Welcome to the Home Page of J. Todd Billings, Assistant Professor of Reformed Theology at Western Theological Seminary.

My Courses

I am a theologian who is passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the church's ministry. In contemporary Western culture, Christians often drown in shallow water. Theology can be a worshipful task through which God renews the life of the church – deepening its identity in Christ and empowering it for service by the Spirit. 

This website has links to my articles, sermons, and other writing, as well as a "Pastor-as-Theologian's Library" guide to helpful theological books for pastors and other church leaders.

My Project...in popular periodicals:

For an accessible account of how theological traditions can help open up the Bible's riches rather than cut them off, see my February 2007 Christianity Today article "The Problem with Mere Christianity." In a similar mode, I explore the promise and possible peril of different construals of the church's history and tradition in "What Makes a Church Missional? Freedom from cultural captivity does not mean freedom from tradition" (Christianity Today, March 2008). Speaking more specifically about my own church tradition, I sketch my vision of how Reformed Christianity can overcome the ecclesial "right" and "left" of modernity in "The Promise of Catholic Calvinism." I also give some examples of how ancient Christian thought can illuminate contemporary problems – see "On Giving and Receiving" in Sojourners, and my meditation on Gregory of Nyssa's "On Virginity" for the contemporary church in Regeneration Quarterly.

My Project...in academic publications:

 On a more technical level, I explore the catholic and Reformational dimensions of Calvin's theology of "union with Christ" in my 2007 Oxford University Press book, Calvin, Participation, and the Gift: the Activity of Believers in Union with Christ. In dialogue with criticisms of Calvin from thinkers in Radical Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy, this book cuts through common perception that Calvin has a negative, merely "passive" view of humanity. I argue that in his theology of participation in Christ, Calvin affirms the differentiated union of God with humanity in creation and redemption, such that grace fulfills, restores, and activates humanity for grateful service in the church and the world. For an article which focuses on Calvin's soteriology in relation to theologies of deification, see my article in the Harvard Theological Review. I also have a Modern Theology article which compares Calvin's theology of grace with that of John Milbank in his recent work on grace as gift. In addition, I am finishing a book project now on the theological interpretation of scripture. For a full account of my scholarly and popular writings, click here to go to "Writing."

©2008 J. Todd Billings

Links of Interest

Current Research

Article: Ancient Traditions and the Emergent Generation

Christian Century Review: Reading the Bible with the Dead

Article: Incarnational Ministry: a Christological Analysis