Sample Articles from Past Issues of The Westminster Theological Journal
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Barker, William. “System Subscription.” Westminster Theological Journal 63 (2001): 1-14.
Events in recent decades have reminded us of the value of confessional statements for safeguarding the teaching of the truth of Scripture. Whether we think of the very recent struggles within the Christian Reformed Church, those somewhat earlier in the Southern Baptist Convention, or still others, we see the importance not only of affirming the inerrancy of Scripture, but also of declaring corporately what we believe Scripture teaches. + FULL ARTICLE
Carpenter, Craig B. “A Question of Union with Christ? Calvin and Trent on Justification.” Westminster Theological Journal 64 (2002): 363-86.
The question of justification is discussed as much today as it was in Calvin’s time, especially in connection with two matters. One is the recent, unofficial dialogue between Protestant evangelicals and Roman Catholics. Two documents, “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” (ECT) and “The Gift of Salvation,” have made the historic differences on justification between the Church of Rome and the churches of the Reformation once again a subject of international discussion.... A second sphere in which justification figures significantly is in recent New Testament studies. Many NT scholars contend that justification is not the issue that should divide the church but unite it. + FULL ARTICLE
Edgar, William. "Beauty Avenged, Apologetics Enriched." Westminster Theological Journal 63 (2001): 107-22.
Despite what would seem their obvious integral place in human experience over the centuries, beauty and the beautiful have been sent into hibernation in academic circles. Scholars and critics have been so shy to use the term beauty that we hear of accounts of an unspoken gag rule on aesthetics. Ironically, this is most often felt in the humanities, particularly in literature or the arts. + FULL ARTICLE
Fairbairn, Donald. "Patristic Exegesis and Theology: The Cart and the Horse." Westminster Theological Journal 69 (2007): 1-19.
This article grows out of two dominant perceptions that I have developed through my work with theological students and teachers. The first of these perceptions is that there is strong and growing interest in patristic interpretation of the Bible among evangelical biblical scholars and theologians. The second perception is that virtually all biblical studies students and professors I have encountered are working from a model for understanding patristic exegesis that is inadequate and does not reflect what patristics scholars have been writing about patristic exegesis for the last several decades. I have in mind the model that divides patristic exegesis into two competing—and largely mutually exclusive—schools, one based in Antioch and the other in Alexandria. + FULL ARTICLE
Jobes, Karen H. “Got Milk? Septuagint Psalm 33 and the Interpretation of 1 Peter 2:1-3.” Westminster Theological Journal 64 (2002): 1-14.
The author of 1 Peter writes to first-century Christians of Asia Minor encouraging and exhorting them to be faithful to the Lord and loving to each other as they face various griefs and sufferings for the name of Christ. Peter knows them to have been born anew (1:3) by the imperishable seed of God (1:23), and into a reality of living hope based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1:3). By virtue of their faith in Christ, they have entered into a new life that has alienated them from the priorities and values of their society to such an extent that Peter addresses them as visiting strangers (1:1) and resident aliens (2:11).2 In 2:1-3 Peter continues the new-birth motif begun in chapter 1 with an explanation and exhortation that new life in Christ means a transformation of values and behavior. + FULL ARTICLE
Kapic, Kelly M. "Receiving Christ's Priestly Benediction: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Exploration of Luke 24:50-53." Westminster Theological Journal 67 (2005): 247-60.
What does it mean to be blessed by God? Numerous responses could be given to this vague question, and many such answers inevitably end up with a problematic view of a “theology of blessing,” which more accurately reflects American prosperity than biblical realism. Nevertheless, the language of “blessing” is biblical. The restrictive manner in which I want to investigate this idea is by exploring the ascension of Christ, which, it will be argued, provides a basis for understanding the blessing of Christ given in the form of a priestly benediction. + FULL ARTICLE
Payne, Michael W. “Epistemological Crises, Dramatic Narratives, and Apologetics: The Ad Hominem Once More.” Westminster Theological Journal 64 (2002): 95-117.
In the following essay I will offer some exploratory reflections on the use of the ad hominem argument within a presuppositional apologetic methodology. More specifically, my purpose is to clarify its role in producing an epistemological crisis for the unbeliever. After first mapping the nature of the controversy between presuppositionalists and evidentialists over the issue of “objectivity” and “rationality,” I will survey CorneliusVan Til’s brief comments on the ad hominem argument’s use and usefulness, particularly the guidelines he employs in articulating its proper application. + FULL ARTICLE
Poirier, John C. "Why I'm Still Afraid: A Response to James K.A. Smith's Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?" Westminster Theological Journal 69 (2007): 175-84.
James K. A. Smith’s new book, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?, is very readable, and has an impressive grasp of details and interconnections. I do not target it because of any special weakness I find in it, but rather because it represents some of the best writing that postmodernists have produced. As such, it helps (albeit in an unintended way) to move forward the debate over postmodernism. That is because the problems that beset postmodernism become more obvious the more postmodernists explain themselves in plain language. + FULL ARTICLE
Schnittjer, Gary Edward. “The Narrative Multiverse within the Universe of the Bible: The Question of ‘Borderlines’ and ‘Intertextuality.’” Westminster Theological Journal 64 (2002): 231-52.
A beginning does not mean that it is the first thing in the sense that nothing comes before it. It is the beginning in reference to whatever comes after it. It is the beginning of something. In narrative literature, and here I am interested in biblical narrative, a beginning is one of the edges, borderlines, boundaries, horizons, or the like, of the narrative context itself. Do the borderlines of the scroll, including the beginning, define the context for interpretation in the case of the meaning of narrative? This question can be considered in relation to many things, but for my present purposes I wish only to think about the relationship of story and echo. Biblical narratives contain echoes which seem to invite, simultaneously, reading within the boundaries of the scroll or book itself and crossing the scroll’s edge to read the narrative in relation to other biblical writings which can be “heard” in it. + FULL ARTICLE
Silva, Moises. "Abraham, Faith and Works: Paul's Use of Scripture in Galatians 3:6-14." Westminster Theological Journal 63 (2001): 257-67.
Few passages in the Pauline literature have received as much attention as vv. 10–14 in chapter 3 of Galatians. Thus the numerous exegetical problems we face here are greatly compounded by the increasingly large number of attempts to solve them. If I hope to say anything meaningful at all, selectivity is key. And beyond selectivity, an effort must be made to have as well-focused a goal as possible. Oddly enough, my decision to extend the limits of the passage by including vv. 6–9 helps to define the discussion more narrowly, for it makes even clearer that I cannot hope to treat all the questions that surface here like bristles on a porcupine. Although some of those details must be carefully considered, my primary purpose is to focus on the basic question of how and why Paul brings these quotations together as he does. + FULL ARTICLE
