A Provocative Philosophical Case for the Divinity of Jesus
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Richard Swinburne's book, Was Jesus God?, argues on a partially a priori basis that he was indeed. At first glance, this sounds ludicrous, but the argument is actually something like this:  Given that God exists and has these particular traits, it then follows that, for a variety of reasons, Jesus was God.

For example, Swinburne argues that a morally perfect, omnipotent, and omniscient God would be expected to share in our suffering and respond to it and our wrongdoing by living a human life. And this is precisely what has happened in the case of Jesus of Nazareth. If God had done such a thing, and a human prophet was also God, then we would also expect that God would confirm this via a divine signature as an endorsement of the life and teachings of that prophet. This is what we see in the resurrection of Jesus, which seems to obviously be an event that could only be brought about by God, i.e. a miracle. And given the further evidence for the historicity of the Resurrection, Swinburne states that "...even if the prior probability of the existence of God is quite a bit less than 1/4, the historical evidence will still make it more probable than not that Jesus was God Incarnate" (p. 133).

The book ends as follows:

  I conclude that the fact that the later Church taught the other items of the Nicene Creed in no way detracts from the very probable truth of the central claim of the Nicene Creed (made, I have claimed, very probable on other grounds) that Jesus was God (that is, a divine person). From that it follows, since no divine person can cease to be divine, that Jesus is God (p. 170).

I enjoyed this book, though at points I was not sure what to make of it. Someone not holding Swinburne's views about religion might simply view the whole project as defective and somehow question-begging. But it surely is not the latter. There is a provocative argument here that is worth considering. If there are a priori grounds for the claim that Jesus was and is God, given classical monotheism, then this is significant for many reasons, one of which is that most arguments for this claim are historical.
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Calvinism: A Road to Nowhere is an extraordinary book which reflects a brilliant theological mind and a meticulously careful analysis of God's Word.  It offers a persuasive presentation of God's diligent efforts to draw all men to Himself--and man's responsibility to respond in faith to these efforts.  Page after page I found myself saying "what a powerful analysis" or "what an amazing statement about the nature of God" or "what a beautifully-crafted argument."  Though the book's primaty focus is a critique of the Soteriology of Calvinism, it also (perhaps unknowingly to the author) provides a superlative treatise on the additional topics of Theology, Christology, Pneumatology, Anthropology, Hamartiology, and even Israelology.  This wider scope of analysis, in my view, is one of the geniuses of the book--and is another reason why every seminary student, pastor, minister, elder, Bible teacher, and hungry-hearted believer should read it.
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Through a remarkable mix of compassionate pastoral sensitivity and per- ceptive, crisp analysis, Brad Jersak reintroduces his readers in A More Christlike God to the ancient yet living voices that have parsed a crucial theological issue: what God is like. Routinely overlooked and taken for grantedoften to our perildiscerning what God is truly like among the cacophony of available theistic representations requires space for honest, unsanitized inquiry.

In his colloquial writing style, Jersak provides this space, writing a book not simply to push his views on others or listen to himself talk, but to sincerely engage a myriad of legitimate objections and misgivings over the seemingly schizophrenic deity portrayed in the Scriptures.

Befitting the moniker of Christianity, Jersak eventually concludes that God is like Christthe image of the invisible God whose humanity reveals his divinity, whose self-emptying is an expression of the divine virtues of humility, patience, mercy, compassion, and love.
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David Jensen provides a nuanced, thoroughly theological reading of the possibilities of sexuality in the light of Gods desire for us. Jensen opens his book by stating, This book  offers another interpretation of sexual desire, grounded in the beauty of Gods desire revealed in Christs incarnation. At the heart of Christian faith is a wondrous claim that Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. This divine embrace of human flesh entails the blessing of sexual life: not as something to escape in order to attain salvation, but to nurture as we grow in faith. (ix) Suspicion has often made the Christian church behave as if sex were the most important thing in Christian life, but Jensen wants to argue that it is part of the broad tapestry of Christian life. He observes that both pro- and anti-GLBTQ arguments mirror the same rhetoric: a citation of biblical texts, tradition, and behaviors as right or wrong. However, very few examine a systematic theology of sexuality. Jensen seeks instead to deconstruct the present discourse and, more importantly, to reconstruct a positive theology of sexuality from past traditions.

