by Jean Barbey | Dec 8, 2024 | Christology
The question is intentionally provocative: it all depends on what one means by “Christian.” For me, a Christian is someone who believes in Christ. However, from the perspective of historical Protestantism, which is where I stand, being a Christian means...
by Jean Barbey | Jan 29, 2024 | Christology, Ecclesiology, Soteriology
The Christian Church is sometimes conceived as one or more religious institutions, created in apostolic times or in times of spiritual renewal such as the Protestant Reformation. However, the biblical conception of the Church is spiritual, organic and mysterious: the...
by Jean Barbey | Jul 24, 2023 | Christology, Historical theology
Where does the idea that Jesus is the “incarnation of God” come from? A look at some elements of ancient theology Introduction When you attend a church, whatever its denomination, you don’t often wonder about the origin of the statements it professes...
by Jean Barbey | Oct 27, 2022 | Christology, Soteriology
Scripture presents man’s death as inseparable from his alienation from God. Both a central and archetypal element of the human condition and a just reward for individual sins, it has a physical and spiritual dimension, and refers beyond the present existence to...
by Jean Barbey | Aug 19, 2022 | Ancient times, Christology, Theology proper
The doctrine of the trinity or tri-unity is emblematic of Christian theology, and is one of the elements of the tradition largely taken over from the Protestant Reformation. Here we present biblical, conceptual and historical elements that enable us to reconstruct a...
by Jean Barbey | Apr 30, 2022 | Catholicism, Christology, Historical theology
Introduction The Roman Catholic Church has consecrated Mary as the “Mother of God”, which can cause a certain amount of embarrassment from a Protestant perspective, often reluctant to attribute to Mary what is not appropriate for a “mere...
