Bonhoeffer notes that the disciples had “bodily fellowship and communion” with Jesus, and that to follow Him they had to “cleave to him bodily.” Because He was incarnate, “they live and suffer in bodily communion with him.” The necessity of bodily communion . . . . Continue Reading »
In Putting on Virtue: The Legacy of the Splendid Vices , Jennifer Herdt explores, among other things, the anxiety about hypocritical virtue in early modern ethical thought. How can virtue be acquired - “put on” - and still be sincere, authentic? How can virtue depend on . . . . Continue Reading »
Does the church have a finished, changeless confession? No. Will it ever? No. Because the Head of the Church is a living Lord, and being alive means having the capacity to surprise (Jenson). As the living Lord, Jesus speaks through and to His church according to her . . . . Continue Reading »
Supporting his criticism of Arians using the name of their teacher instead of the name of Christ, Athanasius points to the fact that Greeks who turn to Christ and join the church cease to be called Greeks and become known as Christians ( anti Ellenon archontai christianoi kaleisthai ). In . . . . Continue Reading »
Athanasius condemns the Arians for taking the name of Arius their teacher rather than Christ: “never at any time did Christian people take their title from the Bishopsamong them, but from the Lord, on whom we rest our faith. Thus, though the blessed Apostles have . . . . Continue Reading »
In the current issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion , Richard Pitt of Vanderbilt examines the coping mechanisms used by black gay men within congregations that oppose homosexuality. His abstract summarizes: “Using interviews with black gay Christian men, I uncover a . . . . Continue Reading »
John Ratzinger offers this neat summary of the relation of local and universal church: “the Church is realized immediately and primarily in the individual local Churches which are not separate parts of a larger administrative organization but rather embody the totality of the reality which is . . . . Continue Reading »
In a chapter on Yves Congar, Fergus Kerr (in Twentieth-Century Catholic Theologians ) says that the question of religious freedom had to be on the agenda for Vatican II because “it was a major issue inherited from the First Vatican Council. It was even the major issue: the point of . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Jenson writes, “We may note that Augustine’s teaching that the true members of the church are the predestined, who cannot now be enumerated, is the origin of the idea that the true church is ‘invisible,’ though this proposition itself should not be fathered on . . . . Continue Reading »
INTRODUCTION Our Christmas carols are often sentimental and inaccurate. The church has done far better with Advent hymns, which highlight what the prophets highlight: The promise that the Lord will restore Zion, and so bring light to the Gentiles. THE TEXTS “I will greatly rejoice . . . . Continue Reading »
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