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    Baptist and Reformed Theologies of Vision and Deification (2). Constructive Issues in Contemporary Research. Editors: Joshua R. Farris and Ryan A. Brandt

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Perichoresis

Volume 21 (2023): Issue 3 (July 2023)

Volume 21 (2023): Issue 2 (June 2023)

Volume 21 (2023): Issue s1 (March 2023)

Volume 21 (2023): Issue 1 (March 2023)

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 5 (December 2022)
Doctoral Supplement. Postgraduate Research in Contemporary Evangelical Higher Education: Academic Perspectives on Variegated Theological and Historical Topics. Issue Editor: Marcel V. Măcelaru

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 4 (December 2022)
Miscellaneous Theological Investigations. From Economy, Literature, and Hermeneutics to Christology, Exegesis, and Typology. Issue Editor: Corneliu C. Simuț

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 3 (July 2022)
A Multi-Angle Examination of C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces. Theological, Philosophical, Ethical, and Literary Insights from one of Lewis's Greatest Novels. Issue Editor: Zachary Breitenbach

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 2 (June 2022)
Reform according to Right Law: the Use of Legal Tradition in Reformation Theology. Issue Editor: André A. Gazal

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 1 (March 2022)
Confessing the Trinity. The Trinitarianism of Particular Baptists, 1640s-1840s. Issue Editor: Michael A. G. Haykin

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 4 (December 2021)
Miscellaneous Theological Studies: Biblical, Apologetic, Historical, Patristic, Theodicean, and Systematic. Issue Editor: Corneliu C. Simuţ

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 3 (July 2021)
Islam and Islamism. The Challenge for Modern Liberal Democracies. Issue Editors: Raphael Lataster, Rumy Hasan

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 2 (June 2021)
Fundamental Aspects of Christological Anthropology: Theological and Philosophical Perspectives in Contemporary Debates. Editor: Christopher G. Woznicki

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 1 (March 2021)
Revivalism in Central European Protestantism, 1840-1940: Hungarian Calvinists, British Evangelicals & German-Austrian Pietists during the Spiritual Renewal of Protestant Churches in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Editor: Ábraham Kovács

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 6 (December 2020)
The Catholic Reformation. Ecclesiology, Justification, Freedom, Sin, Grace & the Council of Trent. Editor: Eduardo J. Echeverria

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 5 (October 2020)
Roman Catholic, Reformed Catholic and Evangelical Protestant. Reformation Issues Five Hundred Years Later. Editor: Issue editor: Joshua R. Farris

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 4 (August 2020)
Issue 4 (Aug 2020): From Paris to Tortosa, via Barcelona (1240-1413), Characters, Issues and Problems in Medieval Jewish-Christian Disputations. Editor: Francesco Bianchi

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 3 (July 2020)
In the Footsteps of the Divine Artist. On the Religious and Spiritual Dimension in Art. Editors: Wessel Stoker and Frank G. Bosman

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 2 (June 2020)
De Corpore – ‘On the Body’ through the History of Idea, Views of the Body in Philosophy, Literature and Religion. Editor: Ramona Simuț

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 1 (March 2020)
Baptist and Reformed Theologies of Vision and Deification (2). Constructive Issues in Contemporary Research. Editors: Joshua R. Farris and Ryan A. Brandt

Volume 17 (2019): Issue 4 (December 2019)
Patristic Thought in Byzantine and Protestant Theology. From Gregory Palamas and George Pachymeres to Luther, Calvin, Anglicans, and Anabaptists. Editor: Andre A. Gazal

Volume 17 (2019): Issue 3 (July 2019)
Contemporary Evangelicals on Carl F. H. Henry’s Theology. From Philosophy, Evangelism, and Apologetics to Education, History, and Practice. Editor: Robert W. Talley

Volume 17 (2019): Issue 2 (June 2019)
Baptist and Reformed Theologies of Vision and Deification. Editors: Joshua R. Farris and Ryan A. Brandt

Volume 17 (2019): Issue s2 (July 2019)
Single Author Supplement 2: The Background and Nature of the Dissensions in 1 Corinthians 1-4. Apollos' Role and Paul's Response. Author: Corin Mihăilă

