Paper Status: Hold

on hold in the event of a cancellation

Paul’s Global Networks and Strategy for Christian Identity Formation with Corinthian Letters

By employing historical criticism, literary criticism, and social-scientific criticism, previous scholars have suggested various assumptions regarding historical Paul’s role in earliest Christianity. The weakness of these critical approaches lies in the hypothetical reconstruction of early Christianity in Paul’s time based on the limited available data. Technically, these critical approaches heavily rely on logical and deductive … Read more

Thomas Traherne’s Biblical Spirituality of Meditation

This year marks the 350th anniversary of Thomas Traherne’s death (1637¬–1674) and the forthcoming fifteen volume annotated critical edition of his completed works published by Oxford University Press. As an Anglican priest, Traherne’s writing and meditative practices reveal a seventeenth-century Oxford divine and metaphysical poet that deserves attention from current scholars and practitioners of spiritual … Read more

Rhetoric and Intertextuality in 1 John 1

An intertextual focus with the prologue of 1 John on connections to the prologue of the Fourth Gospel has allowed Isaianic connections to be overlooked. The beginning of the letter in 1 John 1:1–3 echoes Isaiah 40:22. The Johannine reference to ‘what we have heard’ and what ‘we have declared to you’ gives the answer … Read more

The Saffron Saint: Sadhu Sundar Singh’s Influence and Impact on Indian Christianity

With the present and needed emphasis on global evangelicalism, Christianity should also reflect and study those who have substantially contributed to shaping global Christianity. One such figure is Sundar Singh of India, an itinerant preacher and missionary who significantly influenced both the Indian and Western Church. Professor Eric J. Sharpe claims, “[I]t is true that … Read more

A Simple Answer: The Historical Use of Divine Simplicity in Polemics and Apologetics

The doctrine of divine simplicity has been largely ignored, rejected, or redefined in the last one hundred years of scholarship until the recent resurgence of interest. Specifically, modern apologist theologians and philosophers have largely rejected this doctrine in discussing God’s attributes and the relations of the Trinitarian persons, believing it to be something to apologize … Read more

God’s Covenant Speaking

In Exodus 19–24 and Deuteronomy 4–5, we find a striking textual emphasis upon God’s covenant speaking and, correspondingly, a call for God’s covenant creatures to listen. Emphasis upon divine speaking and creaturely listening not only exists in these primary texts but also persists in canonical intertextual interaction, further strengthening the case for their interpretive importance. … Read more

“Changing the Subject: Suicide in the Evangelical Imagination”

For two millennia Christian tradition has maintained a consistent voice opposing suicide. Though theological divergence between Roman Catholics and Protestants is essentially soteriological—e.g., mortal sin as unpardonable—theologians agreed that a human being was morally responsible and gravely wrong in killing him or herself. For a variety of philosophical reasons contemporary discussion on suicide has shifted … Read more

Faith and the Future: The Articular Substantival Participle of πιστεύω in John’s Gospel

This paper applies principles of linguistic grammatical analysis expressed by M.AK. Halliday, Robert E. Longacre, Stanley E. Porter, Ronald D. Peters to articular substantival participles of πιστεύω in the Gospel of John. Ronald D. Peters analyzes the functional discourse implications of the Greek article, including its presence with the participle. Peters concludes that a speaker … Read more