bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Calvin on a Fixed Form of Worship—A Note in Textual Criticism
Authors: Jansen John Frederick
Published: February 2009

‘On every hand one encounters a new interest in worship. The liturgical renewal has led to a fresh examination of our Reformation heritage both on the Continent and in America.’

Although Calvin's own views regarding a fixed form of worship are of prime importance for the understanding of our tradition, critical scholarship is not in agreement here. On the one hand, W. D. Maxwell and others stress Calvin's attachment to fixed forms. On the other hand, Wilhelm Niesel insists that ‘The form of divine service is obviously not of fundamental importance for the Reformed Churches. The service can be ordered in this way or in that’—although of course Niesel goes on to recognise that the service must be ordered and not arbitrary. This point of view finds recent agreement in T. Watson Street.
The Parousia of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
Authors: Owen H. P.
Published: February 2009

The Second Coming (otherwise called the Parousia)1 of Christ constituted a serious problem for the apostolic Church. One of the earliest of Paul's Epistles (1 Thessalonians) shows how quickly his converts became discouraged when some of their number died before the Lord's appearing. In reply Paul repeats his promise that the Lord will soon return, although in his second epistle he has to give a reminder that Antichrist must first make a final bid for power (1 Thess. 4.15–18, 2 Thess. 2). Similarly the author of Hebrews, writing to a disillusioned and apathetic group of Christians some decades later in the first century, recalls the words of Habakkuk that ‘the Lord will come and not be slow’ (10.37). Finally 2 Peter, the latest book of the New Testament (written, perhaps, as late as the middle of the second century), continues to offer the hope of an imminent Parousia to be accompanied by the world's destruction and renewal (ch. 3). If Christians are tempted to despair they must remember that the word of prophets and Apostles is sure (v. 2) and that with God ‘a thousand years are as one day’ (v. 8).
Barth's Dogmatics in English
Authors: Whitehouse W. A.
Published: February 2009

The first half-volume of Barth's Church Dogmatics, in English, has been available since 1936. The corresponding half-volume, which completes the Prolegomena, is now in print. Decency demands that any fanfare which seems appropriate to an enthusiastic reviewer should be sounded on muted trumpets, and Barth himself has made it clear in this volume that no teacher of the Church should become for us an angelic power to whose weak and beggarly influence we are glad to enslave ourselves. Nevertheless the Church has been given a teacher in this generation whose stature has not been obviously exceeded by any of the great servants whom God raised up for the same task in earlier days, and it is time that his voice was properly heard in Britain. Experts on theological fashion assure us, with all the confidence of Athenian spermologoi, that the time, mercifully, has passed; other voices, more interesting and less exacting, are carrying the discussion forward to a post-Barthian stage. Only the years will show whether what these experts say is true. And each of the next five or six years will bring two part-volumes of substantial dogmatics, as distinct from prolegomena. Those are the volumes which contain the work which most obviously effects the transition from Bible to sermon. The first volume serves principally to diagnose and to heal our ‘permanent or passing, but always radical, incompetence with regard to the whole business’. It does so, of course, in the most non-arrogant and robustly human way.
Considerations on the Definition of a Sacrament
Authors: Campbell J. C.
Published: February 2009

In the Westminster Confession, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, a section with the definition of a sacrament precedes the sections interpreting Baptism and the Lord's Supper (W.C.F., Chap. 27; L.C., Qq. 161, 162, 163; S.C., Q.q. 91, 92). In considering these it is important to remember that the authors of these statements were not interested in propounding a sacramental theory of religion for its own sake. They were confronted with an existing sacramental system and practice which appeared to them as idolatry and superstition. What we find then in our standards is not academic discussion but polemical and critical reaction to an existing situation with a view to cleansing the worship of God from error and corruption. The starting point in Scripture and the institution of Christ ensured that the essential points were brought into prominence. Nevertheless it is legitimate to inquire whether some of the elements and emphases in the teaching have not been influenced and affected by the historical situation, the general outlook and atmosphere and the modes of thought of that time.
The Reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah
Authors: Todd E. W.
Published: February 2009

In the first volume of The History of Israel (Oesterley and Robinson), Dr T. H. Robinson points out that at the time of the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, Judah remained loyal to Assyria, and he goes on to suggest1: ‘It is possible that some part of the more southerly hill country was handed over to Ahaz, for we know that the Assyrian monarchs did take this means of rewarding vassals who had remained faithful when those around them were in revolt.’ Some confirmation of this, as Dr Robinson points out, may be found in the fact that some twenty years later when Judah did rebel on the death of Sargon, Sennacherib claims to have captured forty-six fortified cities of Judah, for as the narrative of Sennacherib's Third Campaign from the Taylor Cylinder says: ‘But Hezekiah of Judah, who had not bowed himself under my yoke, forty-six of his fortified towns, fortresses, and small cities in their neighbourhood innumerable, with casting down of battering-rams and assault of siege-engines, with attack of infantry, of mines … I besieged, I captured.’ (See Burney's Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Kings, Appendix 5.) The biblical records refer to ‘all the fenced cities of Judah’ (cf. 2 Kings 18.13) and to ‘Sennacherib's being encamped against the fenced cities’ (see 2 Chron. 32.1).
Kerygma or Martyria?
Authors: Glasson T. Francis
Published: February 2009

