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The thesis of this paper is that there is an embedded three-phase exodus pattern in the Book of Genesis that prepares the reader to accurately interpret Israel’s exodus from Egypt and the prophet’s expectations for Israel’s second exodus. Interpreters often misunderstand the exodus and its literary development by concluding their analysis of the event at … Read more
The Church Growth Movement has had a staggering impact on church ministry in the United States over the last half century. From its beginning in Pasadena, California in 1972, to the current day, the Movement has been praised and criticized. Yet, its influence on the practice of church ministry is profound. Its influence still reverberates … Read more
Genesis 1 exhibits various examples of linguistic repetition across the first days of creation that imply a compositional purpose. They include similar third person jussive verbal forms, identical verbal clauses and prepositional phrases. The series of closely similar forms repeat up until the middle of the sixth day, whereupon a significant change occurs to all … Read more
The contributions of the philosopher-theologian, Dallas Willard, are continuing to impact the spiritual development of many Christians. While his lectures and books garner attention, Willard is not properly understood when his philosophy is neglected. Christian scholarship is lacking research on how Willard’s philosophy and theology are integrated and provide ministerial application. Those who are unfamiliar … Read more
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ (‘Come and Take!’): Rethinking the Frequency, Primacy, and Utility of Attendant Circumstance Participles (full title) The phrase μολὼν λαβέ (“come and take”) is a classical expression of defiance. Plutarch (Moralia, Apoph. 51.11) reports that this phrase was the response of King Leonidas when King Xerxes demanded that the Spartans surrender their weapons on … Read more
Although a Two-Minds Christology—whereby Jesus has a human mind and a numerically distinct divine mind—is arguably the traditional view, it has been challenged due to our shifting intuitions about what constitutes a person. That is, it just seems to many that a person just is her conscious life, what I call the Cartesian Intuition. Thus, … Read more
John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) and Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350-428) exist as two of the more prominent theologians from ancient Antioch. John and Theodore both went on to serve the church in the broader world but were both first taught in the Antiochene exegetical tradition by their close mentor, Diodore of Tarsus (c. 330). While … Read more
The political and religious developments of eighteenth-century New England are some of the most investigated artifacts of history. The First Great Awakening is a major feature of these developments, and several authors have revivified our interest in how best to understand this complex scene of historical events, characters, and interests. It is clear that democratization … Read more
Henry Hammond (1605-1660) was one of the most prominent representatives of what Andrew Ollerton has described as ‘episcopal Arminianism’ in the Church of England during the interregnum between the Civil Wars and the restoration of the monarchy. Within Arminianism, resistible prevenient grace needs to be, at the very least, universally available through the communication of … Read more
The Qurʾān’s revelation on seven aḥruf has been a subject of intrigue and scholarly debate, signifying divine sanction for the existence of its various qirāʾāt. Despite the ʿUthmānic recension’s efforts to standardize the Qurʾānic text, variant readings continued to proliferate, finding their use in diverse scholarly disciplines such as exegesis, grammar, Hadith, and fiqh. The … Read more