“Can Christians and churches be catholic and Reformed?” This is the opening question of Michael Allen and Scott Swain’s celebrated work Reformed Catholicity. In this paper I will argue that Jacobus Arminius is a Reformed Catholic. He viewed himself as a Reformed theologian within the broad tradition of the church catholic. He handled the fathers … Read more
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is a beautiful cathedral with high stain-glass windows through which shines the light of God. Outside the stone walls are the heterodox, and the non-Christian. Inside stands the church of the living God, trinitarian worshippers who gaze at the divine light flooding through the multicolored windows into the cathedral’s many quarters. Purpose. … Read more
In his mature theological anthropology, Augustine notes that a pregnant woman cannot create or alter the nature of the unborn child in her womb because all natures are created by God, the creator of all things who is uncreated. This understanding underscores that since God created Adam and Eve with physical and gender distinctions, gender … Read more
As evangelicals, we have a problem. We live in a political climate of entrenchment and extremes in which party lines are more important than people, and unfortunately ecclesial practice often looks little different. In churches and Christian institutions across the US, confessions and statements of faith function not simply as a guiding word but as … Read more
As the narrative of church history is summarily rehearsed, the Council of Nicea was fixated in focused opposition to the Christological heresy of Arianism. The Life of Constantine, however, mentions a secondary yet forgotten focus upon Easter (“Quartodeciman”) disputes. The Life boldly claims that the differences were discussed and “resolved by the united judgment of … Read more
In several of her writings, including God, Sexuality, and the Self, Sarah Coakley has argued the existence in the early Church of a distinctive approach to trinitarianism that was founded in Paul’s argument in Romans 8:9-30. This approach centered on Spirit-led prayer in which the pray-er was invited into participation in the divine life of … Read more
In the ancient Near East, kings were viewed as having a level of access to the gods not available to ordinary people. In ancient Egypt, for example, this royal privilege is asserted both visually and textually. In countless reliefs, pharaohs are pictured standing beside one or another of the gods – sometimes holding hands with … Read more
Despite its centrality to Christian theology, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed’s implicit doctrine of revelation remains under-explored. This may seem unsurprising since the doctrine was largely assumed in the debates of the time and not a focus of the Creed. This does not, however, mean that doctrine is absent or irrelevant. This paper reflects on several features … Read more
Augustinian scholars like William Harmless and Michael Glowaski successfully situate Augustine’s approach to spiritual formation by evaluating his preaching to catechumens. We can go further, though, in assessing Augustine’s aims and practices for spiritual formation by understanding how the creed provides not only “the basic guardrails within which we theologize (Stephen Wellum, God the Son … Read more
This paper examines the crucial theological and exegetical role of the Greek word μονογενής in the formulation and logic of the Nicene Creed, both in its original form from the Council of Nicaea (325) and its revised form from the Council of Constantinople (381). In the Creed of Nicaea (325), Christians are called to confess … Read more