Over the last few decades, the doctrine of justification has received a great deal of attention from across the Christian spectrum. Theologians in some circles want to discard altogether the “forensic” articulation that has held sway as the standard view among Protestants at least since Calvin. Others have worked to reaffirm, bolster, or complement the [...]
Archive for March, 2009
Justification – 4 Interpretive “Angles”
Posted in Justification on March 30, 2009 | 6 Comments »
The Ethos of Elitism
Posted in Christian Life, Spiritual Formation, Theology on March 27, 2009 | 9 Comments »
As of late, I have been contemplating some of the many temptations for the theologian. One of the more subtle, what I am calling elitism, is what I am concerned with here. My worry tends to focus on the teleology of the theologian, namely, “What are we becoming?” From my perspective, what often happens is [...]
The Sacramental Life
Posted in Book Reviews, Spiritual Formation on March 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
For those of you who follow Theology Forum, you know that we have a deep interest in the relationship between theology and spirituality. In light of this interest, this post concerns a book entitled Sacramental Life: Spiritual Formation Through the Book of Common Prayer by David A. deSilva. For those of you who recognize the [...]
Doctrine that Dances – The preacher as ‘doxological dancer’
Posted in Book Reviews, Doctrine, Preaching on March 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Guest post: Andy Draycott (Teaching Fellow, University of Aberdeen)
In Doctrine that Dances: Bringing Doctrine and Teaching to Life (B&H Academic, 2008) Robert Smith Jr. makes an urgent plea for doctrinal preaching through the elaboration of two key metaphors: the doctrinal preacher as the exegetical escort and the doxological dancer (review copy courtesy of B&H). Your alliteration [...]
Practical Prophetic Ecclesiology: Part 3
Posted in Book Reviews, Church on March 18, 2009 | 1 Comment »
After addressing the nature of the practical-prophetic task and blueprint eccleisologies in the first two chapters, this post will look at the remainder of the volume. Building upon the first two chapters, Healy proposes that the way forward in ecclesiology is by way of a “theodramatic horizon.” Borrowing heavily from Balthasar Healy writes, “Balthasar contends [...]
When your PhD supervisor wants your opinion
Posted in Uncategorized on March 17, 2009 | 2 Comments »
My supervisor is far more gracious … At least when I say something ridiculous, he smiles and nods; kind of like when you were a kid and your dad (who knows better than you) would pat you on the head and say, “That’s nice”.
Calvin, Participation and the Gift
Posted in Book Reviews, Calvin on March 14, 2009 | 3 Comments »
In this post I am taking a look at the broad argumentation of J. Todd Billings in his book, Calvin, Participation, and the Gift: The Activity of Believers in Union with Christ (Oxford University Press, 2007). In this volume, Billings puts Calvin in conversation with present day theologies of of the ‘Gift.’ In doing so, [...]
Practical Prophetic Ecclesiology (Part 2)
Posted in Book Reviews, Church, Ecclesiology on March 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In chapter two, Healy addresses what he calls “blueprint ecclesiologies.” His vision for ecclesiology is that it “can aid the church’s efforts by reflecting theologically upon its concrete identity” (25). Healy moves on to focus on what he considers the ecclesiological styles of the last century: 1) an attempt to encapsulate in a single word [...]
A Practical-Prophetic Ecclesiology
Posted in Ecclesiology on March 6, 2009 | 7 Comments »
I am going to be spending some time working through Nicholas M. Healy’s book, Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical-Prophetic Ecclesiology (thank you to Cambridge University Press for a review copy). Healy claims that his book focuses more about ecclesiology than being an actual exercise in the discipline of ecclesiology, which, as we will see, [...]
