Tag Archives: Theology

A few illuminating glimpses into medieval theology and theologians–thank you, David Bell


All of the following come from David N. Bell, Many Mansions: An Introduction to the Development and Diversity of Medieval Theology (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1996). This is a splendid book–a sort of sequel to Bell’s Cloud of Witnesses, on early Christian thought.

Many thanks to my t.a., Shane Moe, for transcribing these. In each case, the page number of the quotation appears at the beginning of the line. The quirk of lowercasing adjectival forms of proper nouns is Bell’s or his editors–not mine:

[For more “glimpses,” from Jaroslav Pelikan, see here.]

(20): [re: Major developments in European intellectual history from 6th century onwards] There are five mile-stones to mark our way: (i) the pontificate of Gregory the Great from 590 to 604; (ii) the Carolingian Renaissance of the late eighth and ninth centuries; (iii) the papal reform movements of the eleventh century; (iv) the renaissance of the twelfth century; and (v) the rise of scholasticism and the universities in the thirteenth century. Continue reading

The Christian integralism of Dorothy Sayers: Precursor to radical orthodoxy?


It occurs to me as I look over the previous post of notes from Lee W. Gibbs, The Middle Way: Voices of Anglicanism (Cincinnati, OH: Forward Movement Publications, 1991) that Sayers sounds like a precursor of today’s “radical orthodoxy” movement. This is so both in her insistence that theology be resurrected as “queen of the sciences” and in her ressourcement from the Middle Ages. Here’s the bit that triggered the thought:

“Sayers is not so much anti-science or anti-technology as she is a Christian integralist who perceives that science and technology have become over-emphasized and predominant in the modern world, too often at the expense of theology and philosophy as equally valid and necessary paths to truth and knowledge. What she calls [109] for is a return to the more proper balance achieved during the Christian Middle Ages, where philosophy was seen to be a subdivision of theology, and science a subdivision of philosophy.” (108 – 9)

And here’s the wikipedia bit on radical orthodoxy. Note especially the “Main Ideas” and “Influences” listed here: Continue reading

Can the study of history have value for the church? Reflections after the Kalamazoo congress


A few reflections on my experience at Medieval Congress 2010, dictated as I drove from Kalamazoo to Midway Airport (through Michigan Wine Country–and stopping at a few tastings!) to return to the Twin Cities:

Sitting in that last session [where I heard the paper “The Beauty of the Person in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas,” by Margaret I. Hughes of Fordham Univ] reminds me again of the apparent integrity and usefulness of Thomistic moral categories and moral analysis (this first came across me at the conference in Rebecca DeYoung’s session on vainglory).

I’m aware always of David Steinmetz’s off-handed dismissal, in a class one day, of virtue ethics as something, as I understood him, inherently Pelagian. But I think again that there’s a high value in an anatomizing of the heart as an ultimately spiritual as well as intellectual discipline, and I think Aquinas works in that mode do many other ethical thinkers in the medieval period . . . and as do the penitential manuals and so on and so forth.

Do they always do it well or in ways we can appropriate today? I’m sure they don’t. But to examine closely our personalities, who we are as moral beings, how we are tempted, how we sin, and how we recover from sins and become purified through a life-long process of sanctification—there is great value in this; it’s a value that was captured in the Methodist movement, has been captured by the Pietists, the Puritans . . . It seems it’s inherently and faithfully biblical and worthy of further study. Continue reading

For seminary students planning to do doctoral work: Advice on applying for grad school in theology


Here‘s an illuminating post by BIOLA missiologist (and Oxford University/Gordon-Conwell Seminary/Yale University grad) Allen Yeh on preparing to apply for grad school in theology. I’d be interested to hear feedback on this piece from you readers–especially those of you currently in grad school or those who have completed doctoral studies.

Five reasons I like Bell’s Many Mansions, and you should too


In a previous post, I introduced David Bell’s wonderful account of Western and Eastern medieval theology: Many Mansions. Now, with an eye (frankly) to trying to get as many of you as possible to buy it, I present my five favorite things about the book:

1. At regular intervals, Bell’s wit as well as his wisdom shines through. In introducing scholasticism he says, “Good scholasticism can be an extremely useful and revealing tool: a razor-sharp scalpel to open up the mysteries of salvation. Bad scholasticism—and there was a great deal of it—serves only as an antidote to insomnia.” “[Gilbert of Poitiers] bears the distinction of being the only person attacked by Bernard of Clairvaux whom Bernard failed to have condemned.” And in explaining Gregory Palamas’s distinction between God’s unknowable essence and his knowable energies: “My students in my classes may know ten percent of me; my friends may know seventy percent of me; my cat may know ninety percent of me—but it is only I, I alone, who can know all of me.”

