Advance Theology Course Module 7: From Scripture to Theology

Session 1: The Big Picture and the Story of the Church

Here, you'll find the blog article that Andrew Wilson mentions in connection with 'Heresy and Hierarchy' (at 41:25) and some reflections on the modern-day heresy of gnosticism from Mark Sayers excellent book, 'Disappearing Church'.

• Read thisIgnatius Meets the Multi-Site Gurus, by Andrew Wilson
• Look at thisThe Gospel of Self (Gnosticism), notes from Mark Sayers

Session 3: The High Middle Ages to Ongoing Cycle

Michael Reeves' book, 'The Good God', is an outstanding and highly readable response to the observation (made by Andrew Wilson at 1:10:34) that Western Protestantism has historically placed inadequate emphasis on the doctrine of the Trinity. Carl Trueman's lecture is weighty, but worth taking a look at, even if you just dip into its beginning (5:07-11.45) and conclusion (48:00 to end).

• Read thisThe Good God by Michael Reeves
• Watch thisAcknowledging the Unacknowledged Legislators: From William Wordsworth to Kim Kardashian by Carl Trueman

Session 4: Scripture to Theology - Trinity

There's plenty in this session to make your head hurt (!) but hopefully the video, in outlining how the Church arrived at a trinitarian understanding of God has alerted you to the importance of precision in language as well as acknowledging the limits of language when speaking about God. Here you'll find Andrew Wilson's outline of the debate among contemporary evangelicals about submission in the Trinity, which is also a helpful summary of the content of much of this session. I've also included a further endorsement of Reeves's 'The Good God' - it really is very, very good!

• Read thisEternal Submission in the Trinity? A Quick Guide to the Debate by Andrew Wilson
• Buy thisThe Good God: Enjoying Father, Son and Spirit, by Michael Reeves
• Read this'The best Christian book I have ever read' - Andrew Wilson on Reeves's 'The Good God'

Session 5: God and Evil to Social Trinity

Here, you'll find notes on two areas touched on by Andrew Wilson in the section on 'God in the thought of Thomas Aquinas': an introduction to Aquinas's 'proofs for the existence of God' (known as 'the five ways') and the concept of God's 'simplicity'. Then there's a link to a helpful blog article by Andrew Wilson on 'God and Providence' in which he lays his own cards on the table. Finally, I've included an article I wrote a few years ago outlining my own response to the problem of evil (which would be my answer to Question 3 in the Course Guide).

• Read thisThe Five Ways by Andrew Sampson
• Read thisA Brief Introduction to Divine Simplicity by Andrew Sampson
• Read thisDoes God Ordain All Sinful Human Choices? by Andrew Wilson
• Read thisMy response to the problem of evil
• Watch thisStephen Fry interview to which my article is a response

Session 6: Gospel and the Canon of Scripture

Andrew Wilson's response to Christian Smith book relates to the section on 'The doctrine of scripture since the Reformation'. Vanhoozer's video is mentioned in the section, 'The doctrine of Scripture since the Reformation.' Finally, if, like me, you completed this session thinking, 'Why don't we use the apocrypha?' there's a link to a helpful post that introduces the apocryphal writings and explains why they don't feature in the Bibles of most Protestants.

• Read thisThe Bible made Impossible, by Andrew Wilson (response to Christian Smith)
• Watch this videoAugustinian Inerrancy, by Kevin Vanhoozer
• Read thisWhat is the Apocrypha? by David Briones