John Webster’s early theological formation was shaped within the currents of twentieth-century German Protestant theology, particularly under the influence of Karl Barth. In his early doctrine of revelation, Webster retrieves Barth’s theological ontology, locating revelation within the doctrine of the Trinity. Adopting a distinctly modern grammar of divine self-disclosure, Webster portrays revelation as an aspect … Read more
Among proponents of the covenant of redemption, there has not been unity of understanding regarding the Holy Spirit’s relationship to the pactum. David Dickson, often credited with the original formulation of the pactum as a doctrine, understood the Holy Spirit to be a witness to the covenant, rather than a party to it. He was … Read more
According to one way of understanding God’s attributes it is best to conceive of the divine attributes as God’s nature rather than a collection of separate properties that compose God’s nature. This account of divine attributes is an entailment of one version of divine simplicity. Accordingly, God is his love, holiness, power, etc. Furthermore, we … Read more
While it might sound surprising today, many of the early dispensationalists held to some form of the covenant of redemption. In the 1900’s those such as Dwight Pentecost, Lewis Sperry Chafer, R. W. Newell, and even as recently as John Walvoord, all argued for the utility of what is often called the pactum salutis. They … Read more
For this submission, I focus on Romans 5:19 as it relates to the question of whether the Lord Jesus was impeccable or peccable. While there is a generalized consensus and support for impeccability there are significant questions needing to be answered. One of those is on the topic of obedience. Was Jesus’s obedience compelled or … Read more
Representative of the broader project of Narrative Theodicy, itself a God-justifying account at the intersection of immanence and transcendence, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis suggest an intrinsic connection between the religiously neutral fairy-story/myth and the religiously positive Christian eschatological metanarrative. “One of the recurrent truths reflected in many myths and fairy tales … Read more
Nicaea achieved consensus on the Trinity, Chalcedon on the deity and humanity of Christ, Chicago on the inerrant autographs, so now can we move toward a consensus on creation by returning to the Hebrew text, grammar, and genre of Genesis 1 while gleaning Biblically supported creation insights from Basil to Walton? Without vowel points, the … Read more
Faith and reason are central avenues through which Christian spirituality is accessed and experienced. The dialectic between the two, however, has alternately been characterized as being either synergistic or adversarial. For some faith is an intrinsic aspect of “knowing” and a necessary facet of properly warranted belief. Others would agree with Mark Twain that “faith … Read more
This is a joint proposal. My co-author is Torey J. S. Teer. In our previous work (ETS 2023), Torey Teer and I, building upon the foundation laid by Gregg Allison (2019 article, 2021 book, 2022 online article), Gracilynn Hanson (2022 dissertation), and myself (2023 dissertation), presented Creation Essentialism as a biblically faithful conception of gender … Read more
Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) was one of the most significant Christian apologists of the 20th century. His thought has been praised by some and rejected by others, and often praised and rejected by persons who are otherwise in significant agreement on a multitude of theological points (i.e., by persons who would be theologically conservative and … Read more