Glenn Butner
@glennbutner
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Associate Professor of Theology & Christian Ministry @sterlingClife / Focus: Trinity, social ethics (i.e. social justice and scholastic distinctions)
Sterling, KS
Joined September 2010
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Pinned Tweet
The
@CentreKirby
is hosting a zoom panel on my new book, "Work Out Your Salvation," including D. Stephen Long,
@Steven_McMullen
, and Robert Tatum.
Register for free here:
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The most theologically unified I’ve ever seen Twitter is people dunking on this random guy who shamed people for babies crying in church. Everything from 1689ers to Catholic ethicists to progressive anabaptists are challenging this guy. This is our ecumenical moment.
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“Abortion is often defended as the necessary condition for the freedom of women from male oppression. Yet if we are to believe the testimony of [surveyed] witnesses, abortion often is the coercive method men use to free themselves from responsibility to women.” - Hauerwas
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Giveaway!
It's release day for Trinitarian Dogmatics, so
@BakerAcademic
has agreed to give away one copy. Like and retweet for a chance to win.
Those who already have a copy, why not retweet for a friend or drop a tweet of your first impressions (good or bad)?
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Some theo-pundits: the Trinity? Actually about gender roles. Ukraine invasion? About gender roles. Theology of Scripture? Chiefly evident in what you think about gender roles.
When all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail.
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Im happy to share that I’ve accepted a position
@GordonConwell
starting in the fall! Looking forward to teaching theology (and occasionally ethics) to graduate students at a great institution.
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Grudem's new ST: "One writer seriously misrepresents" [EFS] by saying it leads to subordinationism: Aimee Byrd. Why only name Byrd? Erickson, Giles, McCall, Yandell, & many others have made the argument. Why single out Byrd in this way? I have to wonder if it's her gender.
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My second book, "Trinitarian Dogmatics," will be available on Amazon six months from today.
Preorder here at 40% off:
Watch for updates on content, endorsements, and the book release posted below.
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I’m convinced that one of the most important things a professor can do is teach students to engage views they disagree with calmly, charitably, justly, and rationally while maintaining faithfulness to their own convictions and a genuine desire to seek truth.
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Is the Trinity biblical? Yes, and no. The technical terms used to explain the doctrine exceed what is taught in the Bible, but there are extensive biblical reasons for accepting the doctrine. Here's a list: 1/
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All the disclaimers:
* I don't troll until your tweets reach my students. Apparently then I troll a bit.
* See Luke 4, NT eschatology/ecclesiology for biblical warrant
* I reject prosperity gospel
* I'm faith, grace, and Christ alone
* Sin/poverty/sickness remain until eschaton.
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In the doctrine of the Trinity, divine simplicity ensures (a) a rejection of the hierarchy of divinity; (b) processions that do not result in tritheism; (c) missions that are truly self-revelation; and (d) the full consubstantiality of Father, Son, and Spirit.
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I’m excited to sign a contract with
@BakerAcademic
to write “Trinitarian Dogmatics” - a new Trinity survey. Want a little more perichoresis, inseparable operations, or Thomists vs. analytic theologians in your Trinity textbook? Then stay tuned for a release in about 2 years.
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Great victory achieved: my editor confirms we can do footnotes instead of endnotes.
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In 2015 I wrote a JETS article on why eternal functional subordination was a problem due to multiplying divine wills. To my knowledge, I was the first to argue so. It's fun to see a tweet thread with dozens of people objecting to EFS due to multiplied wills.
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So I'm getting swarmed by anti-trinitarians in several places this morning who argue that the Trinity is not a biblical teaching.
Here's a preview of what my book argues on the subject. I make the case much more extensively there:
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There's been a lot of talk about EFS as Arianism again. I still think it's important for historical theology (helps us understand the Pro-Nicene) and for the debate with EFS to know the difference. So here are some differences/similarities:
1/x
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"The Son who Learned Obedience: A Theological Case Against the Eternal Submission of the Son" is now available on:
Amazon:
Wipf & Stock:
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Slowly building a theological movie collection. Criteria: explores substantive theological themes, good acting, not just an evangelistic purpose (not that there’s no place for that). What would you add?
