Trinities

We've heard quite a bit from the famous, learned, and eloquent early American unitarian preacher and author William Ellery Channing (1780-1842):

podcast 308 – Channing’s “Unitarian Christianity” – Part 1

podcast 309 – Channing’s “Unitarian Christianity” – Part 2

podcast 310 – Channing’s “Objections to Unitarian Christianity Considered”

podcast 311 – Channing’s “The Evidences of Revealed Religion”

podcast 312 – Channing’s “Likeness to God"

In this episode I offer some thoughts, positive and negative, about Channing's understanding of Christianity, including a few topics which the above lecture-sermons did not really touch on. Topics include: the breadth of his definition of "unitarian Christian" views, his arguments that the Bible doesn't teach any Trinity or Incarnation theory, what sort of Trinity theories he actually objects to, his assumptions of divine immutability and impassibility, his anti-Calvinism, his defense of belief in early Christian miracles, his opposition to "man-made creeds," his opposition to "emotional" religion, and his individualism.

Finally, we hear an eyewitness testimony to his conduct and character towards the end of his life.

Links for this episode:

Exodus 7:10-12; Isaiah 11:6-9; Luke 24:32; Philippians 2:12

Unitarian Christian Alliance

podcast 235 – The Case Against Preexistence

a reading of Philippians 2:5-11

podcast 298 – Andrews Norton on John 1

podcast 25 – Pastor Sean Finnegan on “the Holy Spirit” – Part 1

podcast 26 – Pastor Sean Finnegan on “the Holy Spirit” – Part 2

podcast 189 – The unfinished business of the Reformation (book chapter)

podcast 191 – Ware’s Outline of the Testimony of Scripture Against the Trinity

podcast 37 – Why did Jesus have to suffer?

podcast 196 – Noah Worcester on Atonement – Part 1

podcast 197 – Noah Worcester on Atonement – Part 2

three-self Trinity theories

one-self Trinity theories

No “Trinity Verse” – A Good Thing?

podcast 260 – How to Argue that the Bible is Trinitarian

podcast 143 – Dr. Timothy Pawl’s In Defense of Conciliar Christology – Part 1

podcast 144 – Dr. Timothy Pawl’s In Defense of Conciliar Christology – Part 2

Clarifying Catholic Christologies

Is Jesus Human and Not Divine?

The Life of William Ellery Channing, D.D.

Is there a God? Tuggy - Kershnar debate, Fredonia, April 2016

Why I'm Not A Buddhist - Dr. Dale Tuggy

Licona, Review of Bart Ehrman's book Forged

This week's thinking music is "Simplify" by Little Glass Men.

This episode is my modernized version of William Ellery Channing's 1828 sermon "Likeness to God." In it Channing takes as his starting point the text, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." (Ephesians 5:1)

Human beings imitating God, which entails being like God?

Yes. His thesis is that

"...true religion consists in intending as our main goal a growing likeness to the Supreme Being. Its noblest influence consists in making us more and more partakers in the divine nature."

But can a sinful, limited human like you or me really come to resemble God, to in that sense be "divine"? Channing argues that this is possible, and is the goal of Christian teaching.

Is he right?

Links for this episode:

2 Peter 1:4; Ephesians 5:1; Matthew 5:8; 1 John 4:15; Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 3:4; Luke 15:7; Ephesians 3:19; Romans 2:7; Genesis 1:26; Psalm 19:1-4; Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7; Matthew 13:43.

Socrates

Alfred the Great

John Milton

François Fénelon

John Hampden

George Washington

This week's thinking music is "Great Expectations" by Kai Engel.

In this episode you'll hear my modernized version of William Ellery Channing's 1821 lecture "The Evidences of Revealed Religion."

It's about the rationality of believing in divine revelation on the basis of miracles, so it's about what can be known about God by divine revelation ("revealed religion") as opposed to what can be known on the basis of ordinary experience and reason alone ("natural religion").

It's a worthy little piece of Christian apologetics on the topic of miracles, reports of which have always been central to Christian claims, ever since Jesus himself said,

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

John 10:37-38 (NRSV)

and ever since the apostles preached about this remarkable

...man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know.

Acts 2:22 (NRSV)

As Channing says, most people everywhere have believed in the possibility and even the reality of miracles, and the idea that it can never be rational to believe a miracle-report is both recent and dubious. But of course, not every miracle-claim is worthy of belief! Why then, should we think that the miracles reported in the New Testament should be believed? Channing has some deep insights on this issue.

