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Apparently my blog was hijacked today.  Apologies if it hit your virus filter, and apologies also for the messy look while I clean this up.

There is no point in dogmatic thinking and speaking if in it all systematic clarity and certainty is not challenged by the fact that the content of the Word of God is God’s work and activity, and therefore God’s free grace, which as such escapes our comprehension and control, upon which, reckoning with it in faith, we can only meditate, and for which we can only hope. It is not from an external attack of doubt or criticism but from its own very concrete focal point and foundation, from the source of all Christian and therefore dogmatic certitude, that all its insights and first principles, the nexus of its axioms and inferences derive; and even these statements are constantly questioned both as a whole and in detail, and their temporariness and incompleteness exposed. The focal point and foundation themselves determine that in dogmatics strictly speaking there are no comprehensive views, no final conclusions and results. There is only the investigation and teaching which take place in the act of dogmatic work and which, strictly speaking, must continually begin again at the beginning in every point. The best and most significant thing that is done in this matter is that again and again we are directed to look back to the centre and foundation of it all.

–Karl Barth (Church Dogmatics 1/2, 868)

My article “Patent Damages Reform and the Shape of Patent Law” has been published in the current volume of the Boston University Law Review.  The article provides an overview of Congressional proposals to change the way damages are calculated in patent cases and offers alternative suggestions for reform in light of empirical data and recent case law.  It includes an original empirical study of damage awards in patent infringement cases.

Dave Dunbar, President of Biblical Seminary, at which I’m taking some theology classes, sets  out in his current Missional Journal Biblical’s understanding of the Missional posture as an evangelical institution devoted to a generous orthodoxy.  I like this description of generous orthodoxy:

The intention of the phrase “generously orthodox” is to describe the playing field for our school. The boundaries of the field are the boundaries of “right teaching” which is what we understand by the term “orthodox.” I will speak more about this in a future article focusing on conviction three in our statement: The Indispensable Significance of the Christian Tradition. The point to be made is that we believe there is right teaching and wrong teaching, there is orthodoxy and heresy, and we know the difference. In other words, there are boundaries to the playing field and Biblical Seminary plays in-bounds.

On the other hand, we believe in a generous orthodoxy which means that we treat one another charitably as we play on the field. We certainly recognize that people sometimes step out of bounds–intentionally or accidentally–and yet our primary concern is not to function as referees but as players. It is one of the unhappy legacies of Christendom that many Christians have chosen to function as referees calling other Christians “out of bounds.” The result? Too much time has been spent precisely defining the boundaries and pointing out the faults of other players. Generous orthodoxy means that we will concentrate more on being the players that Christ would have us be.

At Biblical we believe that God is calling the church in North America to understand that the culture around us is post-Christian. Ours is again a missionary situation which calls for an all-hands-on-deck effort of Christians across denominational and confessional lines. The point of generous orthodoxy is not just greater harmony among believers–not a bad idea!–but greater effectiveness of united witness for the sake of God’s kingdom.

This posture is exactly why I decided to work on my theology classes at Biblical.

Another nice site by a Calvin guy:  philosopher Kevin Corcoran’s Holy Skin and Bone.

This is great:

The earliest and most fundamental Christian confession was this: “Jesus is Lord.” And one of the Apostle Paul’s earliest and most influential letters makes the following bold epistemological claim: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).

I fundamentally believe, as Blaise Pascal did, that there are plenty of good reasons to believe in the Christian faith–plenty, and sufficient. I also believe with Pascal, however, that there are reasons adequate also to disbelieve.

Those latter reasons, however, do not exonerate anyone. Why? Because faith is a gift, yes, not an accomplishment or natural outcome of reasoning. But it is a gift that God stands ready to give to anyone who wants it.

Those that do not want it, therefore, do not get it. And they cannot therefore justify their disbelief even by pointing to the impossibility of proving Christian doctrine to be true by the light of natural human reason. For the offer stands–to Richard Dawkins, to Christopher Hitchens, to you, and to me: faith is a gift (a “grace”) God is ready to give to anyone who asks (Ephesians 2:4-10).

Faith is always the exercise of trust beyond what we think we know, beyond what we think we’re sure of. Does that mean we have to choose between our brains and our beliefs? No, but it means we must not let our brains circumscribe our beliefs. We don’t understand electricity, but we use it. We don’t understand light (wave? particle? both? how does that work?), but we are glad for it. We don’t know everything about our business partners or surgeons or spouses, but we trust them with our livelihoods and lives. Likewise, we have good reasons to believe Christian teaching, so we should.

But we can’t believe that Christian teaching–it’s just too strange, and huge, and demanding!–unless God grants us that power to believe. And for that reason, at the last, I am not unsympathetic with Dawkins, Hitchens, and the rest.

Quite the contrary:

I pray for them, and hope they will eventually receive the gift of faith as well…

…as I pray God will strengthen my faith, too.