Jeremy Thompson

Category: Theology

  • Live's "Heaven" & General Revelation

    I don’t remember much from Systematic Theology class, but I do remember talking about general revelation.  I recall my prof discussing general revelation through certain avenues (mainly creation) being one of the ways that everyone can perceive God’s existence and gain some understanding of him.  I’m not making any commentary on that idea here; I…

  • God is Neither a Rescue Machine …

    God is neither a rescue machine nor a supernatural force. God is a person, and one can ask him for help only when that personhood is taken seriously. Claus Westermann on the Community Psalm of Lament, Psalms (Chapter 1, “The Community Psalm of Lament”) Related – Check out some of my other Psalms posts from…

  • Brueggemann on Metanarrative

    This will be the last installment of me posting excerpts from An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible.  Overall it was a good read (as well as a quick one), though I enjoyed the first part of the book more than the latter.  I think his analysis of YHWH as a partner in…

  • Doug Chaplin on Theology

    I checked out a post by Doug Chaplin today on problems with the idea of canon formation.  That post has the potential for sparking an interesting discussion;  however, it also reminded me of something I have forgotten to do, though I have been meaning to do it for a while.  I wanted to point my…

  • The Doctrine of Retribution

    I have been sick for three whole days now and my throat is really, really killing me.  Now the sickness is being visited on my children … I wonder what I have done wrong?!

  • Quote of the Day

    “Be that as it may, there is a reasonable likelihood that the vast majority of Christians today are unorthodox in their view of Jesus in some respect – I’ve rarely met a Christian without theological education who even understood classic orthodoxy, much less adhered to it in detail.” James McGrath in response to this blog…

  • An "Orthodox Catholic"? What's That?

    Michael Bird has written what I think is a mostly helpful post about, among other matters, diversity of theological opinion among both Catholics and Protestants alike.  The post is in reaction to those who would pit theological disagreements as Rome (i.e. the Roman Catholic Church) against Geneva (i.e. the Reformers), as if these two were…

  • Old Testament Vs. New Testament

    Sounds like a boxing match doesn’t it, but it’s more of a recurrent theme at a popular level.  I’ve posted on this issue a number of times (HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE), namely to point out that there is a serious lack of understanding involved from people who phrase the problem as Old Testament Vs.…

  • Reiterating a Point about Faith and Works

    The other day I posted a thought about the relationship between faith and works.  I’ll repeat it again here: It is one thing to say that the Bible teaches that justification is by faith alone or begins with faith and continues through works.  And, it is quite another thing to say that a person must…

  • Faith and Works – A Thought

    Here is a thought that occurred to me today when reading the lectionary reading from Romans 2.1-11, which I know I inherited from elsewhere (perhaps the article a link to at the bottom, though I read it a very long time ago): It is one thing to say that the Bible teaches that justification is…