Hauerwas on “Radical Democracy”

Stanley Hauerwas gave an interesting paper offering a Christian defense of “Radical Democracy.” He covered some of the work of John Howard Yoder, who on Hauerwas’ reading is by no means politically quietist, albeit he is a pacifist. The most interesting portion of the lecture, . . . . Continue Reading »

RO, Augustine, and Borders

Hans Boersma offered an interesting critique of the notion of “borders” in Radical Orthodoxy and some of its fellow travelers, especially concerning their relationship to Augustine’s conception of the city of God. The two terms of his analysis were “ontology of peace” . . . . Continue Reading »

Edwards: Christology and Trinity

There were two good presentations on Edwards theology at ETS this morning. The first, by Robert Caldwell of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, focused on the role of the Spirit in Edwards’s Christology. Caldwell’s main point was that the Spirit is the mediator of the union . . . . Continue Reading »

Sloth, or Whatever

INTRODUCTION Sloth has historically been listed among the ?deadly sins,?Ealong with wrath, envy, lust, and the like. The Bible gives strong support to this description of sloth. It is indeed a deadly sin, an enemy of life in the widest sense. PORTRAIT OF A SLUGGARD Proverbs provides a vivid . . . . Continue Reading »

Exhortation, October 24

Should Christians vote in this year?s Presidential election? The question is a reasonable one. All of the candidates have glaring flaws, and the candidates that you find most agreeable have no chance at all to win the election. Your vote seems to make no difference, and with no good choices it . . . . Continue Reading »

Barth on Revelation

Trevor Hart has a helpful article on Barth?s view of revelation in the Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth . First, Hart sketches the neo-Kantian philosophical and theological context for Barth?s work. For Barth, nineteenth-century ?consciousness theology,?Ethe attempt to ground theology in some . . . . Continue Reading »

Purpose of Theology

Barth offers these wise words about the purpose of dogmatics (which consists, for Barth, of the correction, clarification, and criticism of church proclamation by measuring proclamation against the Word of God in the Bible): “Repetitive exposition according to the intentions of the . . . . Continue Reading »

Apostasy and Conversion

Though resting a theological case on a linguistic “accident” would be a mistake, it is intriguing that the Hebrew word for “convert” is the same as the Hebrew word for “go apostate.” The word in both cases is SHUB, “turn,” which means “turn . . . . Continue Reading »

Wedding Sermon

I read from Genesis 2:21-23 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, . . . . Continue Reading »

Wedding Sermon, September 25

Today, you are entering into the covenant of Christian marriage. David, you?re swearing in God?s name that you will love Alisha as Jesus loves the church and gave Himself for her. You are promising with an oath to give your life for her sake. Alisha, you are swearing in the name of God to submit to . . . . Continue Reading »