Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Henry Center Archive
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Henry Center Archive
The Henry Center Archive episodes
- How Is Salvation Possible | Henri Blocher
2015 Kantzer Lecture #6 - Possibility and Salvation
In the final lecture Blocher concludes by accounting for the place of possibility in God’s response to the intrusion of evil, contending that the truth about evil can only be known through God’s response of salvation. Blocher maintains that in the biblical portrait that evil is an intruder, preceding salvation. Salvation is God’s reply and repair to the damage that has been done by evil. Blocher offers three instances of the relation between salvation and possibility. The first is the real possibility of certain occurrence of God’s working out of election in the created order. Second is a treatment of how Christ created the real possibility of certain occurrence of salvation for future believers by dying on the cross. Third is the real possibility of certain non-occurrence regarding salvation for humankind apart from grace and the real possibility with certain occurrence of their salvation by grace. In concluding his Kantzer lectures, Blocher considers the final state in which there is no real possibility for evil, for the alien intruder will no longer have a place. God’s victory over evil shall be total and definitive—if we cannot answer whence and why, we have this sure hope: God will be all in all.Henri A. G. Blocher (DD Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is Professor Emeritus at Faculte Libre de Theologie Evangelique. He is author of In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (IVP Academic, 1984) and Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (IVP Academic, 2000). Blocher was a member of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization (1975-1980), served the World Evangelical Fellowship/Alliance in a number of capacities, and taught in schools in Europe, Australia, Africa, Canada, and the US.The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/
Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5
Connect with us!
https://twitter.com/henry_center
https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/
https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter
59 min - Was Evil Always Possible | Henri Blocher
2015 Kantzer Lecture #5 - Was Evil "Possible" Before it Arose?
The fifth lecture explores the question of whether evil was possible before it arose, either ontologically or logically, as related to God and to humanity. Accordingly to Blocher, evil is neither ontologically nor logically possible with God. That God who is sovereign should permit decrees and that his beloved creatures should choose against him to their own destruction remains an opaque mystery. As for humanity, evil is only a logical possibility before the original disobedience. The consequence of partaking of the tree, on the other hand, is a newfound real possibility to sin. Refusing to go beyond the non-impossibility of evil, Blocher declares the whence of evil another opaque mystery. There is no rational explanation. Our natural desire is to order things, but evil is a thorn in the flesh of reason. Our intelligence was made to understand the rationality and beauty of the good. If we yield to the temptation of our intelligence regarding evil, ultimately to sort out the disorderliness of evil, then we deny its proper hiddenness. We must not understand, for this is to deny the essence of evil. In this light, all explanations of evil are disordered accounts of disorder. The only place where evil is preserved in its scandalous character is in Scripture.Henri A. G. Blocher (DD Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is Professor Emeritus at Faculte Libre de Theologie Evangelique. He is author of In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (IVP Academic, 1984) and Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (IVP Academic, 2000). Blocher was a member of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization (1975-1980), served the World Evangelical Fellowship/Alliance in a number of capacities, and taught in schools in Europe, Australia, Africa, Canada, and the US.The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/
Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5
Connect with us!
https://twitter.com/henry_center
https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/
https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter
1 hr 2 min - What Does the Bible Say about Possibility | Henri Blocher
2015 Kantzer Lecture #4 - "Possibility" in Biblical Perspective
Blocher’s fourth of six lectures is an attempt to discern through Scripture the contours of possibility. Blocher first analyzes possibility with respect to God. He argues that Scripture associates various notions of possibility with God. For example, things can be possible without actually happening. There is a legitimate notion of divine possibility, but it lies on the grain of God’s relationship to creation, not in God’s own essence. Concerning possibility in God Blocher concludes, “mystery, not mastery, is the object.” Blocher then considers possibility and humanity, submitting that humans have received active power from God, but that this power is limited. The power of human beings is allows for a variety of possibilities. This power, while being completely dependent on God, contains a certain passivity not present in God. However, created possibilities cannot run against God’s plan. Although it may be asked whether human possibilities so surrounded still deserve the name, Blocher contends that self-determination and the use of motives to make decisions demonstrate human involvement in willing.Henri A. G. Blocher (DD Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is Professor Emeritus at Faculte Libre de Theologie Evangelique. He is author of In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (IVP Academic, 1984) and Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (IVP Academic, 2000). Blocher was a member of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization (1975-1980), served the World Evangelical Fellowship/Alliance in a number of capacities, and taught in schools in Europe, Australia, Africa, Canada, and the US.The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/
Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5
Connect with us!
