Thursday, December 06, 2007

Spiderman


IM000861
Originally uploaded by SkipGienapp
This poster was a gift from David for Damien's birthday. We finally got it on the wall. I love it- it's never coming down.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Trans Siberian Orchestra X-mas Lights

This is how I feel about Christmas...

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

In case you weren't aware-

If you know what New City Fellowship is, you may be interested that I have gone back to making archival recordings of the music from worship. If you know what the intials NCF stand for, you also know that our worship music is our hallmark. Enjoy!

Skip's NCF Recordings

Thursday, November 08, 2007

A new blog...

I've got a new blog. Not a replacement... a whole 'nother blog. A side project. The Disney Project.

Check it out here.

http://thegienappdisneyproject.blogspot.com/

The idea is to see if clever content and clever linking and networking can drive enough traffic to the blog, and muster enough interest to raise money in small, painless increments, and take the family on a once in a lifetime vacation to Disney world in the next two years.

Actually, I'll not put either a time limit or deadline on it. It's just an experiment. It may not work. But I intend to have fun trying!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 1695269

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Two years (and a couple months) later


Gienapp-7B8234-Img22968
Originally uploaded by SkipGienapp

This picture was taken for our church directory. Probably the best photo shoot we've done as a family. Nick had a complete mood reversal the moment we walked in the door. (It's like he knew the camera was on). He just checked his mohawk, and turned on the grin.


We've all grown up a little bit.

Monday, August 27, 2007

My Grandparents


pop and mom-mom
Originally uploaded by emmegab

Somewhere in downtown Baltimore, rests this little placard. Gravestone. Cemetery Marker. Whatever you want to call it. Perhaps in a more pastoral setting you'd find a deceased couple laying side by side amongst a few other scattered memorials, under shade of green leafy tree, between gently rolling hills, but not in urban Baltimore. Or other densely populated cities either, for that matter I guess. The markers are all so close together it's difficult to roll a casket from the hearse to the grave without stepping on somebody elses's headstone, which I was always somehow lead to believe was poor etiquette of the lowest possible nature..
I'm not sure anyone else in my family was present when Claude and Grace made these arrangements. Maybe my mom and her sister handled all of this, almost six years ago to the day when Pop died. But it took us all a minute to realize, Mom-mom and Pop were buried in the same 6 X 8 hole. Over/under. Pop first, Mom-mom on top.


For those of you who might think I'm being casually morbid or callous about the whole thing, I'd like to clarify and say, this wasn't necessarily an entirely sad occasion... not from my perspective. All of us in the family believe that Mom-mom loved the Lord, and went home to be with Jesus after some very difficult years, medically and emotionally, after Pop died. The fact that she died exactly six years, if I remember correctly, the same week that Pop died, is poetic concidence. We all knew how much she missed him, and we believe she was reunited in glory with him, and the Lord. We were very glad that the suffering of renal failure and other problems were finally over. I personally felt relief for my parents, who took Mom-mom under their care, and shared a house with her, ran her to dialysis three times a week, and looked after all of her needs.

In some ways my wife, who had become especially close to my grandmother when she moved "down south" with my parents, probably took her passing harder than I did. Laurie was with her when she died, and I thought it fitting that all of the love and care that she had shown Mom-mom in six years culminated in those final moments.

I tell people our family has yet to experience tragic loss. The passing of our grandparents is not tragic, since we are assured of their salvation and eternal life. But we've never dealt with loss of an immediate family member. What will our family be like? How will we pull together? With all my projected stoicism I still finally "broke" at one moment, seen only by my wife, who is the only person I could stand to be weak in front of. Will our faith comfort us then?

My brothers and I rely on humor to deflect all other emotions (except maybe anger). I mean, there is nothing we won't joke about. (This annoys my wife to no end). I'll give you an example. In the hospital room that last day, they had a cd player playing with my grandfather singing, softly, but enough for Mom-mom to hear if she was able.
The thermostat in the room wasn't working very well, and it was getting very warm. My younger brother observerd that this was going to confuse Mom-mom because she was hearing Pop sing, but it was "hot as hell" in there. That's only funny if you are there, in our family, if you know Jamie, and know my grandparents, and are secure in your faith. I don't care if you don't think it's funny, we laughed our butts off.

Monday, August 06, 2007

mom-mom, in glory


mom-mom, in glory
Originally uploaded by emmegab
I'll write more about this later, but this weekend was preoccupied with the "passing" of my maternal grandmother. She's finally with Pop and Jesus, and I'm a little envious.

These are some of the things I'll expound upon later

1)saying goodbye
2)"condolences"
3) humor in death
4) family road trips
5) parent care
6) life and loss in a big family

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Camping is the Best


IM000202
Originally uploaded by SnLGienapp
No explanation needed.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Sister Wells, please sign this...


Roscoe Coltrane to marilyn
show details 6:59 pm (0 minutes ago)

Sister Wells,
This is indeed good news, and I'm happy that it seems succeeding. I am afraid, however, there is still the matter of your membership in the Holy Order of St Bartholomew. Before I can proceed on your behalf with the disbersement of these funds to charitable causes, I must have you fill out the Induction form and attach it back to me. Please Sister, if it will not cause you too much physical discomfort. I attach the simple form again for your convenience.

Sincerely,
Father Coltrane

Now we're getting somewhere...



marilyn wells to me
show details Apr 25

Dearest in Christ Rev Coltrane,

How are you and other members of your church? I recieved your letter this morning and i am very sorry on the email with the attachment I sent you on 19/04/07. I was very weak as I came back from the ministry of justice for the affidavit declaration, when I send the email I forgot to send the affidavit with the certificate of deposit of the fund.

Attach below is the two documents and go ahead and contact the bank for the transfer of the fund.

Thanks and may the lord bless us all
Sister Marilyn Wells.

A quick note back...

Roscoe Coltrane to marilyn
show details Apr 24

Sister Marilyn,
I am unable to read the attached affidavit. The picture is too small.
Sincerely,
Father Coltrane

3,500,000 US.... almost

APR 19
Dearest In Christ Roscoe Coltrane.

I hope all is well with you and other members of your church to the Glory of God.I have procured the affidavit on oath today from the Ministry of justice.I want to inform you that this fund will be under your control towards humanitarian and charity services including the propagation of the gospel.

I am very happy for your re-assuring me.The affidavit declaration is in your name,I am trusting you to channel this fund accordingly.

I have attached the certificate of deposit of this fund.Please confirm the receipt immediately, and I beg you to keep this documents very very confidential and commisionner of oath here in ministry of justice has fax a copy of the affdavit the bank in my present and call them on phone and the confirm that the recieve the copy.