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Things I try to teach my students about theology:
1. Theological claims don't have to be presented as certainly false or certainly true. Sometimes, we can just identify what's probable and rule out a few bad options. (Some things do remain non-negotiable though)
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I finally got home from my trip to see these in person.
The best part was presenting it to my son, Elias, to whom it is dedicated.
I told my other son Ezra (age 5) that I had plans to write one to dedicate to him and he asked me to please include more pictures.
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Lol no
A) resurrection of the BODY
B) As a member of Christ’s body the church (not just individuals)
C) Where the church is called to be a new community characterized by embodying the social ethics of the kingdom they will fully inhabit once resurrected (and have begun to now)
There is nothing Christian about
#SocialJustice
. Redemptive salvation is a matter of the individual soul.
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102,901 words (excluding bibliography)
412 sources
296 pages
8 chapters
1 completed manuscript for "Trinitarian Dogmatics" just sent to the publisher for editing.
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False dichotomy: racism is caused by unjust structures vs racism is caused by sinful hearts
Can’t sinful hearts develop racist ideas to defend pre-existing unjust structures? Can’t unjust structures tempt us to sinful acts? Can’t part of racism be the heart and part structural?
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A world in which you see a black man running, assume he’s a criminal, get guns, corner him, a confrontation begins, and you shoot him, but you’re protected under the principle of self-defense is not a just world.
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@brandon_d_smith
just sent me screen shots of the two pages where Grudem engages my anti-EFS arguments in his new ST. It's all pretty absurd, but let me reply with a few points.
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“ ‘Christ died’ - that is history; ‘Christ died for our sins’ - that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble Union, there is no Christianity.” - J Gresham Machen
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Agreed to review a book proposal for $600. I thought I'd use it to surprise my wife with a larger than normal Christmas gift. Turns out I didn't read closely... it's $600 in books. So, what academic books are best to give your wife for Christmas?
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GIVEAWAY!
It’s release day for “Work Out Your Salvation,” which analyzes how different market forms influence our character development.
To enter:
1) Like and retweet (1 entry)
2) Comment w/ a claim you’ve heard about how markets shape us (1 entry)
Two winners picked 4/10
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I've finished a complete draft of Trinitarian Dogmatics! (Just barely made my end of the year deadline). Monday it's off to a few readers while I do appendices, then off to the publisher by March.
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Does eternal generation entail subordination? No, for at least three reasons.
1) simplicity means that the generated Son can only receive the entirety of the divine nature. Generation is this a means of speaking of equality, not subordination.
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One problem here is that this correction remains based on flawed hermeneutics - biblical ethics cannot be reduced to a single word study, but requires complex hermeneutic discussions about which texts to apply, when, and how.
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In short, this is not sound scholarship or argumentation. This should not be a standard systematic theology in evangelical seminaries.
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1/ I've seen objections from noted theologians/ethicists that verses encouraging Israel to welcome & care for the sojourner (i.e. Deut. 10:19, Lev. 19:18), do not apply to the US immigration debate, such that the US has no ethical responsibility to care for refugees. A response:
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I get 45 minutes to teach the entire doctrine of the Trinity in Sunday school this week. Here's the plan:
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I’m officially “the
@RHB_Books
shipment processor figured out who I am” famous, which is probably a few steps below MySpace famous. But it was a fun surprise opening a package.
To reciprocate, I love RHB and their people for bringing us a Brakel and van Mastricht in English.
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This is a good question. I’ll wager a few possible answers in the thread below, drawing on scholastic (and scholastic-like thinking) more than Scripture. Also this is Twitter, so arguments are simplified and I combine some steps. A 🧵
Just been reminded of a great question: why couldn't God just forgive us for our sins? Why did Jesus have to be sacrificially slain and then resurrected so the slate could be wiped clean? I have yet to hear an answer to this question that makes much sense. What's the best answer?
