Henry C.Thiessen (PhD Edit): Satire Und Theology Version

Henry C.Thiessen (PhD Edit) 

Preface 

Photo, May 2025. This work from my PhD was originally published on Blogger, 20140403, revised for an entry on academia.edu, 20250726. 

Henry Clarence Thiessen (1884-1947)

I bought Thiessen’s 1956 theology textbook used while an undergrad at Columbia Bible College. I find his work useful even though he takes an incompatibilist position in contrast to my compatibilist one. 

A Biblical Studies Professor at Columbia Bible College was quite dismissive of Thiessen stating, paraphrased that ‘Thiessen was a dispensationalist’. One of my local unofficial Doctoral, PhD advisers stated, Thiessen was basically a compiler of information and not very original. Also dismissive. Based on this limited work I shall let you form your own opinion.  

Naturalism 

Wheaton professor, Henry Clarence Thiessen (1956) explains that since naturalism holds that nature is the whole of reality, everything that occurs is due to the laws of nature.[1]  He comments Scripture recognizes the existence of the laws of nature, but it is reasoned they do not operate independently of God.[2] God concurs with the laws he has established,[3] and Thiessen reasons that miracles and revelation can occur when God operates outside of laws he established.[4]  

Incompatibilism 

Thiessen writes God knows the future,[5] and that is defined as foreknowledge.[6]  He also points out that God’s prescience does not mean God predetermined these actions.[7]  Thiessen is noting that human acts within God’s prescient foreknowledge are still significantly free.[8] 

Leibniz has a different view than Thiessen,[9] that is deterministic and reasons that foreknowledge has to do with God’s determined will and is not dependent on free human actions.[10] This predetermination should not be understood as by necessity eliminating all human choice.[11]  Erickson takes a reasonable compatibilistic position and writes God with foreknowledge sees many possibilities and influences that will be present, and then acts accordingly to his will.[12]   

Thiessen from an incompatibilist position writes that God does not want to create automaton type beings with no choice in whether or not they would glorify God.[13] For Thiessen, humanity can only truly glorify God by choosing to do so while still having the opportunity to choose not to glorify God in disobedience.[14] This concept appears on the surface to be primarily in line with noted incompatibilism and free will approaches almost verbatim.[15]  

On Scripture 

Thiessen dismisses the idea of a dictation theory of Scriptural inspiration, as the writers of Scripture were not persons that merely had divine information dictated to them.[16] The writers of Scripture were not ‘mere secretaries’ that wrote words dictated to them by the Holy Spirit.[17] It can therefore be reasoned it is not the Holy Spirit’s grammar being used.[18] The distinctive style of Biblical writers based on the study of original languages makes the dictation theory quite unlikely.[19] The concept of Biblical inspiration, with the Holy Spirit serving as guidance for the Biblical writer, seems both orthodox and reasonable.[20] The Biblical authors had full use of their intellect and used their own grammar, but were guided to write God’s word without error and omission.[21] The Holy Spirit guided the thoughts of Biblical writers.[22] Shedd names this basic theory of Biblical inspiration as ‘plenary inspiration’ meaning writers were moved by the Holy Spirit in respect to thought and language and were kept from error.[23]   

Modern theology needs to correctly discern what the Spirit is stating through the Bible and this needs to be done through proper research techniques. 

ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House. 

ERICKSON, MILLARD (2003) What Does God Know and When Does He Know It?  Grand Rapids, Zondervan.  

GEISLER, NORMAN L. (1975) Philosophy of Religion, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House. 

GEISLER, NORMAN L. (1978) The Roots of Evil, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House. 

GEISLER, NORMAN L. (1986) Predestination and Free Will, Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press. 

GEISLER, NORMAN L. (1996) ‘Freedom, Free Will, and Determinism’, in Walter A. Elwell (ed.), Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books. 

GEISLER, NORMAN, L (1999) ‘The Problem of Evil’, in Baker Encyclopedia of Apologetics, Grand Rapids, Baker Books. 

LEIBNIZ, G.W. (1710)(1998) Theodicy, Translated by E.M. Huggard Chicago, Open Court Classics. 

LINDSELL, HAROLD (1976) The Battle for the Bible, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House. 

