tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.comments2023-12-08T04:43:40.135-06:00The Fire and the RoseUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-82117061249717416622017-11-22T11:31:46.141-06:002017-11-22T11:31:46.141-06:00Interesting! I have been wondering about the origi...Interesting! I have been wondering about the origins of this trope. I knew it came from O'Donovan, but how did he come to it?<br /><br />The polemical usage of "gnostic" as an ideological category arrived at through a fraudulent theological, philosophical, and historical analysis goes back to the 1950s. Hans Jonas used the term as a critique of his teacher, Heidegger, but it was the prior work of Gershom Scholem that made this possible. Drawing on both of these men, Eric Voegelin adapted "gnosticism" to attack Calvin, Hegel, Marx, Hitler, and others he classified as gnostics or "immanentists." This work, which he later abandoned, pleased his primarily Catholic and conservative backers. Voegelin was mainly interested in impressing Leo Strauss, as this material was written for the Walgreen Lectures at U. Chicago. "Don't immanentize the eschaton" was used in the Goldwater campaign as a slogan by nerdy Buckley-ites, and it has never quite gone away. It's supposed to be a devastating critique of the left, but in its best form it's much more than that. Mark Lilla doesn't mention this material at all in his essay about Voegelin in The Shipwrecked Mind, which surprised me. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05891690034806055612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-10548521163907661052017-11-21T14:52:02.353-06:002017-11-21T14:52:02.353-06:00Jerry, Bultmann was at Marburg the whole time, and...Jerry, Bultmann was at Marburg the whole time, and as records indicate the Nazis were very unhappy with him and even contemplated taking action against him. Bultmann's protection was his international reputation. He was simply too significant for the Nazis to touch, and he was able to use this power to make Marburg a safe haven for Jewish intellectuals or to assist those in escaping Germany. As for Bonhoeffer, he was imprisoned because he participated in a plot to kill Hitler, which Bultmann never did.David W. Congdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03009330707703611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-12750993972252738802017-11-20T19:09:09.466-06:002017-11-20T19:09:09.466-06:00Where was Bultman as a Confessing Churchman from 1...Where was Bultman as a Confessing Churchman from 1940 to 1945? How did he manage to survive at Marburg during the Nazi years? Why wasn't he inprisoned like Bonhofer? Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12900344384886180035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-71495300795828778622017-09-20T08:25:33.249-05:002017-09-20T08:25:33.249-05:00My heart aches for you guys. Wishing, hoping, and ...My heart aches for you guys. Wishing, hoping, and praying for all the best for you. This was a big step for you.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00109272779369038409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-57780440180725237752017-09-20T08:24:10.126-05:002017-09-20T08:24:10.126-05:00My heart aches for you guys. Praying and hoping fo...My heart aches for you guys. Praying and hoping for all the best!Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00109272779369038409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-87400428088313127712017-09-19T08:47:28.461-05:002017-09-19T08:47:28.461-05:00wonderful sermon, David.wonderful sermon, David.Emily Zimbrick-Rogershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11282957497364286097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-49873226508026217252017-09-16T08:28:46.110-05:002017-09-16T08:28:46.110-05:00Thanks for this. Wishing you and Amy all the best....Thanks for this. Wishing you and Amy all the best. Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02091285114358709692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-5660405823760153222017-09-15T10:23:16.508-05:002017-09-15T10:23:16.508-05:00It's not just you, guys. This story could very...It's not just you, guys. This story could very well have been written by me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03456641958829835667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-18734375463981489002017-09-14T22:04:56.855-05:002017-09-14T22:04:56.855-05:00I truly hope answers come your way for both of you...I truly hope answers come your way for both of you , especially Amy. I've walked in those shoes. New Jersey was and still is a difficult experience. Like you moving will involve adjustments I'm nervous making based on similar reasons. Vic is working in Virginia Beach right now, my fear is moving when the job market isn't friendly to elderly employees,do we risk moving and then get stuck there .<br /><br />You both are beautiful people inside and out, I hope you find your way together ❤️Purryl and me, our daily museshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00850782378359010518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-77317435040628104792017-09-14T21:08:49.021-05:002017-09-14T21:08:49.021-05:00My heart broke as I read your story. This all suck...My heart broke as I read your story. This all sucks! I wish I had words of comfort for direction. I don't. I just want you to know that I empathize. And I'm feeling sad with you.<br /><br />TomThomas Jay Oordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17972565742476039854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-16014700525483648652017-04-21T08:15:51.511-05:002017-04-21T08:15:51.511-05:00David, I have appreciated the challenge you offere...David, I have appreciated the challenge you offered over the past few months to the theme of exile. I think behind the theme is the attempt to come up with a biblical image that helps the church relate to what some believe to be a shift from benign or broadly supportive connection between culture and church in America to suspicion and hostility to the church. It will require from the church both a strong sense of who it is in the light of the gospel and who it shows itself to be in a culture that would prefer it to go away. My problem with the image, one to which you point us, is that it goes too far. Exile was a specific form of persecution foisted upon the Jewish people. The church in the West is hardly under persecution. In any case, I am still wrestling withj a proper image the describes the changed missional situation of the church in the West. Of course, if we want genuine examples of persecution, there are many other places in the world that present themselves.George Plastererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03339351514467331662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-13428253816423673382017-02-03T16:58:28.402-06:002017-02-03T16:58:28.402-06:00Came across the following quote
