Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
[This essay was originally published in 1988. Given the situation that our new national socialists are getting the world into, I thought it might be useful to reprint it here. – JBJordan] The Bible has quite a bit to say about gold, silver, and precious stones, and the Bible always…
I wrote this elsewhere and was encouraged to put it here. It is a comment on what a pastor is. Today, this is not very well understood, and God’s people suffer because of it. There are four professions: medicine, education, law, and religion. Each of these, when done at a…
James Jordan recently pointed out in private conversation how appropriate it is, in John’s Gospel, that Nicodemus is present both to ask Jesus about being born again, and to see Jesus re-enter the womb of the mother. Nicodemus rhetorically asks, “How can a man be born when he is old?…
This is a problematic and much discussed passage. I’ve been discussing it in another forum, and have decided to move it here and present some very preliminary observations about it. One large question is this: Who is the speaker here and what is his situation? Traditionally, the speaker is seen…
1. The current issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction includes a good fantasy novella by John C. Wright, who since his conversion has been writing Christianly. This is a fine fantasy with nods to C. S. Lewis and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and probably Gene Wolfe as well.…
“It is an experience of our days that the spoken name of Jesus alone exercises an unforeseen power; and the effort which it cost to speak this name is perhaps connected to some faint apprehension of the power which is inherent within it. Wherever the name of Jesus Christ is…
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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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