Volume 16 Issue 2

Garrison Keillor is widely regarded as the best storyteller of this generation. With that very distinctive voice, he still maintains his weekly Prairie Home Companion radio show on PBS (debut, July 6, 1974), anchored in Minnesota but now traveling to venues across the country. Stories recur of private eye Guy Noir, cowboys Dusty and Lefty, and of course of Lake Wobegon, "where all the children are above average." Colorful characters and engaging tales set to a moral compass livened with humor flood the imagination of listeners who tune in. However, Keillor thinks of himself primarily as a writer. In a documentary aired a few years ago at the time when the Prairie Home Companion movie was released, Garrison ponders the value of writing, musing, "Writing is an act of discovery… You don't know what you think until you write it down."

Scholars need to write. We may be able to publish our work with major publishers, journals, and magazines or maybe in less prestigious ones. Maybe, as in the current marketplace, we self-publish, or maintain a blog. Maybe we only write and read papers at academic conferences. In any case, the great value of writing is for ourselves. It is a matter of personal development. Writing furthers our thinking; it brings thoughts to conclusions. The discipline forces us to make sense of it all, yes, to an expected, perceived audience, but mostly to ourselves. Having written it down enables us to close the chapter on that particular matter and move on to others. Writing fulfills a moral contract with ourselves for the years of sacrifice we put into earning that Ph.D. and our ongoing research.

One of the purposes of SCJ (and SCJ Conference) is to function like a carrot to motivate scholars, both young and seasoned, to write. Scholars who identify with the Stone-Campbell Movement and teach in related educational institutions publish in many venues and in many other journals. This is growing as more and more write and publish. However, SCJ continues to be one of the venues for scholars to publish their work. We are honored for many to be their first venue for publication in their career. Articles are peer-reviewed and our editors work hard with first-time authors to help them get their articles ready to publish. Check out our index of over 200 articles SCJ has published in the course of now our 16th volume (32nd issue). It is a fascinating list of people and some great articles. If you are in the Stone-Campbell Scholars Community—which, as a subscriber you should be by now—these articles are available to you in our archives which is part of your membership. You can use the index or just download and print the list (chronological or author priority). If you are not a member, just go to our website and click "JOIN NOW" in the upper righthand corner.

Please contact me about that article you are working on that perhaps you have hopes to publish. My file of "Articles Received" is ready to receive yours.

Speaking of articles, this issue sports some interesting articles in a variety of fields. Fresh from the 2013 SCJ Conference, John Goldingay offers a challenge to NT scholars (well, OT scholars too) to consider what the NT necessarily adds to the OT's message about attaining a genuine relationship with God, with its provocative title: "Do We Need the New Testament?" Loretta Hunnicutt, from her 2012 SCJ Conference lecture provides a look at fascinating women who were important to the progress of the Stone-Campbell Movement. James Gorman recounts the surprising challenges Alexander Campbell's Bible translation gave to the Baptists. In another article about Bible translation, John Poirier promotes the idea of using italics in Bible translation as a tool to help Bible readers recognize what is "literal" and what is not in key cases. Two articles consider the thoughts of theological giants in their respective periods. Joseph Gordon focuses on deification (the post-conversion transformation process) in Augustine, while Beth Langstaff focuses on anointing the sick according to John Calvin.

After an enjoyable conference at Lipscomb University in 2013, the 13th annual SCJ Conference remains in Tennessee for 2014, hosted by Johnson University, Knoxville, on March 14-15.

The theme is: God in Culture: Music, Movies, and Contemporary Life. Jeremy Begbie (Duke University; University of St. Andrews) will present two sessions that will include lecture and piano performance on "Theology, Music, and Resurrection." Craig Detweiler (PepperdineUniversity) will present one session on "Theology in Movies" and another on "Theology in Gaming." Phil Kenneson (Milligan College) will present one session: "Theology at Work."

