Después de dos cirugías, tres sesiones intensas de quimioterapia, veinticinco sesiones de radiación, cinco caídas al suelo y varias citas y visitas a urgencias, tuve una crisis de fe. ¿Por qué Dios permitió que un cáncer agresivo atacara mi cuerpo?, me preguntaba con frecuencia. Hace dos años y medio, este mes (diciembre de 2024), comenzó mi lucha contra el cáncer. Esta lucha estuvo llena de sufrimiento e incertidumbre, pero también de esperanza y agradecimiento. Si hay algo positivo que me trajo mi diagnóstico de cáncer fue el tipo de vida de oración que tengo ahora. Orar salmos, por ejemplo, se …

In his 1902 essay titled “Contemporary Morality,” Herman Bavinck starts by admitting that there is a lack of discussion regarding moral principles and issues in his society and his church. For him, the importance of paying attention to moral principles and moral issues is that by their own nature human beings have needs, which differ from visible things. In order to live their lives well, he says, people should know the rule by which they organize their lives. Bavinck claims that morality discussions can go from questions such as what is good and what is evil to practical matters such …

In Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care the balance of the Christian life of the clergy not only permeates Gregory’s discussions in each major section of the book but also this theological motif served him to challenge the tendency of the clergy of his times to have a negative attitude towards the active life. Overall, Gregory’s middle-ground position of work is noteworthy and deserves more attention. He seems to defend ‘the mixed life’ in his discussions, where the balance motif serves such a purpose. The ‘mixed life’ is understood as the combination of both the active and contemplative life of the …

In his discussion of evolution, Bavinck offers a modified theory of development, rooted not under a mechanistic and naturalistic worldview, as Darwin does, but under a ‘theistic-friendly’ framework. This paper argues that Bavinck’s discussion of evolution as whole endorses a modified Aristotelian/Thomistic framework in order to understand the theory of development, and thus overcoming the challenges raised by Darwin’s naturalistic worldview to biblical revelation. Bavinck’s engagement with the theory of evolution is noteworthy. Unlike his general criticism to Darwinism in his discussion of human origins in RD §279-83, the essays studied here analyze the theory of evolution in a further …

When one discusses Christ’s atonement and the relation between God’s wrath and love, many questions and themes emerge. In this respect one can find at least three major themes in Calvin’s view of the atonement/redemption as discussed in the Institutes: the substitutionary dimension of Christ’s atoning work, the atonement as a sacrifice, and Christ’s triumph over sin and the powers. These themes not only emerge from Calvin’s understanding of the redemptive work of Christ but also are considered being central in such discussions. Atonement as Substitution In a few words, the atonement understood as substitution deals with the fact that …

In Divine Discourse, Wolterstorff offers a series of arguments to defend his major conclusion that God still speaks today through Scripture! In order to hear God speaking, however, Christians should reformulate the relation of the Bible and divine revelation. For him, the best way to comprehend the Bible is through divine discourse and not necessarily divine revelation. Let’s begin clarifying the phrase ‘propositional revelation’ Wolterstorff refers to frequently. In a nutshell, propositional revelation refers to a non-manifestational revelation. That is, God does not self-reveal himself to humanity through powerful acts but through communication. It was through propositional revelation that God …