Question on Performative Language

Tim. Thanks for your excellent comments. For some reason I cannot post on my site, so I am responding here.

The question I have relates to the distinction between the being of the Word, the knowing of the Word, and what the Word does. What exactly is this relationship? Does what the Word does determine the being of the Word, or simply our knowing of it?

Even if we know the answer to this, however, we are still faced with the question of the identity conditions of what the Word does. How exactly do we know that life is communicated by the Word, (in spite of the fact of death), when we cannot know what would count as the ontological contour of such life? What does it mean exactly for the Word to do?

Sometimes things are very obvious until we start to think about them really hard. If I cannot specify the precise conditions under which life and forgiveness are decidedly not communicated, how can I know for sure when they are? This is a general problem for all who want to think deeply about the hidden nature of faith and salvation.

Dennis

Thanks for your excellent post!

The Contender

The funeral sermon preached for Charles Aasen who contended for the joys of married, family, and civic identity but could not contend for victory over the devil, the world and our sinful selves. Against that triumvirate of evil Christ is the ONLY contender and he has already won the victory! March 18, 2010 in Trinity Lutheran Church of Alexander, North Dakota

The text of this sermon can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=376997949705

Signum Philosophicum

I am seeking to understand more clearly the common claim that theological language must be understood primarily donationally, a view espoused paradigmatically by Ebeling and adopted in the tradition of hermeneutical theology. In the following post I am responding specifically to Bayer who connects the claim to Austin's use of a performative utterance. See here. I am, as always, deeply interested in theological conversation.

A Tale of Two Siblings

A profligate father, two greedy sons, an unmentioned community, one preacher, and a sacramental fatted calf comprise this parable's cast. The world with all its prodigal younger sons; the world with all its begrudging elder sons; the world with all its skeptical and necessarily protective communities will be reconciled to the Father by the sacrifice of Christ. Delivered at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, El Paso, TX on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson.

The text for this sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=355589409705

Salvation Insurance? No, Thank You!

The Third Sunday of Lent C March 7, 2010 Wilmington & Trinity Lutheran Churches Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota The fig tree (and those Pharisees and Sadducees) die particularly from being unfruitful, unproductive. Makes you want to get out your yield calculator, doesnt it? Figure out your fruit per hour, see how that measures up? Has your life yielded enough fruit to make it on your own, or will you have to file for salvation insurance? Sadly enough, thats the way a goodly number of those who call themselves Christian treat our Lord Jesus Christ: salvation insurance. Isaiah 55:1-9 Psalm 63:1-8 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Luke 13:1-13

The Sermon Text can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=347404189705

A Cosmic Game of Chicken

A Cosmic Game of Chicken
The Second Sunday of Lent February 28, 2010 Wilmington & Trinity Lutheran Churches Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota When the Word of God descended from heaven in the person of Jesus the Christ, the worlds children were already well practiced in the ascension of their own glory. Jesus—coming down—was on a collision course with the world going up. And there on the curb sat the devil egging on the both of them as if it were some cosmic game of chicken and the devil would take the one who flinched first. Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35

Sermon text found here:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/timothy-j-swenson/a-cosmic-game-of-chicken/331995374705