Books
Doctrine is merely chatter unless deployed to make disciples. This book contrasts North American culture's preoccupation with physical wellness, diet, and fitness with the church's relative neglect of spiritual fitness. The pastor's vocation is to equip a holy nation, training disciples to be fit for the purpose of living out their citizenship in the gospel.
This book responds to accusations that the Reformers unintentionally unleashed pervasive interpretive pluralism upon the world. It does so by returning to the Protestant mine (the 5 solas) for more gold and arguing that "mere Protestant Christianity" is better described not in terms of pervasive interpretive pluralism but rather in terms of unitive interpretive plurality.
A collection of essays and sermons arranged as a foyer and three galleries that focuses on the "close-up" work of theology as ministering understanding for specific occasions/issues. The essays have in common the importance of having the right imagination (and pictures) for the life of faith.
In response to increasing evangelical fragmentation on the ground, Theology and the Mirror of Scripture offers a clarion call to reconceive “evangelical” theology theologically by reflecting on the gospel of God and the God of the gospel. Such “mere” evangelical theology shares an aspiration to mirror Scripture in Christian wisdom, reflecting the reality of the gospel’s Triune God in thought, word, and deed. We describe the character and identity of evangelical theology as an “anchored” rather than merely centered or bounded set, anchored in the Trinitarian ontology of the gospel, and we propose an ecclesiology for mere evangelicalism.
Disciples who want to follow Christ in all situations need doctrinal direction as they walk onto the social stage in the great theater of the world. The Christian faith is about acknowledging, and participating in, the great thing God is doing in our world: making all things new in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Doctrine ministers understanding: of God, of the drama of redemption, of the church as a company of faithful players, and of individual actors, all of whom have important roles to play. In an age where things fall apart and centers fail to hold, doctrine centers us in Jesus Christ, in whom all things hold together.
This is a constructive attempt to explore the nature of doctrine. George Lindbeck's cultural-linguistic approach is a dialogue partner, but the bulk of the book focuses on developing an alternative constructive model. The working hypothesis is that theological method must follow from theological matter, and that the subject matter of Christian theology is essentially dramatic: a matter of what God has done, is doing, and will do in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
The rise of modern science and theology led to a radical questioning of divine action and authorship - Bultmann's celebrated 'demythologizing'. Remythologizing Theology moves in another direction that begins by taking seriously the biblical accounts of God's speaking. It establishes divine communicative action as the formal and material principle of theology, and suggests that interpersonal dialogue, rather than impersonal causality, is the keystone of God's relationship with the world. It also revisits several long-standing controversies such as the relations of God's sovereignty to human freedom, time to eternity, and suffering to love.
This book decries the secular pictures of the pastorate that currently hold many pastors, churches, and seminaries captive and summons the church to recover the properly theological office of the pastor. We argue that the pastor's vocation is that of a public theologian: one who represents God to people and people to God. In particular, we argue that the pastor is an artisan in God's house who presents, teaches, celebrates, and demonstrates what is in Christ, the reality of the gospel.
Improbably enough, this book emerged out of a class I taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on cultural hermeneutics. The lengthy introduction presents my method for reading cultural texts (there's a glossary too). The rest of the book consists of the best essays produced by my students. Each provides a theological interpretation of a specific cultural text, like a film, or of cultural trends, such as designer weddings (and funerals).
First theology names the task of speaking of God on the basis of Scripture and understanding Scripture in light of God speaking. It is a plea for being theological about hermeneutics and hermeneutical about theology. It represents an early shot across the bow of theological interpretation of Scripture. The hero of the book is the triune God in communicative action.
A response to postmodern theories and practice of textual interpretation and their deleterious effect on biblical authority. What might "faith seeking understanding" mean when it comes seeking the meaning of the biblical text? This work taps into the resources of Trinitarian theology in order to resurrect the author, redeem the text, and reform the reader.
A revision of my Cambridge University doctoral dissertation, written in the heyday of narrative theology. The governing question: how does Ricoeur's narrative theory affect a reading of the Gospels, and the Christology to which it gives rise?