In “Is the light of the cross brightened by the flickering flames of hell? ” I critiqued a portion of an essay by Tim Keller defending hell as eternal conscious torment which presented the following thesis: “The doctrine of hell is important because it is the only way to know how much he loved us […]
Jerry Shepherd
If God told you to sacrifice your child, would you?
Jerry Shepherd believes that “The confession that Christ is Lord has to mean something.” Agreed. He then goes on to explain: “And for me, one of the things it means is calling him Lord even when I don’t understand his ways, and, yes, even upon occasion, when my moral sensitivities are taken aback. But if I […]
Rape, moral perception, and biblicism
Jerry Shepherd offered an extended rebuttal to my article “Christian moral schizophrenia and psychopathy.” Reading through his comments I recognized that a single question could help us focus the issue of debate significantly and so I focused on the moral status of acts of rape: “It seems quite clear that on your view it is […]
Christian moral schizophrenia and psychopathy
In “Might God call Christians to participate in a future genocide?” I pointed out that Christians who believe God commanded genocides in the past should be open to the possiblity of God commanding a genocide in the future. I gave, as an example, Revelation 19 which seems to narrate a future war when a population […]
When is doxology theology? A response to Jerry Shepherd
In December-January I had some rather spirited exchanges in the blog with my colleague, Old Testament professor Jerry Shepherd. Then Jerry fell silent as the business of the semester took over once again. But now he’s back with some spirited comments in response to my article “What is the atonement at least? Lessons from the ascension“. […]
Jerry Shepherd on the Main stage
Today Jerry Shepherd offered a comprehensive reply to a number of his interlocutors (moi included). It is of sufficient conceptual weight and length to warrant being in a blog post. I am grateful to Jerry for the time he invests in the blog, and given the amount of material here I thought I would take […]
Why biblical theologians need philosophical theology
I have enjoyed having a discussion with my colleague Jerry Shepherd. I think that the fact that we can have an irenic discussion of this type is very important and illustrates the need for more dialogue without enmity. As interesting as the convesation has been, even more interesting is discovering what the conversation is really […]
Did Jesus ever have an idol?
My colleague Jerry wrote that I have “some wrong ideas about God, and by my definition, that is idolatrous.” Uh oh. Fortunately then Jerry added “But I’m sure I have some wrong ideas about God too (though, of course, I don’t know what they are right now), and therefore also idolatrous.” Well Jerry, you’d know […]
Could God be other than maximally loving? Yet another response to Jerry
Jerry asks: “You say that God is “maximally loving” and that God maximizes his glory. My question for you is, if God wasn’t maximally loving, how could you tell? In other words, what would it take for you to declare that God is not maximally loving, and therefore, not worthy of your worship. If God […]
Does God need evil? Jerry Shepherd and Jonathan Edwards
A couple weeks ago my colleague and office neighbor at Taylor Seminary, Jerry Shepherd, asked me whether he should comment in the blog or simply share his views directly. I opted for the blog exchange. You might think it is a bit strange for two colleagues to be blogging back and forth when their desks […]
