Prokofiev

I’ve been listening to Prokofiev’s third Piano Concerto almost non-stop since my friend Joshua Appel pointed me to the video of Yuja Wang’s stunning performance on YouTube.  How did I live a half-century without this music? What’s so fascinating about this piece? . . . . Continue Reading »

Joy at His Coming

Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent. “Rejoice in the Lord always,” Paul says (Philippians 4:4). “Always,” Paul?  Always?  Rejoice when my mother dies, and when my husband’s playing around, and when we don’t know where the next paycheck is coming from, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Baptism

A few more pieces of my response to my Presbytery regarding baptism. A. The intentions and assumptions of my work on baptism. First and foremost, I have wanted to understand the biblical teaching concerning baptism.  Under the inspiration of the Spirit, the biblical writers wrote of . . . . Continue Reading »

Baptismal efficacy

The SJC committee also addressed my views on baptism, but again does not quote from my response to Presbytery.  To clarify my views, and again to clarify what the Pacific NW Presbytery had in front of it when they considered my views, I post my response to the criticisms of the Majority . . . . Continue Reading »

Covenant of works

This past week, a committee of the PCA’s Standing Judicial Commission (SJC) issued a report in a case from the Pacific NW Presbytery regarding my views on a number of theological questions.  Among other things, the committee claimed that I denied the “bi-covenantal” structure . . . . Continue Reading »

For His Own Glory

Alvyn Pettersen ( Athanasius ) offers this intricate summary of Athanasius’ views on the question of whether God rescues humanity for His own glory or for the good of His creatures: “God created for humanity’s benefit.”  That is to say, God didn’t need creation. . . . . Continue Reading »

Knight’s Move

Published in 1992,  The Knight’s Move: The Relational Logic of the Spirit in Theology and Science by James Loder and W. Jim Neidhardt is not widely discussed or read, so far as I have seen.  It deserves better.  It suggests a new grammar and logic for the dialogue science and . . . . Continue Reading »

In Defense of LaCugna

In a 2002 Theological Studies article, Elizabeth Groppe defends the late Catherine LaCugna against the common charge that her replacement of “economic and ontological” with ” oikonomia and theologia ” blurs the Creator-creature distinction and compromises God’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Cappadocian innovations?

For John Zizioulas and others, the Cappadocians introduced an innovative ontology, an ontology of communion.  In his Letter 38, Basil provides some support for this interpretation, since he acknowledges that the Trinity represents a “new” and “paradoxical” sort of . . . . Continue Reading »

De Deo Uno

Rahner’s complaint against the separation of the treatise de deo uno from the treatise de deo trino is a protest against all sorts of theological dualisms: Between nature and grace, between philosophy and theology, between natural and revealed theology, between foundational universalisms and . . . . Continue Reading »