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Nicea’s Cultural Offense The emergence of creeds and confessions presents a grand narrative of intra-Church conversation (sometimes collegial, sometimes not so much). The councils wrangled over momentous points of doctrine, which turned on such words as Homoousios, Filioque, and Theotokos. Along the way, such heretics as Marcionites, Sabellians, and Apollinarians were pushed to the side. … Read more
Was Gregory of Nyssa a universalist? This is a question that has plagued scholars for years. Most scholars teach that he was. Steven Harmon, Anthony Merdith, and Morwenna Ludlow are just a few of the scholars who have taught that he was a universalist. There have only been a few voices on the other side; … Read more
For this submission, I focus on Romans 5:19 as it relates to the question of whether the Lord Jesus was impeccable or peccable. While there is a generalized consensus and support for impeccability there are significant questions needing to be answered. One of those is on the topic of obedience. Was Jesus’s obedience compelled or … Read more
This study contributes to the theological discourse by demonstrating that, within the theology of certain latter prophets, the Shekinah—understood as God’s visible and active presence—moves heavenward following its departure from the Solomonic temple, and does not return to the earthly temple until God intervenes through His cleansing of the people and re-building initiatives of the … Read more
Πνεῦμα (spirit) is often referred to as God’s presence. Exegetes often interpret this phrase in one of two ways. The first is that there is no difference between πνεῦμα and God because πνεῦμα is merely a manifestation of God in action. The other hypothesis is that πνεῦμα is an entity distinct from God—it acts as … Read more
Nicaea achieved consensus on the Trinity, Chalcedon on the deity and humanity of Christ, Chicago on the inerrant autographs, so now can we move toward a consensus on creation by returning to the Hebrew text, grammar, and genre of Genesis 1 while gleaning Biblically supported creation insights from Basil to Walton? Without vowel points, the … Read more
Current academic explorations considering God-creation background for the Christ atonement in Hebrews usually predicate on chosen cosmological features of Nicaean and later formulations, with later layers of philosophical thought filling gaps, and often leans on speculations in theological-philosophical matrix of thought. These Nicaean and later approaches to God and his problematic creation unravel tensions between … Read more
Martin Noth hypothesized the literary unity of the work of the Chronicler in creating the combined work of Chronicles and Ezra/Nehemiah. That hypothesis began to be undone in the work of Sara Japhet and others. Not only has it become commonplace now to question the unity of authorship of the two works–Chronicles and Ezra/Nehemiah–but it … Read more
In a debate between Jesus and the Sadducees about the rising of the dead, the Synoptics narrativize Christ rebuffing sect members for their non-resurrection-theology in Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:18-27, and Luke 20:27-40. Jesus asserts that God is the God not of the dead but of the living in these accounts. Indeed, from Jesus’ standpoint, God … Read more
In the history of interpreting John, scholars like Bultmann and Kyser, among others, have rejected the notion that John was concerned with the ordinance or sacrament of baptism, especially in Jesus’ instruction to Nicodemus to be “born of water and the Spirit” in John 3:3-5. However, in addition to considering the context of John’s audience, … Read more