Aremark of E. G. Selwyn, in the course of his essay ‘Eschatology in 1 Peter’ contributed to the C. H. Dodd Festschrift, deserves more attention than it has yet received. He mentions his misgivings over the term kerygma which has been so prominent in the last decades and suggests that the word martyria would be more appropriate to describe the primitive and indispensable core of the Christian message. ‘At any rate’, he writes,
if we examine the comparative occurrences in the New Testament of the two sets of terms, we find that the occurrences of the verbs alone which speak of ‘witness’ considerably outnumber the occurrences of κηρύσσειν while the occurrences of the noun μαρτυρία outnumber those of the noun κήρυγμα by more than six to one. (p. 395)
‘What Happens After Death?’
Authors: Sutherland Stewart R.
Published: February 2009

It is no small consolation to one rash enough to agree to lecture on this subject that the title of the lecture is a question rather than an assertion. The title is a question to which the lecturer must address himself rather than a summary of the information contained in the lecture.
The Theology of John Baillie: A Biographical Introduction
Authors: Klinefelter Donald S.
Published: February 2009

It is now nine years since the death of Principal John Baillie of New College, Edinburgh, and as yet there has been no adequate study of his extremely fruitful life and thought. This essay is intended as a prologue to such a study, and in it I hope to show not only that this kind of inquiry would be of considerable historical interest, but that it would also be helpful as a means of getting our bearings in the midst of the current theological confusion. For John Baillie was no stranger to theological struggle, breakdown, and renewal in either his private life or his theological reflection, although the irenic spirit of much of his writing might tend to give the opposite impression. Indeed it was just that nineteenth-century bifurcation of life and thought which provided much of the impetus for his most creative and penetrating theological work, and which may provide some helpful insights into the nature of the theological problems confronting us today.
The Liturgy of the Catholic Apostolic Church: A Minor Chapter in Ecumenical History
Authors: Tripp David
Published: February 2009

The Catholic Apostolic Church is now for most purposes a thing of the past. Except for schismatic off-shoots in Germany and elsewhere, it has denied itself the right to consecrate bishops, ordain priests and administer confirmation; the Apostles and Bishops are all dead, the subordinate clergy are nearly all dead, and no new members can be made. However, this virtually extinct body has an important place in modern Church history. Its forms of worship are important for the student of liturgy in general, and in particular for such a student with an ecumenical interest.
‘Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son’: The problem of the Filioque
Authors: Heron A. I. C.
Published: February 2009

The doctrine of the ‘double Procession’ of the Holy Spirit, in spite of all the controversy it has caused in the past, is today probably regarded as one of the more trivial elements in our Western theological heritage—slightly more important perhaps than the conclusions reached in the medieval arguments over the number of angels who could stand on the point of a pin, but still of no great intrinsic significance. Yet this doctrine was a major factor in the schism between East and West, and it has since then remained an obstacle to all attempts to reconcile the Eastern and Western Churches. Western theologians have clearly felt that something of importance was being affirmed in the ‘Filioque’ clause in the Nicene Creed, while their Eastern counterparts have been equally convinced that what the ‘Filioque’ affirms is wrong, even blasphemous. The questions of what it is that the ‘Filioque’ is intended to affirm, and of whether what is affirmed should be affirmed, are therefore of some importance, particularly in an age of ecumenical dialogue. On these grounds alone, the doctrine demands to be seriously examined: we are not entitled simply to ignore it, or—what is worse—to cast around for superficial reasons for getting rid of it in the hope of thereby reaching an agreement with Eastern theologians.
Christology—a Jewish view
Authors: Katz Steven
Published: February 2009

In this paper I would like to discuss what the Old Testament has to say about the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. I take it as agreed that this task is both important and necessary for a real understanding of the New Testament, which by itself, is neither complete, meaningful nor self-authenticating. I do not make any claims to completeness on this crucial topic, but wish only to suggest what I feel are some important points for consideration. I want to discuss the three persons of the Trinity separately, beginning with the Father, then proceeding to the Holy Spirit and then to the Son. My remarks about the Father will be brief. I only wish to make the point that the Old Testament as well as the new Testament is fully aware of God's Fatherhood and alive to the reality that God loves mankind. It is clear that Israel has a special place as indicated by such passages as Exod. 4.22 where God addresses Israel saying: ‘Israel is my first born son.’ Yet at the same time it is basic to an understanding of Old Testament thought that God is the Father of the other nations of the world, though they are not the ‘first born’. This is a cardinal position of Old Testament theology and is based on the belief, given expression in Genesis, that all belongs to and was created by God.
Concerning the Ministry
Authors: Burleigh J. H. S. , Torrance T. F. , Camfield F. W.
Published: February 2009

