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The Wisdom of Justice: Psalms

17th August, 2016
Theology

You know when you get a song stuck in your head and nothing seems to be able to get it out? Every thought you have is tainted by the song, and the worst part is that it’s usually just a small snippet of the song. Rather than being able to focus on your work, you can’t help but sing Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself” for the hundredth time…today. That’s not to mention when you listened to it yesterday in the car or when you first heard the song and couldn’t stop singing it.

The Psalms aim for the same concept: to get the ways of God stuck in our heads through song and poetry. They are based on a combination of the Torah (Psalm 1) and personal catastrophes or life lessons. As David was on the run from Saul (Psalm 22), or lamenting over his sin in the aftermath of Uriah’s death (Psalm 51), or as Asaph was wracked with guilt over his desire for unrighteous living (Psalm 73), the composers took what they knew to be true from the Torah and set their feelings to music. In doing so, they passed on their experiences to future singers, that these singers might know solidarity with others who have felt similar feelings before.

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Mariology: More Than an Assumption?

and
15th August, 2016
Theology

Preface

 The knowledgeable Mr. Szatkowski and I are writing today in celebration of a most holy Feast day, that of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. In doing so, we hope to express—with the utmost respect and reverence—just why it is that Our Blessed Mother holds such a special place not only in our hearts, but in the hearts of millions of others, as well as in the doctrine of the Church (which, we feel, is based on much more than mere assumptions). This article will be formatted so as to first cover some introductory Mariological theory before moving on to discuss the benefits of Marian devotion as it relates to everyday practice. Part I will cover how it is that we find Our Lady revealed in Scripture, specifically how she was typologically prefigured in the Old Testament and what this means in the light of the New Testament. Then, in Part II, Mr. Szatkowski will delve into the importance and beneficial nature of devotion to the Virgin Mary as it applies to the daily life of a practicing Catholic. We thank those who take the time to read our work, and hope that it is found to be engaging and informative.

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Reviving the Church’s Imagination: A Review of Kevin Vanhoozer’s “Pictures at a Theological Exhibition”

12th August, 2016
Church

pictures at a theological exhibitionIn the eyes of a fair number of Christians today, the imagination doesn’t seem to count for very much—or at least that’s how Kevin Vanhoozer describes things in the introduction to his new essay collection Pictures at a Theological Exhibition. He believes that many evangelicals unfortunately view the imagination essentially as “a factory for producing images of things that are not there” (p.18). “Maybe it’s important for telling good stories at night or writing gripping novels, but it’s not that important for theology,” they might say.

When the imagination isn’t considered theologically useful, it seems like the value of analytic activities like systematic theology tend to get over-emphasized while artistic expressions like poetry get marginalized. For Vanhoozer, though, both systematic theology and poetry have important roles to play in the Christian life. He writes, “We need both the clarity of crisp concepts and the intricacy of lush metaphors in order to get sound, life-giving doctrine” (p.13). His overall indictment is that many contemporary believers don’t think having a developed biblical imagination matters. In a world where “many Christians are [simultaneously] suffering from malnourished imaginations, captive to culturally conditioned pictures of the good life,” this is a sadly ironic state of affairs (p.20).

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A Non-Violent Reading of Anselm’s Atonement Theology

10th August, 2016
Theology

“Anselm understood Jesus’ death as the debt payment that satisfied the honor of God, and thus restored balance and order in the universe….  Maintaining order in the universe depends on maintaining the honor of God, which necessitates a debt payment – the death of Jesus – to cover the offense to God’s honor that was enacted by human sin…  Although Anselm’s understanding of satisfaction atonement differs significantly from penal substitutionary atonement, I have treated them together as two versions of atonement that depict a divine need for Jesus’ death and that thus direct the death of Jesus Godward.  Although in different ways, each depends on retribution.  The conclusion is inescapable that any and all versions of satisfaction atonement, regardless of their packaging, assume the violence of retribution or justice based on punishment, and depend on God-induced and God-directed violence.”1J. Denny Weaver, “Narrative Christus Victor: The Answer to Anselmian Atonement Violence”, Atonement and Violence: A Theological Conversation, ed. John Sanders, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006), 8-9.  Author’s emphasis.

The above passage indicates how Anselm is predominantly interpreted in atonement debates.  It is also widely acknowledged that the language of Anselm’s so-called “satisfaction theory of atonement” influenced later theologians to eventually articulate penal substitutionary atonement, which explains why some argue that Anselm’s atonement theology is directly related to penal substitution.2Note the language of Weaver in the above passage: “…I have treated them [Anselm’s satisfaction atonement and penal substitutionary atonement] together as two versions of atonement that depict a divine need for Jesus’ death…”.  Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 4, Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700) (Chicago, IL: University Of Chicago Press, 1985), 24-26. Many assert that Anselm incorporated the language of the feudal system of his day, which led to a distorted idea of atonement: God is a feudal lord whose honor is offended and demands satisfaction through the form of violent punishment. Furthermore, the only one who can fully satisfy the infinitely offended God is the infinite God in human form, Jesus Christ.3J. Denny Weaver, The Nonviolent Atonement, 2nd Ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2011), 236-237.

