In “How Jesus’ Not Having Faith In God Affirms His Deity” at the Thinking Christian blog, Tom Gilson argues that the New Testament, by not teaching that Jesus had faith in God, implies that Jesus is God himself. Thus, even the synoptic gospels implicitly teach that Jesus is God. Here, I’ll comment on his first post in the series; next time, his second post. In… Read More »Did Jesus have faith in God? – Part 1
Here, from BBC4’s Beyond Belief podcast, is an interesting and wide-ranging discussion of avatars in Hinduism vs. catholic Incarnation claims, and also avatars in science fiction. (Alternate link, stitcher) How, you ask, does an avatar differ from an incarnation? (This is me talking now, though they say most of this in the episode.) An avatar is supposed to be God himself (Vishnu, thought of as… Read More »Beyond Belief on Avatars vs. Incarnation
“Before Abraham, I am.” What did Jesus, or the author of the fourth gospel, mean here? In this episode we hear how some ancient authors interpreted John 8:58, including the famous North African bishop Augustine of Hippo.
Theologian-apologist-philosopher Dr. James N. Anderson of Reformed Theological Seminary has posted his new entry for IVP’s New Dictionary of Theology on “Paradox” – that is, on apparent contradictions. Saith Dr. Anderson, Various approaches to theological paradoxes have been proposed, including: (1) The paradoxes involve real contradictions, but God is not bound by ‘human logic’. (2) The paradoxes involve real contradictions, and therefore some traditional doctrines need to be… Read More »Dr. James N. Anderson on Paradoxes in Theology
“Before Abraham was, I was already, in God’s plan, the Messiah.”
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:41:32 podcast 62 – Dr. Dustin Smith on the preexistence of Jesus in the gospel of John Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify Does the fourth gospel teach that Jesus existed long before his conception, even before the creation of the cosmos? Most readers think so. But in this episode Dr.… Read More »podcast 62 – Dr. Dustin Smith on the preexistence of Jesus in the gospel of John
You think that Jesus was good. But do you also think that Jesus was smart?
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:33:09 podcast 59 – Dr. Carl Mosser on salvation as deification Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify When a Christian is saved, is she thereby deified? This is how Eastern Orthodox theologians describe Christian salvation, and it is a common saying that this is distinctive of Eastern Christian theology, but not of Western.… Read More »podcast 59 – Dr. Carl Mosser on salvation as deification
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:34:05 podcast 54 – John Edwards vs. John Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify John Edwards (1637-1726) was an Anglican Calvinist and would-be defender of Christian orthodoxy. Seemingly at the last minute, he tacked on to his Some Thoughts Concerning the Several Causes and Occasions of Atheism… Read More »podcast 54 – John Edwards vs. John Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:38:41 podcast 53 – John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity, Part 2 Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify This week I start with a long and insightful listener comment. Among other things, he asks how one’s theology as unitarian or trinitarian affect one’s discipleship, or how one follows Jesus as Lord. I… Read More »podcast 53 – John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity, Part 2
Thanks to Rob Bowman for his thoughtful reply to my previous post regarding the Shema and his argument with Sir Anthony Buzzard. While I sided with Mr. Bowman regarding the meaning of the Shema (as saying that YHWH is unique – who which only presupposes, but doesn’t assert that he is a god), I think Buzzard is correct that ancient Jews thought that YHWH was… Read More »a reply to Robert Bowman on biblical monotheism, the Trinity, and the Shema
What are the essential teachings which one must accept to be a Christian?
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:17:37 podcast 49 – 2 interpretations of Philippians 2 – part 2 Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify Jesus was “in the form of God,” but chose to empty himself, becoming like us. What do these famous statements by Paul mean? In episode 48, I examined a common evangelical interpretation of this text… Read More »podcast 49 – 2 interpretations of Philippians 2 – part 2
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:21:27 podcast 48 – 2 interpretations of Philippians 2 – part 1 Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify Does Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 2 teach that Jesus is God himself, and that at certain point in time about 2,000 years ago, Jesus became a man, letting go of his equality… Read More »podcast 48 – 2 interpretations of Philippians 2 – part 1
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:39:25 podcast 41 – Stephen T. Davis’s Christian Philosophical Theology Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify In this episode, Dr. Davis reads short selections from his 2006 book Christian Philosophical Theology (Oxford University Press). As he said in our interview, this book is probably the best place to look for his mature… Read More »podcast 41 – Stephen T. Davis’s Christian Philosophical Theology
At the Journal of Analytic Philosophy, and at the Journal of Biblical Unitarianism. Thanks to the editors of both journals for their good work. The first paper continues the discussion with Hasker of my “Divine Deception” arguments against three-self Trinity theories. I discuss there the monotheism of Isaiah. Then I get into interesting arguments by historical unitarians, such as Nye, Clarke, and Worcester, even comparing… Read More »two new papers published online
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:31:11 podcast 37 – Why did Jesus have to suffer? Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify This is a special Good Friday edition of the trinities podcast: a short pre-concert lecture I was privileged to give before a masterful performance of the 1724 version of Bach’s St. John Passion at SUNY Fredonia,… Read More »podcast 37 – Why did Jesus have to suffer?
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:23:50 podcast 36 – Interview with Dr. Bart Ehrman about his How Jesus Became God – Part 2 Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify Is the author of John confused about Jesus and God? Does he think that two different beings – the Father, and the man Jesus – are numerically… Read More »podcast 36 – Interview with Dr. Bart Ehrman about his How Jesus Became God – Part 2
0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:20:58 podcast 35 – Interview with Dr. Bart Ehrman about his How Jesus Became God – Part 1 Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify In this episode, a conversation with Dr. Bart Ehrman about his How Jesus Became God, and the evangelical response book How God Became Jesus. Dr. Ehrman has… Read More »podcast 35 – Interview with Dr. Bart Ehrman about his How Jesus Became God – Part 1
The latest on internet discussion of Dr. Bart Ehrman’s new book and the evangelical response book. Update: part one of my interview with Dr. Ehrman is now out. Part two is out on April 14. Ehrman’s own summary. And short Q & A. Theology professor “Dustin Martyr” evaluates Dr. Ehrman’s arguments, chapter by chapter. Negative review by evangelical theologian Dr. Andreas Köstenberger. Positive review by the Revangelical… Read More »Bart Update