In His Foreword to an impressive volume, the Bishop of Oxford hails as the happiest ecclesiastical development of the last halfcentury the growing desire for unity among Christians. Nevertheless he finds himself profoundly disquieted when as in South India this desire leads to the formulation of plans for reunion which accept the institution of episcopacy but stipulate that no theory of it shall be obligatory. “The doctrine of the ministry is the crux of the whole matter, involving the continuous integrity of the Gospel of Christ throughout the ages.” With this Presbyterians must have some sympathy. Dr. Kirk has oversimplified the problem and, so far as Presbyterianism is concerned, quite misunderstood it, when he continues: “ Is the ministry ‘ from above ’ or ‘from below ’? Is it a gift to the Church from her Founder and Saviour, or an expedient evolved by the Church to meet the exigencies of her daily life? Has it a commission transmitted in orderly sequence from the Lord Himself, or is it commissioned simply and solely by the congregation of believers among whom the minister is to serve? ”On this issue Presbyterians stand solidly with him, except in the interpretation of the words ” transmitted in orderly sequence”. To make matters of order enter into the substance of the faith is primitive Presbyterianism, as it was no feature of original Anglicanism.
Feminist Theology in America
Authors: Ferm Deane W.
Published: February 2009

Feminist theology in America is largely a phenomenon of the 1970s that emerged from the larger parallel drive for women's liberation in the social-economic arena.
Creation and Redemption: Attempt at a Theological Interpretation in the Light of the Contemporary Understanding of the World
Authors: Dantine W.
Published: February 2009

After a short preliminary consideration, we shall discuss some presuppositions of our theme in parts A and B and then only in part C, as a summary, present the whole theme. This method will necessitate some minor repetitions, but it should serve to cast some light on the contemporary situation.
Saint Augustine on Time
Authors: Green W. B.
Published: February 2009

Our primary concern in this article is the problem of time as understood by St. Augustine. In pursuit of this concern we must consider, secondarily, the viewpoint of Plotinus—one of the two Neo-Platonists whose writings influenced the general shape of St. Augustine's thought. Thus we shall proceed to: (1) an exposition of St. Augustine's theory; (2) a brief statement of Plotinus' view; (3) an analysis of their similarities and differences, aimed at clarification of the unique aspects of St. Augustine's concept.
The Message of James
Authors: Cranfield C. E. B.
Published: February 2009

At least it may be said of the Epistle of James that it escapes the ‘woe’ of Luke 6.26 (‘Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!’).
The christian doctrine of the origin Of the soul
Authors: Argyle A. W.
Published: February 2009

The word ‘soul’ is extraordinarily difficult to define. There was no generally agreed teaching about the soul in the Christian Church until the Middle Ages. According to Aquinas, who here as elsewhere follows Aristotle, the soul is an individual spiritual substance, the ‘form’ of the body. Both body and soul together constitute the human unity, though (here Aquinas appears to depart from Aristotle) the soul may be severed from the body and lead a separate existence, as happens after death. The separation, however, is not final, as the soul, in this differing from the angels, was made for the body.
The Development of the Word ‘Theology’
Authors: Whaling Frank
Published: February 2009

The word ‘theology’ can be and is used in a number of different ways. It has developed a variety of meanings, such that the use of this same word to allude to different concepts sometimes leads to confusion. In this paper I intend to look at the development of the word ‘theology’ without necessarily resolving the question of what theology is by reference to any one of the past meanings as a determining norm for a new quest. However, in the course of this analysis, certain suggestions will be made that may help to indicate directions for theology in our time.
Ecclesia ex Auditu A Reformed View of the Church as the Community of the Word of God
Authors: Lewis Alan E.
Published: February 2009

Does a church in the Reformed tradition ever express its own essence and self-understanding more clearly than when, in the liturgy, with the subtlest blend of invitation and command, the minister bids the congregation: ‘Hear the Word of God!’? Here, in dramatic, personal (but corporate) encounter between the people and God's Word — delivered first as Scripture and then expounded as proclamation — the church becomes anew what it already and always is: a community of the Word. A people are summoned into being by living, creative, divine Speech, and from their own side come into being — or better, move toward their true being — through the only appropriate response to divine Speech, namely that faith which comes by hearing (Rom. 10: 17). Our concern here is not to offer a systematic account of this Reformed understanding of the church in all its major aspects, but simply to raise a few of the hermeneutical questions involved: what does it mean for a church tradition to understand itself in these predominantly verbal and auditory categories, indeed to think of the whole encounter between God and man as occurring primarily in the mode of speech and hearing?
Luther and the Bible
Authors: Goldingay John
Published: February 2009

