Creation and Christology: A Compatible Account

The classical doctrine of creation has suffered much since the twentieth century. While Bruce Ashford and Craig Bartholomew are willing to speak of the “travails and glories” of the doctrine in this period, it is evident that they are concerned with the former. Moltmann’s panentheism and process theology’s notion of a di-polar God, for example,…
Two Types of Laws

In his commentary on Romans 13, John Hooper (1495–1555), an Anglican bishop who was martyred under Mary I, unpacks a conundrum for Christians committed to “two kingdoms” doctrine. Both civil and spiritual authorities are appointed by God and so must be obeyed, but what is one to do when secular authorities depart from God’s Word?…
Worldly Rulers Cannot Be Christians

Unlike the magisterial reformers, their radical counterparts were more suspicious of the role of secular government, and their approaches to worldly authority appear on a spectrum from theocracy to entire separation. Many Anabaptists ultimately rejected politics and argued that church and state must be entirely distinct. One who disallowed any place for Christians in secular…
Reformed Theology and Evolutionary Theory:
A Rejoinder

The topic of religious belief and evolution is quite notorious for its potential to arouse heated debates that easily become acrimonious (even this forum has not entirely escaped from such responses). In this way, the Dutch precursor of Reformed Theology and Evolutionary Theory met with some fierce criticism that sometimes misstated both its content and…
Perceiving the Word Made Flesh: A Rejoinder

I would like to begin by thanking Matthew Wiley, who has taken the lead in organizing this symposium, as well as the four colleagues who have taken the time during this most unusual season of academic life to engage with my work. It is a privilege to be given the time and space to think…
Perceiving Christ in Faith

The strengths of Dr. McFarland’s Christological proposal lie in (a) its epistemological draw, and (b) its deep roots in Chalcedonian reasoning. Indeed, the force of McFarland’s epistemic claims emerge from an elegant reading of the Chalcedonian heritage and its implications. Yet, I wonder if, in McFarland’s zeal to center the human nature of Christ, he…
Perception, Incarnation, and the Flesh of Christ

The central thesis of Ian McFarland’s book, The Word Made Flesh, seems straightforward enough: the Christology hammered out in the Chalcedonian Definition remains “the most adequate account of Christian convictions regarding Jesus” (p. 3). But upon closer inspection, McFarland’s “Chalcedonianism without reserve” is quite arresting, even provocative. He suggests that the classic distinction drawn between…
Morality, the Cognitive Science of Religion,
and Revelation

As Gijsbert van den Brink carefully demonstrates elsewhere in Reformed Theology and Evolutionary Theory, evolutionary theory is rarely as threatening to Christian theology as many might fear. While some traditional doctrines may need to be reimagined or reframed in light of evolutionary insights, the core tenets of Reformed belief seem not to be necessarily undermined…
Darwin and Divine Providence

In Chapter Seven on “Natural Selection and Divine Providence,” van den Brink faces head-on the challenge that Darwinian evolution poses for a Reformed account of providence. For the sake of the argument, he accepts the neo-Darwinian synthesis of natural selection and genetic mutation. Focusing on the alleged randomness of the latter, he explores its compatibility…
Telling a Different Story?
Van den Brink’s Account of Human Origins

It is difficult to talk about human beings without telling a story. In a manner that transcends the existence of trees and turtles, human beings are creatures of history. Human beings come and go in history. They make history by the feats they accomplish, and they leave their mark on history in the monuments they…
Magistrates Are Servants to All

The reformer of Geneva, John Calvin (1509-1564) affirmed a greater distinction between the roles of the church and the state in his formulation of the two kingdoms than many of his contemporaries, which perhaps reflects the contentious relationship he often had with the Genevan civil authorities. Nevertheless, he still sees these civil and spiritual governments…
Common Descent, Human Dignity,
and the Image of God

Having worked through a number of theological challenges posed by evolutionary theory in the first four chapters of Reformed Theology and Evolutionary Theory, van den Brink moves to the difficult question of common descent and its impact on theological anthropology. He identifies two primary concerns. First is whether the scientific evidence for common descent is…