Scattered Thoughts on Theology and Ministry…
In Young Life we value relationships…. a lot. Relationships are a key aspect of our methodology. We go where kids are at and build personal relationships with them. We earn the right to share the good news of Jesus. We personally invite kids to respond to the gospel and walk in friendship with them regardlessContinue reading “Relational Spirituality – Book Review”
Kallistos Ware begins his discussion of human personhood by referring to David Jenkins, who was the Bishop of Durham at the time, who insisted that personhood cannot be defined. According to Jenkins, “There is a sense in which we do not know what is involved in being a person. Thus, we do not know howContinue reading “The Unity of the Human Person According to the Greek Fathers”
In a short essay titled “A Theology of Personal Being,” John Macquarrie makes three assertions about what it means to be a human being. First, “a human person is a being on the way.” (172) Humans are “unfinished” – this is in contrast with traditional views that regard human nature as some sort of fixedContinue reading “A Theology of Personal Being”
In Communion and Otherness, John Zizioulas expands and elaborates upon ideas that were presented in Being and Communion. What sets this book from the earlier book is that instead of focusing on how communion is related to being he focuses on how otherness is related to being – what ties together communion and otherness isContinue reading “Communion and Otherness”
When Being as Communion came out (especially in English) generated much discussion regarding the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine’s relationship to ecclesiology. Although many Trinitarian theologians would say that the divide between Eastern and Western Trinitarian theologies has been overplayed, Zizioulas emphasis on the uniqueness of Orthodox Trinitarian theology leads to many constructive claims. TheseContinue reading “Being and Communion”
In The Call to Personhood Alistair McFadyen expresses concern about two unsatisfactory conceptions of individuality and personality, these two conceptions are Individualism and Collectivism. Individualism attempts to maintain personal freedom and autonomy and Collectivism tries to take social relations and institutions seriously. However, when each of these two conceptions of personality get pressed too farContinue reading “The Call to Personhood”
Seven Theories of Human Nature is a general introduction to philosophical anthropology. Written by Leslie Stevenson, who was a Reader in Logic and Metaphysics at the University of St. Andrews, this book focuses not only on major theories of what it is to be a human being but it also makes suggestions for how toContinue reading “7 Theories of Human Nature”
Theosis, write Stephen Finlan and Valdimir Kharlamov, is closely related to a number of other doctrines including: soteriology, Christology, anthropology, the sacraments, personal eschatology, the imago dei, redemption, and sanctification. Despite the doctrine’s connections to a number of other theological loci, in the minds of many—especially those who find their theological bearings in the West—the doctrineContinue reading “Is Theosis a soteriological or anthropological doctrine?”
Holding to non-Reductive physicalism has some benefits…. First, it takes seriously the dualist’s intuition—and the biblical data—that we cannot be reduced to the material; that is, we are more than merely matter. Second, it might avoid the reductionist pitfall of eliminating moral responsibility. Some people, like Nancey Murphy, have argued that can provide an accountContinue reading “Non-Reductive Physicalism – Some Problems (Part 1)”
Yesterday I heard some heartbreaking news: P-47, a 3-year-old mountain lion has died in the Santa Monica Mountains after being infected with rat poison. P-47 was one of the largest mountain lion observed in the National Park Services study in Los Angeles. This got me thinking about humanity’s vocation in relation to creation. In studying T.F. TorranceContinue reading “Priests of Creation and a Dead Mountain Lion”
CWoznicki Think Out Loud 