THEOLOGIANS – SALLIE MC FAGUE AND THOMAS TORRANCE This paper seeks to compare two theologians, one male, one female, one Trinitarian and one mythological, Thomas F. Torrance and Sallie McFague. At the heart of all of Torrance’s theology is the truth of the Trinity. It is foundational to all of his work. For him, the ultimate purpose of theology is knowing God in a personal way that involves both head and heart. He felt we must be faithful to Scripture’s logic. (Torrance, 2008). Torrance was also interested in the interface between theology and science. He considered his method “depth exegesis, and” attempted to avoid dualism, believing that method was always responsive to content. He organized his approach around three unique features of Scripture: first, that its theological content is only understood within a framework which derives from the biblical text; second, that God speaks through the written document; and finally, that the Bible blends historical and abstract information. His was a three-leveled system: (1) corporate experience in receiving the revelation of the God’s reality as recorded in the Bible; (2) what he called the theological level, voicing an understanding of what God is doing; and (3) the higher theological level, experiencing God. According to him, to hear God speak people need to listen to Scripture. While seeking deeper meaning, Christians must also consider literary and historical features. When interpreting, he wanted people to see God in the
Michael J. Himes, in his book Doing the Truth in Love, describes theology as a way of “talking about God.” Talking about God brings many questions to mind: how do people talk about God when God is a mystery? How do people converse about what they do not know for sure? Many may think theology is inherited and even theologians talk about what they have learned from doctrines and the history they have been taught. Even though theologians know very little about God aside from what they studied, they still know it is important to talk about God. As Himes states, “God is simply too important to us not to talk about.” Although theologians are still figuring out the mysteries of God, they attempt to put forth their opinions and ideas about God in order to inspire people to find their own theology.
Throughout his book, David Entwistle (2010) recurrently echoes the theme that “all truth is God’s truth.” (p. 16) Entwistle further claims that a person can discern truth from both of God’s books (i.e., His Word and His Works). Entwistle affirms that because God has systematically ordered both His Word and His Works in such a way that makes integration possible, both psychology and theology are correct in their interpretations. Nevertheless, religion and psychology are systems of finite understanding and presuppositions. Therefore, while the certainty that all truth comes from God does not excuse error from either discipline it does allow for integration since both seek to bare
Theology of Christianity appears in many forms. It is a concentration of the study of both the old and new testaments, as well as Christian traditions. Such theologies discussed by the author are: biblical criticism, systematic theology, historical theology, moral theology, pastoral theology, liberation theology, natural theology, liturgical studies and sacramenta theology, and mystical
Many believe that the writings of early Church Fathers were lectured to different sects. In fact, one may assume that there are Similarities and differences between Tertullian and Justin Martyr. Particularly, let’s compare Tertullian’s and Justin Martyr perspective of faith, reason, and philosophy! Justin Martyr is Known as the defender of the faith (Tony lane), (p.10) He looked for truth in Greek philosophy. Likewise, his apology is in defense of the Christian faith and belief of Christianity. Of the writings that subsist, his First Apology (c. 155 c.e.; English translation, 1861) contains a resilient appeal for justice lectured to Antoninus. In that work, he clarifies Christian morals to influence his reader of Christian faithfulness and honesty. However, also central to this writing is his claim that Hebrew prophecy and Greek philosophy, both informed by the divine Logos (the Word), pointed to the coming of Christ. Through such dispute, he facilitated to institute the early Christian theme which faith is greater than Greek philosophy and is the result of Judaic belief. In Justin’s awareness, merely those who were controlled by fears failed to recognize these facts. His Second Apology (c.
