What kinds of demands are made on us when we we confess: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth…”?
Rowan Williams helps us explore this in his little book, Tokens of Trust (a collection of ‘talks’ he gave in Canterbury Cathedral during the week before Easter back in 2005). The importance [...]
Archive for January, 2008
Rowan Williams and the demands of confession
Posted in Church, Confession, Rowan Williams, Theology on January 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
(Saving Power, Ch. 12) How does atonement theology influence the forms of the Church?
Posted in Atonement, Book Reviews, Church, Saving Power, Theology on January 25, 2008 | 14 Comments »
Peter Schmiechen makes a straight-forward claim in his final chapter of Saving Power: “theories of the atonement do in fact inspire particular forms of the church” (354). In other words, what a particular church believes about the nature of the atonement, and which language it uses to witness to it, influences the way that [...]
Up next ~ L. Ann Jervis “At the Heart of the Gospel: Suffering in the Earliest Christian Message
Posted in Paul, Suffering on January 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A dear friend of mine has been bravely enduring great physical suffering for some time now. It was her situation that prompted us to blog through this book on suffering; for the sake of the church, we need to think well theologically about suffering.
In At the Heart of the Gospel , L. Ann Jervis reminds [...]
“Dappled things” & Doctrines of Creation
Posted in Creation, Pannenberg, Poetry, Theology on January 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In a letter to Robert Bridges dated October 25, 1879, Gerard Manley Hopkins penned “Pied Beauty”:
Glory to God for the dappled things -
For skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches wings; Landscape plotted and pierced – fold, fallow, and plough; And all trades, their [...]
What makes a theologian “great”?
Posted in Theology on January 17, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Ben Myers, Faith and Theology, has sparked an interesting conversation by conducting a pole to nominate the “best” living theologian (my man Pannenberg is running a close race for third). It prompted Stephen Holmes to post some illuminating comments on his blog, Shored Fragments. I quote them at length because they are worth reflection.
“I [...]
Mediation and Peace: Alan Spence on Atonement theology
Posted in Atonement, Book Reviews on January 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Since we have been discussing atonement theology as of late, let me highlight a recent evangelical contribution that I found valuable: Alan Spence’s Promise of Peace(T&T Clark, 2006).
Spence contends for an overarching theory of atonement, or “master story” (20) which holds together Christ’s multifaceted work. Whereas some find the various atonement theories capable of working [...]
(Saving Power, Ch. 8) H. Richard Niebuhr on Atonement: Treason and Reconciliation
Posted in Atonement, Book Reviews, Niebuhr, Saving Power on January 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Put yourself in the following situation: You have the cure for a desperately painful disease of which everyone suffers. Yet, in order to explain the disease and prescribe the cure it requires you to find a language with which everyone can relate – a language that enables the diseased (alienated) to find touchstones that relate [...]
Providence and Suffering
Posted in Providence on January 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I spent the last several days attending a conference here at King’s College on Providence in Modern Theology. It was an outstanding conference with a world-class lineup of theologians, both Protestant and Catholic, some from the UK and others from the United States (David Ferguson, Sarah Coakley, David Bentley Hart, Nicholas Healy, Alister McGrath, Philip [...]
Cambridge Companion to Evangelical Theology
Posted in Book Reviews, Evangelicalism on January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Timothy Larson and Daniel Treier, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Evangelical Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Those looking for a fine collection of essays by established and up-and-coming Evangelical theologians from across the globe will not be disappointed. Topics covered include “The Triune God of the Gospel” by Kevin Vanhoozer, “Jesus Christ” by John Webster, [...]
(Saving Power, Ch. 5) Athanasius & the Renewal of Creation or “Why American Evangelicals need Athanasius”
Posted in Athanasius, Atonement, Book Reviews, Saving Power, tagged More on January 3, 2008 | 3 Comments »
We turn our attention now to Peter Schmiechen’s appraisal of Athanasius (Chapter 5).
As it relates to atonement theology, Athanasius is good for North American Evangelicals for at least two reasons (both of which are emphasized by Schmiechen). First, Athanasius moves our focus away from personal forgiveness and freedom from sin. Certainly these are powerful marks [...]
