Exhortation, First Sunday After Christmas

We begin a New Year on Tuesday. New Year’s Day is a time for assessment and self-evaluation, for reflecting on the past and looking toward the future. It is also a time of uncertainty. Amid all the uncertainties, we can be completely sure about two things. We can be sure of change. Neither we . . . . Continue Reading »

Pathetic Theology

In his recently translated book on theology in a “Lutheran way,” Oswald Bayer emphasizes the element of pathos in theology: “The element of pathos in theology emphasizes that, in the presence of God ( coram Deo ), it is God himself who is active and that we are the passive . . . . Continue Reading »

Guy Waters

One Brian Cosby has a review of Guy Waters’s book on the Federal Vision in the latest issue of the Westminster Journal. After a fair summary of Waters’s book, Cosby levels two charges: First, that Waters “criticizes the various FV proponents’ positions and doctrines . . . . Continue Reading »

Exhortation

As soon as Adam sins, his marriage is disrupted, as he becomes Eve’s accuser instead of her guardian. In the next generation, sibling rivalry escalates to the first murder. The family is a fallen institution. It cannot redeem. It needs to be redeemed. The story continues throughout the Old . . . . Continue Reading »

Derrida the theologian

In a 1997 review in First Things, Andrew McKenna suggests that Derrida’s most important contribution might ultimately be to deconstruct philosophy so thoroughly that one is left only with theology: “the Sermon on the Mount performs a critique of difference to which any deconstructor can . . . . Continue Reading »

Calvin, Milbank, and Gifts

J. Todd Billings compares Milbank’s theology of gift with Calvin’s theology of grace in a 2005 article from Modern Theology . He focuses attention on Milbank’s criticism that the Reformation put such emphasis on the unilateral character of grace and so highlighted the passivity of . . . . Continue Reading »

Engaging Barth

Barth’s influence continues to grow, among evangelicals no less than others. David Gibson and Daniel Strange have edited a new book, Engaging With Barth (IVP, UK), that collects critical essays on Barth’s theology. The publicity information says, “This volume engages critically . . . . Continue Reading »

Augustine on the web

For anyone looking for Latin texts of Augustine on the web, the most complete site I’ve been able to find is: www.augustinus.it/index2.htm. Also, check out J.J. O’Donnell’s Confessions commentary at ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine.html. . . . . Continue Reading »

Exhortation

There is no baptism today, but this is our first service in some time without one. We have a lot of small children in this congregation, and that is a great joy and blessing. It is also a great challenge. Think ahead: What will Trinity look like in 13 years, when dozens of mid to late teenagers . . . . Continue Reading »

Exhortation

There are no tricks to prayer. The crucial thing is not the method we use or the pattern we follow. The crucial thing is confidence in the God to whom we pray. Who is that God? He is the eternal God. For us, what’s done is done and what’s done cannot be undone. We are bound to time, and . . . . Continue Reading »