The Passage Into Hypermodernity
With the foundations presented in the previous section we move towards the modern era. As has been cogently argued here with further insights in this short MIT series, we are no longer in Post-Modernity, but rather a fascinatingly unique period referred to as Hypermodernity. If it may be said that the French Revolution set the stage for Modernity with WWII ushering in post-modernity, then the National Science Foundation (NSF) handing over the internet to the public in 1995 signaled the shift to hypermodernity. In this new era, there are no longer public spaces of the Parisian arcades of Modernity or the “world interior retail space” of the shopping malls of Postmodernity. There is simply the personal computer, by which the hypermodern man becomes a “world unto himself.”
And with this device, this technology, he begins to remake reality into a “self-engineered digital simulation.” No longer limited by the demands of the body nor even space and time, for that matter, in what may amount to a return to new forms of gnosticism, this new “discarnate, disembodied” reality, “decontextualized from all world horizons”, is marked by certain distinct features. Whereas in Post-Modernity there was a recognition of past historical and cultural influences at least enough to react against them, in Hypermodernity the individual is “uprooted from any historical influences, torn from his personal, familial and cultural past and taken up into a disembodied, self-created digital world.”
Time is modified. Now there is no real past or future; only the “succession of the present moment, each one isolated and disconnected” from what came before or comes after…(more to come).
Zero books, May 23, 2018
By John Armitage
In the Swarm: Digital Prospects (MIT “Untimely Meditation” philosophical series)
By Byung-Chul Han, Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Universität der Künste, Berlin.
From the Editor–Local Culture 2.2: Christopher Lasch
By Jason Peters, August 28, 2020
Gnosticism & Irenaeus
By Douglas F. Kelly
The goal of the resources given below is to present dimensions integral in formation from figures both East and West, whose contributions over the last 70 years, we believe, have moved us towards, in Polanyi’s words “a comprehension..,clamming universal vslidity” as it connects us to a “hidden reality” that anticipates “an indeterminate range of yet unknown (and perhaps yet inconceivable) true implications.”
The Word
With the prior section offering resources on the written word with a focus on the Patristic foundations, this section focuses on the spoken word, the form of communication which has been referred to as the new printing press (‘4:00), which is to say, entire archives open to literally all of us in a matter of moments. Though digital media, rather than locking us in a sequence of present moments, as discussed above, it grounds us in the Foundations of True Reality.
The resources below present figures whose life and ministry aimed at taking their people through the entirety of the Word. They are not flashy in their presentation of it. Rather, they are consistent, faithful and full of insight and Truth—that which our present moment desperately needs.
James Philip
Minister of Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland from 1957-1997, whose sermon archive his son, William Philip (a former cardiologist turned pastor and now at St. Georges’ Tron in Glasgow) made available online.
These Exegetical Sermons over that 40 year period take us through nearly every book in the OT & NT.
In addition, his Notes on Scripture were also made available, which cover the entirety of both Testaments.
William Still
Also a minister in Scotland in the region of Aberdeen at Gilcomston South Church, where he pastored for 52 years from 1945–97. During his ministry, he revitalized Scotland through his exegetical preaching combined with an emphasis on congregational prayer, His sermon archive can be found here. It should be noted that Rev. Still was a colleague of Rev. Philip and exerted a massive influence on Eric Alexander, Sinclair Ferguson and Douglas F. Kelly (all of whom are featured below).
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
If James Philip’s 40 year exegetical ministry helped root Scotland in the Word, Dr. Lloyd-Jones did so in England and beyond.
It should be noted that Lloyd-Jones began his career as a physician in training (1921-1927) under Sir Thomas Horder (the decades-long physician to the Royal Family, who reached the level of Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order). After a two-year long struggle with a calling into Ministry, he ultimately returned to his native country of Wales, taking a call at Aberavon. After ten years of faithful ministry he was called to Westminster Chapel in London, where he continued for close to 30 years (1939-1968).
This sermon archive offers hundreds of sermons from that era on The OT, The Gospels with The Kingdom of God, through to Acts, Romans and later Ephesians with fascinating series on Preaching and Preachers as well as Spiritual Depression (both of which were turned into books).
Eric Alexander
Referred to as the “greatest pastor in the English-speaking world”, who ministered for 20 years (1977-1997) at St. Georges’ Tron, Rev. Alexander’s OT & NT Exegetical Sermons have recently been archived online. For those of you are not aware, his mentee that succeeded him at the Tron was none other than Sinclair Ferguson whose style and clarity follow that of Rev. Alexander.
