Søren Kierkegaard’s Practice in Theology
Practice in Christianity : Kierkegaard's Writings, Vol 20, by Søren Kierkegaard (edited by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong) is the second philosophical-theological work that I've read by Kierkegaard. It was recommended by my Scholarly Friend, and I call him my "Scholarly Friend" because its only appropriate to use pseudonyms when engaging with Kierkegaard. I've read portions of Either/Or and Fear and Trembling but I'm most interested in Kierkegaard's specifically Christian works penned under the pseudonym of Anti-Climacus. Was 1849/1850 Kirkegaard's Annus Mirabilis (Miracle Year)? 1849/1850 was the year that Kierkegaard not only wrote Practiec in Christianity (aka Training in Christianity) but also Sickness Unto Death (See my last blog for more info).
Practice in Christianity is dominated by Kierkegaard's critique of Christendom, and his vexation with the Established Church of Denmark. Kierkegaard laments that "all a Christians in Christendom" and there is no understanding of suffering or offense because everyone in the country has been Christianized and baptized as Christians regardless of individual experience. In Theology, those Christians who have died are considered to be part of the "Church Triumphant" and Christians still living and awaiting the second coming of Christ on Earth are described as the "Church Militant." Kierkegaard complains that Christendom has turned the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant, and has commandeered the Eternal Heavenly state without it being realized. This is a major theme throughout Practice in Theology, and it is analogous to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Cheap Grace" vs. "Costly Grace" taxonomy.
A Short Life of Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855) was a Danish Philosopher and Theologian who lived in Copenhagen. Kierkegaard is most well known as an Existentialist and a critique of the Established Church (and the Church of Denmark in particular), however this is not what has drawn me to him recently.
Kierkegaard used many pseudonyms for his works, the names represent his disposition and the character of the work, but also may have served to provide Kierkegaard anonymity while he was at the theater (to keep gossip from getting out of hand.) Some of the more well known pseudonyms are: Judge Williams, Constantin Constantius, Johannes Climacus and Anti-Climacus. Kierkegaard separated Philosophy from Theology, and earlier in life he favored the prior, but late in life he reversed this order of separation by putting Theology before Philosophy. According to the biography I'm reading, this Johannes Climacus was an atheist, and Kierkegaard's alteration of the name and character to Anti-Climacus represented this shift from Philosophy to Theology. Two of Kierkegaard's greatest theological works were written under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus: Sickness Unto Death and Practice in Theology (also titled Training in Theology).
Jonathan Edwards On Examining the Lord’s Supper
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758 AD) was the grandson of Solomon Stoddard (1643 - 1729 AD). Stoddard was called the 'congressional pope of New England' and it was he who established the Half-Way Covenant that was accepted everywhere in New England as the standard for Church Membership. Under the Half-Way Covenant, evidence of a conversion experience was not required to acquire full membership into the church; and because only members of the Church were allowed to have their children baptized, the requirements for obtaining full communion membership was limited to acknowledging what the Church believed without necessarily giving proof that the membership candidate had actually been born again (ie regenerated). So consequently, anyone who desired Church Membership would be granted it, and therefore anyone could have their children baptized, creating a cycle that allowed for individuals to be fully members of a Church without truly believing the Church's dogma. This is why Jonathan Edwards opposed the Half-Way Covenant, and this is also the reasons Edwards was eventually removed from his Church by his congregation.
Jonathan Edwards’ Letter to Deborah Hatheway
Jonathan Edwards wrote a short letter to Deborah Hatheway who was an 18 year old girl who came to Christ during one of the revivals in Suffield, Massachusetts (circa 1734AD). This short letter discusses a Christian's response to sin after conversion to Christianity in simple language that is a helpful guide to new Christians. Continue reading...
Abraham Kuyper on Adam and Anthropology
Abraham Kuyper has many extended anecdotes on Adam, especially in regards to our Anthropology (i.e. What is Man?) that were through his Encyclopedia of Sacred Theology. I've gathered three extended quotes from this book and shared them here.
Kuyper viewed the resurrection as a restoration of Adam to his pre-Fall (antelapsarianism?) , yet improved and completed in Christ. Kuyper taught that Adam knew God through Natural Revelation in a way that is not possible now due to the Fall. Kuyper also believed that it was necessary for Jesus Christ to be a descendant of Adam, so that he would essentially restore Adam's body to the pre-Fallen state.
Herman Bavinck on Anselm’s Scholasticism.