Judging by other reviews on this site, many of Jensens readers are coming at his book with a set of preconceived notions about what Scripture does or doesnt say about sexual behavior  precisely the set of arguments that Jensen observes in his book that 1) aren't accurate to an authentic, wide-ranging reading of the Bible and 2) are not working in fostering discussion in a deeply divided church. Jensen instead turns to a reading of the biblical story and the history of Christian writing as one of Gods desire for us and our desire for God. He rejects Anders Nygrens distinction between eros and agape, insisting that they are one and the same  including Gods desire for us as particular individuals. Sex for Christians is neither taboo nor particularly holy in and of itself, but part of the woven tapestry of life in which all things are connected to God. He rejects stable notions of sexuality and being, instead observing that our selves and our sexuality are complex, created, constantly evolving things  whether we are called to marriage, celibacy, or a complex singleness.

Jensens work is overall sensitive, well-written, and carefully addresses the multiple possibilities of the issues at hand. He stumbles a bit when discussing his concept of the rhythms of marriage  an argument that isn't quite clear, but seems to want to make the case that we don't have to have sexual desire for the other person all the time every day (a welcome counter to contemporary pressure for more, better, faster). Readers of all persuasions and hermeneutics will find something to be challenged by here, whether steadfast defenders of celibacy outside of marriage or radical reinterpreters of a total free-love model. But those with the patience and the courage to read outside their preconceived boxes will find a lovely and useful new theological framework on which to hang their ideas about our sensual, embodied love for God, for the world, and for each other.
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I think that I finally have figured out Bishop Spong's message in his book "Jesus for the Non-Religious".

At first, the message is elusive and confusing. He thoroughly deconstructs the Gospels until only a sparse, thoroughly humanistic shell remains. He reduces all traditional religion to "Theism", which is human-conceived explanation of God. He develops a theory that the Gospels evolved as a portrait of Jesus painted on the canvas of traditional Jewish prophetic expectations concerning the Messiah, and thus are meant to be interpreted as liturgy, not literal history.

When Spong pronounces Christianity as dying, the reader is left to wonder why he is not now promoting Buddhism or Atheism - what on earth could be left in Christianity to be a follower of? Yet Spong stubbornly proclaims and defends a new, "Non-Religious" belief in Jesus that he claims is suitable for the 21st century and beyond.
Why this seeming grasping at straws to retain and reshape a form of Christianity?

Spong offers clues in the chapter titled "Who is the God met in Jesus?". First he summarizes a thoroughly materialistic and Darwinistic understanding of the Origin of Life. He proposes that theism originated in the moment that primates became self-aware, when they began pondering the existential dilemma of life.

While understandably rejecting theistic notions of God as inadequate, Spong hints at his own seeker's journey in a later chapter, "The Cross:A Human Portrait of the Love of God". He speaks of Life, Love and Being as indications of a "transcendent reality".

At this point it finally dawned on me what Spong was trying to say: From the heart of a confirmed materialist and existentialist, springs the pining of a seeker who suspects there is a larger, transcendent truth about life to be discerned.

So join the seeker's club, my dear Bishop. You are in good company. My only question is, why not just be honest and put it all on the table? I applaud his deconstruction of orthodox theism, and insightful analysis of the messianic-based liturgical thinking that guided the Gospel authors. I even respect his spirited defense of the historicity of Jesus, despite my own serious doubts on this.

What I would call into question is what appears to be Spong's own personal version of theism - selectively constructing a "historical" view of Jesus from the very Gospels, which he has painstakingly dismissed as "liturgical" and not to be taken as literal narrative. His attempt to project his own transcendental truth on this Gospel story character known as Jesus falls painfully short - and begs the obvious question: why?

I hesitate to speculate as to Bishop Spong's internal thought process in an attempt to answer this question. Could it be his years invested as a clergyman making it difficult to completely renounce his traditional faith? Could it be something else entirely that he could not or would not articulate? In any case, it seems likely to entail something beyond what was addressed in the book - the incongruity is simply too large to ignore.

I can only suggest that he give some thought to letting go of the last shards of traditional religion, and turn his search inward, to consider the true spirituality of the Soul. A good place to begin is with Bernard Haisch's book, "The God Theory".
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In short, this is a brief history on the repetitive and devastating effects dualism has had on Western culture and theology.

Classic philosophical dualism has tainted the Western worldview ever since its earliest philosophers started speculating on the nature of matter. The result has been pejorative, undermining everything from scientific models of the universe, to linguistic and mathematical theories, to how we envision our relationship with the divine and to how we perceive one another.

In A World Split Apart, theologian-historian, M. James Sawyer invites our Western culture to superintend the remarriage of matter and spirit after 2500 years of a separation attributed to irreconcilable differences. Then, he invites us to a grand reception in which we will all be able to participate in a perichoretic dance in union with the Trinity.

Sawyer calls us to stop baltering around with our dualist-deterministic thinking, to paradigm shift back into the incarnational spirit of Nicene theology, to fully embrace a humble epistemology and to enjoy the propinquity available with our onto-relational God.

