God breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living soul. To say we are living souls is not to say that we have a ghost hiding inside the machine of our bodies. Living souls are bundles of desires, creatures moved by hungers and thirsts. Our desires don’t lead us in the right . . . . Continue Reading »
In his excellent The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to its History, Doctrine, and Spiritual Culture , John McGuckin gives this brief, dispassionate account of the dynamics of Western Christology in the fifth century: “The Archimandrite Eutyches in the fifth century misunderstood [the . . . . Continue Reading »
TF Torrance in a selection from the anthology noted in an earlier post describes the rationale for the distinction of active and passive obedience in Reformed theology. They don’t differ with regard to time - Christ begins to suffer His passive obedience with the incarnation. Jesus is the . . . . Continue Reading »
In the Romerbrief , Barth pre-channels Wright on Romans 1:17: “In the Gospel is revealed the great, universal secret of the righteousness of God which presses upon every man of every rank. In Christ the consistency of God with Himself - so grievously questioned throughout the whole world, . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus gives two sets of instructions in the Sermon on the Mount. Some works, He says, are like lights on a lampstand, which shine before men to bring glory to the Father in heaven. Some works (fasting, prayer, alms), though, must be done in secret, before the Father alone, in the dark as it were. A . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus says we should deal with lust with violent decisiveness. If the eye, or the hand, or any other body part offends, it should be removed. The motivation Jesus gives is that it is better for us to enter life disabled than to have our entire body burned in the lake of fire. Is Jesus teaching a . . . . Continue Reading »
“The market may have its martyrdoms,” wrote John Ruskin. Guided by Ruskin, I offer some Lenten reflections on business at http://www.firstthings.com/ . . . . Continue Reading »
Some observations on Acts 10-12, stimulated by student papers on the subject. First, the narrative pattern in these chapters is intriguing. Chapter 10 and most of 11 are about Peter and Cornelius, but then Peter’s story is interrupted in 11:19 by the reference to the Christians who end up in . . . . Continue Reading »
In his History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to Origen , de Lubac highlights the centrality of anagogy in Christian interpretation: “It will not be enough to ‘allegorize’ . . . the events and persons of the Old Testament so as to see in them figures of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Some early spring flowers from Danielou. “In the gradual unfolding of God’s design, there appears a system of analogies between his successuive works, for all their distinct self-sufficiency as separate creative acts. The Flood, the Passion, Baptism and the Last Judgment are closely . . . . Continue Reading »
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