A Mirror for God and for Us: Christology and Exegesis in Calvin's Doctrine of Election

Although John Calvin's doctrine of election is often criticized, it remains seriously under-described in both content and form. By attending to one strand of its content (Christ and election), and one persistently unappreciated aspect of its form (exegesis), this article attempts a substantial construal of the doctrine in Calvin's theology. It aims to show that, for Calvin, Christ is the subject of election in that he is its author, and Christ is the object of election in that he mediates both election itself and the salvation which flows from election. The focus on Calvin's exegesis of election and Christology establishes contact points with some important theological concerns: Karl Barth's reading of Calvin; election and the extra Calvinisticum ; and 'christocentrism' in Calvin's theology.     

Imputation as Attribution: Union with Christ, Reification and Justification as Declarative Word

Calvin's integration of the christological features of the eucharistic controversy with soteriological questions in his refutation of Andreas Osiander marks a critical development in Reformed theology. In this article, that development is extended further in reconsideration of the nature of imputation as a linguistic action. It is argued that imputation is a soteriological corollary of the christological idea of attribution. Imputation thus conceived clarifies not only how it is located within the doctrine of union with Christ, but how that union and imputation provide clarity in ongoing discussions about reification of sin and righteousness as well as the nature of justification as a declarative word.     

Union and Communion: Calvin's Theology of Word and Sacrament

Some scholars consider Calvin's teaching on the sacraments to be an integral part of his theology. Others have challenged the Reformer's consistency in this area, regarding Calvin's eucharistic teaching in particular as a 'foreign, uncongenial element' in his work. My argument in this article is that Calvin's eucharistic teaching, particularly in its 'more nearly patristic' emphases, is neither inimical nor secondary to his system but is in fact an essential and promising outworking of his theology. As with other perspectives, Calvin's understanding of Word and sacrament generates a particular kind of ecclesiology with emphases that remain ecumenically significant and vital for the life and mission of the church.     

Aspects of Salvation: Some Unscholastic Themes from Calvin's Institutes

The difference of mood between Calvin and the scholasticisms that preceded and succeeded him derives from a more flexible approach to theology and its biblical basis. This thesis is tested by an exploration of the christological determinants of Calvin's doctrine of the atonement and the pneumatological mediation of sanctification and justification. Both treatments are argued to present careful defences of the Reformation against misunderstanding. Calvin's theocentrism and pastoral orientation mark his treatment, which steers clear of the perils of scholasticism. A final observation seeks to identify the undertow that always threatens Calvin's theology with shipwreck.     

On the Vicarious Humanity of Christ

In the recent literature there has been a spate of essays, articles and books discussing the question of whether Christ had a ‘fallen’ human nature. This article offers a new argument for the conclusion that Christ had a fallen but not sinful human nature that was ‘healed’ of its fallenness at the moment of assumption by the Word – what we shall call, the vicarious humanity of Christ view. This account concedes to the defender of Christ's ‘fallen’ humanity that his human nature is generated in a fallen state (and immediately cleansed of fallenness in the act of assumption). And it concedes to the defender of Christ's sinlessness the claim that Christ is without sin from the first moment of incarnation. This represents an important via media in the contemporary debate about this vexed christological topic.     

Between the Rock and a Hard Place: In Support of (something like) a Reformed View of the Eucharist

In this article, Calvin's eucharistic theology is re-read in the light of Aquinas, Augustine, Irenaeus, Luther, Jean-Luc Marion, Graham Ward and Catherine Pickstock. It is found to have great strengths, sucessfully avoiding both static ideas of Christ's presence and individual nominalism, while allowing a prominent place for the Holy Spirit and room for the believer's faith. Calvin took account of the doctrine of the Ascension quite differently from Luther by stressing Christ's bodily absence from this world. The article argues that this dialectic of presence and absence would gain from giving it a temporal dimension, giving more weight to eschatology.     

