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b1e0fc0
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Lewis wanted us to understand that the inner world is shaped by stories.
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narrative
thought-life
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Alister E. McGrath |
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ce584e6
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Yet Lewis quickly realised that he was being forced to develop his critical thinking, based on evidence and reason rather than his personal intuitions.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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2fcfbcb
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The printed word was integral to the spreading of the ideas of the Reformation across the religious and political boundaries of Europe. Martin Luther never visited England, yet his ideas were brought there through books that were smuggled in through eastern ports such as Ipswich and pored over in nearby Cambridge University. Calvin
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Alister E. McGrath |
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8a7a7a1
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Around this time, the term "Calvinism" was used by its opponents to refer to the Reformed type of Protestantism as a means of emphasizing that it originated from outside Germany. The term appears to have been introduced around 1552 by the Lutheran polemicist Joachim Westphal to refer to the theological, and particularly the sacramental, views of the Swiss reformers in general, and of John Calvin in particular.27"
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Alister E. McGrath |
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2767966
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Without the advent of printing, there would have been no Reformation, and there might well have been no Protestantism either.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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194d92d
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Life is about more than just understanding things: it is about being able to cope with ambiguity and bewilderment, and about finding something worthwhile to give us direction and meaning.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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154cf9b
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From this brief account of the origins of the English Reformation under Henry VIII, it will be clear that there are reasons for supposing that Henry's agenda was political, dominated by his desire to safeguard his succession and secure his own authority throughout his kingdom. Through
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Alister E. McGrath |
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060800b
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Lewis's appeal is to our imaginations.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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a8f8024
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The New Testament develops two interrelated themes. First, the Christian faith shows us the way things really are. This is about revelation, coming to see things properly. But revelation alone doesn't change our situation. Christianity doesn't just tell us that we are sinful; it offers forgiveness. It doesn't just tell us that we are in prison; it throws open the doors so that we can go free. This is what the New Testament calls salvation, ..
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Alister E. McGrath |
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bcaa53f
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The burdens of taxation, the lack of due representation, and the desire for freedom were unquestionably integral ingredients in the accumulation of grievances that drove many colonials to take up arms against the king.22 Yet religious issues also played their part, not least in intensifying a sense of injustice over the privileged status of the Church of England in the British colonies.23
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Alister E. McGrath |
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778b0fb
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Later Protestant writers would refer to this as the articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae--the "article by which the church stands or falls."
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Alister E. McGrath |
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e24f71a
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An exception to this was the English community in Geneva, which attracted approximately one-quarter of the emigres; it was hailed by John Knox as "the most perfect school of Christ," the finest embodiment of a Christian society since the time of the New Testament. The"
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Alister E. McGrath |
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ad3aed2
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It was not long before the possibly serious translation errors uncovered in the Vulgate threatened to force revision of existing church teachings. Erasmus pointed out some of these in 1516. An excellent example is found in the Vulgate translation of the opening words of Jesus's ministry in Galilee (Matthew 4:17) as: "do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This translation creates a direct link between the coming of God's kingdom..
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Alister E. McGrath |
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8c8f75e
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How does humanity find God and enter into a relationship with him--a relationship that delivers humanity once and for all from fear of death, hell, or damnation? Luther is adamant: this relationship is made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and is appropriated through faith. For
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Alister E. McGrath |
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48476e2
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One of the great themes of the Christian Bible is that, whenever God asks us to do something for him, he gives us the gifts we need to do it. Knowing us for what we are, he equips us for what he wants us to do.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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ecf8adf
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To speak of "the rise of Protestantism" is to offer a controlling narrative that links these potentially disparate events as part of a greater, more significant movement. So persuasive was this emerging narrative that many of the reforming groups scattered across Europe realigned their sense of identity and purpose to conform to it. As these movements began to locate themselves on a historical and conceptual map, each came increasingly to i..
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Alister E. McGrath |
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9cb8492
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I turned away from one belief system that tried to deny it was anything of the sort, and accepted another which was quite open and honest about its status. My conversion was an act of free-thinking. I believed that I had found the best way of making sense of things. And that remains my view today. Although I now appreciate that Christianity has emotional, imaginative, and ethical dimensions that I had yet to discover at that time, I continu..
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Alister E. McGrath |
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fb40e44
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Many policy makers now think of education in functional terms. It's about learning skills that will help students find employment--such as using a word processor or spreadsheet. Yet what about helping people to figure out the meaning of life? Or become good people? Or make a difference to others? Is education for a stage in life, completed once we find jobs, or should it be a lifelong pursuit?
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Alister E. McGrath |
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3be0dd0
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For Lewis, Christianity doesn't just make sense of things. It changes our stories.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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e799367
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there is "no 'inside' that is worth reaching." What really matters is friendship, pure and simple."
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Alister E. McGrath |
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5d0c41e
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The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour's glory should be laid daily on my back. . . . There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. . . . Our charity must be a real and costly love, with..
