Skip to content
Devoted to the inerrancy and inspiration of the Scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Log in

Evangelical Theological Society

  • Home
  • About
  • Account
  • My Cart

Evangelical Theological Society

  • Membership
    • Membership Applications and Levels
    • Member Directory
    • ETS Career Connections Services
      • Job Candidates
      • Submit Candidate Information
      • Current Employment Opportunities
      • Submit a new employment opportunity
    • Member Publications
    • Submit a New Publication
  • JETS
    • Subscription Information
    • Current Issue
    • JETS PDF Archive
    • Advertise in JETS
    • JETS Search on ATLA
    • Manuscript Submissions and Book Reviews
    • JETS Back Order Information
    • Missing Issue Claim
  • Annual Meeting
    • Annual Meeting Overview
    • ETS Conference Registration
    • Hotel Information
    • Boston Transportation and Attractions
    • Exhibit Hall, Sponsorship, and Advertising Information
    • Annual Meeting Special Event/Space Request
    • Future Themes / Venues
    • Past Programs / Recordings
  • Proposal System
    • View My Proposal(s) status
    • Proposal Notification Timeline
    • List of Proposals for Reviewers Only
    • Preparing to submit your Paper or Session proposal
    • Crafting a Quality Proposal
    • Submit a Session Proposal
    • Student Recommendation Letter Guidelines
  • Program Units
    • Overview
    • Information for Program Unit Chairs
    • Starting a Program Unit
  • Regions
    • Region Overview
    • Northeast Region
    • Eastern Region
    • The Southeast Region
    • Ontario/Quebec Region
    • The Midwest Region
    • Southwest Region
    • The Northwest Region
    • Far West Region
  • News & Information
    • The Officers and board of directors of the Society
    • ETS Advertising Opportunities
    • Business Meeting Minutes
    • Stories
    • In Memoriam
    • Submit News Item
  • Membership
    • Membership Applications and Levels
    • Member Directory
    • ETS Career Connections Services
      • Job Candidates
      • Submit Candidate Information
      • Current Employment Opportunities
      • Submit a new employment opportunity
    • Member Publications
    • Submit a New Publication
  • JETS
    • Subscription Information
    • Current Issue
    • JETS PDF Archive
    • Advertise in JETS
    • JETS Search on ATLA
    • Manuscript Submissions and Book Reviews
    • JETS Back Order Information
    • Missing Issue Claim
  • Annual Meeting
    • Annual Meeting Overview
    • ETS Conference Registration
    • Hotel Information
    • Boston Transportation and Attractions
    • Exhibit Hall, Sponsorship, and Advertising Information
    • Annual Meeting Special Event/Space Request
    • Future Themes / Venues
    • Past Programs / Recordings
  • Proposal System
    • View My Proposal(s) status
    • Proposal Notification Timeline
    • List of Proposals for Reviewers Only
    • Preparing to submit your Paper or Session proposal
    • Crafting a Quality Proposal
    • Submit a Session Proposal
    • Student Recommendation Letter Guidelines
  • Program Units
    • Overview
    • Information for Program Unit Chairs
    • Starting a Program Unit
  • Regions
    • Region Overview
    • Northeast Region
    • Eastern Region
    • The Southeast Region
    • Ontario/Quebec Region
    • The Midwest Region
    • Southwest Region
    • The Northwest Region
    • Far West Region
  • News & Information
    • The Officers and board of directors of the Society
    • ETS Advertising Opportunities
    • Business Meeting Minutes
    • Stories
    • In Memoriam
    • Submit News Item

Some practical benefits of Michael Horton’s distinctly integrated approach to covenant theology

Reformed Covenant theology is often criticized as dis-integrating theology, e.g. the covenant of works allegedly conceptualizes God as a distant judge and the Christian life as similarly dispassionate conformity to legal requirements; the covenant of grace and its concurrent theology of pedobaptism allegedly marginalise the need for people to consciously exercise faith. This paper will first argue that Michael Horton’s four-volume dogmatics demonstrates a distinctly integrative approach to covenant theology. Horton’s covenantalism evinces an eschatological orientation which naturally orients the believer towards an ongoing pilgrimage towards God; reconciles subject and object through simultaneously respecting and relating difference through inculcating an attitude of hospitable extroversion; recognizes how the unregenerate can, through adequate attention to general revelation and the moral law achieve genuine if non-salvific virtue while retaining a properly Protestant ordo salutis which prioritizes justification over sanctification while retaining their organic connection; and inculcates a communal orientation for the individual, and a doxological orientation for the community, which results in a theocentric attitude to all of life. The paper will then suggest some practical benefits of this kind of integrative covenantalism. A posture of pilgrimage permits the simultaneous application of centered and bounded-set approaches (as discussed by, inter alia, missiologist Paul Hiebert) to matters like conversion, church membership, and church discipline. An attitude of boundary-spanning extroversion helps us apply ‘catholicity’ in practice through recognizing ethnic, linguistic, denominational, and confessional particularities, and not only seeking fellowship across those distinctions, but deploying them to facilitate fellowship. A proper relationship of law, grace, and non-salvific virtue enables a conscientious respect of religious pluralism and interfaith cooperation. And the right ordering of the individual, community, and God can inculcate in individuals, families, churches, and perhaps even entire societies and nations, a sense of divine vocation – a missional impulse to advance the ancient, apostolic faith.

Forgot your password?

RECENT POSTS

Moved or need to confirm mailing address?

Inaugural ETS Lifetime Service Award Presented in San Diego

JETS 67.3 is available online

The Center for Classical Theology

Theologians without borders-coming to San Diego, November 2024

Proposal period, website, and membership accounts

Member not receiving emails? here is what to do

Lifetime service award

JETS 66.3 is available online

San Antonio "Show Us Your Badge" program!

View all

Recent Publications

The Spirit and Renewal (Part 1): Definitive & Progressive Sanctification - Sherif Fahim

'New Creation' in Paul - Sherif Fahim

Justification, Sanctification, and Union with Christ: Fresh Insights from Calvin, Westminster, and Walter Marshall - Sherif Fahim

Death in Second-Century Christian Thought The Meaning of Death in Earliest Christianity - Jeremiah Mutie

The Quest for Early Church Historiography From Ferdinand C. Baur to Bart D. Ehrman and Beyond - Jeremiah Mutie

The Book of the Twelve - David Fuller

Early Witnesses to the Syriac Text of Acts 15 with an Investigation into the Text of Acts 15 in the Didascalia Apostolorum and with and Appendix on the Western/Jacobite Peshitta Manuscript Tradition for Acts - Daniel McConaughy

The Star and the Magi in Jacob of Serugh and the Early Syriac Tradition - Daniel McConaughy

Saved by Grace through Faith or Saved by Decree? A Biblical and Theological Critique of Calvinist Soteriology - Geoffrey Robinson

The Rhetoric of Matthean “Small Faith” - Christopher Seglenieks

View all

"To foster conservative Biblical scholarship by providing a medium for the oral exchange and written expression of thought and research in the general field of the theological disciplines as centered in the Scriptures." (Constitution, Article II.)

Contact Us

Address:
Evangelical Theological Society
7901 E Shea Blvd
Scottsdale, AZ 85260

Phone:
(888) 883-3062

Fax:
(888) 944-6328

Email:
Annual Meeting Inquiries
General Inquiries
Member Services
Subscriber Services

© 1949-2025 ETS - All rights reserved.