This past Sunday (June 10, 2018) I had the great privilege of preaching at the ordination of my friend and former student Robyn Elliott at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto. The following is the text of my sermon. The Scripture readings were Isaiah 50:4-9 and 2 Timothy 1:3-14. (more…)
Tag: Bonhoeffer
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Salvation by Allegiance Alone – Chapter 3
This is the fourth in a series of posts engaging with Matthew Bates’s Salvation by Allegiance Alone. The earlier posts can be read here: first, second, third.
In chapter 3, “Jesus Proclaims the Gospel,” Bates turns to confronting a longstanding problem in modern Protestant Christianity: the reconciliation of the Letters of Paul with the Gospels.[1. Interestingly, Bonhoeffer felt the need to make a similar move in his famous treatise Discipleship. Although, Bonhoeffer began with the Synoptic Gospels before turning his attention to Paul.] The writings of Paul have long been a haven for certain forms of Lutheranism and conservative evangelicalism espousing the centrality of a particular understanding of justification by faith. While the Gospels have often been the playground of some liberal forms of Christianity attempting to advance a social agenda based upon ethical principles. The irony is that in their readings of their respective canons-within-a-canon both groups have lost sight of the animating center of the canon as a whole, as well as Paul’s Letters and the Gospels in particular, namely the crucified and living Lord Jesus Christ. (more…)
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Forthcoming Issue of Didaskalia
The forthcoming issue of the Canadian theological journal Didaskalia, published by Providence Theological Seminary, includes both a gracious review of my book For the Life of the World: Jesus Christ and the Church in the Theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Stanley Hauerwas by Christopher Holmes and an essay of my own entitled, “A Matter of MIssion: Bonhoeffer, the Bible, and Ecclesial Formation.” (more…)
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Bonhoeffer on Human Freedom and the Image of God
Tonight is the final night of the four week teaching series, “Bonhoeffer: Following Jesus in a Fragmented World,” that I’ve been leading at Whitby Christian Assembly. That 200 people would come out on Wednesday evenings in January to hear about a dead German theologian is testimony to the commitment and passion of this extraordinary congregation. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Dietrich Bonhoeffer is no ordinary dead German theologian! (more…)
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Bonhoeffer on What it Means “To Believe in the Church”
I taught an intensive intercession course on the “Life and Thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer” during the first week of January this year. While the students were responsible for completing some reading prior to our week together in class—including Christianne Tietz’s excellent, new short biography, Theologian of Resistance: The Life and Thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer—most of the major engagement with the primary sources in the Bonhoeffer corpus has been taking place over the past few weeks following the conclusion of our time together in class. In recent days, the students would have encountered this remarkable passage from Bonhoeffer’s doctoral dissertation in which he addresses the question of what is means “to believe in the church.” The passage is noteworthy not only because it was penned by a theology student who was a mere twenty-one years old at the time, but also because it anticipates in many ways the central themes of Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiology that will come to the fore throughout his life. (more…)
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Back by Popular Demand
Those who missed my presentation at last year’s Wycliffe College Preaching Day will have an additional opportunity to join me in reflecting upon the realities of preaching with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I will be leading a workshop at the upcoming Tyndale Preaching Conference on March 6 on the theme “Confessing Christ in Troubled Times: Bonhoeffer as a Resource for Preachers.” You can find more information about the conference and how to register here. (more…)
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Bonhoeffer: Following Jesus in a Fragmented World
I’m going to be delivering a series of presentations on the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Whitby Christian Assembly. The series will run for four Wednesday evenings starting at 7:00 pm, beginning on January 17. If you’re in the neighbourhood, come on out and join us. (more…)
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The Feast of the Holy Innocents and the Tyrannical Despiser of Humanity
There is something distinctly un-sentimental about the historical form that the Christian liturgical calendar has come to exhibit during the season of Christmas. The Feast of the Nativity is immediately followed the next day by the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Today (December 28) is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the date on the calendar set aside for commemorating the children massacred following the birth of Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of Matthew (2:16-18). In this way, the Christian liturgical calendar is simply following the brutal realism of Scripture. The coming of the Prince of Peace sets on edge the petty tyrants of our world like Herod. (more…)
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Review of “For the Life of the World”
Daniel W. Rempel has published a review of my book For the Life of the World: Jesus Christ and the Church in the Theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the Conrad Grebel Review. Towards the end of the review, he writes:
“For the Life of the World will benefit multiple readerships. For theologians, critical engagement with the work of Bonhoeffer and Hauerwas will provide a greater understanding of both theologians’ greater projects, with a reminder that theology should be rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ for the benefit of his body, the church. (more…)
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Ring in the New Year with Bonhoeffer
For those who have been living with the guilt of a string of broken New Year’s resolutions to study the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 2018 may be your year to break the slide! Starting on January 2, 2018, I will be teaching a five-day intensive intercession course on “The Life and Thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer” at Tyndale Seminary. Here’s the course description to whet your appetite: (more…)
