Patrick O'Banion

Reading CCR: Prove it (§I.ii).

God speaks in the writings of the prophets and apostles. Although God has made himself and his eternal power and deity known—neither meagerly nor obscurely—to men of all the earth by means of those things which he has made, so that everyone who does not glorify God might be without excuse, nevertheless, we know thatContinue reading “Reading CCR: Prove it (§I.ii).”

Pastoral Training for Geneva’s Exiles

Note: This article is the last of four about the historical background of diaspora ministry. It first appeared on the TLI website. (See the first, second, and third parts.) In a series of short articles, I’ve been placing “diaspora ministry” into a broader historical context to emphasize that the church has always viewed it asContinue reading “Pastoral Training for Geneva’s Exiles”

Reading CCR: Laying a Double Foundation (§I.i)

We recently had a new driveway poured at our house. Of course, this meant getting rid of the old one first, which we assumed would be a bit of a task. As it happened, however, a mini-forklift made short work of it, leveraging great chunks of cement out of their resting places and, in aContinue reading “Reading CCR: Laying a Double Foundation (§I.i)”

The Diasporic Roots of Korean Christianity

Note: This article is the third in a four-part series that I wrote exploring the historic roots of ministry to and among diaspora communities. This one appeared first on the Gospel Coalition. (See also part one and part two.) The traditional narrative explaining the rise of Asian Christianity in the modern age is a storyContinue reading “The Diasporic Roots of Korean Christianity”

Systematic Theology I: Names and Attributes (Video 7)

Having made our way through the challenging waters of the doctrine of the Trinity (at least for now!), we’re moving onto talk about the divine names and attributes. As I reflected on this topic, I was pleased to find my thinking come more and more into line with the Great Tradition of Christian thought, whichContinue reading “Systematic Theology I: Names and Attributes (Video 7)”

Reading CCR: Clearing the Throat

Before speaking in public, you always want to clear your throat, so that you can breathe easier, project further, and speak more clearly. In the spirit of throat clearing, this post is meant to introduce “Reading CCF.” The idea is this: I’ve been working for some months on a translation of Jerome Zanchi‘s De religioneContinue reading “Reading CCR: Clearing the Throat”

Systematic Theology I: Trinitarian Language (Video 6)

Another video on the Trinity from the Systematic Theology I course that I recently taught remotely. The primary goal here is to unpack some of the technical language that theologians use to discuss the doctrine of the Trinity: opposed relations, the filioque, inseparable operations, divine appropriations and missions, perichoresis, taxis, eternal generation, and so on.Continue reading “Systematic Theology I: Trinitarian Language (Video 6)”

Cyprian and the Coronavirus

Note: This article was originally written in March 2020 (at the beginning of the pandemic) and appeared on the TLI website. I debated whether or not to post it here a year after the fact, but there’s nothing in it that I disagree with fundamentally even now. I was talking with a friend who’s aContinue reading “Cyprian and the Coronavirus”

Systematic Theology I: One and Three (Video 5)

This is the fifth video for the Systematic Theology course that I recently taught in S. Asia. Here we talk about what it means to confess that God is one while also confessing that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. This is a huge topic—the biggest oneContinue reading “Systematic Theology I: One and Three (Video 5)”

Mission Beyond the Pacific

Note: This article first appeared on the TLI website as the second in a four-part series about diaspora ministry. (Here is the first article in the series.) The Presbyterian Church founded the Japanese Presbyterian Mission in San Francisco in the 1880s. Their immediate goal was to reach the issei—Japanese immigrants to North America—who had recentlyContinue reading “Mission Beyond the Pacific”