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Over the last century, historical criticism, literary criticism, and social-scientific criticism have played a critical role in biblical studies. From methodological perspectives, these critical approaches can be categorized into two types of inquiries. The first inquiry views the biblical texts as windows to see the historical societies behind the Scripture (historical criticism and social-scientific criticism). … Read more
Scripture contains over thirty references to God as potter and man as clay. These references harken back to the creation account of Genesis 2, in which Yahweh God formed man from the dust (clay) of the ground. The creation account depicts the process God used to manufacture mankind. In this presentation I show how the … Read more
This paper is about how to read a theology book skillfully. Theology readers often get stuck here, so I plan to explain seven guidelines on how to read a theology book skillfully: 1. Read carefully. (I’ll unpack the goal, reason, means, method, and need for careful Reading.) 2. Read at different levels. (I’ll unpack three … Read more
This study is occasioned by: 1) the ongoing debate about whether OT prophecies about the restoration of the nation of Israel and the restoration of Gentile nations are fulfilled in Christ and the Church in the present age – or in the future reign of the Messiah on earth; 2) the current debate about whether … Read more
The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) has generated extensive reflections for missiology, ecclesiology, and pedagogy. Its literary structure, canonical context, and symbolism however can easily be eclipsed. In this paper I propose a reading of Matthew 28:18-20 that pays attention to “metalepsis” (Hays 2005), the “generative matrix” (Hays 2016), and “encyclopedia” (Huizenga 2009) of the “Jewish … Read more
Paul’s words in Galatians 2:19 have been described as “paradoxical” and “without parallel” (Moo 2013), even “breathtaking” (Barclay 2015). Whereas νόμος and ‘life’ are consistently drawn together throughout the LXX and Apocrypha (Das 2014), Paul instead describes νόμος as an agent of death. In this paper I survey the agency of νόμος in the LXX/Apocrypha, … Read more
Christ is man’s ontological and moral exemplar. Spiritually following his pattern as he physically ascends mountains in the gospel accounts is a means of spiritually ascending to the heavenly home. Christ fulfills all of the Old Testament speech of ascending the hill of the Lord. He is the answer to the questions posed in Psalm … Read more
The thirteenth century Franciscan, Bonaventure claims Christ is the ladder of spiritual ascent. How can the only begotten Son of God be a pattern for the saints through the ages? Christ is both without sin and divine in nature. How can we bridge the gap between us and Christ? Bonaventure often employs an updated metaphysic … Read more
The emergence of Boko Haram and its stated ideology triggers various perspectives by Christians and non-Christians in the Nigerian context. The political and socioeconomic arguments appear reasonable to some scholars because of the dominant narratives of contextual challenges: poverty, lawlessness, unemployment, corruption, sectionalism, social upheavals, and bad governance. Political and socioeconomic arguments see Boko Haram … Read more
ETS Proposal Abstract Drew RANDLE, PhD, Professor of Christian Ministry, Bryan College The Use of Gary Smalley and John Trent’s Book The Blessing as a Framework for Academic Pastoral Care Pastoral care is the deep care that a pastor, as well as the flock in a local body, have for each other daily as deep … Read more