Jan Muis
I taught dogmatics at Utrecht University and at the Protestant Theological University at Amsterdam. I am especially interested in the interplay between contemporary theological reflection and biblical exegesis and in how hermeneutical and analytic modes of thought can be connected.
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Books by Jan Muis
Contributors: Martijn Bac, Willem Maarten Dekker, Aaldert Gooijer, Jilles de Klerk, Gerben van Manen, Jan Muis, Martine Oldhoff, Edward van ‘t Slot.
Papers by Jan Muis
seem to exclude the possibility that God himself is personally present with us humans at
particular places in space. Are God and our spatial reality incompatible? Or, is it possible to
conceive the connection between God and space as ‘positive’, that is, in such a way that God
himself can be fully and personally present with us at particular places in space? This essay
explores how this question may be addressed in a theology which accepts the results of the
natural sciences and acknowledges that God is the free creator of physical space. It describes
how space can be conceptualised, and presents an overview of five different views on a
positive relation between God and space in recent protestant theology. It concludes by some
considerations on the question whether a positive relation between God and space requires
that God himself is spatial.
essentially secular and require rejection of God’s will as source of moral authority. Firstly,
it analyses Cliteur’s reception of Kant and his claim that an exclusively anthropological
grounding of human rights is the only possible one. Next, it investigates Nicholas
Wolterstorff’s criticism of Kant’s grounding of human dignity in the rational capacity of
mankind and his theistic grounding of human rights in God’s love by the mediating concept
of human worth. Although Wolterstorff rightly believes that God’s special relationship
with human beings is ultimately the best ground for human rights, his understandings
of God’s love and of human worth appear to be problematic. Finally, the article explores
the possibility to ground human rights directly in God’s justice by construing creation, the
giving of the Ten Commandments and the justification of the sinner as central divine acts of
justice in which God has given human rights to all human beings.
true. First, it is established that true metaphorical descriptions of reality are
possible. No special theory of ‘metaphorical truth’ is required for metaphorical
descriptions. Next, it is argued that a realistic metaphorical description of God
is possible because we can know the transcendent creator in the experience of
being addressed by him in Jesus Christ. God-talk is an extension of our response
to God’s address. The truth-condition of metaphorical God-talk is God’s selfrevelation;
its truth-criterion is biblical God-talk.
The manner in which Bayer spells out these insights, however, raises some serious problems. In this article four criticisms are made. First, the Bible expresses belief in God’s creation not only in hymns in the second person, but also in narratives in the third person. Second, when we take
these narratives seriously, we have to think about creation as the first act of God in the history of His people. Third, in a theoretical reflection about the concept of creation as God’s first act, we need a theologically modified concept of ‘causation’ as agency. And last, God is not only free in His transcendence, and loving in His immanence, as Bayer claims, but also loving in His transcendence and free in His immanence. This implies, in contrast to Bayer’s account, that we have to acknowledge differences in the way the willing and acting God is involved in the history of His creation.
Contributors: Martijn Bac, Willem Maarten Dekker, Aaldert Gooijer, Jilles de Klerk, Gerben van Manen, Jan Muis, Martine Oldhoff, Edward van ‘t Slot.
seem to exclude the possibility that God himself is personally present with us humans at
particular places in space. Are God and our spatial reality incompatible? Or, is it possible to
conceive the connection between God and space as ‘positive’, that is, in such a way that God
himself can be fully and personally present with us at particular places in space? This essay
explores how this question may be addressed in a theology which accepts the results of the
natural sciences and acknowledges that God is the free creator of physical space. It describes
how space can be conceptualised, and presents an overview of five different views on a
positive relation between God and space in recent protestant theology. It concludes by some
considerations on the question whether a positive relation between God and space requires
that God himself is spatial.
essentially secular and require rejection of God’s will as source of moral authority. Firstly,
it analyses Cliteur’s reception of Kant and his claim that an exclusively anthropological
grounding of human rights is the only possible one. Next, it investigates Nicholas
Wolterstorff’s criticism of Kant’s grounding of human dignity in the rational capacity of
mankind and his theistic grounding of human rights in God’s love by the mediating concept
of human worth. Although Wolterstorff rightly believes that God’s special relationship
with human beings is ultimately the best ground for human rights, his understandings
of God’s love and of human worth appear to be problematic. Finally, the article explores
the possibility to ground human rights directly in God’s justice by construing creation, the
giving of the Ten Commandments and the justification of the sinner as central divine acts of
justice in which God has given human rights to all human beings.
true. First, it is established that true metaphorical descriptions of reality are
possible. No special theory of ‘metaphorical truth’ is required for metaphorical
descriptions. Next, it is argued that a realistic metaphorical description of God
is possible because we can know the transcendent creator in the experience of
being addressed by him in Jesus Christ. God-talk is an extension of our response
to God’s address. The truth-condition of metaphorical God-talk is God’s selfrevelation;
its truth-criterion is biblical God-talk.
The manner in which Bayer spells out these insights, however, raises some serious problems. In this article four criticisms are made. First, the Bible expresses belief in God’s creation not only in hymns in the second person, but also in narratives in the third person. Second, when we take
these narratives seriously, we have to think about creation as the first act of God in the history of His people. Third, in a theoretical reflection about the concept of creation as God’s first act, we need a theologically modified concept of ‘causation’ as agency. And last, God is not only free in His transcendence, and loving in His immanence, as Bayer claims, but also loving in His transcendence and free in His immanence. This implies, in contrast to Bayer’s account, that we have to acknowledge differences in the way the willing and acting God is involved in the history of His creation.