The Extinction of Humanity: Karl Barth’s Eschatology (November 30, 2016)

Introduction We are not guaranteed that we will die.  In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye (1 Cor 15:52), the life of every human being in the world will be supernaturally concluded by the final coming of Jesus Christ.  According to Karl Barth, this will be the final event in the […]

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The Errors of Inerrancy: #5 Inerrancy reduced the Biblical Authors into Ventriloquist Dummies (November 16, 2016)

[The Errors of Inerrancy: A ten-part series on why Biblical Inerrancy censors the Scriptures and divides Evangelicals.] The Errors of Inerrancy: #5 Inerrancy reduced the Biblical Authors into Ventriloquist Dummies Inerrancy is a dictation theory of inspiration, commonly referred to as Plenary Verbal Inspiration, where each and every word of Scripture is precisely […]

Related: C.H. Dodd, Chicago Statement, CSBI, Inerrancy, Karl Barth, Lamb Chop, Muppets, Occult, Plenary Verbal Inspiration, R.C. Sproul, Sesame Street, The Errors of Inerrancy, Ventriloquism, Ventriloquist, verbal plenary inspiration

Karl Barth on Jesus Calming the Storm (November 11, 2016)

The Miracle of Jesus Calming the Storm is my favorite passage from the life of Jesus, so I was delighted to find Karl Barth's eye-popping exposition of it in a small print section at the end of the Church Dogmatics IV/3.2.  Barth believes this miracle is not isolated to novice Galilean […]

Related: CD IV/3.2, Church Dogmatics, Church Dogmatics IV/3.2, Doctrine of Reconciliation, Earthquake, Jesus, Karl Barth, Miracle of the Calming of the Storm, Q, Seismos, Story of the Calming the Storm

The Errors of Inerrancy: #3 Inerrancy Censors the Bible’s Capacity for Error (October 13, 2016)

[The Errors of Inerrancy: A ten-part series on why Biblical Inerrancy censors the Scriptures and divides Evangelicals.] The Errors of Inerrancy: #3. Inerrancy Censors the Bible's Capacity for Error. Introduction What harm is there in believing that the Bible might be Inerrant? In most cases, Biblical Inerrancy is a relatively harmless foreign praxis applied to […]

Related: Biblical Inerrancy, CD I/2, Church Dogmatics, Church Dogmatics I/2, Hans Küng, Karl Barth, Martin Luther, The Errors of Inerrancy, Wolfhart Pannenberg

The Errors of Inerrancy: #1 The Church has never possessed an inerrant Bible (September 27, 2016)

[The Errors of Inerrancy: A ten-part series on why Biblical Inerrancy censors the Scriptures and divides Evangelicals.] The Errors of Inerrancy: #1. The Church has never possessed an inerrant Bible. No one person or church has ever possessed an inerrant Bible, because Biblical Inerrancy "strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture" […]

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Schleiermacher’s Distressing Letter To His Father (September 1, 2016)

The young Friedrich Schleiermacher wrote a "distressing letter" to his father to confess that he no longer affirmed Christian doctrines that his father believed were necessary to obtain salvation: namely, vicarious atonement and the deity of Jesus Christ. The distressing letter, as Schleiermacher titled it, is an icon of de-conversion, especially […]

Related: berlin, christian faith, de-conversion, Distressing Letter, Friedrich Schleiermacher, John Calvin, Karl Barth, letters, un-convert

Dear Karl Barth, What does Election mean to Individuals? (August 28, 2016)

In Karl Barth's Doctrine of Election, Jesus Christ is the only elected individual, and no other individual is elected like Jesus (Act 4:12), but in him (c.f. Eph 1:4) all people are included in his election (1 Cor 15:22). Since Barth was not a Universalist, this syllogism indicates that there may be individuals […]

Related: doctrine of election, dystopian gospel, election, Hypothetical Universalism, John Calvin, Karl Barth, predestination, Universalism

Karl Barth’s Angry Letter to Helmut Gollwitzer on the Book of Job (August 21, 2016)

In 1959, Karl Barth wrote an exposition of the Book of Job that he divided into four long small-print sections weaved into the end of the Church Dogmatics IV/3.1. Helmut Gollwitzer was Karl Barth's personal assistant in the 1960's after Charlotte Von Kirschbaum became ill. And in 1966, Gollwitzer realized that these small-print sections […]

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Karl Barth’s Rejection of Universalism (August 18, 2016)

Since the stone-ages of Cornelius Van Til until modern times, many have claimed that Karl Barth's theology necessarily concludes universalism or else it is incoherent, as recently exemplified by Oliver Crisp's cavalier statement in his Deviant Calvinism, "that the scope of human salvation envisioned in the theology of Karl Barth either is […]

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Karl Barth’s Best Ideas [video] (August 8, 2016)

Karl Barth's Best Ideas: (King) Threefold Word of God: CD I/1, CD I/2 19-21. Scripture as the Witness to the Word of God (Queen) Karl Barth's Doctrine of Election: The Electing and Elected Jesus Christ: CD II/2, 33. Election is the gospel (Rook) Barth's No to Natural Revelation: Doctrine of God CD II/1, CD […]

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