Sublime

The great nineteenth-century theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher wrote to defend Christianity to his friends, whom he called “the great cultured despisers.”4 Their antagonism toward the church had become cultural (not spiritual; it was about an aesthetic of pleasure, not an encounter with the transcendent).5

It is clear that theology can no longer find a permanent basis in the general thinking, feeling and action of contemporary society. The reason for this lies less in theology than in the fact that in a pluralist society, what concerns everyone absolutely, and what society must absolutely desire, is more difficult to identify than in earlier and more

The difference between “knowledge” and “belief” is simply one of degree of certainty—more or less—but knowledge is never completely and indisputably certain beyond all doubt and interpretation.

many learned scholars and theologians, have held aloof from the “quest” and from any imperative toward actual historical inquiry concerning Jesus. Surely, they say, we simply have to go with what our great tradition has handed down to us, rather than play around with historical reconstructions offered by skeptics; we mustn’t try to go behind our Go

when I read the New Testament looking for doctrines of divine transcendence, I do so not believing that I am simply “recovering” the intention of the original human authors.

That is not only what the Old Testament usage would demand;27 it is not only what is indicated by the post-biblical second-temple literature of which John Piper is so cautious. It is massively indicated by the argument of Romans itself to this point, provided we actually read what Paul says, particularly in 2:17-3:8, rather than merely assuming tha

A third possibility, sometimes adopted, is to take certain well-known and highly controversial passages and to attempt an exegesis based on each verse by itself, working eventually towards some kind of synthesis. This, which can look fine to begin with, actually puts the cart before the horse. It is unhelpful simply to begin with tough, gritty apho

The gospels are revealed as quite sophisticated documents, and if we wish to retain the Bultmannian paradigm we must invent ever more cunning sub-theories to account for them as they actually are. The great irony of this total position, seen from the perspective I shall advance, is that it regards genuinely mythological language (apocalyptic) as th

Theology is second-order reflection on first-order language about God and faith. Theology is not faith, nor does it require faith. It may sometimes be, in that traditional phrase, “faith seeking understanding” (fides quaerens intellectum). But for me theology is simply showing how statements of faith and belief can be seen as rational, sensible, an