Herman Bavinck (1854 - 1921) wrote the arguably best Reformed Systematic Theologies: the four volume work, Reformed Dogmatics. He was a Dutch Reformed Theologian and in the Prolegomena to Reformed Dogmatics, he wrote a very helpful critique of Anselm that is a good conclusion to my Anselm posts:
[46] "Scholasticism passed through three periods: the old, middle, and new. It begins with Anselm, who still operated in the naive confidence that faith could be elevated to the level of knowledge. For the existence of God, he attempts to demonstrate this in his Monologium; for the incarnation and atonement, in his Cur Deus Homo. He does not yet do this in the Aristotelian scholastic form but rather in the form of Plato's dialogues. Still, scholastic speculation starts with him. Lombard, in his Sentences (four books), did not , like Anselm, offer single treatises but a complete handbook on dogmatics and ethics."
-- Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena (Volume One), Chapter 4.46 Roman Catholic Dogmatics, page 146.
Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo and Satisfaction Atonement Theory
Anselm of Canterbury's (1033 – 1109) Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man) is particular famous for being the first concise statement of the "Satisfaction Theory of Atonement." Anselm's Satisfaction theory is the bedrock for all modern orthodox understandings of atonement, including the fullest expression in "Penal-Substitutionary Atonement." Anselm argues that the previous Ransom Theory of Atonement was deficient because it was not the Devil but God who was owed "ransom" (if that is the correct term.)
The short book contains many compelling arguments for Satisfaction. For instance, it requires a man to redeem men, so fallen angels are unable to be redeemed because God must necessarily to provide a sufficient atonement for angels in the same way that he had became a man to atone for men. Sins are explain in the terms of indebtedness and throughout Anselm's works he refers to evil as "non-being" or as "nothing." An evil doer is really someone who lacks good. So when a man sins, it is a debt that is owed to God, and the sinner must provide what is now lacking due to the debt, and this requires instant repayment of what is due.
Abraham Kuyper on Common Sense
Abraham Kuyper by Theo van Doesburg (1910)
Abraham Kuyper's Encyclopedia of Sacred Theology: Its Principles is one of the best theology works I've read this year, and I'd like to feature a few selections from it. The following is a brief anecdote on Kuyper's views on "Common Sense." Common Sense was a pamphalete by Thomas Paine that was widely distributed and led to mass confusion over what is known intrinsically by man. Paine's work may be good to consider as you read the following selection: Continue reading...
Criticisms of Anselm’s Ontological Argument
Anselm of Canterbury is most famous for his Ontological Argument for the existence of God, which is that "God is the greatest necessary being that which may be thought of" (paraphrase). Although this argument has been presented as unassailable and irrefutable, there have been, however, some very important attempted refutations from very reputable and important scholars. Anselm's argument does hold against these criticisms, but each of them do need to be considered and addressed without simple dismissal. The most important of which is that of Immanuel Kant's refutal.
I discovered that a concise collection of these refutations are available in one volume online, which I have copied here from this online volume at Calvin College: Continue reading...
Anselm of Canterbury’s Ontological Argument
Anselm (1033-1109) was Archbishop of Canterbury and wrote many influential works, including his Proslogium, Monologium and Cur Deus Homo. He is most famous for his Ontological Argument, which is one of the most famous proofs for the existence of God (in Proslogium), as well as for his argument for Satisfaction Atonement (in Cur Deus Homo trans. "Why God Became a Man").
I'm reading through Oxford World Classic's book: Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works. After a short biography of Anselm, is Anselm's first major work: Monologium (online text). Monologium reads as Philosophy book with many Aristotelian Syllogisms. Monologium introduces Anselm's Ontological Argument (which is presented in its fullness in his subsequent Proslogium.) Continue reading...
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- Søren Kierkegaard’s Practice in Theology
- A Short Life of Søren Kierkegaard
- Jonathan Edwards On Examining the Lord’s Supper
- Jonathan Edwards’ Letter to Deborah Hatheway
- Abraham Kuyper on Adam and Anthropology
- Herman Bavinck on Anselm’s Scholasticism.
- Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo and Satisfaction Atonement Theory
- Abraham Kuyper on Common Sense
- Criticisms of Anselm’s Ontological Argument
- Anselm of Canterbury’s Ontological Argument
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- Abraham Kuyper on Adam and Anthropology « houtz.tv on Abraham Kuyper’s Encyclopedia of Sacred Theology (Selections)
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