Biblical and Theological Studies Faculty Works
Submissions from 2022
Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology Third edition, Gregory A. Boyd and Paul R. Eddy
This accessible yet comprehensive primer helps readers understand the breadth of viewpoints on major issues in evangelical theology. Now updated and revised throughout....
Rethinking Transition: On the History, Experience, and Current Research Regarding Gender Transition, Transition Regret and Detransition, Paul R. Eddy
One of the most controversial questions in the academic conversation about transgender experiences is this: How common is it for transgender people who pursue a gender transition to change their minds later and choose to detransition? Estim...
Centered on Jesus: A Lenten Devotional from the Faculty of Bethel University, Christopher Gehrz, Esther Shull, Carl Albing, Rebekah Bain, Andy Bramsen, Susan Leigh Brooks, Jeannine K. Brown, Michael Crawford, Julie Anne De Haan, Joy Doan, Dale Durie, Julie Finnern, Barrett Fisher, Joel Frederickson, Laura Gilbertson, Rhonda Gilbraith, Ann Holland, Stephen Hunt, Rachel Jorgensen, Patricia Kelly, Denise Muir Kjesbo, Marion H. Larson, Erik Leafblad, Elisabeth E. Lefebvre, Jim Lewis, Joyce LeMay, Alison Lo, Gary A. Long, Christopher Moore, Katherine Nevins, Pauline E. Nichols, Meredith Nyberg, Chad Osgood, Jeanine Parolini, Richard Peterson, Dan Ritchie, Matt Runion, Robin Rylaarsdam, Kristin E. Sandau, Sara L. H. Shady, Angela Shannon, Marta Shaw, Paula A.G. Soneral, Peter T. Vogt, Laura Wennstrom, Gloria Wiese, Brandon Winters, Yu-li Chang Zacher, and Nick Zeimet
For the 2022 season of Lent, Bethel faculty and staff members collaborated to pen Centered on Jesus: A Lenten Devotional from the Faculty of Bethel University. The daily devotionals in Centered on Jesus are intended to help the Bethel commu...
There Be Dragons: History and Meaning of Dragon Imagery in Art (and Religion), Jim Lewis, Kenneth Steinbach, and Josh Vana
Dr. Jim (James) Lewis joins Bethel University art student Josh Vana as he presents research on the historical roots of dragon imagery and symbolism in Asian and European art and how that informed the development of his displayed sculpture i...
Books from 2021
Postmortem Opportunity : A Biblical and Theological Assessment of Salvation after Death, James K. Beilby
Summary: What happens to those who did not hear the gospel before death, or who heard an incorrect version? What about those who were too young or who were otherwise unable to respond? Examining the biblical evidence and assessing the theol...
Reflections on the Debate Concerning the Desistance Rate among Young People Experiencing Gender Dysphoria, Paul R. Eddy
Over the last several years, a key point of controversy has emerged at the heart of the transgender child phenomenon – namely, the desistance debate. In simple terms, the debate involves this question: Of the children who experience gender ...
The Art of Contextual Theology : Doing Theology in the Era of World Christianity, Victor I. Ezigbo
Christianity has an inherent capability to assume, as its novel mode of expression, the local idioms, customs, and thought forms of a new cultural frontier that it encounters. As a result, Christianity has become multicultural and multiling...
Laodicea at Bethel Dear Church, Learning from the Seven Letters Written to the Churches in Revelation Part 8, Juan Hernandez Jr
Dr. Juan Hernandez, Jr. gives a lecture in Bethel's Chapel on the text of Revelation 3:14-21 for the last of an eight part series on the letters to the churches in Revelation. He reads the passage with some minor changes addressing the lett...
Submissions from 2020
Alvin Plantinga: Christian Philosophy as Apologetics, James K. Beilby
The History of Apologetics follows the great apologists in the history of the church to understand how they approached the task of apologetics in their own cultural and theological context. Each chapter looks at the life of a well-known apo...
Studies in Revelation: Observations on 1:1-20 - Part 1 of 5 Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
This series focuses on the book of Revelation in the New Testament to review is contents and its meaning, especially in the origninal context as an apocalyptic letter written to Christians of the 1st century. With this foundation in biblica...
Studies in Revelation: Observations on 1:1-20 - Part 2 of 5 Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
This series focuses on the book of Revelation in the New Testament to review is contents and its meaning, especially in the origninal context as an apocalyptic letter written to Christians of the 1st century. With this foundation in biblica...
Studies in Revelation: Observations on 1:1-20 - Part 3 of 5 Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
This series focuses on the book of Revelation in the New Testament to review is contents and its meaning, especially in the origninal context as an apocalyptic letter written to Christians of the 1st century. With this foundation in biblica...
