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Logan M Isaac

Duke University, Political Science, Adjunct

University of St Andrews, Divinity, Graduate Student

Methodist University, Religion and Philosophy, Adjunct

Duke University, Duke Divinity School, Graduate Student

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After six years on active duty in the United States Army, including a deployment to Iraq in 2004, I was discharged in 2006 and received a BA in Human Services from Hawaii Pacific University in 2010, concentrating on organizational management. In 2013, I graduated from the Master of Theological Studies program at Duke University with a certificate in Gender, Theology, & Ministry, where I founded and/or maintained several student veterans groups and also worked for a year as a co-coordinator of the Divinity School's Women's Center. I wrote my thesis with Warren Kinghorn and Stanley Hauerwas. In 2015 I received a Master of Letters in Systematic and Historical Theology from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where I wrote my dissertation under John Perry.

My interests focus on Christian faith and military service, which has drawn me into discussions of narrative and political theologies, virtue ethics, and justice. Some major peripheral interests are in gender studies, (particularly masculinities), moral identity, and religious violence.
Supervisors: Warren Kinghorn, Stanley Hauerwas, and John Perry

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Videos by Logan M Isaac

Theology in the Crosshairs: Toward a Martial Hermeneutic

Title of my 2015 Master of Letters dissertation at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and a... more

1 views

Books by Logan M Isaac

For God and Country (in that order): Faith & Service for Ordinary Radicals

Reborn on the Fourth of July; The Challenge of Faith, Patriotism, & Conscience

M.Litt Papers by Logan M Isaac

Theology in the Crosshairs: Toward a Martial Hermeneutic

War Without End: Apocalyptic Instincts in Christian Ethics

Deus, Ergo Supplico: The Primacy of Prayer in Christian Belief

As We Have Heard, So We Have Seen: Psalmic Political Theology via Augustine, Thomas, & Calvin

Illuminating this Present Darkness: Paul's Armor of God Across Church History

MTS Papers by Logan M Isaac

Steam Rising: Fire & Water in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead

Textual Analysis of Romans 5:1-11

Textual Analysis of John 2:13-25

Take These Things Away: The Father’s Economy in the Gospel of John

In the Gospel of John, the episode variably referred to as the "cleansing" or the "purification" ... more In the Gospel of John, the episode variably referred to as the "cleansing" or the "purification" of the Temple is placed quite early. 1 According to John, this scene sets the stage for the rest of Jesus' life and ministry. John's early placement of the Temple episode establishes Jesus' life and ministry as being simultaneously commercial and eschatological, emphasizing the unity of divine and human economies. Though the author does use explicitly business imagery, what is meant by economy here is a more comprehensive connotation than that which deals with pure monetary manipulation and fiscal policy. The original Greek oikonomia held within it implications of the entire household, its management, disposition, and handling. In this paper, I will begin by exploring the unique placement and character of the Johannine pericope in order to make the case for John's framing Jesus' entire life and ministry. Then I will proceed to explore the commercial emphasis of the human economic dimension and how it might challenge more strictly political readings, as though Jesus' actions were interpretable strictly as an act of violence or street theater. In my final section, I will press deeper into the divine economy and show that John includes specifically eschatological imagery to messianically unite his simultaneously human and divine attributes and mission.

Daring To Reach Far Beyond Ourselves: Barth’s Hermeneutical Conditions for Biblical Interpretation

is one of the most poignant theologians of the 20 th century.

A Vague & Persistent Question: Reflections on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Shucking Corn With a Chainsaw: A Rebuke of Adolf von Harnack’s Christianity

In his classic lecture series, published under the title "What is Christianity," 1 Adolf von Harn... more In his classic lecture series, published under the title "What is Christianity," 1 Adolf von Harnack establishes himself as a theologian of his age. However, that is both a compliment and a critique, for his age was one of great tumult and failure. By trying to make the seemingly ancient Christian faith relevant to a modernizing age of reason and science, he ultimately had to compromise elements of the faith that prior and subsequent theologians consider nonnegotiable. In this essay, I will discuss how Harnack thought salvation was the essence, what he called the "kernel," of the faith. More importantly (if for no other reason than proportionality), is what he thought was the nonessential, or "husk" of the Christian religion, including the Gospel of John and Jesus' miracles, his genealogy and Jewishness, and the doctrine of Christ's incarnation. I will furthermore show that the Reformation played prominently in his theology, and that the trajectory set in motion by Luther has its logical expression in Harnack. However, in order to understand the theology, we must briefly explore the man. It is to him we now turn.

