Oliver Burkeman Four Thousand Weeks

 

Oliver Burkeman Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How To Use It (Bodley Head / Penguin, 2021) 273pp

 

I have possibly saved you a little of your four thousand weeks by reading this book for you, but you might enjoy it and gain from giving it a little more time. For those in a hurry, it comes with five application questions towards the end (p220ff) and an appendix of “ten rules for embracing your finitude.”  

 

Burkeman quotes Carl Jung’s advice (in a letter of 15^th December 1933 to Frau V.) that if one wants one single, definitive way to live, one ought to join the [Roman] Catholic Church “where they will tell you what’s what.” Burkeman refers to the book of Ecclesiastes and more than once, I seem to recall, to the teaching of Jesus, but there is no doubt in my mind that this book would have benefited from more Bible and perhaps a little less Zen. Nevertheless, there is certainly wisdom here for those with ears to hear, even if the Christian would have fundamental and ultimate differences and not follow him in everything.

 

Burkeman argues that we should give up on the false illusion that we might somehow master time, gain perfect control of our lives and get everything done. Rather he suggests that if we honestly embrace our finitude (even to some extent) we might have more "bright sadness" (Richard Rohr), "stubborn gladness" (Jack Gilbert) or "sober joy" (Bruce Ballard) and focus a bit more on some stuff that really matters.

 

Some of the headings might give a flavour of the book: In the Long Run, We’re All Dead; Choosing to Choose; The Limit-Embracing Life; The Efficiency Trap; Facing Finitude; Becoming a Better Procrastinator; We Never Really Have Time; We Are Here; Rediscovering Rest; Cosmic Insignificance Therapy.

 

Work tends to expand to fill the time available. Efficient people often get given more responsibility. Every email to which we reply might generate a couple more replies.

 

There is no end to what we might do and we cannot do it all.

 

He urges a good kind of procrastination which enables us to say “no” and only pursue maybe three important on-going projects at any one time. In fact, is there actually one big thing you really want to do?

 

Probably the only way actually to get what matters to us done is to do it: today! Perhaps if we could give our first hour to what matters to us each day we would make real progress.

 

Some things, some good and attractive things, will need to be neglected. The problem is not necessarily so much that there is lots of annoying trivia in our lives we can’t eliminate (the dishwasher is always going to need emptying) but perhaps that we are spending time on our sixth or seventh priority rather than the most important stuff.

 

Probably it will not be catastrophic to neglect some things. And even if there is a cost, say to not satisfying all the expectations of your boss or your neighbours, that cost might be worth paying for some greater end. Burkeman urges that we decide in advance what to fail at and practice strategic underachievement in some areas. Pick your battles.  

 

If there is good procrastination (a level of care in choosing some things and neglecting or delaying others), a negative kind of procrastination (perfectionism or paralysis) is to be avoided. We might do well to ignore The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and commit to some stuff, even if we imagine there might be other better stuff out there. We do well to be present and to live life, rather than spend all our time imagining what might be. Perhaps we should just take the next step and do what seems good, right or necessary rather than fretting too much about what it is.   

 

In a way our life experience consists only of that to which we give our attention. We are often distracted (from what we think matters to us), sometimes willfully and sometimes by ourselves. It is surprisingly hard, but worthwhile, to sometimes slow down, be calm and present and do nothing. Face reality and how it feels without evasion.

 

We should not limit our ambition, holding off until some future point when we expect to be really competent and in control. Burkeman says: "I sometimes think of my journey through adulthood to date as one of incrementally discovering the truth that there is no institution, no walk of life, in which everyone isn't just winging it, all the time. Growing up, I assumed that the newspaper on the breakfast table must have been assembled by people who truly knew what they were doing; then I got a job at a newspaper." (p224f)

 

There is stuff to do which of intrinsic value. Making your family a nutritious meal is worth doing even if it wont win you a Nobel prize. We may find novelty and value even in the mundane if we can do it with some level of care, attention and dedication. Probably many of us ought to focus a bit less on work and more on our key relationships: how might they be if we gave them more focused and thoughtful engagement? Be curious. Wonder. Hope.  

 

Try embracing spontaneous generosity. If you have a positive impulse, why not follow it? Do something good or kind.

 

If a few people enjoy your novel, maybe it is worth writing even if you turn out not to be the next Tolstoy. And it may be that much of your Life’s Work may not have obvious, quick or complete results. We can only live the lives we are given and, in a sense, we are all like the medieval cathedral builders who never got to see the full fruit of their labours.

