Reformation Theology Research Articles

“칼빈과 머리카락 하나 차이” : 존 웨슬리의 하나님 주권 사상

Against an improper understanding that overemphasizes the difference between his own theology and the reformation theology, John Wesley asserted to John Newton that his theology is only “a hair’s breadth” with Calvin. What does “a hair’s breadth” mean? In his sermon, “Free Grace”(1739), Wesley explained that “the grace … of God, whence cometh our salvation, is Free In All, and Free For All.” By “Free For All,” he expressed objections against the TULIP, the five points of Calvinism. However, by “Free In ALL,” he meant that the grace of God is “free in all to whom it is given,” not depending on “any power or merit … the good works or righteousness … anything he has done, or anything he is.” This shows that Wesley inherited the reformer’s view of God’s sovereign grace. We should not overlook the similarity between the reformation theology and Wesley’s theology in the sense of “Free In ALL,” because of the difference by “Free For ALL.”

“The Imam of modern Egypt was a sceptic”: Mustafa Sabri's Radical Critique of Muhammad ʿAbduh and Modernist Theology

AbstractThis article re-examines the theology of EgyptianʿalimMuhammad ʿAbduh (1849–1905) through the writing of Late Ottoman sheikh ül-Islam Mustafa Sabri (1869–1954) and his radical critique of the Muslim reform (tajdīd) movement. One of Mustafa Kemal's most implacable foes, Sabri was alarmed to find Egyptianʿulamaʾand intellectuals advancing the positivist-materialist agenda he had challenged in Istanbul before fleeing in 1922 from Ankara's victorious nationalist forces. Debating the leading lights of the modernist movement in Egypt of the 1930s and 1940s, Sabri came to see its reform theology as little more than a calque on Enlightenment notions of religion; his ideas became influential through his close relationship with Hasan al-Banna and other figures from the Muslim Brotherhood. Examining Sabri's work in Istanbul and Cairo, ʿAbduh's early and later writing, and texts such as ʿAbduh's famous debate with Farah Antun, theislāmiyyātliterature of Egypt's liberal age, and material by Sayyid Qutb, I argue that Sabri was instrumental in formulating the hostile discourse that came to dominate Muslim views of ʿAbduh in the later twentieth century once the ideologies of Salafism and Brotherhood Islamism had eclipsed that of the reformers.

From Fiqh to Political Advocacy: Muhammadiyah’s Ecological Movement in the Post New Order Indonesia

This paper investigates how Indonesia’s Islamic modernist movement, Muhammadiyah, is responding to issues such as environment degradation, global warming and climate change. Muhammadiyah has not adopted the ecology paradigm used by Islamic environmentalism group, focusing instead on theological reform and social and economic welfare and justice, but members of its elite have begun inserting ecological concerns into the organisation’s programmatic orientation. This paper argues that, although these efforts are not well organized and maintained, they have enormous potential to transform Muhammadiyah into a right-green organization, as demonstrated through its progressive initiative on the environment and its efforts institutional and theological reform (fiqh of water) and in its involvement in judicial review of state policy (known as ‘jihad konstitusi’/judicial review) as political advocacy practice. However, the main feature of Muhammadiyah’s environmental activism is its continued emphasis on economic justice rather than on building ecological security and conservation movement.

The (mis)interpretation of the Bible in South Africa: Towards a better hermeneutic

