Theology (64)
A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross. The Kingdom of God in America (1937), New York: Harper and Row, 1959, p. 193
A liberal Protestant, a liberal Catholic, and a liberal Jew can agree on almost everything, because they believe almost nothing! Proclaiming A Cross-Centered Theology (24)
Almost every single collapse involving denominations and churches in regard to historic Christian beliefs can be traced back to a degradation in that group's view of the Bible as the inspired and inerrant revelation of God's truth.Scripture Alone: Exploring the Bible\'s Accuracy, Authority and Authenticity (p. 43). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
The proclamation of new discoveries is not always a proof of devotion to the truth, it is sometimes a tribute to self-esteem.Sacred Theology, 577
When I turned my eye back to the emerging church or back to my friend's classic liberalism, I saw that at the center of it all stood a denial of the authority of the Word of God. These people read the Bible and preached the Bible and wrote about the Bible and professed to honor the Bible, but all the while they denied the full authority of the Bible. They accepted God's Word on their own terms. But God gives us no such option. To take the Bible at any terms but its own is to reject the Bible altogether.http://www.challies.com/articles/why-i-am-not-liberal
I am not afraid to say that a new idea never originated at Princeton Seminary.
If God's purposes were constantly revisable, how could the faithful rely upon them?The Rebirth of Orthodoxy, 95
Liberal theology is a succession of rescue attempts for the reputation of Christianity.http://t4g.org/media/2012/04/inerrancy-panel-v/
A young ungrounded Christian, when he sees all the fundamental truths, and sees good evidence and reasons of them, perhaps may be yet ignorant of the right order and place of every truth. It is a rare thing to have young professors to understand the necessary truths methodically: and this is a very great defect: for a great part of the usefulness and excellency of particular truths consisteth in the respect they have to one another. This therefore will be a very considerable part of your confirmation, and growth in your understandings, to see the body of the Christian doctrine, as it were, at one view, as the several parts of it are united in one perfect frame; and to know what aspect one point has upon another, and which are their due places. There is a great difference betwixt the sight of the several parts of a clock or watch, as they are disjointed and scattered abroad, and the seeing of them conjointed, and in use and motion. To see here a pin and there a wheel, and not know how to set them all together, nor ever see them in their due places, will give but little satisfaction. It is the frame and design of holy doctrine that must be known, and every part should be discerned as it has its particular use to that design, and as it is connected with the other parts.
Theology masters the man; the man is never to master the theology.
that branch of theology whose concern it is to study each corpus of the scripture in its own right, especially with respect to its place in the history of God's unfolding revelation. The emphasis is on history and on the inddvidual corpus.Unity and Diversity in the New Testament
it may be said to be characteristic of the whole of modern liberal theology, with its emphasis on the goodness of man, that it has lost sight of the necessity of the saving grace of God.Systematic Theology, 431
It is a profound embarrassment to liberal leadership that during its hegemony, the seminaries, and the bureaucracies, the churches have lost ground in a massive membership haemorrhage. Liberals go into a cold sweat trying to explain how, while they owned the infrastructure, the money, the publications, and the leadership, they failed even to hold membership steady. They still nurture the fantasy that they have the high moral ground on sexuality issues, politically correct policing, and standard liberal theological issues such as universal salvation. The liberal leadership is now faced with the desperate dilemma of trying to secure trust and support from its ever-diminishing number of constituents.The Rebirth of Orthodoxy, 149
The problem of unfaithful clergy extends to our seminaries as well... These ordinands are often surprised to find themselves steered away from scripture toward tendentious gender studies, nihilistic deconstruction, uninhibited liturgical experimentation, the ubiquitous (and speculative) historical criticism, and counterproductive psychotherapies. The fair-minded know that this must and will end.The Rebirth of Orthodoxy, 137
Either Jesus' view of the Scripture is the true one, and then we should kneel in His presence; or Jesus' view of the Scripture is one enormous mistake, in which case the Rabbi of Nazareth can no longer be the absolute guide along the way of faith.Sacred Theology, 459
Liberal theology is a strategy that develops when you can't believe in Christian doctrine anymore, but you want to keep being a Christian, so you base your faith on Christian experience instead.Good News for Anxious Christians (179)
Theology is doctrine or teaching of living to God.
