Approved – Page 6 – Evangelical Theological Society

Expanding Virtue: The Distinct Identification of Women with Ethical Qualities in 1 Timothy 2

Secular Greek literature contemporary with New Testament epistles overwhelmingly demonstrates identifiable qualities of ethical virtue as primarily applied to men. Stemming from various philosophical schools developed for the moral education of Greco-Roman males, demonstrable character qualities such as modesty, self-control, self-restraint, quietness, and the like served to publicly distinguish such men as honorable and garner … Read more

When Holy Angels Could Fall Away: Jonathan Edwards on Angelic Probation and Final Confirmation

Months before his unexpected death, Jonathan Edwards’s correspondence and his theological notebooks reveal that he was getting ready to write a significant work on redemptive history which sought to cast theology “into the form of a history;” a narrative which would span three worlds: heaven, earth, and hell. This paper examines one part of this … Read more

Using Jeremiah to Vindicate Ezekiel: Analyzing Jeremiah 28 and Deuteronomy 18 in the Evaluation

In my 2024 dissertation, Ezekiel 26 as a Case Study for Interpreting Problematic Prophecy, I argued that Ezekiel employs stereotypical language to stylize Tyre’s judgment after the pattern of YHWH’s condemnation of Israel and the nation’s oppressors. While Tyre’s destruction did not occur in literal accordance with Ezekiel’s words, Ezekiel’s prophecy should be considered fulfilled … Read more

Fear of the LORD: An Argument for Torah Loyalty

The Hebrew phrase יראת יהוה (“the fear of the LORD”) and its verbal counterparts (e.g., לירא את־יהוה, “to fear YHWH”) have traditionally been understood as an awe, reverence, or fear directed to and received by YHWH. More nuanced studies have made distinctions in the meaning, such as Joachim Becker’s 1965 study, Gottesfurcht im Alten Testament, … Read more

Ideological Critique as a Key to Developing Biblical Critical Theory from Prophetic Literature

In the larger context of this section’s interest in the nexus between “scripture and theology” and social and cultural systems of meaning and legitimation, this paper takes up Christopher Watkin’s invitation at ETS 2023 to biblical interpreters (and others) to contribute to biblical critical theory. It begins by arguing that prophetic critique of Israelite and … Read more

Raging in Opposition to the Mission: The “Fall” of Satan in Luke 10:18

After the seventy disciples returned from their mission and told Jesus that “even the demons are subject to us in your name,” he remarked that he “saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Most intepreters understand this fall from heaven to be an ejection or dethroning of Satan by God (see Rev 12:9). Joseph Fitzmyer … Read more

Defending Nicea: The Doctrine of the Trinity in Ephesians

When the Nicene Creed in A.D. 325 highlighted the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, it more broadly reaffirmed early Christianity’s belief in and commitment to the doctrine of the Trinity. This paper will seek to defend Nicea’s Trinitarian commitment through a close reading of Ephesians. Specifically, in conversation with recent formulations regarding Paul’s … Read more

The Spirit Who Overshadows: Life, Holiness, and Incarnation in Nicene Perspective

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed’s affirmation that Jesus Christ “by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary” reflects a deeply biblical and theologically rich claim about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. By retrieving and clarifying the Creed’s brief but profound affirmation, this paper helps illuminate the Spirit’s identity as the Lord and … Read more

Racial and Ethnic Embodied Narratives and a Local Church’s Missiological Responsibility

This paper will draw on the author’s doctoral dissertation, “Embodied Cohesion: A Framework for Fostering Race-Ethnic Unity in Local Churches.” It will argue that local churches have a missiological responsibility to understand and to engage the embodied racial and ethnic narratives of the community in which they are embedded. The paper will first draw from … Read more

Paired Pericopes in Parallel Halves of the Fourth Gospel

A division of the Fourth Gospel into a Book of Signs and a Book of Glory or Passion represents a relatively uncontended consensus in observations of its arrangement. Nearly as broadly conventional would be a summary like that of D.A. Carson and D. Moo in their Introduction to the NT that the book’s division falls … Read more