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Bit more context for the nay-sayers: 1) Grudem next questions Byrd’s ethics, but no one else’s; 2) EFS is for Grudem central to fighting feminism; 3) he’s generally negative to female scholarship; 4) he definitely knows others making this argument; he cites them in other works.
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Theology and ethics cannot be reduced to the presentation of word studies, or else theology and ethics are not genuine disciplines; only philology is. One of the things evangelicalism needs most is a clearer vision for theological method. 4/4
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In Grudem's new ST, when discussing the meaning of eternal generation (which he's only newly accepted), Grudem cites two people most often. One is Bruce Ware, who also just accepted the doctrine. None of the classical figures who defined it are cited at all.
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Just got the new Fortress Academic catalog today. It will be here soon!
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I'm increasingly convinced that the doctrine of inseparable operations/the single power of the Trinity is the centerpiece of trinitarianism dogmatically and exegetically.
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Today I start writing chapter 1 of Trinitarian Dogmatics. Rejected first lines:
- It was the best of dogmas, it was the worst of dogmas.
- Call me Glenn.
- Once there was no 'unitarian'.
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It's rare that I cannot empathize with an alternative perspective, but the argument that Eucharist should only be taken rarely so it's special has always struck me as incredibly implausible. I just don't get it.
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The Themelios review of Amy Peeler's "Women and the Gender of God" is getting some criticism, rightly so in my mind. Two areas of concern.
1. Misrepresentation.
2. Condemnation due to genre.
A quick 🧵on this:
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"All Christian doctrines are functions of the doctrine of the Trinity." - John Webster
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Jesus did come to save from poverty, racism, and oppression in addition to salvation from sin & hell.
I trolled this the other day and was called a damnable heretic, false teacher, and (more kindly), wrong. So let's turn trolling to teaching and do a quick Luke/Acts thread.
1/x
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“Trinitarian theology is a spiritual exercise.” - Gilles Emery
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I'm pleased to announce that I've signed a contract with
@Fortresspress
to write the book "Jesus the Refugee."
It explores refugee policy & ethics by exploring whether the Holy Family would be to receive refugee status & protections if they fled under modern refugee law.
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Just had to channel and translate Aquinas into five year old terms to explain to my son how God is eternal, how he created us, why we can’t create, and how God can’t do bad things. It’s much easier to teach this stuff to college students, but my five year old has more questions.
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Some say the Trinity has one faculty of will but three actualizations of will, so eternal submission is possible. This is still non-Nicene, for the pro-Nicenes considered both power (dynamis) and act (energeia) as proper to the single divine nature.
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Arianism isn't the best diagnosis for ESS on historical or dogmatic grounds. Better: ESS entails dyothelitism, undermines satisfaction theories of atonement, is imprecise theological language, rejects inseparable operations, and is harmful to women. Also, it's not biblical.
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In two months, "Trinitarian Dogmatics" will release w/
@BakerAcademic
. Once a week until then, I'm previewing a chapter. Ch. 3 explores the role of simplicity in the Trinity, the exegetical basis for simplicity, & Cappadocian, Thomist, Scotist, & Palamite versions of simplicity.
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I think an award of merit > a participation award, right?
I'm honored and surprised to have received one from the
@CTmagazine
book awards for Trinitarian Dogmatics in the Academic Theology category.
Thanks to
@samuel_parkison
for the kind words, too.
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Six of eight chapters of my forthcoming Trinitarian Dogmatics are now done.
This chapter includes: Irenaeus, Karl Rahner, James Kombo, Francesca Murphy, Robert Jenson, Aquinas, Bernard Lonergan, James Dunn, Catherine Mowrey LaCugna, and others.
I'm on the home stretch now!
