Here are a few gems from the Church Dogmatics II/1. The first quote won’t make much sense without the broader context, but it’s a great example of Barth’s paradoxical style, and since it’s in the small print, few people ever read it. “…the similarity meant here is pleased to reflect itself in what we know as [...]
Archive for September, 2011
this week in Barth
Posted in Theology on September 29, 2011 | 1 Comment »
prison
Posted in Christian Worldview, miscellaneous, Theology on September 26, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Last night I had the moving experience of preaching in a Muskegon prison. My former student Craig Curtis is doing a stellar job as the prison chaplain, and he invited me to come preach on the topic of hell. I asked whether the prisoners had heard of Love Wins, and I was told that they [...]
Barth haiku
Posted in Theology on September 24, 2011 | 1 Comment »
God has blessed me with some amazing and strange friends. One of them, Nate Archer, has superbly accomplished what no one has ever thought to try. What do you get when you drizzle Japanese poetry with Neo-Orthodox, Swiss theology in the mind of a Moody grad now pastoring a conservative church in the RCA? You get some [...]
Barth on natural theology
Posted in Theology on September 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The key to reading Barth is to remember that every word he ever wrote was meant to oppose natural theology (that’s hyperbole, but not by much). When stuck on a difficult passage, ask yourself how it aims to destroy the possibility of natural theology. Answer that question, and you’ll understand what Barth is doing there. Here are [...]
our year of understanding
Posted in Christian Worldview, tagged Year of Interfaith Understanding; religious toleration; religious dialogue on September 17, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Last week the mayor of Grand Rapids declared 2012 the “Year of Interfaith Understanding,” and today’s paper included a column from our religion editor (Charles Honey) which supports the cause. I’m always happy to dialogue, and I agree that we need more understanding, but I wonder whether the planned program can be as religiously neutral as it claims. [...]
til’ Alzheimers we do part
Posted in Christian Worldview, Ethics on September 16, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Russell Moore powerfully critiques Pat Robertson’s comment that a person with Alzheimer’s disease is essentially dead, so their spouse would be free to divorce them and remarry. I would add that Robertson seems to subscribe to a Platonic (and Cartesian) dualism, assuming that a person’s mind is essentially them, so that if their mind is [...]
uh-oh
Posted in Uncategorized on September 14, 2011 | 4 Comments »
This column by David Brooks explains why intelligent conversations about morality are increasingly harder to come by. We just might be in trouble.
Barthisms
Posted in John Calvin, Theology on September 13, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I’m going to share some of my favorite lines from Barth as my class works through volumes II/1 and IV/1 of his Church Dogmatics. Barth once said that John Calvin’s writings were “a waterfall, a primitive forest, a demonic power, something straight down from the Himalayas, absolutely Chinese, strange, mythological; I just don’t have the organs, the suction [...]
iParent
Posted in book review on September 13, 2011 | 3 Comments »
My friend Don Pearson has written a frightening and exceedingly helpful book on parenting. Don has witnessed some disturbing trends in his decades of youth ministry, and he writes about them in iParent: Gender Trends, Online Friends, and the Soul of Your Child. Don’s main argument—and he has numerous first-hand stories and research to back [...]
golden handcuffs
Posted in Christian Worldview, Ethics on September 12, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Here is a devotional I just wrote for Our Daily Journey. As always, I would appreciate any constructive feedback before I submit it. Thanks! Friends of mine are acquainted with a media leader. He invited them to appear on his television show to talk about a family tragedy, and he was so impressed by their [...]
