The Journal of Christian Studies

"JCS has become my favorite journal. The themes and articles are thoughtful, relevant, and unabashedly rooted in Scripture and the historic Christian faith. This is scholarship for the church at its finest."

Mark E Powell, Lead Minister, Donelson Church of Christ, Nashville, Tennessee

Faith Seeking Understanding

Subscribe to JCS

Shop for Back Issues of JCS

Back issues of JCS

JCS Digital

The Journal of Christian Studies is the flagship journal published by the Center for Christian Studies. The journal’s purpose is to make quality scholarship accessible to the broader church. It is intended to benefit all thoughtful Christians and church leaders, scholars and non-specialists alike. The goal is ultimately missional and the scope international.

The Journal of Christian Studies is issued three times a year, with articles written by scholars who are both experts in their respective fields and active leaders in their churches. Each issue of the journal unpacks a topic or theme that is important to the church’s faith and practice in our current culture. Articles address these themes through biblical, theological, historical, and sociological perspectives, communicating rigorous scholarship in an accessible way.

Subscribe to the Journal of Christian Studies and have three issues per year mailed to you. A sample article from each issue is available for free on our website. Click on the title of the first issue to see the digital copy. Subsequently, sample articles from each issue will be made available digitally on this page.

Forthcoming Issues:

JCS V/3: Catechesis

What is catechesis, and why is it important? How can churches more effectively catechize their youth and their adult converts (and what differences might be reflected in catechizing adults vs children and youth)? What do Scripture, history, theology, and sociology have to say about these questions? We want this journal issue, as a whole, to provide thoughtful reflection and even practical guidance on the nature of catechesis, the need for it, and wise steps toward realizing and executing it in church and home. Articles should address at least one of these questions and approaches.

JCS VI/1: Psalms

This issue of JCS is devoted to the book of Psalms. How should we understand Psalms in its original context(s), and what does it mean for us today? How can the history of interpretation shed light on its meaning? How can Psalms be read theologically and Christologically? How may the church practice the Psalms today?

JCS VI/2: Beauty

What is beauty? What is its relationship to God, and how does it point us to God? How can low-church congregations, which traditionally have valued function over beauty, more faithfully engage beauty in their contexts and liturgies? How can the arts, music, poetry, and architecture contribute to the life of faith? In what ways have we lost a sense of beauty, and how can we best recover it? How can historical, biblical, theological, scientific, sociological, and philosophical approaches to these questions aid our understanding and practice of Christian faith?

Previous Volumes:

Below are the topics for previously published issues of JCS.

Back Issues

Volume V/2: Sin, Confession, and Repentance

What is sin? How are such wrongs made right? What does it mean to repent? How can a better understanding of sin and repentance benefit the church? Articles may address such topics from biblical, theological, historical, and/or sociological perspectives.

What is artificial intelligence (AI)? What should the average layman know about AI? What are the benefits and dangers for society? As for the risks, what can and cannot actually happen? What are the implications of AI for the church and its ministries, for human intelligence and relationships? Should we invite AI into the church and into our homes?

How can we better understand the Sermon on the Mount and specific passages within it? How does it function in the context of the Gospel of Matthew and in its larger canonical context? How can knowledge of historical background illumine its message? What can we learn from the history of exegesis and theological interpretation, as well as from ethical and sociological approaches? What is the word for the church today? How should we preach and appropriate and apply the Sermon on the Mount?

In this issue of the Journal of Christian Studies, we want to examine questions surrounding the future of the Restoration movement. How should the restorationist plea be described and pursued on the other side of sectarianism? Can ecumenism and denominational distinctions co-exist? Is it possible for fragmented groups to be members of the one church? In this situation of division, what does it mean to confess that the church is “one” and “catholic”? How should Christians work toward unity, and what role do our “distinctions” play in ecumenical conversation? In what ways can the various Christian traditions “partner” with one another (e.g., with regard to moral and/or theological questions)? With regard to such questions, what does a responsible ecclesiology look like?

Part 1: Interviews

Scott Adair (Harding University)
Douglas A. Foster (Abilene Christian University)
John Mark Hicks (Lipscomb University)
F. LaGard Smith (Pepperdine University)
James W. Thompson (Abilene Christian University)

Part 2: Articles

Ephraim Radner, (Wycliffe School of Theology) "Becoming One: Pneumatic Mereology"

Benny Tabalujan, (Belmore Road Church of Christ) "Restorationism and Sectarianism: Are They Severable?"

Volume IV/1: Mission and the Global Church

This issue of the Journal of Christian Studies examines developments in the church outside the United States. We asked article contributors to consider and address such questions as: What is happening in Christianity outside of the U.S.? Are there specific initiatives, works, challenges, etc., that should be more common knowledge? What are the most significant challenges for evangelism in your region? What are the most significant opportunities in your region? What do you wish North American Christians knew about Christianity in your region? Besides prayer and financial support, what can North American Christians do to be involved or help? What particular gifts do Christians in your region bring to global Christianity? Each article touches on at least one of those areas. We intend for these articles and the entire issue to offer a glimpse into important (and encouraging) happenings in the global church.

