‘America's theologian’: an appreciation of Robert Jenson's Systematic Theology, with some remarks about the bible

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-223
Author(s):  
Francis Watson
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Canonical Structure ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Trinity

Robert Jenson's two-volume Systematic Theology is a highly creative and individual synthesis of a number of often divergent strands of contemporary theology. An ecumenical and trinitarian theology, it is also a theology of narrative, hope, and of the word. The main body of this article attempts a sympathetic paraphrase of the argument of this work section by section. In a more critical ‘postscript’, it is argued that ‘word of God’ language is appropriate to the bible's twofold canonical structure, and that the appropriation of the beginning, middle and end of the biblical narrative to the first, second and third persons of the trinity respectively results in an undue bias towards eschatology.

Redefining progress in Trinitarian theology: Stephen R. Holmes on the Trinity

2014 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-20
Author(s):  
Fred Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Divine Attributes ◽  
Classical Theism ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Constructive Work ◽  
Historical Theology ◽  
The Trinity

This essay examines some of the implications for contemporary constructive work on the doctrine of the Trinity if Steve Holmes is correct in his judgments about the direction taken by the recent revival of interest in the doctrine. Holmes raises serious questions about the exegetical basis of the doctrine, and raises the question of what God has revealed in the sending of the Son and the Spirit. Some areas of maximal divergence between the classic tradition and the recent revival are probed, such as the recent lack of interest in the elaboration and defense of divinity unity, and also of the divine attributes as explored by classical theism. Finally, Holmes’s work raises questions about the proper relationships between systematic theology and allied theological disciplines such as historical theology and analytic theology.

Was Barth a pro-Nicene theologian? Reflections onNicaea and its legacy

2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-359
Author(s):  
Paul D. Molnar
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
The Trinity

If this very weighty and important book did nothing else than establish the fact for modern systematic theology that the trinitarian theology of the fourth century cannot be understood properly by dividing Eastern from Western theology with the usual statement that the former begins with the three persons and moves towards the divine unity while the latter begins with the divine unity and moves towards the three persons, then something truly significant would have been accomplished (Nicaea, pp. 52, 384). Why? Because then one would not be able to trace a supposed modalist tendency directly from Augustine through much Western theology to contemporary theologians such as Barth in order to argue for a view of God's triunity which actually could undermine the full divinity of each of the persons of the Trinity who in reality exist eternally as three persons, one being. Consider, for instance, the remark made by Ted Peters that ‘There is no inherent reason for assuming that the three persons have to be identical or equal in nature.’ If one studies the development of fourth-century trinitarian theology, I think one would find many reasons to insist that the three persons are in fact equal in nature, among which are that any other assertion would undermine the divinity of the Son, lead to some sort of subordinationism or adoptionism (what Barth called Ebionite christology), and would ultimately strip the Gospel of its saving power.

“The White Whale”

Karl Barth ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 362-382
Author(s):  
Christiane Tietz
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Church Dogmatics ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

Barth’s Church Dogmatics is the most extensive theological work of the twentieth century. Barth worked on it from 1932 until 1967, reconceptualizing theology from the very foundations. He distinguishes three forms of the Word of God, avoiding a biblicistic reading of the Bible. The doctrine of the Trinity is a consequent exposition of the concept of God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. This God is the one who loves in freedom, that is who relates to human beings because of grace. Barth therefore completely transforms the Reformed doctrine of double predestination. The doctrine of creation as well has to be derived from God’s self-revelation; God created the world because God wanted a covenantal partner. To this creation belong shadow sides as well as nothingness. God in Jesus Christ entered the confrontation with nothingness and reconciled the world with God. Only from reconciliation can we understand the essence of sin.

scholarly journals Allah Yang Esa Menurut Ajaran Kristen

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
Sperry Velmer Terok
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God The Father ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

