The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Theology

  • Spaaaace Tuuuunes!

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    Fred Sanders
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    Here’s some fun music by friends at my church: Lost in Space, by The Pop Rockets. Click through to the Noisetrade page to sample all five tracks and download them if you like what you hear. As for me and my house, we like what we hear. Anybody with Vacation Bible School in their background will…

  • The Theologian’s Stone: Atonement In Harry Potter, Book I

    The Theologian’s Stone: Atonement In Harry Potter, Book I

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    Adam Johnson
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    “It is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn…. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to…

  • The Bible and Divine Speaking

    The Bible and Divine Speaking

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    Fred Sanders
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    The doctrine of Scripture (bibliology, the doctrine that states what the Bible is and how it functions in the church) ought to be a doctrine about God’s speech. When the doctrine is handled with proper amplitude and attentiveness, it is a doctrine about God communicating verbally in a way that results in these prophetic and…

  • When Torrey Went to Cambridge

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    Fred Sanders
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    For the last six years, students from the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola have taken a summer trip to Cambridge, England. The trip is a three-week academic course in the humanities that specializes in reading local authors and making the most of being in the rich cultural site that is Cambridge. “Great Books in a…

  • Trinitarian Theology Pre-Holmes and Post-Holmes

    Trinitarian Theology Pre-Holmes and Post-Holmes

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    So, it’s ridiculous to divide the history of trinitarian theology into the periods before and after Stephen R. Holmes published his book The Quest for the Trinity. For one thing, that was just 2012, so the the post-Holmes period isn’t big enough to say much about. For another thing, Holmes’ book wasn’t that radical of a…

  • “Two Distributed Doctrines” (Webster)

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    In one of the “working papers in Christian theology,” which are widely assumed to be indications of where he’s heading with a forthcoming systematic theology, John Webster argues that the doctrine of creation should occupy a more determinative place in dogmatics. The essay is “Non ex aequo: God’s Relation to Creatures.” (already printed in a Paul…

  • A Review of Vidu’s “Atonement, Law and Justice”

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    Adam Johnson
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    Adonis Vidu, “Atonement, Law and Justice.” Grand Rapids: Baker, 2014. Vidu’s recent book is worth a careful read for two substantial developments. In the first five chapters, Vidu traces the inter-relationship between the atonement (specifically focused on penal substitution) and understandings of law throughout history, starting a fruitful inter-disciplinary discussion. This approach is valuable for several reasons.…

  • Unperplexed About Atonement

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Adam Johnson’s new book Atonement: A Guide for the Perplexed is now available. John Webster says it shows “acute theological judgement,” and Kevin Vanhoozer calls it “a theological treasure trove.” So please move it to the top of your reading list. Johnson’s strategy in handling the doctrine of the atonement is to go big with it,…

  • Hearing Voices: Trinity in the Old Testament

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    “The primary condition of knowledge for reading the Psalms is the ability to see as whose mouthpiece we are to regard the Psalmist as speaking, and who it is that he addresses.” So says Hilary of Poitiers at the beginning of his fourth-century Psalms commentary. And while Hilary is interested in identifying human authors and speakers,…

  • Generations Eternal and Current

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    Fred Sanders
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    Steve Holmes recently reviewed the book One God in Three Persons: Unity of Essence, Distinction of Persons, Implications for Life, edited by Bruce Ware and John Starke (Crossway, 2015). In Holmes’ review, entitled Reflections on a new defense of ‘complementarianism,’ he interacts especially with the historical arguments of several of the chapters in the book,…

  • Virtue Lists in the Shadow of the Cross

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    Fred Sanders
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    This will be weak, even for a blog post, but I wanted to jot down three questions that are lingering in my mind after about six months of reading and teaching the pastoral epistles. I find all three questions mildly unsettling, but not for the historical-critical reasons that are supposed to unsettle evangelicals. I take…

  • HCG Moule on Atonement

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    Fred Sanders
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    Here are a few more selections from the interesting little one-volume theology, Outlines of Christian Doctrine by H.C.G. Moule. When he begins discussing atonement, Moule quotes, without naming, some earlier thinker: It has been well said that Creation, relatively to God, is little, ‘a very little thing,’ but that Sin is not. Sin –shall we…