Who would do such a thing? Kristin Hennessy, that’s who, in a delightful 2007 article in the Harvard Theological Review . She starts by noting that the current effort to rid theology of the corpse of de Regnon is nothing new. He’s been buried before, four times by . . . . Continue Reading »
What is Augustine’s de Trinitate about? Luigi Gioia ( The Theological Epistemology of Augustine’s De Trinitate ) summarizes the treatise in one phrase: “love comes first.” He fills that out with some lovely summaries. ” Love comes first because the inner . . . . Continue Reading »
It seems common-sensical that the existence of something logically precedes its self-expression. Trinitarian theology assaults that common sense. There is no Father except as He has a Son; no Father who has not always already generated His perfect image and likeness; no God who has not always . . . . Continue Reading »
Gregory ( Against Eunomius , 3.3) insists that only a Trinitarian theology can truly affirm the goodness of God. He assumes the Scriptural titles for the Son - light, truth, life, glory - and asks whether the Father could ever have been without these goods. If He was once without the . . . . Continue Reading »
The concept of nature is front-loaded. Nature is what things are in their origin. Hence physis sometimes means “birth.” Hence too Arius: If the Father is ungenerated and the Son begotten, then they must have distinct natures. Athanasius and the Cappadocians deny the premise. . . . . Continue Reading »
What does it mean to call God “God”? Gregory of Nyssa says (in his letter “On Not Three Gods”) that the word theos is derived from the word for “vision” ( theas ), so that to call God “God” is to call Him the “Beholder” ( theoron ). . . . . Continue Reading »
Thomas Oord, whose Defining Love I briefly and sharply criticized here yesterday, writes to tell me that his forthcoming book will fill in some of the gaps I complained about in his book. He writes, “You may like to know that the book was published in the same month and year as my other . . . . Continue Reading »
Thomas Jay Oord’s Defining Love: A Philosophical, Scientific, and Theological Engagement is bizarre. He draws on physical and social sciences in his effort to define love, has a chapter on love and biology and love and cosmology, talks about kenosis a good deal, and concludes with a . . . . Continue Reading »
The Triune God is a God of peace. Father, Son, and Spirit live in eternal and undisruptible harmony with one another. But harmony is not the same as the sheer “peace” of stasis. We ought not, I think, figure the harmony of the Persons by analogy with the harmony of figures . . . . Continue Reading »
Of the atonement, Robert Jenson writes: “We do not want to share the Son’s relation to the Father, we do not want there to be a Father; and that is why the one who said, ‘When you pray, say ‘Our Father,’ had to die. The Father sends servant after servant and . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
