On:
In: Church History, Culture, Reviews

History scholar Kristin Kobes Du Mez rehearses the ingredients of a distinctly American evangelical culture. Like it or not, these ingredients promote or facilitate nationalism, racism, sexism, white maleness, authority, and political power. She argues (convincingly) that a “militant white evangelicalism thrives on a sense of embattlement” (p xviii). ForRead More

On:
In: Church, Church History, Culture, Mutualist • Egalitarian, Reviews

Thomas Kuhn’s now classic The Structure of Scientific Revolutions opened my eyes to the importance of having my eyes open. It helped me appreciate that before science can advance or be changed for the better, the same data must be viewed from a different perspective. Tracing the history of science, KuhnRead More

On:
In: Church History, Reviews, Theology

The Apostles’ Creed is a comprehensive “syllabus” for getting hold of basic Christian doctrine and Michael Bird’s What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles’ Creed provides a solid grounding in this oldest statement on Christian belief. As in Part 1 this post offers brief comments on and some highlights from the finalRead More

On:
In: Christology, Church History, Reviews, Theology, Trinity

I’m reading through Michael Bird’s What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles’ Creed and finding it an outstanding resource for basic Christian doctrine. For those not familiar with Bird, he is solidly grounded (and educated …. [wink]) in Christian origins and New Testament theology,Read More

On:
In: Anglican, Church History, Reviews, Theology, Trinity

In honor of Trinity Sunday, I’m reposting my entire review of Charles C. Twombly’s Perichoresis and Personhood: God, Christ, and Salvation in John of Damascus in hopes of drawing attention to this most important work. It is a must-read for those who wish to plunge the depths of Trinitarian theology, ChristologyRead More

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In: Christology, Church History, Theology

I’ve put together a snapshot of many of the Christological heresies that the Christian Church had to contend with in the first several centuries of its existence. Although other heresies are not mentioned (e.g., Sabellianism, Montanism), this matrix captures errant beliefs on the person and nature of Jesus Christ andRead More

On:
In: Church History

Of all the 21 ecumenical councils held to date, 10 stand out as vitally important for the articulation of core teachings about the Christian faith. What follows is a helpful summation of the top 10 as they were conducted in history (taken from this link). Links to specific Councils areRead More

On:
In: Church History, Salvation, Theology

The last installment of Perichoresis and Personhood: God, Christ, and Salvation in John of Damascus focuses upon “Perichoresis and Salvation” (the chapter title). In my previous post I noted how Twombly shows that perichoresis was explicitly used by John of Damascus to illustrate “how three might be one and how both variety andRead More

On:
In: Christology, Church History, Theology

Setting the stage for the second chapter “Perichoresis and Christ”, Twombly begins by describing the “genuine advances” in christological development since Chalcedon (pp 48-53). I have to say that those already familiar with Chalcedonian (451 CE) and its import will readily find these few pages a gold mine of Christian history and worth the price of theRead More