tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post3897000664386986958..comments2023-05-17T01:09:54.656-07:00Comments on The Evangelical Calvinist In Plain Language: Bobby's Developing Bible Study: "Jesus is the Key"Bobby Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06831009618873548948noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post-4865608957730405422012-06-24T12:56:33.523-07:002012-06-24T12:56:33.523-07:00Duane,
I am not fully embracing Barth, just appro...Duane,<br /><br />I am not fully embracing Barth, just appropriating some of his drift in a certain way.Bobby Growhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06831009618873548948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post-47923758531166731552012-06-24T06:19:11.191-07:002012-06-24T06:19:11.191-07:00The devil is in the details, or maybe in the heart...The devil is in the details, or maybe in the heart of the detailer. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America may be inclined to embrace Barth, depending if his hermeneutic allows for the blessing of homosexual unions, and how his hermeneutic would fall out on the slaughter of the innocents. On the other extreme, Luther himself toward the end of his life seemed to forsake His Christo-centric evangel for one which was centered on a pogrom of Jews living in Bavaria. <br />REGARDLESS of our hermeneutic, it would seem we are always tempted between extremes of legalism and libertine.DUANE WATTShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11423814694822039377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post-17798371176143269772012-06-23T19:57:51.602-07:002012-06-23T19:57:51.602-07:00Yeah, Scots is better than English when it comes t...Yeah, Scots is better than English when it comes to Calvinism for sure; IMHO. ;). And Swiss is better than German when it comes to Theology, in general, no doubt.<br /><br />I've only seen people referring to Tanner's book as well; and it has made me want to read it. The title alone makes me want to read it :).Bobby Growhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06831009618873548948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post-5780895269541616772012-06-23T19:48:46.544-07:002012-06-23T19:48:46.544-07:00Yes, I should have made the clarification. :) Pe...Yes, I should have made the clarification. :) Perhaps it helps that he's Scots and not English, much as it helps that Barth is Swiss and not German.<br /><br />I should have read Tanner by now, but she's still down the list. What I've seen of people using <i>Christ the Key</i> is encouraging, but I haven't got firsthand experience to tell.Matthew Frosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10232613079168523464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post-25250201828664301322012-06-23T19:36:46.063-07:002012-06-23T19:36:46.063-07:00I'm going ;-).I'm going ;-).Bobby Growhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06831009618873548948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post-22862089174933418902012-06-23T19:35:50.519-07:002012-06-23T19:35:50.519-07:00Matt,
Barth, seems very amenable to both the Luth...Matt,<br /><br />Barth, seems very amenable to both the Luther and Calvin ways. I have read as much Luther, directly, as Calvin; which is quite a bit (and/or about Luther, of course). One of my former profs, really really like Luther a lot (and I was this profs TA etc). Randall Zachman has an awesome book on Luther and Calvin, as I recall entitled 'Assurance'. In it, Luther and Barth, once again seem very close in many ways. <br /><br />Yes, I agree, Torrance is a flaming <i>Evangelical</i> ;-) Calvinist; not even a doubt about that! As of late, I have been tempted more and more to be a bit more Barthian than I have been; we'll see what happens :-).<br /><br />I still want to read Kathryn Tanner's book <i>Christ the Key</i>. What did you think of it (assuming you've read it)? <br /><br />Your last paragraph above is spot on, Matt! Nice!Bobby Growhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06831009618873548948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post-20227071830454066872012-06-23T19:09:02.370-07:002012-06-23T19:09:02.370-07:00And, because I didn't say it, awesome. :) Re...And, because I didn't say it, awesome. :) Reading about Luther is second only to reading the man himself. And discovering what Luther said and did about scriptural interpretation is one of the constant reforming forces in the life of the church. Go, Bobby, go!Matthew Frosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10232613079168523464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2934219918554432299.post-14337245360312990932012-06-23T19:06:52.917-07:002012-06-23T19:06:52.917-07:00The joy of Luther, for me, is the sheer insistent ...The joy of Luther, for me, is the sheer insistent freedom of his intentional investigation of the text for how it means, and therefore what it means. He is not bound by his faith to an interpretation of the text; he is bound by his faith to interpret the text. And so he goes about developing hermeneutical principles that are closer to what he finds there than what the church is using and insisting on. And he chooses to live with what he finds that the text says, rather than to twist the "wax nose" of the scriptures to make it say something more agreeable. But he insists that it say something relevant to faith—the faith in the pews rather than the faith of the church.<br /><br />There's so much of Barth that is like Luther—except that he remains very clearly a Calvinist in his exegetical priorities, which you can see especially with the OT. But his dogmatic method is very much like Luther's exegetical method. Honestly, as a Lutheran, it's too easy for me to see the Luther in Barth and then run smack into the moments when he owes his basic priorities to Calvin and the Reformed tradition. Torrance is easier; for all my sympathy with his methods in religion and science, the man is an all-out flaming Calvinist, and no mistake.<br /><br />And yet: Christ is the key. The Christ found in scripture, the scripture read in terms of that same Christ, the scripture read so as to point the believer however indirectly always to Christ. But the scripture read so that it always says what it says, in the moment when we come to it again and fresh. Because we don't have to protect the meaning of scripture as though it might get lost, or as though the Bible were a fragile thing that had to be carefully used lest someone break it. No method of reading the text will erase its witness to God.Matthew Frosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10232613079168523464noreply@blogger.com