Tag: Book

Quotes from Elsa Tamez – Justification as Good News for Women

“It is noteworthy that Paul uses the word “sin” in chapter three of Romans but not before then. In Rom 1-2 he speaks only of injustice.” p178

“What is needed to be free from this sin is a radical transformation of patriarchal, racist and sexist society.” p180

“Women reject the notion of sacrificial love and self-abnegation because these values are imposed upon them by the ideology of the dominant society. These duties are laws from which women seek liberation without any feelings of guilt. Therefore, to speak to them of the grace of God is a liberating message for women.” p185

McGinn, Sheila E. and Robert Jewett. Celebrating Romans: Template for Pauline Theology : Essays in Honor of Robert Jewett. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2004.

Quotes from Inhabiting the Cruciform God

“To paraphrase Dietrich Bonhoeffer, parts of the Christian church have become enamored with cheap justification. Cheap justification is justification without justice, faith without love, declaration without transformation.” p41

“So what is justification for Paul? For Pual, I would contend, justification means the establishment or restoration of right covenant relations, both “verticial” or theological (toward God) and also, inseparably, “horizontal” or social (toward others) – what Paul most frequently calls “pistis” and “agape” – with the certain hope of ultimate vindication and glory, all understood in light of, and experienced through, Christ and the Spirit.” p52-3

“Justification for Paul may be defined as follows: the establishment or restoration of right covenantal relations – fidelity to God and love for neighbour – with the certain hope of acquittal/vindication on the day of judgement.” p53

Gorman, Michael J. Inhabiting the Cruciform God : Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul’s Narrative Soteriology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009.

Quotes from John Piper – The Future of Justification

“We all wear colored glasses – most wear glasses colored by tradition; some wear glasses colored by anti-tradition; and some wear glasses colored by our emerging, new reconstruction of reality. Which of these ways of seeing the world is more seductive, I don’t know. Since they exist in differing degrees, from one time to the next, probably any of them can be overpowering at a given moment.” p17

Piper, John. The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright. Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2008.

(I didn’t read this entire book cover to cover, I read it alongside of N.T Wright’s Justification)

Quotes from ‘The Substance of Things Seen’ – Robin Jensen

A handful of quotes from Robin Jensen’s book, ‘The Substance of Things Seen’. Within this short book, Robin shows the importance of art in the history of the church, and how it still relates today.

“Straight lines are only in mathematics. Creation is full of crooked, broken, or curly lines.” p11

“Art is an activity that gives form to the abstract, brings it out into the external world, so that it may be seen and judged.” p18

“Stories or texts are understood to bear a variety of meanings, depending on the context and the audience’s level of sophistication and spiritual discernment. Visual art that draws from these narratives operates in the same fashion. Sometimes the images are edited, abbreviated, juxtaposed, or transformed to make the point.” p40

“Visual images raise special concerns, not only because we might mistake earthly things for the spiritual truths they point to but because of their great power.” p74

“The illustrations in a Sunday school curriculum, the fronts of bulletin covers, and the illustrations attached to daily meditation manuals all affect the ways people hear or read their sacred stories and shape their conception of the divine.” p91

Jensen, Robin Margaret. The Substance of Things Seen: Art, Faith, and the Christian Community. Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2004.