You have now been officially and legally known as the next of kin to this fund.A copy will also be forwarded to the Alpha International Bank according to the officer of oath.

You have to contact the bank director immediately and instruct them for the transfer of this money to your account.You will also give them your bank account where you want the money to be transfered.

Here is the contact address:
ATTN: DR ANDY MONGO
TELEX DEPARTMENT ALPHA INTERNATIONAL BANK
Tel: +22509383843
Fax: +22509383841
E-mail:alphaib@financier.com

You have to contact him as soon as possible,always give me informations and always remember me in your daily prayers.

Thanks and May GOD bless us all.
Sister Marilyn Wells.

Note:In case of any question, remember this money was deposited by my Late husband Mr Johnson Wells,from Republic of Kuwait.

Date of deposit: 12/09/2001
Account N° UTB-Ci- 018942819
Type of Account: General Trust Account.
Amount: US $3,500,000.

Dear Sister Wells

Roscoe Coltrane to marilyn
show details Apr 18

Dear Sister Marilyn,
I'm so glad that things are proceeding very well. Let me know when things are ready.
Meantime, I hope that you will keep your strength for the forseeable future so you can accomplish your goals.

It would please me greatly to hear of some of the cultural works of art of the Ivory Coast. I have for a long time collected certain religous relics from over the world, and would happily pay expenses for examples of the fine art or artifacts of faith from your part of the world. I recently paid over $3600 USD for a rosary that once belonged to our departed saint, St. Bartholomew of the Holy Meadow. Please let me know if any such items come to you during this time.

Please do not forget to sign and attach the Induction Form of the Holy Order of St. Bartholomew. Please sister, we need to get you established in the order so that the church may freely pay any fees your government may require.
Sincerely,
Father Roscoe

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Sister Wells finds some strength.

Poor Sister Wells does not have long for this world, but fortunately is able to muster the strength to head down to the local magistrate and have the necessary documents drawn up.

Dearest in Christ Roscoe,

I hope all is well with you and other members of the Church to the Glory of God.I have read your letter,and also your full name and address with satisfaction.Infact, I have no regret over this donation,as I am glad on your assurance to appropriate this fund.

I pray that the Almighty God will be your strenght and grant you more wisdom to handle this for the expansion of his kingdom.

I managed to submit your details this morning,to the ministry of justice,and the legal process will be completed by monday by the special grace of God. Although, I am very weak to move around.But I believe God will give me the strenght to go to the court by monday for the affidavit on oath that will legally and officially approve you the next of kin to this money.

I will send you the affidavit with the certificate of deposit of this fund, immediately I come back from the court.

Please be praying for me.

Remin blessed in the Lord,
Sister Marilyn Wells.

Father Coltrane sends his picture


Dear Sister Wells
Bless you for your prompt reply and may the lord God almighty send you many blessings (Amen).
My sister, it is wonderful that you are considering donating to our church, and you will be most welcome in our Holy order.

My sister, if you simply join in committment to our ministry, the Order of St. Bartholomew, indeed you will become as one of our family. This will make you wishes the highest priority of our ministry. I attach the Order of St. Bartholomew induction agreement form. The agreement form is very simple and only requires your name and signature.

It would please me greatly to see a photograph of the other saints in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire. Also, I would deeply cherish some of your famous cocoa beans from that area.

As soon as you have been inducted to our order then we can proceed with your business proposition immediately.

Please note that we cannot agree to any form of communication other than email until after you have been inducted to our church.

Many Blessings,
Rev. Coltrane

Poor, sweet, Marilyn Wells writes back, and sends a picture


Dearest In Christ Rev Roscoe,

I received and read your letter with gratitude to GOD. And I am impressed with your reply.

I know you are surprise on receiving this letter,but as a servant of the living God,you should know that our ways is not his ways.My Bible tells me that he works in many ways and all things works out for good to them that believed in Christ Jesus.

Infact,It is also by the leading of the spirit that I choose you in obidence and love to fulfile the desire of my late husband that I supported to the glory of God.

I want you to understand that this benevolence is in fulfilment of the desire and decision of my late husband which I am persuaded to actualize. This fund is desiginated for humanitarian and Charity services with special emphasis.This must be disbursed with every appropriation, accountability and prudence to the glory of God.

I will want you to handle this on your own,since my health can not alllow me as I have been placed for dialysis check up periodically. Even I am writting this letter with the assistance of a sister who use to help me.

I will want you to send me your full name and address so that I can swear to an affidavit on oath that will officially and legally approved you as the next of kin to this fund,so that even if I am no more, your claim to the fund will not be in doubt. I will be sending you the certificate of deposit of this fund immediately after the affidavit is ready.

I want you to understand that none of my husband's reletives knows about this because they are muslems and refused to accept Christ.And my late husband warned that they should not know any thing about this money.This is why I dont want to donate this to any nearby church here because I can not disobey my late beloved husband even in death.

Your areas stipulated in your letter to channel this fund is in order and accepted.You must be very prudent in spending with accountability.

Ensure you reply this letter and the needed information immediately so that I will take my final decision.

Thanks and may GOD bless us all.
Sister Marilyn Wells.

Note: I have attached the photo of my late husband and myself.I will be glad to have yours if possible.

Helping Mrs. Wells

I'm intrigued by the note from Mrs. Marilyn Wells. I think perhaps Father Roscoe P Coltrane can help. I send her back a quick note:

Roscoe Coltrane to marilyn_050wel.
show details Apr 5

Dear Ma'am,
I have received your letter of 4/4/2007 from a colleague who thought I might be better able to help you. My name is Father Roscoe Coltrane, and I'm the Director of Charitable Outreach and Donations for our church here in Los Angeles, US. Our church, the Holy Apostolic Arminian Order of St. Bartholomew, has offices all over the world including London, Los Angeles, Paris, and the Netherlands. We are a part of many efforts to bring about the end of violence and conflict all over the world. We are able to advise people on business ventures of all types, the profits of which are then turned over to various charities and beneficiaries. Currently we are seeking to donate between $200,000 and $400,000 US dollars to various refugees from all over the world.
I have read your letter and found your idea very interesting.
Unfortunately this money is already slated for existing members of the Holy Apostolic Arminian Order of St. Bartholomew. I'm afraid I am unable to help you, as our church has strict rules governing donations. Unless you were to become a member of our faith, there is nothing more I can do for you.
If you ever decide to join the Holy Apostolic Arminian Order of St. Bartholomew, then of course I would be delighted and honored to help you in any way I can.

Blessings,
The Right Reverend Roscoe P Coltrane
Director,
Charitable Outreach and Donations
Holy Apostolic Arminian Order of St. Bartholomew
United States

A new scammer?

