This study shows how the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar sheds light on the controverted question of God's immutability, and succeeds in respecting both the transcendence and the immanence of God.
Hans Urs von Balthasar is widely recognised as one of the major theological figures of our time, and by now there exists an ample body of literature describing his life and works in general, as well as focusing on central and other specific areas of his thought.
Answers questions pertaining to the teachings, rituals, practices, and history of Catholicism.
The Christian Church possesses in its literature an abundant and incomparable treasure. But it is an inheritance that must be reclaimed by each generation. THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS is designed to present in the English language, and in twenty-six volumes of convenient size, a selection of the most indispensable Christian treatises written prior to the end of the sixteenth century...
From this cabin in the Wind River Range of the Rockies I look out onto a landscape of desire. In these recent years of drought everything longs for rain. My wife and I woke up to three inches of late snow a few days ago and mountain bluebells, delighted at the unexpected moisture, have suddenly appeared in a brief riot of color across the meadow...
Thoughtful and eloquent, as timely (or timeless) now as when it was originally published in 1956, Thoughts in Solitude addresses the pleasure of a solitary life, as well as the necessity for quiet reflection in an age when so little is private. Thomas Merton writes: “When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is …
Of all the demons, monsters, fiends, and ogres to preoccupy the western imagination in literature, art, and film, no figure has been more feared―or misunderstood--than Satan. But how accurate are the popular images of Satan? How--and why--did this rather minor biblical character morph into the very embodiment of evil? T.J. Wray and Gregory Mobley guide readers on a journey to retrace Satan's …
This series of critical reflections on the evolution and major themes of pre-modern Muslim theology begins with the revelation of the Koran, and extends to the beginnings of modernity in the eighteenth century. The significance of Islamic theology reflects the immense importance of Islam in the history of monotheism, to which it has brought a unique approach and style, and a range of solutions …
The monograph waited and, in fact, was placed on a "back burner" while I revised the dissertation for publication as Christ and the Decree and wrote a Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms, Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology. When I returned to the project, my bibliography had expanded and my thoughts on the subject had elaborated considerably.
Christianity has often understood the death of Jesus on the cross as the sole means for forgiveness of sin. Despite this tradition, David Downs traces the early and sustained presence of yet another means by which Christians imagined atonement for merciful care for the poor.
An analysis of the Catholic tradition looks at the history of the Catholic Church, its spiritual practices, its tenets and beliefs, and the rituals of worship, and discusses such topics as saints, liturgies, and papal authority.
From the opening lines of the Hebrew Bible to the last book of the canon of the Christian church, the Sabbath features prominently as a time of rest, fellowship for believers, and particularly worship of God, reminding humanity of His work of creation and redemption and touching on other important themes of Scripture. During the last two decades, Jewish and Christian scholars, theologians, h…
Defending the faith can be daunting, and a well-reasoned and biblically grounded apologetic is essential for the challenge. Following in the footsteps of groundbreaking apologist Cornelius Van Til, Scott Oliphint presents us with an introduction to Reformed apologetics as he sets forth the principles behind a distinctly "covenantal" approach. This book clearly explains the theological foundatio…
The insights of Cornelius Van Til have generated intense discussion among friends and foes alike. Until now nearly everything written about Van Til has come from either uncritical followers or unsympathetic critics. This volume, marking the one hundredth anniversary of Van Til’s birth, combines deep appreciation with incisive critical analysis of the renowned Westminster apologist’s idea…
A historical and systematic introduction to what the medieval philospher and theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) said about faith in the Trinity. Gilles Emery, O.P., provides an explanation of the main questions in Thomas's treatise on the Trinity in his major work, the Summa Theologiae . His presentation clarifies the key ideas through which Thomas accounts for the nature of Trinitarian monoth…
Written by a Westerner whose life experience was as a Buddhist monastic, this collection of essays conveys a friendly spirit, in the manner of a wise and practical teacher
Of all the demons, monsters, fiends, and ogres to preoccupy the western imagination in literature, art, and film, no figure has been more feared―or misunderstood--than Satan. But how accurate are the popular images of Satan? How--and why--did this rather minor biblical character morph into the very embodiment of evil? T.J. Wray and Gregory Mobley guide readers on a journey to retrace Satan's …
How do science and religion interact? This study examines the ways in which two minorities in Britain - the Quaker and Anglo-Jewish communities - engaged with science. Drawing on a wealth of documentary material, Geoffrey Cantor charts the participation of Quakers and Jews in many different aspects of science.
How can the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be distinct and yet identical? Prompted by the doctrine of the divine Trinity, this question sparked centuries of lively debate. In the current context of renewed interest in Trinitarian theology, Russell L. Friedman provides the first survey of the scholastic discussion of the Trinity in the 100-year period stretching from Thomas Aquinas' earlie…
Herman Bavinck's four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is one of the most important theological works of the twentieth century. The recently completed English translation has received wide acclaim. Now John Bolt, one of the world's leading experts on Bavinck and editor of Bavinck's four-volume set, has abridged the work in one volume, offering students, pastors, and lay readers an accessible summary o…
Some books are easiest to describe by saying what they are not. This is not a collection of devotions or meditations, not a “feel-good” journal about walking with God, and not a guide for self-improvement or personal spiritual growth. It is, very simply, a book about discipleship–about following Christ humbly, obediently, and with an open heart. And it is written by a man whose message ca…
A helpful guide to the writings of perhaps the greatest Catholic theologian of the twentieth century. Healy shows how for Balthasar the ultimate form of 'the end' is given in Christ's eucharistic and pneumatic gift of himself - a gift that simultaneously lays bare the mystery of God's trinitarian life and enables Christ to return to the Father in communion with the whole of creation.