PACKER, J.I. (1996) ‘Regeneration’ in Walter A. Elwell (ed.), Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books. 

PACKER, J.I. (1973) Knowing God, Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press.  

SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology,  Volume 1, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers.  

SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology,  Volume 2, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers.  

THIESSEN, HENRY C. (1956) Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 

---

 

[1] Thiessen (1956: 186).

[2] Thiessen (1956: 186).

[3] Thiessen (1956: 186).

[4] Thiessen (1956: 186).

[5] Thiessen (1956: 125).

[6] Thiessen (1956: 125).

[7] Thiessen (1956: 126).

[8] Thiessen (1956: 126).

[9] Thiessen (1956: 126).

[10] Leibniz (1710)(1998: 147).

[11] Leibniz (1710)(1998: 147).

[12] Erickson (1994: 360).

[13] Thiessen (1956: 248).

[14] Thiessen (1956: 248).

[15] Geisler (1986: 76-77).

[16] Thiessen (1956: 106).

[17] Lindsell (1976: 32).

[18] Thiessen (1956: 106).  People were not robotically inspired to write Scripture.

[19] Erickson (1994: 207).

[20] Thiessen (1956: 106).  Lindsell (1976: 30).

[21] Thiessen (1956: 106).  The Scripture was presented accurately via inspiration, states Erickson.  Erickson (1994: 199).  J.I. Packer reasons God and Christ sent the Holy Spirit to teach his people the truth and to save them from error.  Packer (1973: 61).  

[22] Erickson (1994: 215).

[23] Shedd  (1874-1890)(1980: 72 Volume 1).  

-------------------------------------------------------

20250726

Preface II

Compatibilism versus Incompatibilism has been discussed on various MPhil/PhD related articles and on my website work. Below is the MPhil/PhD link.

Saturday, September 19, 2020 PhD Full Version PDF: Theodicy and Practical Theology 2010, Wales TSD

Scripture has been discussed significantly on my website, with an increased use of New Testament Greek citations within Biblical Studies entries. For the revised version of this article, I wish to further discuss naturalism which has been less reviewed within my work overall.

Naturalism

For Thiessen, he reasoned 'naturalism holds that nature is the whole of reality...' Thiessen (1956: 186).

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Naturalism (2007-2020).

David Papineau (2020)

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains that 'The term “naturalism” has no very precise meaning in contemporary philosophy. Its current usage derives from debates in America in the first half of the last century.' This reads as true. 'Naturalism', when used seems to be encompassing a series of varied beliefs, rather than one distinct philosophy. There is philosophical agreement where it is reasoned, reality is based in nature and not in the supernatural. 

My findings over the years with reading, listening online and with in-person discussions, have been that a person may not describe self as a naturalist, but may state he/she believes in science, as opposed to the supernatural; or a person might state they are an empiricist and do not hold to a belief in the supernatural. Such a person is making a naturalistic division philosophically from that which is supernaturalistic. But this does not in many cases mean as certain that such a person is philosophically embracing the term 'naturalism', within his/her worldview. Seems to me the term 'naturalism' is often used by evangelicals to describe the worldview of those that do not believe in the supernatural. Therefore, again, the description from Stanford that “naturalism” has no very precise meaning in contemporary philosophy, rings true and has for years for me via my research.

Stanford states: 'So understood, “naturalism” is not a particularly informative term as applied to contemporary philosophers.' Agreed. Stanford further notes that 'The great majority of contemporary philosophers would happily accept naturalism as just characterized—that is, they would both reject “supernatural” entities, and allow that science is a possible route (if not necessarily the only one) to important truths about the “human spirit”.' I can agree that this is likely the position of many modern philosophers (and scientists), but I do not agree with the rejection of the supernatural. 

Further from Stanford: 'Even so, this entry will not aim to pin down any more informative definition of “naturalism”. It would be fruitless to try to adjudicate some official way of understanding the term. Different contemporary philosophers interpret “naturalism” differently. This disagreement about usage is no accident.' Agreed. It is fruitless to attempt to officially tag everyone that does not hold to supernaturalism as primarily a naturalist, as if 'naturalism' is one uniform philosophy.

