two things, the manual work and the reasoning behind it.” Unlike the fine arts of painting, sculpture, dance, theater and music, architecture is a commercial art.  It has a responsibility to its audience to do more than just provoke it.  It must satisfy basic needs of shelter.  It must work in concert with its surroundings. It must adapt to the changing needs of its users. When an audience does not like a performance, they are free to leave the play or concert.  If they do not like a painting or sculpture, they are free to move on to the next gallery.

So listen carefully to the discussion and amongst the practical and mundane there are the hints that what you value shapes what you build. Ponder this where your heart is shapes cities from the very beginning. Cities were initially temple complexes not centres of commerce.