if divine revelation is rejected, philosophers cease to have access to the knowledge needed to keep God's transcendence and immanence in balance. And without God being both transcendent and immanent, as effectively communicated in natural and special revelation, some form of deism or pan(en)theism emerges.Failure of Natural Theology, 23
Natural theology seeks to obtain a philosophical knowledge of God by suppressing the knowledge of God that comes through natural revelation.Failure of Natural Theology, 22
The new liberal theology, because it says that the Bible does not touch the cosmos or history, has no real basis for applying the Bible's values in a historic situation, in either morals or law. Everything religious is in the area of nonreason, and since reason has no place there, there is no room for discussion; there are only arbitrary pronouncements.How Should We Then Live, 199
The early Christians understood the scope for misunderstanding on this point and were uncomfortable about identifying God too closely with the supreme being of the philosophers. A small (but telling) difference shows us what the root of their problem was and how they reacted to it. The philosophers spoke of their supreme being as to on (the thing that is) but Christians changed the neuter participle to the masculine ho ōn, which to them was the equivalent of Yahweh ("he who is").3 By doing this, they made it clear that the supreme being is a person who relates to us in personal ways, not an abstract deity—a vital difference that distinguished and still distinguishes Christianity from any kind of philosophy.God is Love, 136
should be common to the faith of every believer. The love of God reaches out to each of us individually, and no one person's experience will be exactly the same as another's. But we all have a great deal in common because we know and love the same God. Theology does not focus on us and our feelings but on God and the way he has revealed himself to us.God is Love, 81
True theologians are sheep who hear their Shepherd's voice and interpret his words for the benefit of the rest of the flock. In this task, theology will continue until the time comes when it will no longer be needed. When that happens we shall know all things, and be enfolded forever in the unchanging and all-encompassing love of God.God is Love, 28
What we call "theology" is a work in progress. It is not a fixed body of knowledge that can never grow or develop; it continues to expand as our relationship with God deepens. At the same time, it does not change, because God does not change. Theologians may have to express themselves in new ways when challenged by fresh discoveries that raise questions our ancestors never dreamed of.God is Love, 28
A child cannot talk about his parents in the dispassionate way that a biographer would, but a child knows things about his parents that no outsider can fully understand. It is the same in our relationship with God. The Bible never speculates about whether God exists, because it was written by people who knew him and who would have found such a question absurd.God is Love, 26
When dealing with matters pertaining to God, humility is essential. If our attempts to discover his ways are dissociated from a spirit of reverent worship, what we are seeking will remain hidden from us and the task to which we have been assigned will be left for others to accomplish. In doing theology, we are talking about someone with whom we live in relationship, with all the complexities that any relationship involves. We cannot objectify God and analyze him any more than we can distance ourselves from our parents, spouse, or children and examine them as if our ties to them were purely intellectual. As with our close human relations, our knowledge of God is embedded in a context that we must recognize and respect.God is Love, 25-26
The good theologian must know how to recognize the boundaries of our understanding, and must remind curious souls not to stray beyond the limits that God has imposed on our learning.God is Love
Natural theology is not universally, effectively, immediately, consistently, and infallibly communicated from above. Rather than originating from the mind of God, natural theology originates from the mind of man. Natural theology is man's attempt to discover the truth about God through empirical and rational analysis and philosophical speculation.Failure of Natural Theology, 16
natural theology, like all forms of philosophy, comes from the worldly wisdom of fallible men.Failure of Natural Theology, 11
Natural theology, unlike revealed theology, does not start with God's self-disclosure. Natural theology, at least for Aquinas, begins on the false notion that man is ignorant of God. Rather than starting out with the immediate knowledge and awareness of God, natural theology seeks to construct a knowledge of God through reason and experience.Failure of Natural Theology, 11
general revelation refers to what God makes known of himself through creation. It is accepted and understood by faith. It proceeds from God and reaches us. On the other hand, natural theology, as it is called, refers to attempts by humans to argue for the existence and nature of God based on what is known or observed in creation and providence. It assumes that we have the capacity to know a great deal about God on the basis of our own powers of reason and observation.Systematic Theology, 55-56
the branch of philosophy that treats the existence and nature of God is called natural theologyFailure of Natural Theology, 10
Natural theology is not natural revelation. This is important to stress because natural theology and natural revelation are often conflated togetherFailure of Natural Theology, 10
It is plain that complete havoc must be made of the whole system of revealed truth, unless we consent to derive our philosophy from the Bible, instead of explaining the Bible by our philosophy.