Instead Stanford writes that in regards to their entry: 'It will outline a range of philosophical commitments of a generally naturalist stamp...' In agreement, this is how I have viewed naturalism as well.

Cited: 

'As indicated by the above characterization of the mid-twentieth-century American movement, naturalism can be separated into an ontological and a methodological component. The ontological component is concerned with the contents of reality, asserting that reality has no place for “supernatural” or other “spooky” kinds of entity. By contrast, the methodological component is concerned with ways of investigating reality, and claims some kind of general authority for the scientific method.'

Ontologically (existence and reality), I do not view the supernatural as 'spooky', but rather view the non-finite, non-eternal, therefore, infinite and eternal first cause, uncaused cause, as philosophically necessary with sufficient key premises of support. The first cause is sufficiently of infinity, eternality and perfect goodness. Finite, supernatural, non-natural entities can also exist if created by the first cause entity, but are unnecessary, as contingent entities.

Academically, I can support scientific, empirical methodology within scientific research and overlapping academic disciplines. This is inductive reasoning, but I do not reject deductive reasoning within academic disciplines where reasonable, especially within philosophy and theology.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Bibliography

• Alter, T. and Pereboom, D., 2019, “Russellian Monism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2019 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2019/entries/russellian-monism/>.
• Armstrong, D., 1968, A Materialist Theory of the Mind, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• Baker, A., 2005, “Are there Genuine Mathematical Explanations of Physical Phenomena?”, Mind, 114: 223–38.
• Batterman, R., 2010, “On the Explanatory Role of Mathematics in Empirical Science”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 61: 1–25.
• Bennett, K., 2003, “Why the Exclusion Problem Seems Intractable, and How, Just Maybe, to Tract It”, Nous, 37: 471–97.
• Bickle, J., 2013, “Multiple Realizability”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2013/entries/multiple-realizability/>.
• Blackburn, S., 1993, Essays in Quasi-Realism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Boyd, R., 1988, “How to Be a Moral Realist”, in G. Sayre-McCord (ed.), Essays on Moral Realism, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 181–228.
• Braddon-Mitchell, D. and Nola, R. (eds.), Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalism, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Brandom, R., 2001, “Reason, Expression, and the Philosophical Enterprise”, in C. Ragland and S. Heidt (eds.), What Is Philosophy?, New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Brown, C., 2017, “A Properly Physical Russellian Physicalism”, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 24: 31–50.
• Burge, T., 1993a, “Mind-Body Causation and Explanatory Practice”, in J. Heil and A. Mele (eds.), Mental Causation, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• –––, 1993b, “Content Preservation”, Philosophical Review, 102: 457–88.
• Butterfield, J., 2011, “Less is Different: Emergence and Reduction Reconciled”, Foundations of Physics, 41(6): 1065–1135.
• Cappelen, H., 2012, Philosophy without Intuitions, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Cappelen, H., David Plunkett, D. and Burgess, A., 2019, Conceptual Engineering and Conceptual Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Chalmers, D., 1996, The Conscious Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• –––, 2012, Constructing the World, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Craig, W. and J. Moreland (eds.), 2000, Naturalism: A Critical Analysis, London: Routledge.
• Daly, C. and S. Langford, 2009, “Mathematical Explanation and Indispensability Arguments”, Philosophical Quarterly, 59: 641–658.
• Davidson, D., 1970, “Mental Events”, in L. Foster and J. Swanson (eds.), Experience and Theory, London: Duckworth. Reprinted in Davidson 1980.
• –––, 1980, Essays on Actions and Events, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• DePaul, M. and W. Ramsey (eds.), 1998, Rethinking Intuition, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.
• Draper, P., 2005, “God, Science, and Naturalism”, in W. Wainwright (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Elkana, Y., 1974, The Discovery of the Conservation of Energy, London: Hutchinson.
• Enoch, D., 2011, Taking Morality Seriously, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Feigl, H., 1958, “The ‘Mental’ and the ‘Physical’”, in H. Feigl, M. Scriven and G. Maxwell (eds.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume II, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Field, H., 1980, Science Without Numbers, Oxford: Blackwell.
• –––, 1989, Realism, Mathematics and Modality, Oxford: Blackwell.
• Fodor, J., 1974, “Special Sciences or: The Disunity of Science as a Working Hypothesis”, Synthese, 28: 97–115.
• Gibbard, A., 2003, Thinking How To Live, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Goldman, A. 2007: “Philosophical Intuitions: Their Target, Their Source, and Their Epistemic Status”, Grazer Philosophische Studien, 74: 1–26.
