I have spent the last few weeks seriously grappling with the cross of Jesus of Nazareth. Atonement, specifically, is very, very important to me. Salvation is very, very important to me, as it should be. Christ’s work for humanity is important. I am a minister of the Gospel. The importance of such subjects are presumed, and correctly so. A seminary night class focused upon Christology is proving itself to be an enormously helpful guide, as far as Christological & theological clarity, focus, and construction are concerned. So, I have been seriously preoccupied with one, ultimate question: “What happened on the cross?” I found the answer while critically unpacking the Cross, Atonement Theory(ies), and honestly questioning more than a few of my previously unexamined beliefs. Read More
Posts Tagged ‘Theology’
Penal Substitution or Christus Victor?
Human Nature Theory and Ethical Orientations
We were presented with a worksheet in a class on Ministerial Ethics (PL311) detailing the Four Theories of Human Nature as lifted from Augsburger’s Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures. We were instructed to theologically identify with one of the four theories. We were also presented with a variety of ethical orientations, such as: Deontological (rules and duty); Teleological: (goals and outcomes); Situational (acts and decisions that fit the situation); Sense (conscience and spirit); Virtue (the formation of character in community); liberation (fulfillment of life and freedom from oppression); and Care (responsible care to self and other). The goal was to associate an ethical orientation with one’s choice of nature theory. The combinations classmates announced in class were interesting, to say the least. I’ll make this point in a bit, but first I’ll list the Four Theories of Human Nature. Read More
Self-enrichment in a World of Relative Values?
I randomly pulled an ethics book from its shelf this morning, after my morning devotions. I flipped to a very provocative page re: the issue of postmodernism, and its relationship and/or affect upon ethics, which has been a strong and obvious theme in discussions concerning Christianity and Christian ethics of late, at least here on this weblog. The content I read deserves to be quoted in full. It is simple, rich and, as I stated earlier, provocative: Read More
Is American Liberal Christianity Dying?
A bit of recent conversation here at Lo-Fi reminded me of an op-ed piece published in the Los Angeles Times in July of this past summer. It had a lot of solid information within it. More of this sort of info can be found if one digs a bit. It’s all out there! This op-ed, Liberal Christianity is Paying for its Sins (Charlotte Allen), was sometimes humorous, sometimes caustic, but always spot on as far as its critique of the goings-on in popular American Christianity are concerned. Read More
David Bentley Hart: On God’s Omnipotence.
I was recently introduced to David Bentley Hart, an Eastern Orthodox theologian and author of “The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth” (Erdmans). He has also taught at the University of Virginia, the University of St. Thomas, Duke University and Loyola College in Baltimore. His book “The Doors of the Sea: Where was God in the Tsunami?” is a required text in my independent study re: the problem of suffering. My take so far on the theologian and his book? A few words instantly pop into my mind as I reflect on what I have read thus far: “Awesome.” “Deep.” “Challenging.” “Orthodoxy.” This is one serious theologian. He is the real deal. I think he is fantastic. Why? I will offer an example of this man’s theological thinking in the following excerpt from “The Doors of the Sea” which specifically addresses a historical problem. Read More
John Wesley: The Realized Christian Experience
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement and Church, mimicked Philipp Jakob Spencer and his mother Susanna in his heavy reliance upon a personal experience of God and Jesus Christ. He needed no other apologetic. It is a well known fact that a very well educated John Wesley struggled with his convictions early on during his ministry. Read More