a biblical theological approach to a particular text seeks to give its interpretation first with regard to its own literary context and primarily in relation to its own redemptive-historical epoch, and then to the epochs preceding, and following it.
nothing else than the exhibition of the organic progress of supernatural revelation in its historic continuity and multiformity.Biblical Theology
Every Christian must be a theologian, as I have demonstrated elsewhere. For it is essential that every Christian learn the faith of the church, either through infused knowledge, or along with this, knowledge acquired from human teachers. Otherwise, he would not be a person of faith, and faith is the highest theology of all.Wyclif, On the Truth of Holy Scripture
I know nothing so likely to counteract this modern plague as constant clear statements about the nature, reality, vileness, power, and guilt of sin.Holiness, Chapter 1
Ernest Howse, the church's moderator 1964-66, was surprised at the public controversy that followed his announcement, during an Easter interview, that he did not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. He considered his statement to be "about as radical as an affirmation that the world is round," and shrugged off the vituperative criticism.The United Church of Canada, 107
After decades of anti-Roman Catholic pamphleteering, the United Church at the 1964 General Council was able to send magnanimous "Christian greetings to the third session of the Vatican Council," and United Church clergy began participating in the celebration of "mixed" marriages with Roman Catholic priests.The United Church of Canada, 104
The duty of a theologian, however, is not to tickle the ear, but confirm the conscience, by teaching what is true, certain, and useful.Institutes, Book 1 Chapter 14
The recovering of old truth, truth that has been a means of blessing in the past, can under God become the means of blessing again in the present, while the quest for newer alternatives may well prove barren.
Packer, J. I.. Rediscovering Holiness: Know the Fullness of Life with God (Kindle Locations 97-98). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Rediscovering Holiness: Know the Fullness of Life with God (Kindle Locations 97-98). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
As I peruse the Church Dogmatics, I have the consistent experience of excessive verbiage and of ideas that refuse to achieve closure. It is interÂesting and sometimes even instructive to watch a brilÂliant mind play with concepts and subject them to intense scrutiny from every conceivable angle But Barth's dialectical method, which assumes the imposÂsibility of stating divine truth in human words and therefore continually negates and restates its own imÂpossible formulations, could easily and more instructively have simply stated the problem of formulation between two poles of theological statement - and then passed on to another issue, finally providing the reader with a finished dogmatics in no more than three or four volumes, with no loss of content.http://heidelblog.net/2016/08/muller-what-i-havent-learned-from-karl-barth/
A major problem for Process Theology is the moral question of good and evil. If everything is in constant flux and individuals are able to participate in creating their own future, and if this creativity is inextricably linked to God, it is hard to see what place there can be for the concept of evilGod Has Spoken, 1179
After 800 there was a definite pause in theological creativity as the churches absorbed the lessons of the past and appropriated their inheritanceGod Has Spoken (399)
it is not true to say that Christians capitulated to the mind-set of the surrounding philosophical culture. On the contrary, the philosophers whom they are accused of imitating were the last people in the ancient world to accept the gospel message. SO reluctant were they, in fact, that in 529 the emperor Justinian closed the remaining philosophical schools and exiled their members to Persia. If Christianity had been little more than another philosophy, it is hard to see why resistance to it would have been that strong.God Has Spoken, 311
Very few people realize it, but the six days of creation in the opening chapters of Genesis, known in Greek as the hexaemeron, was the part of the Bible most frequently commented on in the early church.God Has Spoken, 164
There can be no doubt that the career of Origen marked a decisive turning point in the history of Christian theology. Before his time there were apologists who discussed particular aspects of the subject, often (though not always) in response to the challenges posed by heretics and opponents, both Jewish and Christian. With Origen, however, we come to the work of a theologian whose main concern was to develop the internal logic of God's self-revelation and show how its different parts come together in a coherent whole.God Has Spoken, 147
It is no exaggeration to say that Christian theology began when Jesus called God his Father and taught his disciples to do the same. That was something previously unknown in Israel, and the Jews who heard Jesus say this reacted against him because of it.God Has Spoken (99)
