Biblical Studies contains further research and study on questions raised by writing Kingdom through Covenant co-authored with Stephen J. Wellum. This work is a compilation of three essays: “Humanity as the Divine Image of God in Genesis 1:26–28,” “The New Israel in Isaiah—A Challenge to Covenant and Dispensational Theology,” and “Sanctification under the New Covenant.” This is the first volume in the series.

Editor Michael Haykin provides an introduction and brief study of Cromwell’s spirituality through a consideration of his view of divine providence, conversion and activism. A chronology of the life of Cromwell is followed by 30 selections from his letters, speeches, sayings and prayers. These selections are footnoted with interesting historical detail and include biblical references.

R.C. Sproul Defender of the Reformed Faith traces the five decades of R.C.’s public ministry, observing a thematic connection to the five solas of the Reformation. While much has already been written, with much more to come, this book takes a unique look at R.C. Sproul as doctrinal defender. In a cultural climate where doctrinal disagreements can easily descend into personal attacks and division, R.C. models the utmost care for doctrinal precision without sacrificing the love and grace needed to be kind to those with whom we disagree. Even after his passing, R.C. still has much to teach us about what it means to contend earnestly for the faith.

Among the various Baptist groups that emerged from the religious turmoil of seventeenth-century England, the Particular Baptists proved to be the most influential in terms of long-term legacy. There is a sense in which all English-speaking Baptists, whatever their current theological orientation, can ultimately be traced back to this community. And at the heart of this community were three key leaders: William Kiffen, Hanserd Knollys, and Benjamin Keach. This new edition introduces the lives and thought of each of these men along with their times, other Baptist figures with whom they interacted, and two vital confessions that were published respectively in 1644 and 1688.

It is often assumed that the big theological debates of the 18th century did not involve the nature of God. But in many ways, the resurgence of Arianism, the growth of Deism, and the emergence of Socinianism (or what some later called Unitarianism) ensured that questions regarding the being of God were central to theological reflection in the long eighteenth century from the 1680s to the 1830s. This collection of essays, most of which were originally prepared for a conference sponsored by the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, examines this discussion particularly as it occurred within the ranks of the British and Irish Particular Baptists. This collection is an essential resource for understanding the heart of Particular Baptist doctrine in this era and why this Christian community stayed true to classical Christian orthodoxy.

In an interview that he gave in 2011, historian Mark Noll related how an African scholar had once told him that Western historians needed “to get the Holy Spirit back” into their writing of history. Western historians have been so focused on a multitude of ways of explaining the past-via “political systems, strong personalities, military conflicts, economic forces”-that they have had no space for understanding the work of the Holy Spirit in history. This collection of essays on the person and work of the Holy Spirit seeks to show what a proper pneumatological focus can mean for both historical and theological reflection, and why this observation by this African Christian is so vital for the West in the twenty-first century.

Throughout the history of the Church, Christians have expressed their faith in word and song. Among the ways they confessed what they believed was through creeds. The term“creed,” which comes from the Latin credo (“I believe”), has played a central role in the identity of the Church and expressing her core beliefs. While these creeds developed in the first few centuries of the Church, the earliest creeds are embedded within the New Testament text itself. The singing of hymns, which are closely associated with creeds, has also been part of the Church’s ancient heritage. Since these hymns are confessional in nature, we can state that hymns were creed-like, confessing in song what the earliest Christians believed. This book examines the ancient creeds and hymns found in the New Testament, shedding light on what the earliest Christians held to be central, definitional, and foundational to their faith.

Roman Centurions feature prominently in the New Testament. A centurion stood at the foot of the cross when Christ was crucified. Jesus healed a centurion’s servant and Paul interacted with centurions on multiple occasions. A centurion was even the first non-Jewish convert to Christianity. But who were these men, really? What did it mean to be a centurion? Why did the New Testament authors include them in their writings? This illuminating work provides the most thorough and comprehensive treatment to date on New Testament centurions in order to answer these questions and bring to light these often overlooked characters. Through a careful analysis of available military history and primary source texts, this book highlights the importance of centurions to the biblical narrative and sheds new light on the role these men played in the early church.

The phrase “blood of Christ” is used many times throughout the New Testament and is the expression of the sacrificial death and full atoning work of Jesus Christ on the behalf of sinners. It’s a phrase that has gone out of vogue in the past several decades, but serves as the penultimate illustration of the means of our atonement and the basis of the New Covenant. While the blood of bulls and goats were a “reminder” of sin, “the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Pet 1:9) paid in full the death of sin we owe to God, and we need no further sacrifices for sin. This small book will explore 9 benefits of the blood of Christ for the believer.