It is my impression that in Britain there is more awareness of the importance of John Calvin as a biblical expositor and theorist on the doctrine of Scripture than there is of the parallel significance of Martin Luther; but perhaps I am generalising from my own experience of realising the creativeness of Luther's work much later than I did that of Calvin's. Admittedly Calvin's doctrine of Scripture is more clearly formulated and his exegesis is tighter. But often the issues that are raised and not entirely solved in Luther are the ones that continue to trouble and fascinate biblical scholars and theologians. His new hermeneutic foreshadows many aspects of the problem of the status and interpretation of the Bible as these have since unfolded; indeed, he was a decisive stimulus to this development.
Paul and Rabbinic Exegesis
Authors: Cohn-Sherbok Dan
Published: February 2009

For some time scholars have recognised that Paul's exegesis of Scripture was influenced by rabbinic hermeneutics. As early as 1900 H. St. John Thackeray argued that Paul utilised rabbinic methods of interpretation to confute the Jews. In a number of cases, he wrote, particularly where the original sense of Scripture is not adhered to, ‘we may undoubtedly see the influence of his rabbinic training in the use to which the Old Testament is put and the inferences drawn from it.’ In 1911 H. Lietzmann described Paul's treatment of the desert sojourn in 1 Cor. 10.1–11 as ‘the Haggadic method’, implying a comparison with rabbinic method. Following this same line of argument A. F. Pukko in 1928 asserted that Paul utilised Hillel's seven principles of rabbinic exegesis. According to Pukko, ‘As an interpreter of the Old Testament Paul is above all a child of his time. The methods of interpretation and deduction which he learned in the Rabbinical school emerge frequently in his work.’
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky Today
Authors: Zabolotski N. A.
Published: February 2009

The centenary of the death of the Russian writer F. M. Dostoevsky (1821–81) is not merely an anniversary like any other, but a landmark in human history which deserves to be noted, observed and reflected upon. It is not just by chance that his novels and stories are still being read appreciatively, particularly by non-Russian speakers who have no background in Russian culture. Furthermore, it is not simply a desire to penetrate the secrets of the Russian heart, the peculiarities of the Russian character or the Russian style of life that creates their interest in his writings. Dostoevsky did of course reflect his own age and describe the situation in the Russia of his time, and it is valuable to study this aspect of his work. But it is not the whole. From the depth of his sensitive heart and with his prophetic finger this writer touched on something not exclusively Russian, but universal, global, even cosmic. He introduced philosophy and theology into a story in such a way that even a hundred years later everyone can find something familiar and personal in it, irrespective of his culture and language. He unearthed seeds which bore shoots many years later. He reflected in a Christian way on the crops and the future of what had been sown, and traced the mechanism of the historical process, not merely from the political and socio-economic point of view, but in human terms. This is probably the most significant feature of Dostoevsky's work.
Immortal Longings in Sermone Humili: A Study of John 4.5–26
Authors: Cantwell Laurence
Published: February 2009

From those high fountains where now she drinks her fill of the waters of life the woman of Samaria may permit herself a wry smile at the curiously contorted ways in which some of her modern commentators re-tell her story. It is not that they take the incident at Jacob's well too seriously. In a way they do not take it seriously enough. Those few minutes of conversation by the well-side were for her the beginning of the new and abundant life which she now lives to all eternity — and nothing could be more serious and important than that. No, it is rather that the conversation is given the wrong sort of seriousness. It is invested with an earnest solemnity of which the event itself was entirely free. I fear she hardly recognises herself in the pasteboard caricature which is held up to our inspection by over-earnest, perhaps overlearned, exegetes.
Perspectives on the Fall of Man
Authors: King-Farlow John , Hunt David Wesley
Published: February 2009

The Book of Genesis' story of how Adam and Eve were created innocent and brought about their own Fall evokes at least this particular kind of puzzlement: How could the two originally created and perfectly innocent humans, living in the presence of God and his supreme goodness, be persuaded to defy God and his special commands?
The Theology of Image in Eastern Orthodoxy and John Calvin
Authors: Cooper David J. C.
Published: February 2009

His chapter title ‘Childish arguments for images at the Council of Nicaea (787)’, in John Calvin'sInstitutes of the Christian Religion, suggests the bitter and painful divisions that have arisen in the Church over the issue of image veneration. From Biblical through Patristic to Reformation times, Iconodule, Iconophile and Iconoclast dissension has remained unresolved. Calvin's 'disgust' at Nicaea IPs ‘absurdities’ and Orthodoxy's anathemas against Calvinist ‘heretics’ are symptomatic of the widespread disagreement and divergence in the Church over this fundamental question of the Faith.
Men as Trees, Walking: Mark 8.22–26
Authors: Howard J. Keir
Published: February 2009

The story of the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida forms a pair with that of the deaf man recorded slightly earlier in the Markan narrative (Mark 7.31–37). In both cases the healings appear to have been accomplished only with difficulty and again in both cases physical means were used in the cure. Further, both stories were closely linked to miracles of feeding. This paper, however, does not address itself, in the first place, to the theological interpretation of the story, but sets out to consider the meaning of the odd response of the blind man to his first glimmerings of sight in the context of the healing as a whole.
Criticism and Faith: William Robertson Smith on the Atonement
Authors: Riesen Richard A.
Published: February 2009

