Torrance v. Jenson

Last updated on: December 3, 2012 at 11:56 am By Peter Leithart

At the end of her discussion of the uses and abuses of Gregory of Nyssa in TF Torrance and Robert Jenson ( Gregory of Nyssa, Ancient and (Post)modern , 48-49), Morwenna Ludlow suggests that “the major difference is in the whole aim of their systematic theological projects.” Torrance is “conservative” and aims “to trace the lineage of trinitarian doctrine back along a pure family line. there have been illegitimate developments, but historical research will reveal the ‘true’ origins of Nicene... Read more

Majesty in lowliness

Last updated on: December 3, 2012 at 7:27 am By Peter Leithart

The sheer reality of Jesus Christ is, Barth argues ( Church Dogmatics The Doctrine of the Word of God, Volume 1, Part 2: The Revelation of God; Holy Scripture: The Proclamation of the Church , 31 ), the demonstration that God is “God not only in Himself but also in and among us, in our cosmos, as one of the realities that meet us.” This does not involve any curtailment of God’s power, but is itself a demonstration of His... Read more

With My Body I Thee Worship

Last updated on: December 3, 2012 at 6:35 am By Peter Leithart

In the old Book of Common Prayer marriage liturgy, the man says these words as he places a ring on his wife’s finger: “With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, with all my worldly goods I thee endow.” That “I thee worship” jars. But it has biblical precedent. In his last speech of self-defense before his friends, Job insists on his sexual purity, and pronounces a eye-for-eye curse on himself: “If my heart has been... Read more

God needs nothing

Last updated on: December 2, 2012 at 8:42 am By Peter Leithart

God has no needs. Philo, Seneca, and classic Christian theology agree on that. But I think the explanation differs. Seneca ( On Benefits (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca) , bk. 4) explains that “God bestows upon us very many and very great benefits, with no thought of any return, since he has no need of anything bestowed, nor are we capable of bestowing anything on him.” The gods’ “own nature sufficient to them for all their needs.” No... Read more

Eucharistic meditation

Last updated on: December 2, 2012 at 8:40 am By Peter Leithart

Genesis 1:29: And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food . . . . I have given every green herb for food. Trees were first given for food. God made them to turn water and sunlight and dirt into fruit for Adam and Eve and all the animals. At this table, though,... Read more

Exhortation

Last updated on: December 2, 2012 at 8:39 am By Peter Leithart

Advent is the season of coming, since we commemorate the coming of God’s Son in flesh. Advent is just as much a season of giving, since we glorify the God who so loved that He gave. Distorted as it can become, Christmas giving is a profoundly right way to celebrate the incarnation. By giving Himself to us, God begins a spiral of giving. Paul knew God’s grace was working in the Corinthians because they shared their goods with the poor... Read more

One will

Last updated on: December 1, 2012 at 3:45 pm By Peter Leithart

Trinitarian musings arising from some private discussions with a group of friends. (Note: this is a revised version of my original post). According to classic Trinitarian theology, will is an linked to nature and, since there is a single divine nature, there is also a single divine will. That’s true; there is only one God, God is one, and He is not at war with Himself. If that is all we say, though, we run into some snags. In the... Read more

Reign of grace

Last updated on: December 1, 2012 at 3:26 pm By Peter Leithart

Paul’s announcement of the reign of grace seems innocuously theological. But there was already supposed to be an age of grace operating in the first century, inaugurated by the divine benefactor, Augustus Caesar. James Harrison ( Paul’s Language of Grace in Its Graeco-Roman Context (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 2, 172) , 2-3) writes: “The emperor Augustus . . . had ushered in an ‘age of grace’ that eclipsed all his rivals by virtue of the seemingly endless charites he... Read more

Social autarkeia

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:27 pm By Peter Leithart

In a 1999 article in Neotestmentica , Stephan Joubert observes that Paul teaches that God’s grace enables the Corinthians to experience autarkeia , “self-sufficiency” (2 Corinthians 9:8). The word is a common one in Stoic ethics, describing the placid contentment of the sage regardless of the external circumstances. Joubert thinks Paul has a different conception of this state, however: “Paul fills this provocative term with new meaning. According to him the divine charis always ( pantote ) provides in all... Read more

Language of essences

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 12:33 pm By Peter Leithart

In his classic study of The Search for the Perfect Language (The Making of Europe) , Umberto Eco summarizes Dante’s proto-Chomskyan argument about the effects of Babel on the forma locutionis , the innate grammar with which Adam was created. Eco says, “It seems most likely that Dante believed that, at Babel, there had disappeared the perfect forma locutionis whose principles permitted the creation of languages capable of reflecting the true essence of things; languages, in other words, in which... Read more