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I'll just keep posting these anti-EFS quotes from the tradition when I find them:
"Will is thought to be concurrent with substance, which is not only similar and equal, but identical in the Father and the Son."
- Basil of Caesarea, "On the Holy Spirit," 8.21.
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Seven of eight chapters for Trinitarian Dogmatics are now complete.
Featured in this chapter: Sarah Coakley, Gilles Emery, John Owen, Vladimir Lossky, Simon Chan, John Zizioulas, Hildegard von Bingen, Raimundo Panikkar, Gregory of Nyssa, Madison Pierce, Catherine of Siena.
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What do Thomas Aquinas, Andrei Rublev, G. W. Leibniz, Basil of Caesarea, ‘Ḥabīb ibn Khidma Abū Rā’iṭa al-Takrītī, and Larry Hurtado have in common?
They all play a major role in chapter 1 of my forthcoming "Trinitarian Dogmatics," which I just completed.
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I have a PhD and have read dozens of books on our immigration system, and I'm finding it difficult to help guide a family through all the paperwork required as part of their refugee resettlement process. The system is a not user friendly.
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I think I got my first chatgpt submission for a class. No way to prove it either. But not a single writing mistake, and the color behind the text isn't white, suggesting it was pasted. Lots of generalities about other religions; zero course content. But, maybe I'm paranoid.
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Correction: 39 top theologians and me.
I’ve a chapter in here responding to objections made against “The Son who Learned Obedience.”
NEWS! Cover for my new book is out! *On Classical Trinitarianism: Retrieving the Nicene Doctrine of the Triune God.* Releases October. I’ve brought together 40 top theologians for one purpose: to renew orthodoxy in our institutions & churches. Contents:
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When I'm checking out a new systematic theology, I always start with the Trinity chapter. That's what I know best, and that's a place where shenanigans are easily exposed. A good chapter suggests a good book.
On that method, Trier's new "Evangelical Theology" looks quite strong
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How does each person of the Trinity have its own will if will is proper to nature? Grudem never explains the metaphysics here, and he's not addressed any of my exegetical arguments against his position. He's a theologian without answers.
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The good folks at
@CredoMagazine
asked me to do a two-part blog post summarizing certain elements of my book, "The Son Who Learned Obedience: A Theological Case Against the Eternal Submission of the Son." The first post is now up:
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I know this is in the context of twitter debates on inseparable operations [IO]; I was tagged in. Busy day at work so no time for podcasts and whatnot, but I hope the complete answer given included the doctrine of analogy & accommodation & the ad intra/ad extra distinction
🧵
Don't forget, the DL will be LIVE in the big studio today with the Big Board and the question, did the Son *give consideration* to His equality with the Father? The answer is obvious, but traditions can be very strong. Let's dive in at 5pm EDT.
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"[In the Trinity] neither can we speak of a difference in will, or judgment, or operation, or virtue" - John of Damascus
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5) This is where Grudem's dogmatic response is absurd: my "reasoning is fatally flawed" because I apply the reasoning about Christology to the Trinity. But does the nature of Christ in Christology stop being the nature of Christ in the Trinity? That's just silly.
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It's release day! You can now buy Trinitarian Dogmatics online in print or digital format for immediate delivery.
Christian Book Distributors:
B&N:
Amazon:
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Some people just read books looking for quotes from that book that they can use to criticize the book. Reading in this way leads to much being taken out of context, and rarely results in either comprehension of the book’s argument or in valid critique.
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Hi
@ColinLundstrom
, let me explain here, since I'm locked out of replying directly to you. Because I fully and without reservation affirm the authority of Scripture.
Another 🧵
(Fool that I am, I won't get work done today)
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I tell my boys a story every night, and sometimes I run out of creative ideas and just tell true stories from church history. Tonight's simplified version of Nestorius, Cyril, and John of Antioch's political squabbles around Ephesus was said to be "the best story you've told."
