The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesiological Theology

July 23, 2010 by Gerald Hiestand

David Rudolph on “Paul’s Rule in All the Churches”

Do you know Paul’s rule in all the churches? Can’t say that I did either. Until I read David’s paper, that is, published in the latest issue of CCJR. David is one of our SAET Fellows, and has done some important work on contemporary Jewish/Christian relations. If this is an area of interest to you, I strongly encourage you to get acquainted with David’s work. Here’s the intro to his article:

“In preparation for this conference, I asked a number of church leaders if they were familiar with Paul’s “rule in all the churches.” Notably, not a single leader who responded to my ad hoc survey was aware of such a rule. Based on this response and my general familiarity with ecclesial theology, I think it is likely that Paul’s “rule in all the churches” has become a “rule in few of the churches” today. While many would probably be content to see this state of affairs continue, especially those who do not like church rules, there remains the nagging …

Categories: David Rudolph | SAET Fellow Publications

July 20, 2010

Stephen Witmer on Sin

Stephen Witmer (one of our SAET Fellows) has written a great article, just recently posted at Reformation 21 entitled, A God-Centered Understanding of Sin. Here’s the intro to Stephen’s article:

The most important truth about sin is the one least recognized in our day. It is this: all sin is primarily sin against God. Where sin is understood as merely a moral concept rather than mainly a religious one, where it is seen primarily as a person-to-person problem rather than as primarily ‘theocentric,’ motivation for fighting …

Categories: SAET Fellow Publications | Stephen Witmer

June 30, 2010

Eternity Bible College Now Offering Online Classes

Eternity Bible College — a school connected to the ministry of Cornerstone Community Church is now offering online classes. Dr. Preston Sprinkle (one of our SAET Fellows) teaches at EBC, and passed along information regarding the new online format.

In the Fall of 2010 they’ll be offering three courses: Bible Study Methods, Old Testament Survey I, and Introduction to Discipleship Counseling. In Spring 2011, they plan to offer three additional classes: Old Testament Survey II, Old Testament Backgrounds, and New Testament Survey.

Looks like a good program. Click through …

Categories: Preston Sprinkle

June 24, 2010

Ecclesial Theology and SBL

Elsewhere I’ve argued that the social locations of the academy and the church represent two distinct (and often diverging) fields of theological discourse.  In as much as most of our theologians and scholars are situated in the academy, orthodox theology has become, in many instances, detached from the church and her concerns. While there remains some overlap between the academy and the church (particularly when one includes the seminary as a sub-set of the academic world), overall, these two social locations represent diverging theological/scholarly agendas.

The point above …

Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theologian | Ecclesial Theology | SBL

June 20, 2010

Pastor-Theologians and Academic Theologians: Toward a Healthy Division of Labor, Part 3

Following up from part one and part two…

Yet in drawing a contrast between academic theology and ecclesial theology, an important words needs to be said here about the mutually dependent nature of the church and academy. As my vision for ecclesial theology has unfolded, I’ve become increasingly aware of the need for a robust partnership between believing academic theologians and pastor-theologians. Doug Sweeney (himself a respected academic historian), helped crystallize this for me at the close of the 2009 Fellowship Symposium of the Society for the Advancement of …

Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theologian | Ecclesial Theology

June 17, 2010

Ecclesial Theology as the Foundation of Popular Theology

Popular theology and ecclesial theology share much common ground. Both are concerned with the life of the church. Both are prophetic and call the church to action. But ecclesial theology pushes beyond the introductory nature of popular theology, and serves as its ground. Indeed, the ecclesial theologian engages in ecclesial theology as a necessary first-step in laying a solid foundation for his popular theology. In other words, a significant function of …

Categories: Ecclesial Theology | Popular Theology

June 10, 2010

Spring Gathering of the Second Fellowship

The inaugural gathering of the SAET’s Second Fellowship has come and gone. A great time! It was just a short evening/morning event that gave the Fellows a chance to meet each other, meet us, and discuss the SAET vision. I was encouraged by the immediate sense of affinity and unity around the common cause of ecclesial theology. We spent Tuesday morning interacting with my taxonomy paper, …

Categories: Second Fellowship

June 10, 2010

Piper on PhD’s

This video made the rounds awhile back, but if you haven’t watched it yet, it’s worth watching. I think Piper is mostly correct here. Pastors don’t need to be doing academic theology; someone needs to, but not pastors. But more pastors do need to do PhD’s, with a view to ecclesial theology. I’m not sure Piper fully appreciates the distinction between academic theology and ecclesial theology.

Frankly, …

Categories: John Piper | Pastor-theologian

May 15, 2010

Matt Kim, New SAET Fellow

The SAET is pleased to announced the admittance of  Dr. Matt Kim into the SAET’s Second Fellowship.

Matt has served as the senior pastor of Logos Central Chapel in Denver, Colorado, since September 2006. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the suburb of Palatine. He received his B.A. from Carleton College, his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his M.Th. and Ph.D. degrees from the University …

Categories: Matt Kim | Second Fellowship

May 4, 2010

Dr. Jeff Hubing, New SAET Fellow

The SAET is pleased to announced the admittance of  Dr. Jeff Hubing into the SAET’s Second Fellowship.

Jeff is a part-time Teaching Pastor at Rock Church, in Rockford, IL, and an Affiliate Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He holds an M.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies from Wheaton College and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity from Loyola University Chicago. Jeff has a deep burden for training …

Categories: Jeff Hubing | Second Fellowship

May 1, 2010

The (No Longer) Bishop Wright

Readers of this blog have already likely heard the news that Tom Wright has resigned as Bishop of Durham to take up a new appointment as Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews in Scotland (full story here). He explains his decision:

“This has been the hardest decision of my life. It has been an indescribable privilege to be Bishop of the ancient Diocese …

Categories: Tom Wright