Research Doctoral Studies

Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) said, “A little fire is fire... a little thing in the hand of giant will do great things. A little faith strengthened by Christ will work wonders.”  Sibbes penned these words to bring comfort to his readers; a cure to a perplexed faith. In a word, faith is faith. This statement encapsulates the whole idea of the Holy Spirit’s work in the assurance of faith. The purpose of this article—main thesis—seeks to enlighten Sibbes’ teaching on the work of the Spirit in the assurance of faith—the ‘second sealing’.

This paper offers a synopsis of virtual reality, its parallelism to utopian ideals, and
locating the church in today’s digital era and the telos of Christianity. Digital technology has been overlooked in the past couple of decades by the churches and even theological institutions until in recent years. This becomes vital when COVID-19 forced churches to embrace online liturgies, doing the sacraments, and virtual fellowships. Virtual reality has been present in the world since the 1960s. With these in mind, the church nowadays is facing these theological questions while reflecting on various pandemic challenges about the role of digital technology in the church or doing theology through the lens of technology. In this paper, Christians are urged to rethink their duty—the Great Commission—in engaging and proclaiming the gospel of Christ in the virtual world.

A Sunday school curriculum based on John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress. This teaching material ought to present Bunyan's understanding of Christian living. Major lessons are divided into three topics Following the King’s Path, Freed and Forgiven by King’s Promise, and Focusing on the King’s Kingdom. Each lesson has subtopics that are paralleled with passages in its proper context. There will be questions and practical applications included in each subtopic. This curriculum stretches to four months if done weekly.

The goal of this paper is to clarify the following: the biblical narrative of Luke 4:16-21, its historical context, and unfold the real message of the passage against LT. First, to understand LT, I will discuss a synopsis of Liberation theology and its implications. Second, I will expose the meaning of the passage of Luke 4:16-21 in a narrative approach. Since this is a prophetic message from the book of Isaiah, I will also dig and show what it meant descriptively. Finally, a prescriptive approach of text that invites the modern church to join the fifth act of a bigger story of the gospel. I will argue that Christ, as he proclaimed in the passage, is the sufficient fulfillment of the messianic message of Isaiah’s suffering servant as opposed to the reading of liberationists. Christ did not proclaim a liberation theological message in the passage of Luke 4:16-21.

“Praying is breathing” (17). A bright manner to start a book. Many readers, nowadays, especially the millennials, love to find quotable lines like this phrase. A good “hook” before proceeding to the “book”—content, then “look” to reflect, and “took”—something for personal application.

This paper offers a biographical work of Henry P. Silbor (1938-2010), a fine portrait of a Filipino Southern Baptist pastor. Silbor was one of the driving forces towards the "Filipinization" of the Southern Baptist denomination-both convention and seminary level-in the Philippines during the late twentieth century. Moreover, the paper explores the historical narratives of two Baptist groups that arrived in the Philippines, the American Baptist in 1900, and the Southern Baptist in 1948, which are significant in the study. This exploration sets the backdrop for Silbor's ministry. Towards Filipinization, Silbor advocated for Filipino leadership in the Luzon Convention of Southern Baptist Churches (LCSBC). Unfortunately, the missionaries turned over the leadership of convention, later including the seminaries, to the Filipinos then departed the Philippines. This transfer of leadership was not the ideal Filipinization for Silbor; preferably, he thought of working alongside the missionaries and not being left behind. To this challenge, Silbor called for serious pastoral equipping, church discipleship, sending missionaries, and theological training even during his last years.

The portfolio demonstrates the levels of authenticity and experience of different digital apps. These differences reveal which kind of digital application can be a more effective, engaging, and accessible digital app for 'e-vangelism'. By doing so, church leaders, digital missionaries, and/or anyone can determine which digital app their local church community ought to use.

The framework, first, starts the portfolio by defining the objective. The clarity of the aim is significant to bringing about the essence of the case study, survey, and literary research. Once the aim is established, it is necessary to explore why I chose to investigate the authenticity of experience using a digital missions app. So, it asks the question, “Why digital missions’ app?” The contention for this query is given after.

Second, an analysis of both theological and technological sophistication of different digital artifacts—focusing on building an authentic relationship, communication, and engagement —is explored in the next section. This part filters the copious quantity of digital apps that can be utilized for missions and evangelism to a handful of ones. I will be using a quadratic method based on biblical principles and observations to assess digital missions’ apps.

Lastly, before providing an encapsulated reflection, this section demonstrates the levels of authenticity of the experience of three digital apps for missions. The outcome builds from literary research given by different theologians, sociologists, and linguists, plus an empirical survey gathered globally. The final report of this portfolio gives a robust aid for digital missionaries, church leaders, and theologians for optimal utilization of digital applications for missions and evangelism throughout the world.

