Doctrines of Grace

This document (accepted by the Board of Ordained Ministry in 2020) includes some revisions, making it more accessible to the laity. In addition, it may provide some direction for certified candidates in the UMC seeking to be commissioned and ordained.

From a close analysis of the idea of baptism in Pauline literature, one can identify the following conclusions: Paul nowhere identifies baptism in water as a work of merit that cannot save. Paul abundantly describes burial in water as best fulfilling his own description of baptism in Romans 6:4 and in Colossians 2:12. Paul describes baptism as a personal death of the one who is baptized, being "crucified with Him." This is similar to Peter's description of baptism as salvific and simultaneously, a pledge or promise to give up sin in ! Peter 3:21, as if it's a contract or agreement in which one agrees to give up sin while God in Christ forgives our past sins that He bore in his body on the cross in I Peter 2:24. Paul describes baptism as being buried and rising and being made alive with Christ. Hence, one is forgiven of past sins, circumcised not made with hands, include both male and female, performed by divine arrangement, and the Spirit is given as a gift, at that moment. Baptism is a personal conscious choice by the one baptized to enter a relationship with or being united with Christ. One is baptized into Christ and his death and in that moment one is forgiven, receives the Spirit as a gift, and is raised with Christ and made alive. So Paul who champions grace, nowhere describes baptism in water as a good work to be eschewed, relegated to a work of personal human merit. Let each party bring forth its prooftexts, and we shall conclude that there is no systematic or consistent theology in the Bible. Some think the Mashiach was to be a political or military leader but how does this view fit with the gentle, humble Yeshua who dies and is made aiive? Is there consistency in sacred scripture?

John Davenant, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and a British delegate to the Synod of Dordt, was a widely praised English Reformed theologian, but his exposition of the doctrine of predestination has been largely neglected. The present essay shows that, for Davenant, Thomas Aquinas remained among the “sounder scholastics,” whose views on predestination and free choice aligned closely with Reformed theology and helped to illustrate the traditionalism of Reformed theology in the face of Jesuit and Arminian theological innovation.

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Tendo como missão oferecer reflexão teológica de qualidade como subsídio para a pesquisa e a prática pastoral tendo em vista o objetivo de promoção da produção acadêmico-científica, a Revista Cultura Teológica (ISSN: 2317-4307), da PUC/SP - Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, celebra o centenário de nascimento de Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns e a sua importância para a Igreja brasileira e latino-americana, organizando uma Edição Especial em sua homenagem que traz a publicação do artigo do Professor-Pesquisador Luiz Carlos Mariano Da Rosa intitulado "Da justificação e a fé como evento escatológico enquanto obediência e decisão fundada no ato da graça de Deus segundo a Teologia do apóstolo Paulo em Rudolf Bultmann". O Dossiê da Revista Cultura Teológica da PUC/SP intitulado “Mística, profecia e pastoreio de D. Paulo Evaristo Arns em São Paulo” tem o objetivo de explicitar tanto quanto possível os principais aspectos da trajetória eclesial de Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns e o impacto de sua ação pastoral, em consonância com o Concílio Ecumênico Vaticano II e a Conferência de Medellín, cujas marcas são percebidas sobretudo na cidade de São Paulo.

In this article I argue that the epiphanies in J.M. Coetzee’s fiction can be read
as literary enactments of the ‘creature-feeling’, a feeling of absolute dependence
on one’s creatureliness that was first described by the theologian Rudolf Otto. I
begin with a discussion of the creature-feeling with reference to William James’
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) andRudolfOtto’s The Idea of the Holy
(1917). Critics have observed that Coetzee’s fictions suggest shared embodiment
as the basis for humans’ ethical responsibility towards other humans and
towards animals, and have focussed on Emmanuel Le´vinas when addressing
theological influences on Coetzee’s non-rational ethics. Bringing James and
Otto into the discussion allows me to account for those epiphanic moments
in Coetzee that do not overlap with the ethical or the aesthetic, moments in
which characters experience what I call secular grace. Coetzee is not the first to
enact the creature-feeling: he reworks earlier enactments by James Joyce.

