Persons anguished by another's profound suffering are often outraged by well-intentioned efforts to console them which suggest that God 'sent' that horrific suffering to their loved one for a 'purpose' according to a tailor-made 'plan' for just that person. However, the outraged reaction simply deepens the anguish. This book argues that such 'consolation' is theologically problematic because it assumes that unrestricted power is what makes God 'God.' Against that it outlines an account of 'who' and 'what' the Triune God is, framed in terms of God's intrinsic 'glory,' the attractive and perfectly self-expressive self-giving in love that is God's life, and sets limits to the range of things we can say God 'does.' Correlatively it offers an account of different senses in which God is 'sovereign' and 'powerful', one which reflects three ways God relates to all else: to create, to bless eschatologically, and to reconcile, as is scripturally narrated.

What are the purposes and priorities that really govern a theological school? What are realistic expectations of theological education? What would be the ideal theological school, and what is theological about it? Theologian David Kelsey addresses these questions and other concerns regarding theological schooling, and offers suggestions on how to analyze and reconceive "theological schooling" in productive ways.

The 1980s produced an unprecedented large amount of literature and a vigorous debate on the purpose and nature of theological education in North America. Surveying and probing the major positions in this debate, David H. Kelsey argues in this book that the central differences between various voices in theological education emerge most clearly when viewed in light of "Athens" and "Berlin."For Kelsey, "Athens" and "Berlin" represent two very different--and ultimately irreconcilable--models of excellent education. In the case of de facto, says Kelsey, that modern North American theological education, for historical reasons, is committed to both models, resulting in ongoing tensions and struggles. Kelsey shows how a variety of significant thinkers--Newman, Niebuhr, Farley, Stackhouse, and several others--fit in the Athens-Berlin framework.In presenting a keen analysis of major themes and patterns of movement in the theological education debate, Between Athens and Berlin itself makes a significant contribution to the debate.

Through telling the true story of a series of horrendous events that befell a young boy and his family, widely respected theologian David Kelsey offers a groundbreaking exploration of the Christian concept of redemption. When the adolescent boy is stricken with a terrible illness and enters a coma only to come out emotionally changed and physically handicapped, the family undergoes incredible hardship, guilt, and sadness, which ultimately ended in death. Arguing that redemption can only be experienced in a concrete situation, he asks What can it possibly mean to say that in Jesus Christ God 'redeems' such situations and events? To answer the question, Kelsey interweaves this family's story with biblical narrative, theology, and the metaphorical application of secular uses of the words redeem and redemption. He suggests three ways in which to imagine redemption, suggesting how Jesus' ministry may be seen as making up for the world's bad performance; how Jesus' passion and crucifixion can redeem their personal identities from their bondage to distorting powers; and how Jesus' resurrection can be seen as making good on a promise that redeems the family from vicious cycles of i

How does properly interpreted scripture bear on Christian theology and ethics? That is the question addressed in the Trinity Press edition of this classic text, which includes a new preface by the author. The issue is not so much how to interpret scripture as what to do with it once one has interpreted it. The book therefore explores not what theologians have said about scripture's authority for theology, but the sense in which scripture serves as authority in their actual practice of theology. It offers a set of brief case studies of theologians authorizing or "proving" a theological proposal by scripture, and based on these studies, an analysis of the concept of "authority for theology" implicit in them. Finally, it teases out of the cases implicit assumptions about what the concept of scripture means and why appeal ought to be made to it to "prove theology." "Kelsey has given us a book that deserves the serious attention not only of professional theologians but also of pastors and all those in the Christian community who understand their personal identity and the identity of their community to be shaped in some sense by scripture." Theology Today David H. Kelsey is Luther Weigle Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and Yale Graduate School.

What are the purposes and the priorities that really govern a theological school? What are realistic expectations of theological education? What would be the ideal theological school, and what is theological about it? Theologian David Kelsey addresses these questions and other concerns regarding theological schooling, and offers suggestions on how to analyze and reconceive "theological schooling" in productive ways.