Scripture on Sunday – James 3:2
James 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. (NASB) The opening sentence of this verse continues the first-person plural …
Scripture on Sunday – James 3:1
James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. With this verse James begins a new topic—or does he? It is possible to read the …
Devotional Use of the Psalms
Even I, by no means an Old Testament scholar, am familiar with the common suggestion that the first two psalms serve as an introduction to the whole book. I recall one reading from my undergraduate days in which the author mentioned this, …
“As If Nothing Had Happened”: Karl Barth’s ‘Responsible’ Theology
My latest essay has just been published at Religions, Vol. 13 No. 3 as part of a special issue concerning “Karl Barth’s Theology in a Time of Crisis” edited by Mark R. Lindsay. My essay examines how theology might proceed responsibly, in times of …
Karl Barth’s “Unfortunate” Affair
This is a good reflection on the Barth-von Kirschbaum relationship from Carolyn Mackie (Women in Theology). She notes some of the difficult decisions made and rightly concludes that “The production of a brilliant piece of theology is never sufficient justification for harming …
Reflections on Bultmann’s ‘Task of Theology’ (1)
A couple of days ago I posted an exposition of Rudolf Bultmann’s ‘The task of Theology in the Present Situation’ from May 1933. I want to reflect a little further on this lecture and task. First, Bultmann reflects on the contemporary political …
Rudolf Bultmann on the Task of Theology in 1933
On May 2nd, 1933, Rudolf Bultmann began his lecture series unusually, with a comment about the rapidly developing German political situation. Ladies and gentlemen! I have made a point never to speak about current politics in my lectures, and I think I …
Reading Karl Barth’s Doctrine of God (4)
Selection: The Church Dogmatics II/1:25-31, §25.1 “Man before God.” We saw in our previous discussion Barth’s contention that “Biblical knowledge of God is always based on encounters of man with God” (23). In this encounter—the divine encounter of grace—the human subject is confronted with the …
Reading Karl Barth’s Doctrine of God (3)
Selection: The Church Dogmatics II/1:21-, §25.1 “Man before God.” Barth began his discussion with the insistence that God is known in the church because God has given himself to be known in his revelation, supremely in Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh. The knowledge …
Reading Karl Barth’s Doctrine of God (2)
Selection: The Church Dogmatics II/1:12-21, §25.1 “Man before God.” When Barth speaks of ‘man before God’ he means the person who does in fact stand before God, the one in whom the knowledge of God has been realised or fulfilled. How does this occur, …