SUMMARY
Nel «Commento alla Lettera ai Romani» di Lutero la «giustificazione» divina è effettivamente resa in termini forensi: non solo quindi come «estranea» all’uomo, ma anche come a lui «imputata» da Dio. Tuttavia essa è efficace a tal punto che nel battezzato il peccato, pur permanendo, non è più «dominante», ma «dominato». D’altronde, il Riformatore ha attinto dalla Bibbia la verità di fede dell’efficacia della parola divina, che, se dichiara che il battezzato è giusto, lo rende realmente tale. Questi due temi, ben presenti nel «Commento», mostrano la validità di una tesi di più ampio respiro: il sistema linguistico-concettuale con cui Lutero ha espresso la nozione di «giustificazione» è irriducibilmente diverso da quello tridentino, benché non sia incompatibile con esso.

SUMMARY
In Luther’s «Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans» God’s  «justification» is expressed in truly juridical terms: and hence  not only as «extraneous» to  man, but also as «imputed» to him by God. However the «justification» is effective to the point that in the baptized individual sin, though it persists, is no longer «dominant», but «dominated». Moreover, Luther drew from the Bible the truth of faith regarding the efficacity of God’s word, which, when declaring that the baptized person is just, renders him such in reality. These two themes, both clearly present in the «Commentary», show the validity of a broader thesis: that the linguistic and conceptual system with which Luther expressed the notion of «justification» is irreducibly different from that of Trent, although it is not incompatible with it.

Christians have long understood grace both as a declaration of acceptance and as a power that transforms. This article illumines two theses while investigating the relationship between these understandings of grace in Luther, Calvin, and Barth's development of the law/gospel dialectic and the doctrines of justification and sanctification. First, though each theologian makes use of both understandings of grace, each also tends to emphasize one over the other. The unity and tension within and between these perspectives help to show that while both pictures are of the greatest importance for each other and cannot be separated, they also exist in tension, as long as they are worked out in the lives of sinners. Second, the author claims that the positions of Luther and Barth are more alike than is generally recognized.

Paus Franciscus en de Synode van Dordt zijn niet de meest voor de hand liggende gesprekspartners. Toch blijkt bij nadere beschouwing dat ze bepaalde zorgen delen over de relatie tussen genade en vrije wil, en dat ze beide zorgvuldig willen spreken over de bestemming van de mens. In deze bijdrage zal ik de exhortatie presenteren, en dan met name het deel dat ingaat op nieuwe vormen van pelagianisme. Daarbij zal ik ook toelichten welke rol de zaligsprekingen spelen in Franciscus' spreken over de heiliging van de gelovige. Ten tweede zal ik ingaan op de theologische achtergrond van de exhortatie, die we vinden in een voorbereidend document van de Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer. Op basis van beide documenten zal ik vervolgens betogen dat de term 'pelagianisme' hier ingezet wordt om zowel de kerk als de maatschappij onder kritiek te stellen en van theologisch weerwoord te voorzien. Deze trends worden besproken in een groter betoog over de be-stemming van de mens, waarbij doorgeschoten individualisme gezien wordt als een struikelblok op de weg van het leven en het geloof.

Composé en 432-433, le Liber contra collatorem de Prosper d'Aquitaine entend réfuter les positions d'un certain « conférencier » -comprendre : l'auteur des Conférences, Jean Cassien. C'est dans cette oeuvre que Prosper, défenseur autoproclamé de saint Augustin et de sa doctrine sur la grâce, a pu fournir la première critique, et la plus complète, des théories propagées à Marseille et dans le sud-est de la Gaule par les adversaires provençaux de l'évêque d'Hippone, en s'appuyant exclusivement sur des extraits tirés de la Conlatio XIII « Sur la protection de Dieu », publiée quelques années plus tôt.

