Curriculum Vitae

For a select CV (two pages, no links), click here.

Academic Appointment

Professor of Theology, Torrey Honors College, Biola University. 1999-present.

On faculty for MA in Classical Theology at Talbot School of Theology. 2019-present.

Education

PhD, Graduate Theological Union, 2001

MDiv, Asbury Theological Seminary, 1995

BS, Murray State University, 1990

Books

  • The Triune God. A volume in the New Studies in Dogmatics series edited by Michael Allen and Scott Swain (Zondervan, 2016)
  • [forthcoming:] Ephesians in the International Theological Commentary on Scripture, ed Michael Allen and Scott Swain (T&T Clark, 20__)
  • [forthcoming:] Blessed Trinity. 60,000-word academic book based on the Kistemaker lectures. In development.

Edited Books

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

  • [forthcoming] “The Resurrection of Jesus,” in Reading the Life of Christ Theologically (Baker Academic)

  • [forthcoming] “God is God for God: Aseity, Inseity, and Proseity in Evangelical Perspective,” in The God Who Is For Us (Zondervan, 2025)

  • [forthcoming ]”The Nicene Line as Structural Principle for Christian Doctrine,” International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2025

  • [forthcoming] “The Doctrine of God: Divine Fullness and Work,” in Reformed Faith and Practice, __

Book Reviews

  • Review: Carl L. Beckwith, The Holy Trinity, International Journal of Systematic Theology, July 2017, 379-382.
  • Review: Peter Leithart, The End of Protestantism, and Kevin Vanhoozer, Biblical Theology After Babel, in Christianity Today, November 2016.
  • “Elective Eschatological Affinities: Commentary on American Apocalypse,” Syndicate Theology, January 4, 2016: https://syndicate.network/symposia/theology/american-apocalypse/
  • Review: Collin Hansen, Blind Spots, in Christianity Today, May 2013.
  • Review: Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, in Christianity Today 2013.
  • Review: Dan Siedell, God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art, in Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture 6:1 (Summer 2010), pp. 115-117.
  • Review:  Dennis W. Jowers, Karl Rahner’s Trinitarian Axiom: “The Economic Trinity is the Immanent Trinity and Vice Versa,” Edwin Mellen Press, 2006 in International Journal of Systematic Theology,  11:3 (July 2009), pp.  370-372
  • Review: Michael Budde and John W. Wright, editors, Conflicting Allegiances: The Church-based University in a Liberal Democratic Society, in Scottish Journal of Theology 63:1(Feb 2010), pp 120-122..
  • Review: Robert M. Bowman, Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ, in Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity (April 2009).
  • Review: Sigurd Bergmann, Creation Set Free: The Spirit as Liberator of Nature, in Cultural Encounters (Summer 2007), 129-132.
  • Review: Paul D. Molnar, Divine Freedom and the Doctrine of the Immanent Trinity, in Cultural Encounters (Summer 2006), 109-111.
  • Review: “Briefly Noted” on Julia Keay, Alexander the Corrector: The Tormented Genius who Unwrote the Bible, in First Things, January 2007, 58-59.
  • Review: Colin Gunton, The Triune Creator and David Coffey, Deus Trinitas, in Theology Today, 59/4 (January 2003), 628-632.
  • Review: Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius: The Coherence of His Thought, in Asbury Theological Journal 57/2 – 58/1 (Fall 2002/Spring 2003), 220-223.
  • Review: Anne Hunt, What Are They Saying About the Trinity? in Asbury Theological Journal 57/2 – 58/1 (Fall 2002/Spring 2003), 240-242.
  • Review: Alister McGrath, The Foundations of Dialogue in Science and Religion (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998) and Science and Religion: An Introduction (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1999), in CTNS Bulletin (The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences), 19 (Spring 1999), 17-21.  (Co-authored with Kirk Wegter-McNelly.)
  • Review: Wolfhart Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, volume III, in Dialog: A Journal of Theology 37 (Fall 1998). (Co-authored with Lou Ann Trost and Mary Elise Lowe)

Popular-Level Writing

  • [forthcoming] “R.A. Torrey” and “Wolfhart Pannenberg” in Dictionary of Christian Apologists and Their Critics, R. Douglas Geivett & Robert B. Stewart (eds.) (Wiley-Blackwell, 202_x_)
  •  “Christology of the Ecumenical Councils,” in The Ancient Faith Study Bible, ed Dustin Curtis and Ray Clendenen (B&H, 2019), xxi-xxiii.
    
