Another short excerpt from my paper in New Orleans (at Earl’s request):
[S]ome theologies of retrieval offer fresh genealogies of modernity in order to reinvigorate the possibility that postmodern (or late modern) theology might find continuity with the classical Christian tradition. Radical Orthodoxy is one such path. While highly diverse, it shares a common refusal of the [...]
Archive for November, 2009
Again on retrieval: Radical Orthodoxy
Posted in History, Theological Method on November 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Systematic Theology as Retrieval: finding the church’s future in her past
Posted in History, Theological Method on November 23, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Here is a brief excerpt from the paper I gave with David Buschart last week in New Orleans, “Looking Back, Moving Forward: Retrieval as Theological Method.” (I also heard some great jazz at The Preservation Hall)
Our interest in the paper was to suggest that “retrieval” is a particular mode of theological reasoning in which its practitioners believe [...]
The Fruit of Doctrine
Posted in Holy Scripture, Theology on November 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
As most of you know who have followed Theology Forum for any length of time, we have a real interest in the nature and task of theology and the spiritual aspect inherent in being a theologian and to “doing” theology. As we’ve mused on what this might mean, I have looked at several spiritual theologians, [...]
Luther on Proper Meditation: Part 2 – Blessings
Posted in Spiritual Formation on November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It has been a LONG time, but continuing our look at Ngien’s volume, we now turn to the meditation on blessings. Luther offers 7 images of evil and 7 images of blessing that are to guide our meditation. The first image is of “internal blessings” which are those blessings the believer possesses within themselves (beauty, [...]
How do we think about preaching?
Posted in Preaching, Teaching on November 16, 2009 | 7 Comments »
Hey all, I’ve had some random thoughts lately about preaching and would like to hear from you. How do we delineate preaching, say, in comparison from teaching or lecturing? Has anyone read anything on preaching that has been really good? I’m not talking about any “how to” manuals here, but a real theology of churchly [...]
Christian, your flag, race, & gender do not define you!: Ben Witherington III on Social Identity
Posted in Worship on November 12, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I have been a bit scarce around TF lately due to heavy commitments at Huntington and an upcoming conference paper (which is still dreadfully unformed!), but we recently hosted Ben Witherington III and his paper on social identity deserves comment.
Unrelated to the paper, I found Ben a delightful guest. After dinner and before his presentations we [...]
Theology on the Way to Emmaus: Hermeneutics, Doctrine and Meaning
Posted in Theology on November 11, 2009 | 2 Comments »
We continue our look at Nicholas Lash’s book by picking up his chapter, “What Might Martyrdom Mean?” To set the stage, I will let Lash speak for himself:
There is a received account, in this country, both of the character of these enterprises, and of the relationship between them, which goes something like this. Christian hermeneutics [...]
Once More on the Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self: Or Why Pope Benedict XVI Is the Only Real Theologian
Posted in Theology on November 7, 2009 | 5 Comments »
I was reading Pope Benedict XVI’s little gem The God of Jesus Christ: Meditations on the Triune God this morning and found that he provided some new perspective on what was at issue in my post. But first, a little clarification of what I was suggesting earlier is in order.
My terribly titled post was aimed [...]
Baptism and Christian Identity: Ecclesial Pedagogy and John Calvin
Posted in Sacraments on November 5, 2009 | 7 Comments »
If you recall (I know it has been a while) that our last post on Gordon Mikoski’s volume Baptism and Christian Identity we looked at Gregory of Nyssa. Now we turn our attention to John Calvin. Mikoski offers justification for his rather odd pairing:
Gregory of Nyssa and John Calvin shared enough similarities on the matter [...]
Divine Persons and Attributes
Posted in Uncategorized on November 4, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Halden has been musing about the divine persons and attributes here and here, and I thought it would be helpful to posit Edwards as a distinctive in the tradition. The two major issues brought up in Halden’s posts seem to be, in the first, the question of relations in the Trinity and simplicity, and, in [...]
Evangelicals and Tradition
Posted in Evangelicalism on November 3, 2009 | 16 Comments »
In my last post on Evangelical idolatry I focused on the various movements in evangelicalism and how they tend to be attached to various kinds of idolatry. In the discussion on Facebook, unfortunately not had on the post itself, it was suggested to me that evangelicals cannot honestly be concerned with the Christian tradition and [...]
Theology Is Not about Argumentation, but Sanctification: Or Why Rowan Williams is the Only Real Theologian
Posted in Theology on November 2, 2009 | 26 Comments »
John Calvin began his Institutes of the Christian Religion programmatically asserting that the knowledge of God and knowledge of self are irreducibly intertwined. In this, he stood in a long tradition of spiritual theologians who saw theology as more than a mere articulation of truths, but as a self-involving activity, more about the growth of people [...]
