Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

restoration

Science Corner: Obvious Phoenix Metaphor is Obvious

notre dame photo
As an American evangelical, I have an underdeveloped appreciation for how cathedrals draw us into worship. But I am starting to understand the use of scale. (Photo by szeke )

My day job (which, like many, doesn’t always stay put in the day time) is all COVID-19 all the time these days, so I hope you can understand why I’m looking for anything else to talk about in the world of science. Plus I trust that you folks are the sort to keep up on what you need to know via official channels. So, let’s talk about this video about the Notre Dame cathedral instead. It highlights the role that scientists are playing, both in the post-fire restoration and in exploring what can be learned about the storied structure’s history from damaged materials that no longer serve their original purpose. (If you prefer, a text story with more details can be found here.)
[Read more…] about Science Corner: Obvious Phoenix Metaphor is Obvious

Advent and the Second Coming

This is the first week in Advent. What is Advent you ask? Simply, it is the four Sundays before Christmas (see my post from last year). As a separate liturgical season, Advent has its own areas of focus. Perhaps the strongest emphasis (besides preparing to celebrate Jesus’ first birth) is on Jesus’ return.

Jesus’ Second Coming can have unpleasant connotations in many modern minds. Popular authors have spun out scenarios of empty cars on the highway in the wake of “the rapture” (the idea that Christians are taken out of the world at some point in time relative to Jesus’ return). Non-Christians have poked fun at rapture talk, going so far as to offer services (at a cost) to care for the pets of people who are taken away.

Conjectures aside, the Second Coming of Jesus is part of Christian hope! This is true for a number of reasons.

Resurrection of the Dead

Sun above the clouds
Advent looks ahead to the resurrection of the dead.

First, when Jesus returns, the dead will be resurrected. Talking about Easter right before Christmas might seem strange, but consider 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (NRSV) :

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (emphasis added)

Notice how Jesus’ return marks the raising of the dead. Yes, this is a central hope! [Read more…] about Advent and the Second Coming