And at the start of this episode I introduce you to the very exciting new UCA podcast! You'll hear a fascinating snippet from an early episode as well as some of the vision of its extraordinary host and producer Mark Cain. Be sure to subscribe at the line below!

Links for this episode:

Unitarian Christian Alliance

Restitutio podcast 368 Introducing the UCA Podcast (Mark Cain)

Unitarian Christian Alliance Podcast

trinities podcast 281 – Introducing the Unitarian Christian Alliance

Channing, "The Evidences of Revealed Religion" (pp. 220ff)

John 3:2

David Hume's Chapter 10 "Of Miracles" (original text, modernized text, audio book)

Dr. Timothy McGrew's article "Miracles" in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Dr. Timothy McGrews's historicalapologetics.org

George Campbell and his A Dissertation on Miracles

William Paley and his A View of the Evidences of Christianity

Sir Issac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica

This week's thinking music is "I dunno" by grapes.

In this episode you'll hear a complete, slightly modernized presentation of William Ellery Channing's 1819 article "Objections to Unitarian Christianity Considered." In this piece he engages with "popular" objections, the kind current not so much with scholars as with ordinary people.

The objections he answers are that unitarian Christianity:

Does Channing effectively answer these? What are the common pew-level objections to today's unitarian Christianity?

Links for this episode:

John 3:34; John 14:9; 2 Corinthians 5:19; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; John 3:16; John 10:30; John 6:3; John 8:42; John 16:27; John 20:17; John 14:28; John 5:30; 1 John 5:7; 1 Timothy 3:16; Luke 1:69; Acts 28:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Isaiah 64:6; 1 Peter 3:4; John 7:46; Matthew 6:5-6; Matthew 6:16-17; Romans 6:11; Luke 23:36.

podcast 309 – Channing’s “Unitarian Christianity” – Part 2

podcast 308 – Channing’s “Unitarian Christianity” – Part 1

podcast 124 – a challenge to “Jesus is God” apologists

John Locke: Writings on Religion

podcast 55 – John Locke’s Second Vindication of his Reasonableness of Christianity

podcast 54 – John Edwards vs. John Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity

podcast 53 – John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity, Part 2

podcast 52 – John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity, Part 1

The Newton Project

Samuel Clarke

Nathaniel Lardner

Joseph Priestley: list of his works

This week's thinking music is "Slash and Burn" by Admiral Bob.

In this episode, the remainder of Channing's famous sermon, in which he objects to Calvinistic theology that it says that God is morally perfect, but then describes him as doing things which obviously conflict with moral perfection. In his view unitarian Christian teaching on God, sin, and salvation actually presents God as wholly good.

He then discusses theories of atonement; while unitarian Christians of his day were not of one mind on these, most did agree that what is now called "penal substitution," a theory deriving from the Reformation era, with some precedent in the high middle ages, makes no sense. Nor, Channing points out, does Scripture actually say a lot of things that theologians commonly assume as obvious about atonement.

The ultimate goal of our salvation is not merely forgiveness of sin, but rather, Channing argues, the complete transformation of our character into likeness to Jesus and God, so that we're suitable for eternal fellowship with them and with each other. Although we can't earn our salvation by our good works, we can choose to cooperate with God's spirit.

Channing makes some strong claims about revivalistic-type emotionalism in religion, and says that we should only judge a person's spiritual condition by their level of habitual obedience to God. Feelings are certainly relevant and important, but Channing thinks there are many pitfalls here on the road to true spiritual growth.

He describes the sort of character the Gospel is suppose to make it is, characterized by the love of God, the love of Christ, and many virtues that relate to helping those around us. Among these he discusses charity and humility when it comes to theological disagreements, and he laments the persecuting spirit that mars so much of the history of Christianity.

Finally, he exhorts the new pastor Jared Sparks to preach and teach with all diligence, and to live as an example to his flock, and he reminds us that the Reformation of Christian traditions by means of Scripture and reason is not at all finished.

