Still Here: Forthcoming Post on the Problem of Human and Divine Competition

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I am still here, never fear! Just a lot going on in life, and so my blogging has slacked a bit. I have more in the pipeline, and you can maybe expect a whole slew of them in the days to come. I just wanted to assuage any anxiety you might have had about my lack of posting. I wanted to give you a good night of sleep, once more, by knowing that, indeed I am here, and I always will be (haha). One post I’m thinking about writing is on teasing out the implications of the vicarious humanity of Christ, and how a proper understanding of that doctrine militates against any dualist accounts that end up leading humanity to be in competition with God and vice versa. I was reminded of this problem once again as I heard a recent sermon. This problem is pervasive. It is pervasive because I don’t think most pastors, in particular, not to mention theologians (by way of training), are even aware that this is a problem. Augustine has become so ubiquitous in the tradition of the Church, all the way down, particularly in its Western iterations, of course, that his type of soteriological dualism simply just becomes the teaching of Holy Scripture in all its categorical sectors. This is a problem for a variety of reasons, not least of which is how it impinges and shapes someone’s Christian and daily spirituality. I want to write a post that seeks to bring some awareness to this problem, and then some course correction provided by the resources I commonly traffic in as an Athanasian Reformed theologian. Be on the lookout!

6 thoughts on “Still Here: Forthcoming Post on the Problem of Human and Divine Competition”

  1. Thanks for the update, Bobby… I’m happy to know it wasn’t something other than normal interference with the routine, and I look forward to your upcoming posts. (Theologically, does God answer those prayers that are “misdirected” because of our lack of an informed “aim” toward the actual conditions/circumstances to which our prayer is directed; (or is it more that we need to pray and work on sharpening our spiritual vision and acumen?)

  2. Good to hear Bobby. I am always checking for your new posts. Thanks for all your labors brother you are bringing clarity to my thinking.

  3. As an evangelical Baptist (Converge, now) who discovered Barth 5 or so years ago and the Torrance and others, I have really appreciated your regular blogs and don’t miss a single one. Thanks for your challenging insights and willingness to think outside the American evangelical box. I expect most of your readers think the same!

  4. @Richard,

    Thank you. As far as prayer, my two cents: I mostly think God always answers prayer based on what He knows, rather than what we might desire. That said, He so shapes our desires that what He knows become commensurate, and thus the answer often looks like what we may have requested. Or I think prayers are often answered on different timelines than ours, and our expectations, and thus it their “positive” responses require more time than we are often willing to grant (so I’m even suggesting that some of our prayers are answered only the Eschaton, as that is coming, and even touches upon our lives even now).

  6. @IowaPastor,

    Thank you, that is very encouraging! I like to think that insofar that I think outside of the typical American evangelical constraints, that this is so only because I am spending time meditating on the reality of Holy Scripture as that constantly, afresh anew, is confronts me with the smiling and comforting face of Jesus Christ.

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