One of the most interesting theological/ christological/biblical arguments is about to begin. Bart Ehrman’s book How Jesus Became God, released today, aims to explain what he views as a great misunderstanding. Also released today: an evangelical response by five professors: How God Became Jesus. Bring it on! Thanks to HarperOne and to Zondervan for these advance copies. Be on the lookout for content here on… Read More »Bring it on: How ___ became ___
Last night I finally saw the 2014 movie Son of God. I’m not as down on the movie as this guy! Other reviewers point out some inaccuracies of detail. Others say it’s just too compressed. Me, though I liked the movie, I most noticed what New Testament material they left out, as well as their familiar, confused picture of Jesus and God. In this episode,… Read More »podcast 32 – review of the movie Son of God (2014)
Was the Council of Nicea (325) a defense and re-affirmation of core catholic theology? And did the Council of Constantinople (381) merely re-affirm Nicea, and slightly clean up its language and the details of its theology? In this episode, analytic theologian Dr. William Hasker gives his perspective on these fourth century events, reading from his Metaphysics and the Tripersonal God (discussed here and here). He contrasts a… Read More »podcast 31 – Dr. William Hasker on the “Arian” Controversy
The tradition of three-self trinitarian art continues, in the cartoons of “nakedpastor.” The way your portray a self, is generally by portraying the type of self we’re most familiar with – a human self, or something like one. At least the Holy Ghost isn’t a bird… but here he look like a kid in a bad Halloween costume. 🙂 If you’re going to cartoon about… Read More »As usual, the Holy Ghost gets the worst of it
An interview by Dustin of The DustinMartyr Blog – it’s McInteresting! …the early Christian apologists, such as Justin Martyr, were not arguing about monotheism with their Jewish contemporaries. They were arguing over whether Jesus was the Messiah, and whether certain things can be said about this man who was crucified, and things like that. But we don’t find monotheism as the topic. For me, the… Read More »James McGrath on the Gospel of John and Christology
Check out this excellent podcast by Bill Craig and Kevin Harris at Reasonable Faith. I really liked this discussion. I would only have suggested two additional topics: So, we should deny the “classical” doctrine of divine impassibility, right? And, if someone were perfectly disposed to feel and act in the ways described in this episode, in ways compatible with all other perfections, that one would… Read More »Craig and Harris: a mistaken view of love
Was Arius the ultimate Judas? Was he an arrogant innovator, a devotee of Greek philosophy, a Judaizer, a hater of mysteries, a phony, a snake in the grass? In this episode, we look at Arius and his theology, in (as much as is now possible) in his own words. You can also listen to this episode on youtube. You can also listen to this episode… Read More »podcast 29 – Arius
The conversation continues, as we get into to the specifics of Dr. Hasker’s “social” Trinity theory. Dr. Hasker answers many questions, including: How is it that these three divine selves are one God, and not three? What is “perichoresis”? What does it mean to say that their actions respecting the cosmos are “undivided”? What role does the contemporary metaphysical concept of “constitution” play in the… Read More »podcast 28 – Interview with Dr. William Hasker about his Metaphysics and the Tripersonal God – Part 2
In the last thirty years or so, many Christian philosophers have become “social” trinitarians. Not only do they “use the social analogy” for the Trinity – that is, compare the Trinity to three humans – but they also, generally, affirm that the Trinity really does contain or consist of three selves- three beings capable of thought, action, and personal relationships. Dr. Hasker did this before… Read More »podcast 27 – Interview with Dr. William Hasker about his Metaphysics and the Tripersonal God – Part 1
Here’s a very interesting interview with probably the greatest living Christian philosopher. Like many of my peers, I’m a big fan. Read the whole thing to see why I picked a teapot. Here are some relevant bits (with my own bolding): I take atheism to be the belief that there is no such person as the God of the theistic religions. The first being of… Read More »Parsing Plantinga: is there such a person as God?
In this episode Sean and I continue our discussion of “the Holy Spirit” in the New Testament, covering such topics as how “the Spirit” relates to worship and prayer in the New Testament, the eternal trinitarian “dance” discussed in recent trinitarian literature, the threefold baptismal formula, and “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.” Some relevant links: Holmes’s edition of the Apostolic Fathers Ehrman’s Lost Scriptures (with… Read More »podcast 26 – Pastor Sean Finnegan on “the Holy Spirit” – Part 2
I love memes. You don’t often see one that’s about the Trinity! (H/T Tim Pawl on Facebook.) One could view this as a complaint, a mere lament at our cognitive ineptitude. Or, possibly, one could view it as superficially a joke, but actually an assertion of negative mysterianism. In practice, I think that stance is going to always include a policy of repeating the required words,… Read More »a new Trinity Meme
Our friend Fr. Aiden has responded to my post defending analytic theology (and analytic theologians). This bit, I think, advances the discussion: …my concern is not false teaching per se but the subjection of God’s self-revelation as Father, Son, and Spirit to the quest for philosophical precision. And this brings me to the heart of my concern. As far as I can tell, the theological… Read More »more on despising analytic theologians
In this episode Pastor Sean Finnegan and I discuss biblical spirit-talk: “the Holy Spirit,” “the Spirit of the LORD,” “God’s spirit,” “the Spirit of Christ,” etc. Sean helpfully distinguishes four types of spirit-talk in the Bible, giving many examples from both testaments. We also discuss traditional catholic arguments for the Holy Spirit being a third divine person in addition to the Father and the Son,… Read More »podcast 25 – Pastor Sean Finnegan on “the Holy Spirit” – Part 1
Pastor-theologian Greg Boyd has been theologizing about the Incarnation recently. He tips his hand right at the start – he’s going kenoticist. Boyd’s reasoning, I think, can be illustrated like this. Consider this inconsistent triad: A fully divine being is essentially omniscient. A human being is not essentially omniscient. A fully divine being can be a human being. Why believe 1? Perfect being theology, and… Read More »Boyd on Incarnation
Another good post by Kermit Zarley on his blog. It is most significant that neither the witnesses nor Sanhedrin members accused Jesus of ever claiming to be God. Jews had so accused Jesus twice in his career; yet both times he denied their accusation (John 5.16-47; 10.30-38). Apparently, they accepted his denial. John A.T. Robinson rightly maintains that if Jesus had ever claimed to be… Read More »Zarley: Did Jesus Tell the Sanhedrin He Was God?
to this piece of mine, in the previous issue. Who gets the better of the exchange? I don’t have more to say right now… but I am reviewing Hasker’s major new book soon for another journal. In brief, he defends a three-self Trinity theory, and believes he can show this to be self-consistently monotheistic. He develops this view, I think, farther than anyone else ever… Read More »Bill Hasker’s reply
Earlier catholic theologians like Tertullian and Origen show us how.
I recently read this somewhat disturbing post by our friend Fr. Aiden Kimel. Though he lightens things up with humor a couple of times, it is a pretty thorough condemnation of analytic theologians. A charge he makes by implication against analytic theologians (i.e. those trained in analytic philosophy who work on topics in Christian theology) is that like the “Arians” of old, we suffer from… Read More »against despising analytic theologians
