In 1967 Karl Rahner famously wrote: "The economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity, and vice versa." From that time onwards, Rahner's Rule has become the norm for conceiving the relationship between the Trinity in the economy of salvation and God's eternal inner life. Evangelical theologians currently employ Rahner's Rule in a variety of ways. One of the most popular is the "Strict Realist Reading" whereby trinitarian relationships in salvation history are taken to mirror eternal relationsh...

Luke-Acts contains many and diverse female characters, many of whom play significant roles in the unfolding drama of God's plan of salvation through Jesus and the early church. Women followers of Jesus are fully-fledged disciples who prove to be reliable and insightful, participating in God's mission at all levels. They act as interpreters of salvation history, God's prophetic mouthpieces, witnesses to the resurrection, proclaimers and teachers of the gospel, and patrons and leaders of the...

The second century of the Common Era was a time of significant transition, innovation, and upheaval for the Greco-Roman world. In the midst of great societal changes the relatively new religious movement of Christianity began to find its footing as a coherent body—though undeniably marked by incredible diversity of thought, expression, and practice—as it moved beyond its Judaic roots and took on a more Hellenistic tenor, albeit unevenly. This formative era for the church has unfortunately ...

Limited atonement is not the only Reformed model of atonement"Hypothetical universalism," or "unlimited atonement," states that Christ's death is sufficient for the guilt of all people yet is only effectively applied to those with faith. This tradition, typified by the French Reformer Moïse Amyraut, has continued among Anglicans and Baptists for over four centuries, yet has been underexplored in Reformed systematic theology.Unlimited Atonement fills ...

Whether we realize it or not, our churches are full of those who have experienced and are living with the aftereffects of horror and trauma, whether as survivors, carers, or perpetrators. The central question of this book is simple: How can our churches become open to the Trinity such that they are trauma-safe environments for everyone? How can we join the triune God to become trauma-safe churches? While the reality is bleak, the church can dare to hope for healing because of the reality o...

A defense of equality among the persons of the TrinityIn response to those complementarian theologians who assert that the Son is eternally subordinate to the Father, the contributors to Trinity Without Hierarchy contend that this view misconstrues the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and reduces the Son to a lower level of glory and majesty than the Father. Surveying Scripture, church history, and theology, sixteen contributors present a defense of the ful...

Six scholars trace the role of lamentation in the Old and New Testaments in A Time for Sorrow: Recovering the Practice of Lament in the Life of the Church, reflecting on the theological significance of lament, affirming the ongoing relevance of lamentation in the life of the church, and exploring its biblical roots and application in church practice.In a church era dominated by positive thinking and slick, upbeat "worship," even mentioning the word lamentation is apt to cause a dis...

The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers offers an informative introduction to the extant body of Christian texts that existed beside and after the New Testament known to us as the apostolic fathers. Featuring cutting-edge research by leading scholars, it explores how the early Church expanded and evolved over the course of the first and second centuries as evidenced by its textual history. The volume includes thematic essays on imperial context, the relationship between Christiani...

How does God respond to trauma in a world full of horrors?Beyond their physical and emotional toll, the horrors of this world raise difficult theological and existential questions. Where is God in the darkest moments of the human experience? Is there any hope for recovery from the trauma generated by these horrors? There are no easy answers to these questions.In God of All Comfort, Scott Harrower addresses these questions head on. Using the Gospel ...

Limited atonement is not the only Reformed model of atonement"Hypothetical universalism," or "unlimited atonement," states that Christ's death is sufficient for the guilt of all people yet is only effectively applied to those with faith. This tradition, typified by the French Reformer Moïse Amyraut, has continued among Anglicans and Baptists for over four centuries, yet has been underexplored in Reformed systematic theology.Unlimited Atonement fill...

Given the popular-level conversations on phenomena like the Gospel of Thomas and Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus, as well as the current gap in evangelical scholarship on the origins of the New Testament, Michael Kruger’s Canon Revisited meets a significant need for an up-to-date work on canon by addressing recent developments in the field. He presents an academically rigorous yet accessible study of the New Testament canon that looks deeper than the traditional surveys of...

Beginning with Walter Bauer in 1934, the denial of clear orthodoxy in early Christianity has shaped and largely defined modern New Testament criticism, recently given new life through the work of spokesmen like Bart Ehrman. Spreading from academia into mainstream media, the suggestion that diversity of doctrine in the early church led to many competing orthodoxies is indicative of today's postmodern relativism. Authors Köstenberger and Kruger engage Ehrman and others in this polemic agains...