The Commons : 08/08/2026
This used to be “Open Blogging” but that has started to feel dated.
I feel kind of dated myself, but I digress…
If this is a “community of faith” then we need a place to gather and say whatever is on our minds.
We like to hear what you’re thinking…welcome to “The Commons”.
Still working on a graphic…
Please pray for my wife and I. She is in her second stay in the hospital since late July with a brain condition. This is emotionally draining me. Thank you.
Michael, thank you for having this forum open.
Dan, I’m praying for your wife and you.
Somewhere Barth said faith is not a human achievement, but entirely the work of God. I hang onto that theological affirmation; it’s essential to my understanding of who God is, and my practice of believing in and living for and in Jesus Christ.
So the DOJ has dropped all misdemeanor and felony vandalism charges against those falsely accused in the Reflecting Pool fiasco. Another shameful episode in the chronicles of the Trump administrations misdeeds. And Trump wants the DOJ to reopen the vandalism investigation, because he loves to make innocent people suffer in the cause of supporting his false narratives. What a twisted human being, and what a disgraceful POTUS.
Robert F,
There is some consolation in knowing that Barth’s words will far outlive Trump’s…
Well, in keeping with a neo-orthodox/dialectical theology thread, James Clarke & Co has been bringing Emil Brunner’s books back into print. Justice & The Social Order is back in print after a rather long hiatus.
Alister McGrath has mentioned in several books that though Barth was the more popular of the two, theologians and biblical scholars have been coming around to the idea that in the Barth/Brunner debate Brunner had the stronger historical and interpretive arguments, though McGrath is convinced neither of the B’s were at their best in that debate, so the debate about natural theology can be read as a case study of how two of the best Swiss Reformed theologians of the 20th century both screwed up how they handled a significant debate.
We can take some encouragement from that, I suspect.
Not coincidentally I’m going through an Alister McGrath book on types of natural theology lately.
WenatcheeTheHachet,
Later in life, in his The Humanity of God, Barth quietly and without fanfare or repudiating his former claim seemed to re-contextualize his early assertion re: the absolute otherness of God. This would imply an incipient reworking of his positions on natural theology and a “point of contact” between human beings and God, though he never made any of this explicit in later writings.
By prosecuting his war against Iran, Trump has done more to increase the power and influence of the Iranian regime than any other POTUS, or all of them put together. Quite an achievement.
WTH,
Fewer and fewer people have read either Barth or Brunner…not knowing that in some way, both have influenced what they believe…
Thank you Robert F.
Looks like I need to go back and brush up on Barth. I read him in college-50 years ago! Brunner’s name is familiar, but I don’t remember reading him.
I return to school 8/17, with limited mobility (but I’m improving- just very slow!), my wheelchair, and my walker. I did this the 2002/03 school year, and I was a lot younger then. I’d appreciate prayers for a good adjustment and doing my job well.
I am praying for you, Linn.
“I am saved by God’s faithfulness, not primarily by my faith,” writes Miroslav Volf. And he also writes, “My faith is a fruit of God’s faithfulness, not the condition of God’s arrival in my soul…” — from Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian, by Miroslav Volf and Christian Wiman
Linn,
Praying for you always…
Robert F,
That’s a great book…
Prayer request; The area affected today by the 7.4 quake in Colombia-Cali-is where I worked as a missionary from 1985-1992. So far, the death toll is fairly low. The Colombian church organization I worked with is mobilizing for a big recovery effort. Please pray for them.
Linn,
Praying…
LInn,
Praying