The Journal of Biblical Theology and Worldview:
Helping the Church Apply the Bible’s Storylines to Today’s Life Challenges
This Viewpoint is a companion to the April 21 episode of the Theologically Speaking podcast hosted by Dr. Ken Casillas, professor and editor of the Seminary’s Journal of Biblical Theology and Worldview.
Why does BJU Seminary choose to call our flagship publication The Journal of Biblical Theology and Worldview? Very simply: our unique emphasis in bringing these areas together is to help address very real challenges facing the Church today.
Biblical Theology as a Theological “Bridge”
Biblical theology was defined by our widely respected adjunct professor Andreas Köstenberger, in a recent podcast and Seminary Viewpoint, as the theology of the Bible as revealed in the authors’ writings.
Biblical theology fits into four classic theological disciplines—systematic, historical, practical and exegetical theology—and in fact serves as a bridge among them.
Systematic theology, according to Dr. Köstenberger, “uses (theologians’) own conceptual categories to describe the biblical material,” “systematizing” it into various “-ologies” to form a cohesive doctrine.
Historical theology studies the course of Christian doctrine through time within its historical and cultural contexts, while practical theology applies theological principles and concepts to real-life ministry contexts and Christian living.
And exegetical theology involves interpreting Scripture verse by verse, unit by unit, chapter by chapter, to get at the intent of the human author.
One might say that biblical theology fits at the very end of exegetical theology, but not the end of the process. In essence, it asks the point of all this exegesis—what timeless truths is a given passage teaching? How does it fit into the entire canon and more important, Scripture’s overall storyline?
BJU Seminary’s historical emphasis in this area is reflected in our teaching on several levels:
- Connecting an individual passage or a small segment of Scripture to that overall storyline
- Delving into the theological message of an entire book
- Tracing a broader theme through multiple books, a complete testament, or the entire Bible
- The “whole” or “complete Bible” approach that analyzes how all the themes and books of Scripture fit together into that single storyline.
Often that storyline is examined along four pillars: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Consummation. Yet those pillars are only starting points, as biblical theology works through the complexities of 66 diverse books written over centuries – and demonstrates their unity as all inspired and superintended by the Spirit of God.
Worldview: The Intersection of Theology and Practice
The second emphasis of the Journal, as well as the Seminary and especially Bob Jones University, is worldview, where biblical and practical theology converge to guide how we analyze, and make decisions about, life and living out our faith.
Worldview reflects our basic beliefs about the universe and its purpose, as well as humanity’s purpose and place in that universe, as shaped by our ideas on the origin and nature of the world, and again, of humankind.
Worldview also enters into the realm of what is wrong with the world and human beings: the corruption of God’s ideal in His perfect creation by sin.
The third element of worldview, paralleling the common storyline of biblical theology, is redemption—what must happen for the world and human beings to be set right.
The bottom line: biblical worldview, like biblical theology, is about using God’s Word to study how our past, present, and future tie together and are all moving toward a resolution, and using that information as the lens for answering questions and making the best decisions on how to make our way through this world.
In other words, in worldview, biblical theology becomes that bridge into practical theology.
The Spring 2025 Journal: Bringing Biblical Theology and Worldview Together into a Practical Resource
These considerations as to how biblical theology and worldview build on each other inform our direction in constructing each Journal issue. Both featured articles and book reviews generally fall into one category or the other—and often touch on both.
In keeping with the Journal’s status as a research publication, these articles come at subjects from an academic perspective. Yet we work to keep them accessible enough to achieve an eminently practical goal: to equip the people of God—and in particular pastors and other Christian leaders—to understand the theological teachings of Scripture and to put that theology in practice to address specific life challenges confronted in shepherding their congregations in today’s turbulent times.
To reflect the richness and diversity of Scripture, and further broaden the Journal’s reach and usefulness, we seek a wide diversity both in subjects covered and authors represented. While the bulk of the material reflects the expertise and next-level scholarship of Seminary faculty, on a selective basis we incorporate articles and reviews from graduates, upper-level seminarians and scholars from other conservative institutions.
The Spring 2025 issue of the Journal of Biblical Theology and Worldview follows that blueprint in featuring:
- An examination of the expression “the desires of the flesh” in 1 John 2:16 by BJU Seminary PhD graduate Jonathan Cheek. Following up his dissertation on the conflict between the people of God and the “world,” a topic that couldn’t be timelier, Jon delves into how that phrase intersects with other passages, especially Paul’s writings.
- A study by University and Seminary professor Mark Sidwell, entitled “Pentecostal Puritan?” on David Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ view regarding the baptism of the Spirit, is one not common in Christian circles and especially the Pentecostal movement today.
- A response is given to the so-called Hebrew Roots sectarianism movement by Dr. Joel Tetreau, an Arizona pastor who also serves with the Institute of Biblical Leadership. Dr. Tetreau addresses a faith-practice question that has long dogged the church: is it incumbent on Christians today to practice a Sabbath, in particular a Saturday Sabbath as is taught in the movement?
- Finally, there is an analysis of Psalm 35 entitled “Shattered by Betrayal,” by Dr. Bruce Meyer of our Biblical Counseling faculty. In this mix of Biblical theological study of this “lament Psalm’s” themes and worldview application, Dr. Meyer digs into the relevance of David’s cry to God in rebuilding trust in people who have suffered the enormous betrayal of abuse.
We encourage pastors, counselors and other church leaders to avail themselves of the valuable perspectives and analysis in this edition of the Journal in their own ministries. You can access the Journal by:
- Visiting https://seminary.bju.edu/journal/
- There is a sign up to receive the link to the Journal each time it is published at the beginning of each Journal post.
