I received word yesterday that the Ph.D. Committee voted to approve my request for “Excused Program Leave” beginning in January 2021 and lasting until January 2022. At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, 2020 has been a particularly difficult year. Attempting to complete my “Barth, Bonhoeffer, and the Bible” dissertation has taken a toll…… Continue reading It’s Official. I’m Hitting Pause on My Ph.D. for a Year
Category: Dissertation
This is where I show my work on my dissertation: “Scriptural, but Not Religious: Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and a Biblical Critique of Religion.”
The Ph.D. Plan (Or the Lack Thereof)
For months and months now, I’ve been praying for either (1) a breakthrough on my “Barth, Bonhoeffer, and the Bible” dissertation or (2) a clear sign that I should quit the Ph.D. Unfortunately, after countless confusing dead ends in my endeavors to put Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer into precise conversation with each other regarding…… Continue reading The Ph.D. Plan (Or the Lack Thereof)
Want a taste of what my dissertation is about? Read these two passages (Dissertation Dispatch, 2020-04-03)
What does “religion” mean? Great question! I’m writing my dissertation on Barth, Bonhoeffer, the Bible, and “religion.” However, getting clear on just what Barth and Bonhoeffer meant by “religion” is a huge challenge. It’s what I devoted my entire writing sample to examining, and I plan to devote an entire chapter of my dissertation to…… Continue reading Want a taste of what my dissertation is about? Read these two passages (Dissertation Dispatch, 2020-04-03)
What did Barth and Bonhoeffer think of the Bible? (Dissertation Dispatch, 2020-03-30)
I’m trying to parse out the relevance of Barth’s and Bonhoeffer’s engagement with Scripture for making sense of the “Barth-Bonhoeffer relationship.” Specifically, I’m trying to, at the very least, add some biblical content and context to the ongoing debate over the relationship between Barth’s and Bonhoeffer’s theological critiques of religion. As I put it in…… Continue reading What did Barth and Bonhoeffer think of the Bible? (Dissertation Dispatch, 2020-03-30)
Barth, Bonhoeffer, and the Bible: Back to the Beginning (Dissertation Dispatch, 2020-03-26)
Perhaps it’s just the global COVID–19 pandemic, but I’ve been really discouraged about my dissertation lately. My normal reading/writing workflow has ground to a halt because (1) we are temporarily without childcare and (2) my wife, a Family Nurse Practitioner is still working full-time from the office. That leaves me home alone with our 1.5-year-old…… Continue reading Barth, Bonhoeffer, and the Bible: Back to the Beginning (Dissertation Dispatch, 2020-03-26)
Are the Beatitudes “Renunciations” (Verzichte)?
In Discipleship (DBWE 4), Dietrich Bonhoeffer frames all of the Beatitudes in terms of Jesus’ disciples living in renunciation (Verzicht) and want (Mangel). Interestingly, for Bonhoeffer, Jesus is only speaking to his disciples in the Beatitudes (he makes this argument on the basis of Luke 6:20ff.). And the disciples’ renunciation and want are caused by…… Continue reading Are the Beatitudes “Renunciations” (Verzichte)?
Are the Beatitudes “Good Works”? (Matt. 5:13–16)
Yesterday, I wrote just a bit about interpretive approaches to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. I’m trying to get a better handle on how Barth and Bonhoeffer treat the Sermon on the Mount, and I’m starting with the Beatitudes. However, it’s pretty challenging to situate Barth and Bonhoeffer in light of the “standard” approaches to…… Continue reading Are the Beatitudes “Good Works”? (Matt. 5:13–16)
Interpretive Approaches to the Beatitudes
As I said in my previous post, “Interpretive Approaches to the Sermon on the Mount,” I’m working on how Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer read the Sermon on the Mount. Of course, when interpreting the Sermon on the Mount, the best place to start is at the beginning! This means beginning with the Beatitudes in…… Continue reading Interpretive Approaches to the Beatitudes
Interpretive Approaches to the Sermon on the Mount
I’m working on how Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer read the Sermon on the Mount. In order to help situate my discussion of Barth’s and Bonhoeffer’s readings, I’m trying to get a better grasp of the various interpretive approaches to the Sermon on the Mount. So far, the most exhaustive Sermon on the Mount “interpretive…… Continue reading Interpretive Approaches to the Sermon on the Mount
No One Knows what “Positivism of Revelation” Means!
When it comes to the Barth-Bonhoeffer relationship, there is perhaps no greater conundrum than the meaning of what Bonhoeffer called Barth’s “Offenbarungspositivismus” (“positivism of revelation” or “revelatory positivism”) in his Letters and Papers from Prison (DBWE 8). Now, before we proceed, please note that Bonhoeffer meant something very particular by “religion” in his prison letters.…… Continue reading No One Knows what “Positivism of Revelation” Means!