Andy Barlow
linguist-Bible translator
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In theology, the person who sets the terms of the discussion is often the one with the most power.  The person who creates the new definitions has incredible influence on the remainder of the conversation.  In this book, the authors attempt to comprehensively view the narratives of both the Old and New Testament as theological markers pointing to Jesus.  This is not new theology, but it does have an important and nuanced twist:  The Old Testament has critical value due to it's pointing to Jesus.  In Christian scholarship, there is often an "either/or" delineation of importance with the Hebrew Scriptures.  But, the authors choose to insure that the whole text is read with the desire to see Jesus.  Regardless of agreement with the theological presuppositions and conclusions, this is an important book to guide discussions on how the text functions as a holistic, comprehensive work.
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Smullyan addresses important questions about religion in a charmingly non-dogmatic manner. At the same time, he makes clear his own deeply held belief, which I share, that no one deserves eternal punishment. I think he needs to say more, however, about his claim that morality is not necessary for someone who has attained a high stage of spiritual development. It makes sense that someone who is highly developed spiritually will not even be tempted to do the wrong thing, but clear thinking about morality could still be necessary in order to know what is the right thing to do in a particular situation.
Smullyan's explanation of why he believes in an afterlife is thought-provokingly simple. He says that he can form no idea whatsoever of his own non-existence. This makes me wonder what form my existence might have taken before I was born.
Other intriguing ideas that Smullyan advances include: that it is more rational to believe in an evolving God than in a perfect God; that whether the miracles reported in the Bible actually took place is irrelevant to the question of whether Jesus is the incarnation of God; that it is more consistent with monotheism to suppose that no one is an incarnation of God; that the most plausible and promising religious, mystical, or metaphysical idea yet proposed is Richard Bucke's idea that humans who experience cosmic consciousness are evolutionary forerunners.
His writing style is enriched with humorous anecdotes. I heartily recommend this entertaining and important book.
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Recently, I received a review copy of The Incarnation of God by John Clark and Marcus Johnson from Crossway. I had been looking forward to reading this work and was not dissapointed!

Often when the doctrine of Christology is presented, the focus is on the deity of Christ in relation to his obedience, death, and resurrection. Even looking at the modern church calendar, much focus is given to Easter and the time leading up. Its no surprise when Clark and Johnson write:

Modern Christians routinely find themselves in a subtle state of malaise regarding the enfleshment of God in the person of Jesus Christ, in that their ongoing affirmation of this essential feature of Christian orthodoxy is coupled with an ever-increasing vagueness as to its significance and implications. (pg. 46)

It is this important doctrine that Johnson and Clark seek to reintroduce to the modern church; a truth that has implications for ones own spiritual formation and discipleship. A doctrine that impacts how one lives their life. Looking to Jesus, we see what it means to be truly human.

Because we have been consecrated in body and soul by Christs consecration of his body and soul for us, we are to render what Calvin called the finest worship of God. This worship entails prayer, praise, faith, obedience, service to our neighbor, and mutual love, care, and intercession for fellow believersa comprehensive self-offering in grateful response for Christs once-for-all self-offering for us. (Pg. 326-27)

An issue within the modern church has been the lack of proper study and teaching on the doctrine of the incarnation. With a lack of instruction, individuals default to believe whatever makes the most sense to them.  I myself had fallen into this trap. There is much richness and history (as is shown in Johnson and Clarks work) that guides and helps individuals to form a proper understanding.

While reading, I found myself responding in praise and worship to our Great God. A proper view of who God is should lead to nothing else but praise and worship.
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The Institute of Christian Studies is housed in a small, nondescript historical building in downtown Toronto.  Small as its structure appears to be, it feeds and fosters great minds, minds which can develop deep and applicable Christian philosophy.  This compendium tackles philosophy in the post-modern world, unashamedly proclaiming faith as the centre of philosophy.
Coming from a generally a Reformed, and particularly, a Dooyweerdian perspective, these essays delve into areas that traditional philosophy often hesitates to tread.  In doing so, however, by grasping at the advantages of proclaiming truth within a community that postmoderity allows, Olthius has brought together great minds for a great read.
 This is not an easy work, especially for those who are not at least somewhat familiar with philosophy.  And those who do not subscribe to Christianity may find this attempt brazenly subjective.  I think that this is the point.  For once, THESE philosophers admit to subjectivity as such.  There is no such thing as objectivity.
 Read, think and Enjoy!
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The debate over free will has raged ever since Pelagius recoiled at the prayer of Augustine: "Grant what thou commandest and command what thou doest grant."  Thaddeus J. Williams enters into the discussion with his excellent book, Love, Freedom, and Evil.

