Author Archives: J. B. Aitken

About J. B. Aitken

Interests include patristics, the role of the soul in the human person, analytic theology, Reformed Scholasticism, Medievalism, Substance Metaphysics

Moving to Tents of Shem

Posted on December 4, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

My url is Cocceius, named after the Dutch federal theologian.  I’m now critical of federal theology and it just doesn’t seem right to write under the title. tentsofshem.wordpress.com

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James K A Smith: Speech and Theology (Review)

Posted on December 2, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

This is the old Jamie Smith, before he went full-blown NPR.  This book is quite brilliant, actually.  I fully endorse it. Phenomenology:  I am no longer concerned with the thing, but how the thing appears to me.  We are concerned … Continue reading →

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Boersma on Hospitality, 1

Posted on December 2, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

Notes on chapter one from Boersma’s Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition. Hans Boersma uses concepts like violence and hospitality, particularly in their recent philosophical venues, as a set of ciphers to explore the atonement.  He succeeds brilliantly. … Continue reading →

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Sergius Bulgakov, The Bride of the Lamb

Posted on November 30, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

Bulgakov, Sergius.  Bride of the Lamb.  Eerdmans. This isn’t a normal review.  It’s mostly a collection and analysis of his most important points.  This is the best thing ever written on eschatology in the sense of final judgment, life-after-death, etc. Bulgakov … Continue reading →

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Eclectic Thoughts on Holy Trinity: Person, Essence, Energy, and Stuff Like That

Posted on November 28, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

Originally posted on Eclectic Orthodoxy:
by Robert F. Fortuin There is an observation by David Hart in the essay ‘The Hidden and the Manifest’ worthy of further consideration. The comment occurs in his critique of Thomist and Neo-Palamite readings of…

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Review: The Gulag Archipelago

Posted on November 28, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. The Gulag Archipelago: A Literary Investigation I-II. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1974 [1973]. Few books are written with raw, electric energy. Solzhenitsyn’s work can only be labeled as a testimony to the 20th century and its … Continue reading →

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The Providence of God (Paul Helm)

Posted on November 26, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

Helm, Paul.  The Providence of God.  Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsityPress, 1993. Thesis: “In summary, the essential elements of divine providence are these.  God preserves his creation and all that it sustains” (Helm 22). Helm adopts the “no-risk” view of providence.  God’s … Continue reading →

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Atonement and Election, some theses

Posted on November 25, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

With utmost fear and trembling, Models of Atonement and Election (A/E) that posit some sort of epistemological gap between election and assurance can only lead to spiritual death.  In other words, can I really know I am elect? Simply saying … Continue reading →

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We Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ (ed. McGuckin)

Posted on November 22, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

John McGuckin gives us an outstanding, yea even world-class compendium of Patristic Christology. It nicely succeeds the first volume in the series.  McGuckin notes a set of “ciphers” that explain the theology behind the Nicene Creed: “‘Christ’ becomes a cipher … Continue reading →

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Saving Calvinism (Oliver Crisp)

Posted on November 21, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

Crisp, Oliver.  Saving Calvinism: Expanding the Reformed Tradition.  Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsityPress, 2016. The Reformed theological tradition is like inheriting a large, albeit old house.  It has many rooms and in these rooms are old treasures. The Young, Restless, and … Continue reading →

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