Stuart Olyott
Also from the UK, Rev. Olyott pastored in Liverpool from 1967 - 1999 with intervening periods in French-speaking Switzerland, where he planted numerous reformed churches still active and spreading. His Sermon Archive presents one of the clearest expositions of Scripture of any figure in his era.
Douglas F. Kelly
Though from the U.S., Dr. Kelly’s paths crossed with all of the above figures during his PhD studies at the University of Edinburgh (where he studied under Thomas F. Torrance from 1969-72), sat under the ministry of James Philip, preached alongside Stuart Olyott and was mentored by William Still. Moving into a small pastorate in SC, he was later called as the Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Serminary where he remained from 1983-2016. A distinctively clear exegetical style is in evidence in these Sermon Series that have been recently expanded to include sermons from his early ministry.
Further Resources:
Online theological library with audio and visual offerings of every chapter of Scripture
The Holy Spirit
As the Word must be combined with the Spirit so as to operationalize the coming of the the Eternal Kingdom into the Present Fallen Age, we present introductory quotations om the Work of the Holy Spirit followed by a series of OT & NT excerpts to be read over a 50 day period.
“During Christ's earthly mission, man's relationship with the Holy Spirit was effected only through and in Christ. On the contrary, after Pentecost, it is the relationship with Christ that is effected only through and in the Holy Spirit.”
“It is therefore the Holy Spirit alone who can effect this union, for it is the Holy Spirit alone who can so join things in heaven and things on earth that heavenly things can be grasped by human minds and that the life and virtue of what is in heaven can be shared by those who are yet on earth. It is the Holy Spirit alone who can bring into real being that wonderful relation of mystery between Christ’s heavenly body and his church on earth which is so clearly depicted in the act of participation in the Lord’s Supper and Baptism...
Faith is thus an entirely supernatural gift – a new capacity created within man whereby what is in heaven is really possessed and enjoyed by him. It effects such a secret and wonderful communion with Christ that even though Jesus Christ remains entire in heaven he is nevertheless grasped so firmly and possessed so completely that he may be said actually to dwell in our hearts. Faith has the power to reach through the humanity of Jesus even to God himself….faith is able to rise from the flesh of Christ to his divinity, and is able to penetrate above all the heavens, even to those mysteries which the angels behold and adore.”
“Through the Incarnation, life of obedience, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Son of God as man, the foundation of our salvation has been laid in the fulfillment of our nature, which Christ assumed. But, strictly speaking, our salvation is achieved only through Christ, who comes to dwell within us with the body He bore—a body that has risen, ascended, and been made fully spiritual, that is, has been filled with the Holy Spirit and thus has become perfectly transparent.
Yet Christ does save us, inasmuch as He dwells in us through the Holy Spirit. In this way the power for our salvation and deification shines forth within us from Christ's spiritualized body.
The descent of the Holy Spirit is what gives the Church a real existence; it initiates the indwelling of Christ's deified body in human beings and thereby initiates the Church as well.
The descent of the Holy Spirit is thus the act of transition from Christ's saving work in His personal humanity to the extension of this work within other human beings.
Through the Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension, Christ lays the foundation of the Church in His body, and through these events, the Church's being exists in its potential form. However, the Son of God became man not for Himself but so that He could extend salvation from His body, as divine life within us. This divine life, extended from His body into those who believe, is the Church.
This life shines forth from His body, which was raised up to the full state of pneumatization (spiritualization) through His Ascension and sitting at the right hand of the Father, within the deepest intimacy of infinite life and love that God directs toward human beings...
Through the Holy Spirit Christ Himself penetrates into human hearts, because His body was made spiritual in an incomparable way through the Spirit, who overwhelmed and utterly penetrated Christ's body. “
[Note: The above three quotations were by a 17th c. European Protestant figure, a 20th c. Romanian Orthodox theologian who survived the Gulags under Stalin then a Russian Orthodox emigre to France involved in the neo-Patristic renewal.
50 Days of Readings on the Holy Spirit
As the Word must be personally applied by the Spirit so as to operationalize the coming of the Eternal Kingdom of God in this present Fallen Age, we present here a series of OT into NT readings that follow that particular Scriptural genre. Come what may, these are intended to equal 2 chapter in each Testament (the average length of each chapter being 20 verses) and to be read over a 50 day period.
