About us

Kent Eilers – I am professor of theology at Huntington University and teach classes in systematic theology, ethics, the Bible, and contemporary Christian thought (PhD, King’s College, University of Aberdeen).

My scholarship has been occupied for some time with a few ongoing projects. Going back a ways, my doctoral research was on Wolfhart Pannenberg, and I had the good privilege of developing that work into a book, Faithful to Save: Pannenberg on God’s Reconciling Action (T&T Clark). A few essays on Pannenberg have since trickled out, but I am not planning any new work on him at this point (that may change). In another direction, I worked intensely for several years on a coauthored book on theological method that explores retrieval, how the Christian past functions within theology. I am very encouraged about that book and thrilled to see it in print: Theology as Retrieval: Receiving the Past, Renewing the Church (IVP Academic). Several years back, Kyle (from this blog) and I completed an edited project on the Christian life, Sanctified by Grace: A Theology of the Christian life (T&T Clark). Working with Kyle on this book was an exciting collaboration. I’m so pleased with it. We brought together a stellar list of contributors on the relationship between grace and the Christian life (you can order it here).

Much in the vein of these latter books I just recently completed an anthology on the doctrine of the Christian life that draw together primary source readings from across the Christian tradition (Cascade Press). The Grammar of Grace is a work of theological retrieval for the church’s thinking about life with God, for God, and in God. Holding this book in my hands (now that its in print!), I have the feeling that I could spend the rest of my career doing nothing more than mining the depths of the selections my co-editors and I included in the book. I sincerely hope it serves our readers.

I am also (finally) in a place to publish something for my college students! In 2022 my next book will be released with Eerdmans, Reading Theology Wisely. It is a theological guide for reading theological texts. I think of it as a travel guide for beginning theology students as they learn to make their way in theological readings. It is also illustrated by the amazing artist Chris Koelle.

Related to teaching as well, you may have noticed that for the last couple years I have blogged off and on about the relationship between the virtue tradition and pedagogy. Several posts on teaching touch on this in one way or another. If you are interested to see more, I published an essay here on the relationship between plagiarism and disordered love, and a couple more essays on teaching have appeared in the journal Teaching Theology and Religion.

“This anthology is a remarkable accomplishment. Traversing the entire history of the church, every major Christian tradition, and a spectrum of literary genres, Eilers, Cocksworth, and Silvas take the reader on an exhilarating pilgrimage, centering throughout on the proximity of God. The result is a tremendous collection of writings that focus on the Christian life—the grammar of God’s undeserved, transformative favor in Jesus Christ. The retrieval theology of The Grammar of Grace illuminates life with God as the pulsing heartbeat of the Christian tradition.” —Hans Boersma, Regent College

Kyle Strobel – I am an assistant professor of spiritual theology at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, and a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. I completed my PhD at King’s College, University of Aberdeen, writing on Jonathan Edward’s Trinitarian Theology of Redemption. Prior to focusing on systematic theology I spent much of my time studying philosophy, New Testament, and Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology. I have recently completed the volume Sanctified by Grace: A Theology of the Christian life with Kent, which is an introduction to systematic theology with an eye toward the Christian life (you can order it here). This volume is, as best as I can tell, unique among theology texts, as it is a shared venture in Christian dogmatics with a focus on practices that has a distinctively spiritual focus to it. I have also co-edited the volume, Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics: A Guide for Evangelicals, which provides an history, theological and interpretive approach to reading the classic texts of the Christian tradition.

My research interests revolve around spirituality and theology, method, Jonathan Edwards studies, trinitarian theology and christology. I am currently working on a multi-book project on Jonathan Edwards, which I am calling The Jonathan Edwards Project (because I like creative names), and my most recent contribution is a book entitled The Ecumenical Edwards: Jonathan Edwards and the Theologians (TF explanation here, publisher page here).

My dissertation-turned monograph is entitled Jonathan Edwards’s Theology: A Reinterpretation. This volume offers a dogmatic exposition of Edwards’s theology by unveiling the trinitarian architecture of his thought. Building upon this analysis, I apply my proposal to re-examine three key areas of redemption debated widely in the secondary literature: spiritual knowledge, regeneration, and religious affection.By grounding the interpretive key in Edwards’s understanding of the Trinity, the book’s idiosyncratic exposition of his doctrine of the Trinity serves to recast Edwards’s theology in a new light.

“This book is a very significant contribution to Edwards studies. Kyle Strobel insists – rightly – that Edwards’s theology is uncompromisingly theocentric, and carefully traces the ways in which the central vision of God’s triunity determines the whole shape of Edwards’ thought…Every student of Edwards’s theology will want to read this book with care, and will find great profit in so doing.” – Stephen R. Holmes, University of St. Andrews

Steve Duby – I am an online full-time faculty member at Grand Canyon University, where I teach courses on the Christian worldview. My PhD at St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews focused on the doctrine of divine simplicity. I am especially interested in theology proper, including the knowledge of God, the divine perfections, and the Trinity. Other areas of interest include the doctrines of Scripture, the person and work of Christ, and salvation, along with theological prolegomena. As to theologians or historical theology, I am most interested in Thomas Aquinas, Reformed orthodoxy (not least John Owen) and Herman Bavinck.

“[S]uch is the nature of divine truth, so deep and inexhaustible the fountain of the sacred Scriptures, whence we draw it, so innumerable the salutary remedies and antidotes proposed in these to dispel all the poisons and temptations wherewith the adversary can ever attack either the minds of the pious or the peace of the church and the true doctrine, that serious and thinking men can entertain no doubt that we perform a service praise-worthy and profitable to the church of Christ, when, under the direction of ‘the Spirit of wisdom and revelation’, we bring forward, explain, and defend the most important and necessary articles of evangelical truth.” -John Owen

ZenProfileSmaller Zen Hess.