From the cosmic trees in the garden of Eden, to the cursed tree of the cross of Christ, to the tree of life in the Revelation, trees stand as silent witnesses to God’s unfolding plan of salvation within the storyline of the biblical narrative. In this paper I seek to demonstrate how tree imagery is … Read more
This paper is co-authored with Drew Sparks. Many associate Reformed Protestantism with soft theological determinism and compatibilism. In other words, according to the Reformed, God determines all things, yet human creatures are truly free, moral agents. Richard Muller and the authors of Reformed Thought on Freedom, however, deny that the Reformed were compatibilists. Instead, they … Read more
In the rapidly evolving cultural landscape that followed on the heels of the sexual revolution, Protestants have struggled to sufficiently comprehend and respond to the subversion of gender and sexual norms in the West. Protestants have largely responded in the form of a textual apologetic grounded in biblical theology. The efficacy of this approach has … Read more
The political and religious developments of eighteenth-century New England are some of the most investigated artifacts of history. The First Great Awakening is a major feature of these developments, and several authors have revivified our interest in how best to understand this complex scene of historical events, characters, and interests. It is clear that democratization … Read more
This paper argues that a robust examination of the Old and New Testament beatitudes is needed to best interpret the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. A literature review will reference the voices from today to those of St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Augustine, connecting the modern ear to voices from the Nicene period. The review … Read more
Abstract The 77th ETS Annual Meeting November 18-20, 2025, Boston, Massachusetts Damascus Road as Bethlehem’s Field The Rebirth of Saul in Acts 9 Corresponds Intertextually to the Birth of Jesus in Luke 2 I argue that through the literary technique of recursion (parallel, narrative analogy), the key events and major characters in the depiction of … Read more
Two significant contributions of the holiness revivalist Phoebe Palmer (1804-1874), often cited by scholars, include her holiness theology and as Donald Dayton has noted, her “incipient feminism.” In the decades following her death, Palmer failed to receive much attention from scholars. Nevertheless, as Dale Simmons states, “the explosion of literature on Palmer in the 1970s … Read more
The word ἐπίνοια was used in a technical sense later than the writings of Athanasius. Basil used the word in his writings of The Eunomian Controversy. This paper will demonstrate that Athanasius use the word in his work, Contra Arianos to demonstrate that the Arians invented a new concept of Christ that is not found … Read more
As a dichotomy of faith communities competed, the so-called Paschal Controversy first emerged in the mid-first century and became a primary dynamic for inter-ecclesiastical politics and doctrinal development through the mid-fourth century. This two-sided dynamic would morph into a three-way struggle with the latter emergence of the eastern Arian-Lucian school. Soon after the council at … Read more
Many scholars interpret “the sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 as spiritual beings, fallen or otherwise, and “the Nephilim” as their half-human, colossal offspring, but such an interpretation stands completely opposed to exegeting the text with a literal, grammatical-historical hermeneutic. This study will carefully demonstrate through the surrounding context of Genesis, and the Pentateuch collectively, … Read more