https://twitter.com/henry_center
https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/
https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter
1 hr 1 min - What Is Possibility | Henri Blocher
015 Kantzer Lecture #3 - Thinkers on "Possibility"
Whereas in the first of his Kantzer lectures, Blocher introduced the function of possibility in explanation of evil in the thought of many important theologians and philosophers, in this his third lecture, he considers various philosophers’ concept of possibility itself. After Leibniz, Blocher argues, possibility is such a common concept in human reason that it is difficult to interrogate. He analyzes possibility under the rubric of potentia (“potential”) in ancient Greek philosophy, handed down from Plato to Aristotle and eventually to Plotinus. Blocher continues his typology by arguing that Augustine, Aquinas, and Scotus adopted an increasingly problematic notion of possibility under the rubric of freedom. Scotus culminates this movement when he assigns possibility to God’s very essence. Subsequently, Blocher characterizes the clash of determinism resulting from scientific advances and the possibility inherent in the libertarian accounts of freedom resident within modern philosophy.Henri A. G. Blocher (DD Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is Professor Emeritus at Faculte Libre de Theologie Evangelique. He is author of In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (IVP Academic, 1984) and Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (IVP Academic, 2000). Blocher was a member of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization (1975-1980), served the World Evangelical Fellowship/Alliance in a number of capacities, and taught in schools in Europe, Australia, Africa, Canada, and the US.The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/
Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5
Connect with us!
https://twitter.com/henry_center
https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/
https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter
59 min - What Is Evil | Henri Blocher
2015 Kantzer Lecture #2 - Exploring the Quasi-Concept and the Area of Evil
Continuing his analysis of the idea of evil, lecture two provides some “impressionistic” starting points to the idea of evil, before giving an analysis of Leibniz’s threefold articulation of evil as metaphysical, physical, and moral. We often apply the idea of evil in at least one of four senses: (i) evil is what is not as it ought to be; (ii) evil is the negation or privation of what was previously “good” (e.g. blindness is the negation of the good of sight); (iii) evil is not merely a negation, but also entails some active force in our experience of the world; and finally, (iv) evil is singular in that it is not a constituent feature of the created order. Based on these phenomenon of evil, Blocher concludes that evil is not fundamentally metaphysical or physical, but moral, what Scripture refers to as “sin.” It is an inward act that rejects the order of God’s creation. At bottom evil is rooted in the hatred of God, a rage against him, and the rejection of the order of his creation.Henri A. G. Blocher (DD Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is Professor Emeritus at Faculte Libre de Theologie Evangelique. He is author of In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (IVP Academic, 1984) and Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (IVP Academic, 2000). Blocher was a member of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization (1975-1980), served the World Evangelical Fellowship/Alliance in a number of capacities, and taught in schools in Europe, Australia, Africa, Canada, and the US.The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/
Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5
Connect with us!
https://twitter.com/henry_center
https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/
https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter
1 hr 7 min - Why Is Evil Possible | Henri Blocher
2015 Kantzer Lecture #1 - Introduction: Evil Possible—A Misleading Facility
At the outset of his 2015 Kantzer Lectures, Henri Blocher recognizes three central questions that arise from the fact of evil: Whence does evil come? What is evil? How long, O Lord? Blocher admits there is legitimacy of the human search for a rational explanation of the evil and notes the important role that the idea of “possibility” plays in many theodicies, including, Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Aquinas, Leibniz, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Barth, Maritain, and Ricoeur. Despite the concept’s widespread appeal, Blocher’s overriding concern is that the concept has been insufficiently “interrogated” in these various approaches to account for the whence of evil. In characteristic fashion, Blocher suggests that because reason cannot be deployed without presuppositions, it must be deployed from within the “fiduciary framework” of a biblical worldview, which this lecture series hopes to develop.Henri A. G. Blocher (DD Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is Professor Emeritus at Faculte Libre de Theologie Evangelique. He is author of In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (IVP Academic, 1984) and Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (IVP Academic, 2000). Blocher was a member of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization (1975-1980), served the World Evangelical Fellowship/Alliance in a number of capacities, and taught in schools in Europe, Australia, Africa, Canada, and the US.The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/
Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5
Connect with us!