The Bible states that God is difficult and even impossible to understand (Job. 11:7; Isa. 40:18), but He can be recognized. Jesus The Lord once confirmed this important truth to His disciples: “If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know Him and have seen Him. (Joh. 14:7).” Why God seems difficult to understand? It is because of the sin’s problem; the limitation of the human mind and understanding, but it does not mean that humans cannot recognize God. An understanding of the One God in Christianity is challenging. In order to describe and understand the One God in Christianity, the author uses descriptive methods. The intention is to be able to describe a system of thought in order to further interpret it precisely. As a result of the study of this paper, that the existence of One God in Christianity is clearly reported in the Bible; furthermore, the One God who has introduced Himself as a Trinity God is very clear both in Old Testament as well as in New Testament. The Trinity God: God the Father, God the Son, Holy Spirit, all three is one and equal. Finally, everyone can understand and recognize Him as far as the Bible says. The key to understand and recognize the One God is to believe the Bible is the Word of God in the first place. Then presume the understanding that every believer has can give meaning personally to others, and at last above these two interests, glory and honor to God, Himself.Alkitab menyatakan bahwa Allah sukar bahkan mustahil untuk dipahami (Ayb 11:7; Yes. 40:18), namun Dia dapat dikenal. Tuhan Yesus pernah menegaskan kebenaran penting tesebut kepada murid-murid-Nya: “Sekiranya kamu mengenal Aku, pasti kamu menganal Bapa-Ku. Sekarang ini kamu mengenal Dia dan kamu telah melihat Dia (Yoh. 14:7).” Mengapa Allah yang Esa itu sukar dipahami? Karena masalah dosa, pikiran pengetahuan dan bahasa manusia, namun bukan berarti manusia tidak dapat mengenal Allah. Pemahaman tentang Allah yang Esa dalam ajaran Kristen merupakan hal yang menantang. Supaya dapat menguraikan dan memahami Allah yang Esa dalam ajaran Kristen penulis menggunakan metode Deskriptif. Maksudnya untuk dapat mendeskripsikan suatu sistem pemikiran selanjutnya menginterpretasikan secara tepat. Adapun hasil kajian tulisan ini, bahwa eksistensi Allah yang esa dalam ajaran Kristen sangat jelas dilaporkan Alkitab; selanjutnya bahwa Allah yang Esa yang telah memperkenalkan diri sebagai Allah Tritunggal sangat jelas berdasarkan PL maupun PB. Allah Tritunggal yakni: Bapa, Anak (Yesus Kristus) serta Roh Kudus, ketiga-Nya sehakekat sekaligus setara. Akhirnya, bahwa setiap orang pasti dapat memahami dan mengenal-Nya, sejauh yang dikatakan Alkitab. Kunci memahami dan mengenal Allah yang Esa yakni terlebih dahulu meyakini Alkitab adalah Firman Allah. Kiranya pemahaman yang dimiliki setiap orang percaya dapat memberi makna secara pribadi, bagi orang lain, dan akhirnya di atas kedua kepentingan tersebut kemuliaan dan hormat bagi Allah sendiri.

Martin Luther and Systematic Theology

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Hinlicky
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Dialectical Theology ◽  
God's Word ◽  
True Knowledge ◽  
Academic Theology ◽  
Insight Into

A meta-argument is needed today to go forward in theology with Luther. For speaking of God, even in sophisticated ways, is a dangerous business that can lead astray. Theology is not in the Reformer’s mind an unambiguous good. But neither is silence an option, if God has spoken. If God has spoken, one is summoned, indeed, empowered to speak in response. In some distinction from the dialectical theology of the 20th century, which oscillates between the Word of God and the word of man, Luther employed a dialectic of the Word and the Spirit to organize theology. And if in the power of the Spirit one speaks in response to God’s Word about God, one must also speak with others about speech about God that accords with God’s speech. This discourse straddles the community of faith and the academy. Thus three orders of theological discourse—speech in God’s name, the church’s confession, and academic theology—can be sorted in order to facilitate Luther’s challenge to theology as a dangerous business fraught with peril. It must do so in a way that both retrieves his insight into the dialectic of Word and Spirit and also guards against Luther’s own failures, especially in academic theology, when invective supplanted dialogue. Within the Trinitarian sequence of Word and Spirit, the performance of God’s gospel word, so that it is experienced by the alienated sinner as the event of God surpassing the wrath of his love to establish the mercy of his love, constitutes the primary theology for Luther. This is discovered in the biblical matrix of Christian faith where the Spirit births every believer. Thus the primary theology of the Bible, taken as gospel speech in God’s name, gives “true” knowledge of God “in Christ crucified”; this is known and acknowledged in secondary theological speech, including Luther’s own doctrinal production. But the articulate recognition of these two orders is the critical work of an academic theologian. Luther is in principle critically dogmatic, and where he falls short of this standard, he can and may be corrected by his own academic standards. The case depends on (1) the Trinitarian interpretation of the dialectic of Word and Spirit as primary and secondary orders of theological knowledge, respectively, that are conscience-binding, church-uniting and context-independent, and (2) the differentiation of the former from the academic task in hermeneutics and critical thinking that is context-dependent and subject to nothing other than reason and persuasion.

