Skip to content

Theologians

three somewhats?

10 steps towards getting less confused about the Trinity – #5 “Persons” – Part 1

In standard formulations of trinitarian theology nowadays, one says that there is (only) one God “in three Persons.” But what does this mean? We can ask about how these “Persons” relate individually or collectively to the one God. How exactly are they “in” him? But more fundamentally, what is meant by “Person” here? Some trinitarians will tell you that the answer is, basically: nothing. The… Read More »10 steps towards getting less confused about the Trinity – #5 “Persons” – Part 1

podcast 101 – Dr. Brian Leftow: from Jerusalem to Athens

Since 2002, Dr. Brian Leftow has been the Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at Oriel College, Oxford University. He taught for many years at Fordham University in New York City before moving to Oxford. Dr. Leftow has written over 90 professional articles and book chapters on metaphysics, medieval philosophy, and philosophical theology.

von Harnack on logos theories and mystery

Here’s one reason why some theologians love to appeal to “mystery.” Regarding the second half of the second Christian century, the great church history von Harnack observes, …an urgent impulse necessarily made itself felt to define the contents and value of the Redeemer’s life and work, not, primarily, from the point of view of the proclamation of the Gospel, and the hopes of a future state,… Read More »von Harnack on logos theories and mystery

On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament” – Part 5

Finally, the last part of this long, five-part series. Our friend Annoyed Pinnoy continues, Now there are varieties of gifts, but the SAME Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the SAME Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the SAME God who empowers them all in everyone.- 1 Cor. 12:4-6 Notice how Paul uses the word “SAME” three times. Once… Read More »On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament” – Part 5

On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament” – Part 3

Continuing to work through this critique of my post (part 1, part 2) – our friend Annoyed Pinoy writes, Yet, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are repeatedly associated with Yahweh/Jehovah. See, for example, my blog: Identifying Jesus with Yahweh/Jehovah  Associated, sure, and in various ways. This is a common equivocation, I find, with theologians. We say “identify with” to mean “associate (in some way) with”.… Read More »On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament” – Part 3

On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament” – Part 2

Continuing from last time, on the multiplicity of interpretations of the old catholic formulas – quoting David Waltz, our friend Annoyed Pinoy comments on the diversity of Trinity theories: [Waltz:] Now, when we look at “the” Evangelical doctrine of the Trinty, one is forced to conclude that it is “doctrines”, not “the doctrine”, for the following are but a few examples of the different forms… Read More »On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament” – Part 2

On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament” – Part 1

The rebuttal is to this blog post of mine, and it is by a Blogger user named “Annoyed Pinoy,” with whom I briefly discussed these things in the comments here.  I take it that he is an evangelical Christian who is interested in theology – that’s all I know about him, other than that he is a Filipino in Illinois who is smart, curious, and… Read More »On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament” – Part 1

Dialogue with the Maverick Philosopher: God is a being, not Being itself – part 3

Many thanks to my fellow bloggers Bill Vallicella and Aiden Kimel for their thoughtful posts on the discussion/debate between Bill and me on whether God is to be thought of as a unique and perfect being, or not a being, but rather “Being itself” or “Existence.” I was simply not able to keep up, due to travel and other immediate demands. For those following the… Read More »Dialogue with the Maverick Philosopher: God is a being, not Being itself – part 3

reader question on the Trinity and numerical sameness

A podcast listener recently emailed me to ask (emphases added): I won’t hide that I’m a happy Trinitarian and yet that I’m thoroughly enjoying your podcast since it provokes my theology and forces me to actually think about why I believe what I believe. This is a healthy check I think. I am puzzled though about why the numerical issue is so important. If Jesus… Read More »reader question on the Trinity and numerical sameness

a real scholar on the so-called “Lost Gospel”

Leading scholar Dr. Richard Bauckham has done a public service by chewing  thoroughly through the “Lost Gospel”: Dr. Mark Goodacre has posted Dr. Bauckham’s article(s) here. Let’s just say, he determines that it is all bun and no meat. A few teasers: They seem to be proposing a unique genre of ancient literature. Why should we believe them? It seems to be simply a way of getting… Read More »a real scholar on the so-called “Lost Gospel”

so you’ve discovered podcasts

Like millions of others, you’ve discovered the true-crime podcast Serial. And now you realize that you’ve been missing out on a whole universe of high-quality media which is more convenient than radio, television, or web surfing. Welcome to the revolution! At the beginning, podcasts were all done by geeks with cheap microphones. The domain is now being dominated by big media players; Serial, for instance,… Read More »so you’ve discovered podcasts

Dr. James N. Anderson on Paradoxes in Theology

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

Dr. Oliver Crisp on Reformed history and theology

At the Research on Religion podcast, here is a new, wide-ranging, informative interview with analytic theologian Dr. Oliver Crisp of Fuller Seminary. He gives a sort of overview of the Magisterial (as opposed to the Radical) Reformation, and in the latter part of the interview he talks about his new book Deviant Calvinism (kindle). He also discusses the recent revival of Reformed Theology outside of traditional… Read More »Dr. Oliver Crisp on Reformed history and theology

podcast 56 – Richard Swinburne on his life and work

0.75x 1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 0:0000:29:30 podcast 56 – Richard Swinburne on his life and work Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotify In September of 2014 I was privileged to attend a conference in honor of the greatest living natural theologian. For the uninitiated, this is what “natural theology” is (also here). The initiated hold Swinburne in… Read More »podcast 56 – Richard Swinburne on his life and work

podcast 53 – John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity, Part 2

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