  • “How the Trinity Changes Everything,” in Theology Magazine, 1/1, pp 15-18. theologymag.com

  • “The Trinity” in The NKJV Ancient-Modern Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2018), 1647-1650.
  • “God” in The Systematic Theology Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 1671-1673
  • “Biola in the American Evangelical Story,” in Jonathan Edwards and the History of the Evangelical Mind, collected papers from the 2012 Biola Faculty Integration Seminar led by Doug Sweeney and facilitated by Rick Langer (Biola-published, 2015).
  • “Wendell Berry and the Poetry of Marriage,” in The City: A Publication of Houston Baptist University, Summer 2013, pp. 27-32.
    
  • “You, Me, and the Heavenly Three? Why the Trinity Can’t Tell us About Gender. A Response to Larry Crabb,” at Christianity Today’s website. Posted 8/8/2013 
  • “Nietzsche,” in The Great Books Reader: Excerpts and Essays on the Most Influential Books in Western Civilization, ed. John Mark Reynolds (Bethany House, 2011).
  • “Professors with a New Public: Academics and New Media,” in John Mark Reynolds and Roger Overton, The New Media Frontier (Crossway Books, 2008).
  • “Fundamentalist Spirituality,” “The Rapture,” “The Second Coming,” “Horatius Bonar,” “Charles Cowman,” “F. W. Faber,” “Phoebe Palmer,” and “Gerhard Tersteegen” in The Dictionary of Christian Spirituality (Zondervan Academic), General Editor Glen Scorgie.

Papers Presented

  • [forthcoming] “The Trinity, Apologetically Considered,” ETS Nov 2024, San Diego, CA
  • [forthcoming] “Not Shirking Deification,” ETS Nov 2024, San Diego, CA
     
  • “God is God for God: Aseity, Inseity, and Proseity in Evangelical Perspective,” at Scottish Dogmatics Conference, May 2024

  • “Work and the Doctrine of God,” at The Institute for Faith, Work, and Culture Colloquium at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Feb 2023, Orlando, FL

  •  “Christology Led by Sonship: Treier’s Lord Jesus Christ,” at ETS Nov 2023, San Antonio, TX

  • “Trinitarianism Thick and Thin,” and “Trinity East and West,” Two plenary talks for Davenant California Colloquium. Sept 2023, Pasadena, CA

  • “In Christ in the Trinity: Union with Christ in Trinitarian Perspective” at ETS, Nov 2022, Denver, CO

  • “Response to Jamieson’s The Son who Became Son” at ETS, Nov 2022, Denver, CO

  • The Work of the Trinity: Inseparable Operations and Missions in the Theology of Adonis Vidu, ETS Nov 17, 2021, Ft Worth, TX

  • God the Father in the Trinity and in Redemption: Augustine’s Theology in Modern Protestant Reception, ETS Nov 17, 2021, Ft Worth, TX
  • “The High Honor of Vindicating the Eternal Sonship: William Burt Pope on the Trinity,” Wesleyan Dogmatics Study Group, March 11, 2021 (online)

  • The Trinitarian Foundation of William Burt Pope’s Christology, Wesleyan Dogmatics Study Group, March 11, 2021 (online)

  • “Pneumatology That Sticks: The Trinitarian Matrix of Effective Teaching on the Holy Spirit” and “The Paradox of Focusing Attention on the Holy Spirit.” Invited plenary addresses, ETS Northwest Regional Meeting, Feb 27, 2021 (online)

  • Response to Dong-Kun Kim’s The Future of Christology, Christ Among the Disciplines conference, Nov 2019 (online: christamongthedisciplines.com)

  • “John Webster on the Trinity,” ETS 2019, San Diego

  • “Liberal Evangelicalism as the Higher Fundamentalism: J.M. MacInnis at Biola in 1928,” ETS 2019, San Diego