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Alister E. McGrath |
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1fc0b5a
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The essential feature of a heresy is that it is not unbelief (rejection of the core beliefs of a worldview such as Christianity) in the strict sense of the term, but a form of that faith that is held ultimately to be subversive or destructive, and thus indirectly leads to such unbelief. Unbelief is the outcome, but not the form, of heresy.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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1a23b6e
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Apologetics is both a science and an art. It is not just about knowledge; it is about wisdom. It's like a skilled and experienced medical practitioner, who knows the theory of medicine well. But she has to apply it to her patients, and that means learning how to relate to them--how to help them tell her what the real problems are, finding ways of communicating technical medical terms in ordinary language, and explaining how they can be addr..
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Alister E. McGrath |
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dfa5b96
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In 1962, Francine Smithline--a schoolgirl from New York--wrote to C. S. Lewis, telling him how much she had enjoyed his Narnia books and asking him for information about his own schooldays. In reply, Lewis informed her that he had attended three boarding schools, "of which two were very horrid."42 In fact, Lewis continues, he "never hated anything as much, not even the front line trenches in World War I."
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Alister E. McGrath |
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b021d53
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To demonstrate the reasonableness of faith does not mean proving every article of Christian belief. Rather, it means showing that there are good grounds that these beliefs are trustworthy and reliable.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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13b3da8
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Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) declared that orthodox Christianity was based upon two testaments, three creeds, four gospels, and the first five centuries of Christian history. In
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Alister E. McGrath |
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613887a
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many views that would later be regarded as heretical had their origins in a close reading of the biblical text.34 The Arian controversy of the fourth century, which pitted the arch-heretic Arius against his orthodox opponent Athanasius, can be seen as fundamentally concerning how best to interpret the statements found in John's Gospel concerning the identity and significance of Jesus Christ.35
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Alister E. McGrath |
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79a8811
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We are, Lewis suggested, like a seed waiting in the good earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener's good time, up into the real world, the real waking. I suppose that our whole present life, looked back on from there, will seem only a drowsy half-waking. We are here in the land of dreams. But cock-crow is coming.[131]
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Alister E. McGrath |
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8f421b2
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After all, as Lewis himself pointed out, there are few greater pleasures than sharing food, drink, and companionship.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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a27b3c3
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Human logic may be rationally adequate, but it is also existentially deficient. Faith declares that there is more than this - not contradicting, but transcending reason.
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faith
rationalism
reason
transcendence
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Alister E. McGrath |
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b8ae2ab
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Chronological Snobbery: Why the Latest Isn't Always the Best In our second lunch, we noted a quote from Francis Bacon: "Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read."
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Alister E. McGrath |
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ed74ae0
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Cultural assimilation is all too often the prelude to ecclesial extinction.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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18fe994
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And he had to face up to the awkward fact that, if there was no God, blame for the war's horrors had to be laid firmly on human beings.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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5903af1
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Aquinas argues that everything that moves is moved by something else. For every motion, there is a cause. Things do not just move - they are moved by something else. Now each cause of motion must itself have a cause. And that cause must have a cause as well.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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4c70b86
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We are doomed to remain incomplete in our present existence. Our hopes and deepest longings will remain nothing but just that; Our hopes and longings. This bittersweet tension remains real, even for the Christian who increasingly becomes aware of the wonder of God and the inadequacy of our present grasp of that wonder. There is a sense of postponement, of longing, of wistful yearning, of groaning under the strain of having to tolerate the p..
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Alister E. McGrath |
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52396c5
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Lewis at his best is about trying on ways of looking at the world.
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perspective
persuasion
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Alister E. McGrath |
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16eabf3
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Lewis is like a gateway, making the riches of Deep Church more accessible.
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discipleship
evangelism
language
word-choice
worship
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Alister E. McGrath |
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36c81f2
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For Lewis, the narration of his own story was about the identification of a pattern of meaning. This enabled him to grasp the "big picture" and discern the "grand story" of all things, so that the snapshots and stories of his own life could assume a deeper meaning."
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Alister E. McGrath |
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887f96e
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Human desire, the deep and bittersweet longing for something that will satisfy us, points beyond finite objects and finite persons (who seem able to fulfill this desire yet eventually prove incapable of doing so). Our sense of desire points through these objects, and points persons towards their real goal and fulfillment in God.
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Alister E. McGrath |
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bc88308
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Sehnsucht? The German word is rich with emotional and imaginative associations, famously described by the poet Matthew Arnold as a "wistful, soft, tearful longing." And what of the "Blue Flower"? Leading German Romantic writers, such as Novalis (1772-1801) and Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857), used the image of a "Blue Flower" as a symbol of the wanderings and yearnings of the human soul, especially as this sense of longing is evoked--tho..
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Alister E. McGrath |
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2f80bf0
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Lewis is a rare example of someone who liked to think about life's great questions because they were forced on him by his own experience.
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theology
thought-life
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Alister E. McGrath |
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2b27db5
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As the philosopher Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) put it, a defensible framework of beliefs enables us to hear a tune where otherwise we would hear only a noise.4
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Alister E. McGrath |
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677fea7
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I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."8"
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Alister E. McGrath |
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1af7f84
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Christianity is about the way we behave, not just the way we think.
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Alister E. McGrath |