Cultural Exegesis: A Primer
Karl Barth allegedly quipped that Christians should “do theology with the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper in the other.”[1] His point is that the Christian, in thinking about the truth of God, should understand how God’s truth and today’s world intersect. Theology is fundamentally practical. Yet practical theology can also be a daunting task. While the Bible provides clarity on the things of God, we may struggle to apply these...
When Ministry and Seminary Collide
I never intended to pursue a Master of Divinity degree. It was an avenue that was made available to me by the grace of God, which I began pursuing in January of 2015. One course in particular that transformed my thinking was the Ethics of Wealth and Poverty with Dr. David Jones in the fall of 2015. In this class, I realized the necessity of bridging classroom studies with my personal life and public ministry. It was sobering to think...
Defending Substitution: A Review Essay
J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) argued nearly 100 years ago that if Christianity is anything it is a way of getting rid of sin. Machen lived at a time in which Protestant circles increasingly minimized sin, particularly individual sin against God, in favor of societal sin or evil. This was largely due to the rise of Protestant liberalism in America. One of the seemingly direct effects of Protestant liberalism’s rise was the demise in...
ETS 2013: Inerrancy in Perspective
The last 30 years have witnessed countless publications on the doctrine of Scripture. While each varies in length, perspective, and overall usefulness, they all directly or indirectly relate to a critical tenet of evangelical faith: the inerrancy of Scripture. In the spirit of this topic, “Evangelicalism, Inerrancy, and the Evangelical Theological Society: Retrospect and Prospect” was the theme for the annual meeting of the...
Theology or Scripture: Why Must We Choose?
“All I need is the Bible. Theology hinders interpretation.” This is unfortunately the mindset of many who approach the interpretation of Scripture. In modern scholarship, entirely too much focus has been given to a historical-critical reading of Scripture in the academy [1], effectively divorcing theology from Scripture. Of a similar mindset, pastors and laymen have taken a somewhat different approach. They have prevented the Church...
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