fides quaerens intellectum
Nov 30 2009
Granted, I realize that scholarship has not room for the supernatural, divine foreknowledge and all, but couldn’t most of these ‘reason’s be explained away by accepting some form of supernaturalism?
Continue reading “Ten Reasons for Dating Deuteronomy to the Late Persian or Hellenistic Periods”
Nov 04 2009
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From Amazon:
The Historiographical Jesus introduces a new theory and approach for studying the life of Jesus. Anthony Le Donne uses the precepts of social memory theory to identify memory refraction in the Jesus tradition the refocusing distortion that occurs as the stories and sayings of Jesus were handed down and consciously and unconsciously framed in new settings with new applications. Recognition of this refraction allows historians to escape the problematic dichotomy between memory and typology. The author focuses on the title “Son of David” as it was used in Jewish and Christian traditions to demonstrate both how his new theory functions and to advance historical Jesus research.
Nov 02 2009
Oh, this is just too rich -
Gerd Lüdemann has an op-ed at The Bible and Interpretation website pointing out one of the obvious benefits of the historical critical method. That is, the historical critical method exposed a quite prevalent claim of New Testament and other early Christian writers – that the Old Testament predicted or prophesied or otherwise pointed to Jesus of Nazareth – to be a false claim.
Have you ever seen such offal? Whew…good thing we have this historical critical method to tell us that everyone for 2000 years got it wrong when they viewed Christ as the Incarnation of many of the ‘prophecies‘ of the Old Testament. Frankly, Gerd might need to do a bit more studying in the ‘mad house’ before he attempts anything else.
Oct 16 2009
I am currently reading through Anthony Le Donne’s book, The Historiographical Jesus, and came across his entry into presuppositions, which he quotes Goulder on Acts. Michael Goulder laid down two presuppositions for the study of Act in his 1964 work, Type and History in Acts:
Oct 03 2009
Found an excellent quote this past week:
“Refusing to presuppose the sovereign God revealed in the Bible as the source of all material and logical possibility, and hence failing effectively to challenge or internally criticize the very feasibility of knowledge, logic, factuality, interpretation, or predication as based on the boasted autonomy of ‘free-thinkers,’ apologists found their defenses razed by those who (likewise) postulated the bare possibility was a principle more ultimate than God. Deterministic science disqualified miracles, positivistic sociology relativized morality, historical criticism faulted the Bible, and Kant’s transcendental dialecticism invalidated cognitive revelation. Idealism made God finite, pragmatism made him irrelevant, and logical analysis made Him meaningless. Process thinking limited God by pulling Him down from the throne of His sovereignty and pulling everything up into Him for the panentheistic drive to omega point, while phenomenology made the universe into a machine for the fabricating of gods, and existentialism made man himself the being who strives to become God. By appealing to probability, apologists saw Christianity relegated to the museum of mere religious hypothesis (i.e., – ‘possibilities’), rather than embraced as the actual truth of God.”
Dr. Greg Bahnsen
Presuppositional Apologetics; Stated and Defended……
If we will not presuppose the Sovereign God we will presuppose sovereign man and sovereign man will inevitable conclude that a Sovereign God cannot exit in order to compete with his sovereignty….
Go read the rest here:
Sep 26 2009
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Rudolf Bultmann is very much the founder historical criticism of the bible, adding much to the works of those who would seek to understand the historical Jesus apart from the Christ of faith. To be honest, I have yet to find the interest to read Bultmann, however important he may be to others. While reading Torrance’s work on the Incarnation, I came across a few moments of interaction with Bultmann (one-sided I am sure) on the matter of historical criticism.
Before people vilify Bultmann, he was among those who spoke out against Nazism when so many German Christians were welcoming Nazi’s into the pulpits.
Sep 21 2009
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I would like to thank IVP-Academic for this review copy of Thomas F. Torrance’s work on the Incarnation, which is comprised primarily of lectures given over the course of his tenure, as compiled and edited by Robert T. Walker (who is in a rare position as an editor, he is also Torrance’s nephew).
The book was completed posthumously by the author’s nephew, but includes an Author’s Introduction, perhaps Torrance’s last written word to the world. In it, he describes in humble language his resume, but it is noticeable, however, his closeness to his mentor, Karl Barth.
The editor gives a forward, an outline of the book, and an introduction in which he gives you general topics, focusing on Torrance’s theology and methods. In describing Torrance’s view of the importance of the deity of Christ, Walker writes,
Continue reading “Review: Incarnation, The Person and Life of Christ”
Sep 21 2009
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I am currently reading through Thomas F. Torrance’s work on the Incarnation, which is comprised primarily of lectures given over the course of his tenure, as compiled and edited by Robert T. Walker (who is in a rare position as an editor, he is also Torrance’s nephew). It is published by IVP-Academic. In these quotes, Torrance, expresses my doctrine of the Godhead and my search of the Patristic authors mixed with my tepid search of the Reformers.
But here, in the Word become flesh in the unity of God and man in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ has no existence apart from or different from or parallel to God’s existence. He has his existence only in the divine acts of condescension in which God gathers man into coexistence with himself. That means that here in the Word made flesh God and man are so related in Jesus Christ, so that Jesus exists as man only so far as he exists as God, and yet as God he also has existence as flesh… (pg67) There needs to be a reconstruction of the whole classical doctrine of Christ in such a way as to bring together the Patristic emphasis on the being-of-God-in-his-acts and the Reformation emphasis on the acts-of-God-in-his-being. (pg85)
I am still amazed that Torrance’s work did not make the rounds of the blogosphere, especially those of the Reformed doctrine. I hope that you will be encouraged to pick up this work yourself, Reformed or not.
Sep 15 2009
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I am currently reading through Thomas F. Torrance’s work on the Incarnation, which is comprised primarily of lectures given over the course of his tenure, as compiled and edited by Robert T. Walker (who is in a rare position as an editor, he is also Torrance’s nephew). It is published by IVP-Academic.
Overall, and I am barely scratching the service of the book, Torrance is deeply respectful of the subject, speaking not just to students of the ministry, but to the lay person who has a rich love of the doctrine of the Incarnation – of course, if you do not already have the love of the Incarnation, it is quite possible that you will after reading this book.) It is lectures, as I mentioned, and hand outs given to students – sometime long before I was born.
I want to share with you a quote which struck me -
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