Hans Boersma, Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew

 

Hans Boersma, Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew (IVP Academic USA, 2021)

152pp pb

https://www.ivpress.com/five-things-theologians-wish-biblical-scholars-knew

I’ve enjoyed Hans Boersma’s book which aims to address the perceived deficits of some (especially evangelical) contemporary academic biblical scholarship. Though I think in fact some of the book is some of Boersma’s favourite themes and things he has written about before (such as the nature of Scripture and contemplation of God in Christ). If the book covers some things Boersma gas been meaning to say, I don’t think that detracts from its value. The book isn’t full of specific examples of the sort of thing he wants to correct or supplement but at times I thought he was on to something. At other times the best evangelical bible scholars would no doubt say “yes, and Amen: we know that and that’s what we try to do”. So, you will have to judge whether or not the cap fits and ought to be worn. But I thought it a stimulating and worthwhile read. The introduction and the first chapter “no Christ, no Scripture” was especially rich and compelling.

Boersma’s main thesis is that biblical scholarship can sometimes be too historical, purely naturalistic and this world-focused. He argues that we should not read the Bible just like any other book but as sacramental, a means of grace mediating of the presence of Christ. Although we want the scholar working away in her study, our reading should be neither individualistic or elitist.

Boersma is of course concerned that we try to work out what Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians, but he doesn’t think that is the main or ultimate goal of biblical studies. Christ is the goal and substance of Scripture. He advocates for a patristic sort of exegesis which is attentive to the literal meaning of the text but which sees great depth and usefulness in the Bible. The divine authorship of Scripture is primary and the providence of God has governed both history and text. Boersma thinks typology and allegory are important in understanding God’s revelation and purposes in and through the Bible.  

We read the Bible rightly only from and for the love of Christ. Virtue shapes and is shaped by our Bible reading. And the starting point and goal for right reading is the heavenly contemplation God in Christ. Keeping in mind the ends and goals of the Bible and of the Christian life are vital for determining how we read.   

Our metaphysical and theological presuppositions are important. We all have them and a purely neutral reading is neither possible nor desirable.

The church down the ages and around the world is the primary interpretive community. These books are read above all in the liturgy of the church.

Boersma reflects on the tag lex orandi, lex credenda ("the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed"). Prayer and worship, Bible reading and doctrine interact. And the Bible is part of, arises from and shapes a particular tradition. The Bible is the supreme authority and must be able to reform the tradition of the church, but Boersma criticises simplistic or naïve sola scriptura views which pretend that everything is up for grabs. The ecumenical consensus of the church should direct our reading. The Bible grew out of prior commitments to Jesus Christ as Lord and amongst those baptised into the name of the Triune God. It is inseparable from that tradition.  

Perhaps the chapter heading that will seem most surprising is “No Plato, No Scripture”. Boersma clarifies that “Christian metaphysics is theological in character: we dare not impose the pagan philosophy of Plato (or of anyone else) on Holy Scripture. Christian metaphysics must take its starting point in the Christian confession of Christ as the incarnate Lord.” (39) Nevertheless, Boersma thinks that a kind of Christian Platonism best reflects the Biblical world view. Drawing on the work of Lloyd P. Gerson’s From Plato to Platonism (11-14), which is also taken up by Craig A. Carter in Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition, Boersma stresses five characteristics for Christian reading: (1) antimaterialism (2) antimechanism, that is, there is more than the stuff that is visible and the way it seems to work (3) antinominalism, there are real essences or ideas not just individual things (4) antirelativism, based on goodness as a property of being which is not merely determined by human beings (5) antiskepticism, so that real knowledge is possible. (Boersma, 43).

I feel as if I ought to spend some time with the companion volume now: Scot McKnight, Five Things Biblical Scholars Wish Theologians Knew:  https://www.ivpress.com/five-things-biblical-scholars-wish-theologians-knew

* * *

There could have been many more but here are some bits I happened to type out:

 

Boersma's claim will seem bold to some: from the first, the church has always taught that Christ is present on every page of Scripture (13)

 

Boersma argues that evangelicals have sometimes stressed formal authority (e.g., Scripture trumps tradition) and neglected material content (Christ and the Nicene Creed). Might he not be on to something? Is everything up for grabs as long as one claims Sola Scriptura?

