Showing papers in "Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University in 2019"
TL;DR: In this paper, a Henrecian evaluation of Michael Licona's new historiographical approach to defending the resurrection is presented, which is based on the lens of Carl F. Henry's presuppositional approach.
Abstract: Abstract Two cross-currents from the twentieth century have affected evangelical apologetics: apologetic methodology and Carl F. H. Henry. Henry was considered the dean of American evangelicalism, who shaped the movement by providing a rational and propositional apologetic. Henry also engaged the issues in the midst of a larger question of apologetic methodology, primarily, between presuppositionalists and evidentialists. This article continues to address the two cross-currents by offering a Henrecian evaluation of Michael Licona’s new historiographical approach to defending the resurrection. In particular, the article attempts to evaluate Licona’s evidentialist approach through the lens of Henry’s presuppositional approach.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the integration of high Christology with ethics is explored, and the specific vein of the integration is explored by integrating the high christology with the ethics of Ignatius of Antioch.
Abstract: Abstract Scholars have long noted Ignatius of Antioch’s statements of high christology. Jesus, who as God appeared in human form (Eph. 19.3), is ‘God in man’ (Eph. 7.2) and is ‘our God’ (Eph. inscr.; 15.3; 18.2; Rom. inscr.; 3.3; Polyc. 8.3). Jesus Christ is included in such ‘nas-cent trinitarian’ passages as Eph. 9.1 and Magn. 13.1-2. Yet further treasures remain to be mined, and the specific vein I will explore is the integration of Ignatius’ high christology with his ethics. His paraenesis is rooted in ‘the mind of God’, also described as ‘the mind of Christ’ (Eph. 3.2; Phld. inscr.), who is ‘the God who made you so wise’ (Smyrn. 1.1; cf. Eph. 17.2). Ignatian moral instruction combines ‘the will of God and Jesus Christ’ (Trall. 1.1), ‘the honor of the Father and the honor of Jesus Christ’ (Trall. 12.2), and ‘the love of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Phld. 1.1). Believers are to be ‘imitators of God’ (Trall. 1.2) as well as ‘imitators of Jesus Christ’ (Phld. 7.2). Ignatius even prayed that he would be ‘an imitator of the suffering of my God’ (Rom. 6.3; cf. Eph. 10.3). Ignatian exhortation thus merges an imitatio Christi with an imitatio Dei. Arising from his particular experiences and specific circumstances, Ignatius’ contextualized paraenesis elevates the Son to an authoritative status parallel to that of the Father. The interplay of christology and ethics also underscores a multi-leveled understanding of ‘unity’ and a multivalent use of ‘flesh and spirit’.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that the engine of any true revival movement is the sovereign work of God and not the work of man and his endeavours to produce revival, and that the Spirit of God has been the operator of revival and the people of God are entirely dependent upon Him for revival.
Abstract: Abstract This part of our study has sought to establish that Edwards’s theology of revival represents a discipline at the root of which lies the sovereign will of God, not the will of man. For Edwards, the engine of any true revival movement is the sovereign work of God and not the work of man and his endeavours to produce revival. Revival from the time of Edwards has been characterised by mysterious and supernatural aspects. The Spirit of God has been the operator of revival and the people of God are entirely dependent upon Him for revival. The theme of God’s sovereignty becomes an important and essential theme for Edwards in the whole process of spiritual awakening.
4 citations
TL;DR: The concept of deification is not something foreign to the Baptist tradition because Keach, Gill, Spurgeon, and Maclaren already demonstrated the patristic exchange formula that God became man so that man may become like God.
