Princeton Romans conference: audio and video

Last week's Princeton conference on Romans 5-8 was terrific. The whole conference had an ethos of serious exegetical, theological, and pastoral reflection on Romans, and there was a remarkable degree of resonance between the various papers, thanks to the careful and ingenious (though self-effacing) orchestrations of Beverly Gaventa, whose Christian warmth and love for St Paul were the real animating pneuma of the whole event.

Happily, all the plenary papers are available in audio and video. Though the whole conference was excellent, if I was to pick one highlight it would have to be John Barclay's paper on Paul's theology of 'the Christ-gift'. (My own paper was on the Christ-Adam typology in Augustine's Confessions – when I revise it for publication, I'm thinking of calling it "A Tale of Two Gardens: Augustine's Confessions as a Narrative Commentary on Romans".)

If you don't do anything else, you really ought to watch the opening sermon by Luke Powery – the guy can really preach! When you hear good preaching like that, the gospel dawns on you as though for the first time. Listening to Luke Powery, I was stunned by the realisation that God loves me – as though I'd never heard of such a thing before!

Speaking of preachers, another highlight for me personally was getting to know the American preacher Fleming Rutledge – a grand and good human being. She has a new collection of sermons on the Old Testament, which I'm eager to read: And God Spoke to Abraham: Preaching from the Old Testament (Eerdmans 2011). She also has a lot of sermons online.

Princeton research fellowships: evolution and human nature

This year at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, twelve resident scholars will be exploring the theme of evolution and human nature. The program will be launched by theological genius Sarah Coakley together with Melvin Konner, author of the massive new work on The Evolution of Childhood.

With support from the Templeton Foundation, CTI is also offering eight Research Fellowships of $70,000 and two Postdoctoral Fellowships of $40,000 – the deadline for applications is 30 November (sorry for the late notice – I've been away from computers lately!).

We welcome proposals to explore how the explosion of new research in evolutionary biology, psychology, and anthropology is challenging and changing our understanding of human nature and development, not least in relation to religion and theological accounts of the human condition. Our field of inquiry encompasses these evolutionary and human sciences, theological anthropology, practical theology, psychology of religion, religious studies, and the history and philosophy of science.

Creation, Conflict, and Cosmos: conference on Romans 5-8

In May 2012, Princeton Seminary is hosting "Creation, Conflict, and Cosmos: A Conference on Romans 5-8". I'll be speaking there – in utter fear and trepidation, given the lineup of speakers!

• John M. G. Barclay, Durham University
• Martinus C. de Boer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Susan Grove Eastman, Duke University Divinity School
• Neil Elliott, Fortress Press
• Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Princeton Theological Seminary
• J. Louis Martyn, Union Theological Seminary (emeritus)
• Ben Myers, Charles Sturt University, Sydney
• Stephen Westerholm, McMaster University
• Philip G. Ziegler, King’s College, University of Aberdeen

There's a call for papers out too, and they're obviously keen to hear from both theologians and biblical scholars.

Writing theology with Marilynne Robinson

The Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton is holding an intensive three-week residential workshop with Marilynne Robinson, for theologians who want to write for wider readerships. The workshop runs from 20 June through 10 July 2010. Applications are invited from tenured and tenure-track scholars in any of the theological disciplines: full details here. Robinson explains the purpose of the workshop:

“Theology has been the mediator of the primary literature of faith since antiquity. The writers of the psalms, the prophets, the Apostle Paul all interpret core belief — that God is One, the Creator of heaven and earth, and that he has made humankind in his image. Augustine, Chrysostom, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin each gave intellectual, social and artistic form to modes of Christian life which without them are hardly to be imagined. Lately the practice of this ancient tradition has receded into the academy and learned the idiom of specialization, leaving religion increasingly vulnerable to the charge, and the fact, of vacuousness. We will consider the impulse to think and write theologically, always in light of the intrinsic and profound significance of theology to the life of faith and the world of thought.”