William Robertson Smith and the heresy trial that secured his place in history apparently have lost none of their many-sided interest or dramatic appeal. It might even be argued that Smith today is as famous — or infamous — as he ever was. The most recent fulllength survey of the Church in nineteenth-century Scotland, for instance, devotes nearly forty pages to a blow by blow account and evaluation of the Smith case, and Professor A. C. Cheyne, in his excellent study of Victorian Scotland's religious revolution, contends that Smith is ‘a man with very strong claims to be regarded as his country's most influential modern churchman — claims only contestable, it may be supposed, by Thomas Chalmers or David Livingstone’.
The Bible and Marx
Authors: Weir J. Emmette
Published: February 2009

Jorgen Moltmann has remarked that Reading the Bible with the eyes of the poor is a different thing from reading it with a full belly. If it is read in the light of the experience and hopes of the oppressed, the Bible's revolutionary themes — promise, exodus, resurrection and spirit — come alive.

These words go to the very heart of the matter of our concern in this essay — the hermeneutics of Liberation Theology. It is a subject of vital importance for the Church today. For Liberation Theology is developing creative and challenging insights, principles and procedures in the field of Biblical interpretation. There are several reasons for this.
Can God Forget?
Authors: Paton Margaret
Published: February 2009

As far as I am aware the topic of God's forgetting is unfamiliar philosophical terrain. It is a topic that has many ramifications and in seeking to plot some sort of map of the area, as I see it, I am conscious that I have by no means covered all aspects nor avoided all pitfalls and that my approach would not necessarily be that chosen by other would-be surveyors.
Pascal on Belief and the Religious Life
Authors: Holyer Robert
Published: February 2009

At the end of his celebrated wager argument, Pascal advises the sceptic to whom it is addressed to take up a religious way of life in hope of thereby cultivating religious beliefs he does not presently hold, and this because of the immense advantage to him of believing. Many who have shown some sympathy with the wager argument or the understanding of religious belief on which it is based have found this advice, if not silly and dangerous, at least uninstructive. William James, for example, whose philosophy of religion has striking similarities to Pascal's, objected that the advice is unsound because the sceptic has no reason to believe that religious practice will have its promised result. The tone of James's discussion and the fact that he misrepresents Pascal's advice as a simple belief in the efficacy of ‘masses and holy water’, however, suggest that his rejection of it ran deeper than the force of this objection. In fact, the context of his remarks indicates that he regarded this part of Pascal's wager as a particularly clear example of the cases in which to base belief on volition is ‘simply silly’. Even one as sympathetic to Pascal's thought as Donald Baillie seems troubled by the advice. On the one hand, Baillie does not rule out the possibility that some cases of doubt or disbelief may be adequately treated by a measured dose of religious practice.
John Locke on The Status of Faith
Authors: Williams S. N.
Published: February 2009

Michael Polanyi's thought has received increasing attention from theologians over the last few years. He offers both an historical and a critical analysis of the intellectual roots of contemporary Western culture. One aspect of this is his diagnosis of Locke's contribution to the emergence in Western epistemological theory of the supremacy of demonstrative knowledge over faith. This is reported, for instance, by Professor Thomas Torrance, quoting, first, this passage from Locke's Third Letter on Toleration:

For whatever is not capable of demonstration … is not, unless it be self-evident, capable to produce knowledge, how well grounded and great soever the assurance of faith may be wherewith it is received; but faith it is still, and not knowledge; persuasion, and not certainty. This is the highest the nature of the thing will permit us to go in matters of revealed religion, which are therefore called matters of faith; a persuasion of our own minds, short of knowledge, is the last result that determines us in such truths.
The Bible in The Church
Authors: Hebert A. G.
Published: February 2009

The subject is the Bible, and its relation to the Church. Hence I shall not attempt to deal with the so-called Bible Difficulties, or with the Higher Criticism, or to develop a theory of Inspiration. I must try to give a line about the general interpretation of the Bible, as being God's Book and truly inspired, written in the Church and for the Church's use; and as written by men, because it has been God's method to reveal Himself through men. It was written by men, and tells a story which is real history; therefore we must have thorough critical investigation of the Bible. It is God's Book because it tells the story of God's saving Purpose, worked out in the history of the believing and worshipping People of God, Israel, His chosen nation. Because this story is true, we have nothing to fear from the Higher Criticism. If that Criticism has been at fault, as it often has been, it is because it has often failed to see the record, as it needs to be seen, from the point of view of believing and worshipping Israel.

