The DMin scholarship is named after Dr. Leith Anderson, a well-known pastor, author, and radio ministry host. After ministering at Wooddale Church, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, as a senior pastor for over 35 years, Dr. Anderson currently serves as President of the National Association of Evangelicals. The NAE represents 45,000 local churches from 40 different denominations and serves a constituency of millions. Along with other leading evangelicals, he has served on the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for President Obama. He has written numerous articles and books that include A Church for the 21st Century, Leadership That Works, Becoming Friends With God, and The Jesus Revolution. Anderson’s commitment to being Christ centered, gospel driven, and mission focused in a rapidly-changing culture is the heart of Knox’s mission in training ministers in the Doctor of Ministry program.

The winner can choose from either the popular Biblical Preaching and Teaching track, the Theological Exegesis track, or the new Gospel in Church and Culture track with Logos. For more information on the joint Doctor of Ministry programs with Logos Bible Software, please visit Dmin.me.

To enter the comprehensive Leith Anderson Scholarship giveaway, please fill in your entry below. The value of the comprehensive scholarship will be realized upon the student’s acceptance and enrollment into the program. This is not a cash prize.  Only qualified students who meet the academic requirements for entry into the program will be eligible for the comprehensive scholarship. Enter to win beginning Thursday, April 4, and the scholarship giveaway runs through Friday, May 10. Please enter your name, e-mail address, and highest level of education completed so we can best serve your needs.

Dr. Jonathan Linebaugh, Assistant Professor of New Testament, teaches one of the required courses in the newly-launched theological exegesis concentration of the Doctor of Ministry at Knox Theological Seminary.

Dr. Linebaugh’s teaching and writing ministry focuses largely on reading the epistles of the apostle Paul with the benefit of the witness of the Protestant Reformers. In his doctoral dissertation, published articles, and in forthcoming work, he tries to take Martin Luther seriously as a biblical interpreter before anything else and to listen attentively to Luther’s witness as a vibrant resource for reading the text of Scripture itself.

Dr. Linebaugh, along with Dr. Michael Allen, is currently editing a volume entitled Reformation Readings of Paul. This book will provide an introduction to the way the Protestant Reformers read some of the most influential Pauline texts, and it will then offer guidance in how to faithfully and critically appropriate their work in our own context. This kind of approach – renewing the church by retrieving her vital tradition of biblical exegesis – marks the way that the theological exegesis concentration seeks to shape men and women for contemporary biblical study.

One of the required classes in the concentration is called “Scripture and Doctrine,” and it is taught by Dr. Linebaugh. There he hopes to show students how doctrine is teased out from the Scriptures, yet it is also meant to lead back to and aid further reading of the Bible. Doctrine is not a surrogate for or supplement to the Bible; rather it is an aid and help in better engaging the Bible. By looking at various case studies, Dr. Linebaugh will help students grow in their facility to move from Bible to doctrine and back again.

You may find more resources about this exciting new program at Knox Theological Seminary here. If you are interested in the theological exegesis track with Logos Bible Software, please visit dmin.me.

The course was designed to be a study of the Epistle to the Hebrews that focuses on its literary and canonical argument, drawing on the history of interpretation and considering its implications for Christian doctrine and ministry. In so doing, they considered a number of major issues in theology and ministry: the work of Christ, the relation of the Old and New Covenants, the objective and subjective aspects of the Christian life, suffering and perseverance, assurance, and the nature of faith.

To learn more about the Theological Exegesis track in the Doctor of Ministry program and to watch an introductory video with Dr. Allen, please click here.

Check out the photo album from the course here:

Dr. Bray has devoted many years to making the writings of the early church fathers and the Reformers accessible to us. He was the most prolific translator and editor in the acclaimed Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series, for which he edited the volumes on Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, and Jude. More recently, he edited the inaugural volume in the new Reformation Commentary on Scripture series on Galatians and Ephesians. He has also recently published English translations of Ambrosiaster’s commentaries on the Pauline Epistles. In addition to his editorial work, Dr. Bray wrote the first full-scale book on the history of biblical interpretation from an evangelical perspective. His Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present provided a baseline for the bustling activity that has followed in the last two decades.

In the theological exegesis track, Dr. Bray teaches a core course called “Reading the Bible with the Dead: Using the History of Exegesis.” There he familiarizes students with the biblical interpretation of the patristic, medieval, and Reformation writers, enabling them to faithfully and critically use those resources in their interpretive and pastoral work. Armed with resources from Logos Bible Software, students will be prepared to employ the best of the Christian tradition for their ongoing work in exegesis and teaching.

You may find more resources about this exciting new program at Knox Theological Seminary here. If you are interested in the theological exegesis track with Logos Bible Software, please visit dmin.me.

For further reflection on these three commitments, see the video of Dr. Allen:

Theological interpreters of the Bible read each passage in light of the wider context of the scriptural canon: they see how each piece fits in the wider gospel message of Jesus Christ and his kingdom. While many modern scholars break the Bible down into bits and pieces, viewing each text in its autonomy, we find that this fails to do justice to their unity and their common nature as the single Word of the living God.