https://twitter.com/henry_center
https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/
https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter
1 hr 8 min - When Can We Experience Intimacy with God | Nicholas Wolterstorff
2013 Kantzer Lecture #8 - The Understanding of God Implicit in the Eucharist
In the final Kantzer lecture of the series, Nicholas Wolterstorff turns to conclude his exploration by unpacking the theological implications of the Eucharist for his project. Noting that this is not the place to adjudicate between competing understandings of the act, Wolterstorff selects one account—that of John Calvin—and examines the understanding of God implicit in it. Wolterstorff notes that traditional uses treat the “this is my body” and “this is my blood,” whereas Calvin includes “for you,” and this plays a crucial role in his account. He goes on to explore the force of the copula is, and argues that the concepts of partaking and sealing are central to Calvin’s account. Wolterstorff concludes that the understanding of God implicit in the Eucharist is a uniquely intimate compared with the other areas already explored. It is that “The God of unsurpassable excellence not only stoops down to listen, hear, and speak to us: he stoops down to dwell and work within us in the person of Jesus Christ. In listening and speaking, there is a certain distance between the interlocutors: in communion in the Eucharist, this distance is removed.”Nicholas Wolterstorff (PhD Harvard University) is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University. He is author of many books, including Reason Within the Bounds of Religion (Eerdmans, 1988), Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton University Press, 2008), and United in Love: Reflections on Justice, Art, and Liturgy (Wipf and Stock, 2021).The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5Connect with us!https://twitter.com/henry_centerhttps://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter1 hr 1 min - How Does God Respond | Nicholas Wolterstorff
2013 Kantzer Lecture #7 - God as One Who Speaks
Having completed his exploration of God as one who listens, Wolterstorff now turns to the understanding of God implicit in the belief that God is one who speaks. He begins by pointing out that in a good many of our liturgical acts we are listening to what God says by way of what humans say. Wolterstorff begins his exploration by critiquing Karl Barth’s account of the Word of God, finding it insufficiently grounded in the words actually spoken by Jesus, and too reliant on the concept of revelation, which plays a relatively minor role in Scripture. Also finding Barth’s claim that all of Scripture points to Christ as contestable, Wolterstorff suggests that David Kelsey’s account of three independent but interacting story lines—creation and preservation, redemption, and consummation—to be a more helpful guide. Wolterstorff concludes that God not only presently listens, but also presently speaks to us in the liturgy: it is an act of mutual address.Nicholas Wolterstorff (PhD Harvard University) is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University. He is author of many books, including Reason Within the Bounds of Religion (Eerdmans, 1988), Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton University Press, 2008), and United in Love: Reflections on Justice, Art, and Liturgy (Wipf and Stock, 2021).The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5Connect with us!https://twitter.com/henry_centerhttps://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter1 hr 6 min - When Does God Hear Favorably | Nicholas Wolterstorff
2013 Kantzer Lecture #6 - God as One Who Hears Favorably
Wolterstorff begins his sixth lecture by unpacking the understanding of God implicit in the liturgical act of requesting that God would hear our addresses favorably. What view of God is implied by the participant’s refrain, “Hear our prayer oh Lord”? After surveying the possible moods or stances appropriate for supplication—wishfulness, desperation, confidence—Wolterstorff turns to the Lord’s prayer, which he argues should be paradigmatic for Christian liturgical forms of prayer. He goes on to affirm that the Lord’s prayer is best understood as a declaration that the kingdom is God’s and the prayer for its ever fuller manifestation: when the kingdom is fully manifested, God’s name will be hollowed, his will be done, we will be forgiven as we forgive. Guided by N.T. Wright’s recent work How God Became King, Wolterstorff goes on to explore the content of what it means to pray “thy kingdom come.” He concludes by suggesting that when we ask God to accept our prayers, we’re asking God to accept our concrete longing for the coming of God’s kingdom.Nicholas Wolterstorff (PhD Harvard University) is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University. He is author of many books, including Reason Within the Bounds of Religion (Eerdmans, 1988), Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton University Press, 2008), and United in Love: Reflections on Justice, Art, and Liturgy (Wipf and Stock, 2021).The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5Connect with us!https://twitter.com/henry_centerhttps://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter57 min - How Does God Listen to Us | Nicholas Wolterstorff
2013 Kantzer Lecture #5 - What Are We Saying When We Say that God Listens?
Wolterstorff responds to questions raised by portraying God as the God who listens and speaks. After responding to potential objections that “listening” and “speaking” are anthropomorphisms not properly predicted upon God, he proposes an alternative reading of Thomas Aquinas on the issue. Though normally understood to be affirming the view that if a predicate applied literally to creatures it could not be applied literally to God, Wolterstorff argues that Thomas clearly held that some of his claims were literally true of both God and creatures. He goes on to argue, based in part on Aquinas participatory ontology, that Aquinas’ account of the doctrine of analogy pertains to the act of predicating, not to what is predicated – it pertains to the copula (the is of a statement such as God is wise), not to the predicated (wisdom). Wolterstorff concludes that the Maimonides style critique fails, and therefore we should not shrink from affirming that God is one who listens and speaks.Nicholas Wolterstorff (PhD Harvard University) is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University. He is author of many books, including Reason Within the Bounds of Religion (Eerdmans, 1988), Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton University Press, 2008), and United in Love: Reflections on Justice, Art, and Liturgy (Wipf and Stock, 2021).Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/
Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5Connect with us!https://twitter.com/henry_centerhttps://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter1 hr 3 min
About The Henry Center Archive
From the publisher's feed
This is our archive of public lectures and conversations where scholars and pastors offer careful reflection on a range of biblical, theological, and ecclesial topics.
The HCTU seeks to bridge the gap between the academy and the church by cultivating resources and communities that promote Christian wisdom. This is accomplished through a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God.