The doctrinal system of Protestantism has its roots not only in the Patristic theology, but also in the movements which stirred controversies during the Papal schism (14th-15th centuries). A fundamental change of perspective in the British Isles was initiated by the rector of Lutterworth, John Wycliffe. The present paper outlines similarities between Wycliffe’s theology and the conceptual frame of Calvinism (the so‑called TULIP). As Cardinal Newman had said, Cor ad cor loquitur – “the heart speaks to the heart”. Wycliffe’s doctrine has echoes in Calvin’s and Arminius’
doctrine and, through their mediation, the “Morning Star of the Reformation” exerted a much wider influence on the Protestant movement.

This paper discusses the theme of "personal justice" in the Summa theologiae, a concept inherited from the Nicomachean Ethics wherein Aristotle says that a man is just toward himself only metaphorically, insofar as the parts of man are appropriately ordered with the higher ruling the lower and the body subjugated to the soul. This paper demonstrates how Aquinas extensively utilizes this concept of metaphorical justice across the tripartite division of the Summa in his accounts of original justice in the prima pars, the humanity of Christ in the tertia pars, and justification of the sinner in the secunda pars. As a response to critiques that Thomistic moral theology is not properly centered in the person of Christ, I will show that, for Aquinas, Christ's personal justice both fulfills the right ordering of humanity lost through sin and restores that integrity to mankind in the grace of justification—the root of the Christian's entire moral life.

The book aims at the challenge of how to understand redemption or the state of original sin today. Here, grace renders as the theological theme of facing God in the interpersonal encounter of everyday life as well as in liturgy. Subsequently, becoming oneself as a felicitous being depends in a heteronomous way on living in community. Aesthetics, irony, eroticism, and narcissism display in this analysis the categories for rereading original sin by prioritizing the salvation work of Christ.

Discussions of the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt. 20.1-16) tend to rely on two key assumptions: (1) the parable eliminates ‘merit’ and replaces it with ‘grace’. (2) The parable is the hermeneutical key to all of Matthew’s other discussions of rewards, if not the entire New Testament. This article challenges these assumptions and offers a reassessment of divine recompense in Matthew. Mt. 19.16-20.16 does not set aside ‘merit’ in place of ‘grace’ but contrasts generous wages faithfully repaid by God with even more generous wages. The Gospel as a whole emphasizes that disciples must earn treasure in heaven and forgive others their debts to enter the kingdom; those who refuse to work and who refuse to forgive will be damned. At the same time, however, God’s repayment of deeds is not according to strict desert, but goes far beyond what workers have earned.

Throughout his writings, Thomas Aquinas exhibited a remarkable stability of thought. However, in some areas such as his theology of grace, his thought underwent titanic developments. In this book, Justin M. Anderson traces both those developments in grace and their causes. After introducing the various meanings of virtue Aquinas utilized, including'virtue in its fullest sense'and various forms of'qualified virtue', he explores the historical context that conditioned that account. Through a close analysis of his writings, Anderson unearths Aquinas's own discoveries and analyses that would propel his understanding of human experience, divine action, and supernatural grace in new directions. In the end, we discover an account of virtue that is inextricably linked to his developed understanding of sin, grace and divine action in human life. As such, Anderson challenges the received understanding of Aquinas's account of virtue, as well as his relationship to contemporary virtue ethics.

Quand l’Augustinus de Jansénius est publié, le système théologique dominant en Sorbonne est un congruisme suarézien représenté par la triade tutélaire que forment Philippe de Gamaches, André Duval et Nicolas Ysambert. Avec le développement de l’antijansénisme apparaît un congruisme de Sorbonne original dont la première formulation se trouve chez Isaac Habert et Alphonse Le Moyne avant sa diffusion dans les manuels au temps de la Paix de l’Église. Congruisme qui rejette le système thomiste et qui soutient qu’à chacun, même au pécheur le plus endurci, a été conféré un secours suffisant ad orandum qui permet de réclamer la grâce d’action indispensable pour accomplir l’acte salutaire.