The Bible continues to have a prominent place in the South African discourse. Unfortunately, however, it is often poorly interpreted. The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the misinterpretation of the Bible. We aimed to uncover the specific interpretive methods responsible for this misinterpretation, considered generally in the South African milieu. Specifically, we discussed the role of biblical fundamentalism. Essentially fundamentalism fails to account for the reader’s place in the process of biblical interpretation and so operates under the guise of false objectivity. We then discussed three examples of this phenomenon: the way in which Scripture has been interpreted by the African Christian Democratic Party, Peter Hammond’s view in his Biblical principles for Africa, and the scriptural interpretation of Deuteronomy by Dutch Reformed theologians in the 1930s–1960s. This essay demonstrated that the primary problem with the fundamentalistic method is its failure to account for the reader’s role in the interpretive process. Fundamentalism presents itself in several ways as ‘biblical’ without recognising the problems inherent in such a formulation, especially in the assumption of objectivity. This result illustrated the necessity for a more reader-centred approach to Scripture that takes note of prior ideological commitments. As a result, it is imperative that we embrace a hermeneutic that is firstly ‘critical’, that means willing to interrogate ideological pre-commitments. Secondly, we proposed that the hermeneutic focus on ‘eschatology’, whereby Scripture is considered primarily based on its redemptive trajectory. The emphasis is then placed on the Christ event, especially the resurrection as the culmination of the story. Biblical ethics are then grounded in an understanding of the people of God as the eschatological community. This approach is also termed ‘redemptive-historical’. As one example of such an approach, we discussed N.T. Wright’s Five-act model. In this view, biblical ethics are grounded upon knowing where we find ourselves in the overall drama and what is appropriate within each act. God’s people are to imagine themselves as players in a later stage of the same grand drama of Scripture. This hermeneutic provides, so we argued, a better approach to applying Scripture in the modern context. If we wish to reduce the misinterpretation of Scripture in the South African milieu, we need to identify fundamentalist hermeneutics and continually strive towards a more reader-centred and eschatological approach to its interpretation.Contribution: This article attempted to contribute towards our understanding of the way Scripture is used in public discourse, and it also suggested a way forward to a better interpretation.

Religious Peacebuilding in Iraq: Prospects and Challenges from the Hawza

ABSTRACT This article examines the potential for Shiʿa clerics to engage in religious peacebuilding in post-2003 Iraq. By drawing upon theoretical insights from other post-conflict settings and interviews with clerics, I demonstrate that there are two key challenges facing clerics who seek to engage in peacebuilding. First, the association of the Shiʿa religious establishment with political actors has created a crisis of legitimacy for clerics. Secondly, the structure of authority within the religious establishment has made it difficult for activist clerics to introduce theological reforms to aid peacebuilding efforts. I argue that these challenges are neither insurmountable nor unique.

Reform of marriage annulment processes: is it a theological reform?

The article is a legal and theological analysis of Pope Francis “Mitis Iudex Dominus Jesus” document reforming the canons of the Code of Canon Law on marriage annulment cases (September 8, 2015). He shows its advantages and positive effects for a more efficient process of declaring marriage annulment, and draws attention to its theological and ecclesial novelty that raises questions. These questions require answers from the Church, bishops and theologians collaborating with the Pope.

The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology, by Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain, eds.

The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology, by Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain, eds.

Divine Incomprehensibility in Eastern Orthodoxy and Reformed Theology

This article examines the views of the Eastern Orthodox and the Reformed on the subject of divine incomprehensibility. The two regard God to be entirely incomprehensible, but differ in the way that he can be known or experienced. The Eastern Orthodox maintain that God is not ultimately known intellectually but experienced mystically. Mystical experience, according to this view, is theology par excellence. The key means by which this mystical experience is enjoyed is theosis, or deification. The Reformed, on the other hand, eschew mystical experience and instead focus on the archetypal/ectypal distinction. God cannot be known as he is in himself (archetypal theology), but as he reveals himself to his creation (ectypal theology). Ectypal theology is not identical to, nor intersects at any point with, archetypal theology. It is, instead, analogous to it. With these different views on divine incomprehensibility, this article also briefly considers how these views affect other areas of study in theology (such as anthropology, hamartiology, soteriology, and pneumatology).

Scandinavian creation theology—A constellation open to a variety of interpretations

AbstractThis text is a general introduction to Scandinavian creation theology, both from a historical and systematic point of view. The concept is connected to a loose network of theologians that emerged during the second part of the 20th century in the aftermath of the breakdown of the grand liberal paradigm, and as a critique against dominant anti‐liberal approaches in Protestant theology. In this article, Scandinavian creation theology is conceived as a “constellation” of three major “founding figures”—K. E. Løgstrup (1905–1981), Regin Prenter (1907–1990), and Gustaf Wingren (1910–2000)—who elaborated on a reconfiguration of Reformation theology by a “mediation” of Luther's theology inspired by the important Danish theologian N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783–1882). Using the doctrine of creation as horizon of understanding for the Christian faith, an original affirmation of ordinary life shared by all human beings is taken as a theological starting point, instead of attempting to isolate something distinctively Christian. Inspired by Irenaeus’ concept “recapitulatio,” it is claimed that becoming a Christian means nothing less—and nothing more—than becoming human again. Finally, despite the fact that this theological approach was developed in a declining monolithic Lutheran majority‐culture, it is being argued that the ongoing transformation associated with an emerging post‐Constantinian era is something that makes Scandinavian creation theology increasingly relevant and important today.

