The Theologian’s Task

What is the task of a Christian theologian?  Or more generally, what is the task of understanding Christian doctrine?
Herman Bavinck answers that question in the opening chapter of his four-volume Reformed Dogmatics.  He writes,
The imperative task of the dogmatician [or theologian] is to think God’s thoughts after him and to trace their unity.  His work is [...]

Biblical-Theological Reflections on the Doctrine of God

In the first chapter of his book The Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology, Charles H.H. Scobie concludes by highlighting 9 theological reflections that come from an investigation of the doctrine of God worked out in the Scriptures.  Let me share three.
First, he asserts that the canonical understanding of God is consistently [...]

Doctoral Reading List: The Mountain and the Molehill

The Mountain: A Systematic Reading List
Standing in his study, talking about doctoral studies, Southern Seminary professor Dr. Mark Seifrid commented that the doctoral degree is much like climbing a mountain.  In every discipline, there is a mountain of scholarly literature that must be traversed.  It is the academic responsibility of every student to summit that mountain.  Standing at the base [...]

Worship Tests Truth :: Doctrine Determines Doxology

In Richard Bauckham’s book Jesus and the God of Israel (2008), the British NT scholar quotes John MacIntrye to make his final appeal that the worship of Jesus in the early church signifies a first-century consensus that Jesus was God, and that the notion of Jewish monotheism included Jesus.  Though Bauckham’s presentation deals with the history of [...]

Carl Trueman on Academics and the Local Church

Lately, I have been thinking about my entrance into the PhD program and the impact such heavy-duty training has on the edification of the local church.  Such academic equipping is certainly not required.  Most biblical prophets and apostles were “regular joe’s.”  Amos was  a shepherd.  Peter and John were fisherman, “uneducated, common men” who had been with [...]

Marriage: A Theological Helpmate

Have you ever reflected on how indebted Systematic Theology is to Marriage? Have you considered how many doctrines are improved by the biblical teaching on marriage and the earthly reality of this blessed institution? Moreover, have you thought about how many doctrines would be lacking nuance and passion without the marital imagery employed [...]

A Biblical Meditation on God’s iBible (1): Illumination and Intervention

In a informational age, where “data smog” threatens to pollute the air we breathe, where iPods, iPhones, and iGoogle have become part and parcel of daily living, and where keeping up with the Jones requires 24-hour instant information, it is salubrious to be still and know that our Lord is still God (Ps. 46:10) and that His Word remains [...]

Theo-logy: Let us press on to know and love the Lord

When you put the emphasis on the wrong syllable, theology turns from the sanctifying, edifying, doxological study of the Trinitarian God to the self-absorbed, glory-seeking, academic discipline of God-study.  For in the compound word, theos and logos supply two possible centers of focus.  Attention to the former is good and right because it highlights and exalts God in all his manifold [...]

Theology from a Bunch of Dead Guys (Weekend Website)

I cannot remember when or how, but somewhere in college I stumbled accross this website: Theology from a Bunch of Dead Guys, or more officially titled, The Hall of Church History.  This was the first Christian website of its kind that I was introduced to, and as it was then, it is now– the premier spot [...]