Pragmatism in America has, by and large, been thought of as a theory of truth. This is in no small part due to William James’s formulation of pragmatism as, in fact, a theory of truth, where the truth of a theory consists in its ‘cash value’, and it’s fair to say that this brand of pragmatism can be construed as a primarily ‘psychological’ kind of pragmatism. It was just this kind of psychologism that Peirce was keen to avoid in his own thinking, and in so avoiding, Peirce articulated a philosophy in which truth, purpose and realism played roles that they never could have played in the psychologistic theories of pragmatism. Continue reading
Month: May 2017
From Metaphysical Possibility to Miraculous History: or, how Karl Barth Turned from Analogy to Christology and Back Again
‘Metaphysics’ – The Antichrist
Barth and analogy were not friends. Not just any kind of analogy provoked Barth’s wrath, however, but a very specific kind of analogy: the analogy of being (or so the story goes). This well-known theological campfire tale has undergone significant criticisms since its origin in the early 20th century, and the reader may be forgiven for feeling a bit exasperated at yet another blog post on this well-worn topic. As deep as the ruts in this field may be, though, there yet remains much to be gleaned. Let’s start off with the nub of this issue: talking about God. There’s two topics within this nub which merit close attention: what I’ll call ‘the given’, which is the fact that we can, actually, talk about God, and what I’ll call the ‘transcendental’, which is the question of the conditions of the possibility for talking about God. Given ‘the given’, what makes it possible and intelligible? There are, broadly (probably too broadly), two answers to this transcendental question. The first says that the answer to the question of the possibility of talking about God lies in metaphysical possibility. That is, within the created order, within nature, there is a kind of similarity to God. The second says that the possibility lies not in creation but in God. (Here we must make a metaphysical and christological digression before we return to the problem of talking about God.) Continue reading
Biblical Studies Carnival, April 2017 – With a Hint of Theology and Philosophy
GENERAL BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL STUDIES
Larry Hurtado takes a look at ‘The Form of God‘ as it appears in Philo and Paul.
The Guardian isn’t typically where I look for evidence of the existence of Jesus (nor is it strictly a blog, but this was interesting enough to merit inclusion), but Simon Gathercole presents a few of the more compelling pieces of historical evidence for Jesus.
Christianity Today interviews Mike Licona on the (seeming?) contradictions and inconsistencies in the Gospels (again, not strictly a blog, but certainly biblical-studies-related).
When did communion go from being an actual meal to a ritual meal?
Mike Bird gives a brief overview of and bibliography for the ‘continuing exile’ thesis defended most prominently by N.T. Wright.
For the beer drinkers among us: beer in Mesopotamia
Depictions of Easter in a twelfth century manuscript.
A fascinating look at negotiation in Ezra-Nehemiah, in which Bourdieu makes an appearance.
What Do Old, Dirty, Broken Pieces Of Pottery Have To Do With The Bible?
Phil Long at Reading Acts has a fine series of posts on the roots of the Jewish rebellion: Social Banditry, False Messiahs, Zealots and Sicarii.
How to use secondary literature in NT research
“Archaeology and Biblical Studies: Though Different Disciplines, They Are Friends”
Craig Keener had some fascinating things to say about Ishmael and Abraham
Andrew Wilson notes something interesting about Jesus being ‘handed over’
THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY
The big news in the philosophy/religion/philosophy of religion world: Alvin Plantinga was awarded the Templeton Prize (again [again], not strictly a blog, but still). While this is a maximally great event, not everyone is pleased.
A fantastic review of Dogmatics after Barth – for the Barthians and dogmaticians among us, this will be a crucial volume.
One of my own hobby horses, the Barth Wars, gets a little bit of coverage here in this review of Reading Barth with Charity with a rejoinder by the author.
Zondervan’s Common Places blog had two fine posts on grace alone in the context of the Five Solas this month: one by Carl Trueman, one by Michael Horton.
William Lane Craig gave two great answers to to great questions in his weekly Q&A: one on the doctrine of the atonement and one on the place of Old Testament difficulties in Christian belief.
Threefold Gospel in Paul’s Letters
Do Christians really not believe in the Resurrection?
A superb look by Cassandra Farrin at Martin Luther the Man
Andrew Perriman had a number of interesting posts, including a review-series of Salvation by Allegiance Alone (this is the fourth and most recent post -I linked to this because the other posts in the series are more easily accessible from here), Jesus and violence, and a quiz on the atonement (which was very much worth taking).
OTHER
Who’s In Charge of the Christian Blogosphere?
A typically perceptive post by Richard Beck: Empathy and the Kingdom: Part 1, What Is So Bad About Empathy? (be sure to read all of the posts in this series)
UPCOMING CARNIVALS
May 2017 will be hosted by Jeff Carter
June 2017 by Cassandra Farrin
July 2017 by Reuben Rus
August 2017 by Jason Gardner
October 2017 – open! If you’re interested, get in touch with Phil Long
November 2017 – Jim West
December 2017 – Jennifer Guo
Thanks for stopping by – if there’s anything I missed (and I’m sure there is) then please feel free to link in the comments!
Theologians, Inc. 