When Jansenius’ Augustinus is published, the dominant theological system in the Sorbonne is a Suarezian congruism represented by the tutelary triad formed by Philippe de Gamaches, André Duval and Nicolas Ysambert. With the development of anti-Jansenism appears an original Sorbonne congruism whose first formulation is found in the works of Isaac Habert and Alphonse Le Moyne before its diffusion in the manuals at the time of the Peace of the Church. It rejects the Thomist system and maintains that to each one, even to the most hardened sinner, has been conferred a sufficient grace ad orandum which allows to ask for the necessary grace of action to accomplish a meritorious act.

There is an increasing awareness that the infused virtues, gifts of the Holy Spirit, beatitudes and fruits of the Holy Spirit form essential elements of Aquinas’ moral theology, even though they were long treated as ornamental discussions or as relevant only to mysticism. Some studies have discussed one of these elements or the relation between them. But there is still much confusion about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. They almost mysteriously appear at the end of Aquinas’ discussion of the virtuous life and they are very often glossed over, or interpreted as belonging to the domain of the passions. This article presents the importance of a proper understanding of the fruits. I will argue on the basis of Aquinas’ commentary on Galatians and the Summa that it is time to do away with the notion that the fruits are passions or dispositions. We should understand the fruits in relation to the beatitudes since both are acts that result from the reorientation of the will of the human person through grace. The fruits are the supervenient delight that comes along with the beatitudes. This theory is corroborated by a study of the commentary on Matthew, which is contemporaneous with the prima secundae. Question eleven of the prima secundae, on fruitio, is the key to understanding the fruits. In this question Aquinas expands on delight, enjoyment and the fruit of human life. As such, it can be read as an analogy for the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

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Is faith in Jesus enough for salvation? Perhaps, says Matthew Bates, but we're missing pieces of the gospel. The biblical gospel can never change. Yet our understanding of the gospel must change. The church needs an allegiance shift. Popular pastoral resources on the gospel are causing widespread confusion. Bates shows that the biblical gospel is different, fuller, and more beautiful than we have been led to believe. He explains that saving faith doesn't come through trust in Jesus's death on the cross alone but through allegiance to Christ the king. There is only one true gospel and one required response: allegiance. Bates ignited conversation with his successful and influential book Salvation by Allegiance Alone. Here he goes deeper while making his acclaimed teaching on salvation more accessible and experiential for believers who want to better understand and share the gospel. Gospel Allegiance includes a guide for further conversation, making it ideal for church groups, pastors, leaders, and students.

The article critically examines the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, one of the more important achievements of the Lutheran-Catholic dialogue. The question is: Does the document adequately and fairly represent the substance of each tradition?

17th century in the fi eld of the French catholic theology is traditionally called the century of St. Augustine. But how the theological thought of this father was translated in the context of the early modern France? In this paper prof. Gérard Ferreyrolles tries to reconstruct the 17th century augustinism. He highlights three key directions of the theological thought: dogmatic, where the most important was the problem of the Divine Grace; political theology which was in the process of rapid
change in the 17th century, and theology of history traditionally considered as a chef-d'oeuvre of the Augustinian thought. But despite the dominance of the augustinism in the 17th century, this trend soon started to gradually decline.

Keywords: St. Augustine, augustinism, 17th century, theology of history, doctrine of grace, political theology, theology and early modernity.

DENIS the Carthusian affirms Mary as the summa contemplatrix, interpreting the plenitude of grace of Luke 1:28 to include the theological gift of wisdom. In Dionysian thought, the gift of wisdom equates to mystical theology, unitive wisdom, or contemplation by negation, the highest form of prayer possible in this life to a wayfarer.