  • “Systematic Adamology in Trinitarian Perspective” Conference on Adam, The Fall, and the Goodness of God, Carl Henry Center for Theological Understanding, Trinity International University, March 22, 2019

  • “A Step Back Every Now and Again: Horton’s Ordinary Pneumatology” ETS 2018, Denver, Colorado

  •  “Eternal Procession and the Complicated Name of the Spirit.” ETS 2018, Denver, Colorado

  •  “Conciliar Christology: The Very Idea! Tim Pawl as a Test Case” Evangelical Philosophical Society at the American Academy of Religion, November 2018, Denver, CO

  • “Organizing Christology: A Response to Steve Wellum” ETS Far West Regional Meeting, Invited Plenary Response, April 13, 2018

  • “Another World: William Burt Pope on Primary and Secondary Creation” Modern Creature conference at TEDS, Feb 2, 2018

  • “Grace the Civilizer: Paul Undomesticated in the Pastoral Epistles” ETS 2017, Providence, RI

  • “The Holy Canon Under the Auspice of the Trinity: On John Webster’s Doctrine of Scripture” ETS 2017, Providence, RI

  • “Protestant Trinitarianism: Was ist Das?” Presented at the Tyndale Fellowship Doctrine Conference in Cambridge, UK, July 2017

  •  “The Strong Name of the Trinity: Expanding, Extending, and Deepening the Knowledge of God in the Church” Presented at the Davenant Institute’s Convivium Irenicum, “To All Generations: Teaching the Doctrine of God in the Life of the Church,” June 2017

  • “‘The Only Work Proposed for the Present Dispensation:’ Premillennial Political Reserve and Sutton’s American Apocalypse” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Evangelical Studies Group, November 2015, Atlanta, GA

  • “Trinity and Soteriology” Presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 2015, Atlanta, GA

  • “What the Icons Say and Do for the Gospel: The Place of the Ancient Christian Iconographic Tradition in Evangelical Churches.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 2014, San Diego, CA

  • “What Trinitarian Theology is For: Placing the Doctrine of the Trinity in Christian Theology and Life” Presented at the second annual Los Angeles Theology Conference, January 2014, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA

  • “Wise Guidance from the Dominican Thomas: Frederick Bauerschmidt’s Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, & Following Christ (OUP 2013).” Presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 2013, Baltimore, MD

  • “John Wesley on the Origin of Evil.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 2013, Baltimore, MD

  • “The Things That Are Revealed Belong To Us: What the History of Salvation Shows about the Triune God.” Presented at the Southern Seminary Theology Conference, “Beholding the Wonder of Trinitarian Relations,” September 2013, Louisville, KY

  • “Redefining Progress in Trinitarian Theology: Holmes on the Trinity.” Presented at the Tyndale Fellowship Christian Doctrine Study Group, July, 2013, Wolfson College, Cambridge University.

  • “Theology with Both Hands: Pneumatology and Christology in Every Doctrinal Locus.” Co-presented with Matt Jenson at the 2013 meeting of the Far West Region of the Evangelical Theological Society, April 2013

  • “Is There a Theology of California?” Presented at the March 2013 Workshop of the Theological Engagement with California Culture working group, Berkeley, CA

  • “The Dogmatic Significance of Eternal Generation for Soteriology” Presented at the 64th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November, 2012, Milwaukee, WS

  • “Honest to God, A Voice from Heaven? Communicative Theism in Vanhoozer’s Remythologizing Theology.” Presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November, 2011, San Francisco, CA

  • “California, Localized Theology, and Theological Localism.” Presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November, 2011, San Francisco, CA

  • “Eternal Processions, Temporal Missions, Full Salvation: The Trinitarian Horizon of Evangelical Soteriology” Presented at the 62nd annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November, 2010 Atlanta, GA

  • “Relations of Origin in the Eternal Trinity: Biblical Warrant and Systematic Implications” Presented at the regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, April 2010, La Mirada, CA

  • “The Exegetical Basis of Trinitarian Theology” Presented at the 61st annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November, 2009, New Orleans, LA

  • “Anchored in Jehovah: Trinitarian Soteriology as the Ground of Assurance” Presented at the 60th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 19, 2008 Providence, RI

