Timothy C. Tennent > Quotes

“In Adam we became identified with guilt, fear, and shame. In Christ we are now identified with forgiveness, confidence, and honor.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology

“In Christ we are now identified with forgiveness, confidence, and honor.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology

“Tertullian first observed that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Christianity at the Religious Roundtable: Evangelicalism in Conversation with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam

“For Paul the cross is the place where our new identity is formed; it is the great intersection between anthropology and theology.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology

“Indeed, one of the enduring lessons of the Jerusalem Council is that the apostles did not command the early Gentile believers to forsake their cultural background, but to remain in it as devoted followers of Jesus Christ. They, like us, were called to serve as agents of transformation within a particular cultural group rather than being extracted from that group. The indigenizing principle emphasizes our identity as members of a particular culture into which Christ is extending his Lordship and reign.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology

“However, despite my strong affirmation of the Christology expressed in the Nicene Creed (AD 325), it would be a mistake to understand even this powerful statement as the final word on Christology as if no more conversations are either needed or desired. Indeed, the emergence of the later, more precise, Chalcedonian formula (AD 451), which finally hammered out the “two natures, one person” Christology that has become received orthodoxy, demonstrates that further, post-Nicene conversations were needed. The importance of the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian formulation lies in the fact that they were ecumenical councils. In other words, dozens of general church councils over the years have”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology

“It is truly amazing to think that Jesus lived on this earth for thirty-three years, but He has been interceding for His Church for more than 2,000 years.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, This We Believe! Meditations on the Apostles' Creed

“The proceedings of these ecumenical councils remind me of the experience of sitting down at a table before a large, thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. Many of us know how frustrating it can be to keep trying piece after piece that looks like it should fit, but it doesn’t. I have even been guilty of trying to force a piece into the wrong space, even though I know only one will be a true fit. Eventually, I find the proper puzzle piece that provides an exact fit. Likewise, the delegates to the Council of Nicea and the Council of Chalcedon were seeking to be faithful to the hundreds of Christological “pieces” found in the texts of Scriptures. It was their unenviable task to put the whole “picture” of Christ together for the very first time in such a way as to find a perfect match for every piece. At times, various groups presented “pieces” they believed were a proper fit regarding the humanity or deity or natures or wills of Christ, but, in the end, each was declared to be improper fits. The proceedings of these councils did more to declare which pieces were not true pieces of the puzzle and should be discarded, than to provide a final, definitive statement of Christology that would silence all future discussions. We may know that the “Arius,” “Nestorius,” and “Eutyches” pieces do not fit the Christological puzzle, but this is not to say that a final and complete picture emerged.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology

“The typical Christian is no longer an affluent, white, British, Anglican male about forty-five years old, but a poor, black, African, Pentecostal woman about twenty-five years old.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology

“the Christian faith must become far more robust in articulating how the Christian gospel is distinct from secular consumerism.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology

“One of the great ironies of history is that only with the death of Christendom can there be a proper birth of evangelism.”
― Timothy C. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology