Chris Morgan

The Journal of Baptist Studies 7 (2015)

/ Matt Emerson / 2 Comments

The latest edition of the Journal of Baptist Studies is out. You can read it here. As you can see from the table of contents listed below, this edition focused on the four marks of the church from a Baptist perspective. The essays were originally presented in the Baptist Studies session of the 2014 ETS annual meeting. I’d encourage you to take a look.

Editorial, p. 1

Contributors, p. 3

Articles

“Baptists and the Unity of the Church,” by Christopher W. Morgan, p. 4

“Baptists and the Holiness of the Church: Soundings in Baptist Thought,” by Ray Van Neste, p. 24

“Baptists and the Catholicity of the Church: Toward an Evangelical Baptist Catholicity,” by Matthew Y. Emerson and R. Lucas Stamps, p. 42

“Baptists and the Apostolicity of the Church,” by James Patterson, p. 67

Book Reviews

Currid, John D. Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament, reviewed by Kenneth J. Turner, p. 83

Freeman, Curtis W. Contesting Catholicity: Theology for Other Baptists, reviewed by R. Lucas Stamps, p. 86

George, Timothy. Theology of the Reformers, rev. ed., reviewed by John Gill, p. 91

Hays, Christopher M. and Christopher B. Ansberry, eds. Evangelical Faith and the Challenge of Historical Criticism, reviewed by Matthew Y. Emerson, p. 95

Holmes, Stephen R. The Quest for the Trinity: The Doctrine of God in Scripture, History and Modernity, reviewed by Michael A. G. Haykin, p. 99

Sanders, Fred. Wesley on the Christian Life: The Heart Renewed in Love, reviewed by Christopher Bosson, p. 101

CBU at ETS and SBL

/ Matt Emerson / 1 Comment

The annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society, Evangelical Philosophical Society, and Society of Biblical Literature will commence in a little over two weeks. Here’s a list of professors of California Baptist University who are presenting, along with their paper titles and session:

Evangelical Theological Society

Wednesday AM
Anthony Chute (Professor of Church History; Associate Dean, School of Christian Ministries)

Moderator, Baptist Studies: Baptists and the Church

 

Greg Cochran (Associate Professor of Theology; Director of the Applied Theology Program)

Church History I

“The Priority of Ministry to the Persecuted Church: A Reorientation of the Paradigm for Biblical Justice”

 

Matthew Emerson (Assistant Professor of Christian Studies; Chair, Department of Arts & Sciences (OPS))

AND

Luke Stamps (Assistant Professor of Christian Studies (OPS))

Baptist Studies: Baptists and the Church

“Baptists and the Catholicity of the Church”

 

John Gill (Assistant Professor of Christian Studies (OPS))

Ecclesiology: Theologians I

“Alexander Carson and the Church: An Ecclesiology shaped by Evangelical Concerns?”

 

Chris Morgan (Professor of Theology; Dean, School of Christian Ministries)

Baptist Studies: Baptists and the Church

“Baptists and the Unity of the Church”

 

Mark Rogers (Adjunct Professor of Christian Studies)

American Christianity: The History of Park Street Church
“Reclaiming Boston: Resurgent Edwardsianism and the Founding of Park Street Church”

 

Thursday AM

Matthew Barrett (Assistant Professor of Christian Studies (OPS))

Models of God: The Jealousy of God

“He Hardens Whomever He Wills: The Exodus, God’s Fame, and the Manifestation of God’s Jealousy
through Divine Sovereignty”

 

Thursday PM

Adam Co (Associate Professor of Theology)

Systematic Theology: General Studies 2

“Understanding the Doctrine of Union with Christ within the Kingship and Kingdom Motif of Scripture: Uniting Key Emphases in Paul and in Jesus Canonically”

 

Evangelical Philosophical Society

Wednesday AM

Scott Key (Professor of Philosophy)

EPS A2

“Toward an Epistemology of Value: Wisdom and Trust in Aristotle’s Ethics and the Gospel of Mark”

 

Society of Biblical Literature

Tuesday AM

Ash Melika (Associate Professor of Archaeology/Anthropology)

Egyptology and Ancient Israel
“The Founding of the Temple in Ancient Egypt and Israel”

 

Baptist Catholicity Paper at ETS

/ Matt Emerson / 9 Comments

At this year’s ETS meeting the Baptist Studies session group has decided to focus on the four marks of the church articulated in the Nicene Creed – one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Luke Stamps and I are grateful to the session’s organizers to have the opportunity to present on “Baptists and the Catholicity of the Church.” This couldn’t have come at a better time, given my and Luke’s desire to write and blog about this subject more in the coming months. Our abstract reads:

In recent years, several prominent Baptists in the United Kingdom as well as a cadre of moderate Baptists in the United States have been engaged in an ongoing project to re-envision Baptist identity within the context of the broader Christian tradition. But to date, these movements towards “Baptist Catholicity” have been relatively unengaged by evangelical Baptists in North America. This paper seeks to fill this lacuna by exploring some ways in which conservative, evangelical Baptists might better situate Baptist faith and practice within the historic Christian tradition. After an examination of the biblical material concerning the universal church and a brief historical survey of Baptist engagement with the church’s catholicity, the paper will suggest some ways in which contemporary Baptists might more consciously and critically engage with the broader catholic tradition, including its creedal identity, liturgical forms, sacramental theology, and spiritual practices.

And here’s the full schedule for the session:

8:30 AM—9:10 AM
Matthew Emerson
Luke Stamps
California Baptist University
Baptists and the Catholicity of the Church

9:20 AM—10:00 AM
Michael Haykin
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Baptists and the Holiness of the Church

10:10 AM—10:50 AM
Chris Morgan
California Baptist University
Baptists and the Unity of the Church

11:00 AM—11:40 AM
James Patterson
Union University
Baptists and the Apostolicity of the Church

Toward a Holistic Hermeneutic

/ Matt Emerson / Leave a comment

Chris Morgan, Dean of the School of Christian Ministries at CBU, and I have recently published an article in the most recent issue of The Journal of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Right now the journal is available online, but it will also be published in print later this spring.

Our introduction reads:

In this article we argue hermeneutics ought to be holistic. A proper method for biblical interpretation ought to include a concern for exegesis, narrative, doctrine, the church, and application. Much like an orchestra, each of these fields has a part to play in biblical interpretation, and, while each may have a featured part at some stage, none should be allowed to play a purely solo act. Exegesis both rests on and results in theology, for example. Similarly, churches not only shaped the original context of the biblical material, they are still the primary interpretive context and central focus of the application. Our hope is that a holistic hermeneutic can produce a fuller symphonic interpretation. In what follows, we seek to sketch the overall contours of these aspects, suggest how they fit together, and offer an example of this method in practice.

You can access the article and read it in its entirety here.