Monthly Archive: October, 2013
Omnipotence

Theological question – In what sense is God an omnipotent being?

Regarding the nature of God, Thomas Oden in Classic Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 1992) discusses the different kinds of attributes we apply to God, such as pre-relational attributes (pre-time, pre-world, pre-space), essential attributes (e.g., infinite, eternal, immeasurable), relational attributes (omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence), moral attributes (holiness, justice, love), and personal attributes (life, will, spirit). On the same subject, Michael S. Horton in Lord and Servant: A Covenant Christology (Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005) tells us about communicable vs. incommunicable attributes of God, where the second ones are attributes that only God can have. And finally, Justo L. González in Mañana: Christian Theology …

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Missions

Newbigin and Bauckham on how Christians should understand missions?

Authors Richard Bauckham in Bible and Mission and Leslie Newbigin in The Open Secret discuss the concept of mission and how it should be understood correctly by Christians today. While Bauckham initially explains the idea of metanarrative and universalist cultures, and how overemphasizing them challenges the way Christians do mission today; Newbigin, instead, associates missions with the very ministry of Jesus and his baptism by John the Baptist. Both authors agree that mission is God’s work as he uses mission as a means of not only proclaiming the Gospel but also bringing justice to the entire world. Bauckham writes: This …

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