Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
The Council of Nicaea in 325 worked hard to summarize a sound understanding of the Triune God in the face of Arian error. They explained how Jesus, the Son, exists in eternal relationship with the Father. In a final document they added this truncated final object of proper faith—“And in the Holy Spirit.” The Father-Son …
Read More “And in the Holy Spirit”Yesterday I flew from India to London by way of Istanbul. Throughout the trip I was both reading and gazing out the window. The book on my lap, a biography of Alexander the Great, paralleled my trip. Centuries ago—starting in 334 BCE—Alexander marched his Macedonian and Greek forces all the way to India, defeating every …
Read More Aristotle & AlexanderI’ve been reading Re-Thinking Dionysius the Areopagite (Coakley & Stang, eds.). The “re-thinking” in the title caught my attention. Most of us have never had a first thought about Dionysius so the idea of a re-think is odd. Never mind, though, whether we know him or not. It’s very likely that he has helped shape …
Read More A Divine StirEmpty grace is an odd but widespread feature of Christianity. It offers a form of Christianity based on information about Christ but it lacks any power. The faith it produces affirms many social values and laws taken from Christianity while missing Christ’s most central invitation to know him by responding to his love. Living grace, …
Read More Living GraceIt’s mid-morning and I’m enjoying a morning coffee at Le Petit Café in the university district of Ljubljana, Slovenia. I arrived to the background sound of Amazing Grace in English playing on their sound system. It’s remarkably apropos because of my focus here for today: Jonathan Edwards’ Treatise on Grace. I drew from it yesterday …
Read More A Treatise on GraceThis entry repeats the article posted at Cor Deo – please offer any responses on that site The early church father, Irenaeus, offered bread for hungry hearts. Here’s something from him I find helpful in coming to a new year. He wrote sometime around AD 180. “God recapitulated in Himself the ancient formation of man, …
Read More A New WaySuccess in living a spiritual life depends, not surprisingly, on the Spirit. Yet the Christian tradition has been very soft in addressing the Spirit’s place in the Godhead and in our lives as believers. That despite many strong advocates for him both now and in the past. His role in both Old and New Testaments …
Read More What about the Spirit?Today in our Cor Deo meeting we spoke of Athanasius as one of the heroes of the faith. As bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, (328-373) he was sent into exile by various Roman emperors five times, so that of his 45 years in office he was away more than he was at home. Still he wrote …
Read More Heroes of the Faith“I tried to find a definition for ‘affective theology’ in the dictionary but it wasn’t listed—so where does it come from and what does it mean?” That question was posed to me a number of times when I was a seminary teacher. Students wondered why I used the phrase regularly in my classes while it …
Read More Affective TheologyThe 18th century American preacher and teacher Jonathan Edwards had a nose for nonsense: when he sniffed out misguided theology he was quick to challenge it. One example was his dismissal of the idea that self-love can ever be called “love” even when it’s applied to God (Works, 6.337). Let me cite a discussion of …
Read More Edwards on Triune Love