Abstract: Abstract Some contemporary Baptists (Medley and Kharlamov) argue that the conservative Baptists in North America need to incorporate the concept of deification into their traditional soteriology because they failed to present the continual and transforming nature of salvation. However, many leading conservative Baptist systematicians (Garrett, Erickson, Demarest, and Keathley) demonstrate their concern about a possible pantheistic connotation of the doctrine of deification. Unlike the conservative Baptists, I argue for the necessity of working with the concept of deification in the traditional Baptist soteriology. The concept of deification is not something foreign to the Baptist tradition because Keach, Gill, Spurgeon, and Maclaren already demonstrated the patristic exchange formula ‘God became man so that man may become like God’. They considered the hypostatic union of two natures in Christ as the source and model of becoming like God or Christ, the true Image of God. Christians are called to be united with the glorified humanity of Christ by their adopted sonship and participation in the divine nature. Christification speaks of the real transformation of Christians in terms of a change in the mode of existence, not in nature. The four Baptists taught that Christian could participate in the communicable attributes of God, but not in the essence or incommunicable attributes of God. Therefore, Christification never produces another God-Man. Conservative Baptists do not have to compromise their traditional commitment to sola scriptura and the forensic nature of justification in their employment of the theme of deification. This paper concludes with four suggestions for contemporary Baptist discussions on deification.
3 citations
TL;DR: Tertullian is often portrayed as a prescient figure who accurately anticipated the Nicene consensus about the Trinity, but when examined against the background of his immediate predecessors, he falls into place as a typical second-century Logos theologian.
Abstract: Abstract Tertullian is often portrayed as a prescient figure who accurately anticipated the Nicene consensus about the Trinity. But when he is examined against the background of his immediate predecessors, he falls into place as a typical second-century Logos theologian. He drew especially from Theophilus of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyons. At the same time, Tertullian did introduce some important innovations. His trinitarian language of ‘substance’ and ‘person’, rooted in Stoic metaphysics, offered the church a new way to be monotheistic while retaining the full deity and consubstantiality of the Word. Tertullian also significantly developed the concept of a divine oikonomia, God’s plan to create and redeem the world. The Son and Spirit are emissaries of the Father’s will—not ontologically inferior to him, yet ranked lower in the way that the sent are always subordinate to the sender. For this reason, Tertullian denied that a Father/Son relationship was eternal within the Trinity, seeing it rather as a new development emerging from God’s plan to make the world. Such temporal paternity and filiation distances Tertullian from the eventual Nicene consensus, which accepted instead the eternal generation theory of Origen. While Tertullian did propose some important terms that would gain traction among the Nicene fathers, he was also marked by a subordinationist tendency that had affinities with Arianism. Tertullian’s most accurate anticipation of Nicaea was his insistence on three co-eternal and consubstantial Persons. Historical theologians need to start admitting that Tertullian was a far cry from being fully Nicene. Rather, he offered a clever but still imperfect half-step toward what would become official orthodoxy..
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the way in which the resurrected body of the blessed benefits from the soul's apprehension of the beatific vision, which is central to St. Thomas Aquinas' doctrine of the mind's enlightenment.
Abstract: Abstract The beatific vision is central to St. Thomas Aquinas’ doctrine of the soul’s enlightenment. In its vision of the essence of God, the soul/intellect achieves its telos, its highest goal. But the resurrection of the body is a central dogma of the Christian faith, so the main question of this essay concerns the manner in which the resurrected body of the blessed benefits from the soul’s apprehension of the beatific vision. For St. Thomas, the physical eyes do not see the beatific vision, since they can only see magnitude and proportion, and God is beyond both. The soul is the body’s substantial form, and a person is not fully a person without the union of soul and body. As the body’s substantial form, the soul/intellect has the beatific vision as its substantial form. The result of the enlightened intellect with the resurrected body will be that the physical eyes will be able to see more readily the glory of God in creation and in redeemed humanity, and more supremely in the incarnate Christ himself.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a short survey of a theology of the beatific vision and theosis is presented, along with a short historical survey of the doctrine, focusing on the relevant medieval and Reformed developments.
