Lynn Cohick on Election

Lynn Cohick says this about election in her Ephesians commentary:

"It is important to keep this picture of the gracious God as central, as some of the discussion surrounding terms such as “predestine” can give rise to images of capriciousness or cavalier flippancy in a modern reader’s mind. Either God is presented as fickle, choosing willy-nilly whomever he wants and also choosing to damn the rest, or God is seen as choosing some because in some way, however hidden it may be, they deserved it more than the others. Of course we usually don’t voice either of these claims in such bald language, but nonetheless their unsettling presence, like ants at a picnic, intrudes inconveniently."

Divine Will and Election in Romans 9-11

As we get ready for the next BNTC in Aberdeen in early September, I still remember John Barclay's paper from last year on, "Two Versions of Grace: Romans 9-11 and the Wisdom of Solomon". Moreover, I've finally been able to access a quote from that presentation that has stuck in my head:

"The purposes of God are reducible to his will, a will that initially appears equally set to harden or to save, but turns out on closer inspection, and in the end, to harden only in order to save, to hate only in order to love, and to consign all to disobedience only in order to have mercy on all. What has twisted Paul's theology into this strange shape is his understanding of a "gift" that has redefined the meanings of charis and eleos and defies explanation or rationale. That gift is the Christ-event which reconciled the world "while we were enemies" (Rom 5:6-10) and justified the ungodly (4:4-6)"
- John Barclay

Election in the USA

I confess that I've never liked American bibliobloggers blogging about (a) politics, (b) baseball and NFL (haven't they discovered rugby and cricket yet?), and (c) and policies like the war in Iraq, universal health care, and why taxes are mostly wrong. It all sounds so parochially American and way too partisan. But now in a measure of unprecedented hypocrisy I will formally unveil my predictions (not necessarily my preferences) for the US election. (See JT's predictions).

1. Obama will win most of the swing states including Virginia, Ohio, also North Carolina, probably Florida, Colorado, and maybe even New Mexico. In other words, if it ain't solidly "red" then it will probably be lost. As to why:

2. The media is so pro-Obama it's funny. Many of McCain's criticisms of Obama have been criticized as out of play by the media (personally I think Obama's association with dodgy persons is open season). They've been behind Obama since the primaries and pushed him over the top against Hillary Clinton.

3. Palin was a figure who appealed to the GOP base but did not win over the GOP moderates or independents. She simply does not have the experience at the international and national level to lead the country and everybody knows it. McCain is an old man and cancer survivor and so the prospect of him dying and Palin taking over is not an impossibility.

4. Everybody fears that McCain is more of Bush in terms of international relations and economic policy. He's in a catch-22 since he can't denounce Bush without upsetting his own constituency and he cannot buddy up to him without identifying with the most unpopular president in living memory.

5. The biggest problem that Obama has is that he's on the extreme left of the DP. Americans have never liked extremists but they are probably willing to take a chance on an extreme leftie than an extreme right-winger as an alternative to the present regime.

6. Sadly the only choice the yanks have is between war mongers and baby killers. God bless America, they need it!