Pastors and leaders of the classical church--such as Augustine, Calvin, Luther, and Wesley--interpreted the Bible theologically, believing Scripture as a whole witnessed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Modern interpreters of the Bible questioned this premise. But in recent decades, a critical mass of theologians and biblical scholars has begun to reassert the priority of a theological reading of Scripture. The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible enlists leading theologians to read and interpret Scripture for the twenty-first century, just as the church fathers, the Reformers, and other orthodox Christians did for their times and places. In this addition to the series, esteemed theologian Robert W. Jenson presents a theological exegesis of Ezekiel.

How does the church understand the relation between its Scripture and its creedal formulations? No one is more qualified to address that question than Robert W. Jenson, who shows how canon and creed work together and interact and that neither is an adequate or sufficient to guide Christian faith without the help of the other. His book will enable contemporary interpreters and teachers, pastors, and laity to deal with the questions and tensions that are always present as the church seeks to hold canon and creed together.

Here Robert Jenson offers a systematic theologian's careful reading of the Song of Songs. Jenson focuses on the overt sense of the book as an erotic love poem in order to discover how this evocative poetry solicits a theological reading. Jenson finds a story of human love for God in this complex poetic book and offers a commentary that elucidates and inspires.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

The Triune God, together with the forthcoming second volume, The Works of God, develops a compendious statement of Christian theology in the tradition of a medieval summa, or of such modern works as those of Schleiermacher and Barth. Theology, as it is understood here, is the Christian church's continuing discourse concerning her specific communal purpose; it is the hermeneutic and critical reflection internal to the church's task of speaking the gospel, to the world as message and to God in petition and praise. This volume and its successor are thus dedicated to the service of the one church of the creeds; it is for no particular denomination or confession. The interlocutors of this work's analyses and proposals are drawn from wherever in the ecumenical tradition a question may lead: to theologians and traditions ancient, medieval, or modern; Eastern or Western; Catholic or Protestant.

Systematic Theology is the capstone of Robert Jenson's long and distinguished career as a theologian, being a full-scale systematic/dogmatic theology in the classic format. This is the second and concluding volume of the work, and considers the works of God, examining such topics as the nature and role of the Church, and God's works of creation.

"Robert Jenson deserves to be studied as one of the more creative theologians in America today. It is perhaps due to his wisdom in the ways of this world that each of his books leaves the reader impatient to hear more. If his work in the future proves to be as stimulating as that in the past, we will not be disappointed." Christopher L. Morse Union Theological Seminary, New York "For those who have experienced genuine confusion about sacraments, Jenson's book is a breath of fresh air." Donald H. Juel Luther Theological Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota "Saint Augustine's distilled description of sacraments, 'visible words, ' is used by the systematic theologian Robert Jenson to title this important book. In attempting something so deceptively simple as 'to explain Christianity's sacraments, ' the author is remarkably successful." William S. Adams Vancouver School of Theology "Jenson is especially helpful in his discussion of the sacraments as communication events. One wishes great influence for this book in the Christian churches for it surely will assist the liturgical dialogue among them." John Barry Ryan Manhattan College, Bronx, New York Robert W. Jenson is a leading American Lutheran theologian. He has taught at many institutions, including Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, and Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. With Carl Braaten, he founded the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology in Northfield, Minnesota. He was a Senior Scholar for Research at the Center for Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, where he now resides. Among his many books are his two-volume Systematic Theology, Lutheranism: The Theological Movement and Its Confessional Writings (with Eric Gritsch), and A Map of Twentieth-Century Theology (editor with Carl Braaten).

A great deal has recently been written about Jonathan Edwards. Most of it, however, does not make central Edwards's own intention to speak truth about God and the human situation; his systematic theological intention is regarded merely as an historical phenomenon. In this book, Robert Jenson provides a different sort of interpretation, asking not only, "Why was Edwards great?" but also, "Was Edwards right?" As a student of the ideas of Newton and Locke, Jenson argues, Edwards was very much a figure of the Enlightenment; but unlike most other Americans, he was also a discerning critic of it, and was able to use Enlightenment thought in his theology without yielding to its mechanistic and individualistic tendencies. Alone among Christian thinkers of the Enlightenment, Edwards conceived an authentically Christian piety and a creative theology not in spite of Newton and Locke but by virtue of them. Jenson sees Edwards's understanding as a radical corrective to what commitment to the Enlightenment brought about in American life, religious and otherwise. Perhaps, Jenson proposes, recovery of Edwards's vision might make the mutual determination of American culture and American Christianity more fruitful than it has yet been.

Systematic Theology is the capstone of Robert Jenson's long and distinguished career as a theologian, being a full-scale systematic/dogmatic theology in the classic format. This is the second and concluding volume of the work. Here, Jenson considers the works of God, examining such topics as the nature and role of the Church, and God's works of creation.

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.

