In his Church Dogmatics Barth often calls Scripture “the Word of God.” For example, in Volume 1 (The Doctrine of the Word of God) we find a whole section entitled “Scripture as the Word of God” (Part 2). There he states: “Holy Scripture is the Word of God to the Church and for the Church” […]
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What Does Barth Mean When He Calls Scripture “the Word of God”?
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010Non-Apostolic Evangelism in Acts. Part One
Saturday, January 16th, 2010Here we are looking at evangelism which is not exercised directly by the apostles themselves. Before we do so we need to add a word of caution concerning the way we use this term “evangelism.” If we were being technically pedantic then we might restrict the use of this term to the oral proclamation of […]
Read more...Acts 1:8. Part Four. The Apostolic Witness, the Holy Spirit and the Fulfilment of Isaiah 43-44
Saturday, January 16th, 2010In Acts 1:8 we read:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
It is the power of the Holy Spirit that explains how it is that the apostolic witness to Jesus […]
Acts 1:8. Part Three. The Apostolic Witness and Resurrection
Thursday, December 24th, 2009The promise of Acts 1:8 is addressed to the apostles (see verse 2). When Jesus assures his disciples that they will be his witnesses he means that they will be witnessing to him as the risen Lord. This is made plain at the close of the chapter when Peter leads the process to find a […]
Read more...The Garden in the Bible and the Qur’an. Part Thirty-Seven
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009This blog continues the series of studies looking at references to the Garden(s) of Paradise, as depicted in the Qur’an. Our last blog on this matter was on December 1.
The next relevant passage is 16:30-32 (Yusuf Ali):
To the righteous (when) it is said, “What is it that your Lord has revealed?” they say, “All that […]
Individualism, Collectivism and Mental and Spiritual Health
Thursday, December 17th, 2009It is interesting to read in the latest issue of Philosophy Now that a Northwestern University (Chicago) study has found a correlation between the extent to which a country is individualistic and the level of depression experienced by its residents. The study identified Britain, USA, Australia and Western European nations to be the world’s most […]
Read more...Karl Barth Considered: Is Scripture Revelation or Merely a Witness to Revelation?
Thursday, December 17th, 2009In his Church Dogmatics (Vol 1. The Doctrine of the Word of God, Part 2) Karl Barth stuffs up the doctrine of revelation. Ironically, he does this by identifying revelation exclusively with Jesus Christ. But for Barth this means that the Old Testament is reduced down to being nothing more that “the witness to the […]
Read more...Acts 1:8. Part Two. The Apostolic Witness and God’s Kingdom
Monday, December 14th, 2009In Part One we saw that by applying the language of Isaiah in identifying his apostles as his witnesses, Jesus is indicating that the witness of the apostles themselves is integral to the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. It is highly significant that while Acts begins with the restoration of the kingdom to Israel […]
Read more...Is Everything Meaningless? Tragic Nihilism and the God-Honouring Realism of Ecclesiastes
Sunday, December 13th, 2009Sartre’s The Reprieve covers eight days in the lives of various people in France before the signing of the Munich Agreement, soon followed by the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938. Frenchmen are being called up for military service. In this context Sartre invites us to overhear Mathieu’s conversation with his brother Jacques:
Mathieu returned and sat […]
Acts 1:8. Part One. The Apostles as Worldwide Witnesses
Friday, December 11th, 2009In Acts 1:8 Jesus promises the following:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Here Jesus is responding to a question asked by his apostles:
“Lord, are you at this time going […]

