This idea has been bouncing around in my head for a bit. It’s not fully-formed by any means, but I’d like to get it out there and hear what you think of it. Here it is: “Mental Models” could be a helpful model for theology. What is a “mental model”? Definition of mental models Put simply, a “mental model” is a concept used to help explain how the world works. ...
I want to share with you the following prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas Before Study, based on Oratio S. Thomae Aquinatis ante studium, which Thomas Aquinas would pray before studying, writing, or preaching. We prayed it responsively before class (Patristic and Medieval History and Doctrine) with Dr. Piotr Malysz at Beeson Divinity School, and I’ve since turned back to this prayer often! A Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas Before Study O God, Creator of all that is, From the treasures of Your wisdom, You have arrayed the universe with marvelous order, And now govern with skill and might. You are the true fount of light and wisdom. ...
INTRODUCTION Theological hermeneutics – human understanding and interpretation in light of the identity and acts of the triune God – faces two problematic questions that, I believe, every biblical and/or theological scholar must be prepared to address. First, should the Bible be read in some special sense as divine revelation, or should we read the Bible like any other text? And second, should biblical and theological studies be one discipline, or two? ...
Great news! If you only have a minute to read about wealth, here’s my argument in a nutshell: Outline of My Argument Main Claim: American Christians should reduce their standards of living to what is necessary for human flourishing and give their excess resources beyond this standard to the poor and oppressed. God is the firmest advocate for human flourishing. The pursuit of wealth is spiritually dangerous and crippling. Our culture’s inclinations toward upward financial mobility go against the message of the New Testament and the life of Christ. God is revealed in Scripture to have a special concern for the poor and the oppressed. Christians will be held accountable for how they treat the poor and the oppressed. Objections: This line of reasoning is advocating asceticism and is unbiblical. Christians have every right to keep what they have earned and to do what they wish with their excess funds. Because the poor are lazy, Christians should not feel pressured to give, in case their generosity is taken advantage of. Warrant: Christians want to remain true to Scripture and submit to God’s way of life in order to find satisfaction. (For more on Christianity, wealth, and poverty, see my topical study on what the book of Proverbs has to teach us about poverty.) ...
Yesterday, I asked you to join the Church if you, like me, are frustrated with the Church. The strongest critiques of religion come from within, not without, the Christian community. Plus, your frustrations are likely shared by many others within the Church! However, it’s not enough to point the finger at others from your pew, instead of doing so from the public square. Yes, that’s a good first step, but another one is necessary. ...
…and by “club” I of course mean “Church”! What am I getting at? Am I calling the Church a mere “club”? No. Although, unfortunately, it often feels that way, doesn’t it? A club full of hypocrisy, idolatry, indifference, and platitudes. A club full of power-plays, fear-mongering, and Bible-thumping. A club full of saints too afraid to admit that they are sinners. Perhaps you’re sick of this “club,” and you’re ready to leave, if you haven’t left already. ...
Hi internet – especially all you Barthians and Bonhoefferians (-ites?) out there. I’m in the process of compiling a reading list, and I could use your suggestions. Here’s my goal: to explore the possible relationship between Barth’s critique of the “No-God”(Nich-Gott) and Bonhoeffer’s critique(s) of viewing God as a “stopgap” (Lückenbüßer) or “working hypothesis.” As far as primary sources go, I plan to focus on the Romans commentary, Garrett Green’s recent re-translation of CD §17, and Letters and Papers from Prison. ...
INTRODUCTION: ACCEPTING, BLOCKING, AND STATUS From the church’s perspective, is the state a promising offer, or a threatening one? At the risk of breathtaking oversimplification, Anglicans have tended to adopt the former perspective, leading to accommodation, and Anabaptists the latter, resulting in separation.[1] Following Samuel Wells in his theological appropriation of terms from theatrical improvisation, the Anglican tradition has tended to respond to the promising offers (invitations to respond) of the state by accepting – maintaining the premise(s) of the state’s action(s).[2] The historical legacy of the Church of England has given Anglicanism, as Anderson notes, an “inheritance of a strong loyalty to the state and a conservatism that has led the church to promote the status quo more often than it agitates for reform.”[3] This inheritance from the established Church of England has coincided with a dual tendency to adopt a high status (a strategy for getting one’s way), in terms of relative privilege and political optimism, and a low status, in terms of frequent subservience in church-state relations.[4] ...