That You May See What You Are: Rhetorical Characters in the Letters of Augustine of Hippo and Sulpicius Severus

A Rationally Disorganized Temporary Witness: Stanley Hauerwas (On Politics, Theology, & Democracy)

Stanley Hauerwas has been called "Best Theologian" by Time magazine, but it is a title he rejects... more Stanley Hauerwas has been called "Best Theologian" by Time magazine, but it is a title he rejects outright. His polemic style of writing would lead one to presume that Hauerwas rejects just about everything about the project of modernity into which he was born, but that belies a nuanced reading of the preeminent Texan theologian. In the paper that follows, I will outline and critically assess his political theology. Such an outline will show that for Hauerwas, politics is understood best as a "conversation necessary for a people to discover the goods they have in common." Any goods common to both the incredible diversity of and in the world, as well as to the universal catholic church must navigate Hauerwas' sharp church/world distinction, which I will attempt. To do so, the paradoxical nature of his theology will also be explored, including the curious commonality he shares with liberal feminism in his insistence that the public/private divide be demolished. After describing his political theology, I will develop a defense and critique of democracy as a form of political order. For any Hauerwasian defense, democracy must be a temporary phenomenon that is sustained by the memory and practices of RATIONALLY DISORGANIZED TEMPORARY WITNESS 1 distinctive communities. The necessary contingency of democracy plays itself out in relation to a proper understanding of time, memory, and death -which will be explored below. Furthermore, that the Christian experience has been one of being in solidarity with minorities allows for Hauerwas to appreciate the ability of democracy to be used to protect minority leverage. Finally, Hauerwas offers much in the way of a critique of democracy, though much of it is necessarily done through the specific context in which it is found in his time, through American notions thereof. This context is problematic because of America's superpower status, for it belies the minority impulse integral to Christian constructions of memory. In the context of immense power, time, memory, and death are reimagined not through the lens of humility, but of triumph and glory. I will show that Hauerwas insists that the church's minority status must shape our democratic political instincts so that we hedge against arrogant assumptions about power. In the end, the sharp liberal distinction between the public and private allows "Christian" politicians to go on lying, cheating, and stealing since liberal democracy assumes it can have justice without a people formed by Christian conviction to be just themselves. Ironic as it is, democracy ensures it will always keep our attention, for it is a wonderful story to tell and retell. H auerwasian Political Theology 2 RATIONALLY DISORGANIZED TEMPORARY WITNESS

Protestant Women After the Reformation: Luther’s Theology of Ministry in the Eyes of Women

Exploring issues of gender in Luther's theology, compared with the contributions of Prortestant w... more

Deceitful Lips and High-Sounding Tongues: Sadoleto and Calvin on Piety & Philosophy in Catholic Reform

A review of the engagement between Jean Calvin and Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto in the midst of the P... more

One Patient Son of a Bitch

Submitted as a reflection on weekly readings, in which we were invited to comment on the author t... more

Theology in the Crosshairs: Toward a Martial Hermeneutic

Title of my 2015 Master of Letters dissertation at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and a... more

1 views

For God and Country (in that order): Faith & Service for Ordinary Radicals

Reborn on the Fourth of July; The Challenge of Faith, Patriotism, & Conscience

Theology in the Crosshairs: Toward a Martial Hermeneutic

War Without End: Apocalyptic Instincts in Christian Ethics

Deus, Ergo Supplico: The Primacy of Prayer in Christian Belief

As We Have Heard, So We Have Seen: Psalmic Political Theology via Augustine, Thomas, & Calvin

Illuminating this Present Darkness: Paul's Armor of God Across Church History

Steam Rising: Fire & Water in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead

Textual Analysis of Romans 5:1-11

Textual Analysis of John 2:13-25

Take These Things Away: The Father’s Economy in the Gospel of John

In the Gospel of John, the episode variably referred to as the "cleansing" or the "purification" ... more In the Gospel of John, the episode variably referred to as the "cleansing" or the "purification" of the Temple is placed quite early. 1 According to John, this scene sets the stage for the rest of Jesus' life and ministry. John's early placement of the Temple episode establishes Jesus' life and ministry as being simultaneously commercial and eschatological, emphasizing the unity of divine and human economies. Though the author does use explicitly business imagery, what is meant by economy here is a more comprehensive connotation than that which deals with pure monetary manipulation and fiscal policy. The original Greek oikonomia held within it implications of the entire household, its management, disposition, and handling. In this paper, I will begin by exploring the unique placement and character of the Johannine pericope in order to make the case for John's framing Jesus' entire life and ministry. Then I will proceed to explore the commercial emphasis of the human economic dimension and how it might challenge more strictly political readings, as though Jesus' actions were interpretable strictly as an act of violence or street theater. In my final section, I will press deeper into the divine economy and show that John includes specifically eschatological imagery to messianically unite his simultaneously human and divine attributes and mission.