• Hale, B. and C. Wright, 2003, The Reason’s Proper Study: Essays towards a Neo-Fregean Philosophy of Mathematics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Hare, R., 1952, The Language of Morals, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Harman, G., 1986, “Moral Explanations of Natural Facts”, Southern Journal of Philosophy, 24: 69–78.
• Hempel, C., 1969, “Reduction: Ontological and Linguistic Facets”, in S. Morgenbesser et al. (eds.), Essays in Honor of Ernest Nagel, New York: St Martin’s Press.
• Honderich, T., 1982, “The Argument for Anomalous Monism”, Analysis, 42: 59–64.
• Hornsby, J., 1997, Simple-Mindedness: In Defence of Naïve Naturalism in the Philosophy of Mind, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Jackson, F., 1982, “Epiphenomenal Qualia”, Philosophical Quarterly, 32: 127–36.
• –––, 1986, “What Mary Didn’t Know”, Journal of Philosophy, 83: 291–5.
• –––, 1993, “Armchair Metaphysics”, in J. O’Leary-Hawthorne and M. Michael (eds.), Philosophy in Mind, Dordrecht: Kluwer.
• –––, 1998, From Metaphysics to Ethics, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• –––, 2003, “Mind and Illusion”, in A. O’Hear (ed.), Minds and Persons, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Jenkins, C., 2008, Grounding Concepts: An Empirical Basis for Arithmetical Knowledge, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• –––, 2012, “A Priori Knowledge: The Conceptual Approach”, in A. Cullison (ed.), The Continuum Companion to Epistemology, London: Continuum Press.
• Joyce, R., 2015, “Moral Anti-Realism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2015 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/moral-anti-realism/>.
• Kalderon, M., 2005, Moral Fictionalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Kim, J., 1998, Mind in a Physical World, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• –––, 2003, “The American Origins of Philosophical Naturalism”, Journal of Philosophical Research, APA Centennial Volume: 83–98.
• Knobe J. and Nichols, S. (eds.), 2008, Experimental Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press.
• –––,“Experimental Philosophy”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/experimental-philosophy/>.
• Kornblith, H., 2002, Knowledge and Its Place in Nature, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Krikorian, Y. (ed.), 1944, Naturalism and the Human Spirit, New York: Columbia University Press.
• Kroedel, T., 2015, “Dualist Mental Causation and the Exclusion Problem”, Nous, 49: 357–75.
• Leng, M., 2013, Mathematics and Reality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Leng, M., 2016, “Taking Morality Mathematically: Enoch’s Indispensability Argument” in U. Leibowitz and N. Sinclair, N. (eds.) Explanation in Ethics and Mathematics: Debunking and Dispensability, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 204–15.
• Lenman, J., 2014, “Moral Naturalism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/naturalism-moral/>.
• Lewis, D., 1966, “An Argument for the Identity Theory”, Journal of Philosophy, 63: 17–25.
• –––, 1970, “How to Define Theoretical Terms”, Journal of Philosophy, 67: 427–46.
• List, C. and P. Menzies, 2009, “Non-Reductive Physicalism and the Limits of the Exclusion Principle”, Journal of Philosophy, 106: 475–502.
• –––, 2010, “The Causal Autonomy of the Special Sciences”, in C. Macdonald and G. Macdonald (eds.), Emergence in Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Loewer, B., 2007, “Counterfactuals and the Second Law”, in H. Price and R. Corry (eds.), Causation, Physics, and the Constitution of Reality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Lowe, E.J., 2000, “Causal Closure Principles and Emergentism”, Philosophy, 75: 571–85.
• –––, 2003, “Physical Causal Closure and the Invisibility of Mental Causation”, in S. Walter and H.-D. Heckmann (eds.), Physicalism and Mental Causation, Exeter: Imprint Academic.
• MacBride, F., 2003, “Speaking with Shadows: A Study of Neo-Logicism”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 54: 103–63.
• McDowell, J., 1996, Mind and World, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Mackie, J., 1977, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
• Maddy, P., 1990, Realism in Mathematics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Mellor D., 1995, The Facts of Causation, London: Routledge.
• Menon, T. and C. Callender, 2013, “Turn and Face the Strange … Ch-ch-changes”, in R. Batterman (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Physics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Menzies, P., 2008, “Causal Exclusion, the Determination Relation, and Contrastive Causation”, in J. Kallestrup and J. Hohwy (eds.), Being Reduced: New Essays on Reductive Explanation and Special Science Causation, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Montero, B., 2015, “Russellian Physicalism”, in T. Alter and Y. Nagasawa (eds.), Consciousness in the Physical World: Perspectives on Russellian Monism, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Montero, B. and D. Papineau, 2005, “A Defence of the Via Negativa Argument for Physicalism”, Analysis, 65: 233–7.