So, I was a little disappointed in that Brother James seems to have gone on vacation.
Fortunately, we have a new target. Sister Marilyn Wells lays near certain death, and seeks help in dispersing her late husband's fortune. Yay for me! Read on:

From: marilyn wells [mailto:marilyn_050wells@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Wed 4/4/2007 1:55 PM
To: marilyn_050wells@yahoo.ca
Subject: Donation From Mrs Marilyn Wells.



Dearest in Christ,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am Mrs marilyn wells. from Kuwait. I am married to Mr. johnson wells who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2004.We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.Before his death we were both born again christian.

Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against.When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of US$3.5million dollars in a Bank here in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire. Presently, this money is still in bank.Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not last for the next Eight months due to cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness.

Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a charity organization that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want an organization that will use this fund for orphanages, school and church ,widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavor that the house of God is maintained.
The Bible made us to understand that "Blessed is the hand that giveth".I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's efforts to be used by unbelievers.

I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that "the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace". I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I don't want them to know about this development.With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Bank here in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire.
I will also issue you an authority letter that will prove you the present beneficiary of this fund. I want you and the church to always pray for me because the lord is my shephard. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that Wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.
Contact me on this email marilyn_050wells@yahoo.ca delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. Hoping
to receive your reply. Remain blessed in the Lord.


Yours in Christ,

Mrs Marilyn Wells.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

I send the scammer the official Induction form


Hmmmm... now what?

From: Roscoe Coltrane <coltrane.rp@gmail.com>
To: james ekhumalo <james_ekhumalo@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 27, 2007 at 10:53 PM
Greetings in the name of our favorite Apostle, Bartholomew!
Brother James, it is indeed delightful to hear that you would become of our order. It is good to hear that you are already a Christian. This truly will make it easier for us to help you do business, and I feel sure we can come to an agreement about the transfer the 20 million US to the United States.
Last week I was able to help one of our Nigerian members, I sent him $18,000 in clearance fees and expect to establish a trust fund for him here in the US in the next month or so, as soon as the transfer arrives.

Please to finalize your membership in the Order of St. Bart, I am attaching the very simple induction form. Simply sign this form, scan it, and email it back to me.

I will need a HIGH Quality photograph of you, holding the symbols of St. Bartholomew, which is simply 5 loaves of bread and two fish. Please make sure that they are the largest fish you can find, so as to appear better in the picture.

After these two things, you will be a member of the Holy Order of St. Bartholomew! I will then forward any necessary bank details you may need.

Remember always-
One Fish
Two Fish
Red Fish
Blue Fish

Blessings,
Father Roscoe

Does he go for it?

From: james ekhumalo <james_ekhumalo@yahoo.com>
To: Roscoe Coltrane <coltrane.rp@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 27, 2007 at 8:57 AM
Thanks you for your mail. Give me the form and otherinstruction. I will sign the form immediately.Yours truly.James Ekhumalo

I decide to do a little phishing of my own....

From: Roscoe Coltrane <coltrane.rp@gmail.com>
To: james ekhumalo <james_ekhumalo@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 26, 2007 at 9:14 PM
Bless you for your prompt reply and may the lord God almighty send you many blessings (Amen).
My brother, it is wonderful that you are considering joining our church, you will be most welcome in our Holy order.
My brother, of course you will have to prove your commitment to our ministry. This will require you to send us a photograph of yourself showing part of the commitment ceremony that we will require (this is very simple), and you will also have to sign our Order of St. Bartholomew induction agreement form. The agreement form is very simple and only requires your name and signature.
If you are in agreement to our terms above, please signify it to us as soon as possible and I shall arrange to give you the complete instructions for the photograph and agreement form.As soon as you have been inducted to our order then we can proceed with your business proposition immediately. Please note that we cannot agree to any form of communication other than email until after you have been inducted to our church.

Many Blessings,
Rev. Coltrane

The scammer writes back!

From: james ekhumalo <james_ekhumalo@yahoo.com>
To: Roscoe Coltrane <coltrane.rp@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 23, 2007 at 9:13 AM
Attention: The Right Reverend Roscoe P Coltrane,I have received your mail with thanks. Please if you are willing to assist me in this transaction I will not have any option rather than to be your member. Tell me in details what it will take to be your member. Already I am a Christian, will that serve?Also there are arrangements on ground regarding the most convenient way to accomplish this transaction.
This is already made by my lawyer. I will give you the hints immediately I receive signal from you that you are willing to assist me complete this transaction. I wait for your urgent response.Yours truly,Mr. James Ekhumalo.

Baiting the Scammer

From: Roscoe Coltrane <coltrane.rp@gmail.com>
Date: Mar 22, 2007 3:43 PM
Subject: Highly Confidential
To: james_ekhumalo@yahoo.com
Dear Sir,
I have received your letter of 3/10/2007 from a colleague who thought I might be better able to help you. My name is Father Roscoe Coltrane, and I'm the Director of Charitable Outreach and Donations for our church here in Los Angeles, US. Our church, the Holy Apostolic Arminian Order of St. Bartholomew, has offices all over the world including London, Los Angeles, Paris, and the Netherlands. We are a part of many efforts to bring about the end of violence and conflict all over the world. We are able to advise people on business ventures of all types, the profits of which are then turned over to various charities and beneficiaries. Currently we are seeking to donate between $200,000 and $400,000 US dollars to various refugees from all over the world.
I have read your letter and found your idea very interesting.
Unfortunately this money is already slated for existing members of the Holy Apostolic Arminian Order of St. Bartholomew. I'm afraid I am unable to help you, as our church has strict rules governing donations. Unless you were to become a member of our faith, there is nothing more I can do for you.
If you ever decide to join the Holy Apostolic Arminian Order of St. Bartholomew, then of course I would be delighted and honored to help you in any way I can.

Blessings,
The Right Reverend Roscoe P Coltrane
Director,
Charitable Outreach and Donations
Holy Apostolic Arminian Order of St. Bartholomew
United States

I take on the 419 scam....funny!


So I get one of those "419" scam letters, this time from Zimbabwe. (Read about 419 scams here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud )

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Apple Unveils New Product-Unveiling Product

The Onion

Apple Unveils New Product-Unveiling Product

SAN FRANCISCO—Apple claims the iLaunch can garner the same amount of press attention as a major scientific discovery, high court ruling, celebrity meltdown, or natural disaster at 200 times the speed of a traditional media-fostered launch.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Friday, March 02, 2007


Thursday, March 01, 2007

Breakfast with a Mohawk


IM000731
Originally uploaded by SkipGienapp.
It was time for a change from the long, curly hair, and THIS is the direction we went? Okay, everybody with a little boy at one time or another has thought about giving said boy a mohawk. Yes, it's been done before, and no, it's not that original... but HE loves it. He knows it's supposed to display "attitude", so he's very comfortable with that. Runs his fingers through it and laughs....