Abstract: Abstract What may seem astonishing is the near dismissal of the beatific vision doctrine in the last 50+ years of biblical and theological scholarship in contrast to the emphasis given to it throughout church history. The state of theological scholarship is changing. In what follows, we set forth a short survey of a theology of the beatific vision, while also introducing the rest of the volume on the beatific vision and theosis, of which we take to have an intimate and overlapping relationship. The editorial article has four parts: it begins by (1) introducing some of the relevant biblical material on the vision, proceeding to (2) develop a theological interpretation of those passages, and then (3) offer a short historical survey of the doctrine, focusing on the relevant medieval and Reformed developments. It finally (4) introduces the articles of the issue.
2 citations
TL;DR: In the early 1970s, this article published an explicitly and consistently Calvinistic theology of the revival movement of North America, which was based on the principles of the old doctrine of sovereignty.
Abstract: Abstract From an early age Jonathan Edwards became intellectually equipped for the task of defining theology of the revival movements of North America. As a revivalist Edwards came from a Calvinistic theological tradition and moved along the plane of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Puritan theology. Through his studies and meditations on God’s Word Edwards realised that the great need of his time was for a change in the way the old doctrine of sovereignty needed to be understood. The realisation of this fact led him to produce an explicitly and consistently Calvinistic theology of revival. For Edwards revival times represented unusual and extraordinary times. In his eyes, revival is a glorious and wonderful working of God when the Spirit of God is poured out in a far greater and more glorious measure.
2 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the manner in which Irenaeus of Lyons' Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching (Epideixis) provides insight into his understanding of the nature and activity of the Triune God based on his conviction that Christian baptism is both a testimony to and a participation with that triune God.
Abstract: Abstract Irenaeus of Lyons wrote Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching (Epideixis) to encourage his readers of the solidity of their faith, especially as this faith was connected to baptism under the threefold seal: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The threefold nature of the baptismal formula drives Irenaeus’ discussion in Epid. 3-7 and is the point with which he concludes the work, saying, ‘error, concerning the three heads of our seal, has caused much straying from the truth’ (Epid. 100). Irenaeus structures the intervening chapters to show how Christian baptism is both a testimony to and participation with the Triune God referenced in the baptismal formula. The lack of explicit structural markers within the body of the text has resulted in a neglect of the trinitarian character of its structure. This article explores the manner in which Irenaeus of Lyons’ Demonstration provides insight into his understanding of the nature and activity of the Triune God based on his conviction that Christian baptism is both a testimony to and a participation with that Triune God.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the central issue in Christian scholarship is to properly associate the revelation of God with the knowledge of God's world across all academic disciplines, and a proposal for the resulting vision for Christian scholarship, and habits of Christian educational institutions follows.
Abstract: Abstract Carl F. H. Henry serves as a fruitful resource for the integration of faith and learning. The central issue in Christian scholarship is to properly associate the revelation of God with the knowledge of God’s world across all academic disciplines. The particular effort of this article is to demonstrate the clarity Henry provides as it relates to general revelation, special revelation, and knowledge explored in a comprehensive university setting. Building on Henry’s clarity, an orientation of knowledge to Jesus Christ, a proposal for the resulting vision for Christian scholarship, and habits of Christian educational institutions follows.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the contribution of Carl Henry's contribution as a theologian, noting that GRA is a work of theology, not philosophy proper, and that one finds present several presuppositions and control beliefs that are philosophically motivated.
Abstract: Abstract Carl Henry devotes a few chapters directly (and a few indirectly) in volume 6 of his God, Revelation, and Authority [GRA] to the problem of evil [POE]. The author examines Henry’s contribution as a theologian, noting that GRA is a work of theology, not philosophy proper. However, Henry had a PhD in Philosophy (Boston, 1949), and one finds present several presuppositions and control beliefs that are philosophically motivated. Observation of the text reveals several of these. Chief here is Henry’s working assumption that to understand and explain the nature of evil, one must first understand and explain the nature, origin and etiology of good. This point and its implications are developed at length in this article. Unsurprising is Henry’s contribution exhibiting an awareness of methods and theodical approaches traditionally used by philosophers of religion such as Rowe, Plantinga, and Hick. Surprising is the fact that Henry does not clearly take a side on the nature of human free will. What he does say seems to underdetermine his exact position. Finally, the importance of Kant vis a vis Henry’s theodicy and entire theological program is emphasized as well.