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To summarize - 0 treatment of my exegesis, misrepresentation of my position, 0 treatment of the systematic issues at stake, still violates Constantinople III, 0 explanation for how will can be a property of nature & of person. He even messed up the footnotes, citing me as Berkhof
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Some things can be argued from Scripture by saying "Scripture says Z."
Other things are argued from Scripture by saying "Scripture says X and Y, which logically entails Z."
In both instances, theology can be rooted in sola Scriptura. But only the former is direct exegesis.
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"“Biblical inerrancy in the context of biblical illiteracy makes for a dangerous
proposition.” - Kevin Vanhoozer
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Richard Barcellos's treatment of appropriations in "Trinity and Creation" is one of the best treatments out there.
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2) Grudem does critique my appeal to Maximus and Agatho by saying that they are interesting but not infallible. I never claim that they are infallible. It's a straw man. However, Grudem and others claim tradition is on their side; Maximus/Agatho are clear evidence he's wrong.
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ch. 1: The NT clearly shows Jesus accepting worship, including in a liturgical context, suggesting that we view him in the way we view God. The Spirit is incorporated here, too. (consubstantiality)
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I reviewed "Trinity Without Hierarchy" (edited by
@mbird12
and Scott Harrower) for
@CredoMagazine
. If you follow the eternal submission debate, this is a must-read. It has the most extensive treatment to date in a few technical areas. Here's the review:
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Giveaway! For World Refugee Month, I'm partnering with
@Fortresspress
to try to raise awareness and action.
First, I have an author copy of "Jesus the Refugee" left. Like and retweet for a chance to win a free copy. (Ends 6/7)
For small groups, here are some opportunities: 🧵
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1) For a theologian who is allegedly concerned to root his doctrine in the Bible, I find it striking that he does not engage any of my specific exegesis in my book or my two articles. I've raised substantive Biblical arguments against EFS, and it seems he just ignores them.
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Henri de Lubac does not get enough attention in many of the textbooks on modern theology.
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I get to start teaching a Sunday school class on the Nicene Creed, so that’s pretty exciting.
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It's like Grudem thinks 1 doctrine has no connection to any other. When we think of Christology, will is proper to nature, but when we think of the Trinity, it's not. He then hides behind a quote from Ovey, ignoring how I show Ovey has 0 primary sources & huge misinterpretations
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The doctrine of the Trinity has so many potential connections with soteriology: perichoresis relates to union with Christ, eternal generation to our adoption, simplicity serves as an important clarification for divine wrath on the cross, and so on.
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Based on final exam results, apparently when I taught apostolic succession, I left the impression that it means the Catholic Church insists priests are biologically descended from an apostle.
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Ok, I was an evangelical seminarian at Duke, so let me comment on this whole Benedict Option take. First, I had a phenomenal education in patristics and biblical studies (i.e., it's how I immediately saw the problems in EFS when I first heard them). I'm thankful for that.
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I got my first endorsement in for Trinitarian Dogmatics, and it was very generous. I’m excited about it - so excited I literally spilled an entire jug of chai all over everything while reading it haha.
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Trinity Sunday: how the Trinity shapes Christian life.
Prayer is trinitarian: to the Father, through the mediation of the Son, under the guidance of the Spirit.
Scripture is trinitarian: inspired by the Spirit to testify to how the Son fulfills the Father’s plan.
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Pretty excited to be back to teaching. Here are the textbooks this semester. Get ready to be force fed knowledge, students.
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Reading an argument that the Bible does not teach us how to interpret the Bible, so we must rely on philosophy to develop a hermeneutic. This does not seem quite right, for a number of reasons. (a thread) 1/
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I'm excited to sign with
@wipfandstock
to publish "The Son who Learned Obedience," my case against the eternal submission of the Son.
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Just got an e-mail about a book dropping today on race and social justice. One of the authors once argued with me that Christians must entirely reject the idea of systemic injustice. To celebrate, here's my book on systemic injustice in immigration law:
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