Whew. Last night I finished the first draft, and now I can head off to my seminar and leave Church History where it belongs: on the bookshelf. :) At least until I have to edit and finalize the thing.
And yeah, it was fun to write. The assignment was to take a current issue in the church, and connect it back to some historical crux that had similarities, and discuss the applicability of historical events to today's issues. Nice idea, since we all know that, per Solomon: "there's nothing new under the sun."
So here's my thesis:
How the American Evangelical church today deals with the subject of “why bad things happen to good people” is founded in large part on its view of God’s nature and providence. These views are rooted historically in Classical Theism or in reactions against it. Classical Theism in the West, in turn, has its roots in Augustine of Hippo, whose influence extended to later theologians, Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. The concepts Augustine put forth still hold sway in many quarters today, particularly in churches that espouse Calvinism as a theological framework. I will use a recent local example of tragedy, namely the 35W bridge collapse, and explore the public reactions to it of two prominent local pastors, one a Calvinist (John Piper), and one who is not (Greg Boyd). I believe the position of John Piper is not unlike that of Augustine, as he reflected on events in the Roman Empire of his day, as seen in his book The City Of God. Finally, I will argue that our current American culture is sufficiently unlike that of Augustine’s day that it no longer can accept God’s role in tragedy in terms of “classical” views of God’s nature.
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2 comments:
Bob,
You identify Piper as a Calvinist and Boyd as simply not a Calvinist.
Stereotyping can have its efficiencies. By hearing Piper is a Calvinist one can mentally flesh out a log of Piper's theological baggage, based on one's accurate or not stereotype of Calvinists.
I assume in your paper you will give more flesh to the theological baggage that Boyd has and not simply represent him as a non-Calvinist. I say this a someone who I think knows both of their views somewhat well, having read a fair amount of both their views in the past.
For Boyd I'm thinking of his standing as an Open Theist rather than as a classical Arminian.
David
Well put.
The focus of the paper is really the long-reaching influence of St. Augustine's theology and how it still affects how we view current events, with Piper as a prominent example of same. Boyd was really only referenced as contrast.
Still, in the paper, I'll take your advice and identify him as an Open Theist. Thanks for the nudge.
"bob"
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