 

Irenaeus insist that Christ "was sold with Joseph, and He guided Abraham; was bound along with Isaac, and wandered with Jacob; with Moses He was a Leader, and, respecting the people, Legislator. He preached in the prophets." (Fragments from the Lost Writings, 54; ANF 1:577). "If anyone therefore reads the Scriptures with attention, he will find in them an account of Christ, and a foreshadowing of the new calling. For Christ is the treasure that was hid in the field, that is, in this world (for "the field is the world"); but the treasure his in the Scripture is Christ, since he was pointed out by means of types and parables.... When it [the law] is read by Christians, it is a treasure hid indeed in a field, but brought to life by the cross of Christ." (Against Heresies 4.26.1; ANF 1:496) As quoted in Boersma, 5 Things, p32f

 

Boersma argues that at the most basic level typology does not move from earlier type to later antitype since Christ is the archetype. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first principle and end, the model and goal. Chronologically he is foreshadowed and comes as the climax at the fullness of time, but ontologically and logically the Logos is the original and basis. Typology, then, is more than noticing interesting similarities: it is metaphysically, providentially and stereologically grounded from eternity and in creation all the way down and to the depths of mystery. The Son is the eternal, ever-present and eschatological Word. (Based on p33f)

 

Maybe you will say no one really wants to read the Bible like that, but if you make your exegesis simply about human authorial intent, Boersma is surely right that you have made your reading historical and not theological - and, we might add, potentially boring and useless. He would have us read instead for Christ with wisdom and savour.

Pastoral and evangelistic minimums?

 It is easy to think "oh, I wish I'd said..." We can perhaps think of great lines or questions or approaches when the moment has passed. 

We can look back on pastoral and evangelistic encounters and worry whether we spoke of Christ as clearly and compellingly as we might have done. Did the urgency and importance of the gospel come across or did we have a nice take it or leave it chat? Did I want to be liked by these people or did I have any concern for their immortal souls? Was there any hint that we stand on the brink of eternity?

At one level we need to relax and trust Christ. But maybe there are a couple of minimums we could keep in mind:

(1) JESUS. He is our USP, what we have to offer. So let us seek to speak of him. Maybe his name is never spoken in this house. Or the people here only ever use his name as a swear word. Could I speak positively with interest about Jesus? Perhaps that might be enough to encourage someone to think further about him. It is a tiny step, but it could be a first one. Name Jesus! 

(2) PRAYER. Before, during and after. We could pray daily for opportunities and wise and gentle, bold and winsome words. This might help us to be more alert and winsome. We could pray before a meeting or encounter. And we could almost always end a meeting by saying: "Would you mind if I say a prayer with you?". And later we commit all with whom we've spent time or interacted to the Lord each evening, praying that if we have planted a tiny seed, he might in his grace and power water it and give the growth.  

This isn't rocket science and much more could be said and done. But even these two things are easily forgotten and neglected. They could make a big difference because, you know, Jesus is good news and Lord and Messiah and Saviour. And our loving heavenly Father delights to hear and answer prayer. 

Bible Density

 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable. It is all true and useful and necessary. 

But there are weightier matters of the law. Some verses are more clear than others. Some passages more important than others. Some fit our circumstances more readily than others. 

We perhaps don't remember and take into account as much as we should the variability of Bible Density.

We know the chapter and verse divisions don't always serve us well. 

But we can be rather set on half chapter length chunks. That seems to make a sensible reading for a church service or a quiet time perhaps. But a more varied diet and manner of eating might serve us better. 

The Bible contains many different genres. In some cases, a whole story really needs to be taken together and that might require reading several chapters. And books were designed to serve as a whole as part of the canon so really we always need to think of anything in relation to everything else!

So in our reading and teaching we need slow and fast reading of bigger and smaller chunks. Poems, stories, arguments, proverbs and the rest might call for different approaches and could be best handled in different numbers and at different lengths.  

 Working out what unit to concentrate on may sometimes be a matter of personal choice or teaching strategy or other constraints such as time or reading ability or availability of material. 

But we ought to think about Bible density. Even in the book of Romans, for example, we will find some parts of the argument which are pretty clear and simple. Their contribution to the larger case isn't too hard to see. But sometimes we will need to puzzle over the meaning and logical connection carefully.  And there are some key verses which are really packed with goodness which deserve more than a sermon to themselves. These would be worth slowing down over, memorising, pondering on, chewing upon until they yield all their goodness. We don't want to miss the woods for the trees but sometimes individual plank is worthy of forming your text for the day. 

Happy reading and teaching! But remember to think about Bible Density. Some passages will prove a light meal or even a snack. Some morsels are worth feasting upon.