At the center of the Christian faith is a mystery. This mystery has everything to do with the identity of God, the nature of Christian community, the salvation history and our understanding of Christology. This is the mystery of the Trinity – how is the Godhead fully three persons, and yet one nature? Theophilus was the first to name the ‘triad’ nature of God in his letter To Autolycus in 170 A.D. Tertullian was the first to offer terminology to describe this mystery in Against Praxeas claiming “the Trinity” involved three ‘persons’ of one substance. This theology emerged from the Biblical witness, even though scripture offers no doctrine of the Trinity itself. Even more so, the development of the doctrine of the Trinity grew from the early church’s worship, witness and corporate experience. When faced with a mystery, heresies can’t help but emerge. Docetism and Arianism, Adoptionism and Monarchianism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism are just a few of the heresies that emerged in attempts to explain away the mystery. And yet, theologians from the second century to the twenty-first century are faced with the challenge of witnessing to this mystery in both the theologia and the oikonomia of the Trinity. The church experiences the economic Trinity as new believers are drawn into Trinitarian community through an ongoing
Finally, his call to know and experience God in a “vitally Trinitarian” way by the Spirit captures the very essence of Paul’s ministry and encapsulates the entire thesis of the book.
Friedrich Schleiermacher's On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers led to his description of "the Father of Modern Theology." The first two speeches, "Defence" and "The Nature of Religion" both use established concepts to oppose orthodoxy and establish a new method of theological thought that influences theology to modern times. Paul Tillich and Karl Rahner are also influential, both supporting the vital and intimate relationship between the divine and the human. Furthermore, this essential interrelationship and theology's focus on it are supported by various Christian philosophical/theological thinkers, including Langdon Gilkey, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Blaise Pascal.
Saint Augustine, one of the best scholars of the early church, portrayed the Trinity as practically identical to the three sections of an individual: personality, soul, and will. They are three unmistakable viewpoints, yet they are conjoined and together constitute one bound together individual. The purpose of this research paper is to further emphasize, highlight, and defend St. Augustine’s conclusion that the Holy Trinity is one God existing in three persons according to the meeting at the Council of Nicea 325.
Subject Area This thesis proposal falls under the umbrella of theological ethics. Specifically, the role of ecclesiology as a critical component of theological ethics. Thesis Statement
In conversation with Daniel Migliore give an account of what it means to confess that God is triune. Give care to an explication of “economic and immanent trinity,” and perichoresis.
The theist, therefore, appears to be faced with a choice between a view which implies a kind of moral chaos and a life of moral immaturity, and one which belittles an Almighty God. One attempt to resolve this dilemma turns on the distinction
“The Trinity is the basis of the gospel, and the gospel is the declaration of the Trinity in action.” (J I Packer, likesuccess.com) The Trinity consists of God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, yet they make up one God. It is the simple philosophy of the 3-in-1 or three persons, one essence first brought up by Tertullian. It is this philosophy that allows Christianity to be a monotheism.
The purpose of the paper is to differentiate between Christ of faith and Jesus of history. New Testament biblical scholars from the 19th Century have been preoccupied by the notion of Christ of faith versus Jesus of History. Jesus of history can be described as the quest for historical Jesus, while the Christ of Faith is the Christ of Christian belief either through the Church or historically. Some traditions even went ahead to argue that the Jesus of History could never be found and therefore the Christ of faith is the only way forward for Christians. On the other hand, those who have been promoting the Jesus of History have often assumed that the historical Jesus is much superior as compared to the Christ of Faith. Despite the key differences between Christ of faith and the historical Jesus, both these aspect have an implication for Western Christianity.
Mary Ann Fatula’s The Triune God of Christian Faith provides for the reader the inner life of God as well as insight into the human reality. Fatula’s writing draws the devotional discussion of the Trinity as the present-day effect of the Trinitarian faith is called to support attempts to articulate and live the Trinitarian mystery. The Trinity in a human’s life is the content of our definition of our human meaning and for an infinite gift: love. Each of us has a desire for achieving meaning, for love, and for wholeness. Fatula in her book develops the study of the divine ‘persons’ and states the importance of understanding what it is to be truly a ‘person’ of both human and divine potential.
In the study of Christian theology, scripture plays an essential role in the revelation of the Doctrine of God. Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) words, written by the Holy Spirit through divine inspiration of prophets. They are necessary for the proper understanding of the doctrine of God, the self-revelation of God, the proof of God’s existence, and for the discernment of false doctrines.