One of the challenges with the EFS debate was the tendency by those critiquing Grudem Ware and others was to get frustrated with their failure to follow classical theist formulations. They would then accuse those who held to EFS of either being in outright heresy or straying into heresy. The problem was that they ignored… Continue reading Oh thou who changest not: God as pure act and a warning about imported metaphysics
Category: Theology
Is God’s wrath eternal?
Linked to the recent conversation about God, emotions, passions and affections, someone asked about whether or not God is eternally wrathful. Will he continue to have wrath/righteous anger after Satan has been thrown into the lake of fire. Interestingly, those who identify with classical theism have been the strongest in insisting that God is not… Continue reading Is God’s wrath eternal?
Talk about God. Some ways in which we can get our understanding of God wrong
One of the legitimate concerns in current debates is to know and speak of God correctly. In other words , we want to get our doctrine right. However, one of the risks we have is that we can be so concerned about making one mistake that we make another. Here are some dangers in how… Continue reading Talk about God. Some ways in which we can get our understanding of God wrong
Speaking Scripture to Power: Why we need a robust Evangelical Political Theology (by Joel Knight)
This is a guest post by Joel Knight in response to an article I wrote engaging with his take on Donald Trump in Evangelicals Now. Joel is minister at Christ Church Wokingham Dave asks me what I mean by ‘political theology’ and I’ll begin here because I think it will illuminate the question about ethical… Continue reading Speaking Scripture to Power: Why we need a robust Evangelical Political Theology (by Joel Knight)
Let’s talk about God (analogy, metaphor and impassibility)
Ronald S Baines in “Confessing the Impassible God responds to Don Carson’s critique of some formulations of Divine Possibility by arguing that: “The grid through which the confessional doctrine is viewed is not selected apriori asfter which the Biblical texts are viewed through this preconceived lens.”[1] Baines objects to Carson’s suggestion that an arbitrary grid… Continue reading Let’s talk about God (analogy, metaphor and impassibility)
Why God is not an emotionless firefighter (or why we need to pick better illustrations)
One of the reasons why I think a lot of people struggle with the idea of “Divine Impassibility” is that sadly it is often badly represented. Take for example, an essay that Matthew Barrett wrote for The Gospel Coalition website. In the article, he talks about how whenever someone shares about a tragedy they have… Continue reading Why God is not an emotionless firefighter (or why we need to pick better illustrations)
Empires, beasts and demons: A response to Robert Gagnon on the Democrats and Republicans
US Scholar Robert Gagnon has engaged with John Stevens (FIEC) in a facebook post on this issue. He writes: “Yes, John Stevens and Fellow British Evangelicals: There Is Only One Political Party in America That Deserves the Label Satanic (and It’s Not the Republican Party) Robert Gagnon Only just now seeing that John Stevens, National… Continue reading Empires, beasts and demons: A response to Robert Gagnon on the Democrats and Republicans
Classical Theism or Neo-Classical Theism?
You may have noticed that I refer to Classical Theism as Neo-Classical Theism from time to time. Now the term has been used in other contexts, in fact some of those seen as in disagreement with classical theism have been labeled as such. So why use the label in this context. Well I remember first… Continue reading Classical Theism or Neo-Classical Theism?
Really alive, really reborn
I revisited James 1:13 as part of my discussion on desire today. It struck me that in that debate, we need to pay attention to what James says about how desire conceives and gives birth to sin which grows into death. That statement should make us sit up and think carefully about what is going… Continue reading Really alive, really reborn
The problem with “classical theism”
Recent debates within Evangelicalism whether over if The Son submits to the Father, it is sinful to use empathy, the extent to which we can attribute emotions to God or temptation is a sin in itself have been marked by a dividing line between those who consider themselves to what is termed classical-theism and those… Continue reading The problem with “classical theism”
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