Chalcedonian Christology and beyond: Luther's understanding of the Communicatio Idiomatum

Luther, Zwingli and Calvin are in full accord with the Chalcedonian definition of Christ as one person in two natures, which are united unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly and inseparably. The main point of disagreement among them concerns the usage of the so-called communicatio idiomatum . Luther refers to this mainly in his disputes with other theologians such as Nestorius and Zwingli, whereas when he engages in constructive theology or in biblical interpretation, it seems that he does not use it. He could use it because he found it to be in harmony with his own Christological thinking which, he believed, was rooted in the Bible. The doctrine is, for him, an ontological deduction from the cross and the incarnation. The primary purpose of this article is to see how Luther understood the Christological predication, and only in a limited scope bring him in conversation with Zwingli's and Calvin's understanding. Although the traditional interpretation, that the properties of Christ's two natures are communicated to the concretum of his person, predominates in Luther's thought, he went beyond it, affirming a real communication between the two natures. The logic of his usage of the doctrine of the communication of properties enables Luther to move beyond Chalcedonian understanding of Christology, and also sets him apart from the Reformed tradition. Special attention will be given to Luther's usage of the doctrine in relation to the passibility motif, demonstrating that the human idiomatum of suffering and dying belong to God's very being.     

Fallen or Unfallen? Christ's Human Nature and the Ontology of Human Sinfulness

Abstract: Because Christ's sinlessness is a matter of virtual consensus among Christians, debates over whether the human nature he assumed was fallen or unfallen turn on the ontological conditions of his being ‘without sin’ (Heb. 4:15). The claim that Christ assumed a fallen nature can be defended by distinguishing between fallenness and sinfulness as properties of nature and hypostasis, respectively. Moreover, by highlighting the peculiar place of the will in human nature, this christological analysis helps counter the charge that an Augustinian understanding of original sin entails a dualism inconsistent with belief in the goodness of creation and human moral accountability.     

CALVINIST RESOURCES FOR CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POLITICAL LIFE: A Critique of Michael Walzer's Revolution of the Saints

Inheriting the religious prejudices of the Enlightenment, many supporters of liberal democracy consider John Calvin's theology contrary to the norms and virtues necessary for productive public discourse in a religiously and culturally diverse society. In Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics , Michael Walzer makes a similar assumption, arguing that, despite its contribution to political modernization, the inherent fideism, absolutism, and intolerance of Calvinism constitutes a threat to public discourse in liberal society. In this paper, I contend that the prevailing understanding of Calvin's theology is incorrect. In actuality he is a nuanced natural law thinker, whose complex understanding of human nature and the state encourages the subtle balance of virtues that contemporary political life requires.     

Assumption,Union and Sanctification: Some Clarifying Distinctions

In this article I engage with the notion that Christ ought to be understood to have a fallen human nature because Christ sanctifies human nature, and it is fallen humanity that needs sanctifying. In opposition to this line of thought, I argue that the Son of God assumed an unfallen nature, but with the powers of fallenness operative within it, and that this notion is consistent with a distinct account of sanctification. In support of these claims, I develop distinctions between a conjoining union and a transferring union, and between the Chalcedonian union at the incarnation and the extension of that union on the cross. At the assumption a conjoining union occurred, not a transferring union. Christ sanctified his own nature, prior to a transferring union.     

Jonathan Edwards,Anselmic Satisfaction and God's Moral Government

Jonathan Edwards' doctrine of atonement has recently become a source of interest amongst some contemporary systematic theologians. This article sets out to redress two longstanding and historically strident claims regarding Edwards' doctrine of the nature of atonement: first, that Edwards espoused an Anselmic satisfaction theory of atonement; second, that Edwards also laid the theological foundation for the moral government theory of atonement, popularized in nineteenth‐century America by those of his intellectual tradition. In this article, I lay out the conceptual core of both Anselm's satisfaction theory and the moral government theory of atonement. I argue that the claims noted above lack the explanatory resources needed to account accurately for Edwards' understanding of the nature of the atonement.     

Calvin's View of Natural Knowledge of God

For Calvin, the relation between God's revelation in the sensus divinitatis and God's revelation in his works is not reducible to the distinction between internal and external revelation. Adams' contextual interpretation of Calvin's treatment of the natural knowledge of God in the Institutes illumines some the subtle complexity of Calvin's argument – an argument which is informed both philosophically and biblically. Both Calvin's positive evaluation of natural revelation and his pessimistic stance vis-à-vis the ability of humanity to appropriate it emerge from Adams' analysis.     