Engaging Art to Teach Theology

Visual art is an often-neglected resource in the theology classroom. This essay argues that it is essential to include visual and material resources in theological education in order to present a more robust and accurate understanding of theology as it has been not only written, but also lived. Art can be incorporated into lectures and assignments in order to complement or complicate what students find in theological texts. After outlining some of the basic principles of using art to teach theology, this essay provides one such example that could be applied to a lesson on Reformation theology. It concludes with annotated bibliographies on print and digital resources.

Returning from exile? Reconciliation within the church after COVID-19

ABSTRACT This paper outlines the need for theological reflection on reconciliation within faith communities as returning Christians rejoin their churches following pandemic closures. Where there has been a suspension of gathered worship, there is an interruption of shared experience within the church congregation. Van der Borght (2008. “The Church as the Community of the Shared Story.” Journal of Reformed Theology 2 (1): 5–16.) has described church as ‘the community of the shared story’, and the warp and weft of these shared stories have been interrupted by lockdowns in the Church across the world. The move to electronic worship left some worshippers feeling doubly excluded. Those returning to worship are at new and differing points in their journey of faith as their local, gathered church resumes after one or more periods of lockdown. Given the prevalence of church closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, this interruption of shared experience is likely to have widespread pastoral consequences. This paper suggests that reconciliation is the appropriate, theological response.

Timor Dei and Timor Idololatricus from Reformed Theology to Milton

ABSTRACT This article considers the unexplored concept of timor idololatricus (idolatrous fear) together with the more familiar notion of timor Dei (fear of God) in Reformed theology and the works of John Milton (1608–74). After reviewing treatments of timor Dei from Augustine to Calvin, this study turns to timor Dei and timor idololatricus in Milton, with the origins of the latter located in the Reformed compendia of Amandus Polanus (1561–1610) and his student Wollebius (1589–1629). Opposed to timor Dei, timor idololatricus signifies the dread afforded to idols. For Milton, as for Polanus, this notion can be applied to Catholic forms of idolatry, but its principal sense is fear of the pagan gods. In offering a demonic reflection of timor Dei, the concept of timor idololatricus points to the commonality of religious dread in pagan and Christian worship, while also reminding the Reformed of the fear due to God.

An Infinity of Relics: Erasmus and the Copious Rhetoric of John Calvin'sTraité des reliques

John Calvin's “Traité des reliques” (1543) inventories early modern Europe's fraudulent relics. Yet, theologically speaking, authenticity is irrelevant: all relics are idols to the evangelical Protestant, while for Catholics prayer's intention, not its conduit, was paramount. This article locates a solution in Calvin's humanist formation: chiefly, his debt to Desiderius Erasmus—not to Erasmus's satirical or devotional works, but to his rhetorical theory ofcopia. The “Traité” amasses acopia, an abundance, of fakes, burying the cult of relics in its own contradictions. Fusing rhetoric and proof, this mass juxtaposition subjects sacred presence to noncontradiction, patrolling vital confessional borders in Reformation theology.

