The Selflessness of Seeing: Adolf Schlatter’s Theological Method

by Joshua Shaw In a previous post on Karl Barth’s noble response to the Third Reich, we saw his absolute rejection of the then current Zeitgeist. While great, one seems to hear the echoes of the docetic dualism for which Barth is often (in the circles of his “haters”) infamous. I wrote then (quoting Barth),… Read More The Selflessness of Seeing: Adolf Schlatter’s Theological Method

“Christianity Shrinks From No Test”: Westcott and Hort on Biblical Criticism (2)

by Joshua Shaw In another post we will look at the critical methods of these men (as well as others – Schlatter, Hodge, Bavinck, Lightfoot, etc.) in a more direct way; for now we consider it from the perspective of the last post – the relationship of man to Creation, the relationship of this world… Read More “Christianity Shrinks From No Test”: Westcott and Hort on Biblical Criticism (2)

“The Holy Ghost needs no ‘Movements'”: Karl Barth in and on the Third Reich

by Joshua Shaw Karl Barth (1886 – 1968) is a controversial and, as seems these days all too common, a polarizing figure; for some he was an outgrowth of the 19th century’s decadent theology, for others the greatest of modern theologians. This fact alone (his polarizing character and the subsequent polarized characterisations) suggests to me… Read More “The Holy Ghost needs no ‘Movements'”: Karl Barth in and on the Third Reich

Pascal and Bavinck on Science and Theology

by Joshua Shaw In the beginning of Pascal’s Pensées, Part I, Chapter I (online here), there is the famous distinction between those subjects whose material is contained entirely in books, and so dependent entirely upon authority, and those subjects whose material (the corporeal world) is dependent upon sense perception (i.e., experience) and reason (paraphrasing the… Read More Pascal and Bavinck on Science and Theology

‘A Labyrinthine Operation’: Eusebius and His Sources (II)

by Joshua Shaw          In our last installment we gave a brief introduction to Eusebius of Caesarea and his writings, ending with a very brief look at the purpose of Eusebius’ apologetic work the Praeparatio Evangelica (PE) and the beginning of his treatment of Plato (Book XI). In this post we will look further… Read More ‘A Labyrinthine Operation’: Eusebius and His Sources (II)