Themelios: Volume 40, No. 2, August 2015

by The Gospel Coalition

Publisher:

Gospel Coalition

, 2015

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.

Key Features

• Offers an editorial by D.A. Carson
• Discusses books written by an assortment of authors and theologians
• Provides articles by contributors from numerous denominations and professions

Contents

• “Editorial: Some Reflections on Pastoral Leadership” by D.A. Carson
• “Off the Record: Can Antigone Work in a Secularist Society?” by Michael J. Ovey
• “Editor’s Note: Adam in Evangelical Theology” by Brian J. Tabb
• “Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin: A Review Essay” by Stephen N. Williams
• “Another Riddle without a Resolution? A Reply to Stephen Williams” by Hans Madueme
• “The Lost World of Adam and Eve: A Review Essay” by Richard E. Averbeck
• “Response to Richard Averbeck” by John H. Walton
• “Communicating the Book of Job in the Twenty-First Century” by Daniel J. Estes
• “Pastoral Pensées: Five Truths for Sufferers from the Book of Job” by Eric Ortlund

Top Highlights

“When God allows extreme and inexplicable suffering, when he appears to treat those who love him as if he hates them, the book of Job teaches that God is delivering us from our trivialization of God as a means to our ends and giving us opportunity, in the midst of unhidden and public grief (1:20), to worship God as God, for his own sake, regardless of any secondary blessing we might gain or lose. Such worship is painful, costly, and deeply honoring to God as the Lord and not a pet deity. Without these tragic experiences, even the best among us will slowly and unconsciously drift away from Job’s costly and beautiful worship in the first chapter of this book. In suffering, God is saving us, delivering us into a relationship with himself where he is actually God and Lord.” (Pages 255–256)

“Pastor,’ of course, simply means shepherd, and derives from the agricultural world of biblical times in which shepherds led, fed, healed, protected, and disciplined their flocks. ‘Elder’ springs from village and synagogue life, and carries an overtone of seniority, or at least maturity, that qualifies a person, ideally, for respect and for leadership responsibilities. ‘Overseer’ conjures up administrative and ruling functions—functions that are not entirely absent from the other two labels.” (Page 196)

“Job’s vehement rejection of his friends’ attempts to condemn him as they reason from the effects of Job’s calamity back to what they presumed was the theologically necessary cause, that is, his personal sin. Yahweh’s siding with Job against the claims of the friends in 42:7–8 evidences that the book as a whole argues that retribution, though accurate in general terms, does not explain all that occurs in the world under divine control.” (Page 246)

Product Details

• Title: Themelios: Volume 40, No. 2, August 2015
• Author: The Gospel Coalition
• Edition: 2
• Series: Themelios
• Volume: 40
• Publisher: Gospel Coalition
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2015
• Pages: 194
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Religious studies › Periodicals
• Resource ID: LLS:THEMELIOS40_2
• Resource Type: Journal
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-02-04T21:41:21Z

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.

Sample Pages from Themelios: Volume 40, No. 2, August 2015