For the Church is the People of God, God's Israel. As such, it has existed not for some 1900 years only, but for more than 3000 years, since the day when the Lord God redeemed it out of Egypt and made His Covenant with it.
The Unity of the Bible
Authors: Wright G. Ernest
Published: February 2009

The question of the unity of the Bible's message is one that will never be satisfactorily solved, though it is one which every generation of Christians must seek to solve. We are continually impelled to search for the answer because the unity of the Church's message to the world is at stake.
The Eucharistic Sacrifice— ‘A Live Issue’
Authors: Nicholls C. G. W.
Published: February 2009

The question of sacrifice in the Eucharist has been called by the Ways of Worship Commission of Faith and Order a ‘live issue’, that is to say a question over which agreement is not right out of sight though considerable and even vehement controversy continues. At Lund, the section considering Ways of Worship reported that they had held a lively and rewarding discussion on the subject, and had been surprised by the degree of agreement revealed; on the other hand it must be admitted that neither the discussion nor the resulting agreement are very apparent from the relevant chapter of the Conference report. This article is an attempt to examine the present state of the question against a background of ecumenical discussion, and to suggest ways of conceiving the Eucharistic Sacrifice which might be more widely acceptable than those commonly put forward by ‘catholics’ in the past. Its sources, besides a necessarily incomplete study of some of the more influential modern contributions to the discussion, consist mainly in discussions amongst younger theologians and theological students in the ecumenical movement. Whilst this group is not so learned as its elders, and its discussions are seldom recorded in print, its contribution can be a valuable one, because it is most sensitive to the issues which are now live ones, and also because it frequently seems to clear away misunderstandings more effectively and reach greater agreement than more senior groups.
The Command and the Orders in Brunner's Ethic
Authors: Burrington Dale E.
Published: February 2009

In this paper I propose to show how certain parts of Emil Brunner's ethical theory are related to one another and to answer some possible criticisms of these portions of his theory. In particular I wish to examine what Brunner has to say about how moral decisions ought to be made. Because of the nature of my topic I shall refer mainly to Brunner's The Divine Imperative (tr. Olive Wyon, Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1947).
The Preacher' as Scientist
Authors: Johnstone William
Published: February 2009

The aim of this paper is to contribute, if possible, a little towards the understanding of the Book of Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher, and to illuminate something of the contemporary significance of its contents. The paper is prompted too by a feeling of dissatisfaction at the negativity with which much of modern writing on Ecclesiastes is tinged, and by the conviction that if Koheleth, the Preacher, is once granted a sympathy of interpretation, and the forcefulness and novelty of his expression are recognised, his message can be seen to be apposite and telling.1
Fact, Language, and Hermeneutic: an Interdisciplinary Exploration
Authors: Batey Richard , Gill Jerry H.
Published: February 2009

The contentions of this essay are three. Our first thesis is that both contemporary philosophical and theological thought stand at an impasse. In philosophy the empiricists emphasise the significance of factual meaning to the exclusion of valuational meaning, while the existentialists stress the importance of valuational meaning to the exclusion of the factual. In theology the conservatives and liberals are united in stressing the historical (Historie) significance of Jesus so as almost to ignore his existential (Geschichte) significance, while the Bultmannians focus on the existential significance of Jesus and minimise the need for factual knowledge.
Covenant or Contract?: A Study of the Theological Background of Worship in Seventeenth-Century Scotland
Authors: Torrance James B.
Published: February 2009

The Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God, 1645, acknowledged by Presbyterian Churches throughout the English-speaking world, emerged at a time of political controversy, when an attempt was made to achieve liturgical uniformity in England and Scotland, and therefore must be understood not only in terms of the theology which it embodies, but also in terms of the social and political revolution of which it was a kind of liturgical manifesto. The immediate context was that of a national struggle for freedom, a revolt from all forms of ‘catholic’ authoritarianism (Charles I, Archbishop Laud, divine right of kings, the papacy, Erastianism, etc.) and a rising suspicion of anything that savoured of imposed form and ritual.
A First-Century Heresy and Its Modern Counterpart
Authors: Stewart James S.
Published: February 2009

The late Professor T. W. Manson once observed that the only sensible examination question on the early Christian centuries would run: ‘Give the heresies in order of merit, with reasons for your preferences.’ Just where the Colossian heresy, which is the theme of this paper, would stand in such an order of merit I should not like to say: though I imagine it might have the vote and preference of not a few, as being akin to certain well-marked trends in theological thought at the present time.
The Doctrine of Reconciliation: A Survey of Barth's Kirchliche Dogmatik IV/2
Authors: Bromiley G. W.
Published: February 2009

IN the latest part-volume of the Church Dogmatics published in the autumn of 1955, Karl Barth has given us his second comprehensive survey of the doctrine of reconciliation. For the setting of this treatment within the whole, readers are referred to the synopsis of the first part-volume in a previous issue (Volume 8, Number 2, June 1955), or better still, to the English translation which is now available (cf. especially § 58, 4). Within this whole, the present part-volume deals with the common material under the general title of ‘Jesus Christ, the Servant as Lord’, and therefore from the standpoint of the kingly work of Christ. The volume consists of one long chapter (953 pages) within the Dogmatics, and is divided into five main sections. It is to be noted, incidentally, that in the rendering of Versöhnung in the main title of Volume IV the word ‘reconciliation’ has now been preferred to ‘atonement’, although the latter is often used where it agrees with the context.
Kant's View of Immortality
Authors: Ewing A. C.
Published: February 2009

