Theodore Zachariades's Blog, page 10
February 21, 2013
January 1, 2013
December 28, 2012
Life in the Trinity, by Fairbairn, Donald., A Review
I’d like to give Fairbairn 4.5 stars, in fact. His book is an excellent work that draws heavily from the patristic period, primarily from Irenaeus, Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria and Augustine. He also has snippets interspersed throughout the book giving crucial insights by these and other Fathers! This book is refreshing for its acquaintance with the early church tradition. Maybe this evangelical author is one of a handful of experts in Patristics that are within the conservative wing of Protestantism. His attempt to wed the early church’s notion of theosis to our sanctification and that seen as the primary aim of our relationship within the trinity, as Christians share in the intimacy of the Father-Son dynamic-relationality, is well conceived and well presented, even if I remain somewhat reluctant to embrace it fully. I still have some reservations about the Fathers for their neglect of forensic categories that the NT, in my view, makes dominant. Nonetheless, it is a helpful book and should attract a wide reading audience.
I want to comment on one other matter that struck me about the overall approach to sovereignty that is a generic criticism of the whole. In the book Fairbairn develops an idea that is repeated a few times that the world as it is now is not as God wanted it to be. The question that emerges is that once the redemption in Christ occurs and the eschaton is achieved, the net result seems to be a reversal of Eden’s fall and the attainment of “what God had in mind all along,” so to speak. I have no qualms about the this worldly focus of the expected eschatological renewal. My problem has to do with the unanswered question: “Why did God not stop the fall in the first place?” Or to put it another way, “If God did not get what He wanted, as this current world is not what God desired from the beginning, then what is to prevent another “Fall” in the redeemed world to come?” Fairbairn has attempted to side-step the landmine of Determinism/Free Agency and proposes a novel way of ascribing some sense of legitimacy to both horns of the dilemma, but surely the book fails to address the question of why the Fall happened in the first place from the perspective of God prior to the fall, and not merely as a reaction to the post-fall situation with the simple statement that “it is not as God intended!” From a robust standpoint of God’s supreme sovereignty, one may answer the implied question stating that the fall was part of God’s plan all along so that in the eschaton, we, that will be saved in the end, will receive something greater than what was lost in Adam. And God ordained the fall of the world just as much as He ordained the redemption of the inanimate world and of His elect.
December 17, 2012
December 5, 2012
Omnipresence gets a review!
Check out the first review of my book.
TZ
SDG
November 29, 2012
FREE ELECTRONIC BOOK
http://www.amazon.com/The-Omnipresenc...
Blessings, all in Christ.,
TZ
SDG
FREE BOOK
You can get the electronic book free for the next few days only!!!!
See:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Omnipresence-Jesus-Christ-ebook/dp/B008HK6JV4/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_1
TZ
SDG
November 21, 2012
The Omnipresence of Jesus Christ [my book's title].
Recently, I created a facebook page to use for promoting my book. I am an unknown author who has finally decided to self-publish in the least expensive way. I will not have huge campaigns or the expertise of marketing professionals pushing the work, so to speak. For this and other reasons I thought that a page dedicated to the book would be a way of generating interest.
It did not take long for someone to write on the page and to suggest that I am advocating heresy. Indeed, I was a little surprised by that. What is more alarming is that the basis on which the accusation came my way was simply the title of the book. Maybe this person has never heard of “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover” or some such adage! Nevertheless, I thought I would engage them in some friendly banter to see if I could urge them to take a look at the work and maybe their fears would be silenced. Rather than take me up on the suggestion, I was shelled once again with presumption and speculation as to what the content of my work included with the fierce claim that I am propounding theological error. All of this while insisting that he will not read what I have written. This similar type of exchange went on repeatedly with four or five posts back and forth. I am rather mystified by it all!
So, this has been, quite simply, remarkable. I must admit that during my short life I have often been put off by a book’s title while perusing volumes at the local store but I would at least pick it up and examine whether my initial unfriendly stance had true justification. I was merely employing the golden rule! I would not want someone to judge my work and think it incorrect merely by looking at the title or the cover and nothing more.
Maybe controversy will lead to more interest, but that is not what I envisioned, especially this early on, and moreover, not from someone that hasn’t the decency to at least look the thing over. Well, I concluded with the best response I could muster: I offered the disagreeable person a free copy if they would provide their address. I hope this does not lead to a host of others telling me how bad my theology is based on my title or typescript or template, because I cannot do for everyone what I have offered to the first of my theological sparring partners. I do hope I get some readers. After all, that is why writers write!
