Theologians I Have Known: Reflections on Their Personalities Part 2 This is, of course, a continuation of “Part1” which began with an introduction. Please go back and read that before continuing here (assuming you haven’t already). I don’t recall exactly when I first met Donald Bloesch, but it was at a meeting of the American Theological Society (Midwest Division) that meets every Fall and Spring in Chicago. I joined the ATS not long after arriving to teach at Bethel. My... Read more

Hello Darkness My Old Friend? Questions and Thoughts about Barbara Brown Taylor’s Discovery of the Sacrament of the Dark When I saw the cover of the April 28, 2014 Time I had to buy it. I’m a sucker for theology in pop culture and journalism. The cover shows a railroad track surrounded by trees at night. The title is “Finding God in the Dark: Beyond enlightenment: Acclaimed preacher Barbara Brown Taylor argues that strength, purpose and true faith are found... Read more

Theologians I Have Known: Reflections on Their Personalities Part 1 Over the approximately forty years since I entered seminary I have had the privilege of meeting and spending quality time with many professional theologians (by which I mean men and women who spend the bulk of their time teaching theology and/or conducting research and writing in the field of theology). Some of them were not famous when I met them, but they became famous (among people interested in theology) later.... Read more

Faith and Reason: Is Christianity Irrational? It’s common for especially evangelical Christians and secularists to criticize “reasonable faith” as an oxymoron. In this case we see strange bedfellows—agreeing from entirely different premises and worldviews. Some evangelical Christians (and, of course, other kinds of Christians) run from any suggestion that Christianity ought to be reasonable—in the sense of holding beliefs that are intellectually intelligible. They appeal to “faith” as if that means blind faith, unexamined belief, in truths delivered by authority.... Read more

Another Reformed Pastor-Theologian Affirms “Subsequence” of Spirit-baptism (R. T. Kendall) Recently I talked here about unexpected common ground between John Piper, a five point Calvinist, and me—subsequence of “Spirit-baptism” or “infilling of the Holy Spirit” to conversion. A colleague mentioned that I should look at R. T. Kendall, recently retired pastor of London’s famous Westminster Chapel and successor there of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I had heard of Kendall before—due to his research into John Calvin’s atonement theology. Kendall proved, I believe,... Read more

A Theologian’s Reflections on the Movie “Heaven Is for Real” Either serendipitously or providentially, this coming week my Christian Theology class is studying personal, individual life after death—”heaven” and “hell.” After that they/we will study corporate, cosmic eschatology—the future of creation. So, seeing that this week, before class, the movie version of the best-selling book Heaven Is for Real was being released, I asked my students to see it if possible and told them we will devote some class time... Read more

A Favorite Theologian Revisited: Emil Brunner (Review of Alister McGrath’s Book: Part Two) This is a continuation of a recent blog post about theologian Emil Brunner under the guise of being a review of Alister McGrath’s recently published Emil Brunner: A Reappraisal (Wiley Blackwell, 2014). I mean that tongue-in-cheek because I’m aware, as you may be, that my interest in McGrath’s book arises from my interest in and love for Emil Brunner’s theology and I’m more interested in promoting that... Read more

I grew up Pentecostal and have now been Baptist for, oh, about forty years. The other day I was talking with students (mostly Baptists) about the doctrine and experience of the “second blessing” that grew out of the ministry of John Wesley. Wesley himself never equated entire sanctification (“Christian perfection”) with Spirit baptism/infilling of the Holy Spirit, but he clearly did believe in a post-conversion experience of sanctification “in a moment” (preceded by a process and followed by a process).... Read more

Some Emil Brunner Sayings (Quotations Mainly from Dogmatics) These quotes are from Dogmatics I: The Christian Doctrine of God (London: Lutterworth, 1949): “The Dogmatic Theologian who does not find that his work drives him to pray frequently and urgently from his heart: ‘God be merciful to me a sinner,’ is scarcely fit for his job.” (85) “Dogmatics does not consist in constructing a system of Biblical statements, but it is reflection upon revelation, on the basis of the religious evidence... Read more

A Favorite Theologian Revisited: Emil Brunner (Review of Alister McGrath’s Book: Part One) My heart leaped when I saw the announcement of Alister McGrath’s new book Emil Brunner: A Reappraisal (Wiley Blackwell, 2014). Then my heart sank when I saw the price: $83.79 on Amazon! And it’s only 246 pages. (The Kindle version is less expensive but still pricey and I knew I had to own the book in hardcover!) Still, I had to buy it. I couldn’t even wait... Read more