Themelios 3:3

by The Gospel Coalition

Publisher:

Gospel Coalition

, 1978

Overview

Themelios is an international evangelical theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. It was formerly a print journal operated by RTSF/UCCF in the United Kingdom, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The new editorial team, led by D.A. Carson, seeks to preserve representation, in both essayists and reviewers, from both sides of the Atlantic. Each issue contains articles on important theological themes, as well as book reviews and discussion—from the most important evangelical voices of our time.

• An Evangelical and Critical Approach to the Sayings of Jesus, by Bruce D. Chilton
• James Barr on ‘Fundamentalism’: A Review Article, by David F. Wright
• Thinking Biblically About Islam, by Colin J. Chapman

Contents

Top Highlights

“If Paul could use the same word for ‘God’ as the Greeks used, however inadequate and misleading it might be, there is no reason why the Christian should hesitate to use the same word for ‘God’ that the Muslim uses, whether it is in Arabic, Persian, Urdu or any other language.” (Page 72)

“quite another thing to live as a Christian in an Islamic society.” (Page 66)

“‘Because of you, the name of God is dishonoured among the Gentiles’ (Rom. 2:24, neb). If Paul could adapt some words from Isaiah 52:5 and apply them to the Jews of his day, we may perhaps be justified in adapting the words again and applying them to the history of the Christian church in the world of Islam: ‘Because of you Christians, the name of Christ is dishonoured among Muslims.’ The problem goes back long before the Crusades, since Muhammad and the Arabs of his day formed their ideas of Christianity largely from the Byzantine Empire.” (Page 69)

“It is hard to resist the feeling that while God’s will is revealed to the Muslim in the Qur’an, God himself is hardly knowable in any personal sense. Man is called upon to obey God and to submit to him; he can also know something about the character of God in the many different ‘names’ of God. But he is not invited to know the God whom he worships. It was no doubt this missing element in man’s relationship with God which contributed to the movement of Islamic mysticism (Sufism).” (Page 72)

“The parallel we have drawn between Islam and New Testament Judaism would suggest that where there has to be a parting of the ways between the Christian and the Muslim, it is because we are faced ultimately with a choice between two ways of thinking which cannot be reconciled. Jesus’ rebuke to Peter over the question of his suffering and death may therefore be relevant in all the other areas as well: ‘You think as men think, not as God thinks’ (Mk. 8:33, neb).” (Page 77)

Product Details

• Title: Themelios 3:3
• General Editor: D. A. Carson
• Consulting Editor: Carl R. Trueman
• Managing Editor: Charles Anderson
• Administrator: Andrew David Naselli
• Publisher: The Gospel Coalition
• Publication Date: 1978
• Pages: 30

About The Gospel Coalition

Brian J. Tabb (PhD, London Theological Seminary) is academic dean at Bethlehem College & Seminary and an elder of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also serves as managing editor for Themelios, published by the Gospel Coalition, and is the author of Suffering in Ancient Worldview.

D.A. Carson is a research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has been at Trinity since 1978. Carson came to Trinity from the faculty of Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he also served for two years as academic dean. He has served as an assistant pastor and pastor and has done itinerant ministry in Canada and the United Kingdom. Carson received a bachelor of science in chemistry from McGill University, the master of divinity from Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto, and the doctor of philosophy in New Testament from the University of Cambridge. Carson is an active guest lecturer in academic and church settings around the world. He holds membership on the Council for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Carson has also written many books that have garnered international acclaim, including his award-winning title The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism.

Daniel Strange is academic vice president and lecturer in culture, religion, and public theology at Oak Hill College, London. He is the author or coauthor of several other books, including The Possibility of Salvation Among the Unevangelised: An Analysis of Inclusivism in Recent Evangelical Theology.