As a theologian, Andrew Fuller ranks alongside men like John Owen and Jonathan Edwards for his significance in global Christianity. This reading guide takes an individual reader or a reading group through a representative selection of Fuller’s works, nearly all of them complete in themselves. Arranged chronologically, each selection has a small introduction and a series of questions that help to deepen the grasp of Fuller’s thought in its historical context and its implications for the present day.

How can sinners be righteous in God’s sight? Is there a more important question than this? The answer is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. In a word, Christ does it all. He achieves righteousness in his obedience, and he satisfies God’s offended justice by his death upon the cross. The implication is that we’re completely passive. We simply receive Christ through faith and, as a result, “we become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Our faith pays nothing, merits nothing, and contributes nothing. That’s exceedingly good news! But what happens if we add something to this good news? Intentionally or not, we end up denying the sole sufficiency of Christ. This was the case among the churches of Galatia, and it is what caused the apostle Paul to put pen to paper and provide a powerful and persuasive defense of the gospel.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was the model pastor-theologian who both defended orthodox theology from heresy and shepherded those under his care as bishop. During the Pelagian controversy we see this clearly illustrated in his defense of predestination against radical affirmations of the freedom of the will. However, during the so-called “semi-Pelagian” controversy Augustine demonstrated his pastoral sensitivity wherein he articulated a view of the will that did not absolve humans of their moral responsibility before God. Late in his ministry he was led to address the concerns of a group of unwitting monks in Hadrumetum who feared that his earlier view of grace and predestination made humans mere automatons. With great care he showed that humans were indeed free moral agents, even if their wills were bound by sin and requiring of saving grace.

This devotional for Easter Week skillfully combines Bible passages that relate to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus-his saving work pro nobis (“for us”)-with relevant readings from the works of such figures from the Ancient Church as Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, Hilary, Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil of Caesarea, Theodore of Mopsuestia, John of Damascus, and Timothy of Baghdad, to produce a vehicle for meditation on the historical events of what is undoubtedly the most important of all weeks.

The word faith is such an important word with enormous implication. If we are saved by a sure and lasting faith, then we must be concrete in what the term is-it must be an anchor to hold us fast to our salvation. Through the chapters and discussion questions contained within this little volume, readers will find that true faith isn’t a frozen formula or fiery fanaticism. Saving faith is an affectionate knowledge of the true object of faith: Jesus Christ. Studying this historic, theological word should be as edifying as it is practical. The doctrine of faith is for everyone who confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord.

“Every Christian ought to be a good historian, and if his knowledge of history be improved by him as it ought, the better historian he is, the better Christian will he be.” This pithy remark by eighteenth-century Baptist leader, Caleb Evans, was delivered in a sermon calling “ordinary” Christian to read history and remember it, for in truth they were surrounded by its impact day after day.

Charles Hodge was Princeton Seminary’s leading antebellum theologian. He is known for biblically and historically defending Protestant and Reformed doctrines against the various opponents and critics of his day. Regarding the doctrine of the church and sacraments, Hodge was especially concerned with the assertions of Mercersburg theologians like Philip Schaff and John Williamson Nevin and Oxford Tractarians like John Henry Newman and Edward Bouverie Pusey. These theologians promoted views of the church and sacraments that Hodge believed were destructive to traditionally Protestant views of the Christian gospel itself. This book contains articles on the church and the sacraments that Hodge published in The Princeton Review to confront the High Church views of the church and the sacraments that were found in Mercersburg theology and the Oxford Movement.

The mission of the apostle Paul is central to the New Testament, where it was vital in the establishment of the early church and spreading the gospel throughout the world of his day. This study provides a concise but rich view of Paul the man and Paul the missionary. At his conversion to Christ, Paul was given a clear mandate to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Many truths were evident as he pursued this mission. Paul loved the church, and he was zealous to win the lost to Christ. He appreciated and cultivated co-labourers in the work of the gospel, as he depended on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Where are we going as a Canadian people? Given Augustine’s dictum that nations are ruled by what they love and desire, what is it that will shape the hearts and minds of Canadians in the days to come? Ever since the 1960s Canadian historians have downplayed the vital role that Christianity played in the lives of many men and women who built this nation before and after Confederation. But, as argued by the five essays in this book—which range over Canadian church history, theology and the Bible—despite the various demographic changes that have taken place in Canada such that Christianity no longer has a privileged hegemony, the Christian Faith still has a key contribution to make in both the public square and private sector of Canadian life. Read and reflect—and pray!

The year 2015 marked the two hundredth anniversary of the death of Andrew Fuller (1754-1815). The past generation has witnessed significant interest in Fuller by scholars and pastors alike. The bicentennial year provided a prime opportunity to reflect critically on his life and thought. These two volumes collect material from historians, theologians, and others who appreciate deeply (and sometimes debate vigorously) Fuller’s theology, but who share an appreciation for the legacy of this significant Baptist pastor-theologian and his contributions to the Baptist and evangelical traditions.

