Pursuing Veritas

Reflections by Jacob J. Prahlow
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  • Predestination and Freewill: Erasmus and Luther Revisited

    This post is part of our ongoing series on Romans, Predestination, and Freewill. What then can be used in the soteriological constructions of Luther and Erasmus in light of such a critique? It seems that most scholars would especially prefer Luther, were he able, to rework his understanding of Romans in light of more recent…

  • Predestination and Freewill: Scholarly Consensus

    This post is part of our ongoing series examining Romans, Predestination, and Freewill. As one can easily see from our previous posts, there exists no common consensus interpretation of Romans 7-9 among scholars and commentators today. However we can note several important factors as well as some of the more widely accepted interpretations of Romans…

  • Predestination and Freewill: N. T. Wright

    This post is part of our ongoing series examining Romans, Predestination, and Freewill. In The New Interpreter’s Bible, N.T. Wright begins by writing that, “Romans is neither a systematic theology nor a summary of Paul’s lifework, but it is by common consent his masterpiece.”[1] Wright describes the main theme of the letter as “God’s gospel…

  • Predestination and Freewill: James Dunn

    This is part of our ongoing series on Romans, Predestination, and Freewill. In the Word Biblical Commentary, James D.G. Dunn employs the ‘New Perspective’ on Paul to interpret his letters. This perspective argues that “Protestant exegesis has for too long allowed a typically Lutheran emphasis on justification by faith to impose a hermeneutical grid on…

  • Christmas Letter 2014

    Merry Christmas from Jake and Hayley Prahlow! We hope that this missive finds you warm, well-fed (though not overly so, of course), and celebrating the joy of the Savior’s birth this December. 2014 has been another year of tremendous change for our family. Throughout everything that has happened this year, we have been reminded of…

  • Recommended Readings: December 27 – January 2

    If you engage one article this week, read Celebrating Christmas at Christmastime by Dale Ahlquist. If you have time for more reading this fine New Year, check out the other selections below (some from this week and others from last). As always, if you think there’s something else I should be reading, let me know…

  • Predestination and Freewill: Joseph Fitzmyer

    This post is part of our ongoing series on Romans, Predestination, and Freewill. Having looked briefly at some of the overarching views of scholars on the purpose of Romans and the insights that can be gained from a contextual understanding of Paul’s message and the implications for scriptural interpretation, let us now consider some of…

  • Predestination and Freewill: Modern Scholars on Romans 7-9, Part II

    This post is part of our ongoing series examining Romans, Predestination, and Freewill. Many context scholars emphasize the importance of remembering Paul’s Jewish-worldview[1] in reading and interpreting Romans.[2] Bruce Malina and John Pilch argue in their Social-Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul, that each of his letters would have been, to some degree, “pre-read”…

  • Predestination and Freewill: Modern Scholars on Romans 7-9, Part I

    This post is part of our ongoing series examining Romans, Predestination, and Freewill. Having now viewed Luther and Erasmus’ perspectives on soteriological material in Romans, we turn to a survey of modern Biblical studies concerning the proper interpretation and meaning of Paul’s Letter to the Church at Rome. Here we must note the plethora of…

  • Predestination and Freewill: On the Bondage of the Will, Part II

    This post is part of our ongoing series on Romans, Predestination, and Freewill. In The Bondage of the Will, Luther also argues that if the potter and clay in Romans 9 do not refer to God and man in salvation, “Paul’s whole argument in defense of grace is meaningless. For the whole purpose of his…