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Is there a Christian View of Everything?

I began thinking about this issue based on discussions I was in earlier this week, and so, I offer the following selection from one of Baus's web presences. Note: I didn't author any portion of this, it's a direct rip, and all rights, permissions, etc, blah, blah, blah. Thanks Greg. I promise not to do this too often. For more of information on Dooyeweerd and Kuyperian views on Calvinism, please visit Greg Baus.

Is There a Christian View of Everything?
by Dr. Roy Clouser
A Transcribed and Revised Dordt College LectureOctober 21, 2002
In response to the topic “Is There a Christian View of Everything?” the first question one might ask is “Why should there be?” While one can articulate a Christian view of God, a Christian view of how to stand in right relation to God, and a Christian view of ethics, why is it necessary to articulate a distinctly Christian view of everything? How would one articulate such a view? What, after all, would be a Christian view of fluid dynamics or heat transfer? What would be a Christian view of “one plus one makes two?” Is not the answer to that math problem the same for everybody? And is there a Christian logic? Are not the logical rules also the same for everybody? To answer such questions, one must first look at what Scripture actually says about the topic.
The fifteen or eighteen biblical texts that address the issue of whether there should be a Christian view of everything are one of the best-kept secrets in the history of theology, philosophy, and scholarly work. Beginning with Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, and 15:33, we find that “the fear of the Lord is the foundation of all knowledge.” The word translated “foundation” means the key part, or principal part, of knowledge. Does that really mean that there should be a biblical view of everything, or is it merely the psalmist’s and the proverb writer’s use of poetic hyperbole to express enthusiasm over life under the guidance of God? These Old Testament texts are made clearer in the light of New Testament texts.
In Luke 11, Jesus is reproving the interpreters of the law when he says to them, “You have twisted the meaning of the law of God and, by doing that, you have taken away the key to knowledge.” Looking at this text, we recall that “key” was the Hebrew term in the texts from the Psalms and Proverbs. As those texts said that the “key” part of all knowledge is the knowledge of God, we find it significant that Jesus repeats that idea in a context that is obviously not poetic. One could interpret his words as having an elliptical implication: what he meant was that rightly interpreting God’s word is the key to the knowledge of God. He just stopped too soon; he really meant, “you have destroyed the knowledge of God,” not all knowledge whatsoever.
While this interpretation is possible if we take the text in isolation, other New Testament texts that address the same issue indicate that we ought not to conclude that Jesus’ remark was elliptical. In I Corinthians 1:5, Paul says that we are enriched by knowing God through Christ in a way that (somehow) impacts “all knowledge.” That passage doesn’t sound elliptical at all, and it is certainly not poetic. It also surely distinguishes between the knowledge of God and all the other sorts of knowledge that are impacted by knowing God. Confirmation of this point is evident in what Paul says later in the same letter. In chapter 13, he talks about gifts that come to us by the Spirit; one of those gifts, he says, is knowledge. He adds that in the end those gifts, including knowledge, will be done away with. At the close of the chapter, however, he speaks of the knowledge of God as another kind of knowledge that will not pass away. He says that although the “gift” of knowledge will cease, we will then know God just as he knows us, namely, face to face. So the knowledge of God is not one of the gifts that are going to go away. In that case the knowledge that he’s talking about, the temporary gift, is not the same as the knowledge of God. This passage shows that Paul makes the distinction between the two very clearly; so, even if one might prefer to think that Jesus’ remark was elliptical, one can’t say that Paul’s remark is. What he says here is that knowing God through Christ affects “every sort of knowledge.”
If one needs more confirmation, Paul, in Ephesians 5, says that knowing God through Christ has “fruit” (consequences) for “all that is good and true.” So there are consequences to knowing God, consequences that, in some unspecified but favorable way, impact every truth. In the light of these more explicit New Testament texts, it therefore appears that the Old Testament texts should also be taken to affirm this point. They occur in a poetic context, but that context does not in any way diminish their importance.
So my answer to the question “Is there a Christian view of everything?” is that according to Bible writers, there is certainly supposed to be. They don’t tell us exactly how knowing God impacts every truth and all sorts of knowledge. They don’t even say explicitly whether knowing God impacts truth and knowledge in such a way that without it no one has any knowledge whatever, or that without it knowledge is only partially falsified. However, since in many places they treat unbelievers as knowing many things at least partially, one can infer that not knowing God results only in a partial falsification of every belief. In other words, there is some kind of mistake with respect to every kind of knowledge that can’t be avoided if one does not know God but can be avoided if one does know God. And while they don’t say that avoiding that mistake is guaranteed, they do say that avoiding that mistake is at least possible.
If this explanation is right, it has enormous implications for what a Christian education ought to be. There is a big difference between what this principle implies and what is usually done by Christian schools. Most Christian schools simply add Bible study or theology and worship to the curriculum. The various arts and sciences are then taught pretty much the same way that they would be taught anywhere else. However, what these scriptural texts demand is nothing less than teaching every subject from a distinctly Biblical perspective that enables the study to avoid whatever the error is that can be avoided only by knowing God. For most Christians, and for the average Christian school in the United States of whatever ilk--Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, or whatever -- this is a foreign idea. The average Christian school merely conducts education in a Christian setting. When they call themselves “Christian,” they mean that they are free to open the school year with mass or free to open a class with prayer or free to include theology or religion courses in the curriculum. But when it comes to math, physics, chemistry, biology, history, sociology, literature, they teach pretty much what is taught anywhere else.
That is exactly the kind of division that I encountered at a Roman Catholic University in Philadelphia, the place of my first full-time teaching position. The courses in theology and the required course called “the philosophy of man” gave a Christian point of view. But those courses aside, everything else was the same. That’s what I mean by education in a Christian setting rather than a Christian education. However, if, according to the texts we just looked at, education in a Christian setting is just not enough, what does it mean for the knowledge of God to impact every sort of knowledge and every truth? How would that work?
In the history of Christianity up to the twentieth century, there are two main proposals which attempted to address the question of how to relate scholarly work to scriptural teaching. The first proposal, the older one, is associated with St. Thomas Aquinas. Because he was such a fine spokesman for it and carried it out so well in his work, I call his proposal the “Thomas Rule.” The Thomas Rule is this: Whatever one is studying, whatever theory one proposes, or whatever interpretation one develops, it is wrong as soon as it contradicts anything revealed by God.
This rule certainly sounds right. If one is working on a theory that ends up contradicting something revealed by God, one knows that the theory is wrong. Even though that rule sounds like a good place to start, however, it doesn’t sound like a way to discover a uniquely biblical perspective on every subject. It doesn’t begin to bring into play the demands of the texts we just examined. For no matter how carefully we employ the Thomas rule, it is still going to leave 99.99 percent of all theories neutral with respect to belief in God. Most theories don’t contradict any revealed truth and will therefore simply not be impacted by belief in God at all.
This brings us to the second proposal for how belief in God could impact all knowledge, including theories. A number of Christian thinkers saw that scripture demands a thicker engagement of revealed truth with the various disciplines that we teach. They saw scripture as demanding more than simply making sure that proving that no theory contradicts revealed truth. Rather, they thought revealed truth must yield positive as well as negative guidance if all knowledge is to be affected by knowing God. This attitude grew with the rise of modern science. Beginning in the seventeenth century, a number of prominent figures who contributed to the rise of science sought to supplement the Thomas rule in this way. Their proposal was to institute a program of trying to find key truths in scripture for every field of study. That idea is now ridiculed as fundamentalism. However, it was actually promoted by people like Newton, Boyle, Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, and others. So the seventeenth century saw the onset of a concerted effort by scientists to appeal to Scripture for key truths to guide them in what they were doing. This appeal to scripture was done in physics, astronomy, geology, biology, and so on. That appeal to Scripture for key truths for guidance developed into what we came to call fundamentalism by the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. And it is this program that I take to be the central idea of fundamentalism. The fundamentalist is not, primarily, someone who insists on an overly literalistic interpretation of Scripture. (That emphasis sometimes happens, but often fundamentalists don’t take scripture literally enough ) The key to the fundamentalist program is what I call the encyclopedic assumption: the treating of Scripture as if it’s an encyclopedia.