Theological exegetes read the Bible attuned to the witness of the communion of the saints: they use the creeds and confessions of the church past and present as prompts to refine their interpretive work. While many contemporary Bible readers and ministry workers treat the past as no more than prologue, we see that the way to renewal is through retrieval and that the past is a constant presence for a community of faith.

Finally, theological readers of the Word of God listen for its contemporary significance as it addresses real men and women, societies and cultures, in our own contexts. Much thoughtful biblical scholarship fails to touch the real life issues that arise in ministry in its unique contexts, so we strive to ask how an ancient word continues to address powerfully very modern questions and struggles.

Here at Knox Theological Seminary, we believe that the Word of God is living and active. In the theological exegesis concentration of the DMin program, we seek to fashion and form more faithful readers, men and women able to keep their eye on the big picture of the Bible, to attune their ear to the witness of the past, and to fix their heart upon the neighbors and communities around them.

You can find more information about the Theological Exegesis track here and the Knox/Logos joint program in theological exegesis at dmin.me.

In recent years the world of biblical and theological scholarship has focused on one issue with fervor equal to and seemingly greater than any other: “theological interpretation of Scripture” or “theological exegesis.” Fed up with the sterile scholarship of much modern biblical criticism and concerned by the lack of biblical engagement in so much Christian faith and practice, men and women from a variety of backgrounds in the Christian world have pursued a new way by returning to old paths. Theological exegesis has been viewed as a way behind more recent alternatives like exegesis as technique or exposition as therapy. The unique gift that Christians have to speak truth to our world is the Holy Scripture, and yet this biblical text is a unique book that must be read in its own terms. Thus, we need to learn and practice a theological exegesis if we are to be sustained by it and steward it well for others.

So far theological exegesis has been addressed and practiced in academic formats. New commentary series, like the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible or the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, have been released to great acclaim. New book series have also been launched, such as the Studies in Theological Interpretation series. The Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible has been award-winning and best-selling in recent years. Academic journals have launched: for example, the Journal of Theological Interpretation. PhD programs have begun with great success in places like Wheaton College and the University of St. Andrews. And, of course, conference events occur every year to talk about theological exegesis. The buzz is palpable.

Hear what Dr. Allen has to say about this new track in Theological Exegesis: 

What is taught in the new Theological Exegesis track at Knox?

Knox Theological Seminary is pleased to announce that it will launch the world’s first Doctor of Ministry concentration in theological exegesis in 2013. This track is specifically designed to equip students in the art of theological exegesis of the Bible, and it is uniquely shaped to form men and women for the practice of reading the Bible in this way, taking what has been mostly an academic conversation and connecting it to the lives and communities of Christians around the globe. The coursework and final project foster a commitment and ability to read the Bible in a canonical, creedal, and contextual way. Our professors have been and continue to be involved notably in these theological conversations, and they are eager to guide students deeper into this practice. Over the course of the next several weeks, further posts will highlight some of the ways Knox professors have approached theological exegesis and how these will translate into a world-class education through this DMin concentration. Until then, you may find out more about the Theological Exegesis track here and the Knox/Logos joint program in exegesis at dmin.me.

Win the $18,000 John Piper Scholarship

If you’ve ever thought about studying the Bible at the highest academic level, you owe it to yourself to check out the DMin’s comprehensive John Piper Scholarship. You’ll get:

• A world-class biblical education and a terminal degree
• Logos 5’s enormous, smart Portfolio library
• $1,000 in Logos credit for additional books
• Our academic discount, which multiplies that $1,000’s value

The winner can choose either the popular Biblical Preaching and Teaching Track or the new Theological Exegesis Track.

And because you’ll do almost all your studying from home, you won’t have to give up your current priorities as you earn your doctorate—free.

The entry deadline is December 31. Enter to win the John Piper Scholarship now!

On the first day of Dr. Haddon Robinson’s DMin in Preaching and Teaching class, the first thing his students expected was a syllabus. What they got was a question. Dr. Robinson opened the Bible and asked, “What’s the big idea?”

Dr. Robinson’s question treats Scripture as one cohesive story, and so does the DMin as a whole. You’ll learn to see Christ in the Old Testament, even if you’re not expecting to—in the OT’s third-day motifs, for example, which point to the Resurrection. You’ll learn the literary techniques you need to follow the Bible’s patterns as they come together in one grand narrative. You’ll learn to read a given verse not as a stand-alone text but as one instance of a much larger story.

For these three  students, the education has been transformative:

Win the $18,000 John Piper Scholarship

If you’ve ever thought about studying the Bible at the highest academic level, you owe it to yourself to check out the DMin’s comprehensive John Piper Scholarship. You’ll get:

• A world-class biblical education and a terminal degree
• Logos 5’s enormous, smart Portfolio library
• $1,000 in Logos credit for additional books
• Our academic discount, which multiplies that $1,000’s value

And because you’ll do almost all your studying from home, you won’t have to give up your current priorities as you earn your doctorate—free.

The entry deadline is December 31. Enter to win the John Piper Scholarship now!