21 Jun 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In Of the Difference between a Genius and an Apostle, Søren Kierkegaard discusses, well, the difference between a genius and an apostle. A "genius," for him, is always immanent, always assimilable, never paradoxical (a favorite word of Kierkegaard's)--even if he appears paradoxical, it is only temporary,...
Read more → 20 Jun 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In his perhaps unfortunately named work Bowels Opened, Richard Sibbes makes a connection between the cloud God used to guide the Israelites to the Promised Land out of Egypt and the reference in the letter to the Hebrews to the "cloud of witnesses" ("Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud...
Read more → 19 Jun 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
John 6.22ff. is a text that has long been used in various ways and to various ends in debates about the Eucharist. Christ himself gives a clue to its proper interpretation in v. 63: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (ESV)....
Read more → 16 Jun 2018
Posted by Eric Parker 
A debate arose among Reformed divines in the 1620s and 30s, particularly in England, over the issue of baptismal regeneration. A variety of interpretations of passages like Titus 3:5 and 1 Peter 3:21 were proposed and there was debate over how to interpret Augustine and even Calvin on this issue. In the past...
Read more → 14 Jun 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
For those who, for whatever reason, don't like to sing the actual words of the Psalms, metrical psalmody can be a good substitute. But it can also have its difficulties. Probably the best known metrical Psalter in English is the Scottish Metrical Psalter. Anyone who has ever used it knows how torturous...
Read more → 11 Jun 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson
Introduction With respect to the relation between nature and grace, the mainstream Christian tradition does not hold that grace obliterates or destroys nature, but rather that it works with it in some sense as its necessary substratum. The most well known formulation of the idea is found in Thomas Aquinas' Summa...
Read more → 08 Jun 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Classically speaking, there are some truths about God that can be known, or known partially, or grasped, or grasped partially, by reasoned reflection on general revelation. These truths are usually grouped under the domain of natural theology: for example, that there is only one God (monotheism), that...
Read more → 29 May 2018
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
Athanasius of Alexandria's doctrine of the deity of Christ rest upon two basic concepts. These are that the divine nature is simple and incapable of division and that the Son is generated or begotten from the essence of the Father, that divine essence which is simple. When you combine these two concepts,...
Read more → 28 May 2018
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
Athanasius of Alexandria actually has a lot to say about the divine nature. He says that it is fruitful. He says that its essence and its existence are identical. He says that it is simple and infinite. And yet, he also says that the divine nature is, in itself, unknowable to us. We have nothing with...
Read more → 25 May 2018
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth
In an most interesting section of his Orations Against the Arians, Athanasius fields an objection against the eternal generation of the Son based on a parallel with creation. Athanasius has been arguing that certain divine names (Father, Wisdom, Word) show us that God must have always had a second hypostasis...
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