Daring To Reach Far Beyond Ourselves: Barth’s Hermeneutical Conditions for Biblical Interpretation

is one of the most poignant theologians of the 20 th century.

A Vague & Persistent Question: Reflections on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Shucking Corn With a Chainsaw: A Rebuke of Adolf von Harnack’s Christianity

In his classic lecture series, published under the title "What is Christianity," 1 Adolf von Harn... more In his classic lecture series, published under the title "What is Christianity," 1 Adolf von Harnack establishes himself as a theologian of his age. However, that is both a compliment and a critique, for his age was one of great tumult and failure. By trying to make the seemingly ancient Christian faith relevant to a modernizing age of reason and science, he ultimately had to compromise elements of the faith that prior and subsequent theologians consider nonnegotiable. In this essay, I will discuss how Harnack thought salvation was the essence, what he called the "kernel," of the faith. More importantly (if for no other reason than proportionality), is what he thought was the nonessential, or "husk" of the Christian religion, including the Gospel of John and Jesus' miracles, his genealogy and Jewishness, and the doctrine of Christ's incarnation. I will furthermore show that the Reformation played prominently in his theology, and that the trajectory set in motion by Luther has its logical expression in Harnack. However, in order to understand the theology, we must briefly explore the man. It is to him we now turn.

That You May See What You Are: Rhetorical Characters in the Letters of Augustine of Hippo and Sulpicius Severus

A Rationally Disorganized Temporary Witness: Stanley Hauerwas (On Politics, Theology, & Democracy)

Stanley Hauerwas has been called "Best Theologian" by Time magazine, but it is a title he rejects... more Stanley Hauerwas has been called "Best Theologian" by Time magazine, but it is a title he rejects outright. His polemic style of writing would lead one to presume that Hauerwas rejects just about everything about the project of modernity into which he was born, but that belies a nuanced reading of the preeminent Texan theologian. In the paper that follows, I will outline and critically assess his political theology. Such an outline will show that for Hauerwas, politics is understood best as a "conversation necessary for a people to discover the goods they have in common." Any goods common to both the incredible diversity of and in the world, as well as to the universal catholic church must navigate Hauerwas' sharp church/world distinction, which I will attempt. To do so, the paradoxical nature of his theology will also be explored, including the curious commonality he shares with liberal feminism in his insistence that the public/private divide be demolished. After describing his political theology, I will develop a defense and critique of democracy as a form of political order. For any Hauerwasian defense, democracy must be a temporary phenomenon that is sustained by the memory and practices of RATIONALLY DISORGANIZED TEMPORARY WITNESS 1 distinctive communities. The necessary contingency of democracy plays itself out in relation to a proper understanding of time, memory, and death -which will be explored below. Furthermore, that the Christian experience has been one of being in solidarity with minorities allows for Hauerwas to appreciate the ability of democracy to be used to protect minority leverage. Finally, Hauerwas offers much in the way of a critique of democracy, though much of it is necessarily done through the specific context in which it is found in his time, through American notions thereof. This context is problematic because of America's superpower status, for it belies the minority impulse integral to Christian constructions of memory. In the context of immense power, time, memory, and death are reimagined not through the lens of humility, but of triumph and glory. I will show that Hauerwas insists that the church's minority status must shape our democratic political instincts so that we hedge against arrogant assumptions about power. In the end, the sharp liberal distinction between the public and private allows "Christian" politicians to go on lying, cheating, and stealing since liberal democracy assumes it can have justice without a people formed by Christian conviction to be just themselves. Ironic as it is, democracy ensures it will always keep our attention, for it is a wonderful story to tell and retell. H auerwasian Political Theology 2 RATIONALLY DISORGANIZED TEMPORARY WITNESS

Protestant Women After the Reformation: Luther’s Theology of Ministry in the Eyes of Women

Exploring issues of gender in Luther's theology, compared with the contributions of Prortestant w... more

Deceitful Lips and High-Sounding Tongues: Sadoleto and Calvin on Piety & Philosophy in Catholic Reform

A review of the engagement between Jean Calvin and Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto in the midst of the P... more

One Patient Son of a Bitch

Submitted as a reflection on weekly readings, in which we were invited to comment on the author t... more

McClendon's Biographies as Theologies (review)

Biography as Theology -James W. McClendon, Jr. James McClendon's central claim throughout his Bio... more Biography as Theology -James W. McClendon, Jr. James McClendon's central claim throughout his Biography as Theology is that "The truth of faith is made good in the living of it or not at all; that living is a necessary condition of the justification of Christian faith." 1 The lives of Christians not only reflect the faith of particular people, they also make present the true faith to which all Christians are commonly called. The particularities of religious experience certainly do not determine Christian doctrine, but it is within the lives of believers that doctrine gains its coherence.

