THE 2006 WILLIAM BELDEN NOBLE LECTURES
I’m listening to the first lecture now …
The Right Reverend N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durham, England
Introductions by The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes
October 23, 2006
“God the Creator: The Gospel in a Gnostic World” (mp3)
October 24, 2006
“Jesus the Lord: The Gospel and the New Imperialism” (mp3)
October 25, 2006
“Spirit of Truth: The Gospel in a Postmodern World” (mp3)
the best summary of Luther’s De servo arbitrio
I saw the book but it’s VERY expensive. The following is good for supper tonight:
“1) God is a person, the almighty creator of all that exists, the sovereign Lord and sole acting agent over his creation, totally responsible for all that takes place.
2) The Creator is by definition hidden from his creatures but has revealed himself in his incarnation as Jesus Christ and in Holy Scripture.
3) God has chosen from among fallen sinners people to be his own children and has restored them to their full humanity, that is, to trusting i him, through the work of Christ.
4) God acts in his Word, condemning sin through the law and conveying Christ’s benefits to his chosen people through the gospel, in oral, written, and sacramental forms, called collectively the means of grace.
5) Human beings are creatures and thus totally dependent on God their Creator. 6) This dependence of the human creature on God can be explained and defended by a doctrine of absolute necessity, that is, that all things happen necessarily as God designs and decides.
7) Human beings are responsible for their own disposition and actions but are sinful, captive to Satan and their own desires, and thus totally dependent on God for liberation from their sinfulness.
8) Human beings are designed by God with active minds and wills that are to be dedicated to carrying out their callings in obedience to God.
9) Believers are engaged in a lifelong struggle against their own abiding sinfulness. Their lives are lives of repentance.
10) God is not responsible for evil. No explanation of the existence of evil and its continuation in the lives of believers in possible.”
a confession
A confession which includes a wonderful prayer .(which I particularly like even thought my confession would be different) …
“Dear God,
Your followers make me crazy. I’m totally a jerk about this and I’m sorry. It’d be great if maybe you could try and improve some of the theology on the ground here, and if that’s not going to happen then help me to not be so arrogant. Be with those whom I find most irritating and show me how to love them. This is pretty much only going to happen by your grace, which in the past has done for me what I could never do for myself, so I’m trusting you again. Your will, not mine be done (we can all be thankful for that)
In Jesus’ name,
AMEN”
Here’s A Quick Way to Lower Your Stress
I hear about “stress” all the time … and perhaps after listening to all the mp3s above and reading the confession and Luther’s gems .. one needs to lower their stress too … 😛
Bishop Wright is a compelling speaker. I never thought I could go through such an academic lecture, let alone 3 in one single sitting!
I also loved the summaries and contra opinions brought up at the end of each lectures. Gives one plenty to chew and mull upon. One very relevant and critical point brought up was that Wright’s perspective still seem pretty much contextualised within the contemporary Western post-Christian reality. I’d like to see someone tackle such issues within the context of the developing 2/3 World and nations in transition like ours.