Category: Theology
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Christian Zionism: Revisiting My Doctoral Dissertation (II)
What new insights related to Christian Zionism have been produced by scholarship over the past 16 years? This is Part II of a re-evaluation of my thesis (Hornstra 2007). Part I looked at three points that I feel have been confirmed. Here, I discuss new developments. I started working on this content a year ago.…
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Christian Zionism: Revisiting My Doctoral Dissertation (I)
For this month and next, something slightly different: an update on (and review of) my 2007 dissertation (based on a lecture I presented recently at a theological forum). What is the status of scholarship on Christian Zionism 16 years later?
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‘Original Sin’: Explaining the Inexplicable
It’s rare that you can prove a biblical truth through direct observation of human behaviour; here is one. But that doesn’t make it any easier to explain it. Second and final part.
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‘Original Sin’: The Conundrum We Cannot Do without
It’s rare that you can prove a biblical truth through direct observation of human behaviour; here is one. But that doesn’t make it any easier to explain it. First part of two.
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The Two Gorillas of Atonement Theory
More than a year after I completed and published a three-part study of the atonement, here is what I think now: Penal Substitution (PS) needs substantial modification, but Christus Victor (CV; a brief explanation of these two will follow) cannot replace it. Instead of false dichotomies (either/or) and competition between explanations, we need an integrated…
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The Atonement 3: Back to the Church Fathers
Does Christus Victor trump penal substitution? In two previous issues, I began to present images, models, and explanations of the atonement. I have two more models to discuss (first and foremost Christus Victor). I will finish with an ancient but powerful alternative take on the whole question. If you prefer, you can also DOWNLOAD THE…
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The Atonement 2: Models and Explanations
In the previous issue, I looked at terminology and I introduced five (or six) groups of images or metaphors that illustrate the atonement. It is now time to attempt a more thorough explanation. This is no small endeavour. Studying the atonement makes me feel like I am standing in front of a magnificent building, much…
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The Atonement 1: Introduction
The atonement: what is it, and how does it ‘work’? This is a big – and beautiful – question, touching on the very heart of salvation: why did Christ die on a Roman cross?
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Foreknowledge: God of the Impossible?
Does God know the future, in detail, the way he knows the present and the past? After last month’s look at God and time, it is now time (ahem) to ask this follow-up question. One book arguing against God’s foreknowledge has the curious title God of the Possible (Boyd 2001), which makes me wonder. You…
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Time and Eternity
“Those who think about time are thinking deeply. Those who think about God are thinking even more deeply still. Those who try to think about God and time are pressing the very limits of human understanding” (Craig 2001a: 4). Indeed. I can speak from experience now: William Lane Craig’s statement is true. I have been…
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The Message of the Temple
It is with a mixture of excitement and relief that I come to the end of Greg Beale’s book, The Temple and the Church’s Mission. There is excitement because of its well-argued thesis, which I will try to summarize below. There is relief because I am done with immensely dense and heavy reading. This is…