Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

By -
…or, Something to keep you busy over the weekend…

…or, What's Been Going On in the Theoblogosphere.

I've meant to write one of these posts for a while, but I've been interminably busy. That hasn't changed, but my notes for this post have piled up to the point where I either need to write the thing or give up on it. So I'm writing it.

What's New at DET?

As regular readers know, DET has gone through something of a format change this calendar year. Starting in January, DET officially became a multi-author blog. There was an official announcement post outlining the change, which included a visual redesign, and then each of the contributors wrote a post introducing themselves. Those introductory posts have now been linked in to the Contributing Authors page, which also provides more streamlined biographical information. I've said it a number of times, but I'll say it again - I'm very excited about this change, and I believe that DET's new contributors have already added valuable new perspective and direction to the blog. For instance, consider the recent posts on Pannenberg and
Berchtold Haller.

For my own part, this year has already seen a number of significant posts. For instance: my dissertation abstract, an open letter to Christianity Today that David Congdoon and I wrote together, an a post announcing the publication of my article entitled "Why I Support #OWS as a Reformed Theologian."

Book Spotlight

I also want to draw attention to the book recently published by my doktorvater: George Hunsinger (ed), Thy Word is Truth: Barth on Scripture (Eerdmans, 2010). This volume comprises the proceedings from one of the Barth Conferences held in Princeton (I want to say that it's the one from 2006, but don't hold me to that). I was in attendance and heard some solid contributions, so I'm excited that the volume has finally made it into print. I'm sure I'll end up posting snippets from or reflections on this volume in the future. Speaking of which, here is a post about the volume from the Eerdmans blog, including a nice excerpt and the table of contents.

What's Going On Elsewhere?

These posts are sort of like "State of the Theoblogosphere" statements, and I'm pleased to stand before you today (go with me here...) and tell you that the state of our theoblogosphere is strong!

For instance, we've seen some good stuff from the folks at the Aberdeen-based collaborative blog, Out of Bounds. Specifically, late January and early February saw a trio of really solid post on Barth over there. Darren Sumner kicked things off with a lengthy and insightful post (which generated considerable comment) entitled, "Revelation and History: Cornelius Van Til’s Critique of Karl Barth." Questions of theological ontology quickly surfaced, and Darren spun off a comment on that subject from David Congdon into its own post: "Actualism: Discussion On Barth and Theological Ontology." Darren then followed up with a post on Barth and the confessional nature of theology: "Barth on the Relative Authority of the Church."

Elsewhere, Collin Cornell (who just provided a guest post here at DET on Thursday, covering an Old Testament lecture at PTS) has been working through (Swiss Reformed Old Testament scholar) Otto Bächli's Das Alte Testament in der Kirchlichen Dogmatik von Karl Barth. Collin has provided two sets of chapter summaries(perhaps there are more forthcoming?)- chapters 1-5, chapters 6-7 - as well as a set of more generalized reflections on the undertaking.

Finally, Unbound (the same place I published my piece on #OWS) published a reflection from PTS professor, missiologist, and translator extraordinaire - Darrell Guder - on Evangelism and Justice." The teaser line reads: "Con­sid­er­ing what it might take to merge the pri­or­i­ties of evan­ge­lism and social jus­tice into one mis­sional con­vic­tion that embod­ies them both." Go read it.


Whew! I now feel wonderfully unburdened. It's always nice to cross something off the list. Productive procrastination - that's what it's all about!

So, until next time...

==================================


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

So You Want to Read….Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

By -
Image
"I fear that Christians who stand with only one leg upon earth also stand with only one leg in heaven." "The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from everyday Christian life in community…may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; for in the poor sister or brother, Christ is knocking at the door." "Since ethical thinking in terms of realms is overcome by faith in the revelation of the ultimate reality in Jesus Christ . . . there is no real Christian existence outside the reality of the world." "People who reject their bodies reject their existence before God the Creator." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer Prelude Andreas Steinhoff [Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons I envisioned having a lot of time for blogging this summer, but that simply has not been the case - the last month has been a crazy one, to say the least. For two weeks, I was working at a theology summer camp of sorts, the Duke Youth Academy, and s...
Keep reading

So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?

By -
Image
Every now and then I am asked for advice about studying Karl Barth. So, I thought that I would share some of my standard advice here. But, before I do that, let me just say that I am by no means a Barth expert as compared to the people whose books I will mention below. I would be thrilled to find myself in their league one day, but as of yet that remains a distant dream. Still, I have been reading Barth for long enough, and under the supervision of a number of the scholars that I will mention below, that I think I can provide a decent orientation. I have never read Karl Barth before. Which of his books should I read first? Barth’s most famous work is the monumental 13-volume Church Dogmatics . Reading the CD with understanding is not an easy thing, so you definitely do NOT want to start here. Luckily, there are two smaller works by Barth that serve as helpful introductions to his work. Evangelical Theology: An Introduction - Based on the lectures that Barth delivered duri...
Keep reading

Karl Barth on Hell, the Devil, Demons, and Universalism – A Florilegium

By -
Image
You know, all the most interesting topics. Although Barth often confessed that he didn’t find these questions particularly interesting. At best they might draw sideways glances, as it were, as one travels the theological road. But I found a number of places in the records of Barth’s later conversations that I thought folks might find interesting, so I’ve collected them here. And if you aren’t familiar with the term “florilegium,” here you go ! All these texts are from the first volume of Barth in Conversation , with pages numbers given in parentheses along the way. As usual, italics are in the text and bold is mine. Hell “Now we come to hell. You shouldn’t laugh! There is nothing to laugh at! What does hell mean? I think hell means to be in the place where you are once fore all damned and lost without ceasing to exist, without losing the image of God, being what you are but being damned and lost, separated from God, whose creature you are, separated also from your neighbor, from...
Keep reading

George Hunsinger’s gloss of the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2

By -
Image
I’ve been reading George Hunsinger’s (my doktorvater , for anyone who might be new around here) entry in the Brazos Theoloical Commentary on the Bible series on Philippians. Anyone who has studied with George will find this book to be a compendium and application of many of his most characteristic and beloved analytical tools and patterns, and I’ve been enjoying it immensely. But one of the things that really stood out to me was how he glossed the so-called “Christ hymn” of Philippians 2. George Hunsinger, Philippians , Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids: BrazosPress, 2020). The gloss that Hunsinger provides is not a historical-critical interpretation. Rather, it is an ecclesial, ecumenical, and theological interpretation that attempts to fill in the blanks for how to understand this proto-liturgical formulation in light of the later formulations of the ecumenical creeds. In order to achieve this gloss, Hunsinger engages in “ecclesial hermeneutics” and makes “...
Keep reading

2010 KBBC: Week 3, Day 1

By -
On the Monstrosity of Christ : Karl Barth in Conversation with Slavoj Žižek & John Milbank By Paul Dafydd Jones For a while, I hoped to frame this conversation in terms of a dramatic interchange – something along the lines of “A Slovenian philosopher, a British theologian, and a Swiss dogmatician walk into a bar…” Alongside an eye-wateringly hip assemblage of cinematic references, literary allusions, and comedic scenes – my early favorites being when Barth imagines a young adult novel, entitled Are you there God? It’s me, Žižek , and when Milbank waxes poetic about the Twilight movies – I wanted to engage some topics that would likely receive attention, were the authors to meet for drinks. Primarily, I envisioned an intense discussion of the logos asarkos and the logos ensarkos , with Milbank talking up the former category, Barth emphasizing the latter, and Žižek asking whether recent debates are but symptoms of secret puzzle, embedded in the Church Dogmatics – a puzzle that...
Keep reading