One of my major influences in Christian Theology is Anthony Thiselton, and I am saddened to learn of his death yesterday. He has featured many times on this blog and has been instrumental in my own theological formation, especially since one of my best friends is arguably Thiselton's ableist interpreter. His scholarly work was for... Continue Reading →
Why Trinity?
"Most orthodox Christians claim to be "biblical" in doctrine yet also "Trinitarian". Many share the view expressed by Whitely and by Kelly that the Pauline texts embody "traces of a Trinitarian ground-plan". It is certainly the case that Paul unambiguously expresses the Christian belief in one God (1 Cor. 8:6), and that in many passages,... Continue Reading →
On ‘Doubt, Faith & Certainty’ by Prof. Anthony Thiselton
This is a short introduction by Professor Anthony Thiselton to his book 'Doubt, Faith & Certainty' taken from EerdWord, the official blog of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. The exquisite word 'bumptiousness' makes a rare but welcome appearance! I wrote this book because there is a deep pastoral and practical need for it. Too many people blame themselves... Continue Reading →
Poverty of the Holy Spirit
It is true that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit receives less attention than other doctrines. Historically, the institutional church looked (and still looks) upon the appeal by the masses to the Spirit as potentially subversive and in need of control. Maybe that's partly why pneumatology is the "odd-ology" (Fabricius). In Faith Seeking Understanding, Daniel Migliore writes,... Continue Reading →
Chicken Preaching, Flat Mountains and Glorious Contradictions
The funny guys at Babyon Bee have hit on a Forsythian nerve of mine. The headline 'Half Of Congregation Dies Of Starvation As Sermon Goes 15 Minutes Over Time' is brilliant satire, as are almost all of their other articles; a much welcome relief to the tedium of seriousness we Protestants can so easily find... Continue Reading →
The Three Words
Christians hold a very high regard for the notion of 'The Word of God' and rightly so. But it does seem to me at least, that we confuse categories and blur boundaries. There are three Words: The Word that is Scripture The Word that is Christ The Word that is Preaching Evangelicals (and I count... Continue Reading →
Waiting for Jesus
Waiting is a dominant theme of Paul and the New Testament. According to Anthony Thiselton, "In everyday life, waiting can suggest dull and static situations like sitting in a railway waiting room, or standing at a bus stop." But Paul uses several verbs to express the range of waiting. We wait for the sons of God to be revealed; creation waits with... Continue Reading →
The notion of “prophecy”
"The notion of "prophecy," as this is understood by various generations of readers (1 Thess 5:19) does not accord with a widespread and popular view today. Many today regard this in either of two ways which partly diverge from mainline tradition. Some regard prophecy primarily as predictions of the future; others adopt the classical Pentecostal... Continue Reading →
The truth: the holy truth, and nothing like the truth – post-truth society and the church
The following article is a guest post by Rev'd Dr Helen Paynter, a Research Fellow and Coordinator of Community Learning at Bristol Baptist College, as well as part-time minister at Victoria Park Baptist Church in Bristol, and it is published here with my thanks to her friendship and ministry. The paper was originally published in... Continue Reading →
Transformative Bible Reading
This post is not a cheap shot at the "please read your Bible more" brigade, but an exploration into the truly transformative effects the Bible brings to bear on an individual or community. Furthermore, this is not about bibliolatry either! When Thiselton, from whom much of what follows is derived, talks of Transformative Bible Reading,... Continue Reading →
Gralefrit Theology 