Theology professor, department chair, patristic scholar, writer, husband, father. Passionate about the one Lord and his church.

Texas
Joined September 2011
Available for pre-order: The Story of the Future: The Hopeful Narrative of God's Coming Kingdom (Hendrickson, 2027). (See brief preview/excerpt below). a.co/d/002sSKvU
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A student of mine directed me to this podcast with @DemarsSean and @danielghummel. Great questions, great answers, great tone. A fair, nuanced historical perspective on the history of dispensationalism. I highly recommend it. Two very minor quibbles: 1) My “Fathers on the Future” book doesn’t intend to place any system of dispensationalism in the early church. My own lay-friendly account of the history of dispensationalism in my chapter in “Dispensationalism and the History of Redemption” makes it clear that the stable pattern of doctrines and interpretations that make up Dispensationalism only coalesce in the nineteenth century. As far as eschatology goes, earliest fathers are actually premillennial, futurist, and take many elements quite literally, and their view of the assumption of the church is not as clear as various advocates of any modern view wish it was. 2) At times in the interview there appears to be some equivocation between “historicist premillennialism” and “historic premillennialism.” These aren’t the same thing. Historicism is a view of Revelation as a kind of charitable map through church history as its prophecies progressively unfold, as opposed to, say, preterism and futurism. Historic premillennialism is the claim that the non-dispensational view of premillennialism is not the same as that of the early church, though the earliest premillennialists appear to have been primarily futurist in their view of Revelation (though, like most throughout church history, they expected the end was near). Besides these minor tweaks, which are very, very minor, I appreciated the @RoomForNuance_ discussion.
The Dispensationalism Interview: Link in the comments!
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Thinking about your job, on Sunday night do you feel 1) Dread and disappointment that you have to go back to work; 2) Eagerness and excitement to get back to work; 3) Somewhere in between, depending on what’s going on?
17%Dread
17%Excitement
66%In between
149 votes • 2 hours
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Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. Give a man an accordion, he can chase everybody away and take their fish.
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Theology 101: For some, the correct view on a doctrine or practice is simply the one their own church or confession ultimately adopted or approved. From that point, their job is to show that the fathers were right when they agreed with them and wrong when they didn’t.
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The Fall 2026 Theological Studies Treasure Hunt is ON! For all those on the @DallasSeminary Dallas canpus—come by the office bulletin board in Todd and catch the newest clue every Monday until someone finds the token!
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Theology 101: Historically, when predictions of the return of Christ were proven false, most regretted siding with the crackpots, but enough held on to the lies and ended up founding sects and cults. Lesson: don’t double-down or triple-down on lies and deception. Repent.
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Feeling much much better this afternoon. Hoping it will hold tomorrow a.m.
Prayers requested. Got hit with a mild case of vertigo. Not as bad as the one a couple years ago that put me out of commission for 3 solid days. I’d say on level of severity 1-10, that one was a 10; this one is now about a 2-3. So I’m praying it will subside by this evening. My doctor suggested it’s a form of “vestibular migraine.” 🤷
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Prayers requested. Got hit with a mild case of vertigo. Not as bad as the one a couple years ago that put me out of commission for 3 solid days. I’d say on level of severity 1-10, that one was a 10; this one is now about a 2-3. So I’m praying it will subside by this evening. My doctor suggested it’s a form of “vestibular migraine.” 🤷
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Feeling much better this afternoon. Hoping it will hold to tomorrow am.
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Theology 101: “If He called you to salvation, and He is true, He will certainly save you, in that He wills it.” (John Chrysostom)
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Theology 101: All heretics have Bibles in their hands and verses on their lips.
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Theology 101: Christ’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). This doesn’t mean it has no earthly presence or impact and effect. It means we should not defend it or advance it by worldly means (2 Cor 10:4; Eph 6:12).
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PSA: Porsche is two syllables. @Porsche
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Theology 101: There are few things for which the Church Fathers from the second to sixth centuries speak with one unanimous voice, and those few are usually things on which Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox already agree.
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Theology 101: Jesus recruits people to his Way; we do not recruit him to ours. THE CALLING OF THE KINGDOM GOES ONE WAY.
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Dr. Michael J. Svigel retweeted
Replying to @Svigel
Really enjoyed all three. You need to pull a Randy Alcorn or Dr Heiser and do a full novel series. We don’t have enough quality Fiction from creative Christian authors that express good theology while carrying a good story.
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I had an awkward experience yesterday. I received a "DocuSign" notice from a publisher to sign an agreement for a contribution (chapter) to an edited book. At first I had forgotten I had agreed to write a chapter for a book. Then, as I read through the agreement, I realized I had already written and submitted the chapter. This may be a sign that I'm a little too busy...
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