Biblical Theology Research Articles

Whose Story?

Over the years, narrative theology has raised multiple objections by evangelicals. Many of these objections are well-founded and deserve attention. Newer research in biblical theology and orality, however, demonstrates that the use of narrative in our theologizing has true transformative potential. Can narrative theology be redeemed so as to be a help, and not a hindrance, in evangelical mission? In this article, the author advances that the dangers of narrative theology ought to be taken seriously, while at the same time, ministry leaders ought also to consider its potential benefits.

Love Speaking Understanding: Possible Steps toward Greater Church Unity Regarding Tongues through Biblical Theology

Paul’s address regarding spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 is conspicuously centered around his address of love in chapter 13. It could appear Paul is emphasizing that love is to be at the center of the exercise of spiritual gifts. If that is the case, one question in the context of Global Pentecostalism seems to be “How does love intersect with the gift of tongues in community and why does it matter?” In our day of political and social division, Jesus persists in his desire for Church unity. In the context of this Special Issue, the investigation herein proposes suggestions grounded in biblical theology for adjustments in the expectations of the manifestation of tongues and the practice of tongues in the local assembly. The expression of tongues, for various reasons, is a point of contention within the body of Christ. Addressed here are the questions of a requirement of God to manifest tongues, and the legitimacy of exercise of uninterpreted tongues in the assembly. This study hopes to add to the conversation in revisiting a biblical theology for both.

The Earth Is the Lord’s (Psalm 24:1): A Pentecostal Perspective on the Doctrine of Creation

This inquiry from a Pentecostal hermeneutic literal interpretation advances academic and ecclesial conversations surrounding the creation of the Universe. The article probed the Biblical creationists and the Big Bang Theories which credit the creation of the Universe to God and a blast, respectively. “The Earth is the Lord’s” (Ps. 24:1) means, God created the universe as well as all life that exists. The work appraised the Big Bang, the pulsating universe, and the cosmic inflationary theories and they were found to be lacking premise for validity and veracity based on biblical and practical evidence. The biblical creationist theory believed by the Pentecostal movements was ratified in the study as the model that can best explicate the creation of the universe and the life in it. The work exclusively offers to academia the Ten Commandments of the Core Pentecostal principles on the Doctrine of Divine Creationism. The work contributes to academia by providing an indispensable resource for bible scholars, seminary students, and Christian congregations while reiterating the significance of the doctrine of creation in Pentecostal construal and Biblical theology. Keywords: Theistic Evolution, Pentecostal, Creationism Theory, Big Bang Theory, Inflation Theory and Pulsating Cosmos Theory.

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology

God Has Something to Prove: Vindication in Biblical Theology

God has something to prove to humans, but they typically overlook this. They often ask what they can prove about God, but they rarely ask what God aims to prove to or about them. This striking omission calls for correction, for the sake of responsible inquiry about God. The correction offered here will explain that the answer to the question of what God aims to prove determines the answer to the question of what humans are able to prove about God. The needed correction will arise in the light of a recurring but underappreciated biblical theme about what God proves, or vindicates, in the presence of human distrust, avoidance, and alienation toward God. God aims to prove that God alone is perfectly righteous but nonetheless can justify initially resistant people who cooperate in a re-creative process. The process is that of making them worthy of God and God's good news of unmerited divine approval for humans. This perspective has been widely neglected by theologians, biblical interpreters, and philosophers of religion. Restoring attention to it will help to make some sense of God's ways in the world, thereby adding credibility to those ways and to faith in God. (The article uses the term “proof” in a familiar sense of “confirmation,” in a way that does not require the kind of deductive inference found in mathematical or logical proof.)

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology

Towards a Biblical Theology of Missions in Western Africa

Towards a Biblical Theology of Missions in Western Africa

The Rot of the Bones: A New Analysis of קנאה (“Envy/Jealousy”) in the Hebrew Bible

Abstract This article reassesses the expression of jealousy and envy in the Hebrew Bible as well as their ethical status. Through a systematic analysis of the Hebrew root קנא, I argue that קנאה arises exclusively in scenarios involving a relative loss in status to a rival and that its closest English counterparts are therefore envy and jealousy. While some sort of link between קנאה and envy/jealousy is widely acknowledged, communis opinio has it that קנאה in the Bible regularly refers to other emotions and states, from anger and fury, to devotion and love, to vaguer feelings of passion, emotional excitement, zeal, or the desire for vengeance. Likewise, קנאה is widely considered to be ethically neutral—an emotion that might be positive or negative, good or bad. I challenge these views through new readings of several passages (esp. Song 8:6, Prov 14:30, Num 11:29, 2 Sam 21:1–2) and close with a brief discussion of the significance of these findings for biblical theology, religious zealotry, and the lexical expression of jealousy in cultures that evolved in contact with the Hebrew Bible and its translations.