the first Christian preachers seem to have made no sharp distinction between literalist treatments of the text, Midrash exegesis, Pesher interpretation, and the application of accepted predictive prophecies. All of these were employed, and at times there appears a blending and interwearving of methods. What they were conscious of, however, was interpreting the Scriptures from a Christocentric perspective, in conformity with the exegetical teaching and example of Jesus, and along Christological lines.Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (103)
It is supremely ironic that today's laity are becoming the mentors of today's clergy. It is the clergy into whose hands lay believers have solemnly entrusted themselves and their faith. And yet, when the clergy have fallen further away from faith than the laity, the laity are now taking the lead.The Rebirth of Orthodoxy, 138
every theologian shall, in his investigations, reckon with all those things that are taught him by the history of the churches concerning well and badly chosen paths in this territory to be investigated; and, also, in the second place, that he shall take the dogmas of his Church as his guide, and that he shall not diverge from them until he is compelled to do this by the Word of God.Sacred Theology, 577
the investigator of the Holy Scripture shall take account of what history and the life of the Church teaches concerning the general points of view, from which to start his investigation and which paths it is useless to further reconnoitre.Sacred Theology, 576
it is alleged that in the centrum of the religious and moral life there yawns an abyss between the Old Testament and the Christ. Notwithstanding all this the attempt is being made to make it appear as though it had merely been an innocent mistake in Christ that for eighteen centuries by precept and example He has bound His followers and confessors to the authority of the Old Testament. But is it not absurd to qualify in the Founder of your religion, as Jesus is called, as of no importance a mistake which for ages has led millions upon millions astray, and still continues to do this?Sacred Theology, 459
As long as the effort was prosecuted to prove that
Jesus shared the view of the
Scripture of the Old held by the liberal tendency at the beginning
this century, inspiration could be abandoned without
the
loss of one's Christ. Since, on the other hand, this effort
has suffered total shipwreck, and since it is, and must be
historically acknowledged that Christ viewed the Scripture
in about the same way in which the Church of all ages has
done this in her symbols, the conflict against this view of
the Scripture has become directly a conflict against the Christ
Himself. He who breaks in principle with that ancient view
of the Scripture cuts the cord of faith, which bound him
to that Christ as his Lord and his God
And he who can
not refrain from kneeling low before his Saviour cannot break
with the ground of faith in the Scripture, as Jesus Himself
has sealed itSacred theology, 456
Even Calvin is clearly conscious that he builds on the theology of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas; and he who reads the original Lutheran and Reformed dogmatists, perceives at once that they make constant use of what has been contributed by Romish theologians. But in the subsequent period that usage has become extinct. Every church withdraws itself within its own walls; and finally it seems that there is no theology for the dogmatist, but that which rests upon his own confession.Principles of Sacred Theology, 323
all knowledge remains received knowledge, and it is not God Himself, but the knowledge He has revealed to us concerning Himself which constitutes the material for theological investigation. Hence ectypal TheologyPrinciples of Sacred Theology, 252
"As you cannot kneel in prayer before your God as worshipper, in any other way except as dependent upon Him, so also as Theologian you can receive no knowledge of God when you refuse to receive your knowledge of Him in absolute dependence upon Him.Principles of Sacred Theology, 252
Theology is taught by God, teaches of God, and leads to GodUnknown
In defining theology, it is not strictly necessary to align it with a single biblical term, but it is certainly an advantage when we can do this. I propose that we define theology as synonymous with the biblical concept of teaching, with all its emphasis on edification.Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Kindle Locations 1225-1227). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Paul is inspired yet he wants books: he has been preaching nearly thirty years, yet he wants books: he has a wider experience than most people, yet he wants books: he has been caught up into heaven and heard things which it is unlawful to utter yet he wants books: he has written the major part of the New Testament, yet he wants books.
Once I was at Regent College, I said you western theologians always put theology into the refrigerator, now put it out and warm it up.Lecture at Westminster Seminary
When a denomination begins to consider doctrine divisive, theology troublesome, and convictions inconvenient, consider that denomination on its way to a well-deserved death.
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