James Wood is never more entertaining than when he intensely dislikes a book, and he intensely dislikes David Lodge’s widely reviewed, Author, Author , a fictionalized biography of Henry James. After savaging the opening paragraph of Lodge’s novel, he goes on to list some of Lodge’s cliches: “We encounter Henry James, dictating to his secretary in Lamb House, pacing up and down the Garden Room: ‘he racked his brains for le mot juste.’ (It is cruel that a sentence about... Read more
Galen Strawson, philosophy editor of TLS , challenges the current widespread idea that human lives either are or should be narrative. He distinguishes between the “Psychological Narrative” thesis, which claims that “ordinary human beings experience their lives” in a narrative fashion, and the “Ethical Narrativity Thesis,” which claims that we ought to see our lives narratively if we are going to have rich and unified lives. These two theses can combine in four ways: some affirm both (majority of contemporary... Read more
Can God change a person?s ?legal standing?Ewithout changing his ?life situation?E It would seem not: 1) The life condition of someone who is not justified is a situation of being ?under the curse?Eor ?under the reign of Death and Sin.?E This situation is punishment from God for sin, Adam?s and one?s own personal sin. 2) In justification, God judges that someone is in the right, that he is ?not guilty?Eand ?righteous?Ein Christ, or God reckons someone to be in Christ... Read more
Can God change a person?s ?legal standing?Ewithout changing his ?life situation?E It would seem not: 1) The life condition of someone who is not justified is a situation of being ?under the curse?Eor ?under the reign of Death and Sin.?E This situation is punishment from God for sin, Adam?s and one?s own personal sin. 2) In justification, God judges that someone is in the right, that he is ?not guilty?Eand ?righteous?Ein Christ, or God reckons someone to be in Christ... Read more
Colossians 2:3 As Joshua pointed out this morning, Solomon calls us to search for wisdom as for hidden treasures. Wisdom is available, open, offering herself and her food on the streets of the city; but to get wisdom, you can?t be a dabbler. You have to pursue her, court her, seek her out, with the same passion and intensity as a pirate in search of booty. The New Testament reflects on this image of ?hidden wisdom?Eby pointing to Christ as... Read more
Should Christians vote in this year?s Presidential election? The question is a reasonable one. All of the candidates have glaring flaws, and the candidates that you find most agreeable have no chance at all to win the election. Your vote seems to make no difference, and with no good choices it might seem best to simply drop out in protest. But the question of whether to vote, and how, is really only one small part of a larger set of... Read more
John Murray recognizes that Paul announces a ?deliverdict?Ein Romans 8:1-4. He is considering the force of ?therefore?Ein 8:1, asking what earlier portion of Romans this points to: ?If the apostle is thinking merely of freedom from the guilt of sin and from the condemnation which guilt entails, then we should have to find the basis of the inference in that part of the epistle which deals particularly with that subject (3:21-5:21). But if there is included in freedom from condemnation... Read more
John Murray recognizes that Paul announces a ?deliverdict?Ein Romans 8:1-4. He is considering the force of ?therefore?Ein 8:1, asking what earlier portion of Romans this points to: ?If the apostle is thinking merely of freedom from the guilt of sin and from the condemnation which guilt entails, then we should have to find the basis of the inference in that part of the epistle which deals particularly with that subject (3:21-5:21). But if there is included in freedom from condemnation... Read more
Thomas Weinandy?s 1995 The Father?s Spirit of Sonship makes an important contribution to Trinitarian theology. Weinandy?s distinctive contribution is to reconceive the place of the Spirit in the Triune life. This small book has many virtues. Weinandy gives an extensive and compelling biblical argument for his position, and he sees large implications for his thesis, including a path for the resolution of the filioque controversy. Some of the highlights include: 1) The main thrust of his book is to argue... Read more
Trevor Hart has a helpful article on Barth?s view of revelation in the Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth . First, Hart sketches the neo-Kantian philosophical and theological context for Barth?s work. For Barth, nineteenth-century ?consciousness theology,?Ethe attempt to ground theology in some feature of human experience or knowledge, was a disastrous movement of which Feuerbach was the logical outcome. The stages of this development are these: According to Kant, knowledge exists where the mind imposes categories on the data provided... Read more
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