Patterns of Penance and the Sin of Cain: Approaching a Sacramental Biblical Theology

Patterns of Penance and the Sin of Cain: Approaching a Sacramental Biblical Theology

An Exercise in Liberal Biblical Theology (Keynote Address)


 
 
 This essay was presented at the “Who is my Neighbour? Theological Education in the Global Villiage of the 21st Century” symposium hosted by the McGill School of Religious Studies in the Fall of 2022. It offers an accessible set of reflections on how a liberal biblical theology can help people connect with the content of the Bible in ways that speak to their lived experience, thereby allowing the heart of the Bible to become more familiar and more widely accessible. In modern society, where the letters G-O-D seem like antiquated fiction and where the church has often failed to adequately and meaningfully explicate the Bible in ways that people can connect with, such a sound, gracious liberal biblical theology can be a source of renewal for both Liberal Protestantism and Christian theological education. To demonstrate this I will undertake an exercise in liberal biblical theology, contrasting the traditional Trinitarian language used by G. B. Caird (1951) to explore the unity of the New Testament with more accessible theological language, language arrived at by drawing from the work of Ralph Harper, Samuel Terrien, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Eric Fromm, Howard Thurman, and Robert Frost. 
 
 

"Abba Father”, Jesus' Call to God in the Biblical Theological Perspective of Psalm 89:26

We have been accepted as sons by the redemption of Jesus Christ, so that we may call God the Father. Therefore, let us live truly as children of God; live well and truly. For we want to touch his heart, call him by the name he loves. Call him Abba, Call Him Father. Of all his names, Abba The Father is Jesus ' call to God. We know that Jesus loved this name because it is the name that is most often used. When Jesus was on earth, he called God” Father " several times. In the prayer of victory on the cross, Jesus cried out with a loud voice; "Father, into your hands I commit my life” (Luke 23:46). God loves to be called Father. Jesus taught us to begin prayer with the words “Our Father”. Perfect love speaks of God's love. Since Jesus called God Abba, the love that can eliminate fear is the love of the Father. Agape love is perfect love, and that is the love of the father. He cares about us, he cares about us. Jesus cried Abba, O Father, so that we Christians who are given strength and salvation by-yes, can cry Abba, Father. We call him Abba, the Father because he is our Father, he cares for us, and He understands us. Perfect love exists only in the father and is able to eliminate all worries. If the Father loves Jesus as his son, the Father in heaven also loves us as his children as Christians who believe in the truth and the way of eternal salvation. For this reason, the author chose the title: "Abba Father", Jesus ‘call to God in the perspective of Biblical Theology from the book of Psalms 89:26, he will also cry out to me: 'My Father You Are God and my rock my salvation.’

Students’ perspectives on drugs and alcohol abuse at a public university in Zambia

Access to students’ perspectives on substance abuse is essential for effective youth intervention projects development. This study aimed to explore students’ perspectives on abuse of drugs and alcohol with probable development of student-led intervention strategies. The study was conducted at public universities in Zambia. Student’s perspectives on drugs and alcohol abuse were documented using a mixed method design that employed purposive and snowball sampling to select 200 respondents to questionnaires and 10 to in-depth interviews. A humanistic theory approach was applied in the interpretation and analysis of the data collected. The findings showed that cannabis (30%) and codeine contained in Benylin (17%) were commonly abused. Further findings showed that students’ academic pressure was the leading cause of substance abuse (27%), followed by peer pressure (20%). Students knew that abuse of drugs and alcohol led to low academic performance, violence and theft, risks of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and other social maladjustments. The study recommends that institutions of learning increase student-led awareness campaigns, security surveillance on campus, and collaboration with government drug enforcement agencies. Institutions of learning should involve students in the planning of programmes to deal with drug and alcohol abuse.Contribution: The study will inform amendment of drug and alcohol abuse policies in institutions of learning. The study will contribute towards the UNESCO O3 PLUS project goal of making campuses safe and inclusive, and overall, the Sustainable Development Goal 3 and 4. The study serves as basis for scholars in the field of biblical theology engaged with justice, health and human development. The article is a contribution to the research project Biblical Theology and Hermeneutics. The results of this research can especially be utilised by scholars in the field of psychology of religion, the sociology of religion and practical theologians focusing on youth ministry.

