TABLE OF CONTENTS CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2014 EDITORIALS .......................................................................... 5 ARTICLES The Dilemma of Divine Simplicity (Part One) ........................... 13 Stephen Parrish C.S. Lewis and Hunger Games..................................................... 25 John Oberdeck Good Shame.................................................................................. 43 Ronald Mudge The Evolution of Messianic Faith ................................................ 55 Nathan Jastram Introducing Jerome to Lutherans................................................ 71 Jason Soenksen The Doxology of the Lord's Prayer. ............................................. 85 Andrew Coop CHAPEL SERMONS .................................................... 105 Rev.Steven Smith BOOKREVIEWS ............................................................ 115 Reviewed by Timothy Maschke and Kevin Voss CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL 3 4 FALL 2014 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL Editorials CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL 5 6 FALL 2014 Editorial Introduction It is with humble gratitude that I take on this task of editing our department's journal this year. Upon the departure of Joel Elowsky, the po­ sition of editor for this journal was left vacant.At the end of this summer, Nathan Jastram, our department chair, asked if I would take on this role for the year until we could find a permanent editor. I agreed to his request and pray that I can fulfill the responsibilities for continuing the fine job begun by Joel. The journal offers us at Concordia University a semi-annual opportu­ nity to highlight several of our faculty members and their research. It is the hope of the editorial committee that every member of our department will submit an article in one of our upcoming issues.We have been blessed by our Lord with many talented members with who have servant-hearts and creative-minds. It is a joy to be part of this group of dedicated faculty who are committed to serving the Church and the world with confession­ al diligence and professional integrity. In this issue, we continue to publish scholarly articles from several of our colleagues from both of our campuses. Nathan Jastram, our chairman, submitted the printed text of his article, which first appeared in our blog in October 2012, "The Evolution of Messianic Faith," along with several colored graphs which utilize NodeXL network graphing technology.John Oberdeck continues to show his up-to-date expertise in youth ministry through his insightful article relating the work of C. S. Lewis to the more recent Hunger Games series. Jason Soenksen has been working on the Mi­ nor Prophets from the perspective of early Christian writers, particularly Jerome, and in this issue introduces Jerome to Lutheran readers. Stephen Parrish, our Ann Arbor colleague, has provided a paper he prepared with his former student,J.WWartick, on a current theological-philosophical discussion about God. Ronald Mudge has spent several years working on the concept of"shame" in Ezekiel as a result of his previous experience in African missions; his contribution provides an initial exploration of that concept as expressed in biblical contexts. Besides these regular articles, we include for the first time an addi­ tional article by a student. Over the years, our department has had many good research papers submitted for our Senior Seminar projects, but had no way to share them with the broader church. With the introduction of this journal, we now have an appropriate professional vehicle to do so. It is a great honor to add Seminarian Andrew Coop as a contributor to this CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL 7 journal with his article on the doxology of the Lord's Prayer which he presented this past Spring as his Senior Seminar paper. We hope that this feature will continue annually for the sake of our promising, talented, and emerging young student-scholars. Homiletical material is again presented by Steve Smith, our campus pastor. His preaching always provides our students with engaging oppor­ tunities to hear of God's grace in Christ. Several insightful book reviews conclude this issue, with several more in process as this issue goes to press. Finally, I wish again to express my sincere thanks to Joel Elowsky for serving as our initial editor and preparing a helpful set of protocols for our future work. The prospect of editing a professional journal is some­ what awesome, yet invigorating. I've appreciated this opportunity and pray God will bless our endeavors as well as your reading. To God alone be the glory! TIMOTHY MASCHKE, Ph.D. Editor, pro tem 8 FALL 2014 From the Dean The integration of faith and learning is central to what it means to be a Concordia student or graduate or faculty member. Our dedicated and engaging theology faculty both live their faith and actively support other members of the Concordia community in growing "in mind, body, and spirit for service to Christ in the Church and in the world:' In this commu­ nity of Christian scholars it is a blessing and pleasure to share our work within and beyond the campus community. A life of purpose requires that we address fundamental questions related to what it means to be human. Having a sense of who we are plac­ es demands upon what we do and how we conduct our lives. While the liberal arts have historically addressed the nature of the human condition, matters of meaningfulness and purpose are best suited to a specifically Christian approach to a liberal arts education. Our mission of"serving Christ in the Church and the world" requires that we are knowledgeable about our faith; that we can approach our particular discipline or vocation from the perspective of that faith; and that we can articulately share that faith with others. In serving Christ our purpose is not our own and we needn't be dependent upon human adulation or material motivation.We can approach our work each day with confidence, knowing whom we serve, and trusting that He will provide whatever strength and guidance we may need.This journal provides a significant contribution to our reflec­ tions and encourages us to deepen the exploration of our faith. GAYLUND K. STONE, Ph.D. Dean, School of Arts and Sciences CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL 9 10 FALL 2014 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL Articles CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL 11 1 Spring 2014 The Dilemma Of Divine Simplicity Stephen E. Parrish with J.W. Wartick I Introduction In his recent book, God without Parts,James E. Dolezal defends the doctrine of divine simplicity (DDS).To state this in brief: God is completely simple, totally without any parts, in any sense, whatever. He shows that this strong concept of simplicity (DDS) was the majority view among Christian theologians and philosophers, among both Catholics and the Reformed (he does not mention Lutherans), until fairly recently. Noting that there has been a falling away from this concept of God, his aim was to restate and defend the DDS from its critics. In contrast to the critics, Dolezal holds that the strong version of the DDS is not only the historical version held by most of the church, but it is an essen­ tial doctrine-one that cannot be discarded without doing major harm to the classical Christian concept of God. In the course of his discussion, Dolezal cogently discusses many issues involved with the DDS, but there is one that is very relevant to this article. It is the following-a problem with the DDS is the problem of multiple proper­ ties being the same. As we shall show, defenders of the DDS like Dolezal have argued that for God to be simple, all the properties he possesses must be iden­ tical with each other. This leads to obvious problems. One attempt to avoid the problem is a version of the DDS Dolezal calls the Harmonist thesis. Other philosophers have defended a form of divine simplicity that Dolezal calls Har­ monism, but he maintains that it is incompatible with the DDS properly un­ derstood. We shall argue that in fact Harmonism is defensible and necessary for an understanding of God's simplicity. Further, we shall argue that Dolezal himself ends up defending a version of Harmonism. A Definition Of Divine Simplicity To start, a more precise definition of divine simplicity must be given. We shall follow Dolezal here. Fundamentally simplicity is the lack of composition in a thing. He writes, Non-composition ... must characterize God inasmuch as every composite is a dependent thing that cannot account for its own existence or essence CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL 13 and stands in need of some composer outside itself.To be composite is to be composed by another and to be dependent upon the parts that enter into the composition. Furthermore, composition signifies the capacity of a thing to change or even be annihilated. If God is to be understood as "most absolute" all such composition must be denied to him. 1 To explicate what is entailed by this, Dolezal lists six different ways in which he believes that God's simplicity is expressed; in which God is not a composed being. These are act and potency, matter and form, supposit and nature, genus and species, substance and accident, and essence and existence. We shall briefly examine each one. Different Kinds Of Divine Simplicity Act and Potency Regarding act and potency, Dolezal argues that God is pure act and has no potency. He cannot change or be other than he is in any way.Therefore , he is absolutely simple. Unlike every contingent being, which are composed of act and potency, because they can be other than they are, God is absolutely simple. He is pure act of being. Matter and Form Dolezal, along with almost all other theists, denies that God has a body. As such he possesses no matter, and thus is pure form. In this respect also, God is absolutely simple. Supposit and Nature Quoting Aquinas, Dolezal writes that "God is the same as his essence or nature."2 He is not something that has a nature, rather he is his nature.