• Moore, G., 1903, Principia Ethica, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Nagel, J., 2007, “Epistemic Intuitions”, Philosophy Compass, 2/6: 792–819.
• Nolan, D., 2011a, “Modal Fictionalism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/fictionalism-modal/>.
• –––, 2011b, “Modal Fictionalism and Possible World Semantics” (supplement to “Modal Fictionalism”, Winter 2011 edition), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/fictionalism-modal/supplement3.html>.
• Oppenheim, H. and P. Putnam, 1958, “Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis”, in H. Feigl, M. Scriven, and G. Maxwell (eds.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume II, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Papineau, D., 2001, “The Rise of Physicalism”, in C. Gillett and B. Loewer (eds.), Physicalism and its Discontents, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• –––, 2013, “Causation is Macroscopic but not Irreducible”, in S. Gibb, E. Lowe, and R. Ingthorsson (eds.), Mental Causation and Ontology, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• –––, 2014, “The Poverty of Conceptual Analysis”, in M. Haug (ed.), Philosophical Methodology, London: Routledge.
• –––, 2015, “The Nature of A Priori Intuitions: Analytic or Synthetic?”, in E. Fischer and J. Collins (eds.), Experimental Philosophy, Rationalism, and Naturalism, London: Routledge.
• Parfit, D., 2011, On What Matters, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Parsons, C., 1995, “Platonism and Mathematical Intuition in Kurt Gödel’s Thought”, Bulletin of Symbolic Logic, 1(1): 44–74.
• Plantinga, A., 1996, “Methodological Naturalism?”, in J. van der Meer (ed.), Facets of Faith and Science, Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
• Price, H., 2011, Naturalism without Mirrors, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Pust, J., 2014, “Intuition”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/intuition/>.
• Putnam, H., 1971, Philosophy of Logic, New York: Harper.
• Ridge, M., 2014, “Moral Non-Naturalism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/moral-non-naturalism/>.
• Robb, D. and J. Heil, 2014, “Mental Causation”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/mental-causation/>.
• Rosen, G., 1990, “Modal Fictionalism”, Mind, 99: 327–54.
• Russell, B., 1917, “On Scientific Method in Philosophy”, in his Mysticism and Logic, London: Longmans.
• Russell, G., 2008, Truth in Virtue of Meaning, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Shafer-Landau, R., 2003, Moral Realism: A Defence, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Shapiro, S., 2000, “Frege Meets Dedekind: A Neologicist Treatment of Real Analysis”, Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 41: 335–64.
• Smart, J.J.C., 1959, “Sensations and Brain Processes”, Philosophical Review, 68: 141–56.
• Sosa, E., 1998, “Minimal Intuition”, in DePaul and Ramsey 1998: 257–70.
• –––, 2007, “Experimental Philosophy and Philosophical Intuition”, Philosophical Studies, 132: 99–107.
• Spurrett, D. and Papineau, D., 1999, “A Note on the Completeness of ‘Physics’”, Analysis, 59: 25–29.
• Steward, H., 2012, A Metaphysics for Freedom, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Strevens, M., 2019, Thinking Off Your Feet, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Stoljar, D., 2015, “Physicalism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2015 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/physicalism/>.
• Sturgeon, N., 1985, “Moral Explanations”, in D. Copp and D. Zimmerman (eds.), Morality, Reason, and Truth, Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Allanheld, 49–78.
• Turner, F., 1974, Between Science and Religion. The Reaction to Scientific Naturalism in Late Victorian England, New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Wedgwood, R., 2007, The Nature of Normativity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Weinberg, J., S. Nichols, and S. Stich, 2001, “Normativity and Epistemic Intuitions”, Philosophical Topics, 29: 429–460.
• Wilson, J., 2006, “On Characterizing the Mental”, Philosophical Studies, 131: 61–99.
• Williamson, T., 2007, The Philosophy of Philosophy, Oxford: Blackwell.
• –––, 2011, “Philosophical Expertise and the Burden of Proof”, Metaphilosophy, 42(2): 215–29.
• –––, 2013, “How Deep is the Distinction between A Priori and A Posteriori Knowledge?”, in A. Casullo and J. Thurow (eds.), The A Priori in Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 291–312.
• Woodward, J., 2005, Making Things Happen, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Woolhouse, R., 1985, “Leibniz’s Reaction to Cartesian Interaction”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 86: 69–82.
• Wright, C., 1983, Frege’s Conception of Numbers as Objects, Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press.
• –––, 1992, Truth and Objectivity, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• –––, 2000, “Neo-Fregean Foundations for Real Analysis: Some Reflections on Frege’s Constraint”, Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 41: 317–34.
• Yablo, S., 1992, “Mental Causation”, Philosophical Review, 101: 245–280.
• Yalowitz, S., 2014, “Anomalous Monism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2014 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/anomalous-monism/>.
• 
  

