Norman Hillyer on the Servant of God

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

Norman Hillyer, "The Servant of God," The Evangelical Quarterly 41.3 (July-Sept. 1969): 143-160.

Revd. Hillyer has asked for feedback from those who read his article, so please leave a comment if you find it helpful.

Articles from the Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.2 & 1.3 on-line

The following articles are now available in PDF:

1.2

Kenneth Kantzer, "The Christology of Karl Barth," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.2 (Spring 1958): 25-28.

Charles Russell Gresham, "The Christology of Current Religious Education," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.2 (Spring 1958): 29-37.

1.3

Francis I. Anderson, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Formationof the Canon," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.3 (Summer 1958): 1-7.

Joseph H. Dampier, "The Scrolls and the Scribes of the New Testament," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.3 (Summer 1958): 8-19.

Martin J. Wyngaarten, "The Servant of Jehovah in Isaiah and the Dead Sea Scrolls," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.3 (Summer 1958): 20-23.

I now have photocopies of the majority of articles from BETS, thanks to Tyndale House Library and hope to spend this week working on putting more on-line.

Vox Evangelica Volume 12 (1981) now on-line

The following articles are now on-line in PDF format:

Alan Millard, "Solomon in all his Glory (Laing Lecture for 1979)," Vox Evangelica 12 (1981): 5-18.

Most studies of Solomon concentrate on his wisdom rather than his wealth. In this article Professor Millard demonstrates that the account of the great wealth attributed to him is quite credible.

Richard T. France, "The Worship of Jesus (Laing Lecture for 1980)," Vox Evangelica 12 (1981): 19-33.

A helpful study of how the worship of Jesus in the Gospels demonstrates how the early church understood his nature.

John W. Baigent, "Jesus as Priest," Vox Evangelica 12 (1981): 34-44.

The article concludes (in part):

Ideas are expressed in various parts of the NT which do indeed bear a distinct affinity to the high priest concept of Hebrews. Some statements could imply that the author had the beginnings of such a concept, or are consonant with the possibility that he held such a concept. Some statements could even have sparked off, or been the spring-board for, the development of the high priest concept of Hebrews. But no reference which we have examined compels us to attribute to the writer a priestly concept of Jesus. Certainly we are unable to follow those who think that a sacrificial interpretation of the death of Christ necessarily involves the idea of his priesthood. This assumes that when a person uses a metaphor (e.g. sacrifice) he inevitably has all aspects of the picture in mind. It is clearly not the case. We cannot resist the impression that those who claim to find a priestly view of Jesus in other parts of the NT have imported the idea from Hebrews and read it back into these passages.

M. Max B. Turner, "Spirit Endowment in Luke-Acts: Some Linguistic Considerations," Vox Evangelica 12 (1981): 45-63.

Donald Guthrie, "The Lamb in the Structure of the Book of Revelation," Vox Evangelica 12 (1981): 64-71.

A.N.S. Lane, "Did Calvin believe in Freewill?" Vox Evangelica 12 (1981): 72-90.

Vox Evangelica Volume 11 (1979) now on-line

The following articles are now available on-line in PDF:

H. Dermot McDonald, "The Person of Christ in Contemporary Speculation and Biblical Faith," Vox Evangelica 11 (1979): 5-17.

This is a very helpful study in Christology.

Robert L. Sturch, "The Continuing 'Euthyphro' Debate," Vox Evangelica 11 (1979): 18-31.

This article would be of interest to students of ethics / philosophy.

A.N.S. Lane, "Calvin's Doctrine of Assurance," Vox Evangelica 11 (1979): 32-54.

Harold H. Rowdon, "The Early Brethren and Baptism," Vox Evangelica 11 (1979): 55-64.

Derek J. Tidball, "Perspectives on Community Living," Vox Evangelica 11 (1979): 65-80.

A careful study of Christian communities which centres around a careful exegesis of the relevant New Testament passages.

Charlie (C.F.D.) Moule dies at age 98

I was saddened to read today in The Telegraph of the death of the Reverend Professor C.F.D. Moule. I correspondended briefly with Prof. Moule last year after contacting for permission to use his Ethel M. Wood lecture, which is mentioned in Telegraph obituary:

Rev. Canon C.F.D. Moule, Man and Nature in the New Testament. Some Reflections on Biblical Ecology. The Ethel M. Wood Lecture delivered before the University of London on 9 March 1964. London: The Athlone Press, 1964. Pbk. pp.22.

I am sure that he would not mind me sharing the contents of his second letter of 7th July:

Dear Mr Bradshaw,

Thank you for your letter of 5 July and for taking the trouble to follow-up my remark. I that that of all my books there are 3 I would venture to think not to have been superseded and out-dated; but, on further reflection, I believe that two are in fact in print. (My uncertainty and vagueness are due to the fact that, at 97 1/2, I am severely restricted in movement and almost bereft of books, and so unable to check up on the facts; but perhaps you may have means of ascertaining details.)

(1) The Origin of Christology (C.U.P.,? 1977; out of print).

(2) The Birth of the New Testament, 3rd revised edition (A. & C. Black [or perhaps another publisher, A. & C. Black puvlished 1st & 2nd editions]), about 1981. In print.

(3) The Holy Spirit went out of print from its original publishers, but was re-issued about 4 or 5 years ago by other publishers, using, I think, simply photographic reproduction.

If any of this is worth following up, I hope you might find the information, one way or another; and perhaps you will kindly let me know any proposal you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Charlie Moule

P.S. My concern for the Origin of Christology is that I am not aware of another book which assembles so much detail to refute the popular but (I believe) totally worthless theory that a 'high' Christology was reached by the enthusiastic exaggerations of imagination. I try to show that a 'high' Christology already existed in our earliest datable source, St. Paul, and is reflected also in sunsequent, but still early, sources.