This issue offers discussion of one of the oldest, most challenging questions for Christians: why is there suffering? Authors engage topics such as the impassibility of God, the Nicene Creed's importance in addressing the question of suffering, and the claims of Scripture in the face of suffering, among others.

This issue of JCS provides several articles focused on understanding the book of Revelation, perhaps the most misunderstood and misused book in the Bible. Well known scholars address important topics vital to interpreting Revelation, and a helpful annotated bibliography of important commentaries on Revelation is included.

Christians are divided over political and social issues. This issue considers the following important questions: How should we think about politics in a post-Constantinian, post-Reformation, and post-Christian world? What theologically-sound, pastorally sensitive, politically savvy strategies can help us navigate this challenging environment? Prominent thinkers, both Protestant and Catholic, advance “postliberal” theories aiming to align our politics with Christian truth, abandoning liberal neutrality about the good. Others emphasize the need to build Christian communities who can withstand social pressures or persecution, preparing Christians for faithful witness even to the point of martyrdom. This issue of the Journal of Christian Studies, a journal dedicated to scholarship for the church, will address the question of Christians and politics in the post-Christian polis.

Zachary McCartney (Hillcrest Church of Christ) and Ben Peterson (Abilene Christian University), "Embracing the Daniel Option: Forming Martyrs and Seeking Peace in the Post-Christian Babylon."

David C. Innes (The King's College, NYC), "Christian Civic Duty and the idea of Citizenship."

Jason Jewell (Faulkner University), "The Christian Imperative of Political Decentralization."

James R. Rogers (Texas A&M University), "Cultural Christianity and the Moral 'Prisoner's Dilemma' Facing American Churches."

A. Scott Bledsoe (Lipscomb University), "Belief, Belonging, and Affective Polarization: An Exploration into Contemporary American Evangelicalism."

"In Other Words..."

Volume II/1: The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments may be among the few remaining biblical teachings still somewhat recognizable in a post-Christian society. To this day, in many churches, they are the subject of catechetical instruction. They gave their name to one of the iconic films of the twentieth century. And in North American culture wars, they have been the occasion for debates about the role of the Bible in governmental process and public discourse.

More important for our purposes, the Ten Commandments have, for millennia, held a central place in Jewish and Christian teaching as the fundamental expression of biblical ethics. The Ten Words are the first words that the Lord delivered to Moses on the mountain, inscribed by the finger of God himself. These commandments seem to be a summation of the entire law revealed to God’s people. They appear in both Exodus and Deuteronomy, and many of them are repeated verbatim by Jesus and Paul. For these reasons, in this issue of the Journal of Christian Studies, we examine the Decalogue in its context and as a normative guide in Christian living.

Table of Contents:

Kevin J. Youngblood, "Who Is My Neighbor? Parallelism and Identification of Neighbors in Deuteronomy's Decalogue"

Jordan J. Ballor (Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy), "Reconciling Virtues and the Decalogue: Zacharias Ursinus (1534–1583) on the Ethical Teachings of the Heidelberg Catechism."

Harold Shank (Global Christian Studies and Network 127), "The Decalogue and Justice for Children: the Value and the Vulnerability of Children."

R. Mark Shipp (Independent Scholar), "The Sixth Commandment: To Kill or Not to Kill."

Keith D. Stanglin (Center for Christian Studies), "The Ten Commandments for New Testament Christians."

"In Other Words..."

Volume I/3: The Art of Dying

Death, never a pleasant topic, is a matter that modern culture has gone to great lengths to avoid. This avoidance has also permeated the church. But there was a time when Christian theologians spoke of “the art of dying” (ars moriendi) and produced manuals that helped prepare believers for a good death. Now, “good death” and “dying with dignity” have come to mean something different, with the increasing acceptability of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.

This issue’s articles will deal with questions such as the following: How do modern understandings of death differ from premodern understandings, and why? How can we improve pastoral care to the terminally ill or those with dementia? What should Christians think about euthanasia? What are some features of a theologically responsible and pastorally sensitive funeral liturgy?

Recent years have seen rapid and significant shifts in cultural attitudes regarding sexual ethics. The traditional Christian description of marriage as the sacramental union of one man and one woman, in which context sexual intercourse is primarily for reproduction, has been dismissed not only by society but also by many Christians. The cultural and ecclesial situation has led to much confusion and division across denominations.

Contributions to this issue address the confusion by dealing with some of the following questions: What is the biblical teaching about marriage and sexual ethics? Is marriage a sacrament? What should Christians and their communities teach about homosexuality and transgender identity? How can Christians truly love sinners and show grace while, at the same time, proclaiming the truth about sexual purity and God’s will for his people? What does the Christian moral tradition have to say about it all? What can natural law and science tell us?