Author: Matt Jenson
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What’s so Nouvelle about the Nouvelle Théologie? (Boersma pt. 1)
Fred Sanders and Matt Jenson had a blast engaging with two books on the Trinity a while back, so Jenson and Greg Peters decided they’d have a conversation about a couple books by Hans Boersma, in which he seeks to rehabilitate a sacramental ontology. In the first book, Nouvelle Théologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery (Oxford University…
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Remembering Chris Mitchell
On Thursday night, my dear friend Chris died of a heart attack. We in the Torrey Honors Institute were—are—in complete shock. There were no warning signs, nothing indicating that his health was in decline. (An undetected heart disease proved to be the cause.) Chris and his wife Julie had moved to LA only a year…
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I Believe in the Communion of (Global) Saints: Writing World Christianity
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice,“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to…
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A Graduation Speech for the Torrey Honors Institute
On Friday, we watched as the Class of 2014 in the Torrey Honors Institute graduated. Most of the students I have worked closely with in the last four years graduated, and I got the chance to speak to them. How do you give a graduation speech without turning into Polonius? In his parting words to…
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Three Records and Three Books
record noun \ˈre-kərd also –ˌkȯrd\ something on which sound or visual images have been recorded; specifically : a disc with a spiral groove carrying recorded sound for phonograph reproduction You know, those big black circles with the hole in the middle? I had a baby blue and white plastic Fisher Price record player when I was a kid. I would fall…
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Whither Protestantism?
Last fall, Peter Leithart–a brilliant, eloquent, quirky mind—called for “the end of Protestantism.” “The Reformation isn’t over,” Leithart began. “But Protestantism is, or should be.” Fred Sanders quickly countered that rumors of Protestantism’s demise had been greatly exaggerated by Leithart. Leithart responded with a “yes, but…” And someone got the bright idea to open up…
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Surfers Defeat Strunk & White!
The New York Times called Strunk & White’s Elements of Style “as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility.” It is a strong book, written with the same economy and sturdiness it calls forth from would-be writers. It is even a delight to read, at once funny and sage. But once, it is wrong. In…
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Biola’s Jesus Mural: How “The Word” Dwells Among Us
One of the first things you’ll notice if you visit Biola University’s campus is our Jesus Mural, “The Word.” It’s iconic for us, our evangelical counterpart to Notre Dame’s “Touchdown Jesus.” It’s huge–27 feet tall–and all the more significant as it stands in the middle of a campus with few works of public art. Furthermore,…
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Lent for the Rest of Us
Lots of people these days are going liturgical. Really, that’s not quite the right way to put it. All churches are liturgical, in so far as their worship of the Lord takes on a form and has an order to it. But you know what I mean. Many evangelicals are striking liturgical gold, discovering the…
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A Mind Curved in on Itself
“So, what are you working on?” she might ask. This is how these grad school parties go. “Sin,” I would invariably reply—sometimes saying a bit more, to make the pill go down smooth. Other times I’d utter just the one word, knowing the potential for a good, awkward laugh. Though at one point I thought…
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How Do I Learn From Experience If I Don’t Have Any?
Earlier this summer, I got an email from John Buchanan, a current student in the Torrey Honors Institute: Hello, Dr. Jenson. As you may be told from time to time, you are the mentor that seemed sensible to talk to regarding the subject of this email…Probably because you are a younger male but who knows for certain.…
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Charles Stang: Apophasis and Pseudonymity in Dionysius the Areopagite
Charles M. Stang, Apophasis and Pseudonymity in Dionysius the Areopagite: “No Longer I” (Oxford: OUP, 2012) (review copy courtesy of OUP) This is my kind of radical thesis–that that most exotic of Christian writers, Dionysius the Areopagite, is really, deep-down, Pauline. What makes things better is that the one putting forth the thesis, Harvard’s Charles Stang, knows what he’s…