"Why should...Came across the following quote <br /><br />"Why should not our way of finding a lesser dignity and significance in what takes the second and subordinate place (the wife to her husband) need to be corrected in the light of the homoousia of the modes of divine being?"<br /><br />in CD IV/1 and don't know what to make of it. I found your exposition of Barth helpful, but just wondering if Barth doesn't betray himself here? He seems to be using the Trinity as a model for understanding human relations, or at least as a justification for his own take on male-female relationships.Dechttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14416263247593607473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-5768043575710874842016-10-18T08:05:30.083-05:002016-10-18T08:05:30.083-05:00Thanks for the comment, Brett! All I can say is, a...Thanks for the comment, Brett! All I can say is, amen. I completely agree that Bultmann is best seen as carrying on the trajectory of Lutheran theology. I also lament the lack of engagement by evangelicals with German scholarship, and especially the maligning of Bultmann that one so often hears. I am slowly trying to change this.<br /><br />I am envious of your study with Robinson and Schenke. Robinson's work has been crucial for my own research. I am so grateful for his efforts.David W. Congdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03009330707703611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-40916215424857740142016-10-17T23:43:31.382-05:002016-10-17T23:43:31.382-05:00I am glad to read about your work on Bultmann. Sol...I am glad to read about your work on Bultmann. Solid list that warms my heart. My late professors James M. Robinson and Hans-Martin Schenke would certainly applaud your undertaking. I participated in Robinson's penultimate seminar at Claremont Graduate University, which was "The Theology of Rudolf Bultmann." He wanted to give Bultmann voice one more time before departing the stage of academia (the following year I participated in his final seminar on Q). I am going through Hammann's biography again. <br /><br />It is one of my deepest religious regrets that Evangelicals have tended to avoid significant and collegial interaction with German biblical scholarship (which is why I chose to attend CGU). F. F. Bruce was one of the exceptions. That is why I am so glad to read your blog posts on Bultmann, and I hope to get to your books, as well. I cannot imagine my own efforts at understanding the New Testament and early Christian origins without consulting Bultmann and the work of his students. <br /><br />Finally, I am a Lutheran, and I consider much of the work of Bultmann and his students to be within the theological trajectory of the great Reformer.Brett Provancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06523166454882681259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-25172499914041902152016-09-17T07:15:23.660-05:002016-09-17T07:15:23.660-05:00Just a note that I look forward to reading your pe...Just a note that I look forward to reading your perspective. Someone said that theologians need to be prepared to express their view of how Christian theology hangs together. Of course, I will need the kindle version,. Sounds like an intriguing way to put it all together.George Plastererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03339351514467331662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-48065165930646169482016-05-24T14:53:06.431-05:002016-05-24T14:53:06.431-05:00Hi Erin,
Thanks for the comment. I am intentional...Hi Erin,<br /><br />Thanks for the comment. I am intentionally being quite vague here with respect to <i>what</i> the content of revelation is, and that's because I do not want prematurely to shut down the manifold possibilities that this event opens up. At the same time, if you are asking about what I personally think revelation entails, I would say that revelation does not reveal a "what" at all but rather a "how," a mode of being in the world. The doctrinal content of revelation is what has to be figured out anew in each situation. But what holds the various formations of this content together is a particular existential encounter and experience, what I call "emancipatory coexistence." One could also call it revolutionary action or, as you put it, "perpetually transgressive love." I like that phrase a lot.<br /><br />But I do not think this necessarily entails open theism. I am not an open theist myself, though I have friends who are. Personally I think open theism (and its process counterpart) is still too metaphysical and theistic, too rooted in certain mythological conceptions of the divine that trade on literalistic readings of the biblical text. But I recognize that these readings are important to certain people and I am happy to join hands with open/process theists in our respective endeavors to promote love and justice in the world.<br /><br />I do not think it's all "up for grabs," though. I do think revelation functions as a norm for theology, one that opens up certain possibilities while shutting down others. For instance, I do not think there is any account of revelation in Christ that can be made compatible with patriarchy, neoliberal capitalism, colonialism, or a libertarian anthropology and political philosophy, to name just a few examples. These are inauthentic modes of being in the world. They marginalize and oppress the cultural stranger rather than pursue emancipatory forms of life together.