References   [ + ]

1. ↑ J. Denny Weaver, “Narrative Christus Victor: The Answer to Anselmian Atonement Violence”, Atonement and Violence: A Theological Conversation, ed. John Sanders, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006), 8-9.  Author’s emphasis.
2. ↑ Note the language of Weaver in the above passage: “…I have treated them [Anselm’s satisfaction atonement and penal substitutionary atonement] together as two versions of atonement that depict a divine need for Jesus’ death…”.  Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 4, Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700) (Chicago, IL: University Of Chicago Press, 1985), 24-26.
3. ↑ J. Denny Weaver, The Nonviolent Atonement, 2nd Ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2011), 236-237.
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From the Archives: 4 Reasons the Trinity is Essential to Christian Belief

8th August, 2016
Theology

The Trinity is often identified as a divisive Christian doctrine. Some see it as needless or unimportant in the grand scheme of faith. Some see it as illogical and/or unbiblical. I’m going to say from the beginning of this essay… I think the Trinity is not only essential to the Christian faith, it is foundational to our very paradigm of God and every other doctrine of the Christian faith is affected by how much we consider the Trinity behind the processing of that particular doctrine. I’m not going to attempt to untangle the Trinity as a doctrine or demonstrate why it’s “biblical.”1I’d rather let more educated people do that for me (such as my pal Kenneth Myers in his book The Trinity Untangled Rather, what I’d like to do is show you four reasons the Trinity affects our paradigm of the world and God as Christians.

References   [ + ]

1. ↑ I’d rather let more educated people do that for me (such as my pal Kenneth Myers in his book The Trinity Untangled
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Trump, Clinton, and Jesus: Our Behavior During Election Season

5th August, 2016
Church

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who views this year’s Presidential election situation as “normal.” In the one corner, we have a celebrity with no political experience; in the other, we have a former president’s wife. Both candidates are incredibly controversial, which has led many to proclaim they will “simply” choose the lesser of two evils.

Except for a large group of Americans, Christian and otherwise, their choice isn’t evil. While Trump may have seemed like a joke at first, we are now seeing people who legitimately want him as president and view him as the best choice for making America “great again.” They applaud his ability to speak his mind and perceive him as being the next logical step to correct our Obama-stained nation. And for those who are in Hillary’s camp, the desire to be #neverTrump has convinced many to look at this woman (a woman running for President! Let that sink in for a moment) as someone who may actually have a chance to continue Obama’s legacy of civil rights and protection. Surely her appeals to minority demographics and attempts to ensure individual freedoms are something to vote for, right?

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The Wisdom of Justice: Proverbs

3rd August, 2016
Theology

The world, as it stands, does not seem to look the way that Christians would expect it to. Rather than seeing a world marked by peace, where weapons have become pruning hooks and the lion lies down with the lamb, we see death. Alton Sterling and Philando Castile are victims of systems designed to protect people like them. Lorne Ahrens, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson, and Michael Krol lost their lives in an act of violence committed by a trained gunman, one whom they swore to protect. Sin wrecks the systems of this world, and the principalities and powers of this age are not content to merely fuel individual violence, instead creating whole anti-Christian narratives. Systems designed to keep law and order end up being wracked by violence from both within and without.

When most Christians want to speak the language of the Bible and apply it to present situations, our first instinct is usually to look at the prophets. This is not wrong, but maybe incomplete. The prophets learned the language of justice from Israel’s extensive wisdom literature. To speak the language of the prophets, we should first learn the language of Lady Wisdom. Put another way, we look through the lens of the Proverbs: rather than listening to the instruction of our fathers, and the teaching of our mothers, we have gone astray to be with Lady Folly. Her alluring words, dripping with honey and smoother than oil, help us forget that she forgot the God of the covenant and left the companions of her youth. Humanity, under Adam, left the path of her fathers and followed the sons of Folly: ambushing those who were innocent without reason, rejoicing and delighting in evil, learning deviousness and crooked ways. By embracing the wisdom of this world, we have adopted the wisdom that killed the Son of Glory, becoming a part of the violent ways of Folly, at risk of never regaining the paths of life.

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Welcome to Theologues!

1st August, 2016
Site News

What is the purpose of Theologues?

A theologue is a student of theology, and Theologues is a place for Christians to seek a connection to the orthodox Christian faith and cultivate the desire to explore said faith. No person is an island, and this statement is true for all Christians. Whether we understand it or not, our beliefs have been shaped by those who came before us. By understanding what these people believed about God and why they believed, we can understand more about God for ourselves. Doing this requires searching the Scriptures, learning about Tradition, and encountering the same God these ancient theologians experienced, as well.

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From the Archives: How I Found a Way Out of My Spiritual Desert
author Adam Thrash 3rd October, 2016
A Review of Walter Brueggemann’s “Money and Possessions”
author Joe Johnson 30th September, 2016