  • “Revealed Between the Testaments: Event and Scripture in Nazianzus’ Account of the Revelation of the Trinity in the Baptismal Command (Matthew 28:19)” Presented at the Holy Trinity in Holy Scripture conference at Tyndale University College, May 28-30, 2008 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  • “The Life of the Trinity is Hidden in the Gospel: How Evangelical Practices are Tacitly Trinitarian” Presented at the 17th Wheaton Theology Conference, April 10-12, 2008 Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

  • “God’s Own Blessedness: The Place and Function of the Doctrine of Divine Beatitude” Presented at the Far West Regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, April 18, 2008 Bethel Seminary, San Diego, CA

  • “A Thinker or a Friend Lives the Trinity: Intellectual Community in the Trinitarianism of Austin Farrer” Presented at C.S. Lewis, The Inklings, and the Call to Christian Community, February 7-9, 2008 Azusa Pacific University

  • “Biola’s Doctrinal Statement: Its Content and Use in the Early Years of the Institute” Presented at the Biola Centennial History Colloquium, Dec. 5, 2007 Biola University, La Mirada, CA

  • “One of the Trinity Died on the Cross:  Systematic Implications of the Fifth Ecumenical Council for a Theology of the Gospel” Presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Nov. 15, 2007 San Diego, CA

  • “Hearing the Voice of God in Scripture: The Tacit Trinitarianism of Evangelical Bible Reading” Presented at the Far West Regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Friday April 20, 2007 Masters College and Seminary, Sun Valley, CA

  • “As Above, So Below: Appeals to the Trinity in Theological Accounts of the Human Family” Presented at the Evangelical Theological Society’s 58th Annual Meeting, Nov. 15-17, 2006 Forth Worth,  TX

  • “The Beauty of the Trinity” Presented at the 15th annual Wheaton Theology Conference, April 2006 Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

  • “Arius the Hero: Historical Fictions We’re Ready to Believe” Presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Friday Nov. 18, 2005 Valley Forge, PA

  • “There is the Reservoir, Where is the Spout?  The Great Tradition and the Evangelical University” Presented at the 2nd annual Civitas Conference, “After Evangelicalism,” Saturday September 17, 2005 Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, MI

  • “Tiny Paintings of the Infinite Trinity:  Faith Seeking Visual Understanding through the Resourcefulness and Wit Of the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves (ca. 1440)” Presented at the 2005 Art & Soul Conference, April 8, 2005 Baylor University, Waco, TX

  • “Oikonomia and Ecclesia: The Economic Trinity and Free Church Ecclesiology” Presented at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Wesleyan Theological Society, March 5, 2005 Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA

  • “The State of the Doctrine of the Trinity in Evangelical Theology” Presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Nov. 18, 2004

  • “Saved by the Word and Spirit: The Soteriology of Donald Bloesch in Christian Foundations” Presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Nov. 18, 2004

  • “Three Monotheisms: How the Son of the God of Abraham Makes a Difference Among Yahwism, Trinitarianism, and Tawhid” Presented at the Far West regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, April 23, 2004 Bethel Seminary, San Diego, CA

  • “Karl Barth on Rahner’s Rule: God’s Freedom for the World and from the World” Presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Nov. 19, 2003 Azusa Pacific University

  • “How He Worked for Christ: The Ministries of R. A. Torrey” Presented at “R. A. Torrey (1856-1928): Radical Evangelicalism in the Early 20th Century,” a one-day academic symposium at Biola University, Tuesday October 21, 2003 Biola University, La Mirada, CA  (I was also the conference organizer)  

  • “Joining the Long Conversation with the Bible: Evangelicals and the Historical Theology of the Trinity ” Presented at the 2003 Far West regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, May 2, 2003 Master’s Seminary, Sun Valley, CA

  • “The Righteousness of Another: James Hervey, John Wesley, and Imputed Righteousness” Presented at the 2003 Wheaton Theology Conference, April 11, 2003 Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

  • “The Tacit Dimension of Evangelical Trinitarianism” Presented to the Wesleyan Theological Society and the Society for Pentecostal Studies, March 21, 2003 Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY

  • “Recent Thought on the Economic and Immanent Trinity” Presented to the Theology and Philosophy section of the AAR Western Region Meeting, April 18, 2000 Azusa Pacific University