In 2008, preeminent theologian Robert Jenson delivered his last set of lectures, "Can These Bones Live?: An Introduction to Christian Theology", at Princeton University. Adam Eitel, Jenson's teaching assistant at the time, recorded and transcribed the twenty-three lectures in the series. Jenson and Eitel have since worked together to revise and prepare these lectures for publication in order to share the atmosphere and immediacy of Jenson's classroom. A Theology in Outline gives an overview of Christian theology as well as an introduction to Jenson's thought. Each chapter treats a major doctrine in Christianity-God, Israel, Resurrection, the Trinity, Creation, and Sin, among others. Unlike Jenson's previous work, this book is influenced by his recent interest in Biblical exegesis. He frames the whole series as a response to an exegesis of the question, "Son of man, can these bones live?" from Ezekiel 37:3. He considers whether the story that God lives with his people can continue, and if the Christian faith itself has become a valley of dry bones. The lectures provide a single sequence of illustrative conversations for the purpose of introducing beginners to Christian theology. Moreover, A Theology in Outline marks the genuine development in Jenson's thought-a unique work unto itself.

A great deal has recently been written about Jonathan Edwards. Most of it, however, does not make central Edwards's own intention to speak truth about God and the human situation; his systematic theological intention is regarded merely as an historical phenomenon. In this book, Robert Jenson provides a different sort of interpretation, asking not only, "Why was Edwards great?" but also, "Was Edwards right?" As a student of the ideas of Newton and Locke, Jenson argues, Edwards was very much a figure of the Enlightenment; but unlike most other Americans, he was also a discerning critic of it, and was able to use Enlightenment thought in his theology without yielding to its mechanistic and individualistic tendencies. Alone among Christian thinkers of the Enlightenment, Edwards conceived an authentically Christian piety and a creative theology not in spite of Newton and Locke but by virtue of them. Jenson sees Edwards's understanding as a radical corrective to what commitment to the Enlightenment brought about in American life, religious and otherwise. Perhaps, Jenson proposes, recovery of Edwards's vision might make the mutual determination of American culture and American Christianity more fruitful than it has yet been.

Robert Jenson offers a systematic theologian's careful reading of the Song of Songs. Jenson focuses on the overt sense of the book as an erotic love poem in order to discover how this evocative poetry solicits a theological reading. Jenson finds a story of human love for God in this complex poetic book and offers a commentary that elucidates and inspires.

Since the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431), orthodox Christianity has confessed Mary as "Theotokos, "Mother of God." Yet neither this title nor Mary's significance has fared well in Protestant Christianity. In the wake of new interest in Mary following Vatican II and recent ecumenical dialogues, this volume seeks to makes clear that Mariology is properly related to Christ and his church in ways that can and should be meaningful for all Christians.

Written with insight and sensitivity by Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant scholars, these seven studies inquire into Mary's place in the story of salvation, in personal devotion, and in public worship.

Contributors: Carl E. Braaten
Lawrence S. Cunningham
Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald
Beverly Roberts Gaventa
Timothy George
Robert W. Jenson
Jaroslav Pelikan
David S. Yeago

Since Socrates, the effort to understand ourselves precisely as human has been the central occupation of Western thought. In this profound treatise Robert Jenson shows that all philosophical attempts to accurately think the self are doomed to failure and that the category "human" is itself "unthinkable without reference to God.

As Jenson says at the outset of his book, the problem of anthropology is that the very concepts we need to use when we talk about ourselves as human resist being thought. "On Thinking the Human explains why this is so. Under chapter titles that reflect the problem's different facets -- "Thinking Death," "Thinking Consciousness," "Thinking Freedom," "Thinking Reality," "Thinking Wickedness," and "Thinking Love" -- Jenson limns the difficulty inherent in each concept and then shows how the unthinkable becomes thinkable in light of the triune God of Scripture.

Carefully constructed and skillfully worded, "On Thinking the Human will be valued by anyone reflecting deeply on what it means to be human.

In modern theology the last things of traditional Christian doctrine have largely been ignored or replaced with various metaphysical, psychological, or ethical reinterpretations of Christianity. This volume takes the biblical vision of the future seriously once again, explaining the significance of Christian eschatology for the faith and theology of the contemporary church.

Written by nine front-ranking Christian thinkers, "The Last Things offers fresh interpretations of the major themes in eschatology. Wolfhart Pannenberg begins the volume by laying out the challenges of eschatological reflection in today's world. Carl E. Braaten speaks to our need to recover the apocalyptic imagination that defines both the early church and the gospel itself. Robert W. Jenson explores the nature of the eschaton. Paul D. Hanson discusses the relationship between the Bible and politics. Arland J. Hultgren looks at eschatology in the New Testament, particularly Jesus' own view of the future. David Novak compares and contrasts the Jewish and Christian approaches to God and history. John A. McGuckin focuses in depth on the book of Revelation. Philip D. W. Krey describes Martin Luther's understanding of the Apocalypse. Last, George L. Murphy asks what contributions science might make to the study of eschatology.

Recognizing that the doctrine of the last things has been a source of disagreement in the history of the church, the contributors offer ecumenical perspectives on their respective topics, together casting a promising image of the future for the whole church.

"Church Unity and the Papal Office" provides the first theological and ecumenical response to Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Ut Unum Sint" ("That All May Be One"). Scholars representing Anglican, Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, and Evangelical churches, offer fresh perspectives on this pivotal document, calling for a "patient and fraternal dialogue" concerning the ministry of the papal office, in the service of church unity. Contributors include Carl E. Braaten, Edward Idris, Cardinal Cassidy, Brian E. Daley, S.J. Joseph-Augustine DiNoia, O.P. Robert, W. Jenson, Richard J. Mouw, Stephen W. Sykes, Geoffrey Wainwright, George Weigel, and David S. Yeago.