We live on a knife's edge oftentimes. The secret of the Christian life is that I'm not at all strong, and neither are you. We could smack around the Reformed all day long for their contention that the absolute necessity of grace implies soteriological monergism, (one of the biggest, unnecessary jumps in theology) but let's definitely recall that Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do nothing."
Prayer is the means of co-operation with God. We will NOT be holy if we do not pray. It is also the means of communion with God, which is synonymous with holiness. God is holiness. It is that quality of otherness in which all other things find their intended ends.
Say what you will about the Protestant theologian Karl Barth; he was (unless he was the greatest liar I have ever seen) a man of prayer. That's why God is merciful: He's not into knee-capping those who seek Him with everything they have. Prayer is a communion of Love. Therefore, I was more right than I could have hoped when I said that liturgy speaks a language that bridges traditional hostilities. It must. The purpose of that "reasonable service" is adoration and communion with God. Theology cannot be limited to propositions to which men give assent, but they are useful because they give order to that which flows from prayer and loving communion. To do theology is to be willfully co-operating with God in our prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done."
Christian unity is an impulse that flows from the divine love. Don't be surprised if Love impels and therefore compels the discarding of propositions contrary to that impulse. We cannot love what we do not know, and so, we cannot do theology--whose ultimate purpose is to love God--from a place of skepticism. And the fullness of God's revelation to Man is the Incarnation. It happened in real history. Therefore, the study of history is and ought to be the study of the outworkings of the Incarnation.
Prayer is the means of co-operation with God. We will NOT be holy if we do not pray. It is also the means of communion with God, which is synonymous with holiness. God is holiness. It is that quality of otherness in which all other things find their intended ends.
Say what you will about the Protestant theologian Karl Barth; he was (unless he was the greatest liar I have ever seen) a man of prayer. That's why God is merciful: He's not into knee-capping those who seek Him with everything they have. Prayer is a communion of Love. Therefore, I was more right than I could have hoped when I said that liturgy speaks a language that bridges traditional hostilities. It must. The purpose of that "reasonable service" is adoration and communion with God. Theology cannot be limited to propositions to which men give assent, but they are useful because they give order to that which flows from prayer and loving communion. To do theology is to be willfully co-operating with God in our prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done."
Christian unity is an impulse that flows from the divine love. Don't be surprised if Love impels and therefore compels the discarding of propositions contrary to that impulse. We cannot love what we do not know, and so, we cannot do theology--whose ultimate purpose is to love God--from a place of skepticism. And the fullness of God's revelation to Man is the Incarnation. It happened in real history. Therefore, the study of history is and ought to be the study of the outworkings of the Incarnation.
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