Calvin, Participation, and the Gift
Calvin, Participation, and the Gift

Author: J. Todd Billings

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2007-11-15

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0191526371

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Is the God of Calvin a fountain of blessing, or a forceful tyrant? Is Calvin's view of God coercive, leaving no place for the human qua human in redemption? These are perennial questions about Calvin's theology which have been given new life by Gift theologians such as John Milbank, Graham Ward, and Stephen Webb. J. Todd Billings addresses these questions by exploring Calvin's theology of `participation in Christ'. He argues that Calvin's theology of `participation' gives a positive place to the human, such that grace fulfils rather than destroys nature, affirming a differentiated union of God and humanity in creation and redemption. Calvin's trinitarian theology of participation extends to his view of prayer, sacraments, the law, and the ecclesial and civil orders. In light of Calvin's doctrine of participation, Billings reframes the critiques of Calvin in the Gift discussion and opens up new possibilities for contemporary theology, ecumenical theology, and Calvin scholarship as well.

The End of the Christian Life
The End of the Christian Life

Author: J. Todd Billings

Publisher: Brazos Press

Published: 2020-09-15

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1493427547

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We're all going to die. Yet in our medically advanced, technological age, many of us see death as a distant reality--something that happens only at the end of a long life or to other people. In The End of the Christian Life, Todd Billings urges Christians to resist that view. Instead, he calls us to embrace our mortality in our daily life and faith. This is the journey of genuine discipleship, Billings says: following the crucified and resurrected Lord in a world of distraction and false hopes. Drawing on his experience as a professor and father living with incurable cancer, Billings offers a personal yet deeply theological account of the gospel's expansive hope for small, mortal creatures. Artfully weaving rich theology with powerful narrative, Billings writes for church leaders and laypeople alike. Whether we are young or old, reeling from loss or clinging to our own prosperity, this book challenges us to walk a strange but wondrous path: in the midst of joy and lament, to receive mortal limits as a gift, an opportunity to give ourselves over to the Lord of life.

Union with Christ
Union with Christ

Author: J. Todd Billings

Publisher: Baker Academic

Published: 2011-11

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0801039347

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An accomplished theologian recovers the biblical theme of union with Christ, showing how it affects current theological and ministry issues.

Calvin's Theology and Its Reception
Calvin's Theology and Its Reception

Author: J. Todd Billings

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 0664234232

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A unique resource for the study of John Calvin's theology, its reception, and insights for today.

Calvin's Ladder
Calvin's Ladder

Author: Julie Canlis

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2010-06-28

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 080286449X

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Calvin's Ladder traces the theme of participation in early Christian spirituality, then reveals how Calvin reworks it into the heart of his Protestant manifesto on theology. --from publisher description

Rejoicing in Lament
Rejoicing in Lament

Author: J. Todd Billings

Publisher: Brazos Press

Published: 2015-02-10

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1441222901

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At the age of thirty-nine, Christian theologian Todd Billings was diagnosed with a rare form of incurable cancer. In the wake of that diagnosis, he began grappling with the hard theological questions we face in the midst of crisis: Why me? Why now? Where is God in all of this? This eloquently written book shares Billings's journey, struggle, and reflections on providence, lament, and life in Christ in light of his illness, moving beyond pat answers toward hope in God's promises. Theologically robust yet eminently practical, it engages the open questions, areas of mystery, and times of disorientation in the Christian life. Billings offers concrete examples through autobiography, cultural commentary, and stories from others, showing how our human stories of joy and grief can be incorporated into the larger biblical story of God's saving work in Christ.

The Word of God for the People of God
The Word of God for the People of God

Author: J. Todd Billings

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 0802862357

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This book fills a real need for pastors and students. Though there is currently a large body of material on the theological interpretation of Scripture, most of it is highly specific and extremely technical. J. Todd Billings here provides a straightforward entryway for students and pastors to understand why theological interpretation matters and how it can be done. / A solid, constructive theological work, The Word of God for the People of God presents a distinctive Trinitarian, participatory approach toward reading Scripture as the church. Billings's accessible yet substantial argument for a theological hermeneutic is rooted in a historic vision of the practice of scriptural interpretation even as it engages a wide range of contemporary issues and includes several exegetical examples that apply to concrete Christian ministry situations.

Calvin's Preaching
Calvin's Preaching

Author:

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 1992-01-01

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9780664253097

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A rare and important study offering a complete review of John Calvin's preaching activity, purpose, method, and style. Parker's work includes Calvin's theological considerations, expository methods, applications of Scripture to the needs of his congregation, and his views of the preacher's office, duty and the congregation's active participation. Appendixes.

Calvin's Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament
Calvin's Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament

Author: Ronald Wallace

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 1997-09-30

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1579100562

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Charles Hodge viewed Calvin's doctrine of the union of believers with Christ's humanity in the Lord's Supper as an uncongenial foreign element in Calvin's thought, having no root in the system. Robert L. Dabney found Calvin's doctrine to be a strange opinion, which he had to reject because it is not only incomprehensible, but impossible. Were these eminent theologians correct, or did they miss the genius of Calvin's thinking at this point? Back in print at last, Ronald Wallace's classic study is a careful examination of Calvin's Commentaries, Institutes, Sermons, and Tracts, designed to clarify the teaching of the great Reformer. The following two sentences from the preface aptly sum up the author's intention: ÒWhat is most important in the study of Calvin today is to reveal what the Reformer himself actually said, in order that misconceptions about his teaching may be cleared away. Therefore this work is not a critical study of Calvin, but an attempt to express his teaching as copiously, fairly, and sympathetically as possible. Dr. Wallace's book is also valuable for the insight it gives into Calvin's method of interpreting Scripture, especially the Old Testament.

The Christian Life
The Christian Life

Author: John Calvin

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2009-05-01

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 1606087436

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A leading expert on John Calvin brings together the reformer's most profound reflections on what it means to live a fully Christian life. The Christian Life includes excerpts from Calvin's impressive theological writings and illuminating sermons, as well as a selection of his stately prayers. Editor John H. Leith focuses on Calvin's spirituality, which arose out of the reformer's conviction that theology's primary importance is to encourage piety, to edify, and to transform human life and society. Calvin's writings have much to tell about the manner and style of Christian living. The writings gathered in The Christian Life draw upon Calvin's own heartfelt commitment to the ideals of life in Christ and to the responsibility to the community he served as pastor, preacher, teacher, and counselor. Here, then, is Calvin's own pattern for the conduct of the fully Christian life, which stresses that it is in Christian people living in Christian community and in society that we see most clearly the reality of faith. The Christian Life shares Calvin's thinking on such essential questions as the nature of sin; the importance of self-denial and cross-bearing to the Christian life; maintaining the proper balance between the present life and the life to come; the role of grace; the concept of Christian freedom; the place of prayer; the centrality of community; ideas of the elect and predestination; and the deepest purposes of God for his people. He relates all issues to the fundamental question of piety and how Christians can best attune themselves to God's unfolding plans in everyday life. This compact volume makes available to readers as never before some of the most accessible and rewarding writings of this foremost figure in the history of Christian thought. The selections in The Christian Life will introduce the reader to an influential form of Christian piety; but above all, they provide a clue to how Christians today may live and cope with the problems of personal and public life in a highly pluralistic and secular culture, in which the traditional guides and support for Christian living seem to have lost vitality and vigor.