One Person, Two Ways of Being

The Nicene Creed states that the eternal Son of God “came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit.” This language raises a question about the what it means that the person of Jesus Christ “came down from heaven.” The development in the Chalcedonian Definition indicates that this one Son is “made known … Read more

Time Reference in Substantival Participles as Reflected in Multi-step Descriptions

Co-authored by Linda Liu and Brian L. Webster Reference grammars properly refer to the participle as an atemporal form (e.g., Joüon 121), in that the predicate participle becomes temporal by drawing its time reference from context. Substantival participles are generally not discussed in terms of temporality since they function as nouns. But even when substantival, … Read more

Canonical Closure Formulas and Ecclesiastes’s Epilogue: Implications for Provenance

A Persian- or Hellenistic-period setting for Ecclesiastes is so axiomatic among modern interpreters that Barton, writing at the turn of the twentieth century, could presume that “no extended argument is necessary to prove it” (56). While interpreters have reached this conclusion largely owing to the book’s themes and linguistic profile, such studies have tended to … Read more

Baptist and Creedal: Dispelling Common Myths About the English General Baptists

Historians throughout the twentieth century argued that the English General Baptists were inclined towards Trinitarian heterodoxy. Historians of the twenty-first century have often repeated those claims. Such claims leave students of the period with the impression that many seventeenth-century General Baptist pastors and theologians were mere Biblicists at best and inclined towards heterodoxy at worst. … Read more

How does The Pilgrim’s Progress offer creedal christological catechesis?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote that John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress was ‘incomparably the best SUMMA THEOLOGIÆ Evangelicæ’ (1980, 802) Hailed as a spiritual classic and distributed widely in evangelical Christian education, formation, and missions, The Pilgrim’s Progress has been a deeply influential text for the cultural imagination, particularly for Nonconformist and liturgically non-creedal baptistic … Read more

Holding Fast and Drawing Near: Sanctification in Hebrews

Hebrews is a theologically rich book which contains deep doctrinal truths and pointed moral exhortations that encourage believers to stay faithful to Christ. It has received considerable attention from scholars who study the saving work of Christ, the relationship between the old and new covenants, and the doctrine of perseverance. Scholars have also turned to … Read more

Singing the Creed: Nicene Christology in African American Spirituals

The Council of Nicaea (AD 325) affirmed the full divinity of Christ, securing a doctrinal foundation that continues to shape Christian theology. While Nicene Christology is often discussed within patristic and systematic theological frameworks, its theological significance extends beyond the councils and into lived expressions of faith. This paper explores how the Christological affirmations of … Read more

God the Teacher: John Webster’s Doctrine of Revelation after Modernity

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