Volume 17 (2019): Issue s1 (January 2019)
Single Author Supplement 1: Theological Patterns in Reformation Thought. English, American, and Scottish Protestants on Christ, Revival, and the Covenant. Author: Dinu Moga

Volume 17 (2019): Issue 1 (March 2019)
The Father, Son, and Spirit in Early Christian Theology, Second Century Examples. Editor: Paul A. Hartog

Volume 16 (2018): Issue 4 (December 2018)
Tome huitième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Contemporary Perspectives on History and Theology in British Baptist Thought. Scottish and English Baptists on Salvation, Politics, and the End of Times. Issue editor: Alasdair Black

Volume 16 (2018): Issue 3 (July 2018)
Tome septieme: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Teaching Leaders, Leading Teachers. Biblical and Historical Perspectives on Education and Leadership: Jeffrey M. Horner Issue editor: Jeffrey M. Horner

Volume 16 (2018): Issue 2 (June 2018)
Tome sixième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Contemporary Perspectives on Molinism. Theories, Responses to Objections, and Applications, Issue editor: Kirk R. MacGregor

Volume 16 (2018): Issue 1 (April 2018)
Tome cinquième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Insights into Contemporary Baptist Thought. Perspectives on European Baptist Theology and History, Issue editor: Toivo Pilli

Volume 15 (2017): Issue 4 (December 2017)
Special Issue: Tome quatrieme: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Investigating the Magisterial Reformation and Its Radical Contenders. Contemporary Evangelicals on Reformation Research: from Lutheranism and Zwinglianism to Anabaptism and Baptism, Issue Editor: Marvin Jones

Volume 15 (2017): Issue 3 (October 2017)
Special Issue: Tome troisième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Theologizing about Spirituality, Pedagogy, and Soteriology. Miscellanea Antiqua, Medievalia, Reformatorica & Moderna by Corneliu Simuț

Volume 15 (2017): Issue 2 (July 2017)
Special Issue: : Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. ‘On the Soul’ through the History of Ideas. Views of the Soul in Philosophy, Literature & Relivion by Ramona Simuț

Volume 15 (2017): Issue 1 (May 2017)
Issue title: Tome premier: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation: 1517-2017. Anthologizing History, the Bible, and Theology. Miscellanea Celtica, Humanistica & Reformatorica by Thomas O’Loughlin and Corneliu C. Simuț

Volume 14 (2016): Issue 3 (December 2016)
Avant-Premiere: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Contemporary Perspectives on Reformed Orthodoxy. Reformed Confessions, Scholastic Thought, and Puritan Divinity in Post-Reformation Protestantism, Issue Editors: Gijsbert van den Brink, Aza Goudriaan

Volume 14 (2016): Issue 2 (October 2016)
Transformative Poetry and Its Role in Catholic Theology. Dutch Contributions to Contemporary Catholic Research. Issue Editors: Archibald L. H. M. van Wieringen, Marcel Sarot. Translator: Brian Heffernan

Volume 14 (2016): Issue 1 (June 2016)
African Hermeneutics in the Twenty-First Century. Social History and Indigenous Theologies in Contemporary African Research. Issue Editor: Zorodzai Dube

Volume 13 (2015): Issue 2 (October 2015)
Issue title: The Long History of Lutheranism in Scandinavia. Contemporary Voices in Finnish Historical Research. Issue Editor: Pirjo Markkola

Volume 13 (2015): Issue 1 (June 2015)
Issue Title: The Value of Controversy. Defining Early Modern Religion through Ritual and Writing. Issue Editor: Angela Ranson

Volume 12 (2014): Issue 2 (October 2014)
Special issue title: Exploring the Contours of Patristic Thought. Studies on Exegesis, Christology, and Soteriology in the Early Church

Volume 12 (2014): Issue 1 (June 2014)
Established and Emerging Voices in Richard Hooker Research, Issue Editor: Paul A. Dominiak

Volume 11 (2013): Issue 2 (December 2013)

Volume 11 (2013): Issue 1 (June 2013)

Volume 10 (2012): Issue 2 (June 2012)

Volume 10 (2012): Issue 1 (January 2012)

Journal Details
Format
Journal
eISSN
2284-7308
First Published
20 Sep 2012
Publication timeframe
3 times per year
Languages
English

