Scripture And Metaphysics

This book makes a major contribution to contemporary theological and philosophical debates, bridging scriptural and metaphysical approaches to the triune God. Bridges the gap between scriptural and metaphysical approaches to biblical narratives. Retrieves Aquinas’s understanding of theology as contemplative wisdom. Structured around Aquinas’s treatise on the triune God in his ‘Summa Theologiae’. Argues that intellectual contemplation is part of a broader spiritual journey towards a better understanding of God. Contributes to the current resurgence of Thomistic theology in both Protestant and Catholic circles.

How do we know God? Can we know God as he is in himself? These longstanding questions have been addressed by Christian theologians throughout the church's history. Some, such as Thomas Aquinas, have argued that we know God through both natural and supernatural revelation, while others, especially Karl Barth, have argued that we know God only on the basis of the incarnation. Contemporary discussions of these issues sometimes give the impression that we have to choose between a speculative doctrine of God driven by natural theology or metaphysics and a Christ-centered doctrine of God driven by God's work in the history of salvation. In this Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture volume, Steven J. Duby casts a vision for integrating natural theology, the incarnation, and metaphysics in a Christian description of God in himself. Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture, edited by Daniel J. Treier and Kevin J. Vanhoozer, promotes evangelical contributions to systematic theology, seeking fresh understanding of Christian doctrine through creatively faithful engagement with Scripture in dialogue with church.

Is the Bible meant to be read and understood literally or symbolically? Are there hidden meanings intentionally embedded throughout the Bible? Does science have more to do with religion than we thought? Many religions are based on the Bible. What if the true meaning has been distorted through tranlations or interpretations? Could churches be turning people away from God, rather than leading them closer?

A theory of human origins that is one-half Charles Darwin and one-half Cain and Abel is bound to entail a lot of rethinking of traditional themes. Rene Girard's thesis of original human violence and the Bible's power to reveal it has been around for more than a generation, but its consequences for Christian theology are still only slowly being unpacked. Anthony Bartlett's book makes a signal contribution, representing an astonishing leap forward in understanding what a biblical disclosure of founding violence means for Christian thought and life. If human language arose directly out of the primal experience of murder, then semiotics becomes a core area for theological examination. Tracing the discipline of semiotics through postmodern thinkers, then back through its birth in the Latin era, Bartlett shows how Girard's thought is itself a semiotic emergence, beyond standard Christian metaphysics. Above all, Girardian theory of human signs demands we see the generative impact of violence in our language and thought, and then, conversely, that the Word of God, crucified without retaliation and risen in the same identity, brings a totally new sign and relation into history, offering a thoroughgoing transformation of human life and meaning.

A key to Charles Fillmore's original form of religious expression, this volume is a core text of the Unity movement and interprets the hidden meanings of the Bible's names, places, and events.

This book offers a critical edition of arguably the greatest work of English theology in the 20th century: Austin Farrer's Bampton Lectures published as The Glass of Vision in 1948. Farrer was an interdisciplinary genius who made original contributions to philosophy, theology, and biblical studies, as well as to our understanding of the role of imagination in human thought and Christian doctrine. According to Farrer, the three primary themes of these lectures are 'scripture, metaphysics, and poetry,' individually and in relation to each other. The lectures defend his famous theory of divine revelation through images rather than propositions or events, a provocative account of the place of metaphysical reasoning in theology, and a literary approach to the Biblical text that was decades ahead of its time and is still controversial. The Glass of Vision has generated a rich and interesting interdisciplinary conversation that has lasted for decades, starting with commentators such as Helen Gardner and Frank Kermode. In addition to Farrer's full text, this critical edition also contains an introduction to the significance and context of Farrer's thought, and a selection of thirty-years' worth of commentary by leading British and European theologians and literary scholars: David Brown, Ingolf Dalferth, Hans Haugh, Douglas Hedley, David Jasper, and Gerard Loughlin. Of interest to literary and biblical scholars, theologians, and philosophers, this book holds particular value for those exploring the nature of imagination in contemporary thought and scholarship.

This book is written with the sincere conviction that it will convey a message other than the one we have been led to accept about Biblical and other ancient texts. It may change your experience in the way you view life and the concept of God and religion, as well as your relationship with those beliefs. This book is about ancient principles contained in the Bible and many other documents inscribed long ago, such as the Nag Hammadi Library and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Words paint mental pictures that enfold in our minds, and we call this "getting answers." At times, we take these images as the only truth there is, since we can see or imagine it. We base this personally conceived truth on what we learn in life. Should we not ask ourselves: what if all this is based on falsehoods? These mental illustrations - that we call "thoughts" - are founded solely on what we have seen or read. Most of the time, we compare them, and in this fashion, we develop personal beliefs according to our choices. This practice is not specifically reserved for the individual. It spreads throughout our society, when each and every human experiences the same event or feeling, or reads a similar book. As a result, the collective mindset - sometimes called the "over mind" - now generates large-scale belief systems that, in time, we have termed as "religion." Entire nations have been known to bond in the same creed. Even when founded with the best of intentions, these systems tend to bind us as a group, with one mindset going in one direction, while offering no other alternatives. In some respects, this direction may not necessarily be the best or ideal goal toward which we can journey. It does limit us in the centuries-old matter pertaining to God or the God Head, and it affects our individual experience. It also influences what we know about the ancient teachers and prophets of long ago.