About Brad East

Hello! My name is Brad East. I teach theology at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas.

I came here in the summer of 2017. Before that (in reverse order) I earned my PhD at Yale University, my MDiv at Emory University, and my BA at ACU—so I’m back where I started, an alum and now a professor. I live in Abilene, which is about three hours due west from Dallas–Fort Worth, with my wife and our four children.

This website is my professional home page, owned and operated by me (though created by the wonderful Brannon McAllister). It’s meant to be a one-stop shop for anyone interested in my work or wanting to get in touch. In the menu above you’ll find the relevant pages for my CV, my books, my scholarly and popular writing, my blog, and my contact info. You can also find me elsewhere online: on my Amazon author page; on my faculty page at ACU; on Google Scholar; on Academia.edu; but not on social media, God be praised.

My scholarly interests lie in certain major Christian loci: the doctrine of Scripture (or bibliology), the doctrine of the church (or ecclesiology), the doctrine of the Trinity (or theology proper), as well as overlapping or offshoot topics, such as theological hermeneutics, the sacraments, political philosophy, war and nonviolence, and technology.

My publications can be grouped into three categories: popular essays and reviews, scholarly journal articles, and books.

1. My popular essays and reviews have appeared in The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Comment, Commonweal, First Things, Front Porch Republic, The Hedgehog Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Marginalia Review of Books, Mere Orthodoxy, The New Atlantis, Plough, and The Point. The focus of these pieces ranges widely, and rarely within my scholarly wheelhouse. They touch on liturgy, literature, race, nationalism, scientism, eschatology, natural theology, biblical scholarship, anti-Judaism, liberalism, digital devices, pop culture, and more. They are meant for a wide, if usually highbrow, audience.

2. My scholarly articles have appeared in the following academic journals: Anglican Theological Review, International Journal of Systematic Theology, Journal of Theological Interpretation, Modern Theology, The Other Journal, Political Theology, Pro Ecclesia, Restoration Quarterly, and Scottish Journal of Theology. This is where I write about the doctrines outlined above. If every academic is both a hedgehog and a fox, depending on context, audience, and subject matter, here is where you’ll find me in hedgehog mode—i.e., writing about the church’s theological interpretation of the Bible, the church’s depiction of the triune God, or contemporary theologians’ work on the same.

3. I am the author or editor of five books, with the manuscript for a sixth due to the publisher by spring 2025. Three books are out; two are in press; the last has a contract, but little more. Head over to the Books tab above for detailed information, but for a brief rundown:

–Robert Jenson, The Triune Story: Collected Essays on Scripture (Oxford University Press, 2019). Jenson is one of the premier American theologians of the last 75 years; this volume gathers together the best of his writing on the Bible across his career, in the wake of his passing in 2017.

–The Doctrine of Scripture (Cascade, 2021). This came out fall of 2021. A labor of love, it’s a modestly sized constructive theological account of the Bible as the church’s Holy Scripture—a sort of extended companion to the doctrine. Meant both for fellow theological scholars and for pastors and seminarians.

–The Church’s Book: Theology of Scripture in Ecclesial Context (Eerdmans, 2022). This is a major revision of my doctoral dissertation at Yale; it came out late spring 2022. It provides some of the scholarly and theoretical scaffolding for the Cascade book, which is less expositional and less technical by comparison. But had I not written this one first, I wouldn’t have been able to write that one. Here I explore the role of ecclesiology in bibliology, i.e., the ways in which theological commitments about the church inform and in part determine one’s understanding of the Bible, its nature, authority, and interpretation.

–The Church: A Guide to the People of God (Lexham, 2024). This book is an entry in Lexham’s delightful Christian Essentials series. Number six, to be exact, out of a total of nine projected volumes. It’s a brisk primer in the doctrine of the church, intended for any and all readers, especially engaged lay believers. My hope is that, beyond being accessible and compelling in style, its substance will be (found by readers to be) catholic, ecumenical, and evangelical in all the right ways (and none of the wrong ones). One can hope. Due fall 2024.

–Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry (Eerdmans, 2024). This one’s close to the heart. It’s the fruit of teaching undergrads over the last six years, prompted by writing letters to nephews and godchildren on the day of their baptism. Meant for all readers, but particularly 18-25-year olds who’ve grown up in the church, or at least in her orbit, but are hungry for a diet of meat, not just milk. Also due fall 2024.

–Technology: For the Care of Souls (Lexham, 2026). The manuscript for this one is but a gleam in my mind’s eye. But given my side interest in digital technology, the effect of the pandemic on church as well as on educational institutions, and a series of undergraduate classes I am teaching on the topic at ACU, the convergence of relevance, need, desire, and reading proved too strong to resist. A growing stack of books in my office will provide my slow mental nourishment over the next two years as I approach writing this manuscript. It’s part of the Lexham Ministry Guides series. Go check out the other entries as you wait for mine!

That’s it for now. The foregoing, in any case, is “about me.” I hope you find something in my work that is useful or of interest; please do reach out if you are so inclined.