“The Making of the Trinity: From Christ to Constantinople” – Apostolic Succession and Historical Continuity.
In 2022, I wrote an article on apostolic succession, particularly the rule of faith and the Old Testament's eschatological expectation of the Messiah's coming. For me, one thing was certain: even Jesus’ earliest followers clearly anticipated the coming of the Messiah—the One appointed to set things in order and usher in the new hope of God’s Kingdom. The expectation was of Someone to come, but the shape and substance of that expectation were formed by [...]
“The Making of the Trinity: From Christ to Constantinople” – Looking at the Trinitarian Criteria
There is something wonderfully confident about the claim that we can simply establish a neat little checklist for determining who is and who is not Nicene. Five propositions. Oh, sorry, six! That little numerical wobble may seem insignificant, but it actually introduces us to the larger problem. Jake Brancatella argues in The Making of the Trinity that anyone who wishes to be regarded as Nicene must affirm a series of propositions concerning the Father, Son, [...]
“The Making of the Trinity: From Christ to Constantinople” – Critiquing the Central Thesis
There is a particular argument against the Christian doctrine of the Trinity that sounds rather impressive when delivered with enough confidence, enough footnotes, and preferably a photograph of an ancient manuscript somewhere in the background. The argument goes something like this: If Jesus taught the Trinity, and if the Bible clearly teaches the Trinity, then Christians in the first three centuries should have been Trinitarians. But we supposedly do not find Trinitarians in those first [...]
Faith, Supernatural Encounters and the Problem of Knowing by Rudolph P. Boshoff
An interesting problem emerges whenever Christians begin talking about supernatural experiences. Someone says, “God spoke to me.” Someone else says, “I felt the presence of God.” Another tells us about a miraculous healing. Someone claims to have seen an angel. Someone else says that Jesus appeared to them in a dream. And then, somewhere in the room, the philosopher quietly clears his throat and asks: “Yes, but how do you know?” And there it is. [...]
“The Making of the Trinity: From Christ to Constantinople” – Problems with the Methodology and Scope
When I came across this book, I was quite excited (and still am), because as a Biblical Trinitarian, I welcome any sincere inquiry into one of the most cardinal doctrines of Christianity. So, while discussing this with some of my students in the Islamic courses I teach, three or four of us have decided to grapple together with the information we are discovering throughout this book. Needless to say, this will be a slow read, [...]
Let’s Be Humble about Our Orthodoxy by A W Tozer
Christianity is rarely found pure. Apart from Christ and His inspired apostles probably no believer or company of believers in the history of the world has ever held the truth in total purity. One great saint believed that the truth is so vast and mighty that no one is capable of taking it all in, and that it requires the whole company of ransomed souls properly to reflect the whole body of revealed truth. The [...]
Can a Christian Be Demon-Possessed? Excerpt From Spiritual Warfare by Brian Borgman and Rob Ventura
“We cannot avoid this controversial question when we deal with the topic of spiritual warfare. First, we should define what we mean by demon-possessed. Some scholars today prefer the term demonized rather than possessed.1 The objection is that the New Testament does not use the word possessed. Furthermore, the word possessed implies ownership and property. We fervently deny the concept that Satan can own a believer.2 The preferred term, demonized, comes from the Greek word [...]
The Illusion of the “Shared Narrative”: Decoupling the Qur’anic Adam from Genesis by Rudolph P. Boshoff
In contemporary interfaith dialogue, a popular strategy for building common ground is to point to what appears to be a unified scriptural heritage. A prime example of this can be found in Dr. Osman Latif’s book, Divine Perfection: Christianity and Islam on Sin and Salvation. During discussions of the text—specifically the timestamp range 2:39–4:23—a foundational claim is made to establish a theological bridge between the two faiths under the banner of a "shared narrative". However, [...]
The Late Antique Milieu of the Qur’anic Adam and Eve by Rudolph P. Boshoff
There is no dispute that the Qur'an treats Late Antique Syriac and Rabbinic folklore as canonical history. Let's face it, if one is attempting to demonstrate a uniquely unmediated divine dictation, leaning heavily on the Life of Adam and Eve—a text that was essentially the theological fan-fiction of Late Antiquity—is a rather precarious position to take. The Late Antique Milieu of the Qur'anic Adam and Eve The Qur’an contains a repetitive but highly theological account [...]
Short thoughts on the Qur’an an it’s rejection of Original Sin by Rudolph P. Boshoff
The Qur’an’s rejection of original sin (inherited ancestral guilt) and its specific construction of human accountability are not a historical vacuum or an unprecedented theological novelty. Instead, they map directly onto a fierce, pre-existing theological civil war raging across the Late Antique Near East. While Western Latin Christianity (following Augustine of Hippo) codified the doctrine of peccatum originale—the idea that humanity biologically or spiritually inherits Adam's moral guilt—the surrounding Rabbinic Jewish and East Syrian Christian [...]