Studies in Revelation: Observations on 1:1-20 - Part 4 of 5 Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
This series focuses on the book of Revelation in the New Testament to review is contents and its meaning, especially in the origninal context as an apocalyptic letter written to Christians of the 1st century. With this foundation in biblica...
Studies in Revelation: Observations on 1:1-20 - Part 5 of 5 Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
This series focuses on the book of Revelation in the New Testament to review is contents and its meaning, especially in the origninal context as an apocalyptic letter written to Christians of the 1st century. With this foundation in biblica...
Submissions from 2019
Understanding Transgender Identities : Four Views, James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy
Contents: Understanding transgender experiences and identities : an introduction / Paul Rhodes Eddy, James K. Beilby -- Transition or transformation? : a moral-theological exploration of Christianity and gender dysphoria / Owen Strachan -- ...
The Historicity of the Early Oral Jesus Tradition: Reflections on the ‘Reliability Wars', Paul R. Eddy, Darrell Bock, and J. Ed Komoszewski
Jesus was an itinerant Jewish teacher who proclaimed the kingdom of God in both word and deed, but not in script. This observation explains both the importance of the oral Jesus tradition within the early church (visible in statements from ...
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits Second Edition Luke and John Part 5 of 5 Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits will explore the distinct historical, literary and theological contributions of each of the New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus for ...
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits Second Edition Mark and Matthew Part 3 of 5 Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits will explore the distinct historical, literary and theological contributions of each of the New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus for ...
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits Second Edition Matthew and Luke Part 4 of 5 Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits will explore the distinct historical, literary and theological contributions of each of the New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus for ...
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits Second Edition Part 1 of 5 Introduction Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits will explore the distinct historical, literary and theological contributions of each of the New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus for ...
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits Second Edition Part 2 of 5 Mark Morning Bible Hour Okoboji Bible Conference, Juan Hernandez Jr
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits will explore the distinct historical, literary and theological contributions of each of the New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus for ...
Evangelical Faith and Culture in the Lives of Vietnam’s Upland Hmong - 1987-2017, Jim Lewis
This paper centers on the contemporary conversion movement to Christianity among the Hmong of the Northern Mountainous Region (NMR). Taking place within the brief scope of only 30 years, religious change among the 1.2 million highland Hmong...
Books from 2018
Studies in the History of the Greek Text of the Apocalypse : The Ancient Stems, Josef Schmid, Juan Hernández Jr., Garrick V. Allen, and Darius Müller
Josef Schmid’s landmark publication, Studien zur Geschichte des Griechischen Apokalypse-Textes, has been the standard work for understanding Revelation’s Greek manuscript tradition and textual history for more than sixty years. Despite the ...
Submissions from 2017
Typology and Terrain: In Qualified Defense of the Standard Threefold Typology in Theology of Religions, Paul R. Eddy and Robert McKim
Over the last several decades, a three-fold typology – using the labels exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism – has been widely adopted in discussions of theology of religions. At the same time, this now-standard typology has come under su...
Comparative Religion, Jim Lewis
This entry in the Dictionary of Evangelical Theology published by Baker Academic explains the concept of Comparative Religion in the context of evangelical theology....
Submissions from 2016
"Remember that During Your Life You Had Good Things..." For Philando Castille, Juan Hernandez Jr
This is the text and audio of an address given to Bethel University's College of Arts and Sciences community during the first Convocation Chapel of the Year by Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Juan Hernandez. Hernandez explain...
Submissions from 2014
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits - Part 1 Overview of Gospels and Mark, Juan Hernández Jr.
Christ through Four Gospel Portraits" is an exploration of the the distinct historical, literary, and theological contributions of each Evangelist to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus for its earliest Christian readership. T...
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits - Part 2 Mark Continued, Juan Hernández Jr.
"Christ through Four Gospel Portraits" is an exploration of the the distinct historical, literary, and theological contributions of each Evangelist to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus for its earliest Christian readership. ...
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits - Part 3 Matthew and Luke, Juan Hernández Jr.
"Christ through Four Gospel Portraits Part 3" is the third in a series of four lectures that explores the distinct historical, literary, and theological contributions of each Evangelist to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus f...
Christ Through Four Gospel Portraits - Part 4 John and the Synoptic Gospels, Juan Hernández Jr.
"Christ through Four Gospel Portraits" is an exploration of the the distinct historical, literary, and theological contributions of each Evangelist to the question of the identity and mission of Jesus for its earliest Christian readership. ...
The creation of a fourth-century witness to the andreas text type: A misreading in the apocalypse's textual history, Juan Hernández Jr
The publication of Josef Schmid's landmark work on the textual history of the Apocalypse seemingly established the Andreas Text Type as a fourth-century product. The primary evidence for Schmid's claim came from the fourth-century correctio...