Links to the Readings:
II. Histories-> Gospel of Luke
The Body of Christ
The Word must be continually applied by the Spirit to usher the Eternal Kingdom of God into this Fallen Age, generation by generation. And the epicenter of this New Creational Energy (ἐνεργής) is the Church—The Body of Christ.
The Spirit works Metanoia within us as Christ’s body so that we can first “see the Kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3), which up until that point has been overlooked—as a tiny seed planted; leaven hidden deep within; treasure buried and out of view; a precious pearl yet to be found (Mt 13:1-46).
When we then“live by the Spirit (εἰ ζῶμεν πνεύματι) and by the Spirit operate” (πνεύματι καὶ στοιχῶμεν, Gal 5:25), then the seed grows up, the leaven begins to transform, the treasure is uncovered and the pearl found.
And when we are truly “instructed in the Kingdom” (μαθητευθεὶς τῇ βασιλείᾳ), that we can then“bring forth out of the treasure things new and old” (Mt 13:52).
Below are such offerings with a focus on the development of the Church over the centuries
Thomas Hopko
(1939-2015)
Initially Professor of Dogmatic Theology (succeeding Serge Verkhovskoy) and later Dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, he was the son-in-law of Alexander Schmemann and exerted a great effect of renewal within the Orthodox Church in America.
57-part series of podcasts entitled, Bishops, follows the development of the Orthodox understanding of the ministry of the Church from first century to our current era.
This 84-part series, Worship in Spirit and Truth, offers reflections on the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church.
Assorted lectures and conference addresses
The Lord’s Prayer: This talk is a syntheses of his prior, 12-part series tracing the Church’s understanding of the Lord’s Prayer through the centuries:
The Word of the Cross: An early OCA conference offering possibly the clearest presentation of Orthodox Christology and its application to every day life:
Series of lectures and conference addresses on the place of poverty and acts of mercy within the Christian life:
Alexander Schmemann
(1921-1983)
Russian emigre to Paris following the Russian Revolution, Schmemann later became a professor of Church History at St. Sergius Institute in Paris. He was invited by Father George Florofsky to serve on the faculty of St. Vladimir’s seminary, where he became professor of Church History as well as Liturgical Theology and later dean from 1962 until his death in 1983. (During that time the seminary was often referred to as St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Schmemannary:). It should be noted also that he was the private priest to Alexander Solzhenitsyn when he immigrated to the U.S. following his exile from Russia.
John Meyendorff
(1926-1992)
Also a professor of Church History at the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, Meyendorff later joined the faculty of St. Vladimir’s, acting as the Dean from 1984-1992 directly following Schmemann.
Douglas F. Kelly
Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary whose lectures are also featured above under ‘The Word”:
The Holy Trinity: An elective formulated during the composition of the first volume of his Systematic Theology, presented here for the first time here:
Christology: The course upon which was later based the second volume of his Systematic Theology
John Currid
Also Professor Emeritus at Reformed Theological Seminary in OT and Biblical studies with an adjunct faculty position at the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies in Jerusalem, he is a trained archaeologist, who served as Project Director of the Bethsaida Excavations Project among others, Dr. Currid wrote a series of commentaries on all five books of the Pentateuch, well worth reading.
His course on Judges Through the Prophets is currently available, which we highly, highly recommend.
And we hope to soon feature for the first time an absolutely indispensable set of lectures, entitled “Introduction to Old Testament Theology,” that trace every major Biblical theme from their seeds in Genesis 1-11.
G. K. Beale
Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, these exceedingly important lectures examine the major theological concepts of the New Testament as they are presented and developed in the Old Testamental storyline.