William G.T. Shedd (PhD Edit): Satire Und Theology Version

Emerald Bay, California, Google+

William G.T. Shedd (PhD Edit)

Preface

This is a section of my PhD originally posted on Blogger 2013110, with slight revisions for an entry on academia.edu, 20250719. Shedd's clarity and precision on issues I cited has been very beneficial to my work. He gets it right.

Saturday, September 19, 2020 PhD Full Version PDF: Theodicy and Practical Theology 2010, Wales TSD

Cited

William Greenough Thayer Shedd (1820-1894) Wikipedia

Cited 

'Shedd's writings reveal the interplay of various intellectual voices such as Kant, Darwin, Emerson, Coleridge, Calvin, Locke, and German intellectuals such as Fichte and Schiller.[6][7] He was known for his teachings on eternal punishment and damnation, his most notable work, Dogmatic Theology, devotes 56 pages to the topic, as opposed to only 2 pages on heaven. [1]' 

1. Jensen, Michael (7 July 2015). "Five Theologians You Should Know (3) – William Shedd". The Gospel Coalition | Australia.

6. Strout, Cushing. "Faith and History: The Mind of William G. T. Shedd." Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 15, no. 1, 1954, pp. 153–62. JSTOR website Retrieved 15 June 2025. 

7. Noll, Mark A. "Common Sense Traditions and American Evangelical Thought." American Quarterly, vol. 37, no. 2, 1985, p. 235. JSTOR website Retrieved 15 June 2025.'

---

Theology and Culture

Within William G.T. Shedd’s (1874-1890)(1980) text Dogmatic Theology he writes ‘profound insight into theological truth was no mere matter of casual intellectual reflection.’[1]  This is a correct and reasonable approach to the difficult academic field of theology and Reformed theology. Careful and thorough scholarship is required.[2]  Theology is not to be done at the expense of the Scripture,[3] but within a correct study of that Scripture.[4]  Shedd reasons that ‘methods of investigation are continually undergoing correction and modification’[5] and this can lead to better organization of the subject.[6]  Methodologically, ‘theology is disciplined consideration and exploration of the content of divine revelation.’[7] 

Franke cautions that although there is truth in this definition, human knowledge of God is not sufficient without a proper knowledge of humanity while this theology is being considered.[8]  Theology is always considered in the light of cultural and historical setting of the day,[9] the implication being that a culture will influence theology and therefore theology needs to be scrutinized with this concept always in mind.[10]

Biblical Inspiration

The Holy Spirit guided the thoughts of Biblical writers.[11] Shedd names this basic theory of Biblical inspiration as ‘plenary inspiration’ meaning writers were moved by the Holy Spirit in respect to thought and language and were kept from error.[12] Modern theology needs to correctly discern what the Spirit is stating through the Bible and this needs to be done through proper research techniques.[13] Although this section concerns the Reformed methodology in regard to how the Holy Spirit inspires Scripture, ‘intuition theory’[14] is another approach to the Bible that is separate from traditional theory and dictation theory mentioned.  I shall discuss it briefly. 

