J.J. Slauerhoff - Poète maudit tussen wal en schip

Wie zich verdiept in de Slauerhoff-biografieën, struikelt over ruzies en verbroken contacten. Hij was een moeilijk mens om mee te leven, nukkig en vaak zwartgallig. Voortdurend ontevreden - over het leven, maar vooral over zichzelf. Als hij een boek over Vasco da Gama recenseert, vraagt hij zich af: ‘Waarom vlucht een mens eigenlijk? Wel wetend dat er niet te vluchten valt, dat hij altijd even dicht bij zichzelf is?’

[Opgediept uit de oude floppydoos, een artikel dat ik schreef voor literair-cultureel tijdschrift Icarus, bij het verschijnen van Wim Hazeu's biografie van Slauerhoff, 1997]

Salvation & the Trinity (4): Thomas G. Weinandy - The Father’s Spirit of Sonship

In the last few posts, I explored the trinitarian proposals of Moltmann and Pannenberg, for these seem to be promising for a New Wine theology. But I concluded that a refinement of their proposals is sorely needed, if their proposals to understand the substance of salvation from the intratrinitarian perichoresis is to be adopted in a soteriological framework for vindicating the charismatic renewal of New Wine.
A study that really might be helpful at this point, is Thomas G. Weinandy’s The Father’s Spirit of Sonship: Reconceiving the Trinity. Weinandy is a charismatic Catholic scholar. One of the greatest benefits of Weinandy’s concise study is that it clarifies and concretizes the relevance of the doctrine of the Trinity for the individual believer and the life of the church, and that he does so in soteriological terms.

Salvation & the Trinity (3): Problems with the proposals of Moltmann and Pannenberg

The proposals of Moltmann and Pannenberg to reconceive the Trinity in "social" or "relational" terms have been influential, and they seem promising for our quest for a systematic-theological framework for the charismatic renewal of New Wine. But their proposals have met with profound criticism too - at which points are their proposals problematic for a New Wine theology? A concise overview in five clusters.

[Part 14 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

Salman Rushdie bevecht de leegte met verbeelding

Wie herinnert zich het Boekenweekgeschenk van 2001? Een knappe roman van Salman Rushdie, Woede - over het kwaad in de wereld, dat in ons eigen hart blijkt te schuilen. Niet in persoonlijke schuld of zonde, zoals het christelijk geloof stelt, maar in het onvermogen om de eigen eindigheid en betekenisloosheid te aanvaarden. We hebben Grote Verhalen nodig om betekenis aan ons leven te geven, maakt Rushdie duidelijk - zolang we er maar niet echt in gaan geloven.

[Opgediept uit de oude floppydoos, een artikel dat ik schreef voor de cultuurbijlage van het Nederlands Dagblad, 9 maart 2001]

Salvation & the Trinity (2): Welcomed into the Divine Embrace - Reconceiving Salvation

The doctrine of the Trinity should be reconceived in terms of the divine perichoresis, Moltmann and Pannenberg argued (see previous post on salvation & the Trinity): The triune God, who created the universe and human being in his image (imago Trinitatis), is characterized by mutual self-giving love - each Person of the Trinity loves, adores and glorifies the others, giving himself to the others, constituting the identity of the others.
This must also lead then to reconceiving our understanding of salvation, they argue. Salvation is to be understood as being welcomed into the trinitarian perichoresis, the “divine embrace of love.” Let's unfold this statement.

[Part 13 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

Salvation & the Trinity (1): The Divine Dance of Love - Reconceiving the Trinity

Reformed theology has argued that all theology begins with the doctrine of God and God's self-revelation. How then is the proposed concept of salvation as wholeness (coming with the Kingdom of God) related to the doctrine of God? Both Moltmann and Pannenberg assert that salvation as wholeness flows from the trinitarian inner being of God, introducing the metaphor of the divine "perichoresis" in modern theology.
In four blogs on salvation & the Trinity, I'll explore how a "perichoretic" trinitarian theology allows for a fuller understanding of the distinct role of the Holy Spirit, shedding new light on charismatic experiences.

