Owning Up to the Failures of our Theological Heroes
There are few experiences more devastating than discovering the dark side of someone you love and respect. While this experience is most painful when it is someone that you know personally, it can still be disorienting even if you only know that person from afar. Discovering the darker side of a parent or spouse can […]
Author’s Perspective: Andrew Fuller and the Search for a Faith Worthy of All Acceptation
How did the book come about? Over ten years ago, I was pastoring a church and attending seminary as a PhD student. I lived in two worlds—the academy and the church. Both worlds appealed to me. I loved the personal connections afforded by pastoral ministry, and I enjoyed discussing academic theology in the classroom environment. […]
Excerpt – Revelation, Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament
The definition of an apocalypse proposed by John J. Collins has been widely accepted: “‘Apocalypse’ is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial […]
Inheritance & Glory: Our Vocation
“If children, heirs also, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified in Him” Romans 8:17 NASB Whether or not we find ourselves as inheritors of familial assets, we are certainly inheritors of a cosmic gift via our union with Christ. As Christ’s body, we […]
Who Were the Danbury Baptists?
The Baptist story is integral to the history of the United States. Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association is well known for the clause “a wall of separation between Church & State.”[1] Who were the Danbury Baptists? Who were the committee members? Why would an American President send a letter […]
John Webster and the Holiness of Preaching
My series of posts on John Webster has attempted to cast him as a theologian devoted to an all-encompassing view of God’s holiness—His complete and utter otherness, and His sufficiency in Himself. It was Webster’s task to retrieve theology from the grasp of a mere spiritualized sociology or a glorified anthropology, and to simply ‘let […]
The “Earliest Record of Jesus’ Childhood”: Clarifying some Recent Headlines
Editor’s note – As articles started coming out regarding the recent Infancy Gospel of Thomas discovery, I noticed some of the headlines and responses on social media were a bit sensational. Below Dr. Dan Gurtner, professor of New Testament at Gateway Seminary, explains what is—and what is not—significant about this discovery. – Tyler Sanders §1. […]
The Advancement of Technology is Not Towards Heaven
“Everybody’s talkin’ ’bout heaven like they just can’t wait to goSayin’ how it’s gonna be so good, so beautifulLyin’ next to you, in this bed with you, I ain’t convinced‘Cause, I don’t know how, I don’t know how heaven, heavenCould be better than this.” – “Heaven” by Kane Brown The songs of popular culture help […]
Favorite Book of 2023 + Books I Read
It’s that time of year again, the time for people to post the book’s they’ve read, to announce their favorite books, and to share with others the books they’ve loved. This year, because I’m working on a new book on the doctrine of atonement, I focused on reading books and lots articles on various theologians’ takes on […]
The Sound of Groaning: A Reflection on Romans 8:18-30
Recently, I was praying and couldn’t come up with words to say. What came out was a guttural sigh, which frankly left me annoyed. I said to myself, “Look at me- how pathetic. I can’t even articulate what I’m trying to pray- all I’m doing is groaning, and God doesn’t want to hear that.” I […]