In my reply, after speaking with his publishers, I was able to reassure Professor Moule that his books would be in-print for many years to come.

I feel privileged to have been able to exchange these brief letters with him.

Professor Moule's article on the Holy Spirit is available on-line here:

C.F.D. Moule, "The Holy Spirit in the Scriptures," Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Biblical and Theological Essays. London: SPCK, 1998. Hbk. ISBN: 0281051399. pp.119-131. = The Church Quarterly, 3 (1971), pp. 279-87.

Vox Evangelica Volume 10 (1977) now on-line

The following articles are now available in PDF:

Leslie C. Allen, "Faith on Trial: an Analysis of Psalm 139," Vox Evangelica 10 (1977): 5-23.

M.M.B. Turner, "The Concept of Receiving the Spirit in John's Gospel," Vox Evangelica 10 (1977): 24-42.

F.P. Cotterell, "The Gospel of Barnabas," Vox Evangelica 10 (1977): 43-47.

A brief but helpful discussion of this famous medieval muslim forgery.

A.N.S. Lane, "The Rationale and Significance of the Virgin Birth," Vox Evangelica 10 (1977): 48-64.

I found this the most interesting of the articles in this volume. It is not often you find a discussion of the reasons why it is thought that the virgin birth was necessary and this is certainly the best I've read.

R.L. Sturch, "The Metaphysics of the Incarnation," Vox Evangelica 10 (1977): 65-76.

Ralph P. Martin on Colossians 1: 15-20

The following article is now available in PDF:

R.P. Martin, "An Early Christian Hymn (Colossians 1:5-20)," The Evangelical Quarterly 36 (1964): 195-205.

The "Christological hymns" of the NT are always favourites to come up in exams, so I am grateful to Professor for his permission to reproduce here another of his excellent articles on the subject.

More material by Ralph P. Martin:

Ralph P.Martin, An Early Christian Confession. Philippians II. 5-11 in Recent Interpretation. London: The Tyndale Press, 1960. pp.69.

Ralph P. Martin, "The Composition of I Peter in Recent Study," Vox Evangelica 1 (1962): 29-42.

R.P. Martin, "A Footnote to Pliny's Account of Christian Worship," Vox Evangelica 3 (1964): 51-57.

Vox Evangelica Volume 9 (1975) now on-line

The following articles are now available in PDF:

H. Dermot Mcdonald, "Development and Christology," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 5-27.

I found the section particularly helpful (from pages 5-6):

One reason for the hesitancy over the introduction of the term homoousion at Nicaea was the objection that it is not found in the New Testament. And the Arians made capital out of the fact that the Creed used extra-biblical concepts. Athanasius writes to a friend who was troubled by their reiterated question, ‘Why do the Fathers of Nicaea use terms not in Scripture, “Of the Essence”, and, “One in essence”?’ He replied that the Arians do indeed employ the designations ‘Son’ and ‘Logos’ which are certainly biblical; but they do not mean by them what the faith and doctrine of the church understands. So, contends Athanasius, the mere use of scriptural phrases is no guarantee of truth and no safeguard against error. To be precise as to the meaning of a biblical statement, it is often necessary to go outside the Bible itself. This was the more necessary, Athanasius argues, in the context of the discussions at Nicaea, since every scriptural phrase suggested was emptied of its true meaning by the Arian exegetes. When, for example, it was declared that the Son ‘always’ was Son, and ‘from’ God, they were ‘caught whispering to each other and winking with the eyes’.[1] They sought to explain away the real import of the declaration by quoting the usage of the words in other passages; for example, 2 Cor. 4:11―‘For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’s sake’; while they contended that to say that the Son is, ‘from the Father’, is to say no more than that He is among the ‘all things which are from God’ (2 Cor. 5:18 cf. l Cor. 8:6). Such ‘artful expressions and plausible sophisms’, as Athanasius considered them to be, cannot be met by pitching quotation against quotation.
[1] Athan., de Decretis, 20.

Norman Anderson, "Ethics: Relative, Situational or Absolute," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 28-36.

A.N.S. Lane, "Scripture, Tradition and Church: An Historical Survey," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 37-55.

M.M.B. Turner, "The Significance of Spirit Endowment for Paul," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 56-70.

James Atkinson, "Justification by Faith," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 70-79.

F.F. Bruce on the Humanity of Jesus Christ

The following article is now available online in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "The Humanity of Jesus Christ," Journal of the Christian Brethren Research Fellowship 24 (1973): 5-15.

Bruce begins by correcting some erroneous interpretations of the NT teaching on the human nature of Christ before providing a brief survey of the various lines of NT evidence. A helpful overview.

Ralph P. Martin on the New Testament Hymns

Thanks to a donation from a supporter I have been able to purchase non-exclusive worldwide rights to the following article, which is now available in PDF:

Ralph P. Martin, "Some Reflections on New Testament Hymns," Harold H. Rowdon, ed., Christ the Lord. Studies in Christology Presented to Donald Guthrie. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1982. Hbk. ISBN: 0851117449. pp.37-49.

I now have a number or Professor Martin's works on this subject on-line:

Ralph P. Martin, "Aspects of Worship in the New Testament Church," Vox Evangelica 2 (1963): 6-32.

Ralph P.Martin, An Early Christian Confession. Philippians II. 5-11 in Recent Interpretation. London: The Tyndale Press, 1960. pp.69.

Ralph Martin's latest book on Hymns is Carmen Christi


Further articles from Christ the Lord will be placed on-line as funds permit.