Approved – Page 9 – Evangelical Theological Society

The Spatial Christ: Episcopius’ Indirect Engagement with Divine Presence and Nicene Orthodoxy

Simon Episcopius, a prominent figure in the Remonstrant movement, significantly shaped post-Synod of Dort theological discourse through his articulation of a nuanced Arminian theology. While he did not explicitly address Christ’s spatial existence, his Christology and soteriology implicitly engage this concept through his affirmation of Christ’s full divinity and omnipresence. Upholding Nicene orthodoxy, Episcopius emphasized … 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

Athens Meets Jerusalem: Melchizedek and a Biblical Model for Philosophical Theology

Critics of Christian analytic philosophical theology often claim that it is neither good philosophy nor good theology. Philosophers criticize it because it investigates topics starting from specifically Christian assumptions that other religious and non-religious perspectives find objectionable. Theologians criticize it for its emphasis on using the logical tools of analysis in its investigations rather than … Read more

Revisiting the Kingdom and Priests in Revelation: A Grammatical-Metaphorical Analysis of βασιλεί

The Book of Revelation presents the eschatological identity and role of the people of God with the two nouns βασιλεία and ἱερεύς. In Rev 1:6, βασιλεία and ἱερεύς are separated by a comma, whereas Rev 5:10 inserts καὶ between the two nouns. Unlike Exod 19:6 (construct state) and 1 Pet 2:9 (adjective) where the word … Read more

Women’s Trousers and the Global Church: God-Honoring Gender Expression beyond the West

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

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

Cornelius Van Til, Classical Theism, and the Doctrine of God

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

Spirit of Grace: Rethinking the Covenantal Distinctions of the Holy Spirit’s Ministry

The intrinsically relational process of the Holy Spirit’s project to remake our humanity (Rabens, Guthrie) offers important insight to our reading of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to the people of God in both the OT and NT. As the “central miracle” of the prophesied Coming Age (Eichrodt), the advent of the Spirit at Pentecost stands … Read more