Severus' Martian Biography as Theology: Martin of Tours in Narrative Context

Crimson Stained Purple Crown: Tripp York's Martyrology

Embodied Witness: John Howard Yoder's Body Politics and Witness to the State in Dialogue

s The Christian Witness to the State (1964) and Body Politics (1992) were selected in order to ex... more

Christian Attitudes Toward War Compared: Bainton v. Yoder (review)

Let the Stones Cry Out: IVAW and the Question of Secular Prophetic Action

Ethics Without Eschatology; John Howard Yoder's Politics of Jesus as Critique of Christian Realism (review)

Not According to Power: Divine Love & Human Will in Augustine of Hippo and John Cassian

A Critique of Strategic Violence Amongst European Anti-Globalization Movements

The Ethics of Humanitarian Assistance: The Justice of and Distinctions Between Intervention and Aid

My term paper will be focused on the narrowing distinction between the use of armed forces and mi... more My term paper will be focused on the narrowing distinction between the use of armed forces and military might to exercise humanitarian assistance. Even within the United Nations, there is growing concern that humanitarian causes do not always provide for justified use of military power between nations in conflict or otherwise. Specific examples to be explored are the imperatives of the US mission in Afghanistan and the deployment of US military personnel to Haiti and other disaster areas. The difference between these two examples is important; one deliberately legitimized the use of coercive violence, while the other merely employed the armed forces of a nation to provide and manage relief efforts. However, both cases have come under intense scrutiny from the international community in terms of effectiveness and justifiability. Is a military force accountable as a means of managing human services, especially between two sovereign nations? The issue of providing care within a nation’s own sovereign territory (such as the deployment of the 82nd Airborne Division to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina) will not be considered.

Questioning the Efficacy of Terrorism

In this paper, I will try to examine the measurable success of the Al Qaeda terrorist movement in... more In this paper, I will try to examine the measurable success of the Al Qaeda terrorist movement in light of its broad goals as described in several public statements by its de facto leader, Osama bin Laden. First, I will examine its major purposes and goals as outlined by various fatawat and other statements of purpose. Second, I will examine the September 11th terrorist attack for which they claim responsibility and explore if the specific goals (expressed explicitly or reasonably implied by the action itself).

Military Conscientious Objectors Act Policy Watch

Military Conscientious Objectors Act Brief

The Development of the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages

Western Liberalism

Islamic Philosophy

Why Islam Has Not Seen the Success Muhammad Desired

Buddhist Philosophy

Abiding by the Moral Law: The Cornerstone of Confucius’ Philosophy and Concept of the Ideal

Film Analysis: Gandhi

Film Analysis: The Fog of War

Lead Different: An Urgent Appeal to Apple CEO Steve Jobs

The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives

by Amitabh V Dwivedi and Logan M Isaac

The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives, 2016

In social relations, any chaotic situation resulting in disorder is experienced as a crisis by pe... more In social relations, any chaotic situation resulting in disorder is experienced as a crisis by people, states, governments, and organizations. A crisis also means an emergency event that is expected to lead to a dangerous and unstable situation adversely affecting an individual, group, community, civic organization, government, or society. Any crisis is supposed to be negative, when changes—political, societal, economic, security, and environmental—start occurring suddenly with no prior warning.

Desensitization

SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Sciences Perspective

Burden of Killing

SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Sciences Perspective

SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Sciences Perspective

New Course Proposal – The Virtues of War

Description What are the virtues embodied by military training and service, or are there any? How... more Description What are the virtues embodied by military training and service, or are there any? How do the images and language of militarism and sacrifice shape our political debates? What democratic traditions and philosophies have influenced public opinion and policy about military personnel in America? This course traces a history of the role of virtue in ancient and modern western reflection on war. It also considers these questions and related issues by examining inequalities within the civilian/military gap and the extent to which it has affected the perception, treatment, and veneration or vilification of combatants themselves.