Introducing TGC Essays: Theology for the Global Church

For more than a decade, The Gospel Coalition has been publishing a wide range of articles, podcasts, videos, books, and more. This work is driven by an observation in our Foundation Documents:

We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church’s life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. On the one hand, we are troubled by the idolatry of personal consumerism and the politicization of faith; on the other hand, we are distressed by the unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism. These movements have led to the easy abandonment of both biblical truth and the transformed living mandated by our historic faith.

Over the years, our resources have targeted each of the concerns outlined in that statement, and these challenges continue to drive our expansion of new content formats such as a catechism, free online courses, and devotionals. We’re excited to announce our latest offering––a series of 250 theological essays.

Features

1. Expansive. The essays fall into 12 major categories––the Bible, the Christian life, the church, creation, end times, God, the Holy Spirit, humanity, Jesus Christ, salvation, sin, and systems and methods of theology.
2. Free. They’re not hidden behind a paywall. You can access, share, print, and distribute them.
3. Non–technical. They are intentionally written to be understandable and accessible to those without formal theological education, yet are still a helpful resource for the seminary-trained. Most of the essays contain few footnotes, and all Greek and Hebrew references are transliterated and explained.
4. Translatable. So many rich theological resources are locked away under copyright. We want to do our part to change that reality. Each of the essays is made available under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-SA), instantly allowing Christians the world over to begin translating the resources without needing our permission. Under this license, local translators may even bind and sell these translations to help sustain their local businesses.
5. Multi-authored. In a typical systematic theology textbook, you read perhaps 1,000 pages of a single author’s treatment of various doctrines and issues. In these essays, you will have access to around 2,000 pages worth of theological reflection from 102 different authors.
6. Far–reaching. One of the most exciting aspects of launching this series is that people far from Christ all over the world are now able to interact with excellent, orthodox theological resources. If you google phrases like “divine revelation” or “priesthood of the believer,” chances are you’ll find one of these essays on the first page. Even more exciting is the implications for a “God the Father” search—a glance at the competing websites gives a clear sense of the importance of this effort.
7. Growing. Today’s list of essays is just the beginning. In the coming years, we plan to keep expanding this collection to cover additional doctrines and issues. Unlike a systematic theology textbook, we have the ability to continue scaling, updating, and localizing these resources for years to come.

Favorites

In a list of resources this large, it’s hard to identify favorites. But here are my top 10:

• Don Carson’s essay on “Contemporary Challenges to Inerrancy” wades into issues of the Bible’s Author/authors, certainty of interpretation, and moral objections to the text.
• Jeremy Treat’s handling of “Kingdom and Cross” functions as a shorter version of his excellent book on the same subject.
• When it comes to canonicity, it’s hard to beat Michael Kruger’s insights. In this essay series, Kruger tackles “The Biblical Canon” and “The Apocrypha.”
• I enjoyed the practical warmth and theological depth of “The Love of God” by Sam Storms.
• Some essays wade into contested issues. A great example is Tom Schreiner on the topic of “The Miraculous Gifts and the Question of Cessationism.”
• Jonathan Leeman on “The Relationship of Church and State” is a must-read in the lead-up to a passionate national election.
• If you’re looking for a simple resource for deacon training, Matt Smethurst’s essay on “Deacons” will be particularly helpful.
• The issue of a “Historical Adam and Eve” is insightfully addressed by John Collins.
• Andy Naselli’s explanation of apostasy is salient as recent years have included many stories of “deconversions” of prominent Christian leaders.
• Ligon Duncan penned excellent essays on “Redemption” and “Propitiation.”

Partner with Us

The Gospel Coalition seeks to provide resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, to strengthen the global church. Even as we make this new content freely available to the world online, we are trusting that the Lord would provide resources so we can continue these efforts.

For example, one of our next projects—to complement the essay series—will be a series of commentaries on the whole Bible. As it is prepared, it will also be released into the Creative Commons and be available for free on our website.

As we step out in faith in these endeavors, we would be honored to have your support.