Doing Theology with Monteverdi

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Greg Peters

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was an Italian composer whose music, both secular and sacred, was influential in the transition from Renaissance forms of music to the Baroque period. He is well known for his use and development of two different styles of composition: Renaissance polyphony and the Baroque basso continuo technique (i.e., musical parts that provide the harmonic structure of a composition). He also wrote one of the earliest operas, which he called L’Orfeo. After working as a musician in the... Read more

9 Papers on Christology: LATC 2013

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Fred Sanders

I finally get to announce the papers that are going to be presented in the parallel sessions at the Los Angeles Theology Conference on January 17 and 18, 2013. We issued a call for papers and got dozens of proposals. We narrowed it all the way down to the nine papers that work best together, and will make for the best conference together with our plenary sessions. Read ’em and, um, register! Thursday, Jan. 17, breakout session 1: Scott Swain... Read more

Giles of Viterbo: The Humanist Scholastic

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Robert Lizo

The Commentary on the Sentences of Petrus Lombardus, by Giles of Viterbo. Giles of Viterbo (1469-1532) was the most active and creative theologians who tried to bring together two worlds: the Renaissance and its call to return to the sources of classical antiquity, and the medieval scholastic tradition. Nothing brings out this creative syncretic work than the newly published Commentary on the Sentences of Petrus Lombardus. Peter Lombard’s Sentences, consisting in commentaries on Scripture, patristic sources, Pseudo-Dionysus, and Aristotle,... Read more

The Difficulty of Ecumenism

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Matt Jenson

Every Christian must be ecumenical. That is, every Christian must devote herself to the unity of Christ’s church–a unity that witnesses in the world to the love of the Father for the Son and to their love for those sealed by the Spirit of adoption. Ecumenism is part and parcel of the church’s mission, and it is no accident that the last century has seen an explosion in efforts toward the visible unity of the church and the fulfillment of... Read more

God’s Conduct

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Fred Sanders

Romans 12, at first glance, can seem like a sudden change of subject from the high theologizing of the first 11 chapters. As Paul turns from explaining the gospel, to exhorting his Roman readers, even his writing style shifts from longer sentences and complex arguments to brief commands in a more straightforward diction. But he is not really changing the subject. In fact, all of the commands he gives flow from the teaching he has just done. Any number of... Read more

Owl Land

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Fred Sanders

C.S. Lewis once wrote a poem with the title Impenitence. What did he refuse to repent of? Man-like beasts. Anthropomorphic animals, especially the homey civilized ones from Beatrix Potter and Kenneth Grahame. Here are the first two stanzas of his poem: All the world’s wiseacres in arms against them Shan’t detach my heart for a single moment From the man-like beasts of the earthy stories– Badger or Moly. Rat the oarsman, neat Mrs. Tiggy Winkle, Benjamin, pert Nutkin, or (ages... Read more

Newman, Benedict, and Torrey

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Fred Sanders

Over at the blog of the American Society of Church History, Torrey’s Dr. Greg Peters reflects on some lesser-known writings of John Henry Newman. Newman’s most famous book about learning was his Idea of a University, but he also explored the ideals of Benedictine monasticism as a model for meaningful education. Peters reports on some of the key commitments in Newman’s program, and by the time he’s done describing it, it sounds curiously well aligned with a certain undergraduate honors... Read more

In Defense of Cinderella: The Dress

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Diane Vincent

I have a near-three-year-old girl who lives within a mile of both sets of grandparents. This means that some aspect of the Disney princess world will infiltrate our lives (yes, ours, not just hers) with or without my consent. The first foray involved mysterious new references to “Cinderella”, as in “Mommy, is this Cinderella music?” while listening to Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty. I decided a “yes” was in the spirit of... Read more

The Trinity in Gender Debates

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By Fred Sanders

Trinity and Gender Roles: A Nice and Hot Dispute The evangelical debate about gender roles may seem like an unlikely venue for hashing out trinitarian theology, but that is what has been going on in the last few years. Everybody knows that evangelical complementarians and evangelical egalitarians have competing views of the relationship between men and women in the family, the church, and society. But now there is a substantial literature that connects these two views to the doctrine of... Read more

Reflections on the History of Torrey—Ep. 3

Last updated on: March 18, 2014 at 9:26 am By John Mark Reynolds

The final installment! As one chapter in the history of the Torrey Honors Institute closes and another opens, some of the minds responsible for its birth reflect on the development of the program. Join Dr. John Mark Reynolds, Dr. Paul Spears, and Dr. Fred Sanders as they discuss the origins and future of the Torrey Honors Institute. Click here to listen! Read more