Factors Influencing the Conversion of Ngiturkana People in Turkana County to Islam

This study investigated factors that contributed to Christian conversion to Islam among Ngiturkana people. Islam has been on record as the religion that is spreading at a faster rate in the world and attracting a lot of people from other religious backgrounds and cultures. This study aimed to determine the factors that influence the conversion of Ngiturkana people. The question this research intended to answer was what reason Ngiturkana Christians give for their conversion to Islam? The findings of this research reveal that there exists no single cohesive pattern that describes converts of Islam from Christianity. The study also reveals that there is denominational pluralism where some are from Catholic Church and others were Protestants. This appears to create a huge dissonance among young people due to different practices such as the place of Mary and the additional Books of the Bible. This research gives credence to Wayne Gruden’s conclusion that religious conversion involves adopting a new sort of belief. It is critical to notice that the converts recounted adopted a new set of beliefs and abandoned the religious beliefs they previously clung to. All the converts in this study neglected their fidelity Christianity and its related practices and chose to adopt Islam. The findings of this research also conclude that the experiences of converts are not specific to Christianity. The experiences are not the exclusive sphere of Christian conversion. Christians should have awareness and come up with alternative explanations of conversion. Also, Christians converting to Islam reported felt needs as leading to their conversion. This is also not a preserve of Christianity since it goes both ways. The converts in this study reveal an individualistic mindset even though they came from a collectivist society. Collectivist and individualistic personalities or cultures play a role in religious motives. In view of these findings there is a need for the church to develop the knowledge and skills of pastors. From the interviews, it is evident that pastors could not convince those who attended debates between Christians and Muslims. Pastors and church leaders therefore need training through introducing theological studies to teach them on church doctrines. Churches should conduct workshops and seminars to sensitize members on the significance of spreading the gospel to the Muslims and defend their faith. There is need for return and revival of biblical theology through Bible studies in the church and the Sunday schools for discipleship.

Understanding Different Perspectives on Salvation

Salvation is one of the widely bounded themes in the scripture that has gained traction under discourse due to the many perspectives under which it is viewed. This paper presents a discussion on the various perspectives of salvation both from a historical viewpoint and within the current theologies. The aim is to provide an understanding of salvation from different perspectives as observed by Augustine, Roman Catholic, Liberation, Secular, Evangelical and Biblical theologies. The study will promote reflection and debates among the scholars which will enhance problem-solving. The objective was therefore achieved through a review of various literary studies with biblical references to the term salvation and interview proponents of different theologies. The study, however, finds that despite the wide range of how different theologies view salvation, the only way to salvation is properly stipulated in the bible, thus it supports the biblical theory that salvation is by grace through faith, and furthermore, salvation is wholly an act of God. While this study was limited to the analysis of the term through a review of past studies, this paper recommends further study based on contemporary society collecting primary data on how different people view salvation.

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology

“The Pillar and Ground of Truth”: Irenaeus’ Use of Ecclesiology Against the Heresies

Abstract This paper seeks to evaluate the ecclesiology of St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, particularly as it relates to his defense of orthodoxy against false teaching in his five-volume work, Against Heresies. Irenaeus employs sound reason and biblical theology in his battle against Valentinus, Marcion, and other heretics. But Irenaeus also shows himself to be not only a theologian but also a devoted churchman. In all five books, his teaching on the church plays a significant role in exposing and refuting the false Gnostic teaching of his day. This paper will argue that Irenaeus employed his ecclesiology to distinguish between Gnosticism and the apostolic teaching in Against Heresies. He did this in two ways. First, he argued for the doctrinal identity of the church. The true church is built on apostolic teaching, and any deviation from that teaching results in a false church. Second, he argued that the church’s “ecclesiastical constitution,” both in her presbyters and her members, embodied the apostles’ teaching. In all this, the church preserved the truth entrusted to her by Christ and his apostles.

The story that shapes us: biblical theology as a lens on practical theology

ABSTRACT The role of the Bible within practical theology and Christian formation more generally continues to be a topic of debate. In this article, I explore the use of the Bible in practical theology through the lens of biblical theology, a sibling discipline that is also concerned for the role of Scripture in the life of faith. As well as describing differences between the disciplines, I seek to show how biblical theology offers some distinct challenges to the way in which many practical theologians use the Bible. I also trace key themes within biblical theology in the work of three British practical theologians, all of whom attend closely to the breadth of the story that Scripture tells.

David G. Firth. Joshua

David G. Firth. <i>Joshua</i>

T. Desmond Alexander. Face to Face with God: A Biblical Theology of Christ as Priest and Mediator

T. Desmond Alexander. <i>Face to Face with God: A Biblical Theology of Christ as Priest and Mediator</i>