Continue reading

Many Mansions: A splendid introduction to Christian thought in the Middle Ages


I’m currently reading Many Mansions: An Introduction to the Development and Diversity of Medieval Theology, by David N. Bell of Memorial University, Newfoundland. The volume also includes a host of medieval images selected and described by Terryl N. Kinder. The book is from the excellent Cistercian Studies Series (#146) (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1996).

This is a rare book in the field of introductions to the history of Christian thought, in that it deals with both medieval Western and Byzantine (medieval-era) Eastern theology in a clear, compelling, accessible manner appropriate for use in an undergraduate or graduate classroom—though students in either may occasionally have to look up words that the author uses without glossing; part of a winsome and erudite style. Continue reading

Podcast on evangelical theology, globalization, postmodernism, and seminary education, with John Franke & friends


This conversation was really fun to have. And maybe even has some light to cast on, as my colleague Kyle Roberts says, “the present and future of evangelical theology, the challenge of globalization and postmodernity, the prospects for the evangelical church in the days ahead, and the role of seminary education in all of this.”

Kyle (a rising theologian, like Christian Collins Winn, who also speaks out on this podcast) explains: “The dialogue participants were John Franke, of Biblical Seminary (on campus to lecture at Bethel University and Seminary), Chris Armstrong, church history professor at Bethel Seminary, Christian Collins Winn, historical theology professor at Bethel College of Arts and Sciences, and myself. Enjoy this discussion and please add any comments or questions of your own for further discussion.  We view this as the beginning of a conversation, not the end.”

Enjoy the podcast, and (we hope) many fascinating posts to come on Kyle’s blog.

“Wrightians” vs. “Neo-Reformed”–an interesting article about two parties in today’s evangelicalism


This is an important article, though I think there are far more “parties” within evangelicalism today than the two mentioned. I’d be very interested to hear readers’ thoughts on this one, however brief. Y’all come back and post once you’ve read it!

Lent, 1938: Dorothy L Sayers becomes a public theologian


How Dorothy L. Sayers became a public theologian and an apologist to rival C. S. Lewis (clip from my Patron Saints for Postmoderns):

During the season of Lent in 1938, Sayers wrote an article for the
[London] Times in Chestertonian mode: “Official Christianity . . . has been having
what is known as a bad press. We are constantly assured that the
churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine.
. . . The fact is the precise opposite. . . . The Christian faith is the most
exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man . . . and the
dogma is the drama.” From then on, she became something of a public
theologian, writing essays with titles such as “What Do We Believe?”
“The Other Six Deadly Sins” and “The Triumph of Easter.” Her opinions
were increasingly sought not just on detective fiction, but on matters
religious, and she found in this arena of activity something between a
vocation and a distraction. She wanted to awaken a sleeping church and
insist that it reclaim for its own the doctrines of the historic creeds—
strict in form, hallowed by usage and communicating powerful realities
that had been lost under layer upon layer of well-meaning but stuffy
“clergy jargon,” putting the congregations to sleep. But she frequently
protested that if the clergy had been doing their jobs, a layperson such
as herself would not have had to speak on such matters. Their failure to
proclaim the gospel clearly had left the people “in a nightmare of muddle
out of which [they] have to be hauled by passing detective novelists
in a hurry and with no proper tackle.”

Haul them out she did, though, both by writing her theological essays
and by answering the hundreds of letters laypeople wrote to her with
their spiritual questions. But she insisted that all this “theological writing”
was not her proper business. She was a storyteller who had happened
to have written a play or two representing a coherent, orthodox
view of the faith, and it was storytelling that was her true art and
vocation.

For more on Dorothy L Sayers as public theologian, see my Patron Saints for Postmoderns or, even better, the fascinating book by George Fox University professor Laura Simmons, Creed without Chaos: Exploring Theology in the Writings of Dorothy L. Sayers.

Prominent Reformed evangelical promotes medieval mystics


This piece was first published last December over at Christianity Today‘s history blog, but since it’s been a while and not all of you saw it the first time, here it is again:

Prominent Reformed Evangelical Promotes Medieval Mystics

by Chris Armstrong | December 10, 2008

https://i0.wp.com/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Meister_des_Hildegardis-Codex_003.jpgThis headline seems to fall in the “man bites dog” category. From a professor (also dean and VP) of Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, we expect precise articulations of Reformed doctrine. Defenses of biblical inerrancy. Disquisitions on the priority of theology over experience.
We don’t expect a spirited exhortation to read thousand-year-old mystical texts.

But that’s just what we get in Carl Trueman’s article Why Should Thoughtful Evangelicals Read the Medieval Mystics. And it’s worth reading – whether you share Trueman’s Reformed stance or not. In a nutshell, after acknowledging difficulties, he enumerates four reasons we should read such luminaries of the Middle Ages as Bonaventure, Hildegard of Bingen, and Julian of Norwich. For those wanting to cut to the chase, here’s my brief commentary on Trueman’s article. Continue reading