Denis the Carthusian makes an original contribution to Marian studies by positing the exemplarity of Mary's prayer, in accord with Denis's notion of contemplation, suggesting that Mary enjoyed a singular perfection in Her intellectual knowledge of God before the Incarnation; was later instructed in mystical theology by Her Divine Son, the God-Man; and attained to the contemplative vision of God while still on earth as a foreshadowing of the beatific vision Mary now possesses in heaven.

This doctoral dissertation, written by a cloistered monk not unlike Denis the Carthusian, seeks to penetrate the silence and solitude of contemplative monastic life lived by one of Christianity's most prolific authors and popularly hailed "the last of the schoolmen" to explore the notion of Marian contemplation and the incomparability of Mary's prayer for twenty-first century imitation and pastoral application.

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The grinding and wearisome Spirit of War, a perversion of the oft-lamented but inescapable Struggle for Existence, is suddenly unmasked as the pathological reflection of the Soul of the World and its Infinite Life. Concrete and wide-ranging evidence in modern physics and neuroscience shows how it embroils the Life of Man, leading to ever-greater moral malignancy and a Final Crisis.

Compare on this page independent discussions of the immanent Final Crisis and evidence for it:

https://www.academia.edu/44692464/The_Antichrist

https://www.academia.edu/44275896/Thematic_Apperceptions_Surrounding_Max_Picards_Human_Face_1930_With_Ancillary_Illustrations

https://www.academia.edu/41144933/The_Last_Day_Illustrated_Essay_

The discussion within 'The Spirit of War' ranges widely and steps into the Paleolithic, the Holocene, the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, 5th-century Classical Greece, and 17th- and 19th-century Germany, finally emerging into the global forum of modern brain science.

Classical German Idealism is shown in intimate relation to the highest (pythagoric) reaches of Greek philosophy in order to dissect the problem of Trifurcated Man through novel approaches within the philosophies of mind and nature, theology, paleontology, ontology of animal development, the fascinating neurology of Left and Right, and the once alluring goal of an integral psychology.

Lastly, the grimacing Visage of Man--a three-fold cliche of modern life--is exposed as an aesthetic failure contemporaneous with the very birth of Mankind and the onset of continuous psychophysical war within Man himself. (Note: Fair Use and Quotation freely granted to world scholarship.)

El libro trata sobre el Espíritu Santo y la gracia de Cristo según la exégesis de Tomás de Aquino a las cartas de san Pablo. Al hilo del epistolario paulino, el Aquinate relaciona distintos aspectos de una realidad que en los tratados sistemáticos se suele tratar por separado.
¿Qué interés comporta para la actual ciencia bíblica la exégesis de un autor medieval? ¿Por qué no ahondar en el pensamiento del Doctor de la Gracia, san Agustín, cuya fuerte experiencia de Dios se traduce en una teología existencial e histórica, quizás, más acorde con nuestro contexto contemporáneo?
Los comentarios del Aquinate a las cartas paulinas son relevantes para la Teología actual, porque en ellos se encuentra una exégesis hecha con verdadero rigor científico, por un fiel discípulo de san Agustín, con la precisión metafísica propia del Doctor dominico.
La doctrina de la gracia de Cristo que se desprende de la exégesis de Tomás de Aquino, es de carácter bíblico, personal, histórico y dinámico. De este modo, el libro aborda el tema desde un punto de vista trinitario, cristológico, eclesiológico, antropológico y moral. Se obtiene así una visión de conjunto, a la luz de los aportes de los principales tratados teológicos, de un misterio que está en el núcleo de la fe cristiana: el Espíritu Santo y la gracia de Cristo.

Grace in Hebrew and Greek Hebrew chen: favor, grace ‫ֵן‬ ‫ח‬ It is translated several ways adornment, charm, charming, favor, grace, graceful, gracious, pleases Greek charis: grace, kindness χάρις Hebrew Faith ‫אמונה‬ Greek Faith Pistis πίστη The Christian preachers say we deserve hell but through faith God shows us favor but only to Christians. Their first error is to think God has been separated from humans because of some ancient fable about Adam and Eve. However, God has never been angry with humans. He loves them all. Jesus said he sends the sun and rain (good things) to both the good and the bad. He is a Peacemaker who does good to all. We are not saved by Grace and Faith but by God, El Shaddai, directly.

