The present issue is a themed issue about the study of revivalist Protestantism. Some of its articles are based on papers read at the conference of the European Academy of Religion on Religion from the inside in 2023. The opening editorial by Christoph Stenschke introduces the topic of the issue from a biblical-theological perspective, viz. Luke the historian. Church historian Andreas Heiser discusses two perspectives on historiography, the ‘emic’ and the ‘etic’ aka as ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ perspective. Heiser recalls that the distinction between emic and etic perspectives originated with ..read more

I was born in 1967 in the small Palatinate town of Kusel in Germany. The first years of my life were characterised by constant moves – from Düsseldorf to the greater Frankfurt area and a stay near London until in 1972 our family left for Sumatra in Indonesia, where my father taught at a Bible school and where I spent the next four years of my life. After our family had to return to Germany at the end of 1976 for both educational and health reasons, we moved to the northern part of Germany, where my parents set up the regional work of a missionary organisation. It was also during this time tha ..read more

After John has introduced his letter to the seven churches in Revelation 1:1-8, you expect some action. But before that happens, John first tells us about his call. This calling gives him legitimacy as a prophet and therefore he can present his book as a prophetic book (v. 3). Yet unlike most prophets of the old covenant and unlike the prophets in the New Testament church (1 Corinthians 14), John is not called to speak God’s word. That wouldn’t make much sense because he actually is on the Island of Patmos. John’s task, according to Revelation 1:11 and 19, is a command to write down what he i ..read more

Press release - EVANGELICAL IDENTITY IN EUROPE TODAY: UNITY IN DIVERSITY Photos taken by Gert F. Hain ..read more

In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his followers that, empowered by the Holy Spirit, they will be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. Acts shows this being fulfilled, although the task remains incomplete even today. I was recently in Albania – not a place mentioned in Acts, but in Romans 15:19, Paul says that he has proclaimed the good news of Jesus “all the way around to Illyricum” – an area including much of today’s Albania. According to tradition, Paul visited Durrës, which lies on both the coast and the Via Egnatia. I first saw Albania in the 1980s when I viewed it from a Greek island. Back the ..read more

In 2 Kings 18 we read about Sennacherib’s military campaign to Judah in 701 B.C. Having conquered the fortified city of Lachish, a siege that was depicted in reliefs discovered at Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh and now displayed at the British Museum, he sent an army to Jerusalem with a message to King Hezekiah. In his message, the Assyrian king warns the people of Jerusalem to trust in the Lord, for who are they to withstand the great Assyrian gods? Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of hi ..read more

‘Unity in diversity’ is the subtitle that follows the main description of the theme of our upcoming FEET conference, which will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 23-27 August 2024. The conference has been prepared in close cooperation with the European Evangelical Alliance. Its main theme is: Evangelical Identity in Europa Today. Diversity is an outstanding feature of the Christian church, ever since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. On that day, three thousand Jews and proselytes joined the ranks of Jesus’s disciples. They were from every nation under heaven, born and raise ..read more

Jacob Thiessen, born in 1964, has been rector and lecturer at the University School of Theology STH Basel since January 2004 and professor of New Testament since 2007. He is also a leading elder of the Basel-Holee Mennonite congregation. Thiessen grew up in a Mennonite farming village in the Chaco of Paraguay. Before studying Protestant theology at STH Basel from 1989 to 1994, he spent two years teaching among the indigenous people in the Paraguayan Chaco. From 1995 to 1998, he worked part-time at STH Basel as a teaching assistant (New Testament and Greek). At the end of 1998, he was awarded ..read more

This issue of the European Journal of Theology opens with a contribution by Wolfgang Köhler, who shows how the theme of hardening the people’s hearts is important in the various parts of the Book of Isaiah. Tracing how the theme develops, Kohler uncovers a cycle of sin – hardening – judgement – repentance. Jacob Thiessen suggests that there is a connection between Paul’s Letter to the Romans and his speech in Miletus as recorded in Acts 20. In these contemporaneous texts Paul sets out ‘the whole counsel of God’. Thiessen also brings Isaiah into play when it comes to Paul’s sense of call. Chri ..read more

Opening a book by the Parisian theologian Henri Blocher is like being invited to a wedding banquet. It is a theologically and culturally rich, tasty and challenging experience. The publication of his latest book, La doctrine de l’Église et des sacrements, vol. 1 (Vaux-sur-Seine: Edifac, 2023), is a feast for theology, all the more so because this volume on ecclesiology was long awaited. (And we are still waiting for the second volume on the sacraments.) The book consists of two parts. In the first, Blocher expounds the biblical data, while in the second he analyses three types of ch ..read more