The Orthodox Study Bible: Symbol

The Orthodox Study Bible, New Testament and Psalms, (1993) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy,Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 

My review, as a biblical Christian of the Reformed tradition, of this fine academic source, continues. This Orthodox source uses the New King James Version (NKJV). 

Glossary from Reverend John W. Morris, Ph.D.

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'SYMBOL In Orthodox usage, the manifestation in material form of a spiritual reality. A symbol does not merely stand for something else, as does a "sign"; it indicates the actual presence of its subject. For example, the dove is the symbol which brought to Jesus the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3: 13-16).' (808).

End citation

My take, in basic agreement, is that biblical symbols represent the actual subject, but not in plain literal terms. Using the dove example from Matthew 3, God the Holy Spirit was present as he (God) empowered God the Son, God the Word, Jesus Christ for ministry. But it was presented in figurative literal terms in the form of a dove. 

Bible Hub: Englishman's Concordance περιστερὰν (peristeran)

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Matthew 3:16 N-AFS 

GRK: καταβαῖνον ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν καὶ ἐρχόμενον 

NAS: descending as a dove [and] lighting

KJV: descending like a dove, and lighting 

INT: descending as a dove and lighting

περιστερὰν (noun, accusative, feminine, singular) The accusative case denotes and indicates a direct object. Like or as a dove.

Strong documents

Bible Hub 

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Strong's Concordance peristera: a dove 

Original Word: περιστερά, άς, ἡ

4058 from the Strong hardcopy text:

περιστερά a pigeon or a dove. (76).

Bauer explains: περιστερά, άς, ἡ

The dove represented the symbol of all kinds of virtues in ancient times. (652). 'Hence the Holy Spirit, in appearing at Jesus' baptism, took the form of a dove...' (Matthew 3: 16) (652).

Bible Hub

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Thayer's Greek Lexicon 

STRONGS NT 4058: περιστερά 

περιστερά, περιστεράς, ἡ, Hebrew יונָה, a dove: Matthew 3:16; Matthew 10:16; Matthew 21:12; Mark 1:10; Mark 11:15; Luke 2:24; Luke 3:22; John 1:32; John 2:14, 16. (From Herodotus down.)

BAUER, WALTER. (1979) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Translated by Eric H. Wahlstrom, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. 

STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Burlington, Welch Publishing Company.

Vaccine passports ???

Photo: Driving through north east Maple Ridge, last evening with BB and JB. Photo by JB.

Alistair Steele, CBC News, July 05, 2021: Vaccine passports ignite debate over privacy vs. public health 

Cited in italics 

As a steadily rising number of fully vaccinated Canadians emerge from hiding to test the gradual return to pre-pandemic normalcy, a conundrum looms: what to do about those who, for whatever reason, haven't had a shot? 

Striking the proper balance between public health and personal freedom, and figuring out whether one must be relinquished to protect the other, will become increasingly key as the country reopens.

I am scheduled for my second vaccination on July 12. The  majority of British Columbians and Canadians will, according to media sources, be eventually fully vaccinated.

I oppose:

Any attempts by governments to force vaccinations.

Vaccination requirements for certain careers, employment and events would be dependent on contexts. For example, all medical workers would likely be required in most cases to be vaccinated for employment.

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For a growing number of jurisdictions and institutions, the solution is a vaccine passport, a document the bearer can show as proof of immunization against the coronavirus in order to be granted certain freedoms. On the flip side, those who can't produce such evidence because they couldn't or wouldn't get vaccinated could be denied access to businesses, flights and university dorms, to name just a few potential inconveniences.

With my limited, yet consistent, following on the mainstream media news and through online reading and listening; I have reasoned for over a year that more and more western jurisdictions, governments and some private, will favour vaccine passports as a solution. 

For my few friends that have not yet been vaccinated, I have had greater concerns for his/her future economic and social welfare, and our ability to socialize together in many contexts, than concerns that he/she could be made seriously ill from either a form of COVID-19, or something else potentially out of China, or elsewhere. These concerns over limited economic and social freedoms have also been  greater for me than concerns over possible side effects of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Cited in italics 

Ethicists, privacy advocates and civil liberties groups have warned that such requirements threaten to create a new two-tier society, benefiting those who have been vaccinated and ostracizing those who haven't. 

Reasonable and I deduce a two-tier society will be true in at least some situations.

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As of June 25, the latest update available from the federal government, three-quarters of Canadians 12 and over had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 22 per cent were fully vaccinated.

