Theology in the News

Hi Michael:

What is your take on monothelitism? Could you please explain it. Thank you!

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Well, it has to do with the two wills of Christ. It is a hard issue as we have to define what “will” is and what it is associated with. If you associate it with the person of Christ, then he only has one will. However, the early church associated will with the nature. Therefore, he had to have two. This is the orthodox position, but this is a minor issue, in my opinion. Christology, does not turn too much on this debate.

Hope that helps,

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What are your thoughts?

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By C. Michael Patton in Theology

Here is a new book I just recieved. From what I have read it seems to be very controversial. From “Christianity is Boring” to “Few People Believe in God Anymore,” there are 145 questions answered in this 361 page book. While I don’t like the title (“Exposing” seems a bit to dismissive of the objections to get a wide audience that is needed) and I don’t like the cover (seem like it was done in the 80s), it looks like a very solid work.

Reviews

“An astonishingly rich plethora of historical facts and common-sense arguments–a summa of persuasive debating points in popular apologetics.” (Peter Kreeft, Boston College )

“Jeffrey Burton Russell is a marvel. An eminent scholar of medieval intellectual history, he has placed his gifts in the service of the gospel, creating in one immensely readable volume an enlightening guide to the Christian experience and a bracing antidote to the follies and willful confusions of our age.” (Carol Zaleski, professor of world religions, Smith College )

“If you thought Christian apologetics was an art last practiced in the third century, Professor Russell’s lively book will convince you that that ancient art of persuasive, reasoned defense is alive and well. Tackling the many misapprehensions and false assumptions about Christianity that routinely circulate in the modern world, Russell counters with thoughtful and thought-provoking data. Researched with a scholar’s attention to accuracy yet written in an accessible style and in a format that facilitates consideration of discrete topics, this book deserves a wide readership among thinking people, Christians and non-Christians, believers and non-believers alike.” (Wendy M. Wright, professor of theology, Creighton University)

“This is Christian apologetics at its best–compelling, readable, convincing and informed. Distortions, myths and lazy assumptions are all challenged. Encyclopedic in scope, all the major questions are considered. From gnosticism to evil, from science to the Trinity, Jeffrey Burton Russell demonstrates exceptional competence and mastery of the literature. What C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianitydid in the 1940s, Jeffrey Burton Russell has done for us. For those seeking and for those who doubt, this is a must-read book.” (Very Rev. Dr. Ian Markham, president and professor of theology, Virginia Theological Seminary)

About the Author
Jeffrey Burton Russell (Ph.D., Emory University) was a history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1979-1998 where he is now a professor of history, emeritus. He also taught at the University of Mexico, Harvard, University of California in Riverside, Notre Dame, and California State University, Sacramento. Russell has published numerous books and articles on his area of expertise, the history of theology. Early in his academic career, Russell was honored as a Fulbright Fellow, Harvard Junior Fellow, and Guggenheim Fellow.

Get the book here.

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By C. Michael Patton in Book Recommendations/Reviews

Not exactly like Don Johnson or Eddie Murphy, but Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll’s organization, will be launching a new record label hoping to do something different. The cynic in me says that if we want to do something different, we need to quick launching record labels! However, I know that the Lord does not check my cynic day-timer for instructions.

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By C. Michael Patton in Christian Life and Beliefs

I don’t know about you, but my kids were born with four parents, Kristie, myself, and Bob and Larry. Of course Bob and Larry are the characters on VeggieTales. I don’t know how popular it is among Christian partents today, but it was a great guilt-free way to set our kids in front of the Television and get a thirty-minute break. I, personally, have every VeggieTales song memorized.

This is why I was so interested when I heard that VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer called his creation moralistic.

I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, “Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,” or “Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!” But that isn’t Christianity, it’s morality.

Read the interview here.

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By C. Michael Patton in Uncategorized

So, how would a foreign visitor with little knowledge of America see the state of religion here today? The Texas Faith panel weighs in. (Unfortunately Darrel Bock’s contribution is minimal.

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By C. Michael Patton in Christianity

I purchased this a few years back. Great works at a great price.

The Early Church Fathers, 38 Volumes By Edited by Alexander Roberts & Philip Schaff / Hendrickson Publishers Broken into three sections, this authoritative collection of writings by the Early Church Fathers is essential for understanding patristic thought. Series I of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers consists of eight volumes of the writings of St. Augustine, the greatest and most influential of the early Fathers, as well as six volumes of the treatises and homilies of St. Chrysostom. The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Series II contains in fourteen volumes the works of the Greek Fathers from Eusebius to John of Damascus and the Latin Fathers from Hilary to Gregory the Great. The Ante-Nicene Fathers represent the first primary sources of Christian history following the canon of the New Testament, and include writings from the Apostolic Fathers as well as various third and fourth century sources.

