Sample Articles from Recent Issues of The Westminster Theological Journal

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Hood, Jason B.   "The Cross in the New Testament:  Two Theses in Conversation with Recent Studies (2000-2007)."  Westminster Theological Journal 71 (2009): 281-95. 

The significance of the cross in the NT and in Christian theology makes the cross a perennial target of scholarly and popular texts, particularly among evangelicals.... This article...is intended to function as an exploration of two significant gaps in response to recent study of the biblical message of the cross. In particular these theses are presented with the intent of highlighting intriguing angles for scholars as well as pastors concerned with ‘‘the state of the question,’’ particularly that which is often missing in evangelical and Reformed literature. Books published since the turn of the millennium will function as the primary conversation partners for the present article.    + FULL ARTICLE

Gladd, Benjamin L.   "The Last Adam as the "Life-Giving Spirit" Revisited:  A Possible Old Testament Background of One of Paul's Most Perplexing Phrases."  Westminster Theological Journal 71 (2009): 297-309.

In 1 Cor 15:45b Paul declares, “So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”  Christ becoming a “life-giving Spirit” surprises the reader.  We expect the phrase “living Spirit,” paralleling the first Adam “becoming a living being.”... From whence does Paul derive his hermeneutic? This article explores the notion that the Genesis narrative, specifically Gen 5:3, has indeed shaped Paul’s thinking with regard to Christ becoming a “life-giving Spirit.” Adam’s impartation of his image to Seth typologically parallels the last Adam’s impartation of his image to believers.      + FULL ARTICLE

Cassidy, James J.  "Election and Trinity."  Westminster Theological Journal 71 (2009): 53-81.

The current debate among Barth scholars concerning the Swiss theologian’s understanding of the relation between the Trinity and God’s decree is as stimulating as it is potentially useful for aiding the church to advance a robust Christian doctrine of God. At the heart of the debate is this question: Does God’s being in triunity constitute his divine act of electing, or, conversely, does God’s act of election constitute his essence as the triune God?     + FULL ARTICLE

Waltke, Bruce K.  "Revisiting Inspiration and Incarnation."  Westminster Theological Journal 71 (2009): 83-95.

Professor Enns invites evangelicals to interact with his provocative ideas for sharpening theological discussion about the nature of Scripture. Upon my first reading I was struck with his commendable, unflinching honesty....Upon my second reading and more reflection, however, I questioned whether Enns’s answer helped doubters to keep the faith. This forced me to reflect more deeply upon the theologically disturbing cache of texts that Enns so helpfully collected, categorized, and then sought to resolve by his “incarnation” model of thinking about Scripture....And so in this essay I hope to collaborate with Enns in our common endeavor to assist students by offering alternative interpretations that to me are more exegetically and theologically satisfying.      + FULL ARTICLE 

Waltke, Bruce K.  "Righteousness in Proverbs."  Westminster Theological Journal 70 (2008): 225-237.

Wisdom in Proverbs and its correlative term “righteousness” is all about being rightly related to God, to other human beings, to all creatures, and to the environment. The wisdom and knowledge that our technological culture has lost and that T. S. Eliot was looking for is found in the book of Proverbs. In this lecture I hope to contribute to coloring our culture green.     + FULL ARTICLE

Poythress, Vern S.  "Canon and Speech Act: Limitations in Speech-Act Theory, with Implications for a Putative Theory of Canonical Speech Acts."  Westminster Theological Journal 70 (2008): 337-354.

The theory of speech acts, as developed by John Austin and John R. Searle, sets language in the context of human action and inquires about the functions and purposes of human action that are accomplished by sentences. This viewpoint is potentially useful in considering the canon of Scripture, and indeed has already been so used. The canon of Scripture is not just a natural object like a set of dinosaur bones, but a cultural product, and, yes—most emphatically—a divine product as well, with attendant personal purposes associated with its production. Inquiring about those purposes helps us to assess the meaning of canon in the context of who God is and the relation of his words to his redemptive deeds.     + FULL ARTICLE

Poythress, Vern S.  "Kinds of Biblical Theology."  Westminster Theological Journal 70 (2008): 129-142.

In 1976 Dr. Richard B. Gaffin Jr. published a programmatic article on “Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology,” building especially on the work of Geerhardus Vos and John Murray. Much has happened since then in developments in biblical theology. So I propose to reassess the present-day possibilities for biblical theology’s relation to systematic theology.   + FULL ARTICLE

Trueman, Carl R.  "Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light."  Westminster Theological Journal 70 (2008): 1-18.

Having been unable to find a suitable quotation from Bob Dylan as a title for my inaugural lecture, I have chosen instead a line from a famous poem by his partial namesake, Dylan Thomas. The whole stanza reads as follows:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

My reason for choosing as my opening shot Dylan Thomas’s rant against the passive resignation of old age in the face of death is simply this: today, both old age and church history are generally regarded as irrelevant. In a culture obsessed with youth and driven by consumption, old age is something of an embarrassment. It is an unproductive, unmarketable concept; and, in a church which so often apes the larger culture, church history is usually regarded as having little or nothing of use to say. My purpose, therefore, is to cast a critical eye on this assumption, and to indicate that Westminster Seminary church historians are not simply going to acquiesce in the consensus concerning their irrelevance, but that they fully intend to rage, rage against the dying of the historical light.   + FULL ARTICLE 

Finlayson, Alexander. "Westminster and Wikipedia: The Westminster Seminary Library in the Twenty-First Century." Westminster Theological Journal 69 (2007): 217-218. 

I would like to begin by asking the question, “What images come to your mind when you think of a library?” . . . To pose our question in a slightly different way and in terms that are closer to home, I would like to ask, “Does Westminster Theological Seminary still need a library?” This may seem an odd question for me to be asking, but it does reflect the broader thinking and soul searching that is going on in the library world right now. . . . The literature of librarianship is vast, and a good deal of it is being devoted to the issue of how libraries are responding to the explosion of information that has taken place in the digital age. When students can increasingly access the full text of books online, when Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, is becoming the first port of call for many people when they have an information need, it is appropriate to ask questions such as the following: Do we still need to pour scarce institutional resources into building a library? Is it possible that libraries have served their day and generation? Has the world of scholarly communication so changed that we can dispense with libraries?   + FULL ARTICLE

Witmer, Timothy. "Seminary: A Place to Prepare Pastors? " Westminster Theological Journal 69 (2007): 229-46.

If the key to the advance of the kingdom of our Lord is through the church, then the proper preparation of undershepherds to lead his flock is crucial. . . . What will the church always need? Pastors who are shepherds. From whence will they come? How will they be trained? How should they be prepared? You will notice that the title of this address has a question mark. . . . For my subject matter, there does seem to be a question mark in the minds of many about whether seminaries are doing the job in preparing pastors. Many have read the words of John Frame: “It seems to me that most seminary graduates are not spiritually ready for the challenges of the ministry. Seminaries not only frequently ‘refuse to do the work of the church’; they also tend to undo it.” In an article published in The Christian Century, Edward Farley bemoans the fact that despite years of internal self-analysis and external pressure from the church and accreditors, little has changed in addressing the ineffectiveness of seminaries in training pastors. So, should there be a question mark? Is the seminary an effective place to prepare pastors, or not?   + FULL ARTICLE

MORE ARTICLES....