Williams show graciousness and charity throughout as he refuses to caricature his opponents, namely - theologians who embrace the notion of libertarian free will, i.e. the power of contrary choice. The author refers to libertarian free will as the "Axiom of Libertarian Love," which he defines at the outset: "Any agent, A, must possess libertarian free will to love or refrain from loving another agent, B, if A's love for B is to count as authentic."  The central aim of William's work is to dismantle this argument.

Williams cuts through a wide range of philosophers, theologians, and Christian writers - from Pelagius and Cassius to Norm Geisler and Rob Bell.  He is to be commended for keeping an extremely complicated topic accessible for readers willing to put forth the effort.

In part one, the author argues the notion of libertarian free will actually militates against authentic love: "Libertarian free will, which seemed like a requirement of authentic love from a pre-analytical perspective, turns out to be a significant threat to authentic love."

Part two examines whether the idea of libertarian free will has the theological endurance when subjected to deep biblical insight, what Williams refers to as "depth capacity."  The old Pelagian argument that "ought" implies "can" is addressed with the full weight of biblical authority.

Finney's flawed anthropology is exposed, namely - that sinners have "the natural ability to obey God."  Williams unravel's Finney's argument by making an appeal to John's gospel.  He adds, "Can the notion that `ought implies can' breath at the depth of John 6:44?"  The contextual answer is a resounding no!

The author turns to Luther to expose the erroneous views concerning liberty in Erasmus:  "For Luther, imperatives do not lead to the libertarian conclusion that `ought implies can,' but rather: Ought exposes cannot, and cannot exposes the need for radical grace."

Williams insight is something akin to Luther's: "From this `ought exposes cannot' perspective, God is not like a bully commanding a blind man to behold the Sistine Chapel for sadistic pleasure.  Rather, the picture of God comes closer to that of a compassionate optometrist who commands a blind patient to behold the Sistine Chapel before restoring his sight.  The impossible command serves the vital function of demonstrating who deserves all credit once the patient marvels at the painted ceiling with clear eyes."  The remaining chapters deal with the tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.

Finally, part three focuses on "the scope of divine action in human love."  This section is arguably the most helpful section of the book.  The author alerts the reader to several models of divine action in human love.  He presents the Pelagian, Semi-pelagian, Arminian, Augustinian views and also includes a view that could be construed as Pantheistic.  The tension is presented between divine giving and human coming, divine unifying and human loving, and divine raising and human remaining.

The author succeeds in roundly refuting libertarian free will.  He stands in a long line of godly men who have done the same including Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther, and John Owen.
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The Case For Christ presents some very logical arguments for Christ's existence and his divine nature.  Although all of the data and knowlege possesed by the professors interesting, the omst compelling arguments were perhaps the simpleset, and htose are found in the last chapter of the book.  The disciples dying for their beliefs and the conversion of the skeptics.  The simple fact is that these two things happened.  They simply cannot be refuted, and all scenarios other than the one presented in the gospels does not logicly explain the actions of the disciples or the conversions of Paul and James.  That to me is extremly persuasive.
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St Augustine's City of God portrays the author's metaphysical view of the world being governed or operated by two cities: The City of Man and The City of God. Bifurcating reality into these two spiritual realms which apply to each individual, the City of Man denotes the life lived in temporal pleasures or earthly pursuits devoid of God - whereas the City of God represents the polar opposite, those individuals who seek to live a life of Godly virtue, ethics and morality above all else. An intriguing and thought-provoking read, City of God is a must-read for anyone interested in Christian philosophy, history or theology.
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Bavinck argues that a monistic account of the world cannot ground unity or diversity.  By contrast, the Christian revelation can account for a unity and a diversity that is not located within the phenomenal realm.  Bavinck traces the idea of revelation in its form and content and how it correlates with the rest of life (Bavinck 18). Accordingly, and perhaps truistically, philosophy of revelation takes its starting point from its object:  revelation.

Bavinck then gives a tour-de-force of modern philosophy.  While he firmly rejects these philosophies, he doesn't give hysterical reductions of everything to Pantheism, Hegelianism, Darwinism, Insert-Bad-Guy-ism.  He sees clear advances they make against other secular alternatives.

idealism:  correct in that reality is mediated by consciousness.  False when it infers from that the object of perception is within the mind itself (36).  Idealism confounds act with content.

self-consciousness: the unity of real and ideal being. We know it immediately.  Here Bavinck anticipates later Reformed Epistemology: self-consciousness is a properly basic belief.  We do not know it by reasoning from prior beliefs.

