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 |  |  | | Navigating Empathy | | BY JONATHAN WORTHINGTON | | What exactly is empathy? There is confusion. Most empathy scholars laud it as putting yourself in someone’s mental and emotional shoes for a time, usually to help them. Most laypeople also commend empathy, but some misunderstand it and are actually commending such unhealthy (and non-empathic) practices as enmeshment and extreme relativism—but under the banner of “empathy.” Other people condemn “empathy” as an enticing sin, polarizing, etc. But they tend to condemn non-empathic practices that have been called “empathy” by their perpetrators without realizing the term is being used wrongly. They thereby seem to critique (and many times think they are critiquing) empathy itself, or a certain version of empathy. Can multiple definitions of “empathy” conflict and yet each be legitimate? If conflicting definitions of one term are used widely, how can any be thought illegitimate? Jonathan Worthington helps readers navigate discussions about what empathy is and is not within academic research, diverse (and conflicting) lay uses of the term, and various clashes that arise. |  | | The Theological Vision of Geerhardus Vos: Theological Education and Reformed Ministry | | BY BRADLEY J. BITNER | | Gerhardus Vos’s lesser-known first inaugural address (1888) entailed a theological vision. Its subject was not biblical theology, but theological method and theological education for Reformed ministry. Vos first identifies cultural, theological, and curricular challenges to the kind of theological formation he thinks students need. Then he exemplifies the kind of confessional framework, theological patterns of thinking, and historical humility that he envisions as necessary for ministry that bears lasting, robust gospel fruit for the church. Vos’s vision provokes us to reconsider the shape and aims of contemporary theological education as well as the relationship between systematic and biblical theology in his theological method. | | | |  | | Leviticus in Light of Christ | | BY ROLAND ELLIOTT | | Christians have long wrestled with how to read the Law in light of the work of Christ. Focusing on Leviticus, Roland Elliott defends a proposal for its structure and leverages this as a starting point for reading its laws in light of Christ. The resulting approach considers laws in terms of (1) the purpose of the overarching section to which they belong and (2) how they are expressed in terms of old covenant realities. This provides the tools for nuanced consideration of the degree and manner of how these laws continue to be relevant to daily life in Christ. | | | | | Old Testament Hope: Psalm 2, the Psalter, and the Anointed One | | BY S. D. ELLISON | | Scholarly discussions concerning the nature of OT hope are arguably most passionate and divisive when the figure of the anointed one (often designated the messiah) is in view. This article suggests that the Psalter may offer a profitable avenue in which to reconsider the debate, and employs Psalm 2 as an example. By considering its placement in the Psalter, content, and use in the NT, it is concluded that Psalm 2 is a signpost to the future hope of a coming Davidic king. In this way, we learn, the Christian Scriptures document, unfold, and realise OT hope. | | Raised up from the Dust: An Exploration of Hannah’s Reversal Motif in the Book of Esther as Evidence of Divine Sovereignty | | BY JUSTIN JACKSON | | The book of Esther presents a challenge for many modern interpreters, since the book does not mention the name of God or his direct action. This glaring omission has led some throughout history to doubt Esther’s place in the canon of Scripture. Contrary to such doubts, this article seeks to show that textual evidence of God’s sovereign work does indeed exist in Esther. By highlighting the inner-biblical parallels between Hannah’s psalm of great reversal in 1 Samuel 2 and the events that take place in Esther, this article will argue that Esther presents the God of Israel as the same God who humbles the self-exalting and exalts the humble whether it be in the life of King David or the lives of his exilic people in Persia. | | Ben Sira’s Canon Conscious Interpretive Strategies: His Narrative History and Realization of the Jewish Scriptures | | BY PETER BECKMAN | | This paper will outline the canon-conscious worldview of Ben Sira, highlight the major contents of his authoritative corpus of Jewish Writings, and describe his hermeneutical strategies. Ben Sira’s interpretive methods include (1) his reading the Jewish Scriptures as a coherent religious message and (2) his realization and application of these texts to and within his believing community. This scripturally authoritative worldview understands that the Jewish Scriptures are not locked away in the past, but rather it believes that they can and ought to be realized in the present believing community who models and participates in its story. | | Soteriology in the Gospel of John | | BY BRUCE REICHENBACH | | Salvation plays a central role in the Gospel of John, although the author never develops an abstract theory of salvation. Rather, by various narrative techniques, and ultimately by his overall dramatic narrative, John suggests diverse soteriological concepts. He introduces rebirth bringing about children of God, depicts Jesus drawing people by being lifted up and dying on behalf of others, claims victory over the devil, and demonstrates healing. Underlying and unifying all these themes is the fundamental thesis that salvation brings life, both qualitatively and quantitatively. This study investigates his medley of soteriological concepts, explores their relation to Old Testament themes, and inquires how they connect with the fact of Jesus’s death and its necessity. | | The Placement of Paul’s Composition of 1 Corinthians in Troas: A Fresh Approach | | BY DARYN GRAHAM | | Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in Troas. This is the argument of this article, using Acts and 1 and 2 Corinthians as the main sources of information. By drawing upon primary sources and critical modern scholarship, it is argued that 1 Corinthians was not written by the apostle Paul in Ephesus, as is the main consensus, but in Troas to the north, after Paul had his vision of the man from Macedonia begging him to preach throughout Macedonia, from where Paul journeyed to Corinth, as he stated he would in 1 Corinthians, after which he then travelled to Ephesus, for the first time. It is concluded that before he embarked for Macedonia from Troas, Paul completed writing 1 Corinthians. | | Genre-Sensitive Biblical Interpretation in 1 Peter | | BY JORDAN ATKINSON | | This article argues that 1 Peter 1:10–12 contains Peter’s hermeneutic for interpreting Old Testament messianic prophecies in 1 Peter. Though the scholarly consensus is that these verses govern every use of Scripture throughout 1 Peter, an exegesis of 1 Peter 1:10–12 reveals that Peter only discusses Old Testament prophecy in these verses. In addition to quoting prophecies, though, Peter also quotes the Law and wisdom literature. The hermeneutic for the Law and wisdom literature in 1 Peter is distinct from that of prophecy and is a model for how Christians should continue to interpret biblical texts according to their genres. | | Revelation and Religions: Towards a More ‘Harmonious’ Jonathan Edwards | | BY IAIN MCGEE | | This article provides an overview and interpretation of Jonathan Edwards’s thought on God’s revelation of himself to adherents of non-Christian religions. The study engages in some detail with Gerald McDermott’s well-known interpretation of Edwards on this subject, and critiques it on the issues covered. Concerning the methodological approach adopted, Edwards’s deist context, and his comments on reason are considered key interpretation aids. I suggest that these, together with the identification of dominant themes in his writings, can help the reader overcome some of the challenges faced when attempting to understand Edwards’s comments on the prisca theologia, inspiration, typology and type readership. I argue that the alternative interpretation of Edwards forwarded in this article has certain advantages over McDermott’s, the most important being that it results in a more ‘harmonious’ reading of Edwards’s thought. | |
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Themelios is a peer-reviewed international evangelical theological journal that expounds on the historic Christian faith. Its primary audience is theological students, pastors and scholars. It was formerly a print journal operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008.
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