Walking with the Mud Flower collective: God's Fierce Whimsy and dialogic theological method, Stina Busman Jost
Arguing for a retrieval of the landmark work, God’s Fierce Whimsy, Stina Busman Jost establishes the critical importance of this volume for the construction of a dialogic theological method. This is accomplished through a close reading of G...
Submissions from 2013
The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis, Bart D. Ehrman and Michael W. Holmes
The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research provides up-to-date discussions of every major aspect of New Testament textual criticism. Written by internationally acknowledged experts, the twenty-four essays evaluate all significan...
Modern critical editions and apparatuses of the Greek new testament, Juan Hernández Jr
From "Original Text" to "Initial Text": The Traditional Goal of New Testament Textual Criticism in Contemporary Discussion, Michael W. Holmes
This essay focuses on this second set of issues arising out of the current discussion about the meaning and status of the term “original text.” Following a brief introduction to recent discussion, the essay will sketch usage of the term “or...
Reasoned Eclecticism in New Testament Textual Criticism, Michael W. Holmes
New Testament textual critics work with two categories of evidence, conventionally designated as “external” (provided by the manuscripts themselves, including relative age, geographic distribution, and relative weight of the witnesses) and ...
Vietnamese Religions, Asian Studies, and the Rule of Law, James F. Lewis
While the topic of human rights has become more prominent in studies of Southeast Asia, systematic research on religious freedom and rule of law has been difficult in Vietnam. After the economic liberalization of 1986, scholars saw new tren...
Grammatical Concepts 101 for Biblical Hebrew : Learning Biblical Hebrew Grammatical Concepts Through English Grammar, Gary A. Long
Submissions from 2012
Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views, James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy
The Early Text of Luke, Juan Hernández Jr
This chapter examines six pre-fourth-century papyri containing Luke's Gospel: P4, P7, P45, P69, P75, and P111. The individual scribal habits, textual relationships, and transmission and social histories of each manuscript are considered. Ed...
Vietnam's Christians: a Century of Growth in Adversity, Jim Lewis
Until now, a substantive chapter on Protestant Vietnam has been missing from standard histories of Asian continental Christianity. No longer, thanks to the work of Reg Reimer. Written to celebrate the hundred-year saga of Vietnam's evangeli...
Submissions from 2011
Justification: Five Views, James K. Beilby, Paul R. Eddy, and Steven E. Enderlein
The relevance of Andrew of Caesarea for new testament textual criticism, Juan Hernández Jr
Books from 2010
Re-imagining African Christologies: Conversing with the Interpretations and Appropriations of Jesus Christ in Contemporary African Christianity, Victor I. Ezigbo
"Who do you say that I am" (Mark 8:29) is the question of Christology. By asking this question, Jesus invites his followers to interpret him from within their own contexts-history, experience, and social location. Therefore, all responses t...
A scribal solution to a problematic measurement in the apocalypse, Juan Hernández Jr
Orthographic variation within the manuscripts of the Greek NT is seldom a cause célèbre beyond the ranks of diehard textual critics. Even among these most will concede that orthographic irregularities amount to little more than evidence of ...
Reconstructing the Text of the New Testament, Michael W. Holmes
Submissions from 2009
The Historical Jesus: Five Views, James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy
Recovering a “Lost” author: Marcion of Smyrna, Michael W. Holmes
The Martyrdom of Polycarp, traditionally treated as an anonymous document, is not: it was composed by Marcion of Smyrna. A writer of no small ability, he argues for a particular view of martyrdom on the basis of a sophisticated interpretati...
The Biblical Canon, Michael W. Holmes
Christianity has, for much of its history, worked with a closed canon of scripture, 'canon' in the sense of a clearly defined and authoritative list of writings considered to be scripture. In such circumstances, every document that is viewe...
Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal, Jim Lewis
Christianity and Human Rights in Vietnam: The Case of Ethnic Minorities, 1975-2007, Jim Lewis
"Those who protest injustice are people of true merit."-Ho Chi Minh 1
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has constitutional articles regarding freedom of religion. Since...
Submissions from 2008
Externalism, Skepticism, and Knowledge: An Argument Against Internalism, James K. Beilby
Debate between internalists and externalists hinge not only on different construals of justification and warrant, but also on different construals of the nature of the skeptical challenge, different intuitions regarding what constitutes an ...
The apocalypse in codex alexandrinus: Its singular readings and scribal habits, Juan Hernández Jr
Submissions from 2007
Plantinga's Model of Warranted Christian Belief, James K. Beilby
Warranted Christian Belief is undoubtedly Plantinga's magnum opus, not only because of its size – 508 pages with routine interludes of fine print – but also because it constitutes the culmination of a research project in which Plantinga has...