Communicatio Idiomatum: Reformation Christological Debates by Richard Cross

Reviewed by: Communicatio Idiomatum: Reformation Christological Debates by Richard Cross Aaron Moldenhauer Communicatio Idiomatum: Reformation Christological Debates. By Richard Cross. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. 312 pp. Richard Cross takes a unique approach to the Christological debates among sixteenth-century Reformers. He does not survey the course of the debates, nor does he consider the many scriptural or patristic arguments raised. Instead, he limits his inquiry to a rigorous analysis of the metaphysical and semantic arguments made by Lutheran and Reformed theologians as they debated the communication of attributes. Cross’s goal is neither to judge which position is correct nor to provide a complete picture of the debates. Instead, he offers deep analysis of key snapshots in the course of the discussion that illuminate the metaphysical and semantic arguments. The result is a book that applies a typical methodology used to analyze scholastic philosophical theology to key moments of Reformation debates about the person of Christ. This approach situates Cross’s work among other works exploring the relation of the Reformers’ Christology to philosophy. Older analyses of Luther’s Christology, influenced by Reinhard Schwarz, argued that Luther broke cleanly with scholastic approaches to the person of Christ since Luther found late medieval metaphysics and semantics unsuited for Christology. Graham White’s Luther as Nominalist (1984) counters Schwarz’s approach by identifying continuities between the scholastics and Luther. In recent years works such as Joar Haga’s Was There a Lutheran Metaphysics? (2012) and David Luy’s Dominus Mortis (2014) have continued this conversation. Cross assumes two points debated in these and other works. First, Cross assumes that the Reformers made metaphysical and semantic arguments in their Christology. Second, Cross assumes that the Reformers knew and used scholastic Christology. The validity of these assumptions can be judged by assessing Cross’s work. An expert in medieval theology, Cross proceeds by [End Page 484] identifying and labeling arguments. While medieval theologians explicitly identified these arguments, the Reformers did not. Despite this difference in style, Cross argues that the Reformers raised metaphysical and semantic arguments and intended them to be taken seriously. Cross reduces key arguments to symbolic representation, using logical shorthand and identifying various positions by initials for ease of future reference. For instance, Cross isolates one of Luther’s arguments raised in his Christological debate with Ulrich Zwingli. Luther held that the two natures of Christ cannot be spatially separated without dividing the person of Christ. Accordingly, wherever Christ’s divine nature is, there Christ’s human nature must also be present. Otherwise the person of Christ is divided. Cross labels this argument as “impossibility of bodily separability” and abbreviates it as “the IBS principle.” He defines IBS as the argument: “If the natures lack two-way spatial inseparability, the person is not indivisible” (59–65). Cross’s list of such frequently cited principles runs close to two pages, showing the extent of his research into primary sources and the precision of his analysis. This type of analysis applied to the conceptually dense material of Reformation Christology demands careful attention from the reader. Cross succeeds in identifying metaphysical and semantic arguments raised by Reformers and in showing that the Reformers knew scholastic Christology, raising questions about how cleanly the Reformers broke with late medieval scholasticism. However, those interested in the debate will need to look beyond this book for a complete picture of Reformation Christology. Cross does not ask how important the arguments he analyzes were in relation to the scriptural, patristic, or other arguments raised. Nor does he ask how significant it is that the Reformers broke with medieval theologians as they pushed philosophical arguments to the background of their work. That is, the reader must recognize the limits of the study that Cross assigns himself. When the limited scope of the book is kept in mind, Cross’s work provides a window into an important facet of Reformation Christology and raises broader questions about the role of philosophy in Reformation theology. [End Page 485] Aaron Moldenhauer Concordia University Wisconsin Mequon, Wisconsin Copyright © 2021 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc

Вера и личность в меняющемся обществе: Автобиографика и православие в России конца XVII – начала XX века ed. by Лори Манчестер и Д. А. Сдвижкова

