Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When a certain Samaritan village refused Jesus’ attempt to visit, James and John asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven upon it. The allusion to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is evident, but, as the story shows, James’ and John’s thinking was entirely warped. Jesus rebuked…
In the first part of this essay, I considered paideia (formation)and mimesis (imitation) in the context of Aristotle’s virtue ethics and that of the New Testament. The overall concern is to realize how relevant is Aristotle’s ethics both to diagnosing our current malaise and to enculturing our children, though we…
In these posts I am inviting you into my philosophical reflection about integration , the absence of which we feel palpably in our fragmented world. My hope is for us to understand it more deeply, and to be ourselves reintegrated in the process. At this point in this extended inquiry…
It’s hard to imagine someone, centuries from now, mistaking our culture for a moral highpoint in the history of the West. Increasingly the news is dominated by school shootings, abusive policing, sexploitation of women, and increasing rates of suicide, addiction, and divorce. In response, the Left calls for regulations, surveillance,…
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (Ps. 34:17-18) God is listening. He is listening when we ask Him for financial provision,…
The allusions to Mt. Sinai in the transfiguration story point to Jesus as a new Moses and even more as Yahweh, the God who met Moses and Elijah on the mountain. The fact that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah spoke of Jesus’ “exodus” suggests that the mountain of transfiguration was intended…
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J. Todd Billings compares Milbank’s theology of gift with Calvin’s theology of grace in a 2005 article from Modern Theology . He focuses attention on Milbank’s criticism that the Reformation put such emphasis on the unilateral character of grace and so highlighted the passivity of the reception of grace that…
Stephen Webb has an illuminating discussion of Derrida’s views on giving in his book The Gifting God . Webb begins by saying that “deconstructionist has always been a critique of the event of the gift.” Derrida’s musings on the gift parallel his discussions of the history of metaphysics. According to…
John Zizioulas summarizes his “ontology of personhood” in an article in Christoph Schwobel’s volume, Persons – Divine and Human . Zizioulas begins with the question of the relation between being and personal identity: “It is all too often assumed that people ‘have’ personhood rather than ‘being’ persons,” so that personhood…
Barth has a stimulating discussion of Israel’s double-knowledge of Yahweh in the first volume of the Church Dogmatics. He begins with a discussion of what he calls the “hypostases” of God, a usage he takes from “religious science” rather than dogmatics per se. In this context, “hypostases” are anthropomorphic descriptions…
Barth says that non-Trinitarian theology inevitably deny either the unity of God or His revelation. If it maintains the unity of God “it has to call revelation in question as the act of the real presence of the real God. The unity of God in which there are no distinct…
Barth’s influence continues to grow, among evangelicals no less than others. David Gibson and Daniel Strange have edited a new book, Engaging With Barth (IVP, UK), that collects critical essays on Barth’s theology. The publicity information says, “This volume engages critically and courteously with Barth on a range of vital…
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