On October 28, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg officially revealed the rebranding of Facebook to Meta. This publicity later launched Meta’s virtual reality world called Horizon Worlds. Virtual reality (VR) worlds have been a prominent movie genre ever since the trilogy of The Matrix (1999-2003)—plus, the latest The Matrix Resurrections (2021). To mention more, Ready Player One (2018), Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy (2010), and recently, Free Guy (2021). The prominence of the VR/AR genre is also evident in Japanese Anime novel series like Sword Art Online (VRMMORPG) and Log Horizon (MMORPG). The idea of VR is a leap of vision from the physical world to a computer-generated world—an immersive and expansive simulated reality.

Nowadays, several churches—even before the COVID pandemic—are already engaging in VR worlds. However, many are still cynical about the rationality of the “reality” of VR. Questions like, does being an avatar reduce the real experience of a person? Is VR community a class-A imitation of a face-to-face/on-site gathering? Is VR church, or doing VR ministry, partial Gnosticism—sometimes called excarnation or discarnation—as opposed to Christ’s incarnational act? These concerns need to be addressed.

Consequently, the paper contends for a theological perspective of virtual realism for optimal church engagement. This theology of virtual realism is explored through philosophical investigations (mostly coming from David Chalmers’ view) of metaphysics, ontology, and psychology in the light of biblical principles. Moreover, the historical snapshot of VR and succinct definition are necessary for contextual clarity. Having a proper lens of a theology of virtual realism shapes a more intentional and purposeful engagement and involvement in the digital culture—specifically—the metaverse.

The general content of this compilation of Gregory’s five orations and two letters defends the consubstantiality of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. During late antiquity, Christianity struggled with all the challenges from Arianism, Gnosticism, and the various forms of both heresies. How significant, then and now, are the works of Gregory of Nazianzus in dealing with these heresies?

The entire premise of On Christian Teaching is how to interpret the scripture. Augustine further states two essential things in biblical hermeneutics: “the process of discovering what we need to learn, and the process of presenting what we have learnt” (8, 101). In a word, first is discovery, then presentation. In this four-volume work, the words appeal to logical reasoning and affection. Arguably, Augustine drinks from two cultures, Greco-Roman and African Christianity. The former values order and rationality; the latter emotions and spontaneity.  Augustine was born in a small town called Tagaste—today Souk-Ahras—in North Africa. His parents were able to provide his foundational studies until his further studies in rhetoric, philosophy, and theology. Augustine’s life-long journey in intellectual and spiritual life formed his firm conviction in the Christian faith. Notably, his encounter with these ideologies were the Manicheans, Donatists, Pelagianism, paganism, and subtle forms of Arianism.

The author of these works is a great theologian and logician named Anselm of Bec or Canterbury. Born in 1033, yet at a young age, he had a strong desire to learn. At Bec in Normandy, France, Anselm became the Abbot after Lanfranc of Pavia in 1078. Through Lanfranc, Bec's monastery living and spiritual devotion became prominent towards the emphasis on intellectual life, which Anselm followed. Later, after the death of Lanfranc as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm succeeded him in 1093 until he died in 1109.

Anselm's Monologion, Proslogion, including Gaunilo's Pro Insipiente, Reply to Gaunilo, On the Incarnation of the Word, Why God Became Man, and On the Procession of the Holy Spirit are the works reviewed accordingly.

The book offers the hermeneutical background of Anabaptists according to its author. Stuart Murray Williams contends for the significance of Anabaptist contribution and influence in the Reformation. He has listed six hermeneutical principles of the Anabaptist tradition: (1) the Bible as self-interpreting, (2) Christocentricism, (3) the two testaments, (4) Spirit and Word, (5) congregational hermeneutics, (6) and the hermeneutics of obedience.

Postliberal theology is the solution to the shortcomings of both rationalism and romanticism. This statement is the summary thesis of George Lindbeck’s work entitled The Nature of Doctrine.  Lindbeck responded to rationalism which he calls cognitive-propositionalist and liberal romanticism as experiential-expressivist. He goes further by rejecting even the mixture of the two religious understandings.

The authors propose an integrative approach to theological method. Precisely, they call it an integrative theological method in the classic Christian tradition (11). Glenn Kreider and Michael Svigel present this approach by grounding in Early Church tradition, focusing on the centrality of God’s revelation, and offering a dialogue with the fields of Biblical Hermeneutics, Dogmatics, Morality, Philosophy, Science, Arts, Practical Theology, and History. Indeed, each chapter is informative, profound, and coherent; it builds on and connects with each field.