James Martineau (1889) presents the intuition view[15] which is popular among some within the liberal progressive segment of the Church,[16]  the view being that some are spiritually gifted with intuition and able to write religious literature as were some within the Hebrew people.[17] There would be persons of various religious backgrounds also having this gifting.[18]  This idea would mean the Hebrew Bible and New Testament are not necessarily the only legitimate divine Scripture.[19]  Many persons of different religious viewpoints could have superior insights into morality and religious truth, and they would possess a spiritual genius of higher order.[20]  Schleiermacher and his related view on Biblical inspiration reasons that the Holy Spirit would not be providing within Scripture a set of perfectly inspired doctrines, but would rather have God interact spiritually with persons open to this divine religious experience.[21]  This approach allows for the possible revision of Biblical doctrines over time as needed via human experience with God and his Spirit.[22]

No compulsion

There is ‘no compulsion of the will in regeneration.’ states Shedd.[23]  Calvin reasons that a person is not forced or coerced to believe in the gospel.[24]  I would view conversion as taking place simultaneously with regeneration in a person, although again I state that God alone via the Holy Spirit causes the regeneration process.[25] This means as God chooses to regenerate a person he simultaneously persuades one to freely believe.[26]  Murray states that regeneration is logically antecedent to any conscious response,[27] and I reason that God’s choice to commit the act of regeneration must be antecedent due to the corrupt and sinful nature of persons.[28]  

The work of salvation was confined to God’s part in the calling.  This does not prohibit God from causing a compatibilistic human choice within conversion at the moment that God’s initial eternal choice to regenerate[29] becomes a divine act of regeneration.[30]  As persons were regenerated they would hear the call of salvation, repent and believe in Christ.[31]  I would view conversion as an aspect of regeneration, which is the beginning of the Christian experience.[32]  Regeneration was to encompass the entire divine plan of recreation from the initial change in persons to the ultimate culmination of a new heaven and new earth.

20250719

'As persons were regenerated they would hear the call of salvation, repent and believe in Christ.[31] Note of clarification: Regeneration leads to belief. Repentance and walking in Christ, is in belief.

BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 2: God and Creation, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.

BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids

BROWING, W.R.F. (1997) Oxford Dictionary of the Bible, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book II, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College.

CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College.

CALVIN, JOHN (1540)(1973) Romans and Thessalonians, Translated by Ross Mackenzie, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

CALVIN, JOHN (1543)(1996) The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, Translated by G.I. Davies, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

CALVIN, JOHN (1550)(1978) Concerning Scandals, Translated by John W. Fraser, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

CALVIN, JOHN (1552)(1995) Acts, Translated by Watermark, Nottingham, Crossway Books. 

CALVIN, JOHN (1553)(1952) Job, Translated by Leroy Nixon, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

CALVIN, JOHN (1554)(1965) Genesis, Translated by John King, Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust.

ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

ERICKSON, MILLARD (2003) What Does God Know and When Does He Know It?  Grand Rapids, Zondervan.

FRANKE, JOHN R. (2005) The Character of Theology, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.

HINDSON, EDWARD E. (1874-1890)(1980) ‘Introduction’ within SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. Dogmatic Theology,  Volume 1, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

KREEFT, PETER AND RONALD K. TACELLI (1994) Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press.

LINDSELL, HAROLD (1976) The Battle for the Bible, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House.

MARTINEAU, JAMES (1889) A Study of Religion: Its Sources and Contents, Oxford, Clarendon.

MURRAY, JOHN (1937-1966)(1977) Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 2:  Select Lectures in Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust.

SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology,  Volume 1, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology,  Volume 2, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

SCHLEIERMACHER, FRIEDRICH (1799)(1961) On Religion, in Elie Kedourie, Nationalism, New York, Praeger University Series.