A Theology of Mercy

Send Lazarus ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 133-163
Author(s):  
Matthew T. Eggemeier ◽  
Peter Joseph Fritz
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Theological Anthropology ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Good Samaritan ◽  
The Trinity

This chapter constructs an antineoliberal systematic theology. It contests the bedrock neoliberal commitment to impersonal reality (represented by the market) by laying out a Trinitarian theology focusing on the distinctive characters of the three persons of the Trinity. Each Trinitarian person exhibits that reality is at its core mercy. Next it resists the neoliberal anthropology of human capital by describing what we call a neighbor anthropology and an innkeeper ecclesiology, that is, a theological anthropology and ecclesiology conceptualized out of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Finally, against the neoliberal ethos of mercilessness and culture of indifference we direct the works of mercy, presented traditionally as charity, and reimagined as structural and political: a politics of mercy.

scholarly journals Palavra de Deus no Antigo e Novo Testamento

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (284) ◽  
pp. 802
Author(s):  
Luís Stadelmann
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
Thought Patterns ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Working Out ◽  
The Trinity

O artigo começa com a investigação do problema da hermenêutica da palavra de Deus, na época do movimento do “modernismo”, no fim do séc. XIX e no começo do séc. XX. Uma visão de conjunto da Sagrada Escritura trata dos livros da Bíblia como literatura funcional. A seguir, são abordados os arautos da palavra de Deus no AT e NT e seu papel na comunidade de fé. A influência da palavra de Deus, na faculdade do intelecto e da vontade, é determinante no comportamento humano. A tipicidade cultural do mundo hebraico e helênico desvenda os traços significativos dos respectivos livros bíblicos. Por fim, se analisa o prólogo do Evangelho de João para apresentar a pessoa de Jesus Cristo, como personificação da Palavra de Deus na vida trinitária e na relação com a humanidade.Abstract: The article begins by investigating the problem of hermeneutics concerning the word of God in connection with the crisis of the movement of “modernism” at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. A comprehensive view of the Sacred Scriptures envisages the books of the Bible as functional literature. The following chapter focuses upon the messengers of the word of God in the OT and NT with special attention taking into account their role in the faith community. Further, the influence of the word of God on one’s intellect and will is studied so as to find out why they make their each and every move determining human behavior. New insight is to be gained by working out the literary approach of the word of God in the context of disparate cultures and diverse differentiations which occurred both in Hebraic and Hellenistic thought patterns, which are exemplified in the biblical books of the OT and NT. In the final chapter the personified word of God by Jesus Christ is considered by a detailed analysis of the Prologue of the Gospel of John in order to ascertain the divine role within the Trinity and in the relationship between God and the world.

Ancient Israel's Neighbors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian R. Doak
Keyword(s):  
Nearest Neighbors ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Social ◽  
Family Level ◽  
The Face ◽  
Social Turmoil

The purpose of this book is to tell the story of Israel’s nearest neighbors—not only discovering what the Bible has to say about them but also what we can know from archaeology, ancient inscriptions, and other sources. The Bible itself presents these neighbors in nuanced and conflicting ways; sometimes they are friends or even related to Israel at a family level, and sometimes they are enemies, spoken of as though they must die in order for Israel to live. We are left wondering how the biblical portrayal might have affected our thinking about these people as historical groups, on their own terms. How would an Aramaean have described her own religion? How would an Edomite have described conflict with Israel? This book explores both the biblical portrayal of the smaller groups surrounding Israel and what people can know about these groups through their own literature, archaeology, and other sources. By uncovering the identity of the Philistines as settlers along the coast at the same time that early Israel carved out their place in the land, for example, one can better understand the social turmoil and political maneuvering that lies just beneath the surface of the biblical narrative, and can see more clearly just how the authors of the Bible saw themselves in the face of others.

Conclusion: The Bible Human and Divine

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jetze Touber
Keyword(s):  
Word Of God ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Contested Terrain ◽  
Public Church

The conclusion recapitulates the variegated dynamics at play in the interpretation and use of the Bible in the Dutch Public Church when Spinoza articulated his biblical criticism. Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus did not suddenly open the eyes of his contemporaries to the technical and philosophical problems of identifying a text with the Word of God. Rather it arrived at an extremely delicate moment, when forces from various directions were already contesting one another over the authority to interpret Scripture in their own ways. These forces had their own momentum when refuting Spinoza’s outlandish appeal to biblical philology, and responded in turn to one another inlight of the new reality. In result, by 1700 the space allowed for exegetical variety within the doctrinal enclosure of the Public Church had gradually widened, but it remained a contested terrain where innovations were easily considered, or branded, harmful to ecclesiastical unity.

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