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The New Christians

We’ve got a nice thread going on free will and determinism around these parts.  Albert the Abstainer chimes in: Real free will: An ability to choose alternatives such that the possibility of an alternative action is real and not the product of a particular history of preceding events. Free will: A state wherein a person…

Here it is: http://blog.beliefnet.com/tonyjones/rss.xml

Yay!  Albert the Abstainer is back! Real free will is illusionary. Don’t believe me, try controlling your thoughts or dreams. The state we occupy is continuously changing in response to being a physical part of a physical universe. Our complexity not withstanding, emergent states are not within our ability to anticipate and control. We are…

Here’s the next in my occasional series with Mark Patrick, my spiritual director. Tony: Mark, one of the things that you’ve said to me that caused me a great deal of introspection came in the late summer.  I was describing to you how angry I was getting over a particular situation, and then I made…

LeRon Shults announces a new book and a discussion on his blog about the book.  The book, Seeking the Identity of Jesus, gathered scholars to write about, well, Jesus’ identity.  Among other things, they agreed on the following nine points: 1. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew.2. The identity of Jesus is reliably attested and…

I’m glad to see that my weekend quote of Dante stirred up some commentary.  Here’s one, from Ben, followed by a response from me. (My apologies for Ben’s masculine language.) I’m not sure how to understand Dante’s use of “free will” here but I’m sure I don’t like Pinnock’s use of the term. I think…

The Original Sin SeriesIntro–Intuition–Definition–Genesis–Jesus–Paul–Augustine-Calvin-Conclusion The shadow of Augustine of Hippo looms large over the entire subsequent development of the doctrine of Original Sin.  We’ll get into his authorship of the doctrine qua doctrine in a minute, but first let’s remember the importance of his biography.  If Paul was a Jew’s Jew, Augustine was a Neoplatonist’s…

The greatest gift that God in His bounty made in creation, and the most conformable to His goodness, and that which He prizes the most, was the freedom of will, with which the creatures with intelligence, they all and they alone, were and are endowed. Dante Alighieri Divine Comedy, ParadisoCanto V, lines 19-24

Rick is honing in on his finalists.  Hilarious: David Wilcox– white guy folk singer. Cannot do it. Of course, he deals with spirituality in a way that is emerging and is one of the only white earnest folkies I can stand. Still. He is the “official” band of the older white element of Emergent, luckily…

For the sake of our discussion of Original Sin, commenter Brian has translated Romans 5 [UPDATE: it seems to be Romans 14-15] on our behalf.  Thanks, Brian!  (N.B., mean-spirited comments about his translation will be immediately deleted.  Thoughtful, albeit critical, comments are welcome.) Welcome those who are traditional in faith, those who still believe in…
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