Chesterton once described the popular Atheistic rhetoricians of his day who waxed romantic about the size of the universe like a jailor trying to console a prisoner by saying ‘there, there, it is a rather large prison’. I couldn’t help but notice that so little has changed in the 80 odd years since he wrote it. (Last night apparently NASA’s space craft and explorer to Mars … [Read more...]
The Historic Monergism of W.H. Auden
This weekend I heard of the conversion story of W.H. Auden, one of - if not my favourite poet(s). He was raised in a High Church Anglican parish and apparently held the censer for the priest, enjoying the liturgies and 'magic' of the sacraments. Having walked away from his faith as a young adult, in 1939 Auden moved to the United States after attending Oxford (Christ … [Read more...]
Chemnitz and Justification
In the Lutheran Church there’s a Traditional phrase: If it weren’t for the second Martin, the first Martin would never have been heard. This second Martin after Luther was Martin Chemnitz, the great dogmatician. I’m working my way haphazardly through his examination of the Council of Trent, and I only have temporary access to the first volume. What amazes me about Chemnitz … [Read more...]
Luther on Christ Our Righteousness
The famous verse of the Reformation was Jeremiah 23:6, specifically the naming of God's people "The LORD our Righteousness". Many in the years since, have located salvation within (Wesley) or made it based upon a person's choice (Charles Finney). Yet in reality, justification for the early reformers was something extra nos (outside of us). In a beautiful exposition of this … [Read more...]
Ricoeur's Wisdom
""repentance" belongs to the same thematic universe as transgression and merit, and it is no accident that it was precisely Judaism that laid emphasis on this concept. For "repentance" signifies that "return" to God, freely chosen, is always open to man; and the example of great and impious men who have "returned" to the Eternal attests that it is always possible for a man to … [Read more...]