Reviewed by: Вера и личность в меняющемся обществе: Автобиографика и православие в России конца XVII – начала XX века ed. by Лори Манчестер и Д. А. Сдвижкова Sebastian Rimestad (bio) Вера и личность в меняющемся обществе: Автобиографика и православие в России конца XVII – начала XX века / под редакцией Лори Манчестер и Д. А. Сдвижкова. Москва: Новоелитературное обозрение, 2019. 408с., ил. Библиография. ISBN: 978-54448-1138-2. This book is an outcome of a larger research project at the German Historical Institute (DHI) in Moscow, which focused on religious autobiography. The edited volume comprises fifteen chapters penned by Russian and foreign scholars, covering the entire scope of Russian religious autobiography, at least from a historian's point of view. All the chapters very concisely relate to the volume's topic, making the book a prime introduction to the subject for the Russian-language audience. The value of such an introduction is only enhanced by the fact that different academic cultures – English, German, and Russian – fuse to create a comprehensive picture that incorporates the perspectives from both the inside and the outside. As Denis Sdvizhkov and Laurie Manchester remind readers in the introduction to the volume, the first manifestation of the modern self in Russian culture is usually attributed to Archpriest Avvakum's autobiography written after 1670. However, the notions of a "modern self" or "spiritual autobiography" are not easily translatable to the Russian context since they are intricately linked to Protestant conceptions of individuality and religious discipline. In the nineteenth century, the Slavophiles claimed that one of the main virtues of Orthodox Christianity was its "impersonality" and rejection of "individuality" as a value. Not surprisingly, the development of a modern religious self within the Russian Orthodox tradition has not received as much scholarly attention as it deserves. It is this lacuna that the book under review seeks to fill by providing an extensive overview of the development of religious individuality in imperial Russia through autobiographical texts – including diaries, letters, sermons, and so forth. The volume's authors focus not only on the clerical estate but also on the nobility, merchants, and peasants. Arranged in chronological order and divided into three uneven parts, fifteen chapters follow the introductory essay written by the editors, which outlines a peculiar trajectory of autobiography as a genre in post-Petrine Russia. Seven chapters form part 1, "From the Early Modern Period to the Nineteenth Century." The very short first chapter by Tatiana Sochiva reconstructs the formation of individual subjectivity [End Page 279] in early modern Russian literature on the example of one of Archpriest Avvakum's texts. She criticizes the widespread assumption that in his writings, Avvakum had sacralized his self, pointing out that this would have contradicted his Christian beliefs. Rather, Avvakum perceived reality around him in biblical terms, seeing everywhere the signs of the apocalypse. The following chapter by Sdvizhkov traces the parallel process of the rise of new religiosity and the new subjectivity in pre-Reform Russia. Unlike in the West, where the religious self was by and large a product of reformation theology emphasizing individual piety, in Russia, "it emerged because of a crisis in religious consciousness, through religious dissent, the establishment of a secular world and the need to situate oneself within it" (P. 31). Spiritual autobiography helped draw the boundaries between immanent and transcendent, worldly and sacral, and secular and religious. According to Sdvizhkov, the new genre envisioned four main narrative strategies: hagiography (lives of saints), life as confession, life as book, and, in the nineteenth century, life as journey. The budding literary genre was further stimulated by the availability of earlier Western European spiritual autobiographies, which were widely read in Russia. By the early twentieth century, autobiographical writing already involved all parts of society. The next three chapters by Gary Marker, Olga Tsapina, and Aleksandr Feofanov, each focus on eighteenth-century religious egodocuments, which originated in different layers of society – respectively, among the monks, white clergy, and nobility. The autobiographical texts cited by these authors reveal hesitant attempts to frame a sense of self within the normative religious discourse, while at the same time accentuating one's individuality. This is especially apparent in Marker's chapter on monastic literature, a literature consisting primarily of texts tightly regulated by the established canon, leaving little room for individuality. Monks could use some discretion only in the foreword and afterword to a religious text or by adding insertions and visual marks. For most of the available sources the monastic religious...

The Gospel of Tatian: Exploring the Nature and Text of the Diatessaron

The Gospel of Tatian: Exploring the Nature and Text of the Diatessaron

The Ideology of the German Neukirchen Mission and Its Implication on Education in Tana River County, Kenya 1887-1986