Links for this episode:

podcast 308 – Channing’s “Unitarian Christianity” – Part 1

Jared Sparks

podcast 217 – Bignon’s Defense of Calvinism – Part 2

podcast 216 – Bignon’s Defense of Calvinism – Part 1

podcast 197 – Noah Worcester on Atonement – Part 2

podcast 196 – Noah Worcester on Atonement – Part 1

podcast 92 – Dr. Joshua Thurow on objections to atonement theories

podcast 91 – Dr. Joshua Thurow on theories of the atonement

podcast 81 – Dr. Oliver Crisp on the breadth of Reformed tradition

podcast 80 – Foreknowledge, Freedom, and Randomness

podcast 79 – Dr. John Piper on why not everyone is elect

podcast 37 – Why did Jesus have to suffer?

This week's thinking music is "Chaulk One Up" by Admiral Bob.

The famous Congregationalist minister William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) has been called "the apostle of unitarianism." In this episode you'll hear the first portion of Channing's famous sermon given at the ordination service for Jared Sparks in Baltimore, Maryland in 1819. "Unitarian Christianity" is a sort of manifesto of early 19th century New England Unitarian Congregationalism.

In it, Channing explains their approach to interpreting Scripture, and rebuts the charge that they rely too much on human reason. Reason, he argues, is fallible, but is as indispensable in religion as in other areas of life.

He then explains what unitarian Christians think the Bible teaches about the one God and his unique Son. He argues both from what the Bible says and from what it doesn't say. He replies to the objection that Jesus is (arguably) called "God" a few times in the New Testament, and argues that trinitarian speculations confuse Christian worship and tend to transfer the honor due to the Father to the Son. And the scriptural portrayal of Jesus, he argues, is not what we'd expect if the first Christians believed that in Jesus there were both a divine nature and a human nature.

To make this lecture-sermon comprehensible to 21st century people, I've slightly modernized it, changing the occasional word or phrase that has either changed meaning or fallen out of use in American English since 1819.

Links for this episode:

William Ellery Channing

"Unitarian Christianity"

podcast 191 – Ware’s Outline of the Testimony of Scripture Against the Trinity

podcast 189 – The unfinished business of the Reformation

Dealing with Apparent Contradictions: Part 4 – Restraint and Implicit Faith

Loyola: tradition trumps sense perception

podcast 285 – Does the Bible Teach that God is a Trinity? Cole-Tuggy Dialogue – Part 4

podcast 284 – Does the Bible Teach that God is a Trinity? Cole-Tuggy Dialogue – Part 3

podcast 283 – Does the Bible Teach that God is a Trinity? Cole-Tuggy Dialogue – Part 2

podcast 282 – Does the Bible Teach that God is a Trinity? Cole-Tuggy Dialogue – Part 1

podcast 28 – Interview with Dr. William Hasker about his Metaphysics and the Tripersonal God – Part 2

podcast 27 – Interview with Dr. William Hasker about his Metaphysics and the Tripersonal God – Part 1

podcast 144 – Dr. Timothy Pawl’s In Defense of Conciliar Christology – Part 2

podcast 143 – Dr. Timothy Pawl’s In Defense of Conciliar Christology – Part 1

This week's thinking music is "Victoria" by Admiral Bob.

In this episode I discuss and criticize what I call the "esoteric" reading of Mark defended by Dr. Michael Bird in his book Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology.

Like Dr. Richard Bauckham, he argues that Mark implies in several ways that Jesus "shares the identity" of the one God. He makes his case based on this book's use of the Greek word kurios ("Lord"), Jesus's forgiving sins, some "theophanic episodes," and Jesus's "divine authority."

I explain why, to the contrary, none of this shows that Mark's Jesus is divine in the way that the one God is divine. The argument from "Lord" is sophistical, and the author's perspective, as with Matthew, is that God has empowered Jesus both to forgive sins, and to heal. Further, some of the "theophanic episodes" straightforwardly present God as someone else, and other of Dr. Bird's over-readings seem to be cases of what he correctly denounces as "parallelomania." In sum, Jesus's "divine" authority in this book, given that he is God's Christ, is assumed to be derived from God, not underived.

Unlike the previous high christology reading of Mark, Dr. Bird directly tackles Jesus's explicit claim in this book that he doesn't know something which the Father knows. But what Dr. Bird says about it may surprise you!

I end by asking whether or not Dr. Bird is willing to admit, like some other "high christology" interpreters of Mark, that his reading is an esoteric one, featuring a clear surface message and also a hidden message.

