From Calvin to Gillespie on Covenant: Mythological Excess or an Exercise in Doctrinal Development?

Much of the discussion about the development of Reformed theology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has focused on the elaboration of the covenantal understanding of theology. While the covenant of works has received much attention, the covenant of redemption, a term which emerges in the middle of the seventeenth century, has been comparatively neglected and, when referenced at all, has tended to be dismissed as a highly speculative addition to Reformed theology, a piece of mythology, as Barth famously quipped. In fact, a close examination of the concerns underlying the doctrine, particularly those touching on the Reformed emphasis on Christ as Mediator according to his person (and thus both natures) indicates that this later development stands in positive relation to the earlier work of Calvin and company; and a close examination of the work of its major exponent, Patrick Gillespie, also indicates that it is a great example of how later Reformed theology did not abandon the earlier Protestant concern for connecting exegesis to doctrinal synthesis.     

What If the Church Really is the Body of Christ?

Abstract : What does it mean to claim that the church is the body of Christ? Following the lead of the New Testament, Bonhoeffer, Jenson, and Hauerwas, this article articulates how the church becomes the body of Christ through the narrative of Scripture and the practices of worship. As Jesus Christ has a distinctive character, so also the body of Christ has a distinctive character. This character is described through the four classical marks of the church—one, holy, catholic, apostolic. These notae ecclesiae are to be interpreted not only in relation to the inner constitution of the church but ethically in relation to the church's calling to be “shalom church” for the life of the world in peacemaking, doing justice, caring for creation, and defending human dignity. Particular communal practices that embody this character are proposed for the life of the church.     

Eucharistic Action in Early Reformed Churches

Abstract

One of the most significant changes in the use of spaces in early Reformed churches was a shift in the main locus of worship from the chancel to the nave, accompanied by a new emphasis on preaching. But the cause of the greatest controversy within the emerging Reformed tradition (as well as between the Reformed and Lutheran Reformations) was undoubtedly the nature of Christ's presence at communion, and a great deal of theological energy was expended on this issue. On the other hand, scant attention seems to have been paid to the way in which the ‘holy mysteries’ of bread and wine were received by the people, even though the moment of reception was likely to be the high point of the eucharistic service for them, the moment when each would enter into communion with Christ. Many reformers—including Bullinger and Calvin—claimed that the mode of reception (whether into the hand first or directly into the mouth) and the posture adopted by the communicant for reception (whether kneeling, standing, or sitting) were matters of indifference—adiaphora—and should be left to each church to decide. This resulted in the development of various forms of eucharistic action within the early Reformed churches, which is the subject of this paper.     

The Doctrine of Scripture in the Heidelberg Catechism Revisited: Heidelberg's Relevance for a Postmodern Age

The debate on the doctrine of Scripture is ongoing. In this article, the use of Scripture is investigated in the Heidelberg Catechism, a catechism in which there is no explicit statement about Scripture, the notion of the Word refers to the preached Word, and the focus is placed on soteriology and God's law. I revisit these subjects, exploring what they mean for Reformed theology in a postmodern context, and finally arguing for a Spirit‐filled functioning of Scripture in which the relationship with Christ is basic and the fulfilment of God's law functions as a first fruit of eschatological reality.     

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.     

Bullinger's Defence of the Old Faith

Abstract

Bullinger regarded the evangelical faith and the evangelical churches as old and the papal faith and church as new. He was convinced that the evangelical faith was continuous with that of Scripture and the catholic church. In 1537 against the charge of being new or heretical, he went behind the New Testament to the Old, appealing to the faith of Adam and the prophets in Christ. In 1549 against the charge of separating from the church with the succession of bishops as a mark of the apostolic church, he appealed to the succession in apostolic teaching. Against further charges he appealed to the ancient Roman Church against the new Roman Church, and to the true church cleaving to Christ against the false church persecuting those who believe in Christ. Against charges of heresy and schism, he affirmed the orthodoxy and catholicity of the evangelical churches. Against the charge of disunity among evangelicals he appealed to the New Testament and the early church with their differences in minor matters. He used the concept of Satan being bound a thousand years to explain the growth thereafter of papal error, but he also named people who had challenged that error.     

