Editor’s Introduction -- By: John Warwick Montgomery

Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 02:3 (Aug 2001)
Article: Editor’s Introduction
Author: John Warwick Montgomery


Editor’s Introduction

John Warwick Montgomery

The genuine second millennium of the Christian era has now begun (in 2001, of course, since there was no year “0”). Instead of climbing on your housetop with all your belongings (“Of that day and hour,” unequivocally declared Our Lord concerning his Second Coming, “knoweth no man”), spend some time with this issue of Trinity’s Global Journal, so as to become better equipped to relate the eternal gospel to the needs of a new century.

The Global Journal does not ordinarily publish sermons. In this issue, we make an exception for the intriguing Columbus Day message by the Revd Ken Schurb, assistant to the President of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and a doctoral candidate in Early Modern European History at Ohio State University.

Readers will again have to put up with a contribution from the Editor: a treatment of the doctrine of Conversion, designed to show the coordination (rather than a conflict) between infant baptism and personal decision for Christ.

Conversion is grounded in the Atonement, so it is entirely appropriate that we also publish Daniel Chadwick’s essay, “The Extent of Atonement and Judgment: A Phenomenological Vision.” Chadwick sees phenomenological method as a device for potentially illuminating biblical revelation—not (as it is generally presented in contemporary philosophy) as a substitute for theological thinking.

Kenneth C. Harper, whose article on Generational Theory elicited considerable interest in our second issue (Vol. 1, No. 2) returns with something quite different: a study of the Labyrinth as a spiritual tool. This ancient motif has been appropriated by New Agers and wooly-minded mystics; here is an opportunity to see its relevance to serious Christian belief.

One of the considerable advantages of living “across the pond”—in Europe and in Great Britain—is the opportunity easily to attend important Christian events of historical significance. (This privilege, by the by, Trinity extends to its students through our International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism & Human Rights, held each summer in Strasbourg, France: be sure to consider sitting this July at the feet of such renowned evangelical scholars as Dr Frank Beckwith—see the Academy page of the Trinity website.)

Thus, in August of this last summer, Professor Craig Parton (the Academy’s American director) and I, accompanied by our wives and two dear French friends, attended the famed Oberammergau Passion Play. This dramatic production, setting forth in words, tableaux, and music the biblical account of Our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection, has been performed annually by the inhabitants of a little, fairy-talelike Bavarian village ever since 1634...

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