Christopher B. Barnett

Behold, My Mother and My Brethren!

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Though his works remain widely discussed at universities and in scholarly conferences, Søren Kierkegaard did not feel that his work was best applied or understood in academic settings. Hence, in Behold, My Mother and My Brethren! Christman does not tender a fashionable argument meant to tantalize at the next biblical studies conference. Instead, his inspired yet learned treatise is meant to stir the individual reader, who, in picking it up, desires a deeper engagement with Scripture and, ultimately, a deeper relationship with God.”

Encountering Mark’s Gospel with Soren Kierkegaard

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“The Gospel of Mark has long been hailed as the most urgent and arguably the most passionate of the four canonical gospels. Mark presents Jesus in a way that is stirringly human—exhausted, sorrowful, angry, and sometimes bordering on despair. For Mark, weakness and rejection are central to understanding who Jesus is, and, for that reason, his portrait remains capable of shocking readers even today. So, the question then becomes: how can we enter into this forbidding text? In Encountering Mark’s Gospel with Søren Kierkegaard, Bryan M. Christman once again uses the great Danish thinker to penetrate the mysteries of Mark’s Gospel and, with it, the paradoxical calling of the Christian spiritual life writ large.”

I See Men as Trees, Walking

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Kierkegaard once said that reading the Bible is not an exercise in bland scholarship but, rather, a spiritual practice, whereby one enters into an intimate, edifying relationship with God. Bryan Christman has taken this claim to heart—indeed, in striking fashion. His Kierkegaardian commentary on the Gospel of Mark is insightful and provocative, but it’s also earnest and searching. It likely won’t find its way into an historical-critical guide to the New Testament, but, like Kierkegaard himself, Christman is just fine with that.”

Kierkegaard and the Changelessness of God

Philosophy

“For centuries, Western philosophy and theology took it as axiomatic that God is immutable. 'It is evident,' Thomas Aquinas wrote in the Summa Theologiae, 'that it is impossible for God to be in any way changeable.' Yet in modernity, this long-held belief has come under attack for various reasons. Is it unthinkable, then, for a modern person to adhere to the doctrine of divine immutability? In this important and thought-provoking study, Craig A. Hefner draws on one of the most essential modern thinkers—Søren Kierkegaard—to make a case for God's changelessness. In doing so, Hefner shows that Christian theology can successfully retrieve classical teaching and yet speak to modern concerns.”

Pathways in Theodicy

Philosophy

“Scott provides an accessible yet comprehensive assessment of the state of theodicy today. Defying cliché theological summaries of sin, evil, and suffering, he offers clear analysis of these interwoven issues and the various contemporary solutions to them. He unmasks lazy assumptions that still predominate in the academy, our culture, and the church. By dealing masterfully with the biblical material, the theological tradition, and philosophical views so thoroughly, Scott gives us a top-notch set of insights and judgments with which to evaluate the most persistent theological problem ever. Highly recommended!” —Paul Allen Concordia University, Montreal, Canada “In this engaging book, Mark Scott refuses to give a facile, one-dimensional answer to the problem of evil. He pays careful attention to various dimensions of the problem, from existential relevance to theoretical fruitfulness, discussing different models of theodicy with clarity, grace, fairness, and historical sensitivity. This surefooted survey will be used in my courses on the problem of evil. Highly recommended!” Paul L. Gavrilyuk University of St. Thomas “The problem of evil is not only a classic point of contention in Western intellectual history but a topical one as well. It has found renewed vigor in the writings of philosophers such as Alain Badiou, theologians such as JuÌ?rgen Moltmann, and scientists such as Richard Dawkins, but, just as importantly, it meets us whenever we scan the news headlines. The value of Mark Scott’s book, Pathways in Theodicy, is that it offers an accessible yet thorough introduction to theodicy and thereby facilitates our engagement with the issue going forward, whether in public debates or in our own lives. Its importance, then, ranges beyond the academic to the deeply spiritual.”

Reading Kierkegaard I

Philosophy

“As a Kierkegaard scholar, I am all too aware that many students first encounter Kierkegaard through Fear and Trembling, a pseudonymous text that is not only difficult to read but disquieting in its conclusions. What distinguishes Paul Martens' new commentary on Fear and Trembling is that it confronts these challenges head-on, while never forgetting that Kierkegaard's masterwork is meant to be provocative, perhaps even (as Kierkegaard himself put it) 'terrifying.'”

You Must Change Your Life

Philosophy

“In recent decades, research has shown that literary reading is in a slow but certain decline in Western society—a trend that has been hastened by the arrival of the smartphone. Why bother to read, one might assume, when there is now an abundance of other engaging options, from Facebook to Netflix? One of the best things about Millay’s book is that it speaks to this concern, arguing, in particular, that Søren Kierkegaard’s thought offers a nuanced apology for the task of reading. Intriguingly, it turns out, Kierkegaard believes that reading, as a quiet and reflective activity, is essential training for the individual to learn how to act well in the world. Thus, Millay’s book does a great service: it gives us timely wisdom from a thinker whose understanding of modernity is looking increasingly prescient.”