Christian Engagement with Public Bioethics in Britain: The Case of Human Admixed Embryos

This paper offers an assessment of the prospects for Christianengagement with public bioethical debates in a contemporaryBritish context. One recent example, the debate provoked byproposed legislation for research involving human admixed embryos,is examined briefly. It is argued that this debate has someproblematic features that are characteristic of public ethicaldebates in this context. Next, a proposal is offered as to howsuch bioethical questions may be approached from within a Christiantheological tradition (specifically, a Reformed Protestant tradition).This proposed approach makes use of four "diagnostic questions"to assess whether technological proposals and practices suchas the creation of human admixed embryos can be consistent withthe distinctive Christian narrative of creation, sin, salvationthrough Christ, and promised future hope. The final sectionoffers some reflections on how Christians and churches mightengage, on the basis of this theological approach, with publicethical debates such as the one about admixed embryos.     

'Honouring the Spirit': Analysis and Evaluation of Jonathan Edwards' Pneumatological Doctrine of the Incarnation

Abstract: This article analyses and evaluates Jonathan Edwards’ mature thought on (1) the role of the Spirit in the hypostatic union of God with humanity in the incarnation of Christ, and (2) the nature of that humanity (fallen or unfallen?). The influence of the notion of correspondence between this and the other two pneumatological unions that characterize Edwards’ trinitarian theology (the Trinity and theosis) is noted. Evaluation of Edwards’ thought is made in light of patristic, Reformed‐Puritan (principally Calvin, Owen, Barth) perspectives on the nature and importance of the incarnation, and with reference to contemporary Edwardsean scholarship and that concerning the fallen–unfallen humanity issue.     

The Problem of Criteria and the Necessity of Natural Theology

Most streams of Christianity have emphasized the unknowability of God, but they have also asserted that Christ is the criterion through whom we may have limited access to the depths of God, and through whose life and death we can formulate the doctrine of God as Triune. This standpoint, however, leads to certain complications regarding ‘translating’ the Christian message to adherents of other religious traditions, and in particular the question, ‘Why do you accept Christ as the criterion?’, is one that Christian thinkers have attempted to answer in different ways. There are two influential responses to this query in recent Christian thought: an ‘evidentialist’ approach which gradually moves from a theistic metaphysics to a Christ‐centred soteriology, and an ‘unapologetic’ standpoint which takes God's self‐disclosure in Christ as the perspectival lens through which to view the world. The opposition between these two groups is primarily over the status of ‘natural theology’, that is, whether we may speak of a ‘natural’ reason, which human beings possess even outside the circle of the Christian revelation, and through which they may arrive at some minimalist understanding of the divine reality. I outline the status of ‘natural theology’ in these strands of contemporary Christian thought, from Barthian ‘Christomonism’ to post‐liberal theology to Reformed epistemology, and suggest certain problems within these standpoints which indicate the need for an appropriately qualified ‘natural theology’. Most of the criticisms leveled against ‘natural theology’, whether from secular philosophers or from Christian theologians themselves, can be put in two groups: first, the arguments for God's existence are logically flawed, and, second, even if they succeed they do not point to the Triune God that Christians worship. In contrast to such an old‐fashioned ‘natural theology’ which allegedly starts from premises self‐evidently true for all rational agents and leads through an inexorable logic to God, the qualified version is an attempt to spell out the doctrinal beliefs of Christianity such as the existence of a personal God who interacts with human beings in different ways, and outline the reasons offered in defence of such statements. In other words, without denying that Christian doctrines operate at one level as the grammatical rules which structure the Christian discourse, such a natural theology insists on the importance of the question of whether these utterances are true, in the sense that they refer to an objective reality which is independent of the Christian life‐world. Such a ‘natural theology’, as the discussion will emphasize, is not an optional extra but follows in fact from the internal logic of the Christian position on the universality of God's salvific reach.     