Related papers or papers on other biblical, theological, or historical topics are sought for parallel sessions from experienced scholars as well as from student scholars. Send your paper title (no abstract needed) to Stewart Penwell, parallel paper coordinator, at Stewart.penwell@yahoo.com by December 1, 2013.

Ten study groups welcome inquiries: Christian Education (jestep@lincoln christian.edu); Biblical Teaching on Women (jdmiller@milligan.edu); Ecclesiology and Social Ethics (jnugent@glcc.edu); Old Testament Prophetic Tradition and Application (bembryj@ecs.edu); Mark's Gospel in Mediterranean Context (michael. halcomb@asburyseminary.edu); Reexamining Scholarship in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement (jasonfikes@gmail.com); History and Practice of Christian Worship (cwells@lincolnchristian.edu); Patristics (rheine@nwcu.edu); Distance Learning (ctoney@hiu.edu); Jewish Scripture as Christian Scripture (david@jdavidstark.com). Inquiries regarding study groups may be directed to the dean of the study groups: Jeff Miller (jdmiller@milligan.edu).

Student paper competitions will occur in three categories: Junior/Senior; M.A./M.Div., and Restoration (Isaac Errett Award from the Disciples Historical Society). Contact Les Hardin (les.hardin@fcc.edu) immediately to indicate your interest and to obtain the competition rules (also available on the SCJ website). For the Errett competition, contact Rick Cherok (rick.cherok@ccuniversity.edu).

I am really looking forward to this conference. Hope you will plan now to join us.

William R. Baker, Editor

SCJ 16.2 Quotables

Chosen by Joel Brown

Brite Divinity School

Featured Quote:

"In a sense, God did nothing new in Jesus."

He was simply taking to its logical and ultimate extreme the activity in which he had been involved throughout the OT story. All the way through, God had been letting humanity do its worst. Specifically, he had been letting the people he adopted do their worst and had been declining to be overcome by their rejection of him; declining to abandon or destroy them. God had been paying the price for his people's attitude toward him. He had been sacrificing himself for them. He had been bearing their sin."

John Goldingay, "Do We Need the New Testament?" (SCJ 16.2:236)

"So many stories remain to be told. My hope is that other women will be inspired by this work to take up the task of scripting the history of the movement not only to represent women but to demonstrate that all voices contribute important insight to our understanding of the important issues that shape our history."

Loretta Hunnicutt, "What I Learned about Women" (SCJ 16.2:176)

"As Campbell's theology became clearly un-Baptist, many Baptists sensed the same unorthodox theology in his new version as they were reading in his periodical (Christian Baptist). To accept the translation was to accept 'Campbellism.' To condemn Campbell's theology meant also condemning his new version."

James L. Gorman, "From Burning to Blessing: Baptist Reception of Alexander Campbell's New Translation" (SCJ 16.2:190)

"For Augustine, deified individuals can no longer set their desires upon transitory things as ends in themselves. He calls his hearers to have the perspective that is appropriate to those being transformed by God's deifying grace; they should accordingly direct their desires towards eternal things."

Joseph Kenneth Gordon, "Deifying Adoption as Impetus for Moral Transformation: Augustine's Sermons and the Christological Ethics of 'Godhood'," (SCJ 16.2:205)

"One convention the KJV's translators used was to italicize any word that did not represent something in the original Hebrew or Greek text. . . . Unfortunately, this practice has considerably waned. As a result, the reader of today's translations usually has no way of knowing whether a given word represents a word or element in the original text or has been added as an interpretative aid."

John C. Poirier, "The Case for Italics in Bible Translation," (SCJ 16.2:209)

"If Calvin and his fellow reformers were preaching a new gospel, then their opponents would be justified in calling for new wonders to confirm it. Since they are preaching the original gospel, already fully confirmed by the miracles of Christ and his apostles, no new miracles are needed. This principle does not rule out the possibility of miracles such as healing in the post-apostolic period, but it does render them unnecessary."

Beth Langstaff, "A Case of Apostolic Discontinuity: John Calvin on the Anointing of the Sick for Healing" (SCJ 16.2:222)