Links for this episode:

Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology

podcast 306 – Two Readings of Mark – popular or esoteric? – Part 2

podcast 305 – Two Readings of Mark – popular or esoteric? – Part 1

podcast 214 – Has Bauckham clarified his “divine identity” theory? – Part 2

podcast 213 – Has Bauckham clarified his “divine identity” theory? – Part 1

podcast 13 – On Bauckham’s Bargain

podcast 271 – Does your Trinity theory require relative identity?

the apologetics blind-spot on numerical identity

podcast 130 – Ehrman and Bird on How Jesus Became God – Part 3

podcast 129 – Ehrman and Bird on How Jesus Became God – Part 2

podcast 128 – Ehrman and Bird on How Jesus Became God – Part 1

podcast 156 – Dr. J.R. Daniel Kirk on A Man Attested by God – Part 2

podcast 155 – Dr. J.R. Daniel Kirk on A Man Attested by God – Part 1

podcast 226 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 3 – post-biblical uses of biblical words, and new words

podcast 225 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 2 – Old “Lord” vs. New “Lord”

podcast 224 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 1 – God and “God” in the Bible

podcast 189 – The unfinished business of the Reformation

Tuggy vs. Date: the book is better

podcast 235 – The Case Against Preexistence

“Only God can forgive sins.” False.

God and his Son: the logic of the New Testament

This week's thinking music is "Tree Tenants" by Revolution Void.

In this episode I critique a reading of the Gospel According to Mark by Dr. Daniel Johansson in his chapter in The Essential Trinity, edited by Brandon D. Crowe and Carl R. Trueman. I call it an “esoteric” reading, as according to it Mark sort of encodes his claim that Jesus is God via his use of the term kurios (“Lord”), and he sneakily implies that God is triune by his portrayals of Christ and of God’s spirit.

My fundamental objection is that such a reading gets the genre of this book wrong, as it is a clear and flat-footed popular writing, meant to be understood by all, and is nothing like an esoteric composition. Its surface thesis that Jesus is God's Christ really is its main thesis.

Along the way I point out that Dr. Johansson, following a lot of other "early high christology" literature, makes use of a number of unclear terms, some of which I even characterize as “weasel words.” These include,

Towards the end of the podcast I argue that Dr. Johansson ignores a famous and clear passage in this gospel which should count as evidence against the thesis that for Mark Jesus is God.

Is Dr. Johansson right, that the reader is supposed to draw conclusions about Jesus and God which are neither explicitly said, nor acknowledged by the narrator’s voice, the voice of God, friendly witnesses, or hostile witnesses in this book? Or am I right, as I argued in episode 305, that a straightforward reading of the book is preferable to one on which the author slyly implies his most important claims?

Links for this episode:

podcast 305 – Two Readings of Mark – popular or esoteric? – Part 1

Crowe and Trueman (eds.) The Essential Trinity

Dr. Daniel Johansson

Johansson, “Kyrios in the Gospel of Mark”

Johansson, “The Identity of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark: Past and Present Proposals”

podcast 248 – How Trinity theories conflict with the Bible

podcast 13 – On Bauckham’s Bargain

podcast 213 – Has Bauckham clarified his “divine identity” theory? – Part 1

podcast 214 – Has Bauckham clarified his “divine identity” theory? – Part 2

A Lesson in Christological Rhetoric

podcast 124 – a challenge to “Jesus is God” apologists

podcast 257 – A letter from the Lord Jesus: About God and Me

podcast 166 – Alvan Lamson’s On the Doctrine of Two Natures in Jesus Christ – Part 2

podcast 165 – Alvan Lamson’s On the Doctrine of Two Natures in Jesus Christ – Part 1

podcast 227 – Who Should Christians Worship?

This week’s thinking music is “Hollow Grove – Instrumental Version” by Josh Woodward.

What should the reader conclude about Jesus based on the earliest gospel, the gospel according to Mark?

In this and the next episode I present and compare two different approaches to interpreting Mark: treating it as a "popular" writing meant for the masses which wears its message on its face, or as an "esoteric" writing which encodes its most important point about Jesus in all sorts of clever ways, so that only the most discerning reader can retrieve the message.

In this episode I explore the popular reading, explaining how the author employs five devices to repeatedly assert his main claim about Jesus: that he is God's Christ/Messiah.

We have to then ask: what about the author doesn't say here?

And what is the significance of this simple main thesis, when it comes to claims that the author slyly implies Jesus's "deity," e.g. by showing him walking on water, or as asserting the right to forgive sins?

Next week: a strikingly different reading of Mark by a Reformed scholar.