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By C. Michael Patton in Uncategorized

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — A group of current and former Southern Baptist leaders has signed a statement affirming what they call the “traditional Southern Baptist” understanding of the doctrine of salvation, with the goal of drawing a distinction with the beliefs of “New Calvinism.” Read full article

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By C. Michael Patton in Church Life, Theology

By Hilary Tompkins

I’m afraid of you.

No, really.

I believe that people have power over me. Power to wound, expose, shame, injure, and expect something I’ll never be able to deliver. The thought of disappointing you all makes me want to run and hide. I am caught between the rock of their approval and the hard place of their rejection.

I’ve sought refuge under the radar. My fear robs me daily. Here are 10 ways it does so.

1. Fear Robs Me of Experiencing God’s Favor

I’m way more concerned about what people think of me. Pleasing people is my goal and although it’s an ever-moving target, I keep trying to hit the bull’s-eye of their approval. If people compliment me, I exhaust myself making sure I never disappoint people—or I give up entirely. I must know what they think.

2. Fear Robs Me of Hearing God’s Voice

When things go well, when I receive accolades, I miss God’s kind and tender, “Well done,” believing that it simply can’t be true. My ears are tuned to their thoughts and opinions—they’ve become my standard. When God lovingly rebukes me, I run back to their latest compliments and feed on them for a while.

3. Fear Robs Me of Honoring and Obeying God’s Leading

When I receive direction in prayer or conviction through a sermon or sense the Holy Spirit while reading my Bible, I feel a momentary call, a renewed vision, a rush of freedom that encourages me to step out in faith. But if I do that, people will judge me, so I wait, rethink, and conclude that what I heard was probably just my own thoughts and ideas anyway.

4. Fear Robs My Trust in God

I take great measures to ensure that I am safe from what people can do to me. My family’s health and behavior, my job, daily inconveniences, schedules, unpredictable relationships, even my pain—these must all be managed. It is all within my power to control. I am risk-averse. Circumstances are better determined by a spin doctor than the great physician, Jesus.

5. Fear Robs Me of Pursuing Conflict Resolution

Relationships wither as I refuse to address sin and allow its consequences to flourish. Prickly sinful patterns go unchallenged and I only hang out with those who “get” me. I’m certain that people won’t respond lovingly so I avoid building intimacy.

Read more

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By C. Michael Patton in Plugs

For those of you who, like me, struggle daily not only with sin, but with the “How-Can-I-As-A-Christian-Still-Struggle-With-Sin?” thing, find encouragement in Stedman’s Authentic Christianity (specifically from a section entitled “The Battle Already Won”):

“Since we can live only in one area of relationships of our life at any given moment, it is evident that we can be in a Spirit-controlled area one moment and in a flesh-dominated area the next. This is why we can be a great person to live with one minute (delightful, because we are in the Spirit) and then a moment later some old habit of the flesh reasserts itself and we are right back in our old covenant behavior—harsh, nasty, or cruel. When we become aware of those feelings within, we know we will lose our Christian reputation if we are allowed to show, so we snatch an evangelical veil and hide the fading glory.

But how encouraging to know that the Spirit will never give up the battle! He seeks in a thousand ways to invade each separate relationship of the soul, and gradually He is doing so—sometimes faster, as we yield to him; sometimes very slowly, as we resist and cling to our veils. The more we work and live with the face of Jesus clearly in view, the more quickly we find each area of our life being changed into His likeness” (102-103).

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By C. Michael Patton in Book Recommendations/Reviews

Robert Bowman and Ken Boa write of the four approaches to apologetics in their extremely helpful work Faith Has its Reasons:

1. Classical – Primary use of reason in defending the faith. Here, rationality is the key. We can come to know about God and his existence through creation and natural revelation. From there we build our case concerning the truthfulness of Christianity. Thomas Aquinas, William Lane Craig, and Norman Geisler are examples of classical apologists.

2. Evidentialist – Emperical in methodology, the evidentialist uses the evidence to point the way to Christianity. Probability is the key for the evidentialist. What is the most probable senerio, for example, to explain the resurrection story. The evidentialist would look at the evidence and build an emperical case for the faith. Joseph Butler and John W. Mongomery would be examples of evidential apologists.

3. Reformed (Presuppositional) – We are to presuppose the authority of God and the authority of Scripture (as God’s word). This presupposition is justified due to the properly basic belief that God is authoritative. In this model, we can have absolute assurance because God’s authority is absolute. John Calvin, Cornelius Van Til, and John Frame would be examples of presuppositional apologists.

4. Fideist – Faith is an intuitive leap that is taken in spite of rationality or the evidence. Faith is blind by definition and by nature. It transcends the things of this world. Therefore, we don’t build a rational or evidential case for Christianity since doing so would destroy the nature of faith. Blaise Pascal and Soren Kierkegaard would be examples of fideist apologists.

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By C. Michael Patton in Book Recommendations/Reviews