[Part 12 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

Tim Keller: Het Evangelie is Kruis en Koninkrijk

Draait het Evangelie nou om zonde, vergeving en bekering (en staat het kruis centraal), zoals gereformeerden en evangelicals graag benadrukken? Of gaat het om het Koninkrijk en sociale gerechtigheid, zoals N.T. Wright en post-evangelicals beweren? Het ene perspectief kan niet zonder het andere, denkt Tim Keller (Redeemer). Op de eerste City to City-conferentie in Europa (Berlijn, 2011), ging Keller hierop in. Een verslag van deze conferentie, eind oktober 2011 in Berlijn (destijds gepubliceerd in cvkoers).

Boeiend godsdienstsociologisch paper over New Wine Nederland

Ruben van de Belt (bachelorstudent theologie aan de VU) schreef een boeiend paper over New Wine Nederland, vanuit godsdienstsociologisch perspectief.
In dit paper vergelijkt hij de positie van New Wine binnen de kleine gereformeerde kerken met die van het Evangelisch Werkverband binnen de PKN (onderzoek van Wilbert van Iperen) - met interessante verschillen. De moeite waard om online te zetten.

Salvation & Eschatology (4): Evangelicals and the Kingdom of God

The theme of the Kingdom of God has been widely picked up within Evangelical (and Reformed) theology. But this hasn't led to a revision of the Evangelical understanding of salvation, as Moltmann and Pannenberg argued it must.
Why has the Evangelical movement picked up the Kingdom-theme so swiftly? And why does it hesisate to revise its soteriology accordingly?
What might be the mistake in Evangelical thinking here?

[Part 11 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

Honger, dorst en duizeling - in de voetsporen van A. den Doolaard en Jacques Balmat

Vlak voor de top van de Mont Blanc, 1992

A. den Doolaard schreef in 1936 zijn roman De grote verwildering, over de eerste beklimming van de Mont Blanc. Met dit prachtige boek in mijn rugzak liftte ik in 1992 met vriend en alpinist Teije Brandsma naar Chamonix om de hoogste berg van Europa te beklimmen. Den Doolaard: "Ik moest de weerbarstigheid van die bergwereld voelen schrijnen langs mijn eigen huid."

[Opgediept uit de oude floppydoos: een reisverhaal annex bespreking van Den Doolaards roman, destijds gepubliceerd in literair-cultureel tijdschrift Icarus.]

Salvation & Eschatology (3): Salvation is the Coming of the Kingdom of God (Pannenberg)

The salvation of God should be understood in terms of the Kingdom of God, both Moltmann and Pannenberg argue. Jesus did not merely come to die for our sins so that his status of righteousness could be imputed to believers (as much of traditional Evangelical and Reformed theology would have it), but he came to actualize God's Kingdom in the world, to bring wholeness of life.

Last week, I explored Moltmann proposal to understand salvation in terms of the messianic Kingdom. In this blog, we'll look into Pannenberg's proposal.

[Part 10 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

Salvation & Eschatology (2): Salvation is the Coming of the Kingdom of God (Moltmann)

The salvation of God should be understood in terms of the Kingdom of God. Salvation is not about souls being salvaged from a lost world (as traditional Evangelical and Reformed piety would sometimes have it), but about God's inbreaking reign in this world.
In philosophical terms: the very substance of salvation is God's reign bringing wholeness of life.

In this blog I'll explore Moltmann's proposal to understand salvation in terms of the (messianic) Kingdom. Next week, I'll explore Pannenberg.

[Part 9 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

Salvation & Eschatology (1): Salvation is for this earth and coming in history

God's goal for us is not that we go to heaven. Our purpose and eternal destiny is on earth. God's salvation, then, is not about souls going to heaven, as in some timeless, spiritual concept of "being saved". Instead, salvation is all about this earth, and it is unfolding in God's history with the world.

