Creedal Christianity: Celebrating Nicaea – Page 5 – Evangelical Theological Society

Pannenberg and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 for World Christianity

Though the late German Lutheran theologian, Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928-2014), is well-known for his rigorous academic style and critically-constructive approaches to doctrines and themes like theological anthropology, Christology, and the doctrine of the Trinity, his many ecumenically-sensitive writings about ecclesiology (within which he is arguably at his most conservative) are often overlooked and neglected. In the … Read more

The Holy Spirit and “Stiving” Language in Christian Scripture: Support for Nicene Pneumatology

This paper examines specific language in the Christian Scriptures that identify and discuss the Holy Spirit as the key point of contact between Creator and creation. It will proceed to draw connections between this language and the pneumatology of specific theologians in the Nicene Tradition. Christian Scripture regularly connects the Spirit with English adjectives and … Read more

The Menu Lacuna of Nicaean Creedal Cosmology Minus Apocalyptic Language in Hebrews

Current academic explorations considering God-creation background for the Christ atonement in Hebrews usually predicate on chosen cosmological features of Nicaean and later formulations, with later layers of philosophical thought filling gaps, and often leans on speculations in theological-philosophical matrix of thought. These Nicaean and later approaches to God and his problematic creation unravel tensions between … Read more

Scripture’s Moral Approach to Divine Simplicity: A Forgotten Element in Christian Tradition

This paper constructively argues for a method of rooting divine simplicity in Scripture that builds on pro-Nicene approaches to the doctrine, and which has been almost entirely overlooked in the modern history of the doctrine. In the 4th and 5th centuries, pro-Nicene theologians defended the doctrine of the Trinity on the basis of divine simplicity. … Read more

“He Descended to the Dead”: A Phrase All Christians Should Celebrate

While both the Apostles’ Creed and Athanasian Creed continue to provide a solid foundation and helpful parameters for orthodox Christian theology, one statement contained in both creeds that often makes modern evangelical Christians uncomfortable is the phrase “descendit ad inferos” (often translated “He descended into hell” or “He descended to the dead”). Is such a … Read more

John Owen (1616-83) and the Puritan Reception of Nicaea

John Owen is one of the most widely read theologians of church history among contemporary evangelicals. He has a reputation as an exemplary producer of orthodox Trinitarian piety and polemical defence of the Reformed catholic faith. Yet he had a complex relationship with creedal Christianity. At times his rejection of creeds and councils were mistaken … Read more

Christ as Physician and Cure: Gregory Nazianzen and the Salvific Logic of Creedal Christology

An abiding concern of contemporary work in Christology has been the relationship between the person and work of Christ and the desire to avoid artificial separations between the two. As just one example, Daniel Treier, in his recent Lord Jesus Christ, frames his account as the narrating of a “theodramatic ontology” in an explicit acknowledgement … Read more

African Evangelical Theology and Creedal Christianity: Functionalism verses Proportionalism

That Evangelicalism is the fastest growing brand of Christianity in Africa is not disputed. While studies on Evangelicalism in Africa has tended to focus on beliefs, it needs to be noted that Evangelicalism in Africa is far more about what it does to and for its followers than about what kinds of beliefs it promotes. … Read more

“More Completely and Explicitly on Scripture”: John Gill’s Exegetical Defense of Nicaea

The long eighteenth century brought unprecedented doubt and confusion to the doctrine of the Trinity. Anti-trinitarians sought to discredit the doctrine of the Trinity through historical, philosophical, and biblical arguments. In answer, the Reformed Orthodox sought to defend the doctrine of the Trinity on the same fronts. According to Richard Muller, though their historical and … Read more

Testes Veritatis: John Gill’s Use of Nicene Testimony in Defense of Eternal Generation

This paper will argue that John Gill adopted the method of testes veritatis to defend the Nicene doctrine of eternal generation in his short work “A Dissertation Concerning the Eternal Sonship of Christ,” which was first published posthumously in the 1773 edition of his Sermons and Tracts. This Protestant method was pioneered by Flacius Illyricus … Read more