This, surely, is one way to get a thicker engagement of belief in God with all sorts of knowledge. It goes beyond the Thomas Rule by insisting that for whatever subject matter a Christian may want to investigate, the first task is to ransack the Scriptures to find what they teach on that subject; a science must start with those revealed truths and go from there. This approach, then, gives positive guidance. It doesn’t only tell when something is wrong with a theory.
Of course, its assumption is that Scripture is going to say something on any subject one wants to know about. If one is concerned with how old the earth is, for example, one is going to search the Scriptures for figures to add up, a tactic that actually led to the conclusion that the earth is six thousand years old. The fundamentalist Henry Morris gives a clear statement of the encyclopedic assumption in one of his books. He says that when he was young, he was very concerned with the age of the Earth. Then he writes these two sentences, “But this was too important an issue for there not to be an answer in God’s Word. Surely there is an answer in God’s Word. ” (I find it a little odd that he was upset and worried about the age of the Earth. If I were looking for God to slip us a few tips like that, I’d have wanted to know about the causes of disease, not the age of the planet.)
I find the basis of this way of reading Scripture not to be a theoretical or even a theological mistake, but a deep-rooted religious failing. Anyone who approaches God’s word with the assumption that God has got to tell us what we want to know, instead of with the attitude that we need to listen to what God wants us to know, has got things backwards.
A further error in the fundamentalist approach to reading scripture is its inability to satisfy the scriptural texts we started with. If we assume for the moment that the fundamentalist program is right, what we must do to arrive at a Christian view of any subject is to search the Scripture for truths about our topic of inquiry, can this program satisfy the texts we just examined? Will even the most rabid fundamentalist be able to get from scripture key truths concerning every sort of knowledge? There was one fundamentalist theologian who actually claimed that he could deduce the calculus from the Bible, but he’s since taken that back (I say that to his credit). My point is this: even if the fundamentalist program were correct, that we must find in scripture truths for any given subject, wouldn’t this leave the majority of theories neutral with respect to belief in God? Wouldn’t it leave them free of any impact brought about by knowing God because there’s no way to find anything about them in Scripture?
How, then, should we understand the teaching of Scripture mentioned above? How can knowing God impact every sort of truth, every sort of knowledge? If the Thomas Rule is right as far as it goes but doesn’t go far enough, and if the fundamentalist is just wrong, then what is left?
In the entire history of Christian thought—of theology, philosophy, philosophy of religion, and ideas about the relation of philosophy or theology to science—I know of only one other proposal that has tried to answer that question, and this proposal is the one that seems to me right. It was made by the late Professor Herman Dooyeweerd of the Free University of Amsterdam, who took over the idea that there needs to be a distinctively biblical view of every subject from his predecessor, Abraham Kuyper.
Before we tackle Dooyeweerd’s proposal, however, it’s crucial for us to understand what a religious belief is. Please notice that the issue here is not which religion is true; we already know that. The issue is rather what a religious belief is.
In my work for courses in comparative religion, I noticed that the earlier authors in the field thought this was an important question and offered their readers a definition. Of course, they differed widely in what they offered. By the twentieth century, authors started to offer definitions that were disjunctions of previous proposals. They’d say that a religious belief is either this or this or this or this. But that kind of answer didn’t seem to work either. By mid-century many scholars took comfort from Wittgenstein’s argument that precise definitions are seldom achieved and not necessary for most purposes. He denied that if we use the same word for several things those things must have some defining characteristic in common. “Don’t just assume they do”, he said, “look to see if they do.” Many religious studies scholars were all too happy to give up on the project of defining, so toward the close of that century we find comparative religion books saying, “Well, we don’t know what religion is, but here’s another book on it”—a position that might be funny were not so much at stake.
For myself, I thought I’d take the advice to “look and see” whether there is a common element to all religious beliefs. And after pondering the many proposals and examining a host of them for some time, the common defining characteristic of religious belief, the characteristic found in the central beliefs of all religions, dawned on me. (I was looking not only at the major traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but also at early and later Taoism, at the religious texts of ancient Babylon, of Egypt, of the Greeks and Romans, and at less influential traditions including such traditions as that of the Trobrian Islanders.) All of them have only one thing in common: every religion takes something to be divine. While they disagree on the description of what it is that is divine, they all agree on what it means to be divine. They all agree that the divine is whatever has utterly unconditional reality; it’s what is “just there.” Every thing else depends on the divine, but the divine just is. There’s no explanation for it, so it makes no sense to ask why it is. Another way to put this point is to say that while the different traditions disagree about what or who has divine status, they all agree about what that status is.
This status has, of course, different names. I’ve just used “utterly unconditional reality.” John Calvin used “self-existent.” Spinoza called it that which is “uncaused and unpreventable.” Dooyeweerd uses the term “absolute” meaning it is that which has absolute existence and so doesn’t depend on anything. Different terms, same meaning.
Following the Reformers, I hold that everybody puts something into the status of being what it is that everything else depends on while it doesn’t depend on anything. I also agree with them that it’s not simply the case that everybody either believes in God or does not believe in God. Rather, everybody either believes in God or puts something else into the status of divinity that belongs only to God . Everyone has a religious belief, then; the major distinction is whether a person believes in the true God or a false one. Paul puts the point this way in Romans 1: What happened to the human race was that they rebelled against God, turned the truth of God into a lie, and began to worship and serve something God created instead of the Creator. This is not the view that is popular today. The prevailing view now is that either one either believes in God or one is not religious. But following Paul, the Reformers insisted that a person has either the true God or a false God. Luther puts it in his usual blunt way: “Man is like a jackass. Somebody always rides his back. It’s either God or the devil.” I’m proposing what it means to have a god, any god, not only the true one: it means to have a divinity belief; a belief in something utterly unconditional on which everything else depends.
Dooyeweerd seizes on this point as providing a way to see how belief in God (or any other divinity belief) can impact every kind of truth, including theories. Roughly, his account goes like this. A theory offers a hypothesis to explain something: we call the hypothesis an “explainer.” Whatever is explained is presented as importantly dependent on the explainer postulated by that hypothesis. To be precise, a theory needs to specify whether the explainer itself is dependent on yet other explainers or not. If it is dependent, we at least need to know the kind of thing(s) it depends on. But an explainer either depends on something else or it does not. If it does not, then it is—by our definition—divine. If it does, then whatever it ultimately depends on is divine. Therefore, any theory that takes some part, aspect, principle, etc., drawn from creation as the ultimate explainer has given it divine status. And whatever is given that status guides theory-making in such a way that theories differ from one another relative to what they take to have divine status.
Suppose, for example, someone posits matter as the ultimate explainer. The theory is that everything either is matter or depends on matter. Could such a person have the same view of ethics as someone who holds another view of what the ultimate explainer is? The history of philosophy shows the answer to that question is: No, not at all. Similarly, a materialist wouldn’t have the same view of, say, what it means for something to be beautiful, or the same view of justice as a non-materialist. Even the concepts of ordinary objects of experience differ if we take into account the ways they assume the properties combined in them are related. If I sit at the lunch table with a materialist and I say, “Pass the salt,” he knows what the saltshaker is. He picks it up and passes it down to me. However, his concept of that object isn’t entirely the same as mine. At a surface level—a level at which all we care about is the object that has the salt in it—yes, it’s the same.