This paper examines the ideology of the German Neukirchen Mission and its implication on education in Tana River County, Kenya 1887 to 1986. Western education and Christianity in Africa were introduced by Christian missionaries from Europe as early as the 16th century but took root in around the mid-nineteenth century. In Tana River, several missionary organizations ventured in the area notably the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS), the German Neukirchen Mission (GNM), the Holy Ghost Fathers (HGF) and the Swedish Mission. They all gave up in the area due to a multiplicity of hardships save for the GNM which hang on and continued with evangelization and education. Consequently, there is need to look at the ideology of the GNM that influenced its resolve to persist in an area shunned by its contemporaries. An understanding of GNM’s ideology would come in handy in helping to improve education standards in the area bearing in mind that the same problems that bedeviled the region have to a large extent remained to date The study had three objectives which were: to identify the educational institutions opened by the GNM in Tana River County 1887-1986; to establish the hardships experienced by the GNM in Tana River County in the period 1887-1986 and to examine the ideology which influenced GNM’s activities in Tana River County in the period 1887-1986. The time frame was 1887 to 1986. This period covers the time the GNM arrived in Tana River to the year the first secondary school was established at Ngao i.e 1986. Ngao served as GNM’s mission base or station since the arrival of the missionaries in the region. The study was historical in nature and utilized a historical research design. Sources of data were both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources were mainly drawn from the Kenya National Archives (KNA) and schools and churches in Tana River. Document analysis was also utilized as a data collection method. The research instruments were interview schedules and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Respondents to these research instruments were retired educationists, civil servants and politicians, church leaders and village elders selected through purposive and snowball sampling techniques; all totaling 33. Collected data was analyzed through qualitative and quantitative methods while documents were analyzed through external and internal criticism. The study found out that the GNM established 31 primary schools 28 of which are still operational. The GNM missionaries experienced several challenges among them deportation during the two World Wars, frequent Somali attacks, floods, poor transport network, malaria infections and inadequate finances. The ideology was examined under five perspectives namely The Great Commission, Faith Mission, Reformed Theology, Social Darwinism and Socio-Political and Economic view point. The study recommends improvement of road and school infrastructure, investing more on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, opening of a secondary school wing in every primary school, delocalization of teachers and establishment of an institution of higher learning in the area.

Korean American Women and the Church: Identity, Spirituality, and Gender Roles

Korean American women are the foundation of the Korean American church. We are devoted, contributing members in the church, but we are seldom given positions of leadership or power. From our subordinate role in the church and wider society, Korean American women have been perpetually subject to racial and gender injustice. To work toward equal empowerment, it is imperative to reimagine historical Christian teaching about God so that it liberates rather than oppresses. As we engage in theological reform, we can begin to experience the wholeness that comes from a Spirit God who embraces all people regardless of race, gender, sexuality, or social status. As a result, Korean American women can finally feel included and contributive to a society which has historically treated them as “perpetual foreigners.” They can also push for multicultural excellence rather than sustaining the dominant white criterion of value. As hybrid spaces proliferate in diversifying America, Korean American women can be an integral source of reimagining the places we inhabit, something that proves to be increasingly necessary to keep the church accessible and contemporary.

Transubstantiating Bottom: Eucharistic Weavings in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Abstract: This article offers Nick Bottom, the donkey-headed weaver of A Midsummer Night’s Dream , as a textual and performative site that echoes and amplifies Eucharistic theologies. It interprets him, and Shakespeare’s comedy, alongside Reformation theology and current phenomenology, especially Jean-Luc Marion’s concept of saturated phenomena. Bottom and the Eucharist are signs, but they frustrate interpretive methods grounded in sense perception. Instead, they inaugurate unreasonable and transformative encounters of love. While this article contributes to the study of England’s religious and cultural history, more crucially, it offers a contemporary spiritual hermeneutic for interpreting the sacramental poetics of A Midsummer Night’s Dream .

Scholarship ‘In Thy Light’ – Accountability

The School of Theology (TSP) of the Gereformeerde Kerke van Suid-Afrika (GKSA) hosted the TSP-150 Conference on the impact of Reformation theology in celebration of its 150 years of existence (1869–2019). However, TSP from its inception was irrevocably linked to what became the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (PUvCHO – Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys), an institution aspiring to pursue Christian scholarship (CS – Christelike Wetenskap ). This article used the method of historiographic mapping to obtain information on the conceptual development of CS at the PUvCHO. Some parallels are drawn between the PUvCHO and the Vrije Universiteit at Amsterdam, being the only two international research universities in the Protestant neo-Calvinist tradition, both with an original commitment to the pursuit of CS. The history of both institutions is well researched and documented. The results show how both the institutional leadership and the academic scholars contributed to the ideal of CS and how it was accounted for over four distinctive periods in the history of the PUvCHO. The final discussion is structured around the following thesis: ‘The history of responsiveness from the PUvCHO to account for CS reveals a developmental path reminiscent of the biological process of metamorphosis’. It is argued that the national setting, sociopolitical factors, institutional development and secularisation led to not only the development but also the eventual floundering of CS. The study concludes that integrally CS may still be a fruitful enterprise for committed Christian scholars, even at secular institutions.