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For Arthur Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, vaccine passports or "immunity certificates" are inevitable, but, he says, the federal government "badly dropped the ball" by failing to provide clear guidance to provinces and public health officials about how to manage them. 

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Schafer says a fair system will ensure reasonable accommodation for those who haven't been immunized, and he points out those people aren't all Facebook-fuelled anti-vaxxers. Some are unsure because they're taking immunosuppressant drugs, for example, while others have legitimate concerns about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines or justifiable fears borne from previous negative interactions with the health-care system. 

"We should try to accommodate people who have objections, conscientious or scientific or even religious, where we can do so without compromising public safety and without incurring a disproportionate cost to society," he said. 

If such accommodation isn't made, Schafer predicts, there could be a backlash.

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I think there would be some backlash, but how this would play out in the media and impact public reactions, time would tell.

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"If an alternative route is available, if it's effective and if the employer or the service provider doesn't make it available, then I think a challenge under human rights legislation would succeed," he said.

It is reasonable that there would be legal challenges. Not sure how various courts would interpret  human rights legislation in Canada and elsewhere. Based on my limited academic study of law in secondary school and in post-secondary, academic tutoring, the interpretation of law is never purely objective, in my opinion. The law is interpreted through the consideration of case law (developed law), which is also influenced by culture, society and public morality and ethics.

This can certainly be seen in, for example, the evolution of marriage, divorce and abortion laws in western societies over the last several decades.

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According to Ontario's former privacy commissioner, Ann Cavoukian, now executive director of the Global Privacy and Security by Design Centre, Canadians shouldn't be expected to surrender their personal privacy for the sake of public health.

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Cavoukian is concerned about what could happen to people's private health data under a vaccine passport system, and she worries that once it's surrendered, it will already be too late.

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"This data will be retained in association with your geolocation all around the world," she said. "If you're travelling, going to a football game or whatever, this information will be tracked, and the potential for surveillance is enormous."

People that are not fully vaccinated could face nearly world-wide penalties from authorities that have connected, electronic, data.

Cited in italics 

Cavoukian says people will relax once the majority of eligible Canadians is fully vaccinated. When that happens, singling out those who aren't won't seem nearly as important.

Hopefully so in most western jurisdictions, at least...

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Cara Zwibel, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association's fundamental freedoms program, says it all comes down to choice.

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Like Cavoukian, Zwibel has serious concerns about sharing private health information, and she points out that while we might willingly hand our immunization records over to certain institutions, they're statutorily limited in what they can do with that information.

Legitimate concerns...

PhD: Twitter quote 94

Photo: Banff, July 2, courtesy Deeaann on Facebook

PhD: Twitter quote 94

Edited from PhD

Twitter version I

Via Reformed tradition, I reason that revealed Scripture is the final authority for justifying a theological claim & therefore would see the empirical method’s evaluation of Biblical theology as secondary.

Inbody (1995: 215-216), referenced and responded to.

Twitter version II

I do not view empirical theology as primarily or singularly important in determining the truthfulness of a doctrine. I reason that Christian doctrine and practice must be grounded in revealed Scripture.

July 3, 2021

Within my Reformed, biblical, theological tradition, 'new theology' is not developed from the use of questionnaires, surveys and statistics used in empirical theology. Rather, theology, philosophy and worldviews can be reviewed and considered through the empirical responses.

In other words, for example, what people think about the trinity is not going to impact my trinitarian theology. Questionnaire results with surveys and statistical data 'might' impact my theological presentation of trinitarian doctrine. Based on my MPhil and PhD work, I would be orthodox in the sense of Reformed, Biblical theology, but am not likely an orthodox adherent of any form of empirical theology.

But rest assured, the questionnaires, surveys and data results from my British MPhil and PhD theses were intellectually useful and interesting.

BALLARD, PAUL AND JOHN PRITCHARD (2001) Practical Theology in Action, London, SPCK. 

BROWNING, DON S. (1985)(2005) ‘Practical Theology and Political Theology’, Theology Today, Volume 42, Number 1, Article 2, Princeton, Princeton Theological Seminary.http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1985/v42-1-article2.htm.

DEAN, WILLIAM (1990) ‘Empirical Theology: A Revisable Tradition’, in Process Studies, Volume 19, Number 2, pp. 85-102, Claremont, California, The Center for Process Studies.http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2791.

DUBRAY, C.A. (1911)(2007) ‘Naturalism’ in New Advent: Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, Robert Appleton Company.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10713a.htm 

ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

ERRICKER, CLIVE, DANNY SULLIVAN, AND JANE ERRICKER (1994) ‘The Development of Children’s Worldviews, Journal of Beliefs and Values, London, Routledge.

