Friday, April 27, 2007

Paul and Perseverance

Today in my Pauline Theology class we had a lecture on Paul and Perseverance. I opened the lecture with a discussion about whether or not the bumper-sticker-theology phrase "once saved, always saved" is an appropriate representation of Paul's conception of perseverance. Views were expectedly diverse on the topic but mostly in favour of it. I set out to show that things are a little more complex than that. We then worked through the Pauline materials and had a bit of an intro to the view of Judith Gundry-Volf. After that I then asked the students to come up with a new bumper-sticker-theology phrase that more adequately describes Paul's perspective on perseverance while I went and made myself a drink. When I came back they had come up with this phrase:

Salvation! Work out what God has worked in!

Well done to Paul, Ian, Anne, George, and Dan.

2 comments:

Kyle said...

Michael, Kyle Wells here. Long time not contact--hope you are doing well. Anyway, i wonder if i could use that title for my thesis on transformation and Agency in Paul and STJ.

J. R. Daniel Kirk said...

So strong, Mike. I've not quite been able to screw up the courage to go "make myself a drink" in the middle of class--I usually wait until I get home. There have been numerous instances, however, when your course has seemed the wiser...