SCHLEIERMACHER, FRIEDRICH (1821)(1928)(1976) The Christian Faith, Edited by H.R. Mackintosh and J.S. Stewart, Philadelphia, Fortress Press.

THIESSEN, HENRY C. (1956) Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 

---

[1] Hindson (1874-1890)(1980: iv).

[2] Hindson (1874-1890)(1980: iv).  This is the case in all theological writing and especially in academic writing and research.

[3] Hindson (1874-1890)(1980: iv).   Frame (2002: 10). 

[4] Scripture is also not to be evaluated in isolation as various Scripture needs to be compared.  Erickson (1994: 21).

[5] Shedd (1874-1890)(1980: 4 Volume 1).

[6] Shedd (1874-1890)(1980: 4 Volume 1).

[7] Franke (2005: 13).

[8] Franke (2005: 14).

[9] Franke (2005: 14).

[10] Franke (2005: 14). Cultural influences and how learning is done always relates to how theology is understood by the reader. Erickson (1994: 21).

[11] Erickson (1994: 215).

[12] Shedd  (1874-1890)(1980: 72 Volume 1). 

[13] Franke (2005: 133).  A student of Scripture must attempt to be more true to what the Scripture actually states than to prior theological positions. As noted previously, many within the Christian community from a liberal and progressive position claim a trust in the Bible but do not view it as without error as in infallible and inerrant.  Since the original Scriptural autographs are all missing, even with many largely accurate copies and parts of copies, there is room for legitimate debate and serious study of Scripture in the original languages and as translated.  Lindsell admits that only the original autographs are free from all error, and I agree.  Lindsell (1976: 30).  A fundamentalist and naïve approach to Scripture through the eyes of a Western reader devoid of serious study of contexts and background has always been strongly rejected by this writer.  This type of fundamentalist approach is also not an aspect of legitimate Reformed scholarship, even as I admit this thesis in not in the field of Biblical Studies but rather Theology and Philosophy of Religion.  

[14] Martineau (1889: 168-171). 

[15] Martineau (1889: 168-171). 

[16] Erickson (1994: 206). 

[17] Martineau (1889: 168-171).

[18] Erickson (1994: 206).

[19] The Bible would not so much be the word of God, but a word of God, or more precisely a word from those that intuitively and naturally understand God to some extent.  Browning suggests there are contradictions and inconsistencies within the Bible that threaten any traditional view of inspiration.  Browning (1997: 186).  Kreeft and Tacelli reason  that modernist reviewers of the Scripture take a sceptical attitude toward it, especially in regard to the supernatural.  Kreeft and Tacelli (1994: 205).  A disbelief in a supernaturally inspired Scripture free from spiritual error would in my mind logically fit within some modern approaches.  But, I do not reason this means these types of modern thinkers would therefore necessarily all completely abandon the Bible as a divine book in any sense.

[20] Lindsell (1976: 33).

[21] Schleiermacher (1821)(1928)(1976: 125).  

[22] Schleiermacher (1821)(1928)(1976: 390).  

[23] Shedd (1874-1890)(1980: 136-137 Volume 2). 

[24] Calvin (1543)(1996: 68). 

[25] Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 172).

[26] This allows for a limited but significant human freedom within the salvation process that is not incompatibilism. Salvation remains alone a work of God.  Weber writes that God with his freedom effects both human freedom and human bondage as he reaches out to a saved person through the Word of God.  Weber (1955)(1981: 245).  This would be a work of the Spirit.

[27] Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 172).

[28] Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 168-169).

[29] As God is eternal this choice could be viewed as such. Humans of course are not eternal.

[30] Persons have via the Holy Spirit been molded and transformed in order to freely believe.  Thiessen, an incompatibilist, states that in regeneration the human is passive and is active in conversion. Thiessen (1956: 367).  I agree concerning regeneration, and I can agree in regard to conversion, only if by active the human being is convinced freely via the Holy Spirit and is not assumed to have incompatibilist free will.

[31] Bavinck (1918)(2006: 53).

[32] Franke notes that the Scripture explains that the Holy Spirit continued to guide the earliest Christians. Franke (2005: 132).  The Spirit continues to work in regenerated/converted believers that embrace the gospel.