Building upon Sarah Coakley’s recent work, Erin Dufault-Hunter suggested an alternative strategy in a talk she delivered at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her suggestion was to see sexual desire as a sign and an opportunity.
Drawing from the Augustinian-Thomistic tradition, Vidu argued that there is a special sense in which the Holy Spirit inhabits Christians through love, in particular love for God.
Recently, Michael Rea, a very gifted and respected philosopher at the University of Notre Dame, joined us at Fuller Theological Seminary to provide a theistic response to this problem.
The God of Christianity is radically different than creation. On a classical conception of things, God is maximally simple, immutable, powerful, wise, and good. One will search creation in vain for an equivalent.
Christians pray for physical and spiritual healings, justice for victims, racial and gender equality, food for the hungry, the spread of the gospel, and so on. The bigger the problem, the more many Christians think we should pray.
If God answers our prayers by partnering with us, and faith involves trusting God and believing that he can accomplish whatever he so wills, then faith is a vehicle through which God can partner with us in bringing about results in the world.
If you ask the average Christian to define prayer chances are that he or she will say something like, “Prayer is talking to God.” If you follow up, “But, what should I say to God?,” it’s likely that you will be told to ask God for worthwhile things and express to him the deepest longings of your heart.
Jesus commanded his followers to love God and their neighbors as themselves (Mt 22:3640). It is not uncommon for Christians to understand this love in terms of benevolence: one loves God and neighbor if she desires or wills the relevant individual’s good.
