Random pickings

I still have no time to do post anything of substance, but will note what I have noticed recently.

Scot McKnight has a great post on how think about the unity of scripture here. I got a bit grilled by someone the other day about the authority of scripture in the light of the differences between the OT and NT, which reminded me again how I leave the question on the back burner most of the time (probably due to the way it got in the way of communication with the Father once). Another thing making me think about how I handle the diversity of scripture faithfully was a review of Greg Beale's The Temple and the Church's Mission in theRBL (HT Mark Goodacre).

Elsewhere, meeting me where I am, was a interview with Richard Foster and Dallas Willard on spiritual formation/discipleship. Willard says:

What sometimes goes on in all sorts of Christian institutions is not formation of people in the character of Christ; it's teaching of outward conformity. You don't get in trouble for not having the character of Christ, but you do if you don't obey the laws.

It is so important to understand that character formation is not behavior modification. Lots of people misunderstand it and put it in the category of Alcoholics Anonymous. But in spiritual formation, we're not talking about behavior modification.

In an attempt to rethink things freshly through using different and more explicit language (I'm still thinking about jargon a lot) the phrase 'character formation' should be used more, for just the reasons Willard and Foster describe. (HT Tod Blosinger.)