Merit, Jonathan Edwards said, is “anything . . . in one person . . which appearing in the view of another is a recommendation of him to the other’s regard, esteem and affection.” On this definition of merit, Edwards is able to insist that imputation is not “unreasonable, or . . . . Continue Reading »
In an article evaluating RC Sproul’s teaching on justification in a 2004 issue of JETS , Matthew Heckel concludes that Sproul’s work is misleading and misses the opportunity of the moment: “Sproul’s assertion that the Reformers considered sola fide t he essence of t he . . . . Continue Reading »
You can feel the outrage when David Carrasco ( City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization ) observes, “all significant theories of ritual sacrifice, from Robertson Smith through Hubert and Mauss, Rene Girard, Walter Burkert, Adoph Jensen, and J.Z. Smtih, . . . . Continue Reading »
In his provocative 2005 study, Putting Liberalism in Its Place , Yale’s Paul W. Kahn argues that “we will never understand the character of the American rule of law without first understanding the way in which it is embedded in a conception of popular sovereignty. More importantly, we . . . . Continue Reading »
Talal Asad has argued, uncharacteristically, that “none of the criteria [of] the Islamic tradition” allows anyone to describe suicide bombers as “sacrifices.” Ivan Strenski ( Why Politics Can’t Be Freed From Religion (Blackwell Manifestos) ) demurs. He finds plenty of . . . . Continue Reading »
I have been charged with deviating from Reformed orthodoxy for claiming that, strictly speaking, what is imputed to us in justification is the verdict that the Father pronounced in raising His Son from the dead. This verdict assumes that Jesus obeyed the law completely and died in obedience to His . . . . Continue Reading »
Sacrifices are a “memorial of sin” (Hebrews 10:3). Every morning and evening, Israel’s sins were memorialized before Yahweh, even as they were atoned for. Satan accuses “day and night” (Revelation 12:10). He is the accuser, and at every morning and evening sacrifice, . . . . Continue Reading »
In a well-known passage in De catechizandis rudibus , Augustine explains the purpose of the whole Scripture and of redemptive history: “Thus, before all else, Christ came so that people might learn how much God loves them, and might learn this, so that they would catch fire with love for him . . . . Continue Reading »
With deceptive simplicity, Eberhard Jungel ( God’s Being is in Becoming: The Trinitarian Being of God in the Theology of Karl Barth ) neatly captures why Barth considers the doctrine of election to be the gospel: “God’s being-in-act becomes manifest in the temporal history of . . . . Continue Reading »
Barth’s doctrine of election feels incarnational because it is the determination of the Son to be the incarnate Son. Traditional Reformed dogmatics always insisted, as Richard Muller has shown, always election in Christ. But, again, the fact that in electing the elect in Christ God the Son . . . . Continue Reading »
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