But a complete concept of a thing includes everything that is true of it (which is why we never actually possess a complete concept of any individual thing). Now suppose my concept of the saltshaker includes that it’s beautiful. I say, “That saltshaker is beautiful, isn’t it?” He might even agree at the common sense level. However, if we probe the contents of our concepts more deeply, it will turn out that he doesn’t believe there’s really any such thing as beauty; there’s only matter. Or if he does admit there are non-physical properties such as beauty, he insists they are wholly the creations of physical properties and laws. In other words, if we were to examine our concepts in enough detail, we would discover that at a deeper level we’re not agreeing on what the object is that we’re talking about. In a similar way, says Dooyeweerd, an explainer proposed by a hypothesis will also be viewed as a different sort of thing, and will thus explain other things in a very different way, depending on what is presupposed as the ultimate explainer. And the ultimate explainer can only be the reality that has divine status.
This, then, is Dooyeweerd’s interpretation of the scriptures we started with. His view is that every theory, every concept, every interpretation is colored - is unavoidably slanted - in the direction of whatever a person sees to be divine. Those who don’t see the divine as the transcendent Creator, the God of the Bible incarnate in Jesus Christ, will hold the divine to be some part of the world instead. And regarding anything in the world as self-existent will slant, guide, and control the (deeper) content of every concept, including concepts of hypotheses.
How, then, does Dooyeweerd’s interpretation help develop a distinctively Christian view? It points to the importance of rejecting every view that regards anything in creation as divine. For one who believes in God, it’s not numbers, space, or matter that are self-existent; it’s not logical laws or sensations; it’s not any of the vast number of proposals that have been paraded past us for the last 2600 years through the history of philosophy and science. Such proposals may go by the name metaphysics, but they are, in fact, religious.
The name given in philosophy to this way of explaining, the way that identifies what part of the world all the rest depends on, is “reduction.” A reductionist explanation is one that claims to have found the part of the world that everything else is either identical with or depends on. That is why we have that long history of proposals: reality is basically matter, no it’s form, no it’s form and matter, no it’s numbers, no it’s logic, no it’s logic plus matter, no it’s sensations, no it’s logic plus sensations, no it’s mathematics plus sensations, etc. What should a Christian say then? How does belief in God impact all this? A Christian should say, “These are all wrong. They are all examples of regarding part of creation as the Creator. The ultimate explainer is no part of creation at all. Every one of these divinity candidates is real, but they all depend on God. In other words, the Christian would adopt a systematically non-reductionist approach to every sort of theory, every sort of knowledge, and to every concept of everything.
This approach is at least, a way of seeing how those scripture texts are to be understood. It’s a proposal that not only makes sense but seems more and more to be true the longer I look at it. Is it the whole story? Is that all there is to having belief in God impact all truth and knowledge? I don’t know. Dooyeweerd himself never said it was the whole story. He said that here was a place to start. At least our theory should be non-reductionist. He then offered some impressive examples of theories that explain the natures of creatures in a non-reductionist way. He said, in effect, that if you want to see what a non-reductionist theory looks like, here are several examples. Are his theories the only possible non-reductionist explanations? Can we be sure they’re right? His answer was “No.” He once said to me, “Perhaps every theory I’ve put forward will need to be changed or abandoned.”
But what Dooyeweerd did was show us a program for theorizing, an approach that honors the scriptures we started with. His attitude was that if anyone can use this to construct better nonreductionist theories than the ones he offered, he or she should go to it.
Perhaps this discussion has now gotten a bit too abstract. Maybe at this point we need to apply this view of how divinity beliefs impact concepts to an ordinary and familiar example. So let’s take the belief that is supposed to be the best counter-example to the claim I’ve been making. I’ve been saying that at a deeper level concepts differ relative to what we hold to be divine. And I’ve been saying that this is true of concepts in theories as well as concepts of ordinary things like saltshakers. And the great objection to this is that one plus one makes two is a truth that’s the same for everybody. So let’s see if that’s really true.
Now as with the saltshaker, the concept that 1 + 1 = 2 is one people do all agree upon at a surface level. Usually when this concept is presented to us—even in grade school—we intuitively think it is a necessary truth. We don’t think that one and one is two only this time. Rather, we think that it couldn’t ever fail to be true. We think that the place or the time of adding the numbers doesn’t matter; one and one are always going to make two. However, there is a deeper level to this concept too, as there was with the saltshaker, a level that can be exposed by questions people have asked about it – questions to which they have proposed theories as answers. These theories show that going more deeply into the concept of 1 + 1 = 2 reveals important differences in the ways it is understood, and that these differences are due to the divinity beliefs they presuppose. (Before we go on with this example, we should consider one quick point: We need to be aware at the outset that when we deal with 1 + 1 = 2, we’re talking about abstract numbers, not objects. A spark is one thing, and a pile of gunpowder is another thing, and together they make an explosion, which is very unlike “two things”. But when we deal with abstract quantity, one and one is always going to end up two.)
What are some of the questions about this concept that require a theory to answer? One of them goes like this: “What do those marks stand for; what are we talking about here?” For example, if we make this mark—table—we know what that stands for. Whether the word is in English or another language—e.g., mesa—it still stands for the same thing. However, what do “1” or “2 “or “+” or “=” stand for? What are those things? If they’re not objects that we perceive like raindrops or sparks or gunpowder, what are they? A second question is this: How do we know that 1 + 1 = 2 is true? Granted, we all have the sort of intuition about it that I mentioned earlier: from the time we are first told of it, we say “Sure, that’s right; it can’t be wrong.” But how do we know it; how do we attain that knowledge? Why does it strike us all as true, even though we see only things it applies to but never see the things that it’s about? We should take a quick look at the answers people have proposed.
The first answer is one I call the “number world theory.” This theory suggests that there is actually another dimension of reality in which there are real things called numbers. In fact, what is in this other dimension of reality are all the natural numbers, the fractions, the decimals, roots, etc. They are all there. Numerical relationships and laws are there as well. So the reason 1 + 1 = 2 is true is that there are real objects in the number world, and since the number world is eternal and changeless, what we find out about it also never changes. In fact, according to the number-world advocates, the truths about numbers and the laws that govern them are what structure and govern the world we live in. According to them, the ultimate explainer of our world is the number world, and the number world is completely self-existent.
Does anything about that claim sound like a divinity belief to you? The number world is supposed to be independent, eternal, and changeless, since it never came into being and can never pass away, and it explains all the things in our world. The great mathematician, Leibnitz, held this view. He was once asked by one of his students, “Why is one and one always two, and how do we know this?” Leibnitz replied, “One and one equals two is an eternal, immutable truth that would be so whether or not there were things to count or people to count them.” In other words, whether the world we live in existed or not, the number world would exist. Pythagoras held a version of this theory. So did Plato. In fact, even today a plurality of mathematicians hold some version of it.
Over against the number world theory, Bertrand Russell said it is ridiculous to think that there is another dimension with all the numbers in it. He denied that math was even about quantity at all. According to Russell, math is just a short cut way of writing logic. What exist are logical sets and classes and logical laws, not numbers and mathematical laws. However, while the supposed residents of the number-world theory are all fictions for Russell, logical classes and logical laws are real; in fact, they have absolute reality. For Russell says that by being about logic, math takes us into that realm which is the “heart and immutable essence of all things” and the “absolute necessity that holds for this world or for all possible worlds.” So I ask again, does anything about that sound like a divinity belief? He claims that logic is what is self-existent; its truths and laws are eternal and changeless and are what govern this world and any other possible world.
