Church Podmatics

In this week's episode, we interview our first Guest; Dr. Ben Myers (Associate Professor at Alphacrucis University College) who has written the recent article: "Can God’s work in history be discerned? The ambiguities of providence in the poetry of John Milton" in Scottish Journal of Theology (January 2023).
In this article, Myers explores the way that English Reformation thought (particularly through the poetry of John Milton) understood contemporary events to be the divine work and providence of God.

This week Andrew Errington & Matt Wilcoxen look at Ashley Cocksworth’s article "When Prayer Goes Wrong: A Negative Theology of Prayer" (Scottish Journal of Theology, Vol. 7, Issue 1), which critically examines the tendency to introduce the practice of prayer as the answer to everything. Cocksworth argues that we need also a thick account of how prayer goes wrong and can be used to sustain injustice. He suggests that Karl Barth’s theology, though itself susceptible to this criticism, has resources for such an account.

In Matt Wilcoxen’s absence, Andrew Errington & Matthew Mason explore John M. G. Barklay’s Does the Gospel Require Self-Sacrifice? Paul and the Reconfiguration of the Self, (Studies in Christian Ethics, Vol 36, Issue 1, February 2023) in which he challenges the notion that ‘exclusive altruism’ or total self-sacrifice is the lens through which we are to understand Christian ethics. He explores the various passages of Philippians which often are used toward seeing Christian love through this lens.

In Edwin Chr. van Driel’s January 2023 article in Modern Theology “Incarnation and Israel: A Supralapsarian Account of Israel’s Chosenness”, he surveys and provides a comprehensive discussion of the choice of the triune God to become incarnate (whilst surveying different views), and what that means for our doctrine of election and how to avoid the danger of supersessionism.

Links to other resources from the same author:

“Rethinking Paul: Protestant Theology and Pauline Exegesis”

“Incarnation Anyway: Arguments for Supralapsarian Christology”

In Oliver O’Donovan’s October 2022 article in the Augustinian Studies, “Augustine’s Treatment of the Great Psalm”, he provides a wide-spread survey of how Augustine understood and read Psalm 119. O’Donovan argues that Augustine’s theology helps get to the core features and message of the Psalm.

Links from this episode:

O’Donovan Lecture: “Good, Doing Good, and the Goods”

Christopher Ash: “Bible Delight”

This week, the guys preview Oliver Crisp’s November 2022 article in the Scottish Journal of Theology, “Infant baptism and the disposition to saving faith” wherein Oliver attempts to show how there is definite scope within a reformed understanding of Infant Baptism which involves baptismal regeneration ‘or something close to it’. Crisp draws heavily on his own Scottish Reformed tradition, but proves to provide stimulating thought and discussion for other reformed traditions.

In this episode we discuss Martin Westerholm’s recent article,  'On the Structure and Significance of Augustine’s Moral Grammar'  (Published in Journal of Religious Ethics, Vol 49:Issue 4, December 2021) . According to Westerholm, there are three constellations of concepts that one must understand in order to grasp Augustine’s moral framework and the way that framework differs from both classical and modern moral visions. Along the way the article displays how certain influential appropriations of Augustine have occluded important elements of his distinct moral grammar.

Westerholm's article 'The nature and Destiny of Niebuhr's Augustine' is also referenced in passing in this episode. Full text is available online.

This week we look at Paul D. Molnar's recent article 'What difference does one’s view of God make in understanding sin and salvation? Some suggestions from Karl Barth' in Scottish Journal of Theology 75 (2022), pp. 55-67. 
Molnar’s article is a highly critical engagement with certain modern theologies that argue for a reconceptualisation of God. Molnar draws on Barth to argue forcefully that unless the source of our knowledge of God is the revelation of his grace in Jesus Christ, we will inevitably construct an idol, and so mischaracterise both sin and salvation. The discussion considers the method of Molnar’s article, and potential objections to its framing. 

Stephen R. Holmes’ April 2022 article in the International Journal of Systematic Theology, “A Reformed Account of Eucharistic Sacrifice” gives an account of how the Eucharist can be considered a sacrifice within Reformed thought and doctrine. 
He suggests that the Holy Communion can and should be talked about in sacrificial terms, by thoroughly drawing on the Biblical witness and Historical understandings of the Supper and Scripture.

Throughout the journal article, Holmes engages heavily with David Moffitt’s work: “Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, 141)”

Kevin Hargaden’s July 2021 article in the Studies in Christian Ethics, “An Apocalypse Converted: William Stringfellow and Catholic Social Teaching on Climate Breakdown” explores the issue of climate change. In the article, engaging with Pope Francis’ 2015 Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’, and William Stringfellow’s (1928-1985) work on 'Apocalyptic theology', he encourages us to approach this 'issue of our time', through a deeply theological framework.

Hargaden has written a book, called “Theological Ethics in a Neoliberal Age” (October 2018), which was mentioned in the episode.