Since the time of Christ, the church has known men and women renowned for their devotion, spiritual insight and piety. Collectively their lives portray a broad history of Christian spirituality. This volume is meant to ignite your interest and understanding of key time periods and pivotal people from various eras of church history. Instead of exploring the overall spiritual perspective of a person or period, only certain aspects of thought are dealt with. This is an approach to church history with an eye to issues of spirituality that emphasizes how today’s Christians can cull ancient sources for their spiritual enrichment and encouragement as they seek to live their lives under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Each of the exceptional contributors is knowledgeable in their particular subject area.

Many associate the names George Whitefield and John Wesley with the eighteenth-century Evangelical Revival, while the name Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, is less familiar. But this remarkable woman played a crucial role in the revival in Europe, interacting and forming friendships with many of its key players. The Countess leveraged her wealth and high position in English society to widen the evangelistic impact of the revival. Her sacrifices would ultimately see, among her many efforts, the establishment of over 60 chapels and a college for training ministers.Readers will be encouraged not only by how steadfastly Selina laboured but also by how she persevered in the face of illness, the deaths of her husband and children, and devastating setbacks in her gospel ministry. Yet trusting wholeheartedly in Christ her Saviour-and not the vanity and riches prized by her aristocratic peers-Selina lived out a faith characterized by boldness, zeal, and love.

Tertullian of Carthage is well-known for having had a significant influence on the development of theology in the Latin-speaking western portion of the Roman Empire. Much attention has been paid in recent years to Tertullian’s views on women, but little has yet been said about his views on marriage and sexuality. Though connections between his views on marriage and those of later thinkers are less clear than in other branches of theology, largely due to the controversial nature of his views on second marriage, his influence is still felt in thinkers such as Cyril and Jerome. As with many areas of his theology, Tertullian’s writings on marriage and sex contain intriguing tensions or paradoxes across his corpus. In some places, he praises marriage as a positive good, and at other times he reduces it to little more than fornication.

The year 2015 marked the two hundredth anniversary of the death of Andrew Fuller (1754-1815). The past generation has witnessed significant interest in Fuller by scholars and pastors alike. The bicentennial year provided a prime opportunity to reflect critically on his life and thought. These two volumes collect material from historians, theologians, and others who appreciate deeply (and sometimes debate vigorously) Fuller’s theology, but who share an appreciation for the legacy of this significant Baptist pastor-theologian and his contributions to the Baptist and evangelical traditions.

This arrangement of poems spans the life of a Christian, beginning with the uncertainty, frustration, and doubts before coming to faith in Christ, through to the triumph of the gospel in life and in death. Undiminished Returns is a pilgrimage of poems testifying to the transformative power of grace, love, and hope that is found in Christ alone. Rich in poetic language yet clear and accessible, this book of poems will encourage and challenge both believers and non-believers in their search for meaning, value, and identity in an unsettled world that has lost sight of the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness of the Creator.

God’s Instrument but for a Time considers the development of Hugh Latimer’s evangelical convictions as a central figure in the English reformations during the sixteenth century. Recent scholarship has increasingly recognized the Protestant bias and questioned the factual accuracy of John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments (1563), which is more commonly known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Timothy Stanton’s method-tracing the growth of Latimer’s evangelical convictions from his extant sermons and letters-avoids the pitfalls of an over-reliance on Foxe by allowing Latimer to speak on his own terms. In this work, Stanton approaches Latimer’s life and thought topically rather than chronologically and so offers a fresh perspective.

“Every Divine truth bears a relation to him: hence the doctrine of the gospel is called ‘the truth as it is in Jesus,’” according to Andrew Fuller. Biblical history is the story of the truth as it is in Jesus. Fuller never lost sight of this foundational truth. His pastoral commitment to pursue the truth as it is in Jesus transformed every aspect of Fuller’s thinking, including his understanding of the task of preaching, sermon preparation, and the preparation of the preacher himself. He believed in the primacy of faithful, Christ-centered expository preaching. Of preaching, he wrote, “Oh how important! We preach for eternity!” These pages call the reader alongside Andrew Fuller as he teaches us through his writings and sermons to “Preach not only the truth, but all truth, ‘as it is in Jesus.’”

How are we to live in these turbulent days? What will it look like to navigate the present crisis and its aftermath as followers of Jesus Christ? Living by Faith in Turbulent Times tackles these timely questions by taking us deep into the Bible’s most famous passage on the nature of authentic faith, Hebrews 11. As we look to God’s never-changing word for guidance and help for today, we find rich encouragement from key models of faith-men and women who walked with God and trusted his promises through fearful and challenging days. This new resource will not only strengthen followers of Jesus to walk by faith, but introduce others to the God who can be trusted in turbulent times.