Archives for “systematic theology”

Inerrantists who ignore Scripture: who killed biblical synergism?

One of Calvinists’ staple arguments in favor of monergism is the inference that positing God as relying, in some sense, upon our decision to participate in salvation is actually a demotion of God, a heinous and (usually) heretical inversion of man’s sovereignty over that of God’s. On Facebook today, a Calvinist posted the following statement: [...] Related posts:

  1. The authority of Scripture This is the sixth of a series of posts on inspiration, inerrancy, and hermeneutics. Preliminary Remarks The purpose of these next few posts is to examine my perspective of the...
  2. Baptism: taking Scripture and tradition seriously Polycarp at The Church of Jesus Christ and I seem to be travelling the same paths lately (does this indicate that I’m finally a part of the Church of Jesus...
  3. Human interpretations of Scripture and nature This is long for a “quote of the day,” but it’s so well stated that I couldn’t resist. It’s from an article by Kenton Sparks, author of God’s Word in...

View Comments Posted by Steve on Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 10:13 pm.

Filed under Reformed Theology, Sovereignty, , , , , , , .

On the cause and persistence of post-evangelical faith

Since childhood, my personality has been marked by an undercurrent of a haunting yearning sometimes referred to in its extreme forms as “melancholy”, very much like what C. S. Lewis called “joy”. I have always chalked it up to my Scottish heritage, but I imagine a lot of other ethnicities (I’m thinking particularly of Russians) [...] Related posts:

  1. More on what NT faith is about Under the typical Protestant understanding of “faith” as “not doubting something that one believes without proof”, I as a young Protestant could never fathom why God would be so tickled...
  2. How do you know you’re in the faith? I think Paul gives us a somewhat unexpected answer in 2 Corinthians. I’ll return to the subject of this post after a (possibly irrelevant) discursus here. This morning in Sunday...
  3. Major revision to an earlier post A correction from a commenter shows that I was wrong in attributing the following quote to Eusebius, the Early Christian Father (ECF), in my post entitled: “Is full preterism a...

View Comments Posted by Steve on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 12:03 pm.

Filed under Theology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Cultivating good theology

Daniel Kirk at Storied Theology has a great post up in which he’s critical of an article in the current Christianity Today theme this month by J. I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett in praise of catechism. Now I must say, since we’re attending a Presbyterian church now (I’m actually serious), my kids have recently been learning [...] Related posts:

  1. The problem with knowing theology Daniel Kirk today expressed well my feelings about and disillusionment with theology (which I have written about here). Reflecting over the course on The Cross in the New Testament that...
  2. My love affair with theology I haven’t been posting much lately. To explain why, allow me give you a sketch of my relationship with theology, which has always formed the backbone of this site. First,...
  3. In Luther’s footsteps Last Sunday night, our church hosted a Reformation Party for the kids. It was sort of a Halloweenish deal, with lots of games and candy, and the kids were encouraged...

View Comments Posted by Steve on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 11:26 pm.

Filed under Reformed Theology, Scripture, , , , , , , , , , .