I kind of can’t believe I did it. I can’t believe I carefully read and blogged my way through the Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology. I’m so, so glad I did and am so, so glad it’s over! (Side note – I feel like lots of my accomplishments fall into this category – I feel…More
Category Archives: Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology
OHPT: Thoughts on Chinese (Confucian) Philosophical Theology (Chapter 26)
And here it is. The final chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology. I did it! I did it during 2020! But before I start waxing relieved (certainly not poetic), a post about Chapter 26. “Chinese (Confucian) Philosophical Theology” was written by Dr. John H. Berthrong, Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Comparative Theology…More
OHPT: Thoughts on Islamic Philosophical Theology (Chapter 25)
This was another survey chapter that could easily be it’s own book. In fact, considering just how many overlaps there are between Islam and Christianity, I’m even more disappointed that the Oxford Handbook folks chose to over-represent the Christian philosophical theological tradition and way under-represent other equally rich traditions. But. I. Di. Gress. “Islamic Philosophical…More
OHPT: Thoughts on Jewish Theological Philosophy (Chapter 24)
And with that… we’ve completed the survey of Christian Philosophical Theology. It’s really unfortunate that the Oxford Handbook folks reserved only three chapters for an exploration of philosophical theology in any other religions. Not only that, but how did Hinduism not get a chapter?! Color me SUPER unimpressed. This chapter is nowhere near as in-depth…More
OHPT: Thoughts on The Eucharist (Chapter 23)
Warning: this is going to be a short post. After 500 pages of Christian theology (and hit-or-miss philosophy), I kind of hit my limit with “absurd theological beliefs that have perfectly satisfactory metaphorical or symbolic explanations but instead of talking about what richness lies therein we are going to twist ourselves in logical knots trying…More
OHPT: Thoughts on Heaven and Hell (Chapter 22)
Finally! We’ve come to the topic I have been eager for and a topic I feel VERY passionately about: the rationality of believing in hell. Spoiler alert: I don’t think a belief in hell is rational if we are holding to the existence of a Good God, a perfectly knowing, powerful, loving God. But I’ll…More
OHPT: Thoughts on The Resurrection of the Body (Chapter 21)
A short chapter! Praise be. On a topic that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me (and the author kind of agrees) so this was a fun little breeze. Also, I drop a “WTF” regarding Catholic theology so… fun times and let’s dive in. “The Resurrection of the Body” was written by Dr.…More
OHPT: Thoughts on the Incarnation (Chapter 20)
My brain is so tired. This semester is kicking my booty a little, work is busy, Chris’s life is busy and stressful, we have to do a lot of shuffling and reshuffling and moving to make way for our apartment building to do a big (overdue) plumbing retrofit… so I don’t have much to share…More
OHPT: Thoughts on Original Sin and Atonement (Chapter 19)
Chapter 19 tackles one of the biggest questions in Christian theology, for the trained theologian and the layperson: how is it that Christ’s death on the Cross atoned for humanity’s sins? For that matter, what does “atone” mean? This chapter was written by Oliver D. Crisp. Dr. Crisp is Professor of Analytic Theology at the…More
OHPT: Thoughts on The Trinity (Chapter 18)
At first I was a little disappointed opening this chapter, because I realized we were entering a new section, leaving behind my beloved Problem of Evil. But Section IV, Topics in Christian Philosophical Theology (is that not what we’ve been doing this whole time?! Je suis confus) started off with an oldie but a goodie:…More