As an example of this theological approach, here is a sermon series on Revelation that came out of his 1309 page momumental commentary
See also his work with D. A. Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
Father David S. Abernethy
Trained psychoanalyst turned Catholic priest, Father Aberne joined the Pittsburgh Oratory of St. Philip Neri, where he began a reading group, entitled the Ancient Christian Writers Series that is now the Philokalia podcast. He takes the listner line by line through notable works in the Philokalic tradition, the links to which are below:
Philokalia: The Ladder of Divine Ascent (featured earlier on the site under the Patristic Foundations)
Formation in Medicine
I. The Kingdom of God and Redemptive Community (κοινωνία)
4-part series by Ron and Carolyn Klaus
Ron was a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania before moving into full-time ministry, planting genuinely interracial churches in inner-city Philadelphia with his teachings on the Kingdom of God being integrally related to his wife, Carolyn Klaus’ founding of Esperanza Health Center at the height of the AIDS epidemic (which story is presented in her fascinating and insightful book, Prescription for Hope). Theses lectures provide an introductory framework to the Scriptural teachings on the Kingdom of God and their outworking within vital Christian communities. The Klauses have a wealth of experiential understanding with over 4 decades spent founding such communities both nationally and globally with a current focus on Ethiopia. (And for those of you that are aware, they had a major influence on Bill Pearson in his founding of the Longwood Christian Community at Harvard).
Session 1. Carolyn Klaus: Community and the Founding of Esparanza Health Center
Session 2. Ron Klaus: Community and the Kingdom of God, part I
Session 3. Ron Klaus: Community and the Kingdom of God, part II
Session 4, Ron Klaus: Community and the Kingdom of God, part III
II. Spiritual Formation
Boston Healthcare Fellowship
Gospel Anthropology: Human Flourishing According To Jesus
III. Christ-centered Healthcare
Christian Community Healthcare Fellowship
Born in New Hebron, MS in 1930 to a family of sharecroppers with his brother being murdered by a police officer after returning from WWII, Dr. Perkins moved to Southern California where he was subsequently drafted to Okinawa during the Korean War. After his conversion, he moved back to Mississippi to the town neighboring New Hebron and established Voice of Calvary Bible Institute with his wife running a daycare center out of their home. Initially involved in anti-segregation movements that led to his arrest and torture in the Brandon jail, Dr. Perkins emerged with a new vision that he encapsulated in the three Rs" — Relocation, Redistribution and Reconciliation. These principles led to the subsequent formation of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) and Christian Community Health Fellowship (of which numerous resources are offered below)
CCHF Plenary Address, 2010: What is a Christian?
CCHF Plenary Address, 2011: I want to know Christ
Dr. Donlon developed a network of CCHF clinics in inner-city Memphis at the completion of his training in Medicine-Pediatrics, later co-founding Resurrection Health Services with a goal of training physicians for incarnational ministry in the inner-city and overseas. He is a major figure in the renewal of CCHF and an incredibly engaging and motivating proponent of healthcare for the poor.
CCHF Plenary Address, 2012: The Trenches
CCHF Plenary Address, 2014: Dying Deeper To Swim Farther: The Paradox of Comfort-busting Incarnational Ministry
Founder of Christ House, a respite care facility for homeless men and women then co-founder of Health Care for the Homeless Project (HCHP) in 1985 which later became Unity Health Care, the largest network of community health centers in Washington, D.C.
2014 Plenary Address, 2014: Interview (Go to 7:00)
IV. Global Missions Health Conference
Longtime missionary surgeon in Gabon and founder of the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons, serving as its director from 1996-2006
GMHC Keynote Address: The Doctor Must Die
Initially an academic researcher on Protein Energy Malnutrition, serving as an Associate Professor in Clinical Nutrition in the Department of Biochemistry and Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa for 20 years before transitioning to President and Professor of the History of Science, Medicine and Faith at Augustine College
Extensive Audio Library that provide an excellent synthesis of the state of modern medicine in light of its Christian historical and philosophical foundations
Medicine, The Clinician and Money
Insights from the Church Fathers
Basil (330-379)
On Social Justice: Four recently translated homilies on texts such as Mt 19.16-22, “To the Rich”, [The translation of which is available above] and Lk 12.16-21, “I Will Tear Down My Barns”, which were likely written in 368 during the greatest famine in the history of Caesarea. The work of Basil, who was a priest in the diocese of Caesarea in that time, formed the basis for what would subsequently become the foundations of the modern hospital system, with the complex of care that he developed later taking on the name of the “Basiliad.”
Gregory of Nyssa (335-395)
Homily on the Love of the Poor
John Chrysostom (347-407)
On Wealth and Poverty: Six homilies on the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31, )
Insight from the Medieval Era
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Summa Theologica
Part I–II, Q66
Of Theft and Robbery (Nine Articles)
Article. 1 - Whether it is natural for man to possess external things?
Article. 2 - Whether it is lawful for a man to possess a thing as his own?
See this discussion here for a proposed synthesis of the above writings, with a particular focus on the latter.