Listening to the first episode of the excellent new podcast, LectioCast, helped to orient my thoughts toward tomorrow’s readings for Pentecost Sunday. I’ve reproduced the first lesson, psalm, second lesson, and Gospel reading below, but I’d also like to call your attention to three powerful songs. Song #1: “Dry Bones” by Gungor The first song is “Dry Bones” by Gungor. Read the Ezekiel passage and psalm below, and give it a listen. First Lesson: Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NET Bible) The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones – Gustave Dore ...
What Does It Mean to Be Human? A clue to the answer lies in the asking of the question, for this act presupposes both a [human] subject and object in a dialectic of self-transcendence. As Robert Jenson notes, “in asking this question, we somehow take up a vantage outside ourselves to make ourselves our own objects, get beyond ourselves to look back at ourselves.”1 The mystery of human existence is “that I am the subject of the object I am and the object of the subject I am.”2 ...
Presented at Southeast ETS 2015. DISUNITY AS ECCLESIOLOGICAL IMPOSSIBILITY:A BARTHIAN ANALOGY Joshua P. Steele INTRODUCTION Just as sin is ontological impossibility, disunity is ecclesiological impossibility. The tension between the undeniable reality of sin and Karl Barth’s theological definition of sin as an impossible possibility parallels the tension between the obvious reality of a fractured church1 and the theological definition of the church as the one body of the one Christ. Two excerpts from the Barthian corpus legitimize this connection. First, in his prepared remarks to the 1937 Second World Conference on Faith and Order in Edinburgh, Karl Barth maintained that ...
Karl Barth’s exegesis of Christ’s wilderness temptations isperenniallyinspiring, but particularly poignant during this season of Lent. What does it mean for Christ to be the Perfect Penitent? And how should this influence our own repentance? The following series of quotations comes from a lengthy small-print section in CD IV/1, 259-73 (§ 59 The Obedience of the Son of God; 2. The Judge Judged in Our Place). There Barth walks through the three wilderness temptations before masterfully connecting them to Christ’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. ...
Yesterday I posted the beginning of Karl Barth’s exegesis of Christ’s wilderness temptations. He does a masterful job of explaining how Christ was tempted, not to violate the Law or commit a moral infraction, but to abandon his role as the obedient, Perfect Penitent. Put differently, Barth clarifies that Jesus’ sinlessness is not a vague moral perfection, but rather obedience and repentance. Christ’s first temptation was to turn stones into bread, thereby using divine power as a “technical instrument” to save and maintain his own life. Today’s temptation contains an incisive critique of Christendom’s desire for influence, relevance, and power. ...
I’ve been reproducingKarl Barth’smagnificent exegesis of Christ’s wilderness temptations in Church Dogmatics IV/1. It is a particularly appropriate discussion for this season ofLent, for Jesus was not tempted to break the Law or commit a moral infraction. Instead, he was tempted to abandon his role as the Perfect Penitent. For Barth, if Christ had capitulated to any of the temptations, he would have abandoned God’s redemptive mission. Jesus Christ had to persist in penitence in order to be “the Judge Judged in Our Place” (Barth’s most concise description of the atonement proper). ...
The following essay deals with the theme of the fear of death in White Noise, the novel by Don DeLillo (affiliate link). It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart.[1] Don DeLillo’s White Noise, “a paradigm of postmodern literature,”[2] yields the kind of cognitive dissonance that makes you wonder whether the author simply missed the mark, or if you are only confused because you suffer from the postmodern condition which DeLillo adroitly analyzes. ...