John Stuart Mill rejected both the number-world theory and Russell’s claim that math reduces to logic. He wrote a three-volume book on logic, and in the last volume he deals with mathematics. Mill holds this view: all that we can know to exist are our own sensations. In other words, all we know is what we can see, taste, hear, and smell. And although everyone takes for granted in common sense experience that these perceptions represent real objects that exist independently of us, Mill says we can never know that. All we know are our own perceptions. This belief controls how Mill views math as well as objects of perception. Mill says that 1 and 2 and + stand for sensations, not abstract numbers or logical classes. He denies the point I made earlier, that 1 + 1 = 2 is about abstract numbers rather than objects. For him, number symbols do indeed stand for this drop of water, that spark, this pile of gunpowder. So he is forced to conclude that we don’t know that one and one is always two That belief is only a generalization over our sensations. So his position admits that one and one might make five and seven-eighths tomorrow or in some place we’re not now observing. That would be odd, he thinks, like finding a black swan; but it’s not impossible. And this point is true for all mathematical relationships. We never know when they are going to be true and when they are not. By the way, Mill added elsewhere that our sensations depend on mysterious realities he called “the permanent possibilities of sensation.” These, he said, we could never investigate nor explain, so it’s clear that he gave them divine status as the ultimate explainers.
Now I ask, is Mill’s concept of 1 + 1 = 2 the same as Russell’s? Is it the same as that of the people who hold the number-world theory? Isn’t it clear that although they all started by conceptualizing the same necessary relation, their divinity beliefs came into play and altered their concept of that formula? And haven’t those differences now resulted in importantly different meanings for 1 + 1 = 2?
Consider one more example of this same point. The American pragmatist philosopher John Dewey answers the two questions about 1 = 1 = 2 in yet another way. To the question “What do those marks on the board stand for?” Dewey answers, “Nothing. They don’t stand for anything. In fact, that’s the wrong question to ask because every concept, every theory, and language itself, is a tool that we create to help us survive. And it makes no sense to ask of a tool whether it is true or false. If I point to a shovel standing in the corner and ask, “Is that true or false?” you don’t know what I’m talking about. If I look at a saw and say “I’m sorry, that saw is false,” would that make any sense at all? Dewey says that same thing about 1 + 1 = 2. He says it’s a tool, and a tool is neither true nor false. It simply does some jobs and not others. In fact, it’s not a discovery of a real numerical relation, but something we invented to do certain jobs. So the equation doesn’t represent anything; it’s meaning is its use; and one can only find out what it’s good for by using it. If one tries to jack up the car with it, one will find that it won’t work. However, if one uses it to try to add up one’s checkbook, one will find that it does work.Still, the fact that it works is not the same as saying it’s true. And it’s not. It’s neither true nor false; it just works or it doesn’t.
Behind this interpretation is Dewey’s belief that what is truly real is the physical world along with the biological life forms that inhabit it. He believes that we, along with all other living things, are essentially critters trying to survive. And the key to our survival is the making and use of tools. That’s why he sees everything as a tool, as neither true nor false, and as working or not working rather than true or false. This is the controlling idea in Dewey’s theory. This idea is the ultimate explainer because, he says, the physical/biological world is all there is. In fact, he deliberately places this belief over against belief in God this way: “Don’t you understand? There is no absolute Being, there’s only the universe.” (According to our definition, however, if there is only the physical/ biological universe, then there’s nothing for it to depend on, and it would be absolute and thus divine. So rather than avoiding religion altogether, Dewey’s position merely advocates another God surrogate, and a divinity belief is in control of this theory, too.)
By now, you feel like asking, “So what would a non-reductionist view of mathematics look like?”
We should begin to answer by reminding ourselves that God has created the world we inhabit: the objects around us, the properties they exhibit, and the laws that govern them. We may also notice that the properties things exhibit are of many different kinds. They have physical properties, sensory properties, and logical properties, for example. And there’s also a “how much” to them. That is, they exhibit quantity. We abstract that quantity and set up a symbol system to represent it. And we discover relationships among those quantities. The symbol system is our invention, but we find quantities and their relations in God’s creation. The reason that objects have quantity and that their quantitative properties are governed by mathematical laws, is that God made the world that way. That recognition is a first step toward a view of mathematics that doesn’t either regard quantity as divine or reduce it to another aspect of the world for the reason that the other aspect is divine. Moreover, this difference in approach applies as well to all the theories of philosophy and the sciences: all alike have vacillated between picking explainers from the world that are enthroned as divine or picking explainers that are dependent on others because the others are enthroned as divine. The Christian perspective, then, is to reject that approach to explanation, and construct systematically non-reductionist explanations instead.
One more point needs to be made about this difference. Reductionist explanations involve dependency, obviously. The whole idea is to find the part or aspect of creation that is divine and which therefore explains everything else that is not identical with it. However, the proposal of nonreductionist theories sometimes meets opposition in that these theories, too, talk about dependency—they take everything to depend on God. So it is asked, “Why isn’t that reduction too?” The answer is this: When someone picks some particular facet of the world around us and explains everything else as dependent on it, the result is to make that facet more real, and thus far more important, than the rest of reality. The (ontological) status and importance of the other aspects of the world is thereby reduced and sold short, while at the same time the status and the importance of the deified aspect is overestimated relative to others. It’s the diminishing of the level of reality and importance of the other facets of the world that makes such an explanation guilty of reduction, not the fact that some things depend on others.
This is why interpreting the universe as entirely dependent on God, so that no one part of the universe explains or generates all the rest, is not reductionist. Such an interpretation does not reduce the universe to God, even though God is what it all depends on. For in belief of the dependency of all creation directly on God, every side and facet of creation is left equally real, and no side of it is reduced in its status or importance relative to the rest. In Christian theism there is dependency without reduction.
This program Dooyeweerd has developed for theories isn’t an easy one. One of the niceties of the fundamentalist program is that it gives everyone the idea that any sincere believer can confer with the Scripture and with other believers and find the answer to virtually any question posed by any science. That sounds very appealing, and is much easier than the program just laid out. The fundamentalist approach is also tempting because we’d like to think that things are that simple. However, the truth is, it just ain’t so. What we must think through is how to overcome the reductionist tendencies and explanations that have been long ensconced in theories about everything from math to physics to logic to history to sociology to ethics, etc. For virtually any major theory in any field, its proposed explainers are either divine or reducible to another part of creation taken as divine.
One final point. In the history of the scholastic tradition, many Christian thinkers actually “baptized” reductionist explanations and said that they were acceptable. They said that it was all right to have a theory that says everything in the universe depends on form and matter, or just on matter, or on math, or on logic, or on sensations, or whatever. Any theory can be acceptable, they said, as long as one adds to the whatever, “and God created that.” By doing this, they said, the character of any such theory has been overcome by that add-on provision. So we don’t need to overhaul the entire history of theories. We don’t need a new nonreductionist program. We can proceed to theorize in the same way that everyone else always has—by reducing everything in creation to this, that, or another other side of it, so long as we add, “and God created this too.”
So is this right? Historically, most Christian thinkers have thought so. But according to the scriptures we started with, it is not right. The biblical teaching is that belief in God impacts all knowledge and truth. But according to this scholastic proposal, reduction is acceptable as long as we tack on the claim that whatever we say everything reduces to depends, in turn, on God. But in that case the theory would be the same whether we tacked on that provision or not Nothing would change so far as the explanatory power of the theory is concerned. If, for example, everything is being said to depend on matter, and then we just add “and God created matter,” the theory is the same whether we add that stipulation or not. Nothing is explained any differently; everything is still held to be physical or to depend on the physical (except God). However, if adding the claim “the physical depends on God” makes no difference to the theory, then belief in God makes no difference in that theory. So the idea that it’s acceptable to have a reduction theory as long as we add that its ultimate explainer depends on God violates those texts which say that belief in God impacts all truth. The explanation afforded by such a theory is religiously “neutral” in just the way those texts forbid.
For these reasons, I commend to you the program for Christian theorizing proposed by Dooyeweerd.


