Either that or flee the country. It is good to know that those poor people in backwards countries like the United Kingdom and Australia will not be unreasonably burdened.
The 100 dollar annual fee is it and so is quite reasonable. However, as someone pointed out, the irony is that you can come from say....Canada (a country that for several years in a row according to the United Nations had the highest standard of living in the world) and pay nothing. North
Not bad. I am making some headway again. Researching and studying all of the obscure OT characters is interesting. Only on module two of the 1st course though. Looking forward to the others. I think I will enjoy taking the Greek lanuage courses, etc. If they will help me understand one miniscule amount of what Bill Grover & Unk Janko are talking about I will feel the course worth it Did Bill ever get his diploma or post it to this site? Would be interesting to see. North
Yes, Dr. Grover received his Th.D. in May, I believe, but he has not posted it to this site. I would be interesting to see it. I am in hopes my M.A.T.S. from FLET will be in Spanish! I don't see why it wouldn't be unless I request it but I don't plan to. Sounds like Nations is keeping you busy. I am enrolled but I have yet to begin and may drop out.
I know the feeling Jimmy. How much paper does one need. I was feeling rather frustrated with all of the demands on my time and almost dropped out of NationsU. I have so many other things I want to concentrate on. I have two of Marcus Borg's books stacked up, along with Spong's Liberating the Gospel's, and Jim Wallis' book on politics & religion. Too much to learn and too little time. Good luck! North
Heck no! Personal reading. Nations seems to be fair in its presentation (example on Islam) but I cannot imagine them massing such a liberal reading list. I just enjoy seeing all sides of an issue. North
Of course, it's good to get all sides in consideration regarding both Borg (http://www.tektonics.org/af/borg01.html) and Spong (http://www.tektonics.org/qt/spong02.html) (;-> Matt
Spong can be thought provoking but he has a tendency to whine about people who take a dislike to what he writes. Strangely enough (or not) after wallowing in self pity he makes some comment to the effect that Fallwell refusal to join him in more debates was as well because he doubted Fallwell was up to it. So on one hand he complains about others lack of charity and then he himself displays it (Falwell does not have the theological education that Spong has). On top of that, Spong is given to hyperbole. He makes statements in his Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism that "no credible scholar today believes such and such". Ridiculous. Many highly credible scholars would debate his points or beliefs. He goes on to level such shocking issues such as the woman at the tomb discrepencies. This may come as a shock to a liberal or a biblically illiterate mainline crowd but any Southern Baptist who has attended a few years of bible study could successfully answer those issues. North
The Episcopals also have Barbara Brown Taylor who could walk cirlces around Spong. He's certainly no James A. Pike! I don't care for Spong at all.
re: Spong Regarding Spong, I found it interesting that in Luke Timothy Johnson's brilliant rejoinder to the Jesus Seminar's media friendly historical Jesus nonsense, The Real Jesus, he placed Spong in the section entitled "amateur night" in his list of writers whose work he was commenting on (pp. 32-35). Johnson notes: "Bishop Spong's peculiar position in the culture wars I am describing...represents the perfect exemplification of the way in which the cultures of the church, of the academy, and of mass communication come together in unholy alliance. As Spong notes in his preface, 'Most significantly, and beyond my wildest imagination, I have written three books that have lifted me as an author onto both a national and international stage..." Johnson further notes that, "Having a bishop with opinions like this is like having a plumber who wants to 'rethink pipes' ". Pretty funny. As for levels of education, it's probably worth noting that both Falwell's and Spong's doctorates are honorary. Matt
