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36. The following criticism of mysticism is directed specifically against ahistorical forms of mysticism that seek an experience of God apart from historical time, and often posit a God beyond the divine economy. Commenting on mysticism in the interpretation of Paul, Lewis Smedes argues that "oriental mysticism could not tolerate dependence on specific historical events or concrete historical personalities. The one thing people need is to escape the concrete things of history and to be immersed into the divine life....Mysticism and history were incompatible as foundations of religion" (Union with Christ: A Biblical View of New Life in Christ [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983], 28). Donald Bloesch distinguishes ahistorical mysticism from acts of meditation that are "centered on the works and acts of God not only in creation but also and preeminently in Jesus Christ" (The Struggle of Prayer, 21). 37. The Struggle of Prayer, 21, 27. This is not to say that contemplative prayer has no place in Christian worship, but that contemplation is focused on historical events. Thus, Moltmann argues that "Christian meditation and contemplation are...at their very heart meditatio crucis," i.e., meditations on an historical event (The Trinity and the Kingdom, 8). 38. Here Am I: A Believer's Reflections on God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 124; also 171. 39. "Remarks on the Postcommunio in Some Reformed Liturgies," in The Sacrifice of Praise: Studies on the Themes of Thanksgiving and Redemption in the Central Prayers of the Eucharistic and Baptismal Liturgies, ed. Bryan D. Spinks (Rome: Edizioni Liturgiche, 1981), 154. 40. Narratives of a Vulnerable God: Christ, Theology, and Scripture (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 137, 139, 142. 41. See, for example, the prayer in Acts 4, and David Buttrick, "The Praise of Ordinary People," Liturgy 4 (1985): 22-23. 42. For All God's Worth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 24. 43. The Lord's Supper, trans. W. Fletcher Fleet (Richmond: John Knox Press, 1969), 23. 44. The God Who Commands (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991), 150. 45. "The Doctrine of the Trinity and the Unity of the Church," Theology Today 3 (1946): 372, 374, 376. 46. Ibid., 372, 383. In fact, Niebuhr argues that regardless of any other merits, the doctrine of the Trinity is valuable if only as a heuristic device for maintaining a balanced theological vision: "Apart from any other considerations which may lead the church to the formulation of a Trinitarian doctrine, it must endeavor to do so because it must set forth the faith which is not the realized conviction of any of its parts but rather the common faith" (383). 47. Calvinist Trinitarianism and Theocentric Politics, trans. John Bolt (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989), 107. 48. Ibid., 1, 11, 6, 60. 49. See especially the essay, "Structural Differences Between Christological and Pneumatological Perspectives" in Calvinist Trinitarianism, 27-46. 50. Calvinist Trinitarianism, 1-2, 11, 14, 16. 51. Faith Seeking Understanding, 74. 52. God, Creation, & Revelation: A Neo-Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 410. 53. The Work of the Holy Spirit, trans. Henry De Vries (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1941), 37. 54. Calvinist Trinitarianism, 1-3, 19. 55. Calvinist Trinitarianism, 32, 181; also 82. 56. Foundations of Dogmatics, trans. Darrell L. Guder (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 1:393. 57. A Brief Theology of Revelation (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1995), , 80. 58. "The Trinity and Human Life," Theology 78 (1975): 183. 59. Faith Seeking Understanding, 72. 60. Jewett, God, Creation & Revelation, 412; Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith, trans. Sierd Woudstra (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 141. 61. The Power of God (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983), 77. 62. The Power of God, 66, 68. 63. Leading in Prayer, 362. 64. The Promise of Trinitarian Theology, 5. 65. Nicholas Wolterstorff, Art in Action (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 3, 184-85, 116. Wolterstorff develops this theory more comprehensively in his Works and Worlds of Art (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980). 66. Christian Faith, 377. 67. "Lift Up Your Heads" (Chicago: GIA Publications, 2001). 68. The Trinity, trans. J. Donceel (New York: Herder and Herder, 1970), 10. 69. Narratives of a Vulnerable God, 140. John D. Witvliet is Director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and serves as Associate Professor of Worship, Theology, and Music at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. He is the author of Worship Seeking Understanding (Baker Academic, 2003) and co-editor of Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (University of Notre Dame Press, 2004). He also serves as the editor of book series for both Eerdmans and the Alban Institute. |
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