Great philosophers in dealing with a topic sometimes fasten on a single aspect and show their greatness by the thoroughness with which they carry out the interpretation in terms of this aspect of everything which falls within their topic. This is the case of Kant when dealing with the topic of religion. Kant in considering religion fastened on its ethical side and carried his absorption in this to a point at which religion was conceived as of value solely as a means to ethics. He admitted as valid no religious concepts or doctrines that did not either express symbolically truths about morality or help us to the attainment of a morally good life. Religious practices which had any purpose other than ethical he considered as a futile and immoral attempt to bribe or coax God into giving men what they are not prepared to earn in the only possible way, namely, by moral action.1 The dogmas of Christianity are systematically reinterpreted by Kant in a sense which the ordinary believer would certainly regard as Pickwickian and which made them pictures of the moral struggle in man rather than an account of the intervention of supernatural powers beyond us. In the Critique of Pure Reason he denied the possibility of any metaphysical proof of God or immortality and said that the only valid kind of argument must be ethical. Indeed it may not look as if he were placing himself in a very favourable position to have even an ethical argument for God.
In Common Honesty: Polemics, Mainly about a Title
Authors: Ehrhardt Arnold T.
Published: February 2009

At the outset of this essay it should be understood that its author does not claim to have derived any special pleasure from writing it. In fact, he would not have written it at all if in the time since publication one single voice had come to his ears, theologically challenging the title Honest to God given to his book by the Bishop of Woolwich. In time past the author of this essay was a lecturer in Roman Law, and he is now endeavouring to be a Church historian. He thus takes a much greater pleasure in resolving the problems which are set by ‘The first two years of the reign of the emperor Theodosius I'1 or in outlining The Framework of the New Testament Stories2, than in indulging in the rabies theologorum, the fury of the theologians, which was bitterly denounced already by Philip Melanchthon, the German reformer. The author of this essay would, therefore, willingly have left the task of expounding the Church's doctrine to those to whom it by right belongs, the bishops and the doctors of the Church.
The New Testament Doctrine of Ktisis
Authors: Lampe G. W. H.
Published: February 2009

The subject which I have been asked to consider is the concept of Ktisis in the New Testament, with special reference to those decisively important texts, Romans 8.18ff, and Colossians 1.15ff. At the cost of repeating what others may have said, or may be going to say, here, I must preface my remarks with some observations about the attitude to creation which seems to be characteristic of the Old Testament, because to a large extent it is presupposed by the New Testament writers. The following points seem to be relevant for our purpose. First, the views of the Hebrew writers about creation are, in a sense, wholly anthropocentric. Man stands at the centre of the whole picture, and the rest of the animate and inanimate world is seen as a kind of backcloth for the drama of human history. What we ourselves would call ‘nature’ derives its significance from the activity within it of mankind and, in particular, of the chosen people of God. In this sense, what we call the ‘natural order’ revolves around man as the central point and focus which gives meaning to the whole. The creation of the world is not extra-historical. It is itself a part of history; for the creation narratives are part of a story which continues straight on to the great redemptive events which formed the basis of Israel's faith in God and the ground of her existence as his people. In the pentateuch, as in the prophets and psalms, creation and redemption are inseparably linked together.
The Doctrine of the Sabbath in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics
Authors: Brown James
Published: February 2009

‘… the ethical question—at least, if it is intended and understood in a way which is meaningful from the Christian and theological standpoint—cannot rightly be asked and answered except within the framework, or at any rate the material context, of dogmatics. True man and his good action can be viewed only from the standpoint of the true and active God and His goodness’ (C.D. 111.4, p. 3). Ethics, for Barth, is a part of Dogmatics. This explains the heavily doctrinal setting of his treatment of the Sabbath commandment. It is part of the doctrine of Creation: the Sabbath is ‘The Command of God the Creator’—the title indeed of Chapter XII, which takes up the whole of volume C.D. 111.4. The nature or character of the God revealed in the Scriptural account of Creation, who in Jesus Christ is also Redeemer and Sanctifier, determines our view of the nature or character of His command. His command is good, and its aim is our goodness, our sanctification, our freedom before God. ‘Man's action is good in so far as he is the obedient hearer of the Word and command of God…. Ethics has to understand the Word of God as the fulness, measure and source of this sanctification’ (p. 4). This doctrine of God is General Ethics. Special Ethics is the teaching of how man is to respond to the command of this God.
The Missionary Significance of the Sacraments
Authors: Ritchie J. M.
Published: February 2009