Submissions from 2006
The Implications of Postmodernism for Theology: On Meta-narratives, Foundationalism, and Realism, James K. Beilby
It takes an uncommon measure of courage to argue that an organization to which one belongs must change. Because it is very rare that there is universal agreement on what (and how much) needs to change, even the least conservative members of...
The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views, James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy
Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse : the Singular Readings of Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi, Juan Hernández Jr.
Modelled on the respective studies of Ernest C. Colwell and James R. Royse, Juan Hernández Jr. offers a fresh and comprehensive discussion of the Apocalypse's singular readings in Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi. Moreover, the singul...
Polycarp of Smyrna, Letter to the Philippians, Michael Holmes
The Letter to the Philippians penned by Polycarp of Smyrna is sometimes dismissed as an example of a proof-texting moralism, indicative of the post-apostolic church's fall from the heights of Pauline Christianity. Read on its own terms, thi...
Grammatical Concepts 101 for Biblical Greek : Learning Biblical Greek Grammatical Concepts through English Grammar, Gary A. Long
Tips for Learning Biblical Greek -- Part I. Foundations -- Linguistic Hierarchies -- Sound Production -- Consonants -- Vowels -- Syllable -- English -- Biblical Greek -- Translation -- Translations -- Translating Homework in First-Year Bibl...
Books from 2005
Epistemology as Theology : An Evaluation of Alvin Plantinga's Religious Epistemology, James K. Beilby
Alvin Plantinga is arguably one of the most influential philosophers of our time. Much of his career has been devoted to explaining and defending the intellectual acceptability of Christian belief. Recently he has developed a comprehensive,...
Submissions from 2004
Divine Aseity, Divine Freedom : A Conceptual Problem for Edwardsian-Calvinism, James K. Beilby
The purpose of this paper is to consider whether the Calvinist's typical understanding of why God created the world is consistent with the assertion of God's independence and self-sufficiency—an attribute theologians have labeled "aseity." ...
Global Religions: An Introduction, Jim Lewis
Ten essays contextualize Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, African Religion and Local Religious Societies within the category globalism. The “bookends” are a prefatorial introduction followed by three concluding chapters on ...
Submissions from 2003
Dictionary of Contemporary Religion in the Western World: Exploring Living Faiths in Postmodern Contexts (Review), James F. Lewis
When Samuel Clemens heard that a journalist had reported his passing, he quipped: “Rumors of my death, have been greatly exaggerated.” In a similar vein, the Dictionary serves to lay to rest the antiquated but oft-believed claim of secular ...
Christianity at the Religious Roundtable: Evangelicalism in Conversation with Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, Jim Lewis and Micah A, Thompson
Reminiscent of E. Stanley Jones's technique of utilizing a roundtable for religious dialogue, Timothy C. Tennent's Christianity st the Religious Roundtable seeks to engage Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim ideas on issues he regards as central to...
Submissions from 2002
Does God Hear Muslims' Prayers?, Jim Lewis
Islam affirms that Allah’s nature is one (tauhid) in the sense of his utter simplicity and uncompoundedness. But the unfolding truth about God throughout biblical revelation is that God exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Ho...
The Evangelical Religious Movement Among the Hmông of Northern Vietnam and the Government Response To It: 1989-2000, Jim Lewis
Since 1989 the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) has seen a case of widespread religious change to Evangelical Christianity among the highland minority Hmông population of 558,000 in five of its Northern provinces. Where earlier there wer...
Submissions from 2001
Divine Foreknowledge : Four Views, James K. Beilby, Paul R. Eddy, and Gregory A. Boyd
Contents: The open-theism view / Gregory A. Boyd -- Responses -- The simple-foreknowledge view / David Hunt -- Responses -- The middle-knowledge view / William Lane Craig -- Responses -- The Augustinian-Calvinist view / Paul Helm....
India's Jains in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Jim Lewis
Jains are an ancient religious tradition of South Asia surviving and even thriving through the 19th and 20th centuries. Though a minority in modern times they have played an outsize influence on India’s cultural and religious heritage. Moha...
Submissions from 1997
A Note on the Text of Polycarp Philipplans 11.3, Michael W. Holmes
Christianity and the Religions in the History of the Church, Jim Lewis
The history of Christian religious other interaction is more than the history of how thinkers, churches and communities have viewed the discrete religions. It is also a history of how Christians have come to understand religion as a human p...
Books from 1991
Religious Traditions of the World, James F. Lewis and William G. Travis
Religious Traditions of the World surveys the religious traditions of the world with a theological evaluation of selected main ideas from each tradition. The emphasis is on contemporary descriptive study of the history, development, scriptu...
Submissions from 1986
The Text of Matthew 5.11, Michael W. Holmes