Correlation of Self-Perception and Image of Christ Using the Five-Factor Model of Personality

In this study, the relationship between one’s self-perception of personality and his or her image of Jesus Christ was studied within a sample of 153 undergraduate students, of whom 130 were Christian and 23 were non-Christian; 23 Protestant pastors; and 55 Protestant laypersons. Using two forms of the NEO Personality Inventory (Self and Observer), ratings of the Big Five personality factors were obtained for both self and Jesus Christ. Results indicated significant positive correlations between ratings of self and Christ in each of the subgroups of Christian individuals. No correlations were found between ratings of self and Christ for the non-Christians. A repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant differing correlations between groups. Christian persons may project perceptions onto Christ or attempt to mold themselves in a way more consistent with their own images of Christ. Further implications of the results as well as direction of the relationship between self-perception and image of Christ are discussed.     

'Consumed By Fire From Within': Teilhard de Chardin's Pan-christic Mysticism In Relation To The Catholic Tradition

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), eminent Jesuit scientist and religious write, was one of the great Christian mystics of the twentieth century. Yet scholars of mysticism rarely discuss his works or typology of mysticism. I argue that the little studied, early Writings in Time or War , together with his late autobiographical essays, provide the hermeneutical key for understanding Teilhard's pan-christic mysticism. My paper examines especially the experiential and cosmic dimensions of his pan-christic mysticism of union and communion with Christ through all things. This mysticism belongs to the kataphatic rather than apophatic tradition of Christian mysticism. It is deeply rooted in, and in full continuity with, the catholic tradition but through introducing innovative elements, it is at the same time also thoroughly transformative. I show this in relation to Teilhard's understanding of the Spiritual Exercises and, in particular, to that of the "Sacred Heart" whose meaning he greatly extended by understanding it in a universal, cosmic sense. He so frequently used the metaphors of fire and heart—well known, traditional images of Christian mysticism—that I describe Teilhard's mysticism as a fire and heart mysticism. I also discuss the significance of his typology of mysticism in relation to the comparative study of mysticism.     

ON THE ‘FITTINGNESS’ OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH

In modern theology the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Christ, including the doctrine of his Virginal Conception, has been the subject of considerable scepticism. One line of criticism has been that the traditional doctrine of the Virgin Birth seems unnecessary to the Incarnation. In this essay I lay out one construal of the traditional argument for the doctrine and show that, although one can offer an account of the Incarnation without the Virgin Birth which, in other respects, is perfectly in accord with catholic Christianity, such a doctrine is still contrary to the plain teaching of Scripture and the Creeds on the question of the mode of the Incarnation. It might still be thought that the Incarnation was an ‘unfitting’ means of Incarnation. In a final section I draw upon Anselm's arguments in defence of the Incarnation to show that this objection can also be overcome.     

Histories and Landscapes: Two Categories of Artwork Suitable for Reformed Churches

Abstract

There are few examples of paintings or sculptures in churches of the Reformed tradition today. I argue that, despite this, it is in fact consonant with the writings of early Reformed thinkers, such as John Calvin, Martin Bucer, and Huldrych Zwingli, to allow for the use of certain types of artwork in these churches. I make a start by arguing that each of these thinkers affirmed works of art that may be described as histories. I then go on to look at how we can use ideas central to the theology of John Calvin to argue for the use of landscapes in Reformed churches. Finally, I consider how we might use such works of art in churches in order to address concerns about their use that members of the Reformed community may have.     