Expositions of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist usually concentrate on their meaning as between God, the Church itself and the individual candidate or communicant. J. S. Whale, for example, in Christian Doctrine1 speaks of the Communion as (a) Memorial, (b) the Mediation of God's Presence, and (c) the Union of the Historical with what is beyond History. Or again, the Scottish Manual of Church Doctrine2 defines Baptism as follows: ‘The outward part in this Sacrament is washing with water in the Name of the Holy Trinity. The inward part is “engrafting” into Christ, regeneration, remission of sins, and giving up to God.’ The Lord's Supper is explained3 as a supreme act of worship, a commemoration, the oblation of all possible praise, the utmost act of prayer and intercession, and a supreme means of grace. Only at the very end of the Chapter on Ordinance do we find these words4: ‘Further still, Christ is the propitiation not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world. Laying hold of Him for its own need, the soul apprehends its debt to remember the need of the world without, for which Christ also died.’ This thought, which makes the Communion a reminder of the need to evangelise only, has a very strong flavour of pietism and ‘separateness’. One could find oneself at one with this even when celebrating in the secrecy of the Catacomb.
Unifying the Ministry: The History of an Idea
Authors: White Gavin
Published: February 2009

Church union schemes have for some years past tended to hinge upon a special service of ‘commissioning’ by which the ministries of various existing denominations should be unified. This pattern of unification, commonly associated with North India, has been attacked on the grounds that it gives ‘an impression of evasion and dishonesty’.1 It is held by many that it encourages some to believe that the commissioning is an ordination, and others to believe that it is not. And while this may be true of some present-day advocates of such schemes, it is not true of their origin. There was a quite clear theological interpretation to services for ‘unifying the ministry’, though in the opinion of this writer a false one. As we shall see, it was held that in a divided church there was no longer one ministry, but a number of parallel ministries, all defective until such time as they should be added together. It is the purpose of this survey to record the rise and fall of that idea amongst Anglicans, who have been particularly prone to it, over the past fifty years.
Diakonia: Today's Task
Authors: von Hase Hans Christoph
Published: February 2009

In spite of all the gaps in the Church's tradition, it has become clear how strong the continuity of creed and liturgy, even of office and law, has been through the centuries.2 The history of diakonia, however, presents a strangely divergent picture. Admittedly Christ's command of love has been proclaimed in an unbroken line, but the actual loving deeds of the Church, their forms and institutions, show a striking discontinuity. Diakonia will break out with charismatic vigour and direct men for centuries to new ways of service, then it suddenly collapses and only a few venerable ruins remain. This has little to do with favourable or unfavourable political conditions. Diakonia never blossomed more richly than in the times of persecution under a Decius or Diocletian; and the Church was never relieved of more service than under Christian rulers through the secularisation of the West in recent centuries. Either it proves itself man's true help in time of need, or it dies a quick death (cf. Matt. 5.13).
Sir, We Wish to See Jesus Was this an Occasion of Temptation?
Authors: Moore W. E.
Published: February 2009

In recent years there has been a renewal of interest in the question of ‘history’ in the Fourth Gospel, an interest exemplified in such books as A. J. B. Higgins's The Historicity of the Fourth Gospel and C. H. Dodd's Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel.1 The serious insistence of these studies on the historical element in the Gospel brings a much needed correction of the tendency to regard nearly everything in it as purely symbolic. On the request of the Greeks to see Jesus (John 12.20ff) Bultmann comments that the fact that the request is conveyed to Jesus by Philip and Andrew ‘must also have symbolic meaning’.2 And the tendency to close the door on inquiry into the historical element is illustrated by the word ‘only’ in G. H. C. Macgregor's comment: ‘The Greeks are brought on the stage only as a cue for Jesus' great discourse upon the necessity of his death and the universal salvation which will result from it.’3
Tillich's Implicit Natural Theology
Authors: Ford Lewis S.
Published: February 2009

By his well-known method of correlation, Paul Tillich sought a formal pattern by which he could combine his philosophical interests and theological concerns in a joint effort to achieve a systematic theology. In formulating this correlation, Tillich is very careful to assign the substantive, constructive role to theology, leaving philosophy with the task of articulating those fundamental questions concerning the ground of our being arising out of our existential situation. In particular, Tillich argues that philosophy cannot say anything positive concerning the existence and nature of God.
Healing in the Epistle of James
Authors: Wilkinson John
Published: February 2009

The epistle of James is one of the most Jewish of the New Testament letters, even though it is written in excellent Greek. It is traditionally ascribed to James, the brother of our Lord, and there is no adequate reason for rejecting that view. It must, therefore, have been written before James died in A.D. 62. Various authors give dates between A.D. 40 and 60, and as it was commonly dated in the forties of the first century it was claimed to be the first book of the New Testament to be written. More recently, this claim has been challenged by examination of the epistle to the Galatians.
Substitutionary atonement in the theology of James Denney
Authors: Worrall B. G.
Published: February 2009

The words of the old Gospel hymn give us a succinct statement of the theory of Substitutionary Atonement. Jesus brings us to God by what he does, or suffers, as our substitute, in our place. Sinful man's obligations under the law are met by Jesus on his behalf. Because Jesus bore my punishment I do not have to bear it; because he paid my debt I do not have to pay it; because he died the criminal's death which I deserved I do not have to die it.