Thinking After

Tag: sinners

  • Griffiths on The Lure of the Void

    “This language of loss and diminuition clearly suggests the possibility of coming to nothing, of annihilation stricto sensu.  That is what gives it the undeniable power it has.  For Augustine, as for most of the fathers of the church, the possibility of self-annihilation is suggested by a grammar of participation and gift.  On this view, the fact that you are is sheer unmerited gift, and what you are is a participant in the LORD. (more…)

  • “We Are Beggars”: An Ash Wednesday Sermon

    The following sermon was preached on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at Good Shepherd Community Church in Scarborough.  The Scripture readings were Genesis 3:17-19; 1 John 1:5-10; Luke 18:9-14.

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  • On Saints and Sinners

    The events of 2 Samuel 11-12 depicting the encounter between David and Bathsheba and its fallout mark “the great turning point of the whole David story.” [1. Robert Alter, The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999), 249, quoted in Robert Baron, 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2015), 95.]  According to its traditional superscription, Psalm 51 was composed by David following his dramatic confrontation with the prophet Nathan.  This great penitential psalm has rightly occupied a cherished place in the life of worship and prayer of the Christian church through the ages.  In many traditions, it is corporately read or sung on Ash Wednesday.  Reflecting upon the psalm leads Robert Barron to observe the somewhat counter-intuitive connection between saint and sinner in the Christian faith: (more…)