Christian revelation imparts a new kind of certainty (40).  This certainty is a confidence in Gods promises.

Augustines claim on knowing God and the self:
a. Augustine descended beyond thought alone: life precedes thought; faith, knowledge
b. the essence of the soul is not simply thought alone. He found ideas, norms, laws of certainty, truth.
c. Memoria, intellectus, voluntas.

Echoing later neo-Calvinist themes, Bavinck sees that each branch of knowledge (science, theology) has a barrier around it, not a boundary. Each branch must respect its own object of knowledge and character.  Kant unwittingly showed that when science tries to peer into the essence of things, it creates antinomies (57).

The only way unity can preserve true differentiation is when it includes and enfolds the entire world seen as the product of divine wisdom (57-58).

Evaluation:

Bavinck, like Van Til after him, was incapable of giving a precision strike against a target.  Sometimes the chapters seemed to go on and on.  On the other hand, Bavinck, like Van Til, was able to carpet bomb and thoroughly cover an entire area.

Some pages were simply beautiful.  Bavinck has a magnificently stirring section contrasting the Bible with Babylonian magick (112ff).  He writes, "The Bible did not come from Babylon, but in its fundamental thought is in diametrical opposition to Babylon, and made an end to Babylon's spiritual dominion over the peoples." That last clause is crucial: Babylon was never merely a political oppressor, but brought to bear her demonic, albeit immaterial personalities to its politics.

While brief, this book is not particularly easy reading.  Bavinck assumes that you are relatively familiar with continental philosophy in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Further, most of his footnotes are in German, Dutch, or Latin.  Finally, my edition (AlevBooks) has larger pages and more words on a page than you would normally expect.
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A renaissance is occurring in Jesus studies.  In 2004 almost six hundred books came out on Jesus Christ, and over seventy dealt with Christology (the theological study of the person and deeds of Jesus).  People want to know more.  There are questions to answer: Was Jesus God incarnate, or was he an eschatological prophet who proclaimed the imminent end of the world (A. Schweitzer), or was he a prophet of social change (G. Theissen), or was he peasant Jewish cynic philosopher  (J. D. Crossan)?  People want to know.

Thomas Rausch, professor of Catholic Theology at Loyola Marymount University, draws on his background in theology and church history.  His writing, though learned, is engaging, interesting and informed.  Much of Christianity today presents Jesus as God incarnate, thus sacrificing his humanity in order to deify him.  Rausch writes against this... pressing the point,  that to understand Jesus is to start with his Jewish/Palestinian heritage and to follow it through Chalcedon (451 AD) and contemporary theology.

For Thomas Rausch one needs not to start not with a Christology "from above", such as the orthodox statement of faith, the `Apostle's Creed'... i.e.:  "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I  believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord..."  Rather one should start with a Christology "from below"; start with history, and  critically consider the words and works of the Jesus.  He believes that when one learns of the historical Jesus, that is sufficient to reveal Jesus's message, and that message is in itself conductive to faith.

Rausch breaks no new ground, but rather, in a very logical manner puts together the pieces that will helps the reader to understand the Jesus of history and their faith..  Reason alone does not establish faith, but, the act of faith should in itself be reasonable. Highly recommended.
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In The Politics of Jesus, John H. Yoder argues that mainline ethicists have falsely assumed that the Jesus in the gospels fails to present us with a normative social ethic. In his careful study of the gospel of Luke and other scriptures; Yoder shows us that Jesus not only showed us a social ethic, but also that Jesus' ethic was accepted as normative by the early church. In this book, Yoder touches on topics such as peace and justice, Government authority, Paul and subordination, as well as Revelation and an Eschatological theology. Yoder convincingly argues that the Power of God is given as gift, through cross and resurrection, and that the 'handles of history' are not controlled in a cause and effect relationship as is often assumed by so-called 'realist' theologies.
Jesus, the slain Lamb, has conquered... him let us follow.
A truly magnificient account of faithful theology.
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Brian Hines, author of "Return to the One: Plotinus's Guide to God-Realization", has written an excellent interpretation of this mystic philosopher's rational explanation of creation, human life and spiritual longing.  Plotinus argues for the necessity of a return to our source to fulfill the purpose and potential of our lives and describes our spiritual and material condition  in astounding, compelling detail.  The author's interpretaions are scholarly and incisive as he discusses the bracing rigor of the early Greek philosopher's thought in a uniquely humble, unpretentious and good-humored manner.  This riviting and readable book is useful for thinking clearly about the nature and demands of any spiritual discipline, and I highly recommend it to spiritual seekers and strugglers of any persuasion.