Augustine contends that grace and free will are compatible, in that God can choose that we shall freely choose to accept his grace.  This results in Augustine's doctrine of election: that the choice God makes to give grace to some persons rather than others is the ultimate cause of the difference between the saved and the damned.  This is unequal but not unjust, Augustine argues, because every fallen person merits only damnation, which means the damned are punished justly while the saved benefit from a mercy that is undeserved but not unjust.  I argue on the contrary that the unequal distribution of grace raises unanswerable questions about divine justice, and that Augustinian compatibilism about grace and free will can and should be affirmed without Augustine's doctrine of election.

A sermon preached for the commissioning of Rev'd Stephen Daughtry, Holy Innocents Belair, 2015

"Jesus comes to each of us, and says in one way or another, “Put out into the deep water. Do not be afraid.” You basically have very little idea of what will happen, where it will lead, and sometimes even why you should do it. But it’s something about his voice, its closeness, its thoughtfulness, its cut-through-all-the-crap-ness.

“Put out into deep water. Let go of your fears. Because whatever it is you fear, that’s what is holding you back from venturing into the vast and fathomless ocean of God’s life.”
And it is that life in the depths of God’s heart that we dare to hope is our true destiny."

Chap. 6. The dawn of the Golden Age of the autonomous portrait historié started in the last quarter of the sixteenth century in Antwerp with the painting Moses and the Israelites of 1574 by Maerten de Vos, commissioned by Peeter Panhuys and Gillis Hooftman. The Panhuys panel serves as a case study for determining how the choice of a subject relates to the faith of the persons portrayed in a biblical portrait historié. Presented is a partly new identification of the sitters and a new assessment of their religious persuasions. Although the individuals portrayed have been connected to the ‘spiritualistic’ movement of the Family of Love in earlier studies, no attempt was made to interpret the painting in the light of this connection. The Family attracted both Protestants and Catholics. The iconography of this portrait historié, also points in the direction of Lutheran interpretation and seems to confirm the (otherwise established) Lutheran sympathies of Gillis Hooftman and Peeter Panhuys. Moreover, the specific formulation of the Ten Commandments indicates the consultation of a Lutheran Bible translation. This observation seems remarkable since the painting was considered distinctly Calvinist by others.

Biblical portraits historiés, such as the Panhuys panel, may be understood as visualisation of the communio sanctorum or saintly community. One could argue that portraits historiés, in which one projects oneself in the position of protagonists or acting characters of a biblical story, are meant to depict an act of godliness. In a biblical portrait historié the person portrayed is depicted as if he were experiencing an institutional moment of faith at first hand, which seems to be closely connected with the desire to be part of christian tradition. Unlike in the Catholic Church, in Calvinism religious tradition has less to do with the continuation of the ecclesiastical office than with the passing on of the divine gift and the internalised continuation of belief through the calling to the ministry, as inspired by the Holy Spirit. An example of this is Martin Faber’s Institution of the diaconate (1617) with calvinist reformers from Emden.

Jacob Willemsz. I Delff portrayed his family in The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau (1584) with two of his sons as the main figures. The reason for the choice of subject should not be sought in a personal predilections or narrative analogy, such of the settlement of a family quarrel. The choice of subject finds its explanation in the ongoing theological debate about the doctrine of predestination in relation to original sin and election, for which the story served as an example. The Delft minister Arent Croese was closely involved in this debate, that was also often waged in public places, for example in a Delft inn. The fact that Jacob and Esau each went their own way was predetermined before their birth, which John Calvin, in his Institution of 1539, regarded as illustrative of the nullity of their merits in God’s eyes. The story tells not so much about how people should relate to each other but how to situate their own behaviour within a divine context. The Old Testament story of election (as well as its Pauline reading), seems to focus primarily on the individual in spite of its theological interconnection to the corrupt masses and types of people (chosen and rejected). The story can be seen as a legitimation to be represented as a rigtheous believer who does not believe in sanctification through good works but renders himself to God’s judgment.

