Posts by Fred Sanders
Nazianzus on Trinitarian Monotheism (Orat. 29.2)
There’s a crucial text from Gregory of Nazianzus on the unity of the Trinity, found early in his third theological oration (Oration 29, section 2). Coming to terms with this…
Read MoreThe Lady Moyer Lectures
The Moyer Lectures were a series of eighteenth-century London lectures on the doctrine of the Trinity. The lectures were endowed by Lady Rebecca Moyer (d. 1727, widow of Sir Samuel…
Read MoreDisadvantages of a Distinct Pneumatology
There are a few things wrong in this, but try to catch the main point: The widespread desire for an independent doctrine of the Holy Spirit can be satisfied on…
Read MoreDirectional Consubstantiality
The Nicene Creed (381) calls the Son “begotten from the Father” and also “same-in-substance with the Father.” These two phrases can be treated as two claims that are distinct from…
Read MoreNo-Story Eternal Generation (Habitude)
One of the objections we sometimes hear to the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son is that it seems like a story. To say that God the Father…
Read More“Blessed Art Thou, O LORD” (Manton)
Thomas Manton (1620–1677) had a lot to say about human blessedness. His megamassive three-volume commentary on Psalm 119 takes its keynote from that opening beatitude, “Blessed are the undefiled in…
Read More22 Rules from Erasmus’ Enchiridion
Erasmus’ first best-seller was his Enchiridion, or Handbook of the Christian Soldier. He wrote it in 1501 and published it in 1503, safely before the Reformation began rumbling. It was…
Read MoreWhat the Son Has From the Father
Athanasius’ In Illud Omnia is fantastic. Too bad it got stuck w/no context & a non-title. Personally, I refer to it as “What the Son Has from the Father.” Here’s…
Read MoreGod is Like What God Does
To what shall we compare God? This is a question about analogies. And we shouldn’t treat God as an inert entity about which we can only know by way of…
Read MoreFrom Accurate to More Accurate
I was invited to give the charge to the graduates at the 56th annual commencement service for the Los Angeles Bible Training School. Here’s the main point I made. It’s…
Read MoreMatthew 28:19 in Nazianzus’ Theological Orations
Gregory of Nazianzus has a very special way of using the phrase, “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” in his Five Theological Orations. The phrase is of course…
Read More“Not Disturbed, But Instructed:” Leo the Great on Appropriations
In Leo the Great’s first Pentecost sermon from the year 444 (Sermon 75), he graphically narrates the details of the advent of the Holy Spirit: wind, flame, foreign speech, and…
Read MoreBehold the Father’s Love
I can easily sing “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” w/a clear theological conscience. Always have. What do I do when I get to the line, “the Father turns…
Read MoreThoughts on Moltmann’s The Crucified God
I recently led a discussion on Jürgen Moltmann’s book The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology. Here are some notes I took…
Read MoreFrom Son to Word via Synoptic Jubilation
A Biblical Path to the Triune God (CUA Press, 2022): Denis Farkasfalvy (Hungarian-born Cistercian who taught in Texas) finished this 100-pager just before dying in May 2020 (at age 83,…
Read MoreWilhelmus à Brakel on the Spirit as Breath
In his excellent discussion of the Holy Spirit (in volume one of his four-volume The Christian’s Reasonable Service, pages 166-174), Wilhelmus à Brakel places special emphasis on how the Spirit’s…
Read MoreSo Interesting, In Principle
In Preface to Paradise Lost Chapter 10, “Milton and Augustine,” C.S. Lewis summarizes, for the instruction of modern literary readers of Milton, just how thoroughly Augustinian Milton is being in…
Read MoreUnion with Christ, Systematically Considered
I’m giving the 2022 Norton Lectures at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. (I’ll update this page with links as they become available.) The title I’ve chosen for the suite of three…
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