Is there anything, any topic, or biblical theological issue you the reader would like me to bring up and address? I am open to your suggestions; with the caveat that I might not have the time to address everything (if you all have any suggestions). Let me know.
Athanasian Reformed
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How do we know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God?
How about a nice wee summary of the first chapter of your thesis? π
Good suggestion from Jason… The vicarious humanity of Christ is your topic. Take for example the Torrance-quote here, on the right. I love it. But it raises questions. One example: in what way can we combine these both thoughts, that God in Christ ‘has actualised his unconditional love for you in your human nature’, once and for all, such that it can’t be made undone, but on the other hand there is the need to repent and to believen in Christ. If Christ’s work is definitive and even ‘ontological’, why is repentance important? I’m looking forward to see you explain these kind of questions…
@WCG,
I’d like to know if you’re a Christian or not; depending, that will shape my response.
@Jason,
Already? π I barely know what my first book for my bibliography is going to be π . In due course.
@Arjen,
You said: Iβm looking forward to see you explain these kind of questionsβ¦
Me too π . But in seriousness, I am of the mind (pun intended) that TFT’s soteriology is “noetic” in orientation (something like Barth, but not quite as actualised, metaphysically, that is); thus TFT’s mantra of “repentant thinking,” etc. This is something that I will be certainly fleshing out further, and something I am looking forward to digging into further (esp. as I place TFT in conversation with some from the ‘Tradition’).
Thank you, guys.
Bobby, something that I am wondering about is in regard to the old question of whether the believer has two natures or one. Do we have and old sinful nature – the flesh and a redeemed new creation, new nature in Christ? Do we have both simultaneously until the resurrection?
So far in reading Torrance’s essay on the The Goodness and Dignity of Man, he seems to be saying one nature, now renewed by the Spirit in Christ. His discussion of man’s nature in relationship to God is good, but I am wondering how we deal with the classic thinking of human nature as a substance or a thing with essential qualities such that the fallen nature has sinful qualities and the new nature has Christlike qualities, but they still need to exist in us simultaneously. How do we get around this Aristotelian idea of natures scripturally?
Jon,
That’s a good question, and this follows the point that Arjen was getting at above as well. Ultimately it is difficult to talk about theological anthropology (I think) without appealing to the nature-predicate issues. I think methodologically it is always good to, of course, start with the humanity of Christ; but that really only begs the question.
One of my former profs and mentors, Ron Frost, advocates for an Affective (Augustinian) anthropology; meaning that he sees the heart (affections) as the defining feature of man. He would follow the Pauline language of heart say found somewhere like II Cor 3 where Paul alludes to Ezekiel and the New Covenant; wherein we are given a heart of flesh (the heart of Christ by the Spirit), and the heart of stone is removed. So this would mean that at our very center we are a new creation, and yet we still live in a fallen body with a fallen mind-will which continues to war against the new man defined by his new heart. This method follows what has been called a tri-partite faculty psychology, and ultimately still appeals to a Greek parsing of things.
Frost, rejects TFT’s anthropology for the very conundrum that you raise. This is something I will look into further.
I am going to be doing some reading on this in Ray Anderson’s book, On Being Human. Plus a couple other sources on Imageo Dei in Barth. Plus I am going to reread Torrance’s article on the Soul. I have to go to the library for that.
Jon,
Sounds great! I still need to check out that article you pointed me too on healing and the incarnation on FB; I hope to do that later this evening. Btw, you’re going to need to start your blog so you have somewhere to put all of your reflections from your readings π .