Search

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 1 (March 2020)
Baptist and Reformed Theologies of Vision and Deification (2). Constructive Issues in Contemporary Research. Editors: Joshua R. Farris and Ryan A. Brandt

Journal Details
Format
Journal
eISSN
2284-7308
First Published
20 Sep 2012
Publication timeframe
3 times per year
Languages
English

Search

0 Articles
Open Access

Recovering the Reformation’s Ecumenical Vision of Redemption as Deification and Beatific Vision

Carl Mosser
Carl Mosser
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 3 - 24

Abstract

Abstract

The beatific vision is widely perceived as a Roman Catholic doctrine. Many continue to view deification as a distinctively Eastern Orthodox doctrine incompatible with the Western theological tradition, especially its Protestant expressions. This essay will demonstrate that several Reformers of the first and second generation promoted a vision of redemption that culminates with deification and beatific vision. They affirmed these concepts without apology in confessional statements, dogmatic works, biblical commentaries, and polemical treatises. Attention will focus on figures in the Reformed tradition though one could produce similar surveys for the Lutheran and Anglican branches of the Reformation as well. John Calvin will receive extended treatment because some scholars dispute whether he affirmed deification. This essay presents important evidence thus far overlooked which should settle the question.

Keywords

  • Beatific Vision
  • Deification
  • Zwingli
  • Bucer
  • Calvin
Open Access

Christ Our Light: The Expectation of Seeing God in Calvin’s Theology of the Christian Life

Carsten Card-Hyatt
Carsten Card-Hyatt
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 25 - 40

Abstract

Abstract

The beatific vision plays a prominent role in the history of Christian ethics. Reformed ethics has an ambiguous relationship to this history, on two counts. First, it offers some qualified critiques of the role of vision in ordering ethical understanding, and second, on some accounts, Reformed ethics shares some responsibility for the loss of transcendence in the modern world, and the narrowing of the ethical field that has resulted from this loss. This essay argues that the vision of God in John Calvin’s understanding of the Christian life offers resources to defend a Reformed ethics from some recent detractors. Further, it provides a constructive contrast with the role of eschatology in a prominent strand of 20th century ethics. This argument is sustained through a close reading of Calvin’s biblical commentaries on the role of theophanies and the promise of the vision of God, and of Book III, chapters 6-10 of the Institutes.

Keywords

  • beatific vision
  • ethics
  • modernity
  • transcendence
  • Christian life
  • John Calvin
Open Access

Girolamo Zanchi on Union with Christ and the Final Judgment

J.V. Fesko
J.V. Fesko
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 41 - 56

Abstract

Abstract

Union with Christ was a key doctrine for second-generation Reformed theologian Girolamo Zanchi. As a Thomist, Zanchi shared similar elements with Thomas Aquinas in his understanding of salvation as participatio, but his understanding of union with Christ differed with regard to the difference between infused and imputed righteousness. Unlike Aquinas’s doctrine of infused righteousness, Zanchi argued for imputed righteousness, which was both the foundation for one’s justification in this life as well as appearing before the divine bar at the final judgment. Zanchi’s doctrine of union with Christ has the utmost significance for personal eschatology and the judgment believers undergo at the great assize, insights that are worth retrieving for a clear understanding of the relationship between justification and the final judgement.

Keywords

  • Union with Christ
  • participation ()
  • imputed righteousness
  • infused righteousness
  • Aquinas
  • Zanchi
  • final judgment
Open Access

Triune Agency, East and West: Uncreated Energies or Created Effects?

Adonis Vidu
Adonis Vidu
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 57 - 75

Abstract

Abstract

The present paper situates the Western and Eastern models of divine agency within their respective ontological frameworks. I show how the Western conception of divine agency as the production of ‘created effects’ is rooted in a particular understanding of the relationship between transcendence and immanence, but also in a trinitarian ontology which understands God as pure actuality. On the other hand, the Eastern understanding of divine agency through the conceptuality of uncreated energies is similarly rooted in the real distinction between God’s nature and energies. Without trying to critique the Eastern model, I demonstrate one particular strength of the Western approach, namely its ability to distinguish between divine actions, which are inseparable, and divine missions, which are proper to the triune persons. Such a distinction enables us to affirm both the inseparability of triune operations, as well as the possibility of relations to distinct triune persons.

