This session explores the multifaceted theme of Christian freedom within the Reformed tradition, engaging its historical, theological and ethical dimensions. Against the backdrop of historic Reformed approaches to Christian freedom, it proposes how the “freedom of a Christian” in relation to the state might be understood today; and explores—in connection with the cinema of Paul Schrader—the possibility of freedom in Christ given the depravity that pervades human life. Further, it contends--in connection with the apocalyptic features of Karl Barth’s doctrine of death--that, in Christ’s death, we attain both freedom from “evil” death and freedom to “natural” death; and argues that current Reformed thought and practice might be newly informed by “radical” elements of Pauline pneumatology.
The "freedom of a Christian" has been a contested and reinterpreted term over the centuries in Reformed Theology. Looking at four snapshots running across the centuries in Luther, Calvin, Virginia, and Abolitionism, I offer clarity and steps towards a fresh way forward.
The Reformed tradition of human depravity and freedom speaks with a multifold voice. This paper will explore three of those voices: two theologians—John Calvin, Karl Barth—and the contemporary writer and director, Paul Schrader. Though first two are theologians, and the third a filmmaker, they all are working within and with a tradition, learning from it and arguing with it (as MacIntyre argues is the nature of tradition). Through these interpreters of the Reformed tradition (one of which was of course the founder), we discover that depravity always lurks under the surface of human life, but that freedom is really possible, and ultimately assured, in Christ.
This essay examines Barth’s doctrine of death in Church Dogmatics III/2 §47 through the lens of forensic and cosmological apocalyptic patterns proposed by Pauline scholar Martinus de Boer. Despite extensive Barth scholarship, Barth’s doctrine of death remains relatively underexplored, particularly its apocalyptic characteristics. This essay seeks to address this gap by first distinguishing between two types of death in Barth’s framework: “natural death” and “evil death.” It then utilizes de Boer’s apocalyptic patterns to analyze Barth’s discussion of evil death. The essay contends that elements of both patterns are present and closely intertwined in Barth’s treatment. Finally, this analysis deepens our understanding of Barth’s soteriology, demonstrating that Christ’s crucifixion grants us not only “freedom from death” but also “freedom to death.” In other words, those in Christ are liberated from the enslavement to evil death and are liberated for the natural death corresponding to their divine determination.
The Reformed tradition claims it is "always being reformed by the Word of God." Yet, the Spirit, the animating force of such transformation, is (too) often estranged and relegated to the Trinity's third person and last position. There is much more focus on the doctrine of God and Christology than pneumatology. In this paper, I explore how returning to the participatory and operative pneumatology in Paul's thought can inform and contribute to ongoing contemporary conversations and practices within Reformed theology.