This is a great opportunity to work with one of the world's finest writers. In my view, Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Cormac McCarthy's The Road are the two great American novels of the past decade. And Robinson is also a vivid and incisive theological writer, as her remarkable essays in The Death of Adam attest.

So anyway, you might like to get along to this great workshop. If I could hitchhike from Sydney to New Jersey, I'd be there myself, hauling my old typewriter across the country like Jack Kerouac with his dirty coat and 100-foot scroll.

On children's ministry: or, where to find the most impressive person in Princeton

A place like Princeton is full of impressive people. While I was there last year, you could meet local scholars of tremendous intelligence – people like Peter Brown, Jeffrey Stout, Robert Jenson, Bruce McCormack; or you could go and hear visiting speakers like Talal Asad and Jacques Berlinerblau.

But I must admit, the most impressive person I met in Princeton was a kindly old chap named Tom. He was a volunteer teacher each week at the church Sunday school. I must confess I was surprised when a friend told me that this man was none other than Thomas Gillespie, the former president of Princeton Seminary.

When I heard this, I replied: “He used to be president of the world’s greatest seminary. But now God has finally entrusted him with a real ministry!”

I like to think that all his decades as a pastor, scholar and seminary president – all those years of speaking and writing and teaching and managing a billion-dollar endowment fund – all this was simply God’s way of preparing him for something truly important: to tell the children stories and sing with them and help them with their colouring pencils and glue.

Princeton Barth Conference: religion and the religions

The Center for Barth Studies in Princeton will be holding its fourth annual Barth conference in June: the theme is Karl Barth on Religion and the Religions.

I’ll be giving a paper on “God and the Gods: Karl Barth and Polytheism.” Other speakers include Matthew Myer Boulton (you really have to see his new book on Barth and worship), Lai Pan-Chiu, Garrett Green, Scott Jones, Mark R. Lindsay, Katherine Sonderegger and Charles West.

So I look forward to seeing all my Princeton friends again in June!

A painting of Karl Barth

Speaking of Oliver Crisp, here’s a photo of the painting he made for me in Princeton. It will soon be hanging proudly on my study wall:

Kim Fabricius in Princeton

Contrary to popular belief and nefarious rumour, Kim Fabricius is not an alter ego or pseudonym of Ben Myers. Even I myself have occasionally doubted this – but we now have photographic evidence! Here’s Kim and me hanging out in Princeton:


And here he is expounding a few propositions…


... while some Princeton bloggers listen, and my daughter has a good laugh:

2007 Karl Barth Conference

If, like me, you were at home last week feeling miserable when you should have been at the Karl Barth Conference, you’ll be glad to read David’s overview of some of the highlights. The conference theme was the relationship between Barth’s theology and American evangelicalism – a fascinating and complex theme!

Barth himself had little good to say about the more conservative side of American evangelicalism. When in 1961 he was asked to respond to criticisms by Cornelius Van Til, Gordon Clark and Fred Klooster (to be published in Christianity Today), he replied: “The … presupposition of a fruitful discussion between them and me would have to be that we are able to talk on a common plane. But these people have already had their so-called orthodoxy for a long time. They are closed to anything else, they will cling to it at all costs, and they can adopt toward me only the role of prosecuting attorneys, trying to establish whether what I represent agrees or disagrees with their orthodoxy, in which I for my part have no interest!” (Barth, Letters 1961-1968, pp. 7-8).

If you’ve ever read any of Van Til’s stuff on Barth, then you’ll know exactly what Barth is talking about! By a happy irony, though, America is now the land of Barth-studies – these days, students from Europe have to travel all the way to Princeton (or Scotland, of course) if they really want to study Barth....

Karl Barth blogging conference

Travis is hosting the first Karl Barth Blog Conference (in anticipation of this year’s Princeton Barth Conference, which will commence later this month).

The blog conference will focus on Barth’s great work on Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century. Each day (until 23 June), Travis will feature a guest-post on this work – and I’ll be contributing some concluding reflections at the end.