Keywords

  • Created Effects
  • Uncreated Energies
  • Deification
  • Divine Action
  • Simplicity
  • Trinity
Open Access

Demarcating Deification and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Reformed Theology

Joanna Leidenhag
Joanna Leidenhag
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 77 - 98

Abstract

Abstract

The recent interest in exploring whether authoritative figures of the Reformed tradition employed a concept of theōsis or deification in their soteriology continues to grow. However, it is yet unclear how the supposed implicit Reformed doctrine of deification relates to the more explicit concept of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, many of the arguments for theōsis in the theology of John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, or T. F. Torrance seem to rely on confusing these two soteriological concepts. This makes it almost impossible to assess if it is theōsis or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (or some interesting combination) that is being appealed to in Reformed thinking. This paper makes a step towards unpicking the knot between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and theōsis in Reformed theology by offering five possible ways to demarcate these two concepts. It is concluded that the final ‘Mereological Demarcation’ is currently the most acceptable.

Keywords

  • deification
  • indwelling
  • Holy Spirit
  • John Calvin
  • Jonathan Edwards
Open Access

Baptizing Theosis: Sketching an Evangelical Account

R. Lucas Stamps
R. Lucas Stamps
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 99 - 115

Abstract

Abstract

This essay explores some of the dogmatic challenges involved in developing a distinctively evangelical account of the doctrine of theosis, that is, humanity’s participation in the life of God. After offering some preliminary clarifications regarding the terminology of theosis, the paper sketches in broad strokes how an account of theosis might take shape within the structures of evangelical theology. David Bebbington’s famous evangelical quadrilateral— biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, and activism—serves as the basic framework (Bebbington 1989: 1-19). It will be argued that evangelical theology can accommodate a version of theosis within this structure, but that evangelicals’ understanding of these categories may require some ‘flexing’ in order to make room for a more Christocentric and participatory conceptualization of redemption, one that culminates in the beatific vision of the redeemed when ‘God will be all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28). The final section of the paper points to a pair of important figures who may serve as resources for an evangelical retrieval of theosis.

Keywords

  • theosis
  • evangelical
  • Biblicism
  • crucicentrism
  • conversionism
  • activism
0 Articles
Open Access

Recovering the Reformation’s Ecumenical Vision of Redemption as Deification and Beatific Vision

Carl Mosser
Carl Mosser
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 3 - 24

Abstract

Abstract

The beatific vision is widely perceived as a Roman Catholic doctrine. Many continue to view deification as a distinctively Eastern Orthodox doctrine incompatible with the Western theological tradition, especially its Protestant expressions. This essay will demonstrate that several Reformers of the first and second generation promoted a vision of redemption that culminates with deification and beatific vision. They affirmed these concepts without apology in confessional statements, dogmatic works, biblical commentaries, and polemical treatises. Attention will focus on figures in the Reformed tradition though one could produce similar surveys for the Lutheran and Anglican branches of the Reformation as well. John Calvin will receive extended treatment because some scholars dispute whether he affirmed deification. This essay presents important evidence thus far overlooked which should settle the question.

Keywords

  • Beatific Vision
  • Deification
  • Zwingli
  • Bucer
  • Calvin
Open Access

Christ Our Light: The Expectation of Seeing God in Calvin’s Theology of the Christian Life

Carsten Card-Hyatt
Carsten Card-Hyatt
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 25 - 40

Abstract

Abstract

The beatific vision plays a prominent role in the history of Christian ethics. Reformed ethics has an ambiguous relationship to this history, on two counts. First, it offers some qualified critiques of the role of vision in ordering ethical understanding, and second, on some accounts, Reformed ethics shares some responsibility for the loss of transcendence in the modern world, and the narrowing of the ethical field that has resulted from this loss. This essay argues that the vision of God in John Calvin’s understanding of the Christian life offers resources to defend a Reformed ethics from some recent detractors. Further, it provides a constructive contrast with the role of eschatology in a prominent strand of 20th century ethics. This argument is sustained through a close reading of Calvin’s biblical commentaries on the role of theophanies and the promise of the vision of God, and of Book III, chapters 6-10 of the Institutes.