From 1962 to 1965, in perhaps the most important religious event of the twentieth century, the Second Vatican Council met to plot a course for the future of the Roman Catholic Church. After thousands of speeches, resolutions, and votes, the Council issued sixteen official documents on topics ranging from divine revelation to relations with non-Christians. In many ways, though, the real challeng…
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, commonly referred to as “the Doctor,” had a successful career in medicine before abandoning it all to become a preacher in London. His sermons—displaying the life-changing power of biblical truth—diagnosed the spiritual condition of his congregation and prescribed the gospel remedy. This study of Lloyd-Jones’s life will encourage and exhort readers to consider t…
This comprehensive systematic theology by respected theologian Robert Letham covers the whole field of Reformed Christian doctrine from biblical, historical, and theological angles. Letham begins with God’s ultimate selfrevelation as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in indivisible union, continuing on with the works of God in creation, providence, and grace. He draws deeply from Sc…
Outline: Surveying the barriers that contemporary thinking has erected between the natural and the supernatural, between earth and heaven, Hans Boersma issues a wake-up call for Western Christianity. Both Catholics and evangelicals, he says, have moved too far away from a sacramental mindset, focusing more on the "here-and-now" than on the "then-and-there." Yet, as Boersma point out, the teachi…
Outline: Geerhardus Vos devotes this work to a discussion of Jesus' greatest focus in ministry - the "kingdom of God" (and the "kingdom of heaven," which Vos interprets to be refershing the same thing.) Vos begins by connecting Christ's teaching on the kingdom to the Old Testament and its concepts of a Messianic king. Then he moves into the conception of the kingdom during the New Testament wit…
Outline: Few teachings of the Puritans have provoked such strong reactions and conflicting interpretations as their views on preparing for saving faith. Many twentieth-century scholars dismissed preparation as a prime example of regression from the Reformed doctrine og frace for a mancentered legalism. In Prepared by Grace, for Grace, Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley make careful analysis of the Pur…
Outline : What is evangelical theology today? In response to increasing evangelical fragmentation, Kevin Vanhoozer and Daniel Treier offer a clarion call to reconceive to reconceive evangelical theology theologically by reflecting on the God of the gospel as mirrored in Scripture. Such "mere" evangelical theology will be an exercise in Christian wisdom for the purpose of building up the fellows…
Outline: As a response to the unique challenges facing the tweinty-first-century American church, church planting has become a popular topic. But at a time when churches that spread the seed of the Word through preaching, the sacraments, when churches that spread the seed of the Word through preaching, the sacraments, and prayer are greatly needed, much of the focus has been on planting churche…
Outline : "Men despite religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true," declared Pascal in his Pensees. "The cure for this," he explained, "is first to show that religion is not contrary to reason, but worthy of reverence and respect. Next make it attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is." Motivated by the seventeenth-century view of the supremacy of human rea…
Outline : William Placher looks at "classical" Christian theology (Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, Martin Luther) and contrasts it with the Christian discourse about God that evolved in the seventeenth century. In particular, he deals with the notion of transcendence that gained prominence in this era and its impact on modern theology and modern thinking today. He persuasively argues that useful l…
Outline: Speaking the Truth in Love : The Theology of John M. Frame, is a festschrift honoring Professor Frame'a career in seminary teaching and publishing. Unlike many festschrifts, this book does not merely collect essays on subjects of interest to the honoree. Rather, it analyzes Frame's own work in the fields of theology, apologetics, ethics, worship, the church, and other areas. Containing…
Outline: The subject of Christ and Culture has occupied the church since its inception. Some emphasize the reality of redemption and the imperative of cultural transformation; others critize this approach because of the transient nature of this current life and the specific function of "kingdom" activity. This project focuses on the two competing compositions rooted in the Reformed tradition; n…
Outline: The Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference (EDC) takes place every second year. The Rutherford Centre for Reformed Theology, which runs the conference, has a present interest in studying the doctrine of the church (ecclesiology). After two years of pandemic, when most churches began to take new forms or develop new ways of meeting, many questions are being asked: What is the church, and what i…
Outline: A key refrain in Reformed theology is that God's Spirit trumpets the message of salvation through Jesus Christ into every book and cranny of the universe - but now? And in what way does this cosmic truth touch and shape the mundane reality of our lives and our world? In this distillation of his Warfield Lectures, delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary in spring 2014, leading Refor…
Outline: Theodore Beza's A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord's Supper (1559) advances a tireless defense of the Reformed perspective on the Lord's Supper, responding chapter by chapter to specific arguments raised against John Calvin by his Lutheran opponent Joachim Westphal. Beza makes great use of the concept of metonymy, or a figure of speech, in his interpretation of the words of instit…
Outline: Richard Gamble's three-volume Whole Counsel of God explores the relationships between exegesis and hermeneutics, and between biblical, systematic, and historical theology. "He bridges the gap so many have identified between traditional systematic theology and biblical theology," Richard Pratt writes; not only that, he "penetrates beyond scholarly concerns to life issues that every beli…
Outline: In this collection of forty-six letters and writings of John Calvin, newly translated into English, the reformer gives advice to individuals and groups about theology, ethics, worship, politics, economics, and church practices. Topics discussed include dogmatics and polemics, changes (and the need for changes) in religion, the worship of images, ecclesiastical discipline, marriage, and…