View From The Basement

Tartan Christology

On Thursday evening I attended The Gunning Lecture at New College, Edinburgh University. The Lecture was given by Prof Alasdair Heron, Erlangen University, it’s title Shifting Patterns in Scottish Christology in the Nineteenth Century: Erskine, Irving and McLeod Campbell. It was an event that I think Jim would have revelled in, perhaps he will read it when it’s published.

What struck me about Prof Heron’s account of these three Scottish figures of Nineteenth Century theology was their currency in the present debate(s) surrounding the nature and meaning of the atonement.

Erskine I lay theologian offered a critique of penal substitution in his book The Brazen Serpent. In this he was also critical of forensic justification. The Cross has a positive meaning and positive meaning and effect. As the second Adam Jesus is head of the whole human race, not an external substitute but identification is solidarity. In his scheme then the atonement, rightly in my view, is found in the incarnation not in substitution.

Irving, a Church of Scotland minister who came to prominence as a society preacher in London at Regent Park Square church had similar concerns to Erskine. Perhaps of interest to Andy would be Prof Herons comment that the late Colin Guntton was fascinated and perhaps influenced by Irvings Christology. In Irving there was a recovery of the Patristic principle that the unassumed is the unredeemed. Therefore Christ assumed our human nature as it really is, not in some pristine form. This obviously raises issues over Christ's sinlessness and this among other things lead to Irving being expelled from the Kirk.

J McLeod Campbell formed a Christology similar to Irvings and this can be read in his work "The Nature of the Atonement". Prof Heron’s introduction to McLeod Campbell was sufficiently stimulating that it has wetted my appetite to track this work down and read it at some point. McLeod Campbell stressed the link between the incarnation and the atonement stating that the atonement was an organic development of the incarnation. He also put forward the motif of divine grief as a means to understand the Cross in his rejection of penal substitution.

Information overload

Kester has a provocative post on why he's bored with blogging and bored with the "emerging conversation". Much of his frustration would seem to be down to the volume of information that is being produced thus it seems like everyone is in a crowded room trying to talk over each other rather than listen and reflect.

James Potter in Media Literacy notes that "more information has been generated since you were born than the sum total of all information throughout all recorded history up until the time of your birth". So by way of example, "the amount of information produced in 2002 alone is 500,000 times the amount of all the holdings in the Library of Congress", which is around 19 million books.

So how do we deal with all this information? Should we disengage, opt-out or can we develop strategies to protect ourselves from information overload in a way that allows us to experience new things, enter new conversations but in a way that is actually life enhancing? More thoughts on this soon (DV).

Comments

Thanks to everyone who has made a comment on one of my post recently, especially all those who commented on Post Christendom Christianity. I normally like to thank or comment on each comment but changes which are making new demands on my time have meant that I've not been able to do this.

Hopefully something like normal service will be resumed soon.

Random Acts of Kindness

I was surprised today when I opened my email to find that someone who reads this blog had performed a random act of kindness on me by sending me a gift voucher for some books. What can I say but thanks.

Increas traffic with Blogrush

HT to Andrew for this. He's suggesting that adding the blogrush widget will increase traffic to your blog. While we all blog for more than traffic, it's good to know that someone somewhere is reading what you write.

To find out more about blogrush either click the tab at the bottom of the reader in my sidebar, or go and read Andrew's post for an explanation of the system.

PS. as Andrew says in his post "it's still a bit buggy" which in plain English means that the blogrush site may crash on you a couple of times as you try to join, but hang on in there are these will be problems they will solve.

Post Christendom Christianity

These are a couple of slides from a power point I'm working on for a talk I've to give in a couple of weeks. So how would you answer the question on slide 2? What do you think the key characteristic of post-Christendom Christianity is? Answers in the comments section please.

Sing with me

FRANCE 0    SCOTLAND 1

If you know the tune join in......

we'll be coming, we'll be coming,

we'll be coming down the road, ....oh just watch the youtube thing and join in!

So what's a man?

On Monday night I spent some time with one of the young people I work with who does not know his father. As he grows an issue that is become bigger and bigger is "what does it mean to be a man". I'm not sure that's he'd articulate the issue quite like that, but for many boys who grow up without a Dad around (for whatever reason), the lack of a male role model can be an issue.

In once sense there is no lack of male role models for this kid, the "problem" is that most of them are in violent movies. Street racing, jackass pranks, being physically strong and knowing how to use your fists, or other weapons, are for many of our young people the route and the proof of being a man.

So we, that us men, face a challenge of coming alongside kids who have no Dads. Not to take the place of their Dad, but to at least show that being a man is about being self controlled, loyal, honest, truthful, caring, sensitive, adventurous and so the list could go on.

Unreflective punditry?

"our modern organs of communication, which were intended to inform and clarify our speech, distort and corrupt it......amplifying to deafening level the dicta of an unreflective punditry". Oliver O'Donovan, The Desire of the Nations, 282.

I remember my brother telling me that I friend who was at the RSMDA was told by their music teacher not to busk as it would ruin their technique. I wonder if blogging is actually a form of busking, but instead of coins thrown in a hat, we busk for hits?

Does blogging lead to poor writing, sloppy thinking, "unreflective punditry"?

Stricken by God?

Recieved this book through the post this morning. Looks good and has some quality contributors. I'm particuarly looking forward to reading the following chapters;

Ch 2 - Out of the Fog: New Horizons for Atonement Theory - Michael Hardin

Ch 3 - The Reasons for Jesus Crucifixion - N.T.Wright

Ch 8 - The Forgiveness of Sins Hosea 11: 1- 9; Matthew 18:23 - 35 - Rowan Williams

Ch 12 - Forgiveness, reconciliation and Justice - Miroslav Volf

Ch19- Juridical Justification Theology and a Statement of the Orthodox Teaching - Kharalambos Anstall

Ch 20 - Divinization, the Churh and Prophetic Politics in our Post 9-11 World - Ronald S Dart.

The other chapters also look good, but for me the above stand out.