Complete List of Articles, With Internet Links

Curriculum Vitae

“What Makes a Church Missional? Freedom from Cultural Captivity Does Not Mean Freedom from Tradition,” Christianity Today (March 2008), 56-59.

Underneath the title “missional church” are varied – and often conflicting – notions of what the church is. This article gives an account of some of this conflicting usage, and suggests a way forward for the missional church discussion.
 

“On Giving and Receiving: How Can Christians Live Out the Commands of Matthew 25 – Without the Pity,” Sojourners Magazine (April, 2007), 48-51. 

This article explores how acts of Christian love can avoid the condescension that so often accompanies giving to those in need.
 

“The Problem with Mere Christianity: We Jettison ‘Nonessential’ Theology at Our Own Peril,” Christianity Today, February 2007, 46-47. Reprinted as “Featured Article” on ChristianBibleStudies.com website (July 2007).

"In essentials, unity. In nonessentials, liberty. In all things, charity." While there is value to this proverb, this article argues that setting aside church distinctives as “nonessentials” is a mistake that actually separates Christians from one another and from the work of the Holy Spirit in the past.

Selected Articles for Academic Audiences:

Calvin, Participation, and the Gift: The Activity of Believers in Union with Christ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

This book explores John Calvin’s theology of salvation as “participation in Christ” by the Spirit. Engaging contemporary theologian who claim that Calvin has a coercive view of God, this book gives a fresh reading of Calvin’s theology in light of his underappreciated theology of participation as it is displayed in his account of the sacraments, the Christian life, and ethics.

The Word of God for the People of God: An Entryway to the Theological Interpretation of Scripture (working title), Eerdmans Press (forthcoming late in 2009).

This book develops a trinitarian theology of salvation as the context for a hermeneutic to read the Bible as Scripture for the church. In doing so, it provides a bridge for students and pastors to key aspects of the contemporary discourse on the theological interpretation of Scripture, and the revival of interest in premodern hermeneutics and exegesis.

Calvin’s Theology and Its Reception: Disputes, Developments, and New Possibilities, co-edited with I. John Hesselink. Under contract with Westminster John Knox Press (forthcoming early in 2010).

This collection of essays focuses on five significant theological topics in Calvin's thought and does three things: it gives a contextually sensitive account of this topic in Calvin's own thought; it traces significant points in the history of reception of Calvin's writings on this topic; finally, Calvin's thought on this topic is evaluated in terms of its promise and limitations for contemporary theological retrieval.