By: Bill Burrows

Bill Burrows — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 02:15:01 +0000

A good review of a good book by another great theologian. I think Yong’s last thoughts here are critical. Volf finds himself in an institution where theology is fundamentally rooted in what one might call realized eschatology. That is to say, eschatology is about a rebirth of humanity and the world already accomplished, and it’s up to us to carry out the process. My own adviser, Langdon Gilkey, used to say, that in this version of Christianity God has been moved from transcendence into history and ethics becomes all-important. Volf is certainly not promoting that, but I wonder if his situation in a place like Yale Divinity School does not put him in a situation like Gilkey, who once told me he refrained from discussing “futurist eschatology” because University of Chicago Divinity School students (this was the late ’70s and early 80s would think he was hopelessly behind the times. Conservative thinkers (among whom I put myself in many ways) believe that the renewal of the world will occur in the future along lines prefigured in the Resurrection and the followers of Jesus proclaim their hope in that future eschatological event. We’re in a situation where one cannot prove either view is right or wrong. Add in the Muslim belief that Jesus is only a prophet and you’re in a situation of virtual incommensurability, at least in the finer points of eschatology. The categories are difficult, maybe impossible to compare, but it seems to me that whether Jews or Muslims believe God exists in triunity, Muslims, Jews, and Christians fundamentally believe in different aspects of the one God. If not, Christians must take the position that Christianity has completeley superseded Judaism, and that is something that the Apostle Paul simply will not hear of.

By: Raul Mock

Raul Mock — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 02:15:01 +0000

On January 28, 2016, Miroslav Volf tweeted (@MiroslavVolf):
See @Amosyong’s fine review of *Allah* https://t.co/VI02FvQAo3. Agreed fully; like he, I think that the scandal of Christ’s divinity remains

Comments on: Miroslav Volf: Allah

By: Bill Burrows

By: Raul Mock