Psychotherapy and the Mormon Faith

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, is a Christian faith with a large presence across the globe. Although Mormon doctrine suggests that faith in Jesus allows people to overcome weakness and heal from pain, Mormon people are not immune from experiencing periods of mental and emotional suffering. The deeply held religious beliefs of Mormons can influence the nature of the psychological difficulties a Mormon individual is prone to experiencing, how and when they choose to seek treatment, as well as the types of treatment that may be most beneficial.     

'Deny Yourself and Take up Your Cross': John Calvin on the Christian Life

John Calvin's vision of the Christian life is guided by the fundamental insight that what distorts our lives more than anything else is our blind self-love. This self-love is the reason why we love to hear things that flatter us, and hate to hear things that truly reveal who we are. Our self-love also provides the driving engine behind our pride, ambition and arrogance, whereby we seek the meaning of our lives in power, wealth and honor, so that we may despise those we consider to be inferior to us. If we are to be transformed more and more into the image and likeness of God, so that we may at the end be united with God in eternal life, we must eradicate this blind self-love from our hearts. Although there is much in Calvin's vision of the Christian life that may strike us as odd or even as alien, it is hard to disagree with his insight that blind self-love is the primary reason our lives do not express the image and likeness of God.     

儒家的秩序的和平论

儒家思想中有丰富的和平文化资源。和谐论是儒家的秩序的和平论的核心。和谐论包括天人和谐、社会和谐、家庭和谐、群己和谐。从此出发 ,可以建立起天人合一的宇宙秩序 ,三纲六纪的社会秩序 ,治国安邦的国家秩序 ,天下一家的世界秩序。     

Langdon Gilkey: In Memoriam

Langdon Gilkey died on 19 November 2004. This article reviews his career and examines elements in his systematic theology such as: (1) fallenness in human nature; (2) the transcendence and graciousness of God; (3) the Neo-Orthodox agenda; (4) creation and the dialogue with science; and (5) inter-religious dialogue. Gilkey's theological method of responding to human experience with the Christian message through a process of interpreting symbols is critically evaluated. This article is simultaneously published in Dialog and Theology and Science.     

Creative Reappropriation: Barth's Use of Calvin in the Münster Ethics (1928/29)

This article demonstrates Calvin's impact upon Barth's ethics through a close reading of Barth's MÏnster lectures on ethics. Already in these early lectures Barth insisted on the coherence of dogmatic and ethical reflection, and developed the basic structure and some characteristic themes of his mature ethical reflection in the Church Dogmatics . By showing the ways in which Barth was influenced by Calvin in these formative first ethics lectures the case is made that a thorough understanding of Calvin's theology is necessary for a correct appreciation of Barth's ethics and of his theology as a whole.     

Buddhist Fictionalism

Questions regarding what exists are central to various forms of Buddhist philosophy, as they are to many traditions of philosophy. Interestingly, there is perhaps a clearer consensus in Buddhist thought regarding what does not exist than there may be regarding precisely what does exist, at least insofar as the doctrine of anātman (no self, absence of self) is taken to be a fundamental Buddhist doctrine. It may be noted that many forms of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy in particular are considered to offer a quite austere ontology—a rather ‘empty’ account of what exists. Continuing in this vein of ontological austerity, here I will attempt to lay out a relatively novel approach to Buddhist ontology, viz. Buddhist fictionalism.     

Langdon Gilkey: In Memoriam

Abstract:  Langdon Gilkey died on November 19, 2004. This "Theology Update" reviews his career and examines elements in his systematic theology such as: (1) fallenness in human nature; (2) the transcendence and graciousness of God: (3) the Neo‐Orthodox agenda; (4) creation and the dialogue with science; and (4) inter‐religious dialogue. Gilkey's theological method of responding to human experience with the Christian message through a process of interpreting symbols is critically evaluated. This article is published simultaneously in Dialog and Theology and Science .