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the immateriality of the divine nature and the unity of the Father and the Son are the two main reasons why the human mind can only apprehend the immocal nature of the God.
Abstract: Abstract This essay demonstrates that Athenagoras’ theology is primarily concerned, not with the creative activity of God, as L.W. Barnard has argued, but rather with the immateriality of the divine nature and the unity of the Father and the Son. It is this two-fold basis of distinction and unity that makes the apprehension of God possible only by mind and reason. Since the divine nature is heavenly and immaterial, such apprehension cannot occur in the physical realm as promoted in pagan worship, but must take place in the mind through the Son, who is the Logos or Mind, the Reason and Wisdom of the Father. Athenagoras’ assertion that the immaterial God can only be apprehended by reason emphasizes the distinction between God and matter, while the unity of the Father and Son in God’s acts and teachings highlights the role of reason in the soul’s apprehension of the divine. One must be conformed to the Son, who is the Reason of God, in order to apprehend God the Father, and Athenagoras evokes the ethical dimension of reason in the soul’s apprehension of the divine. As the soul follows the Son in obeying his teachings, it is conformed to the Son, thereby becoming rational and engaging in rational worship, focusing on the heavenly rather than the earthly. Thus it is in ethical conduct that Christians are essentially pure in spirit and rational in worship, as they are directed by the Son, who is unified with the Father, to apprehend the immaterial God.
TL;DR: In this article, the fundamental truth that covenants of God with man are the best way of presenting the Biblical development of God's revelation in the history of mankind is emphasized. And our duty is to learn to think in covenants, because thinking in covenantal terms means to think biblically.
Abstract: Abstract Whatever opinion we might have on the covenants of God with man, we cannot escape the fundamental truth that covenant theology is the best way of presenting the Biblical development of God’s revelation in the history of mankind. Therefore, our duty is to learn to think in covenantal terms, because thinking in covenantal terms means to think biblically. When God, in His sovereignty, has chosen to deal with man, He has chosen to do so through two covenants: the covenant of works, made between God and Adam as the representative head of all mankind, and through the covenant of grace, made between God and Christ on behalf of those who were predestined and elected in Christ.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an evaluation of the Reformation and its impact on the worldview of that period, and they often put forth the reformation as an example, which needed emulation by the modern evangelical church.
Abstract: Abstract When Carl Henry presented an evaluation of the Reformation and its impact on the worldview of that period, he often put forth the Reformation as an example, which needed emulation by the modern evangelical church. His focus in his evaluation were on actions related to an orthodox view of God’s self-revelation in the areas of epistemology, authority, and life application. Henry’s conviction was that these actions, undertaken particularly by the Reformers Luther and Calvin, were necessary for a redemptive impact on the world through the modern evangelical church.
TL;DR: Arianism was not only embraced, but openly acknowledged by most of the Presbyterian ministers during the time of English Nonconformity as mentioned in this paper and spread far and wide in the Presbyterian congregations, both among the ministers and the people.
Abstract: Abstract During the time of English Nonconformity, Arianism was not only embraced, but openly acknowledged by most of the Presbyterian ministers. That generation of ministers, who contended so zealously for the orthodox faith, had finished their labours, and received from their Lord a dismissal into eternal rest. Those champions among the laity who, at the beginning of the controversy, stood up so firmly for the truth, had entered as well into the joy of their Lord. Though their children continued Dissenters, too many of them did not possess the same sentiments or spirit. Among those who succeeded these ministers were too many who embraced the Arian creed. To this unhappy change contributed the example and conversation as well of many from the younger Presbyterian ministers. In consequence Arianism spread far and wide in the Presbyterian congregations, both among the ministers and the people. This unhappy controversy proved the grave of the Presbyterian congregations, and of those of the General Baptists. The effects of Arianism, though at first scarcely visible, gradually produced desolation and death.