scholasticism — McDurmon

Barth and the blind squirrels: Reformed scholasticism, Biblicism, and false prophets

The latest dispensation of the continuing effort by Dr. Jones to regenerate protestant scholasticism appears in the form of a primer. Dr. Jones gives a little indication, perhaps, of his motivations with the following comment:

Joel McDurmonAugust 23, 2017scholasticism, mark jones, barthComment

Paul and the blind squirrels: quoting pagans at Mars Hill

After my article on “quoting pagans” the other day, some people were quick to point out the obvious: “But Paul!” Even Dr. Jones, whose article sparked the discussion, responded to my demand for what he would call “biblicism” only with a wry, “Poor Paul.” Of course, Paul did actually quote from pagan sources, so I need to provide some explanation for how this fits with my Scripture-centric program. That answer is quite easy, actually.

Joel McDurmonAugust 16, 2017scholasticismComment

Blind squirrel theology: the allure of “pagan sources” in Christian scholarship

An interesting debate opened up recently after a post by Dr. Mark Jones entitled, “Reformed Theologians Using Pagan Sources,” over at The Calvinist International. Dr. Jones seems to want to correct the mistake against Reformed “Catholicity” that decries the alleged rampant Aristotelianism that shackled the purer theology of Calvin and many of his contemporaries. This argument can only be made when one chooses to actually disregard what the primary sources say and also the fact that Aristotelian–like terms were used in the same way by Calvin and his “heirs.”