Karel van Mander’s Crossing of the Jordan (1605) shows the portraits of Duyffgen Roch and Isaack van Gherwen among the Israëlites. Both were Remonstrants, but Van Gherwen was originally a Mennonite, just like the painter. Van Gherwen’s family left their birthplace Den Bosch for religious persecution, which could explain the subject: like the Israelites who had to leave Egypt, many refugees reached “their” Promised Land; the Republic. The painting dates two years after the third unsuccessful siege of ’s-Hertogenbosch and the draining of the river seems to anticipate a tactic that conquered the city in 1629. One should also not play down the role of the painter in the choice of subject of the painting that was probably meant as wedding gift. The crossing of the Jordan had a specific mennonite meaning, since it was traditionally seen as a foreshadowing of Christian baptism. Van Mander wrote a poem on the painting, originally inscribed on the frame, in which he compared the passage through the Jordan with the path of life: the way of all flesh, a common topos in Mennonite literature. Several lines of poetry from Van Mander’s Gulde Harpe (1605) seem to be especially tailored to the history piece. In it he alludes to the “Levitical priesthood”, a reference to a passage by Philips Schabaelje, which in its turn should be connected to Van Mander’s self-portrait as one of the Levites carrying the Ark across the river.

6. Bijbelse familieportretten uit de dageraad van de Gouden Eeuw 269
6.1. Mozes en de Israëlieten door Maerten de Vos (1574) 272
“REFORMATIONSBILD” 274
PANHUYS EN HOOFTMAN: CALVINISTISCHE SPIONNEN? 275
EEN ANALYSE VAN DE TAFELEN DER WET 278
DE OVERIGE GEPORTRETTEERDEN 280
PAULUS IN EFEZE 284
DE OPDRACHTGEVERS EN HET HUYS DER LIEFDE 287
6.2. Het bijbelse portrait historié als beeld van de communio sanctorum 289
6.3. Een Emdens voorbeeld: Martin Fabers Instelling van het diaconaat (1617) 294
6.4. De Verzoening van Jakob en Ezau door Jacob Willemsz. I Delff (1584) 299
IDENTIFICATIE VAN DE GEPORTRETTEERDEN 300
DUIDING VAN DE VERZOENING VAN JAKOB EN EZAU 305
GERECHTVAARDIGDEN EN GEHEILIGDEN: ARENT CROESE OVER JAKOB EN EZAU EN DE PREDESTINATIELEER 309
VERHEFFING VAN HET INDIVIDU OF EIGENGERECHTIGHEID? 313
6.5. De doortocht door de Jordaan van Karel van Mander (1605) 315
DE GEPORTRETTEERDEN: ISAACK VAN GHERWEN EN DUYFFGEN ROCH 316
DE FAMILIE VAN GHERWEN 320
HET SCHILDERIJENBEZIT VAN ISAACK VAN GHERWEN EN DUYFFGEN ROCH 323
DE DOORTOCHT ALS LEVENSWEG 326
DOOP, BESNIJDENIS EN HUWELIJK 330

Few issues have been as divisive for the contemporary church as the doctrine of irre- sistible grace. In the debates surrounding this doctrine, there has been an overwhelm- ing tendency for theologies of grace to focus on the effects that grace has on particular human beings. Alongside this tendency, there has arisen a danger that we forget that God’s grace is God’s grace; that it is God’s free, personal, and beneficent disposition and action. In this article, I turn to Karl Barth to consider a way forward for interpreting the irresistible nature of grace that does not focus on its effectuality but on its theocentric, participative, and covenantal character.