See the two initial posts – and be sure to keep an eye on the series as it unfolds over the next couple of weeks. If you’ve got a theology blog, you might also consider adding a temporary widget to your sidebar (as I’ve done here).

Kathryn Tanner

Last week, Kathryn Tanner presented the 2007 Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary. She gave six lectures on the theme “Christ as Key” – and, luckily for the rest of us, three of those good-hearted Princeton bloggers joined forces to offer detailed reports of the entire series. David, Chris and WTM each wrote posts on two of the lectures, so that the whole series was covered with impressive thoroughness. Here’s the list of posts, one on each lecture:

1. “In the Image of the Invisible” (Monday, 19 March)
2. “Grace Without Nature” (Tuesday, 20 March)
3. “Trinitarian Life” (Tuesday, 20 March)
4. “Kingdom Come” (Wednesday, 21 March)
5. “Death and Sacrifice” (Thursday, 22 March)
6. “Workings of the Spirit” (Thursday, 22 March)

It’s well worth reading all this – I for one wish I’d been there to hear the lectures. In my view, Kathryn Tanner is one of the best theologians working in the Reformed tradition today – she has both a profound grasp of the dogmatic tradition and an acute sensitivity to the contemporary theological situation. If you’ve never read her books like Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity and Theories of Culture and Economy of Grace, then you’re really missing something special. Let’s hope that these lectures on Christ as Key make it to print soon too.

Walking with Jonathan Edwards

Here’s a photo from Princeton:

10 theses on B. B. Warfield

I was very interested by the recent discussion of the “Old Princeton” Calvinists – I had no idea there would be so much interest in these characters! So in the wake of this discussion, I decided to offer these 10 theses on Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921):

1. It is fashionable to disparage B. B. Warfield without having actually read his work.

2. Of all the “Old Princeton” theologians, Warfield was the best: he was a far better theologian than his predecessor Charles Hodge, and an infinitely better theologian than his successor Loraine Boettner.

3. Warfield was not a mere repristinator of Calvinist tradition, but he appropriated the tradition constructively and creatively: for instance, in contrast to classical Calvinist theology, he taught that the great majority of human beings are elected for salvation; and, again in contrast to the tradition, he taught that God is universally and immediately gracious towards those who die in infancy. The fact that Calvinist tradition needed to be much more radically revised is no belittlement of Warfield’s own insights.

4. Warfield was a scholar of broad and diverse learning: before teaching systematic theology at Princeton, he had specialised in both Old Testament and New Testament, and he was widely read in poetry, fiction and drama, and in the scientific research of his day.

5. Warfield was a very fine historian of theology: his historical work on (inter alia) Tertullian, Augustine, Calvin, the Westminster Assembly, Edwards, and Ritschl remains valuable.

6. Unlike most of the other early “fundamentalists,” Warfield took scientific knowledge seriously, and he made an admirable effort to integrate Darwinian evolution with Christian theology.

7. Only a relatively small part of Warfield’s theological work focused on the doctrine of Scripture, and it is regrettable that he has been remembered almost solely for his (deeply flawed) work on revelation and inspiration.

8. Warfield was a great reviewer: the collected edition of his works includes an entire volume (487 pp.) of his critical book reviews, in which he interacts constructively with an impressive range of British, American, German, French and Dutch scholarship.

9. Warfield knew a good book when he saw it: during a visit to Switzerland early in the 20th century, he shrewdly purchased from the Geneva Public Library – for $20! – a lovely first edition of Calvin’s 1536 Institutio (the volume is now held in the Special Collections at Princeton Seminary).

10. Warfield was a good man: throughout his productive career he was quietly serving as a fulltime carer for his disabled wife, Annie.