Orthodox–Reformed Dialogue and the Ecumenical Recovery of Theosis

Agreement about theosis in Orthodox–Reformed dialogues played a small but strategic role in the ecumenical recovery of the patristic doctrine of deification and its emergence as a locus of Reformed theology. Ecumenical dialogue helped dispel the idea that theosis is a distinctively Orthodox doctrine incompatible with the Western tradition. This idea was first propounded in the 19th century by Albrecht Ritschl, Ferdinand Kattenbusch, Adolf von Harnack, and others associated with the Ritschlian school. It was later appropriated by émigré Orthodox scholars. Orthodox–Reformed dialogue helped correct this and other misconceptions about theosis. This began informally in correspondence between Thomas F. Torrance and Georges Florovsky and continued in formal dialogue meetings. Orthodox–Reformed dialogue also highlighted patristic ways of thinking about salvation that were not then prominent in Reformed theology. However, as the Reformed participants consulted the works of John Calvin, they realized that he shared those patristic ways of thinking. Today, Reformed theologians are eager contributors to the ecumenical recovery of theosis. They increasingly discuss theosis as a doctrine native to the Reformed tradition.     

Reformed and evolutionary epistemology and the noetic effects of sin

Despite their divergent metaphysical assumptions, Reformed and evolutionary epistemologists have converged on the notion of proper basicality. Where Reformed epistemologists appeal to God, who has designed the mind in such a way that it successfully aims at the truth, evolutionary epistemologists appeal to natural selection as a mechanism that favors truth-preserving cognitive capacities. This paper investigates whether Reformed and evolutionary epistemological accounts of theistic belief are compatible. We will argue that their chief incompatibility lies in the noetic effects of sin and what may be termed the noetic effects of evolution, systematic tendencies wherein human cognitive faculties go awry. We propose a reconceptualization of the noetic effects of sin to mitigate this tension.     

The virtual body of Christ and embrace of the seriously ill

ABSTRACT

Since the time of the Apostle Paul, the body of Christ has always been a virtual body, made up of members who were not always physically present to one another but were nevertheless part of the same catholic community. Virtual presence in today’s society comes most often via digital technology, a reality that prompts many Christian leaders and theologians to warn of the dangers of disembodied existence. This paper challenges the claim that virtual presence via digital technology is necessarily an inferior form of presence. Using autoethnographic research of living with advanced-stage cancer, the author explores how virtual connection via technology can sometimes be a superior form of presence for those undone by illness and other traumas. The article concludes with a call to churches to draw on biblical, theological, and liturgical resources to help imagine how digital devices can be used to practice healing forms of attentiveness to those who need it most.     

The Church in the commentaries of St Cyril of Alexandria

Abstract

The Church of Alexandria was a highly centralized institution, reflecting Alexandria's civil status rather than an ecclesiology comparable to that of Rome. Cyril's thinking on the Church was not ideologically driven but the product of his biblical exegesis. Of the many symbolic images of the Church he finds in the Scriptures, the most important are the tabernacle, the temple, the city of Sion, and the body of Christ. In discussing these images, he presents the Church as a community of faith in which humanity is recreated in Christ through the Holy Spirit, a community in which believers reproduce on the moral level the essential unity of the Trinity itself. With a strong sense of the Church as a society in the world, Cyril is anxious to protect this community from competitors who would thwart its purpose through wrong belief.     

Images of Suffering in Augustine and Luther

Abstract : This article examines how images of suffering are interpreted in Augustine and Luther, using their recommendations on meditations on the suffering Christ as a case study. Augustine and Luther are ambivalent about how such images mold religious experience. On the one hand, Augustine cautions that they can distort human affections, while Luther warns that they can deceive the mind. On the other hand, meditations on images of the suffering Christ can contribute to a Christian spiritual practice that builds faith.     

THE NATURALIZATION OF SCRIPTURAL REASON IN SEVENTEENTH‐CENTURY EPISTEMOLOGY

Several scholars have claimed that the decline of revealed or Scriptural mysteries in the early Enlightenment was a consequence of the trajectories of Reformed theology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Reformed theology's fideistic stance, it is claimed, undermined earlier frameworks for relating reason to revealed mysteries; consequently, rationalism emerged as an alternative to such fideism in figures like the Cambridge Platonists. This article argues that Reformed theologians of the seventeenth century were not fideists but re‐affirmed Medieval claims about the eschatological concord of reason and revealed mysteries. Furthermore, the article suggests that early Enlightenment attitudes to religious mysteries owe more to innovations in Socinianism and Cambridge Platonism than to mainstream Reformed theology.