The first ecumenical council was Nicaea, in the year 325. As all the later councils are at pains to attest, the Council of Nicaea is the most important of all the councils. The heresy which provoked this epochal council was Arianism, the teaching that the

There are a lot of parts to theology, and although over-specialization is always bad, some division of labor makes a lot of sense unless you’re personally interested in earning degrees in everything from Hittite to Herodias to Haplography to Heidegger’s Hermeneutics of Hegel’s Historicism. Here’s

Christology is one of the most important doctrines in all of theology, and also one of the most difficult. The standards of proof here are high, because the claims —that this man is God, one of the Trinity, the eternal Son— are so outrageous. It

“As far as theology is concerned, “www” might stand for “wild, wild west.” Whatever law may hold sway in the civilized territories of academic theology, it is unenforceable out on the range. Internet theology, unlike other academic disciplines, has not been guided or normalized by

If God performed a mighty act of salvation in sending his Son, then we have to interpret the helpless baby of Bethlehem as the conqueror who showed God’s salvation to all the ends of the earth. Filling out so sharp a paradox is a big

“O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” Clearly Psalm 98 is a psalm about salvation. The word “salvation” occurs three times in a consistent translation of

Psalm 98 breaks down nicely into three parts: Verses 1-3 tell you why to praise God: Because of the marvelous deeds of salvation he has done. Verses 4-6 tell you how to praise: Loudly, joyfully, with guitars and trumpets. Then verses 7-9 say who should

“Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things.” — Psalm 98:1 Psalm 98 is a remarkable Psalm, and according to an ancient Christian tradition, it is a Christmas Psalm, an Old Testament text that is appropriate for reading at

The January 2007 issue of First Things is already available, and in the “Briefly Noted” section you’ll find my review of Alexander the Corrector, a book about Alexander Cruden of Cruden’s Concordance fame. The editors at First Things snipped a few words here and there

Last week I was asked to give a talk in one of the dormitories here on campus entitled “A Theology of Christmas.” Realizing that tired university students likely did not want to hear a three-hour theological discourse in the midst of finals week I thought

Remarks from a college honorary society induction ceremony, Dec. 15. As a young man around the year 1723, America’s greatest theologian, Jonathan Edwards, wrote out a series of personal resolutions, usually published as “Resolutions of a Saintly Scholar.” These 70 numbered resolutions are soul-searching commitments

The late Colin Gunton (1941-2003), in a flurry of productivity just before his untimely death, put out a bunch of books that are remarkable for containing enough ideas that they could each have been expanded into more books. Looking for a half-remembered quotation, I recently