Nathan Barczi draws creatively on Karl Barth and Jeremy Begbie’s reflections on the music of Mozart to ask how this might shed light on the problem of non-human suffering before the Fall.
Barth, Mozart, and the Shadow-Side of Creation
Jesus and the Tohoku Tsunami-Fukushima Devastation: A Reflection on the Identity of Jesus, Luke 13:1–5, and ‘Natural Disasters
Scott Hafemann concludes the volume on a strongly pastoral note, offering a moving and challenging response to the Tohoku Tsunami-Fukushima Devastation of 2011, by means of a theological reading of Jesus’ teaching in Luke 13:1-5.
Echoes of Schleiermacher in Nonhistorical Models of Genesis 1–3
Gray Sutanto engages in some intellectual archaeology to demonstrate commonalities between a recent non-historical approach to the Fall and that of Friederich Schleiermacher.
The Irenaeus Option: How Irenaeus Does (and Does Not) Reduce the Tension between Christian Theology and Evolutionary Science
Gerald Hiestand brings both Irenaeus and Augustine into conversation with evolutionary theory to explore the potential resources each pre-modern bishop offers in engaging a post-Darwinian world.
On the Origin of Human Dignity and Humility: Considering the Imago Dei and Dust in Human Origins
Nathan Chang calls for clarity in thinking about human dignity, which on a properly theological account also includes a recognition of creaturely humility.
After Sapiens: Preparing the Church for the Evolutionary Future of Humanity
Joel Lawrence engages Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus to sound a theological alarm over the technologically driven “new human agenda” but also, more urgently for this journal’s readership, over the (lack of ) readiness of the contemporary evangelical churches to address faithfully the near-future of humanity.
The New Testament and Evolutionary Christology: A Critical Analysis of Gerd Theisson's Darwinian Hermeneutic
Matthew O’Reilly orients us to the Bible by providing a critical analysis of Gerd Thiessen’s proposed “Darwinian Hermeneutic” for reading Scripture.
"Hard Things Are Glorious": Teaching Mortification in a Therapeutic Age
Joseph Sherrard articulates a biblical doctrine of the mortification of sin that challenges and corrects the distortions of an exclusively therapeutic gospel.
2 Corinthians 3–5 and the Limits of Behavioral Sciences
Jim Samra brings 2 Corinthians 3-5 to bear on the insights of behavioral science to enable a more theological evaluation of their limitations in light of people’s need for divinely accomplished rebirth and maturation.
Abigal and Nabal: A Biblical Role Model for Mental Health Care
Michael LeFebvre offers a careful and hermeneutically aware reading of the story of Abigail and Nabal (1 Sam. 25) to mine it for insights into mental healthcare.
Do Not Be Conformed: Jacques Ellul on Technique and the Church's Relation to the Modern World
By means of a rich exposition of Jacques Ellul’s thinking about ‘technique’, Joel Lawrence considers how Ellul can help Christians to avoid conforming to the world, and instead to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Wesley, Whitefield, and White Evangelicalism: Engaging Racial Issues in Pastoral Ministry and Christian Formation
Benjamin Espinoza compares John Wesley, George Whitefield and contemporary white evangelicalism to call for more faithful formation that is aware of and addresses racial prejudice.
Luke as Pastor of Doubt: Faith and Certainty in Lukan Perspective
Adam Copenhaver builds on St Luke’s use of history and theology to provide assurance to show how pastors might similarly seek the spiritual formation of believers from doubt to certainty.
The Integrated Pastor: Toward an Embodied and Embedded Spiritual Formation
Todd Wilson articulates the importance of an integrated approach to formation that takes seriously our embodiment and also the recent discoveries of neuropsychology.
Pursuing God Incarnate: Reflections on Prosperity, Depression, and Jesus’ Humanity
In an article at once exegetical and pastoral, B. G. White reflects on depression in the light of Christ’s experience in Gethsemane.
Mentoring, Spiritual Formation, and African Christianity: The Challenges from the Nigerian Experience
Babatunde Oladimeji offers a challenging and important African perspective as he considers what can be learned from the Nigerian Church about the importance of mentoring for spiritual formation.
Spiritual Formation and the Church
Edward Klink argues from a robust Reformed ecclesiology for the importance of prioritising the Church in practices and priorities of spiritual formation.
Spiritual Formation as Kingdom Orientation
Jeff Hubing argues that the primary goal of formation is shaping disciples for life in the kingdom, and offers strategies for this from Acts 2:42.
Becoming Data, Enhancing Humanity: How Technology and Transhumanism Challenge Christian Theology and Anthropology
Joey Cochran brings theological anthropology into conversation with technology and transhumanism as he examines the theological significance of data.
St. Augustine’s Good Neighbor: Interpreting Parables and Spiritual Formation
In an example of theological ressourcement in service of pastoral ministry, Chris Bruno repristinates an Augustinian reading of the Good Samaritan to show its value for spiritual formation.