FRANCIS, LESLIE J. and Practical Theology Team (2005) ‘Practical and Empirical Theology’, University of Wales, Bangor website, University of Wales, Bangor.http://www.bangor.ac.uk/rs/pt/ptunit/definition.php. 

GANZEVOORT, R. RUARD (2004)(2005) ‘Van der Ven’s Empirical/Practical Theology and the Theological Encyclopedia’, in Hermans, pp.53-74, C.A.M. & Moore M.E. (eds), Amsterdam.http://www.ruardganzevoort.nl/a04vdven.htm.

HEIMBROCK, HANS-GUNTER (2005) ‘From Data to Theory: Elements of Methodology in Empirical Phenomenological Research in Practical Theology’ in International Journal of Practical Theology, Volume 9, December, Berlin, Walter D. Gruyter.

http://xolopo.de/religionswissenschaften/data_theory_elements_met hodology_empirical_15063.html 

INBODY, TYRON (1995) The Constructive Theology of Bernard Meland: Postliberal Empirical Realism, Atlanta, Scholars Press.

KRIKORIAN, K. (1944)(2007) (ed.), Naturalism and the Human Spirit, New York, Columbia University Press, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University.http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism/ 

PETERS, KARL, E. (1992) ‘Empirical Theology in the Light of Science, in The Journal of Religion and Science, Volume 27 Issue 3 Page 297-325, September, Oxford, Zygon, Blackwell Publishing.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467- 9744.1992.tb01068.x 

SIRE, JAME W (1975) The Universe Next Door, Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press. 

STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Burlington, Welch Publishing Company.

THIESSEN, HENRY C. (1956) Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

WHALE, J.S. (1958) Christian Doctrine, Glasgow, Fontana Books. 

WINQUIST, CHARLES E. (1987) ‘Re-visioning Ministry: Postmodern Reflections’, in Lewis S Mudge and James N. Poling, Formation and Reflection: The Promise of Practical Theology by Lewis S Mudge and James N. Poling, Philadelphia, Fortress Press.

http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=586&C=850

2010 Theodicy and Practical Theology: PhD thesis, the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter 

Saturday, September 19, 2020 PhD Full Version PDF: Theodicy and Practical Theology 2010, Wales TSD 

1 Thessalonians 2:13 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of mere men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe.

Bible Hub: πιστεύουσιν

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1 Thessalonians 2:13 V-PPA-DMP GRK: ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν NAS: performs its work in you who believe. KJV: in you that believe. INT: you who believe

Bible Hub: Strong's 4100

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pisteuó: to believe, entrust 

Original Word: πιστεύω 

Bible Hub: 1 Thessalonians 2: 13

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πιστεύουσιν in 1 Thessalonians 2: 13

Verb, present, participle, active & dative, masculine, plural

PhD: Twitter quote 93

PhD: Twitter quote 93

Photo: Lungern, Switzerland Luxary Travel June 18 2021

Edited from PhD

Twitter version I

Sire notes some theistic critics have found fault with naturalism, reasoning a personal God was behind the universe & that naturalism did not provide an adequate reason why human beings were valuable. 

Twitter version II

Human beings are unique, but so are gorillas, & there remains the problem of establishing the value of human beings within naturalism (Sire).

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Sire (1977: 74). 

DUBRAY, C.A. (1911)(2007) ‘Naturalism’ in New Advent: Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, Robert Appleton Company.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10713a.htm 

HEIMBROCK, HANS-GUNTER (2005) ‘From Data to Theory: Elements of Methodology in Empirical Phenomenological Research in Practical Theology’ in International Journal of Practical Theology, Volume 9, December, Berlin, Walter D. Gruyter.

http://xolopo.de/religionswissenschaften/data_theory_elements_met hodology_empirical_15063.html 

KRIKORIAN, K. (1944)(2007) (ed.), Naturalism and the Human Spirit, New York, Columbia University Press, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University.http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism/ 

PETERS, KARL, E. (1992) ‘Empirical Theology in the Light of Science, in The Journal of Religion and Science, Volume 27 Issue 3 Page 297-325, September, Oxford, Zygon, Blackwell Publishing.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467- 9744.1992.tb01068.x 

SIRE, JAME W (1975) The Universe Next Door, Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press. 

THIESSEN, HENRY C. (1956) Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

2010 Theodicy and Practical Theology: PhD thesis, the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter 

gorillas in archives

Saturday, September 19, 2020 PhD Full Version PDF: Theodicy and Practical Theology 2010, Wales TSD