Midwestern Seminary released its Spring 2020 issue of the Midwestern Journal of Theology on May 4, featuring works by several of the school’s faculty as well as academics from across the Southern Baptist Convention.
The spring edition addresses theological topics ranging from a historical view of Christian education, parenting and addiction to the Gospel of John and Martin Luther’s use of a passage in Romans to understand Christ in the Old Testament.
President Jason Allen said of the Journal’s recently-released edition, “It is always a pleasure to announce a new edition of the Midwestern Journal of Theology because our editor, Dr. Michael McMullen, continually delivers an encouraging and edifying grouping of academic works that speak to the theological issues its readers deal with daily.”
He added that these essays “provide truthful insight and thoughtful guidance amidst a world that bends at the whims of the culture.”
McMullen, who also serves as professor of church history, noted that this issue of the MJT particularly focuses on scholarly articles predominantly written by Midwestern Seminary faculty members, but he’s also thankful for the contributions of pieces received from around the greater SBC.
The MJT’s selections begin with a piece deriving from Midwestern Seminary’s 2020 Spring Faculty Address by Stephen J. Andrews, which addressed the topic “Reading and Proclaiming the Old Testament as Christian Scripture.” In the lecture, Andrews, who serves as professor of Old Testament, state, “More than ever, the church needs to listen to the discrete voice found in the first part of God’s Word, the Old Testament,” in understanding the Old Covenant as Christian Scripture. Additionally, within the work, Andrews explores five questions “designed to help the interpreter cross the notorious ‘hermeneutical bridge’ between the worlds of the text.” Finally, he offered a test case from Psalm 117 as how to apply the questions to an OT text.
Andrews’ essay is followed by Thomas S. Kidd’s article, “Franklin, Whitefield and Christian Education,” which focuses on a debate between historical figures Benjamin Franklin and the evangelist George Whitefield about “education as a springboard to thinking about what Christian higher education—especially in research and teaching—should be doing now.” Kidd’s goal is to explore, broadly, Franklin’s type of religion, which has become “pervasive in American culture and American education;” then, he explores the debate between the two historical figures; and he wraps up the piece with considerations for maintaining Christian commitment in institutions of higher education. Kidd is distinguished professor of history at Baylor University and is also distinguished visiting professor of church history at Midwestern Seminary.
The MJT’s next article, Midwestern Seminary’s Andreas J. Köstenberger, and his wife, Margaret E. Köstenberger, explore “Equipping for Life: Excellence in Parenting.” The couple, who in 30 years of marriage have parented four children, focuses on how parents must work to instill Christian character development in their children despite a culture that encourages otherwise. The problem is, the authors say, that a focus by parents on something like education might develop a child who can access a good college and, thus, a competitive career but makes them less effective for serving Christ and his kingdom. The goal of the piece, according to the Köstenbergers, is “to wed some of the insights we share in our parenting book…to make a case for the importance of excellence in parenting as we equip our children for life.”
The journal’s next article features an important biblical counseling contribution from Greg E. Gifford, who serves as assistant professor of biblical counseling at The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, Calif. In the piece entitled, “A Theological Understanding of the Effects of Addictive Habits in Cultivating Addictive Desires,” Gifford argues that through a careful study of the Bible, counselors can reorient the negative addictive habits that a person cultivates into addictive desires via faithful habits of obedience to the will of God in a person’s life.
In what McMullen noted as the MJT’s penultimate piece, Andreas Köstenberger’s “FTC Workshop on John’s Gospel: The Festival Cycle (John 5-10) is highlighted. The workshop, which is the second in a three-part series, explored how the apostle John structured his Gospel deliberately by being highly selective of the stories he included. Köstenberger posited that everything John wrote was with the specific purpose of presenting “striking, messianic signs of Jesus so that his readers may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” In the lectures, Köstenberger particularly focuses on Jesus’ healing of the lame man in chapter five, the feeding of the 5,000 in chapter 6, and the healing of the man born blind in chapter 9.
The final essay in the spring edition of the MJT is written by William M. Marsh, assistant professor of Theology at Cedarville University in Ohio, and is entitled, “Martin Luther’s Programmatic Use of Romans 1:1-3 for His Understanding of Christ in the Old Testament.” Marsh explains that the purpose of his essay is “to illumine how Luther looks to Romans 1:1-3 as an apostolic warrant for regarding the Old Testament as distinctly Christian Scripture.”
In addition to the scholarly articles, readers will find several relevant and thought-provoking book reviews, many of which were written by Midwestern Seminary doctoral students.
Midwestern Seminary’s Journal of Theology is available in print version for subscribers. To subscribe, contact the Academic Office at (816) 414-3745 or [email protected].
Additionally, guests may view the issue in its entirety for free on the seminary’s website, mbts.edu/journal.