Keywords

  • beatific vision
  • ethics
  • modernity
  • transcendence
  • Christian life
  • John Calvin
Open Access

Girolamo Zanchi on Union with Christ and the Final Judgment

J.V. Fesko
J.V. Fesko
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 41 - 56

Abstract

Abstract

Union with Christ was a key doctrine for second-generation Reformed theologian Girolamo Zanchi. As a Thomist, Zanchi shared similar elements with Thomas Aquinas in his understanding of salvation as participatio, but his understanding of union with Christ differed with regard to the difference between infused and imputed righteousness. Unlike Aquinas’s doctrine of infused righteousness, Zanchi argued for imputed righteousness, which was both the foundation for one’s justification in this life as well as appearing before the divine bar at the final judgment. Zanchi’s doctrine of union with Christ has the utmost significance for personal eschatology and the judgment believers undergo at the great assize, insights that are worth retrieving for a clear understanding of the relationship between justification and the final judgement.

Keywords

  • Union with Christ
  • participation ()
  • imputed righteousness
  • infused righteousness
  • Aquinas
  • Zanchi
  • final judgment
Open Access

Triune Agency, East and West: Uncreated Energies or Created Effects?

Adonis Vidu
Adonis Vidu
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 57 - 75

Abstract

Abstract

The present paper situates the Western and Eastern models of divine agency within their respective ontological frameworks. I show how the Western conception of divine agency as the production of ‘created effects’ is rooted in a particular understanding of the relationship between transcendence and immanence, but also in a trinitarian ontology which understands God as pure actuality. On the other hand, the Eastern understanding of divine agency through the conceptuality of uncreated energies is similarly rooted in the real distinction between God’s nature and energies. Without trying to critique the Eastern model, I demonstrate one particular strength of the Western approach, namely its ability to distinguish between divine actions, which are inseparable, and divine missions, which are proper to the triune persons. Such a distinction enables us to affirm both the inseparability of triune operations, as well as the possibility of relations to distinct triune persons.

Keywords

  • Created Effects
  • Uncreated Energies
  • Deification
  • Divine Action
  • Simplicity
  • Trinity
Open Access

Demarcating Deification and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Reformed Theology

Joanna Leidenhag
Joanna Leidenhag
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 77 - 98

Abstract

Abstract

The recent interest in exploring whether authoritative figures of the Reformed tradition employed a concept of theōsis or deification in their soteriology continues to grow. However, it is yet unclear how the supposed implicit Reformed doctrine of deification relates to the more explicit concept of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, many of the arguments for theōsis in the theology of John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, or T. F. Torrance seem to rely on confusing these two soteriological concepts. This makes it almost impossible to assess if it is theōsis or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (or some interesting combination) that is being appealed to in Reformed thinking. This paper makes a step towards unpicking the knot between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and theōsis in Reformed theology by offering five possible ways to demarcate these two concepts. It is concluded that the final ‘Mereological Demarcation’ is currently the most acceptable.

Keywords

  • deification
  • indwelling
  • Holy Spirit
  • John Calvin
  • Jonathan Edwards
Open Access

Baptizing Theosis: Sketching an Evangelical Account

R. Lucas Stamps
R. Lucas Stamps
Published Online: 02 Jun 2020
Page range: 99 - 115

Abstract

Abstract

This essay explores some of the dogmatic challenges involved in developing a distinctively evangelical account of the doctrine of theosis, that is, humanity’s participation in the life of God. After offering some preliminary clarifications regarding the terminology of theosis, the paper sketches in broad strokes how an account of theosis might take shape within the structures of evangelical theology. David Bebbington’s famous evangelical quadrilateral— biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, and activism—serves as the basic framework (Bebbington 1989: 1-19). It will be argued that evangelical theology can accommodate a version of theosis within this structure, but that evangelicals’ understanding of these categories may require some ‘flexing’ in order to make room for a more Christocentric and participatory conceptualization of redemption, one that culminates in the beatific vision of the redeemed when ‘God will be all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28). The final section of the paper points to a pair of important figures who may serve as resources for an evangelical retrieval of theosis.

Keywords

  • theosis
  • evangelical
  • Biblicism
  • crucicentrism
  • conversionism
  • activism