The absolute centrality of the resurrection of Christ to Christian faith can be seen clearly articulated by major preachers–theologians from the Apostle Paul through Augustine, Luther, Barth, and Thielicke, to take a historical sampling. These men agreed on interpreting the resurrection as bodily (a changed body, but a body nonetheless) and in uniting Christ's resurrection with that of Christians. Though tone and emphases differed considerably, they all took seriously and combated the forms of doubt that these affirmations took in their own day, and played out the consequences of resurrection faith for life in this world. The intellectual seriousness with which they engaged the questions of their own time, as well as the intensity with which they related theological affirmation of the resurrection to the perennial threats of sin, death, and final futility, provide a challenge to do likewise to today's theologians and preachers.
Marguerite Shuster explores the handling of the incarnation in Christmas sermons from seven twentieth‐century preachers: four Roman Catholic and three Protestant. Her analysis is structured by the issues O’Collins's chapter identified as critical for contemporary discussion. Perhaps surprisingly, almost all his key questions are treated by these preachers in their sermons. Furthermore, the doctrinal material is most often handled in a moving and homiletically satisfying manner. Thus, these examples may prove encouraging for preachers concerned with the viability of doctrinal preaching.
This chapter elaborates the classic content and evolving emphases of the doctrine of humanity in North American Presbyterianism. It considers human dignity as given in God’s bestowal of the divine image, including the duties entailed by the image; human misery, resulting from original sin understood as leading to total or radical depravity; the nature and limits of free will, understood in an Augustinian sense; and the locus of hope in the efficacious, redemptive grace of God, sufficient to overcome humanity’s bondage to sin, and conjoined to the continuing function of the divine law. It discusses the impact of scientific progress on Christian self-understanding, cautioning against alleged determinisms that threaten human moral accountability. It also observes that later confessional documents increasingly emphasize the dignity of historically disadvantaged groups, as well as bear witness to social and political aspects of human sinfulness.
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