Fred SandersA scene from the Leben der heiligen Altväter (1482)
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
Foreword to Anderson’s Called into Questions
Matthew Lee Anderson has written a book on the nature of questions in the life of faith, and I commend it to you. In fact, I commend it so much that I wrote a couple pages…
Pauline Trinitarianism from The Trinity in the Canon
Brandon Smith has edited an impressive set of essays on the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity, entitled The Trinity in the Canon (B&H, 2023). Weighing in at 15 chapters in 483 pages, the volume is a…
Why Christmas is Bigger than EasterThe Incarnation exists for the Atonement, but it is also so much more.
Wait … is this actually on the Incarnation? If you take up Athanasius’s fourth-century classic On the Incarnation for your Advent or Christmas reading, you’ll likely find yourself asking this very question. For you’ll soon make the discovery that…
Foreword to Reasoner’s Fundamental Wesleyan Systematic Theology, Volume 3
Victor Paul Reasoner of the Fundamental Wesleyan Society has published a three-volume systematic theology from the conservative Wesleyan perspective. Vic asked me to write a foreword for one of the volumes, and I was glad to…
Incorruptible Trinity: Sketch of a Doctrine
Abstract: The doctrine of divine incorruptibility deserves more focused attention than it has generally received, especially in the modern period. This article draws the doctrine from its Scriptural sources (especially making use of the phthora word-group)…
Pannenberg’s Trinitarian Theology (from Theology for the Future)
Andrew Hollingsworth has edited a set of ten chapters on Theology for the Future: The Enduring Promise of Wolfhart Pannenberg, with a foreword by Friederike Nüssel and an afterword by Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen. I wrote the fifth…
The Triune God (from Companion to Webster)
This excellent volume explores the theology of John Webster, in seventeen chapters by significant theologians. Here is an excerpt from my chapter on Webster’s approach to the doctrine of the Trinity: “There is only one Christian…
William Burt Pope (1822-1903): Primary and Secondary Creation
I wrote the chapter on William Burt Pope in this collection of essays on modern theologians and how they handled the doctrine of creation in light of science. It was great to be included among a…
A Profound MysteryHow the Trinity Helps in Our Evangelism
Here’s a piece I wrote for the FIEC publication called Primer. It’s available in the November 2019 print edition (full issue, free!). David Shaw provided some excellent editing for me that made the article much clearer,…
“Wesleyan View”
For whom did Christ die? Who may be saved? are questions of perennial interest and importance for the Christian faith. In a familiar Counterpoints format, this book explores the question of the extent of Christ’s atonement,…
Undiminished, Transcendent, and Relevant: Joseph Ratzinger on Teaching on the Trinity
I wrote the Trinity chapter, entitled “Undiminished, Transcendent, and Relevant: Joseph Ratzinger on Teaching on the Trinity,” in the book Benedict XVI: An Evangelical Appreciation of the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger, ed Tim Perry (Lexham Press,…
Book Symposium on The Triune God
This suite of responses to Fred Sanders’ book The Triune God (Zondervan, 2016) is from papers originally read at the 2016 annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. This symposium publishes the papers by Wesley Hill,…
Foreword to Barrett, None Greater
(None Greater can be purchased from Baker Books or at Amazon) Usually when theologians find out they were wrong about something, they admit it readily enough. But then they cover their tracks. They revise their views…
Holy Scripture Under the Auspices of the Holy TrinityOn John Webster's Trinitarian Doctrine of Scripture
As he approached the monumental task of writing his own systematic theology, John Webster gave strategic attention to constructing a doctrine of Scripture that was adequate to support such a project. In contrast to some well-respected…
Foreword to Hongyi Yang, A Development, Not a DepartureThe Lacunae in the Debate of the Doctrine of the Trinity and Gender Roles (Reformed Academic Dissertation)
(Hongyi Yang’s book may be purchased from P&R, or at Amazon) The public controversy over trinitarian theology that culminated online in the summer of 2016 was a remarkable event. Academics and commentators, pastors and laypeople, experts…
Classical Theism Makes a Comeback
In recent years, there has been a change in the way theologians talk the doctrine of God. One way to describe the change would be to say that classical theism has made a comeback. By “classical…
Biblical Grounding for the Christology of the Councils
When theologians take up the crucial catechetical task of teaching about Jesus Christ, what principle of ordering should they follow? Which sub-topics within this rich field should be taught first, which ones postponed until later, and under what overarching categories should they all be gathered? In this article, I would like to commend one particular organizational schema for introducing Christology to students, and then demonstrate the advantages of that schema by offering a brief example of its key points. The method I recommend is this: follow the leading ideas of the ecumenical councils of the early church and then support them with biblical argumentation. Conciliar Christology is thus the framework for teaching Christology, with biblical material brought in to fill it out.
Biola in the American Evangelical Story
Douglas A. Sweeney’s The American Evangelical Story: A History of the Movementis a masterpiece of concise storytelling. In introducing the movement, Sweeney combines an insider’s sympathetic understanding with an objectivity and sense of perspective about what to report. The result is a short, readable book that can serve multiple audiences well. I am particularly interested in using Sweeney’s American Evangelical Storyto help new Biola faculty understand their own institutional heritage more fully. If Biola is going to equip and empower its faculty for the task of integration, one of the resources it should provide is a grasp of the school’s identity that is not just superficial.
