on the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith

Posted on October 17, 2012 by admin

Interestingly I have received the question today in two different forms: what does it mean to say outside the church there is no salvation and what does it mean to say only through Jesus can we come to God? The answer is in how we use the name Jesus. Continue reading →

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on Gospel

Posted on September 30, 2012 by admin

Gospels are not histories. Gospels are not factual presentations of events. Gospels are theological tracts, sermons. They tell a story to reveal a truth. They may touch on historical events, and they may just as likely “interpret” the event to fit the narrative.

We have four gospels in scripture and many more that did not pass the test. All of them tell the story of Jesus’ life and work, but it takes an enormous amount of twisting and turning to even try to make them agree on just about anything we might call a “history”. Continue reading →

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on Gnosticism, old and new

Posted on July 23, 2012 by admin

A number of the writings from the early Christian period were “lost” to us because they had been suppressed or destroyed. They were in some manner “put away” because they were considered to be deficient, if not overtly heretical, in their understanding of the faith. Among such deficiencies, one named Gnosticism was the most prevalent and persistent. In 1945, in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, a large collection of ancient gnostic writings was unearthed. This discovery gave rise to a great deal of excitement among academics of various disciplines. It also accrued a goodly deal of celebrity among the general public. This might well be expected of a time wherein Christianity was in decline and society ripe for some new vivifying force to appear. Continue reading →

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on Lost Gospels

Posted on July 10, 2012 by admin

In the early centuries of the Christian movement there were many gospels (homiletic-theological tracts), epistles, etc. There were many visions about what being a Christian meant, what being Christ meant. There was the usual cultural divide between East and West which in the early days centered about Alexandria and Antioch. Continue reading →

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on Theology and Religion, Cult and Culture

Posted on June 24, 2012 by admin

First, theology is an endeavour of metaphysics dealing with the absolute as absolute and it is a critical examination of the practice of religion. Theology is always claudicate if it attempts to be one without the other.

Second, religion is theology in act, in practice. It applies a vision of life, a valuation of life, and a systematic format for the presentation and enforcement of that vision and valuation, the system of masks and rituals, dogmas and liturgics. Continue reading →

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on Nature and God

Posted on June 11, 2012 by admin

I am familiar with the idea that theology is God coming to an understanding of self. I found this ditty of German Idealism egregious when I was an under-graduate and I think it still carries that cachet. But I find it a bentrovato axiom of idealism on two counts. Continue reading →

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on the Notes of the Church (an offering for Pentecost)

Posted on May 25, 2012 by admin

I recently spent a day riding around the city. As I assessed the architecture I quietly started keeping count of a certain type of signage, the type that usually includes the word church. I espied the Church of the Disciples, the Church of the Apostles, Church of God, Church of Jesus, The People’s Church, Full Gospel Church, Bible Church, Garden Church, Salvation Church, and there were all the Assemblies bearing variations on the above. There were the Roman and Orthodox establishments with their monopoly on the names of saints. The Anglicans were there with their propensity to tell you where they stand, at least geographically—on the hill, in the field, in the park. The Lutherans seem to likewise like some geographical definition, usually their country of origin. There were the macedoine Methodists, who win the prize for most variations on a denominational name. I was given to question if attendance is really declining or are we merely establishing a church for every dozen or so souls? Continue reading →

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