Friday, February 16, 2007

I'm a Frisbetyerian

The recent results of the theological quiz (see previous post) notwithstanding, I joke sometimes that I'm a frisbetyrian. Well, actually, I stole the joke. From a friend, who I don't see much any more, who probably really IS a frisbetyerian.

Frisbetyerian: One who believes that at death, one's soul flies up on the roof, and you can't get it down...

Well, it was funny at the time.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

My results of the "Theological Quiz"

Huh... who'da thunk it?

You scored as Reformed Evangelical.

You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are skeptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die.

Reformed Evangelical

89%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

71%

Fundamentalist

71%

Neo orthodox

54%

Emergent/Postmodern

36%

Classical Liberal

25%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

21%

Modern Liberal

11%

Roman Catholic

11%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Lego Camelot

Warning! This may be disturbing to you.

Found this link while reading other Covenant-related blogs. I thought it was excellent. Not sure how accurate, but in any case, give it a whirl by taking this quiz: What's your Theological view powered by Quizfarm

What the heck am I doing?

Trying out some new widgets, feeds, and links today. Adding links to friends blogs, whether they like or not. Trying to figure out how I can make money with all of this, by george, you know SOMEbody is...

Monday, February 12, 2007

Brothers


Brothers
Originally uploaded by SnLGienapp.
No, Damien isn't choking Nick, that's just a hug. Note Nick's new haircut.

Friday, February 09, 2007

The Gienapp brothers


Skip, James, Andy and John
Originally uploaded by SnLGienapp.
We've sung as a quartet before, but never with 3 acoustics. This was for my Dad's recent installation at Mountain View Pres in Lookout Valley. For those of you who have a vague memory, from left that's me, James, Andy, and John.

Pillow Fight


Pillow Fight
Originally uploaded by SkipGienapp.
Man, these boys play hard. After 20 minutes, I usually have to sit down and catch my breath. I sure hope I'm not too old to play baseball with them when they get a little older.

My old college ID


My old college ID
Originally uploaded by SkipGienapp.
What's wrong with this picture... and who knows why?