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The Humility of the Risen Lord

In his recent Easter newsletter , David French made a point about the uniqueness of Jesus’ resurrection which bears repeating. He notes that “Christ figures are common in fiction, but even for those ultimately vulnerable enough to die and return, their return is typically a magnificent exercise of raw strength.” In contrast, French points out that Easter “reminds us that death is a prelude to resurrection—to a very particular form of new life, a life designed to imitate the sacrifice that led to death.” In other words, resurrection life is neither a return to life as it formerly was nor a dramatically incongruous life which spurns any hints of lowliness. The risen Lord Jesus was neither weakly resuscitated nor suddenly transformed into some kind of fierce superhuman. The exercise of his divine power continued its earlier form, that is to say, the forma servi , even as it manifested in more extraordinary ways. To illustrate this point, notice two moments in the resurrection narrative o...
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On the History of the Self

I've just finished Carl R. Trueman's important book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self , and I wanted to offer some reflections on that book here. Trueman's argument can be summarized briefly as follows: through figures like Rousseau, Shelley, Nietzsche, Marx, Freud, and others, our common conception of what it means to be a 'self' has been fundamentally changed. What the change has looked like can be thought of in terms of Phillip Rieff's terminology: our culture has moved from a second-world culture where the sacred has been institutionally rooted to a third-world anticulture where the previous era's institutions and norms are in the process of deconstruction. This is similar to the account offered by Charles Taylor in his work, A Secular Age and Sources of the Self . What makes Trueman's work distinct is its tracing of the narrative arc of this change, and the specific focus on the LGBTQ+ phenomenon. Trueman argues that in the last few centuries...
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On Theology as Prayer

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer. Theology is a task undertaken with great caution. We dare speak of the thrice-holy Lord, from whom the seraphim hide their faces. This may be one reason why, for most of the history of the church, theology was seen to be intimately tied to virtue, and ultimately, prayer.  Writing in the fourth century, Athanasius writes: "Without a pure mind and a life modeled on the saints, no one can comprehend the words of the saints...one wishing to comprehend the mind of the theologians [the authors of Scripture] must first wash and cleanse his soul by his manner of life" ( On the Incarnation, paragraph 57). The entirety of Augustine's Confessions  is written in the mode of prayer, asking God to aid him in the task of recounting his life and searching out God's works in it. A more recent example is the Episcopal theologian Katherine S...
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On Theological Exegesis and the Simplicity of God

I love the Bible. And I love Bible scholars. They're a fun bunch, to be honest; their deep dives into lexicography, grammar and syntax, history, and many more important aspects of studying ancient texts are an effort for which I am extremely grateful. But sometimes the posture and method of contemporary biblical scholarship breed a myopic approach to the Bible that can privilege historical-grammatical analysis and discriminate against other means of interpreting a text. Much has been said on this by others (among them Matthew Levering, on whom see my previous post), but I wanted to add my own two cents, and in so doing zero in on a related issue that I have been thinking about for a bit. I. I try to keep a foot in both sides of the Bible/theology pool, which means that I sometimes witness a fair bit of talking past one another. A recent example of this is in an episode of the Bible Project podcast — a (generally) less scholarly and (typically) more accessible program which can (and...
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On Scripture, Philosophy, and Theological Interpretation

My reading lately has been focused on the relationship between scripture and theology, and I've been reading Matthew Levering's Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology . In his chapter entitled, "YHWH and Being," a few lines struck me: "the ontological or metaphysical interpretation [of Exod 3:13-14] underscores the identity of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob precisely as the creating and redeeming God...The name "I am who am," a name that is necessarily metaphysical, does not on Aquinas's interpretation trap Israel's God within the limitations of Aristotle's (idolatrous) prime mover." (65) This point is one of Levering's central arguments in the chapter. Against the charge that metaphysics has no place in the interpretation of Scripture — or even in Christian theology — Levering (with Thomas Weinandy, Gilles Emery, and others) argues that metaphysics is useful (even necessary) to theology whe...
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Tracing Historic Eucharistic Theology

Centuries of reflection, conflict, and ultimately division have been propelled by two rather innocuous Latin words:  filioque  and  est . The former resulted in the split of the eastern and western churches, while the latter continues to sprout disagreement and division to this day. With respect to the latter, the view of Ambrose and other earlier Fathers is that when Christ said the (presumably) Aramaic equivalent of  hoc est enim corpus meum , he meant what he said: in some way his body and blood are really present when we eat the Supper. How that is, Ambrose maintained, is a mystery ( sacramentum ). Like an axe head floating or five thousand people being fed by five loaves and two fish, this mysterious presence is  contra natura , the manner in which God is wont to work.                   Augustine followed Ambrose in much of his understanding of the sacrament, particula...
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Grace and the Gift of Humility in Philippians

     “I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,” (Matt 11.29). The humility of our Lord exhibited here is likely one of the most appealing and challenging of his traits. That it is appealing is of course fairly evident; generally a person who expresses humility today is thought to be warm, friendly, and inviting. But the challenge persists, because we know that we have been called (not 10 words prior) to   follow   in this way, and the way of humility is invariably the way of the cross. What we need, then, is the grace of God in us “both to will and to work” (Phil 2.13) toward this way — which is indeed what we receive in Christ: “thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor 9.15).      What follows will attempt an exploration of the theme of grace and gift in Philippians and its application in ministry. As we investigate this theme biblically, historically, and theologically, we will see that in Philippians Pa...
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