In a few blogs, I'll be exploring salvation in eschatological perspective (eschatology = study of the "last things" or "the end of time"), drawing from Jurgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg.

[Part 8 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

L'Afrique Périphérique - Rolf Weijburg

Rolf Weijburg, Lamu Island, colour etching, 1988, 36x50 cm

 Lamu, the languid island off the Swahili coast of Kenya where I stayed several times since the 1990s, captured by graphic artist Rolf Weijburg in an etching that is reminiscent of drawings by explorers and adventurers in colonial times but honestly reflects todays realities, too. It's one of the etchings in an awesome book by Weijburg, who travelled the islands around the African continent, L'Afrique Périférique (Galerie PETIT, Amsterdam).

How to Understand Salvation? A Great Diversity in Biblical Language

The wide array of diverse (and sometimes seemingly conflicting) conceptions of salvation within the Christian tradition points at the complexity of the Biblical language on salvation. Firstly, it is not that easy to grasp the meaning of the Greek word that is translated with “salvation”, soteria. Secondly, there is a wide variety of Biblical metaphors to describe what actually happens when salvation is brought about.

So what language does the Bible use to refer to God's "salvation"?

[Part 7 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

"God is er voor de aarde". Een interview met Boeli van Leeuwen

"Het is een dor eiland waarop ik geboren ben, schraal als het lichaam van een opgroeiende jongen; weerbarstig van droogte en verschroeid door het licht," schreef Boeli van Leeuwen (1922-2007) ooit. En zo is het. Curaçao ligt als een fossiel in de blauwe Caraïbische Zee. Een eeuwige noordoostpassaat waait er dwars overheen en verzengt elke vorm van leven die te uitbundig dreigt te worden.

Opgediept uit de oude floppydoos: Een interview dat ik in 1996 had met Boeli van Leeuwen op Curacao, gepubliceerd in o.a. Icarus en cvkoers.

Zoekend naar de Vader. De genadeloze romans van Boeli van Leeuwen

De Curaçaose schrijver Boeli van Leeuwen groeide op in een niet-christelijk gezin. Maar toen hij romans begon te schrijven, bleken die tot zijn verbijstering maar om één ding te kunnen draaien: zijn relatie met God de Vader. Die is gerust moeizaam te noemen. 'Voor mij is Hij de rots der struikeling en de steen des aanstoots. Hij is (…) het grondprobleem in mijn leven, want door Zijn onbegrijpelijkheid is mijn leven vaak bitter geweest als gal.'

Opgediept uit de oude floppydoos: Een artikel dat ik in 1997 schreef over de romans van Boeli van Leeuwen, gepubliceerd in het Nederlands Dagblad.

How to Understand Salvation? Critiques on a Narrow Understanding

In the previous post in this series, we saw that "salvation" has often narrowly been understood in terms of "justification" (Reformed theology),  or "saving souls" (Evangelical theology). Over the past decades, this narrow understanding has increasingly been criticized, both by Western and non-Western theologians.

God's salvation, it has been argued, must be understood to comprise social justice, healing, and/or ecology.

[Part 6 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

How to Understand Salvation? A Typological Overview

New Wine understands God's salvation as "wholeness of life", but this is a contested concept. For mainstream Protestant theologians - and maybe even more so for the Evangelical and Reformed theologians among them - embracing the concept of “salvation as wholeness” isn’t obvious at all. In fact, it is a concept that is mostly overlooked and if not overlooked, it is often contested because of specific theological concerns.

How do the Orthodox-Reformed, Evangelical and Modern Protestant traditions perceive "salvation"? A typological overview.

[Part 5 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]

New Wine and Salvation as Wholeness

Theological debates on charismatic renewal tend to focus on its most striking features, such as practices of prophecy, speaking in tongues, healing and deliverance. My PhD-research on New Wine theology takes a different perspective, namely that of soteriology: How is salvation defined, and how does it function?

[Part 4 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]