From the Princeton cemetery

Jonathan Edwards

Archibald Alexander

Charles Hodge

Archibald Alexander Hodge

B. B. Warfield

A note from Princeton

I’ve had a very happy and productive stay here in Princeton, and I’ve been astonished by the quality of the Karl Barth Research Collection (meticulously organised by Clifford Anderson, who is himself an excellent Barth scholar).

It has been especially good to make so many new friends here. In particular, I’ve spent some very happy hours talking with Robert Jenson and Bruce McCormack, and I’ve been able to chat with many of the other students and faculty as well. A real highlight has been getting to know Chris and Anneli, and David and Amy – they’ve been wonderfully warm and hospitable, and they’ve shown me every kindness while I’ve been here.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be heading off to a conference on theology and science in Cancun, Mexico. As LeRon Shults has pointed out, this one’s a tough assignment, but someone’s got to do it....

Robert W. Jenson: A Large Catechism

Rummaging around in a dark corner of the Princeton library, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a little book by Robert W. Jenson that I hadn’t seen before: A Large Catechism (Delhi, NY: ALPB, 1991), 62 pp. Drawing on Luther’s Larger Catechism, Jenson discusses the main topics of a traditional catechism: the ten commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the sacraments. Here are some highlights:

“In our fallen religion, we think salvation would be escape from temporal existence, from the threats and opportunities of an open future…. But the true God is the one coming as the future rushes upon us; he is life rather than release from life. His very identity is set by what he does in time” (p. 8).

“God, according to all the Scriptures, is above all the great Speaker; he is his own Word, and never relates to others by mere force, but always by personal address. That he creates something new means that he expands the field of his conversation…. That he creates, means that Father, Son and Spirit among themselves mention others than themselves: they speak together of … the great sea beasts, and so there are the great sea beasts for them to discuss. God converses the world into being” (pp. 21-22).

“The Spirit is the Power of the End, God as his own and our Fulfillment rushing upon us” (p. 30).

“‘Sanctification’ … is often misunderstood as a progress, kicked off, as it were, by baptism. This has obviously to be false. Baptism initiates into the life which God’s three persons, Father, Son and Spirit, live among themselves; what would we progress to from that? Rather, sanctification is the continual return to baptism…. Baptism is always there as a fact in my past; I can always, as Luther said, ‘creep’ back to it and begin anew” (p. 50).

“The bread and wine are … the appetizer of the great Wedding Supper. Let the bread therefore be hearty and the wine the best affordable” (pp. 58-59).

George Hunsinger

The excellent Barth scholar from Princeton, George Hunsinger, has increasingly been engaging in political activism in the States. A recent article offers a very hostile (and, in spite of itself, quite revealing) assessment of Hunsinger’s politics.

And, speaking of Hunsinger, Joshua alerts us to a paper Hunsinger will present in November, entitled “The Analogia Entis Makes a Comeback: David Bentley Hart.” Hart will be there to respond as well, so it should be a lively and fascinating discussion. If any of my lucky American friends happens to be there, I’d love to hear about the paper and about Hart’s response.

Jonathan Edwards and beauty

“It was in the vocabulary of the language of beauty that Edwards expressed his most important theological and philosophical ideas.... For Edwards, [God] was the ‘foundation and fountain’ of all beauty. The triune God was seen to be a society of love and beauty. God’s Holy Spirit was beauty. All beauty, indeed all creation, was the overflow of God’s inner-trinitarian beauty. Beauty was, for Edwards, the very structure of being.”

—Louis J. Mitchell, Jonathan Edwards on the Experience of Beauty (Studies in Reformed Theology and History, New Series No. 9; Princeton: Princeton Theological Seminary, 2003), p. 105.

Conference on Karl Barth and Scripture

Princeton Theological Seminary’s Center for Barth Studies will be holding a conference this May entitled “‘Thy Word is Truth’: Reading Scripture Theologically with Karl Barth.” The conference will take place on the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary from 21 to 24 May 2006. An advertising flyer is available here (pdf). To request a brochure and registration form, send an email to barth.conference@ptsem.edu.