Essay / Theology

Mission Statement

My mission statement is to catalyze synergetic outputs in deliverable value propositions that innovatively embrace dynamic culture ecosystems better than my competitors. Or is that my vision statement? I can never remember. There are good mission statements out there, or least statements that avoid the

Essay / Theology

“David’s Creed”

Bishop Edward Reynolds (1599-1676) wrote a long book on a short psalm, An Exposition of the One Hundred and Tenth Psalm. One reason for the book’s length is that Reynolds found in the words of Psalm 110 the entire Christian message. To be more precise,

Essay / Education

The Bible in Socratic Instruction

This is a brief talk I gave last week during orientation for Torrey Academy, our high school program. It addresses, for one particular, local audience, an issue with broader application: how should Christian teachers handle the Bible in a course of instruction that is Socratic?

Essay / Theology

Hidden with Christ (Barth on Colossians 3:3)

Paul says in Colossians 3: So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for

Essay / Theology

The Strong Uniqueness of the Incarnation

There’s nothing like the incarnation of the Son of God. The union of divine and human in Christ is unique; it is a strongly unique kind of union. In fact, it’s so strongly unique that there is a theological tradition of highlighting its uniqueness by

Essay / Theology

Reading Barth with Kimlyn Bender

Kimlyn Bender has a fine new book out called Reading Karl Barth for the Church: A Guide and Companion. If you want to get the most out of reading Barth, but you don’t have a good teacher on hand or a class to sign up for,

Essay / Theology

Barth’s Theological Exegesis

This new book caught my eye: Freedom under the Word: Karl Barth’s Theological Exegesis (Baker, 2019). Let me just admit that the first reason is personal: It’s got essays by three of my theology friends who are alum of the Torrey Honors Institute. Ben Rhodes

Essay / Theology

CFP: LATC2020 on Pneumatology

We need some good papers on pneumatology. In January 2020, the Los Angeles Theology Conference will take up the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, under the title “The Third Person of the Trinity.” We’ve already invited five plenary speakers to address this doctrine, and if

Essay / Theology

“Forgiveness by Sending” (H.S. Holland)

I’ve been puzzling over a perplexing passage from Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918). Holland was an English theologian who did his best theologizing in sermons, especially in the preaching he did at St. Paul’s in London, where he was a canon. The passage that I’ve been

Essay / Theology

Ruth Burrows: Our Nothingness as a Gateway to the Trinity

Humans are not nothing. But fundamentally we are made from nothing, and deep down, we know it. At least some of us do. Ruth Burrows knows that humans are poised between God and the nothing out of which we were made, the nothing that is

Essay / Theology

“His Life Rose With Him”

Here is a helpful way of thinking about the relation between the life of Jesus  and the resurrection of Jesus. “His life rose with him.” When Jesus rose from the dead, he not only came back to life, but also brought back with him the

Essay / Theology

“The Creature in a Separated Sort”

This is a blog post about everything, but mainly about everything in relation to God. I found a striking example of how the Christian confession of the distinction between the creator and the creature can be preached and applied. It’s Richard Baxter’s The Crucifying of