Links for this episode:

podcast 252 – Fred Sanders on Seeing the Trinity in Scripture, and his Secret

Do the Gospels disagree about Jesus and God? Part 1 – Three Options

Do the Gospels disagree about Jesus and God? Part 2 – Counting the Costs

podcast 276 – How is the Trinity Central to the Gospel? Or: How The Gospel Coalition Prioritizes Speculation over Scripture

podcast 235 – The Case Against Preexistence

podcast 259 – Who is the one Creator? – Part 2

podcast 258 – Who is the one Creator? – Part 1

podcast 226 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 3 – post-biblical uses of biblical words, and new words

podcast 225 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 2 – Old “Lord” vs. New “Lord”

podcast 224 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 1 – God and “God” in the Bible

podcast 146 – Jesus as an Exemplar of Faith in the New Testament

podcast 277 – Was Christ tempted in every way?

podcast 227 – Who Should Christians Worship?

odcast 145 – ‘Tis Mystery All: the Immortal dies!

podcast 124 – a challenge to “Jesus is God” apologists

the Bible on another previous life of Jesus

“Only God can forgive sins.” False.

podcast 70 – The one God and his Son according to John

This week's thinking music is "Into the J" by Admiral Bob.

What are the "absolute basics" of the Christian faith? According to this series of videos produced by a Wesleyan ministry, these include that God is an eternal relationship of three divine Persons, and that Jesus is both human and divine, a "godman." In this episode, I weigh the claims of these videos against history and Scripture:

Topics include the idea that God must be a Trinity because "God is love," the idea that to reconnect God and humans Jesus the savior must be both human and divine, and the Christian minority report since the Reformation that the one God is the Father, not the Trinity

Do you agree that these three videos present the basics of the Christian faith, things which all Christians have always believed? Why or why not?

Links for this episode:

The Absolute Basics of the Christian Faith: playlist with the three videos discussed here

podcast 302 – The Stages of Trinitarian Commitment

three-self Trinity theories

one-self Trinity theories

divine simplicity

What is the Trinity?

"Divine Deception and Monotheism," Journal of Analytic Theology 2, 186-209, 2014.

Richard of St. Victor

podcast 58 – We can’t prove the Trinity by reason alone

Lebens and Tuggy, "Dormant Dispositions, Agent Value, and the Trinity"

"On the Possibility of a Single Perfect Person"yo

"Clarifying Catholic Christologies"

podcast 226 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 3 – post-biblical uses of biblical words, and new words

podcast 225 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 2 – Old “Lord” vs. New “Lord”

podcast 224 – Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 1 – God and “God” in the Bible

podcast 108 – Dr. Robert M. Bowman Jr. on triadic New Testament passages – part 2

podcast 107 – Dr. Robert M. Bowman Jr. on triadic New Testament passages – part 1

podcast 12 – the Apostles’ Creed

podcast 248 – How Trinity theories conflict with the Bible

Antelm's ontological arguments

podcast 102 – Dr. Brian Leftow on perfect being theology

podcast 227 – Who Should Christians Worship?

Is Jesus Human and Not Divine? (Essential Christian Debates)

Debate - Dr. Dale Tuggy vs. Chris Date | "Is Jesus Human and not Divine?"

podcast 277 – Was Christ tempted in every way?

podcast 197 – Noah Worcester on Atonement – Part 2

podcast 196 – Noah Worcester on Atonement – Part 1

podcast 92 – Dr. Joshua Thurow on objections to atonement theories

podcast 91 – Dr. Joshua Thurow on theories of the atonement

podcast 37 – Why did Jesus have to suffer?

podcast 145 – ‘Tis Mystery All: the Immortal dies!

The Tuggy-Brown debate: Dale’s opening statement (full debate)

podcast 189 – The unfinished business of the Reformation

10 steps towards getting less confused about the Trinity – #6 get a date – part 2

podcast 257 – A letter from the Lord Jesus: About God and Me

podcast 301 – Dr. Daniel Boyarin on John 1

Matthew 28:16-20; Romans 5:1-21; 1 John 4:7-9; Matthew 3:13-17; Matthew 6:5-15; Philippians 2:1-11; Revelation 5:1-14; Genesis 28:10-17; John 1:51; Hebrews 2:5-18; John 8:40; Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22; Matthew 1:1; Luke 18:38; Psalm 132:11.

This week's thinking music is "Ladies, Take Me With You" by Doctor Turtle.