Theological Methodology is a significant subject for seminary, Bible school students, and even pastoral ministry. The work of Rhyne Putman supports this statement. His The Method of Christian Theology aims to provide a primer for theology students and preachers. Consequently, Putman seems to think about the church lay leaders or even a small group leader in his mind when he writes this work. It has a pastoral tone emphasizing Christian discipleship

Any theology student cannot miss the name of Friedrich Schleiermacher, may it be coming from conservatism, liberalism, or anything in between. Schleiermacher is known as the father of modern theology or liberal theology. In fact, his works and theological principles are still being adapted to today's theological worldviews.

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) was raised in a pietistic family. He studied piety, languages, and religion in a Moravian school. Later, while his foundational education lacked rhetoric and dogmas, his collegiate education focused on philosophy, ethics, and theology. At this point, he had his intensive study of Immanuel Kant's philosophy. Though many later attacked like the neo-orthodoxy followers-his theological principles, Schleiermacher's influence can still be felt among today's religious thoughts and practices.

A person is like a fish that swims and lives in the vast ocean cultivated by the digital age. Digital theologian Heidi Campbell states, “As digital and social media have increasingly become a part of our daily routines, many aspects of our lives take place both in embodied and digitally mediated spaces…. Our lives are a series of online, offline, and integrated encounters.”  However, digital technology “is a double-edged sword.”

Kate Ott posits, “Digital technologies alter how we express and practice our sexuality, including the way we meet people, communicate with partners, and engage in sexual behavior.”  Further, Ott connects, “Related to sexuality, no other aspect has been more revolutionized by digital technology than pornography.”  This paper aims to present Ott’s view—a middle ground between the extremes of high and low theological anthropologies—of human embodiment in relation to the digital self and pornography. Moreover, Ott’s views interact with Timothy Tennent’s For the Body, Kelly Kapic’s You’re Only Human, and Daniel Darling’s The Dignity Revolution in this paper.

This paper argues that it is only necessary to offer theological anthropological understanding in this digital technological world. A weak theological anthropology is the root cause of why deadly digital sins are flourishing nowadays. In the first part, the paper investigates the expansive digital cultural reality and terms like digital self, digital religion, and digital theology through explorations from digital theologians and media, technology, and culture experts. It includes a brief historical survey on how Christians utilized and developed technological advancement for the kingdom of God. Moreover, part of the cultural reality section explores the current understanding and perspectives of digital theological anthropology or, at least, the understanding of human personhood in the light of digitality.

The second part deals with viewing the development of digital technology, its utilization, and the self in the digital world through the lens of biblical metanarrative. This view offers: 1) in Creation, humanity as the image of God as co-creator utilizes technology as part of ‘creating’; 2) in Fall, humanity as a corrupted image creates and spreads malice even through technological development (e.g., Tower of Babel); 3) in Redemption, God in Christ restores his people including their function to channel divine wisdom and creativity for human flourishment; in Eschatology, Christians are the eschatological companions of God.

Finally, the church’s role in recovering and engaging human personhood, embodiment, and dignity advances the hope for an objective view of theological anthropology in the digital realm. The paper proposes that it is not more technological understanding that is needed but more theological understanding. By understanding humanity’s 1) divine image, 2) holistic dualism, 3) deadly fallenness, 4) unconditional dignity, and 5) redemptive destiny, all applied in today’s digital cultural age, there is hope for redeeming the digital theological anthropology. Additionally, throughout the paper, issues about pornography, cyberbullying, online human trafficking, cancel culture, ecclesial challenges on online worship, virtual reality churches, and Gnostic accusations on digital church engagement are part of the discussion.

The paper contends that eschatology, specifically apocalyptic theology, shapes a vital influence in forming the Baptist movement—and most Evangelicals—theology in the Philippines. In the 1500s, Spain offered the Roman Catholic Christian faith to the Filipinos as a means of colonization. Likewise, after more than three centuries, American missionaries came and proclaimed Protestant Christianity—in the form of Evangelicalism, including the Baptist faith. These missionaries arrived with a colonizing mindset; hence, historically and theologically speaking, Filipino Baptists originated within a Western American evangelical context. While the above statement is valid, Indigenous narratives, experiences, and theologies require representations locally and globally. Hence, this paper offers a Filipino perspective of a historical sketch of the early stages of the Baptist movement in the Philippines as a prophetic fulfillment.

Moreover, the paper argues that the Baptist movement in the Philippines is rooted in eschatological, apocalyptic theology from the beginning to its recent developments. Initially, the paper introduces how Baptist missionaries—and Evangelicals—entered the Philippines with a colonial mindset. Next, it offers a brief historical religious background of the Philippines and a definition of a Filipino Baptist identity known as ‘Baptist Quadrilateral.’ In addition to this quadrilateral, the paper argues that eschatology is vital to Filipino Baptist identity. This final section presents how apocalyptic theology shaped the Baptist movement from its beginnings through this contemporary period.