Von Balthasar approaches the mystery of the Trinity from the perspective of its interconnection with the paschal mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Thus, the mystery of the Trinity cannot be separated from the paschal mystery. The latter is fully understood in the light of the eternal love of the unique and Triune God. Von Balthasar insists that God’s glory can embrace transcendentally even the uttermost contradictions. God’s glory was to be revealed in Jesus Christ’s absolute obedience right to the point of the cross and hell. The powerfulness in God’s glory shines forth in complete powerlessness. It is this abyss of God’s love, revealed most dramatically in Jesus’ descent into hell, which lies at the heart of von Balthasar’s theology. “For it is precisely in the kenosis of Christ (and nowhere else) that the inner majesty of God’s love appears, of God who ‘is love’ (1 John 4, 8) and therefore a trinity.” He continues that in the Lord’s actions there is not only a sublime metaphor of eternal love, but eternal love itself.

Inspired by the bestseller book REAL CHRISTIANITY, this book attempts to restore Authentic Faith. Published on June 1, 2018, Dr. Guzman dedicates this spiritual guide to all Christians who have the earnest desire to become "Children of God." *****Pages 7 to 34 are excluded for COPYRIGHT INTENT*****.
OUR CHRISTIAN EDUCATION SHOULD ALWAYS have a responsibility not only to nurture members but also to evangelize and revive. This 3-month Bible Study series is a spiritual awakening for all Christians in order to build a real foundation in Christian life. This is a back-to-the-basic bible study series. This means that we are to recapture the fundamentals of Original Christianity. Every lesson is aimed to evangelize, revive, and nurture our people. Authentic faith should be restored. Christian faith has already been derailed by an anti-Christian culture which eclipses the manner of becoming an authentic Christian. Many of us became Christians, NOT OF THE STANDARD SET BY CHRIST. We joined the church without the real foundation of Christian faith. Spiritually, we never had encountered Grace in the person of Jesus Christ. We never had experienced regeneration; the reason why we remain "Christians-only-in-name." Faith is not inherited; it is experienced. Faith is not earned by good works; it is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith is the fruit of change: from an old nature to a new creation. Faith is the result of the feeding of the word, conviction of guilt, repentance, cleansing, and forgiveness of sins.

The paper provides an analysis of the doctrine of redemption in the Presbyterian Church of Australia's Declaratory Statement. It shows how the doctrine of redemption in the Declaratory Statement relates to that doctrine in the Westminster Confession of Faith and in the Christian Scriptures.

Traduction d'un article de James Patout Burns initialement publié en anglais dans A. D. Fitzgerald (dir.), Augustine through the Ages. An Encyclopedia, Grand Rapids, 1999, p. 391-398, dans Encyclopédie Saint Augustin. La Méditerranée et l’Europe IVe – XXIe siècle, édition française sous la direction de Marie-Anne Vannier, Paris, 2005, p. 647-659.

In this contribution I argue that the beatitudes are the key to a proper understanding of the entire prima secundae of the Summa Theologiae as a discussion of the pursuit of happiness. In order to do so, we need to consider them in relation to the infused virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. First, I will briefly argue why it is important to have discussions about the structure of the Summa at all. Second, I will present a number of valuable interpretations of the place of the Beatitudes in the prima secundae. These works of Eleonore Stump, Andrew Pinsent, Pinckaers, and William Mattison contribute to our understanding of the matter, but I believe they still fall short in important aspects. Third, I will offer my own interpretation of the structure, which is a development of the proposals of Pinckaers and Mattison. In my proposal the notion of merit is key to reading the prima secundae as a unified discussion Merit is a term that describes acting toward the final end with the help of grace, as I will argue with reference to Aquinas’s commentary on Matthew. When we follow this understanding of merit we find a way of speaking of the value of human action without diminishing the necessity of God’s grace for the attainment of the final end. Fourth and finally I will provide a brief sketch of the implications of my proposal for our understanding of prima secundae and thus for the moral life of the Christian.