<br /><br />Finally, I much prefer the term "evangelicalism" to the word "orthodoxy." Despite the massive and perhaps irreparable image problem associated with evangelicalism in North America, we should not forget that historically speaking evangelicalism was a liberative reform movement that challenged the ecclesiastical and political power structures. Key leaders like Charles Finney and Jonathan Blanchard were the political radicals of their time. Evangelicalism fostered or birthed many ostensibly heterodox ideas, including a form of Christian universalism. This is a tradition worth retaining and rehabilitating. The concept of "orthodoxy," by contrast, is focused far too narrowly on "right doctrine" and too often assumes that what is "right" is defined by the tradition as determined by those in ecclesiastical power.David W. Congdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03009330707703611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-67775783094791809252016-05-24T13:33:16.161-05:002016-05-24T13:33:16.161-05:00So this is a really provocative and helpful statem...So this is a really provocative and helpful statement to chew on;<br /><i>"This event of divine self-revelation—insofar as it is concretely defined by the Christ who transgresses cultural boundaries and the Spirit who brings cultural strangers into emancipatory coexistence—is inherently translatable, and thus God is perpetually in the act of translating Godself into a multiplicity of contexts. </i><br /><br />Where I get tripped up though is that the question of what is revealed by a culturally transgressive Christ is still up for grabs, no? There are various culturally bound perceptions of what is concretely defined by Christ. If this statement is grounding the Christ event primarily in change (of a perpetually transgressive love) is it also a nascent argument for open theism? If not, then the question of what Christ reveals is still up for grabs, whether liberal or conservative isn’t it? Side note: must it be a radical liberal evangelicalism, as opposed to say, radical liberal orthodoxy? too many questions, sorry - I look forward to the book :)Erinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-88109840363590676682015-12-28T19:49:03.297-06:002015-12-28T19:49:03.297-06:00As a former VFW, I can relate to your brother. And...As a former VFW, I can relate to your brother. And now as an avid reader of GKC, i can also relate to you. I thought that because I have been everywhere, and seen a lot I had seen all. After Chesterton, I realized I may well have gone nowhere for I had learned nothing. I agree with you and understand your brother. Keep it up, someday he'll see.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13870346159037751141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-39155116431872515002015-11-11T20:15:20.047-06:002015-11-11T20:15:20.047-06:00I don't mind at all, Mike. Thanks for the supp...I don't mind at all, Mike. Thanks for the support!David W. Congdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03009330707703611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-54521768374414797042015-11-11T17:31:29.747-06:002015-11-11T17:31:29.747-06:00Hi David, thanks for your blog post and the info a...Hi David, thanks for your blog post and the info about your book (I just placed an order). I hope you don't mind if I mention your current promotion on my own blog. I'm not that active in the blogosphere as of late, but some of my readers/colleagues might be interested.Mike S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07140338309203734699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-33594510495550586902015-09-27T20:02:02.469-05:002015-09-27T20:02:02.469-05:00Wow! Killer list from Run the Jewels and Arve Henr...Wow! Killer list from Run the Jewels and Arve Henriksen, you listen broadly and well sir. Fantastic list. Spotting loads of my favs on there which affirms to me your great taste, so cannot wait to explore the rest of the music I don't know. <br />Aortahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16081841075481995816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-14671909020852323702015-03-11T13:58:37.299-05:002015-03-11T13:58:37.299-05:00This is absolutely brilliant work by the OP. You ...This is absolutely brilliant work by the OP. You are to be commended on your efforts and how you've stitched it all together. I'm currently doing a piece on Magnolia and I might 'borrow' a few of your lines/ideas...I will, of course, reference you in my work. Thanks for an incredible piece of writing...it truly touched me.Horselover Phathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05166435780296983828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-84291007309064340332015-01-30T17:18:56.469-06:002015-01-30T17:18:56.469-06:00Hi David,
Fellow suburbanite in Chicagoland here....Hi David,<br /><br />Fellow suburbanite in Chicagoland here. This is an old post of yours, so I don't know to what degree you are still interested in this topic. I look forward to seeing the books you have written when they come out. In the meantime, on this issue of a Christocentric theology of "Universal Reconciliation" and the consensus of Church history, you might find this post interesting (along with a number of others at the same site): https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/the-canons-of-the-synod-of-constantinople-543/<br /><br />An interesting difference between the Eastern Orthodox world to which I belong now and the Evangelical one I used to belong to, is that, for the most part, the most conservative Evangelicals were ready to declare Rob Bell a heretic after the publication of "Love Wins," whereas Gregory of Nyssa and Isaac of Ninevah are officially Saints in the Eastern Orthodox communion, despite its equally official rejection of at least one particular version of Universalism ("Origenism").<br /><br />Karen<br />ofgracehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15472912900056438243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-74490034693198293082015-01-02T17:33:55.173-06:002015-01-02T17:33:55.173-06:00David, I don't know if you are still respondin...David, I don't know if you are still responding to comments here. <br /><br />But I wonder how all this pans out in relation to the debate about same-sex marriage, and those who say that change on this issue must follow change on women…?Ian Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08440727613424469331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11393723.post-81103991318569594292014-10-10T16:14:18.789-05:002014-10-10T16:14:18.789-05:00Wow. You've been slacking off lately. ;-PWow. You've been slacking off lately. ;-PW. Travis McMakenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12347103855436761304noreply@blogger.com