Evangelical Christians have long held firmly to the reality and importance of authorial intention: the intention of the author is key to establishing the meaning of the text. Accordingly, when it comes to finding the meaning of a biblical passage, knowledge of the original context becomes vital. Thus, concentrated study of the relevant “material” context,…

Sometime toward the end of my tenure at our little rural church in eastern Washington, a neighbor offered to take me on a tour north of town. There was nothing much to see, just some sagebrush and weeds near the interstate overpass. I leaned into the wind while he kicked around at a row of…

“Who’s afraid of angels, Satan, and demons?” Indeed, angelology and demonology are among some doctrinal loci which unfortunately have not been receiving as many treatments as they should have been in the evangelical academic and popular circles alike, in both Western and Eastern contexts. However, through his second contribution to the Foundations of Evangelical Theology…

Today marks the one-year anniversary of John Webster’s death. At the time he was, in my opinion and others’, the greatest living theologian writing in English, and perhaps in any language. This is the tenth installment of a series of tributes to the man and his theological project, a work in progress that was tragically…

I came to know John Webster partly because I moved in the wide orbit of Barth studies, where he was an acknowledged master, and partly because I was his successor teaching theology at Wycliffe College. Even after his departure for Oxford John would return to Toronto from time to time to connect with friends, including…

May 25, 2016 was a day to be forgotten by most historical books and hardly recognized by its contemporary chroniclers. Were it not for digital publication, hardly a record of the tremor would have even been felt. Yet, that day marks the death of one whom Kevin Vanhoozer has called the “greatest living theologian,” John…

The shadow of suffering and death casts widely over human life, not only in the midst of toil and the hope for a brighter tomorrow, but also in the intellectual struggle for the belief in a sovereign and benevolent God. While many issues wax and wane with the passing of time, the seeming futility of…