  • “The Mystery of the Trinity in Christian Iconography: Pacino di Bonaguida’s Fourteenth-Century Solution” Presented in the Religion and the Arts section of the AAR Western Region meeting, March 1999, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

  • “Mere Trinitarianism: C. S. Lewis’ Practical Doctrine of the Trinity” Presented at the Wheaton Theology Conference, April 1998 Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

Dissertations

  • External reader for Loretta Johnson, “Katherine Sonderegger: Undermining Feminist Trinitarian Theology in View of Trinitarian Monotheism,” Graduate Theological Union, August 2022
  • External reader for Kyle Claunch, “The Son and the Spirit: The Promise of Spirit Christology in Traditional Trinitarian and Christological Perspective,” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, April 2017
  • External reader for Hongyi Yang, “A Development, Not a Departure: The Lacunae in the Debate on the Doctrine of the Trinity and Gender Roles,” Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, May 2016
  • External reader for Jordan P. Barrett, “Divine Simplicity: A Biblical and Trinitarian Account,” Wheaton College, 2016

Lectures and Invited Talks

[forthcoming] “The Christology of Sonship,” Moore College Lectures (five lectures), August 2028, Sydney, Australia

“The Doctrine of the Son: Trinitarian Christology for the Sake of the Gospel,” Annual Deere-Hester Lecture at Gateway Seminary. Mar 2024, Ontario, CA

“Union with Christ, Systematically Considered,” Norton Lectures at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (three lectures), February 2022

“The Deep Things of God,” three lectures at East London Baptist Tabernacle, June 22, 2019

“The Blessed Trinity,” Kistemaker Lectures at Reformed Theological Seminary (four lectures), Orlando, April 2019

“How the Trinity Changes Everything,” three lectures at First Baptist Church of Little Rock, April 13, 2019

“The Trinity and our Daily Work,” Karam Forum, Fri Jan 4, 2019

“How the Trinity Should –and Shouldn’t– Shape Your Church,” Gospel Coalition West Coast, Weds Oct 17, 2018

“Seeing the Trinity in Scripture,” at Lanier Theological Library, Houston, TX, Sat Oct 20, 2018.

“The Trinity and the Gospel,” Greystone Theological Institute, July 13, 2018, Cardiff, Wales

The Theology of Divine Blessedness,” The Tyndale Doctrine Lecture at Tyndale Fellowship, Cambridge, UK, July 2018

“Evangelical Trinitarianism and the Unity of the Theological Disciplines” (Invited plenary) Presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theology Theological Society, November 2016, San Antonio, Texas

Video Courses

“The History of the Doctrine of the Trinity,” a ten-hour video course from Logos MobileEd.

The Triune God: A Video Study, in the Beyond the Basics Video Series, Zondervan, 2017. Nine lessons in a professionally produced video series (approximately 2.5 hours of lecture content) available on DVD or online.

Professional Service, etc.

I have willingly helped my university and college in a number of capacities, serving on committees and doing administrative work. Since I prefer not to attract further tasks of this nature, I choose not to list them here.

I have reviewed book manuscripts for several publishers, and have served as reader for several journals including International Journal of Systematic Theology, Pro Ecclesia, Modern Theology, and Philosophia Christi.

I served on the editorial board for Didaktikos.

I co-edited, with Matthew K. Owen, an issue of Theologica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology. Vol 3 No 1 (2019): The Son of God

I was a Resident Fellow at Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding’s Creation Project, Fall 2019.

I am co-creator of theology.news

Museum tours and art appreciation lectures: Guided tours, sometimes preceded by illustrated lectures on “How To See Art.” Museums include the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Getty Center and the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, the National Gallery (London), the National Portrait Gallery (London), and the Tate Modern.

Press: (2013) “The L.A. Theologian,” Christianity Today: This is Our City, 2013, by James Arcadi

I am ordained through the Evangelical Church Alliance, and I minister actively in my church, Grace Evangelical Free Church of La Mirada. I serve there as an elder, a teacher, and a small group leader. We have a team-preaching rotation, and I preach occasionally. I am available for some guest preaching and pulpit supply.