Books
The Triune Story: Collected Essays on Scripture (Oxford UP, 2019)
By Robert W. Jenson | Edited by Brad East | Foreword by Bruce D. Marshall
At the time of his death in the autumn of 2017, Robert W. Jenson was arguably America's foremost theologian. Over the course of a career spanning more than five decades, much of Jenson's thought was dedicated to the theological description of how Scripture should be read-what has come to be called theological interpretation. In this rapidly expanding field of scholarship, Jenson has had an inordinate impact.
Despite its importance, study of Jenson's theology of scriptural interpretation has lagged, due in large part to the longevity of his career and volume of his output. In this book, all of Jenson's writings on Scripture and its interpretation have been collected for the first time. Here readers will be able to see the evolution of Jenson's thought on this topic, as well as the scope and intensity of his late-period engagement with it. Where other twentieth-century thinkers rely on non-theological, secular methods of scriptural investigation, Jenson is willing to let go of "respectability" for the sake of a truly Christian theological interpretation. The result is a genuinely free, intellectually invigorating exercise in reading and theory from one of the greatest theologians in the last century.
The Doctrine of Scripture (Cascade, 2021)
Foreword by Katherine Sonderegger
When Holy Scripture is read aloud in the liturgy, the church confesses with joy and thanksgiving that it has heard the word of the Lord. What does it mean to make that confession? And why does it occasion praise? The doctrine of Scripture is a theological investigation into those and related questions, and this book is an exploration of that doctrine. It argues backward from the church’s liturgical practice, presupposing the truth of the Christian confession: namely, that the canon does in fact mediate the living word of the risen Christ to and for his people. What must be true of the sacred texts of Old and New Testament alike for such confession, and the practices of worship in which it is embedded, to be warranted?
By way of an answer, the book examines six aspects of the doctrine of Scripture: its source, nature, attributes, ends, interpretation, and authority. The result is a catholic and ecumenical presentation of the historic understanding of the Bible common to the people of God across the centuries, an understanding rooted in the church’s sacred tradition, in service to the gospel, and redounding to the glory of the triune God.
The Church’s Book: Theology of Scripture in Ecclesial Context (Eerdmans, 2022)
Foreword by Stephen E. Fowl
What role does the doctrine of the church play in the doctrine and interpretation of Scripture? This book explores recent accounts of the Bible and its exegesis in modern theology and traces the differences made by divergent, and sometimes opposed, theological accounts of the church. Though the rise of theological interpretation of Scripture has led to a measure of convergence between scholars and theologians from different ecclesial traditions, the book argues that attending to the particularities of those traditions helps to explain what appears to be the current impasse—one determined far less by hermeneutical issues than by ecclesiological disagreements.
The argument proceeds through close engagement with three contemporary theologians: Robert Jenson, John Webster, and John Howard Yoder. Each of them bears and redirects the influence of Karl Barth in a unique way, even as they represent distinct strands of Western Christendom: respectively, the catholic tradition, the magisterial reformation, and the radical reformation. How do these ecclesiological “logics” inform their proposals regarding the Bible’s nature and interpretation? How do these proposals relate to one another, to the communions they seek to represent, and to the state of bibliology today? That is what the book sets out to answer.
Forthcoming Books
The Church: A Guide to the People of God (Lexham, 2024)
You belong to it. But what is it? The church is at once the invisible ambience of Christian faith and an all too visible institution known for scandal, dysfunction, and sin. But the Bible has another description: the people of God. This book, an entry in the Christian Essentials Series, is a theological account of God’s people—the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit—as none other than the one holy catholic and apostolic church.
Through election and covenant, the Lord sets apart a people in the world for the praise of his glory. This people, the family of Abraham, is at the heart of the triune God’s purposes in the economy of salvation, and it is to this people that Christians belong by faith, through baptism. If the church would fulfill its calling today it must recover the confidence proper to its nature and mission; this book casts a vision of that nature and mission rooted in the canonical and patristic testimonies of the church’s sacred tradition.
The Christian Essentials series passes down tradition that matters. The ancient church was founded on basic biblical teachings and practices like the Ten Commandments, baptism, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Prayer, and corporate worship. These basics of the Christian life have sustained and nurtured every generation of the faithful—from the apostles to today. The books in the Christian Essentials series, written by scholars and theologians like Ben Myers, Wesley Hill, and Peter Leithart, open up the meaning of the foundations of our faith.
Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry (Eerdmans, 2024)
What is Christianity? What do Christians believe? What does it mean to live as a Christian?
This book sets out to address those questions. Written as a series of letters to a young believer seeking maturity and depth in the faith, it is meant for restless hearts pursuing Christ and hungry for answers. An accessible catechism for young people eager to move from milk to meat, it is ideal for high school graduates and college students but intended for any and all who want to grow closer to Christ.
Neither deconstruction nor reconstruction, the letters portray the gospel as worth living for only because it is worth dying for. True life comes through dying with Christ. How and why? These letters provide an answer by walking through the biblical story, explaining complex theological concepts with ordinary language, and moving into the here and how of daily life. The final vision: Worshiping and following Jesus in the power of the Spirit among the holy people of God, on pilgrimage through a fallen world toward the eternal kingdom of heaven. Come and see!
Technology: For the Care of Souls (Lexham, 2026)
Digital technology envelops our lives and threatens to swallow them up. The task of the church's leaders is to resist this threat and to assist their flocks in resisting it—all while deploying the tools of digital in disciplined, discerning, prophetic, and life-giving ways. There may be no greater practical challenge facing pastors today than this, yet technological development outruns our understanding: indeed, it seems to have a mind of its own. Who can keep up, much less respond appropriately?
This book sets out to provide practical pastoral advice rooted in biblical, theological, and philosophical reflection on the nature of technology and its role in our lives. It begins from the principle that digital is a power and a principality subject to the lordship of Christ. The liturgy of word and sacrament both encompasses and disciplines human artifacts and technologies; the latter is in service to the gospel, not vice versa. What might that mean for the people of God in its sojourn through the 21st century, and for the shepherds tasked with leading them?
The Lexham Ministry Guides, edited by Harold L. Senkbeil, offer practical, proven wisdom for the church. But wisdom takes time. The authors in this series developed their wisdom through years of ministry experience and conversations with colleagues. These books invite you to enter into these conversations to better serve the Savior’s sheep and lambs with confidence. You will find hands-on tools, lessons from years of ministry experience, and an array of resources to apply to your own ministry context.