Throughout the Old Testament there are several instances of God establishing a covenant. He did so with Adam in the Garden, with the nation of Israel through Moses where the Law was delivered, with Noah after the great flood, with Abraham and his descendants, and lastly with King David. These covenants are a part of salvation history that prepared the world for the coming of the Messiah. Each one of these covenants was important and significant, and each one was... Read more
Many Protestant Christians say that the Catholic Church teaches Pelagianism, or at the very least semi-Pelagianism. This line of reasoning shows a fundamental misunderstanding of not only what the Church teaches, but what Pelagianism is. Pelagianism is a heresy that was condemned by the Church and is superfluous for beatitude. When Did Pelagianism Start? What is Pelagianism? It is a system that relies on the sufficiency of man’s will (Hardon). Pelagianism was started by a Bishop named Julian who had... Read more
Liberation theology was a new kind of theology that started developing within Christianity in the 1960’s[1]. Gustavo Gutierrez, who is known as the father of liberation theology, was a priest in Peru. Over the course of his ministry he saw the oppression that the poor experienced and developed a heart for them. In the introduction of his book, titled A Theology of Liberation, Gutierrez describes the purpose of the book. It is to reconsider the practice of the church among... Read more
Throughout the history of the Christian church there have been hotly contested debates over various doctrines. Though it may seem foreign to us today, the early church had to deal with people within its ranks who questioned the very deity of Christ. Who was he and how is he to be understood? The church dealt with many questions, but none so hotly contested as knowing Christ from a Trinitarian perspective. As Gerald Bray writes in the forward, “Not everyone came... Read more
The mid-twentieth century was an interesting time in human history. Christendom had seen liberalism and modernism becoming more accepted, and the mid-twentieth century saw the rise of radical theology. On April 8, 1966 Time Magazine asked “Is God Dead?” on the cover of their magazine [1]. To say the story was controversial would be an understatement, but it brought the views of two little known theologians to the forefront. Radical Theology and its Popular Theologians Those two were William Hamilton and Thomas... Read more
Karl Barth was one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. He is known for his work on the Epistle to the Romans and his Magnus Opus titled Church Dogmatics. However, his work titled Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, continues to make an impact in the world of theology. The book is different than his other works as it is a series of lectures that he gave throughout the United States[1]. Barth is pretty up front in regards to... Read more
As we read, the nineteenth century saw the rise of liberal theology [1]. The theologians were highly intellectual and people were being won over by their ideas. Charles Hodge came along and was known as “the pope of Presbyterianism”, and by all accounts was a staunch conservative theologian [2]. He responded to modernism in many unique ways. For one, he used the most modern methods of biblical interpretation and used that in defense of conservative Protestantism. He advocated for a... Read more
The relationship between theology, science, and philosophy is one that can be strained at times. Perhaps this is putting it mildly. There are some who see any innovation in the sciences and philosophy as an affront to faith, and to be fair, in some cases this is the case, but not in all cases. Roger Olson lays out an interesting summation of the events that lead to our modern times, mainly that modern theology is an attempt to respond to... Read more
First, it is unfortunate that Deuteronomy, and the Pentateuch as a whole, are for the most part ignored. They are a part of divine revelation and as such should be discussed a bit more. In all fairness I am also guilty of this. I admit that I am not a priest or deacon, but do teach children, and to a lesser extent some adults. However, the message contained in Deuteronomy is one that is applicable to us all. Deuteronomy has... Read more
The book of Joshua is a book that many have not taken the time to study. There are not many sermons preached on it, and in more liturgical communities it rarely makes an appearance in a lectionary[1]. Joshua has become a battering ram of sorts for the group known as “New Atheists” who point to its context as proof of a god that is genocidal, egocentric, and as a result cannot possibly exist. However, this assessment is not only unfair... Read more
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