Response to the Symposium

Over the last 20 years I have been involved in a lot of writing projects, but this is only my third big book. I am often a slow writer and each book took years of gestation and labor. These metaphors are intentionally chosen because I feel like all three of these books are my children,…
A Discourse on Human Flourishing?

In his fascinating book on the Sermon on the Mount, Jonathan Pennington seeks to read the Sermon as Christianity’s answer to what he calls “the greatest metaphysical question that humanity has always faced—How can we experience true human flourishing?” (emphasis original, xxxiv). He offers this question as an overall reading strategy for the Sermon—a strategy…
The Spirit Who Gives Life: A Theological Response

I am grateful for Jonathan Pennington’s wise and insightful study. I learned a great deal from it, and was delighted by its delivery on the promise in its subtitle: to offer a theological engagement with the biblical text. Indeed, Pennington extends the conversation more widely still, drawing Matthew into intelligent and fruitful conversation with both…
A Mosaic and a Mountain: Applying Theological Ethics

“Look at sun that shines upon your brow; look at the grasses, flowers, and the shrubs born here, spontaneously, of the earth. Among them, you can rest or walk until the coming of the glad and lovely eyes— those eyes that, weeping, sent me to your side. Await no further word or sign from me:…
A Life for Eternity: Introducing the Pennington Symposium

“A life for eternity.” Twenty years ago, that’s how Dallas Willard’s classic The Divine Conspiracy described the life of discipleship pictured in the Sermon on the Mount. He further explains: “that is, a life for eternity because it is already in the eternal.” Willard sees in the sermon Jesus’ answers to the two biggest questions…
Can we Justify Big Science? (Part II)

Big Money, Big Science, and God’s Big World In my last post I presented the objections to spending billions on big science projects such as the Large Hadron Collider. Questions certainly arise in the face of this massive public spending, when we live in a world in which millions of people are hungry and lack access…
Jubilee and Lamentation: Application

But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days? Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with…
What Music Has Taught Me about Achievement

Last week I began to reflect on “practical achievement” through the lens of music, since much of my thinking about it derives from my experience as a musician. The journey of the developing musician offers plenty of insights into how to accomplish things over the long-term. Here is another set of reflections: Focus on the…
Music and Achievement

For nearly a year of writing on the subject of achievement, I have deliberately avoided “how to”-type topics. There are many “how to succeed” and “how to get things done” books readily available. Instead, I have sought to develop a theology of achievement. But before concluding the whole series I think it’s worth reflecting a…
Jubilee and Lamentation: Principles

There are two cautions that must be recognized before beginning construction on the foundation laid in the last exploration. First, I want to be sensitive to the historical particularity of the biblical text addressing the matters of Jubilee and lamentation. The nature of lamentation, for example, will be a product of a reflection on the…
“Maybe Andy’ll Get Another Dinosaur!”

Since Vatican II most celebrants—Catholic and Protestant — no longer “turn their back” to the congregation (that is, turn to the east) during the words of institution. This act never had to do with the priest turning away from the people; rather, the point of it was to turn toward Christ’s anticipated Parousia (that is,…
“Whose name is written there?” Image-bearing and beyond

In a brightly colored, unfamiliar room, Andy’s toys debate their future. They have just experienced a remarkable reversal. They thought they had been thrown away, but they commandeered their fate and found their way to Sunnyside Daycare, a place where “you’ll never be outgrown or neglected, never abandoned or forgotten.” What good news! But one…