Introduction Recent Reformed theology has not held natural theology in high esteem, and that for understandable reasons. Enlightenment thinkers (Catholic, Protestant, and secular) often treated natural theology as a pre-dogmatic discipline, i.e., as a discipline that could and should be established independently of biblical revelation before turning to biblical revelation to establish the truths of […]
The trinitarian depth of Scripture
Most evangelical presentations of the doctrine of Scripture are implicitly trinitarian. They identify the Father as Scripture’s primary author, the Son as Scripture’s central subject matter, and the Spirit as the immediate agent of prophetic and apostolic inspiration. Scripture is God the Father preaching God the Son by God the Spirit, to borrow J. I. […]
Geerhardus Vos on membership in the covenant of grace
Scholastic theology is often derided for the subtle distinctions it makes. Seemingly unable to provide a simple “yes” or “no” regarding disputed theological questions, the common scholastic reply, “we distinguish,” sounds more like the response of a slick politician than that of a dutiful shepherd. Distinctions, however, are essential to sound theology. Indeed, much in […]
Geerhardus Vos on the doctrine of God
Book Review: Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 1, by Geerhardus Vos Over the weekend I had the opportunity to work through the first volume of Geerhardus Vos’s Reformed Dogmatics, which is devoted to theology proper (i.e., God’s being, attributes, and triunity; God’s decrees; and God’s “natural works” [naturae opera] of creation and providence). I confess to being a […]
More on the Trinity and divine action
In previous entries in what is becoming an impromptu antiphonal blog series on the Trinity, Fred Sanders and I have focused on the nature and relevance of the doctrine of inseparable operations (see here, here, and here). To this point, we have considered ways in which the unity of God’s being informs the unity of God’s action towards […]
On not destroying fruitful trees: a brief defense of the doctrine of inseparable operations
I recently read an essay by a leading evangelical theologian arguing that many “egalitarian” discussions of the doctrine of the Trinity threaten to compromise basic tenets of orthodox Christianity and to undermine, at least implicitly, the authority of the Bible (1). Over the course of the essay, the author extensively criticized some of these approaches […]
