Bruce McCormack’s distinction between sources and norms in theology What do we mean when we speak of “sources” of theology? Are “sources” the same thing as “norms” or are they different? Logically, a “source” may mean at least two things. First, it may mean a point of departure for theological reflection, a body of data, a […]
William Abraham’s genealogy of biblical criticism The rise of biblical theology was a pivotal development within Western Christian theology. It did not arise merely because we wanted a proper reading of scripture; it arose because Christian systematic theology had gotten itself into a mess after the Reformation and had therefore invented biblical theology to get […]
Thoughts toward reading scripture as Christians, and not only as historians 1. Hans Frei I am persuaded that historical inquiry is a useful and necessary procedure but that theological reading is reading of the text, and not the reading of a source, which is how historians read it. from [I’ve lost track of the source, […]
Ian McFarland on original sin In short, the claim that human beings are born sinners (i.e., actually guilty of sin and not just predisposed to sin) derives from and depends logically on the more fundamental conviction that the ultimate vindication of particular human lives before God is pure gift. This soteriological framework affects Christian claims […]
Gerhard Forde on correlating the church’s theology and proclamation This quote may need some introducing. Fundamental to Forde’s thought was the distinction he drew between theology and proclamation. Forde distinguished between them by way of mapping their difference onto another distinction, that between the church’s primary and secondary discourse. Primary discourse speaks from the first person point of view to […]
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