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Retrieving Eternal Generation seeks to recover the doctrine of eternal generation biblically and historically, and to demonstrate its theological fruitfulness to contemporary evangelical scholarship.
List of contents
Introduction: Fred Sanders and Scott Swain
Part 1: Eternal Generation and Biblical Reasoning
1. 'The Radiance of the Father's Glory': Eternal Generation, the Divine Names, and Biblical Interpretation: Scott Swain
2. A Lexical Defense of the Eternal Generation of the 'Only Begotten' Son: Lee Irons
3. Hermeneutics and the Eternal Generation of the Son: The Role of Proverbs 8: Matthew Emerson
4. The Old Testament and Eternal Generation: Mark Gignilliat
5. John 5.26 and Eternal Generation: D. A. Carson
6. Hebrews 1, Prosoponic Exegesis, and Eternal Generation: Madison Pierce
7. The Tetragrammaton and Eternal Generation: Kendall Soulen
Part 2: Eternal Generation in Historical Development
8. Patristic Exegesis (Origen of Alexandria): Lewis Ayres
9. Augustine: Keith L. Johnson
10. John Calvin: Brannon Ellis
11. Jonathan Edwards: Christi Larsen
12. Westminster Assembly: Chad Van Dixhoorn
13. Karl Barth: Michael Allen
Part 3: Eternal Generation and Constructive Dogmatics
14. The Mystery and Coherence of Eternal Generation: Oliver Crisp
15. Eternal Generation and the Gospel: Fred Sanders
16. Dogmatic Summary and Eternal Generation: Josh Malone
About the author
Fred Sanders (PhD, Graduate Theological Union) is professor of theology in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University in La Mirada, California. He is author of numerous books including The Triune God in the New Studies in Dogmatics series; The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything; and Dr. Doctrines’ Christian Comix. He is coeditor of Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective: An Introductory Christology and Retrieving Eternal Generation. Fred is a core participant in the Theological Engagement with California’s Culture Project and a popular blogger at The Scriptorium Daily.
Scott Swain is Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He is author of several books, including The God of the Gospel: The Trinitarian Theology of Robert Jenson, and Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction to the Bible and its Interpretation. He serves as general editor (with Michael Allen) for T&T Clark’s International Theological Commentary and Zondervan’s New Studies in Dogmatics series.
Summary
Although the doctrine of eternal generation has been affirmed by theologians of nearly every ecclesiastical tradition since the fourth century, it has fallen on hard times among evangelical theologians since the nineteenth century. The doctrine has been a structural element in two larger doctrinal complexes: Christology and the Trinity. The neglect of the doctrine of eternal generation represents a great loss for constructive evangelical Trinitarian theology.
Retrieving the doctrine of eternal generation for contemporary evangelical theology calls for a multifaceted approach. Retrieving Eternal Generation addresses (1) the hermeneutical logic and biblical bases of the doctrine of eternal generation; (2) key historical figures and moments in the development of the doctrine of eternal generation; and (3) the broad dogmatic significance of the doctrine of eternal generation for theology. The book addresses both the common modern objections to the doctrine of eternal generation and presents the productive import of the doctrine for twenty-first century evangelical theology. Contributors include Michael Allen, Lewis Ayres, D. A. Carson, Oliver Crisp, and more.
Additional text
'The creedal doctrine that the Son of God was “begotten of the Father before all worlds” is a notion that is often misunderstood or else maligned by many contemporary theologians. In this context, Swain and Sanders have brought together an impressive collection of essays from across the theological disciplines in order to elucidate and defend this linchpin Trinitarian doctrine. The book’s coherence lies not only in the sum of its parts but also in the synthetic nature of its individual chapters. This is retrieval theology at its best---careful in its treatment of the historical sources and relevant in its theological import.'
